Podcast: The Ride - The CityWalk Orlando Saga: Malltiverse of Madness 1 - 1

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

Finally! It’s the long-awaited sequel to 2018’s thrilling 19 episode event! What is the "Malltiverse" and how can it be fixed? Where's the Sector Keeper been these last few years? Is the Orlando mall's coffee store different than the Los Angeles mall's coffee store? All questions will be answered and much time will be wasted. Phase 1, Sector 1 contains: Universal Studios Store Cinnabon Quiet Flight Surf Shop Coke Icon To level up your Saga experience with bonus and ad-free episodes, subscribe to Podcast: The Ride’s Club 3 at  patreon.com/podcasttheride.  FOLLOW PODCAST: THE RIDE: https://twitter.com/PodcastTheRide https://www.instagram.com/podcasttheride BUY PODCAST: THE RIDE MERCH: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/podcast-the-ride PODCAST THE RIDE IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/podcast-the-ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FOREVER! DOG! and one fateful play in the Dancing Fountains at Universal's CityWalk Hollywood. As his parents departed to put in their names at Bubba Gump, the boy got a staph infection and he died. He remained in a permanent limbo state without hope until the year of our Lord 2018. It was then that he encountered three brave podcasters. They, and only they, could set his spirit free by reviewing every store and restaurant at CityWalk. These heroes were known as Mike, Scott, and Jason.

Their ghostly friend, the Sector Keeper. Their trials and tribulations were captured in a tidy 19-part podcast series simply titled The City Walk Saga that you can go back and listen to right now if you scroll through Podcast The Ride's back catalog. Now, with a terrible cosmic rift sowing galactic chaos, the Sector Keeper has again called upon the Heroes Three to face a challenge beyond their comprehension. Yes, the boys have conquered a single-alcohol bar.

But will they be any match for... The Multiverse! When your town has made you frown When your square has made you swear When life gives you one more punch You need a donut soaked in Captain Crunch You need a place, a place to stroll With alcohol

A place that features part of the Berlin Wall Where steampunk robots sell chocolate snacks. A place where you can tattoo your lower back. So let's go take a walk. Let's all go to CityWalk Orlando. Tonight. Tonight. Podcast to Ride presents the CityWalk Orlando orlando saga multiverse of madness a daily

extremely necessary series exploring the shops restaurants and cosmic wonder that make up universal city walk orlando welcome to podcast the ride presents the CityWalk Orlando Saga Multiverse of Madness. My God, we've made it. After all this time, we've made it. I'm Scott Gairdner. Mike Carlson has made it as well. I made it here. I'm standing, I'm looking at the top of a mountain, a beautiful mountain full of very familiar places and some not so familiar yes a number you're right a number of extremely familiar perhaps covered once before perhaps covered several times before yeah perhaps and maybe we'll be covered for many years doesn't it make it the biggest challenge in a way to have to cover certain somewhat bland establishments for going on the fourth or fifth time. It wouldn't be a saga without Jason Sheridan.

That's right. It feels like home, you know? Yeah. Not just being back in the saga, but CityWalk Orlando, you know, holds a special place in my heart. Yeah, this one, no chore for you. This is not a big...

Nothing about this is like, I have to go spend a bunch of time at CityWalk Orlando? No, if anything, got a new appreciation. When Jason goes to these places, he doesn't say, Chewy, we're home. He says, Chewing, we're home. Because he's excited to chew on all the different treats that he could, that he has an option to.

He speaks to an act. Yeah, yeah. The act in his body. Yeah, yeah. Anything to get that Cheshire grin back on Mike's face, you know? That's his famous, that's his phrase.

He said it to me. There's a gif of Jason and I like chewing on Han and he says it and you just write it. You're going to have to film that. We didn't do it there. Oh have to film that we didn't do it there we'll do it in front of a green screen we'll go you know we'll make it seem like you're in uh yeah bob marley a tribute to freedom and he's gonna start chewing on some plantains um yeah so uh here we are and we're

gonna start explaining what we're doing but but there's an empty fourth chair. There's a chair that is not filled, and we can't really do this. We might have to just cut and stop and not use what we're doing right now unless we're able to get really the presence who we all know. We can't fully do a saga, a daily multi-part saga without. There's no set way to summon this being

but i did have an idea something that i i think might work there's a sacred old phrase that means something to us that was a part of the last time we did one of these daily mall focused sagas and i just i got a feeling i got a hunch that if we were to say it three times altogether, that maybe who we need might appear. I'll kick it off, and you guys join me. Okay. Basin is now Sanuk. Basin is now Sanuk. Basin is now Sanuk.

Whoa. Yes. Boys, boys. Wow. Chewing, I'm home. Yes. Boys, boys. Wow. Chewing, I'm home. Wow. Here he is for the first time for an extended sit down in our physical presence. In ghostly form, yeah.

For the first time in four years, over four years, the sector keeper. Wow. Feels good to be back. I'm back. Oh, wow. First time in four years Over four years The Sector Keeper Wow Feels good to be back Oh my god I'm back Oh wow He's got a great He's got his usual toad

Yeah that's right That's right How are you boys? How are you? Oh fine I mean we feel Refresh from going to The City Walk Orlando

Oh yes Yes yes It's a little As we said A little different and of course i'm fine i think yeah yeah uh you know there's you know there's there's kind of a more vacation vibe too you you know as you know it's it's very like it's picturesque it's scenic uh uh you know with this kind of a breezier feel almost and i'm almost at this point like this might be

this this juncture it feels like a little easier potentially than yeah than city walk like less like annoying mundane wouldn't you say jason i would say so i mean there's all that extra greenery and waterways too and this is like a couple clubs and restaurants i think i actually i feel like we're this might be in a way like a little bit of a simpler endeavor than the previous uh citywalk saga i'm sorry to say orlando simplicity is nothing but smoke and mirrors boys it's nothing it's nothing but orlando magic like the name of the basketball team it's orlando magic it's shack dennis scott all of our favorite Magic players Yeah Dennis Scott Horace Grant briefly After he left the Bulls

And he wore blue goggles Instead of red Oh wow It felt weird It felt weird You kept up with your stats You kept getting your Sports Illustrated

Delivered to you Yes For kids For kids Yeah I remember there was A Sports Illustrated issue That said a kid

Beats Scottie Pippen One on one in horse. What? I always doubted that. We're off track, sorry. I always doubted that. That's fine. I don't know.

Maybe something like, and I don't know exactly what we're getting up to here, but maybe there's some way that we can, you know, whatever shackles you're currently dealing with, maybe there's a way that we can free you and get you to go play a game of horse with Scotty Pippen. Yes, yes. Well, you know, like you said, seems like orlando is a simple place but in fact beneath that simplicity is something much more complex orlando is very much a hub oh really of the city walks that unite us all okay you refer to this sort of multiverse These many malls that make up the universe of CityWalk There's Universal CityWalk obviously here in Los Angeles

There's CityWalk in Orlando Do you want to name all the other ones too? You know, there's Oh no, he's getting weak I won't make you do that Japan, there's one in Japan There's one in Japan Thank you Jason And so I just want to let you know

That you're not embarking on a simple journey This is going to be the most Difficult one yet Because There is a rift In the multiverse And that's all I can say at this moment. Oh, well.

Unless you need me to say more. Oh, I mean, I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind hearing more. Like, what are we doing here? We have to fix a rift, but we don't get to know what the rift is? Well, I mean, it's how you usually fix things. I need you to cover all of CityWalk Orlando. Right. So, like, we rate it and review. Rate it, review it, like, it's how you usually fix things. I need you to cover all of CityWalk Orlando. Right.

So, like, we rate it and review. Review it. Talk about it. Talk about our experiences in different ways. Experiences. Yes. Okay. Okay.

And don't skip any of it. Uh-huh. No skipping any of it. Okay. All the sectors must be covered. Well, but, like, I mean, okay, some of the things, you know, we went there. We spent a sizable amount of time there. Some of the things are, like, a little, you know, we went there, we spent a sizable amount of time there. Some of the things are like a little, you know, it's like something we could go to down the street.

Do we have to have done everything there in order for this to be written? Everything, every square foot. What feels thinner is actually thicker. Oh, okay. So that's opposite too. It like expands out like dimensionally just like the sign at cinnabon says what feels thinner is actually thicker they're icing all right that's the way that they've justified watering down their thick layers of icing deceptively thin looking icing

cinnabon yeah okay well we should have known we were in for some Fucking shit so I'm just Interested I'm interested to know because like Orlando so so and I'm growing weak Because of the rift oh no Okay well I guess I'm just this is a it's like you know How my multiverse is like there's so many infinite number Of worlds and options that's right I didn't realize

That that we traveled essentially To part of the multiverse I just thought it was another mall that was built after this mall out here was. It's a hub, damn it. Okay. How much any time is left? I'm so sorry. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it that it's sort of important.

There's sectors within it. And then those sectors also have gates. And those gates have doors. And those doorways lead to portals and there's jump points right so it's like when like wait whoa jump point i'm writing it down portals and jump points yes god i sent you a google doc yeah no these are long oh my god these are long long definitions. You've written like quantum physics theory here. You're going to have to boil it down for us.

So what, like jump points is like a way to like get from hub to hub in the multiverse? That's right, that's right. Well, I'll be your guide through it, but I'm also who you need to help as always. So, you know, I'm guiding you, but I also need your help. You know what I mean? Yeah. That dramatic archetype where the victim of the story is also the Obi-Wan. Yes, yes.

It's like if Obi-Wan was... And Princess Leia are the same. Yeah, was ill. Right. And he needed help. He needed help. Yeah, no, I understand. It's like if they took every Star Wars character and mushed them all up into one.

That's what a great character you are and what quality you bring to a narrative. I couldn't have put it better. It's like with the Yoda death scene, right? Yoda's dying, but he's also guiding, right? He is dying and guiding at the same time. Yeah, that's true. Well, thank God you don't have some complicated

backwards way of speaking because you've just delivered a lot of complication to what we're doing already. We have to solve a rift. We have to do it by reviewing everything at CityWalk Orlando. There's going to be sectors, gates, portals and jump points.

And those might yank us to other places or something? Oh, in phases. Oh, in phases. Okay. Phases. Okay. But it's still sectors, though.

Yes, of course, of course. I'm the sector keeper, of course. Okay. So, yes, it would have to be sectors. But also, then, the sectors, they're grouped into phases. Yes, that's right. And phases, and is there a way to know when a phase is done? Is that one of the things you listed?

Yes, yes. You'll know. You'll know when a phase is done. We'll feel it. You'll feel it. Okay. We'll feel like the multiverse will kind of make us have a warm feeling in our bellies. Yes, like a warmth.

It'll feel like you're waking up on Christmas morning or having your first kiss. On the same day? Eating your first Cinnabon. On Christmas morning? All on the same morning. That's an eventful morning. What a morning.

Jason might be the only person here whose first Cinnabon and first kiss gave him the same feeling. Well, yeah, he'd lay it over the counter and give the... Like a little friendly pack, like, thank you. Thank you. This 13-year-old is going to be very happy. Ah, Cinnabon and an RC Cola. Jason's like Richard Dawson from the family feud at Cinnabon.

Double kisses on every employee. But it's sweet. It's charming. It's sweet. What a modern reference. We're off to... All right. We got Richard Dawson.

We got jump points. We got a lot to look forward to here. All right. Well, it makes... Don't forget about the riffs. Okay. And the riffs. Yeah the riffs that's what's making me grow weak and weary oh i know i know um speaking of weak and weariness though one thing i

mean we haven't done this all together it's been over four years since the downtown disney ordeal we first met you know we've known each other now searcherer for five and a half years. Yeah, wow. That's when the City Walk Saga original was. Human years? Yes, our Earth years. I guess it's different for you having been in kind of a furry limbo. Every year for you is an eternity for me.

Oh my god, so five and a half eternities then? Five and a half eternities, yes. That's right, that's right. And wait, also there's just there's a thing here where like i i get fuzzy on it's been a long time but we we save you and we set your spirit free and it seems like every time you just fall back into as if i remember correct we checked in with you we did like let's let this cat out of the bag if the audience doesn't know there was a secret sector 20 of the original universal hollywood

saga which we disguised we called it universal cruise line as you helped us play a little a little fun joke a little naughty joke and in that one you were still with cricket wireless but then you were like you were on some kind of like compound you were like there was like a it was it was a corporate retreat but it felt more like a cult. Is that in the rear view? You're okay from that? That's technically in the rear view. I can't say much because I did sign an NDA.

So you're just back in regular society now. You're just hanging out, basically? I'm re-assimilating, yeah. we tried to unionize at cricket wireless but they put the i stopped that out so uh but i want um i won the powerball whoa you won the powerball you know the one of the billion dollar powerballs that yeah did you make billion dollars yeah they hit billion a couple times in the past few years But you didn't win a billion No, well, after taxes, no

Oh, okay You hit the big powerball I hit one of the big powerballs, yeah And we're helping you? Well, you know To quote one of our good friends You had enough money to buy Miami But you piss it away so fast.

No, we're never meant to last. Who are you quoting there? Jimmy Buffett from Pirate Looks at 40. Mike knew what I was talking about. Yeah, it took a second. I figured it out. It took a second for Mike. You come into the money

and then suddenly you're looking at your phone And you're getting a call from Hoboken, New Jersey And you're answering and suddenly The domain keeper is calling You haven't talked to him in 20 years But he's coming out of the woodwork Everyone's gone

Wait, we met a bunch of your cousins The last time All these other keepers Mooches your ass for money wait we met a bunch of your cousins and stuff the last time uh uh the the all these other keepers so like so they've all like mooches they all jumped on oh my god they're wow that's disgusting so i mean not all of not all i don't want to throw everyone but yeah there was some mooching so yeah that american dream mall always having money troubles i'm sure are you are you propping it up? Yes, pretty much.

So you're giving all these ghosts and keepers money, right? It's hard to say no. Yeah, yeah. So you probably don't even have much. No, I don't have much left. Does anyone have a lighter? A lighter? For a cigarette?

Like a big lighter? Oh, no, you switched to cigarettes? Oh, jeez. That indicates some stress. You were drooling last time with these cigarettes. No, I'm rolling my own now. You're rolling cigarettes, not joints? Just tobacco.

Spliffs, baby. Oh, you have a little tin of tobacco there. Okay. I was going to say, you stink. That was one thing. When you appeared, I didn't want to say anything. Just tobacco and stems and seeds for you. Yeah.

Well, Jason has a cigarette once in a while, so you maybe could light up with him. Bring one next time if you don't have one now. Yeah, it's the long parliaments. You know, Jay and I accidentally bought. I'm still going through them. Oh, yeah. On the trip, yeah, Jason's preferred cigarette is big, long parliaments. Like Cruella de Vil.

Not intentionally, but... Like Virginia Slims? Well, sort of. How long? cigarette is big long parliaments like like too much too much for one to smoke that was you just showed like three times i caught a fish even with the recessed filter it's too long you know taking in between bites of cinnabon taking a big long hit of a three foot cigarette that's in the park that's not in St. Paul in the smoke zone and a port entry

thank god we don't have to review the smoking areas they're not part of what we have to do this is crazy though that we like the last one was entirely about we had to go rescue all of your friends and cousins or brothers or whatever they were. Yeah. And then there were so many.

Well, you only said one. Thank you. And there were so many. Now you see why the money went so quick. Your family is, we should have known when we heard you had so many relatives that they're all, like, you have, like, just, like, a gigantic, I don't want to say this, but like backwoodsy family that all needs stuff out of you now that you've hit it rich? Yeah, they just came a-calling and a little here, a little there.

And you buy whatever the guy is that watches over the gurney mall. Oh, gurney keeper. Yeah, the goddamn gurney keeper. And then he's got a dozen kids and he's oh yeah i didn't think that they all have families stay in your guest house you lit up a second cigarette when you

already had one in your mouth i think you're just like really frazzled oh that's really a sad sound That's a sad exhale Uh-oh Is he, is he, well, like he's always been ill But this might be ill the way like people are ill Yeah, this is this, the toll of anxiety and stress And the world's, the world weariness is what I feel like is happening That's right, so you know, that's why As soon as I knew something was afoot

I almost feel like all this turmoil happening that's right so you know that's why i went as soon as i knew something was a foot i i almost feel like all this turmoil it's you know it's you know it's playing into the journey you're about to go on it's like maybe why i you know when you started saying basin is sanuk i realized like this is the right time man like i need my i need my boys uh-huh yeah and sanuk is now california so oh wow wow we missed the level yeah yeah yeah well we missed the final part of the prayer maybe we need to say that towards the end or you knew you you had to come but what i'm wondering now is like okay because i was thinking at the top initially i'm like maybe we can get through this in like a breezy like a i don't know like a 12 day 13 day oh right okay i don't want to

accuse i'm not i'm not i'm not saying this someone might accuse you of like did you come in and give us a bunch of like new rules and other stuff to do just to like have somewhere to be because you're stressed and sick of your family i am no like i'm just like coming to like i'm hanging out and like you're giving us a bunch of work and then it gives you an excuse to show up and hang out just show up and hang out and like yeah no no i mean i brought pizza man so that was cool oh sweet oh okay oh then you know what oh that was forgiven you do have like a big suitcase full of clothes as well ghost clothes in my ghost suitcase? Yeah.

If I can see through it, that's why I know what's in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I crash here tonight? In my garage? Well, maybe if you guys split me up, right? I'll stay with you on Sundays. Oh, I thought you meant your arm would go with me

and then your legs would go with Jason. Yeah, well, the thing is, I get to hit you you on Sundays. Oh, I thought you meant like your arm would go with me and then your legs would go with Jason. Yeah, well, the thing is, you know, I get to like hit you up on things. Like Mike and I have had children since the last one of these that we did. Oh, that's awesome. But Jason has just moved to a new place. And I don't really, I think you've got like an office, but an office can really work.

Oh, I think Jason would be perfect, actually. Yeah, but you know, I got a lot of health stuff going on right now. So I don't know if I'm exactly right. Yeah, but don't you want a buddy? I mean, with the morale, I think, would really, really help. Hang on, hang on. I'm not going to impose. I'm not going to impose.

I'll stay with Scott Saturdays and Sundays. Okay. Stay with Jason's Mondays, Tuesdays. Wednesday afternoon, Jason will drop me off at Mike's. Mike, hey, man, you know how to be around. I'll hang out with Lindsay and the baby. Okay, all right. Wait, when I'm not there, you're going to be hanging out?

Yeah, of course, man. See, it's like you put some thought into this. Wednesday through Friday I'm with Mike, and then Mike, Friday evening, maybe Saturday morning, he'll do another drop at Scott's. Yeah, you don't know how to be there, man. I'll hang out there and the baby, all right? It's cool.

We're all groovy. So I can get, like, child care out of it, potentially? Scott's yeah you don't gotta be there man I'll hang out there in the baby alright It's cool we're all groovy So I can get like child care out of it potentially Actually I prefer if your son watched me I mean he's getting his Faculties about he's pretty together He's a pretty mature kid At this point okay

Cool cool You gonna start going for electrical outlets Are those the portals Or something You need to travel Between them Oh hey that's an idea That's pretty cool

Outlets That's another way You can try it Outlets Portals Gates Okay Okay

So Alright Well we'll figure out This arrangement Well maybe we'll divvy up You know Who gets that third night Or whatever

But I So what you're saying is Not only this arrangement well maybe we'll divvy up you know uh who gets that third night or whatever uh uh but i uh so what you're saying is not only are we for many days in a row i don't think we've defined out many days i'm a little nervous to ask but for however long this goes we have to do all these records we're also going to be all living together that's right okay that sounds kind of phone you put it that way right yeah like a big what's the what's the lock-in like the high school and everybody yeah yeah lock-in at discovery zone oh right yeah they would do that too if your parents paid a little extra yeah or i think it was official i didn't mean to say it was like a thing. No, no, of course. You'd like slip the guy some cash. Slip a little cash. And he'd give you the keys.

Or you had a friend that went to church and you act like you liked church for a weekend so you could go with him. Oh, yeah. Yeah, sure. Sure, I hear that. Church was going to discover his own. Little suburban understandings, you know.

Yes, of course. Little suburban understandings. Little suburban understandings. Your rap name. It's not peace in the neighborhood, not fight. Yeah. A Cinnabon opened on the nearest block. I gotta tell you, I was in shock. They had heads in a bunch and i couldn't miss leaned over the

counter and i gave him a kiss yeah a little kiss doesn't do aggressive um i i think i could get it started yeah i have an artifact about city walk orlando and it's like jbr kind of seemed like down bad so maybe this will make you feel a little better. Oh, my, an artifact? Yes, yes, this gives me strength. Now, I knew this would come because I went back in my eBay purchases. Okay.

I bought this in November 2020. That's a while ago. Yeah, it's a while ago. So this is, well, how to set this up. This is an 8x10 glossy photo of a press photo of CityWalk concept art. Wow. Photo of a watercolor CityWalk, and then it has a little info taped to the back. What?

Wow. Oh, my God. I think it's from a press kit. Oh, this could be a real guide as we get into kind of the nitty gritty, the big picture stuff about City Walker. This is the first maybe worthwhile thing said so far. You're looking

for information, sure. I don't want to know. You want to know what's up with us and our sleeping information as well. Do you want me to read the info on that? You're the only one who knows what's on there. It's a watercolor. So this is a photograph of a watercolor of about what the one corner of CityWalk Orlando looks like.

I mean, it looks maybe a little nicer. Concept art gives me strength. Concept art gives me strength. Concept art gives me strength. Oh, wow, the color's coming back into your face when you see that. And my look, my suitcase is becoming more corporeal. Oh, yeah, and I can't see your clothes as well. Your hand-rolled cigarettes are much tighter now.

They're not kind of falling apart. I'm feeling a little better. Go ahead, Jason. Okay, Orlando, Florida. Scheduled to open in late 1998. That didn't happen. it opened february 99 uh universal city walk will be the first major entertainment venue in the evolving global destination resort universal studios escape the expansive 30 acre complex will feature a must-see gathering of innovators and originators of some of the world's most popular entertainment.

Venues announced to date include Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, E! Entertainment Television, Bob Marley, a tribute to freedom still hanging on, Motown Cafe, Fallen Brother, Emeril's Restaurant Orlando, Fallen Brother, NASCAR Cafe, Fallen Brother Emeril's Restaurant Orlando, Fallen Brother NASCAR Cafe, Fallen Brother A 20 seat 5,000 seat Universal Cineplex Cinema is offering the cutting edge in projection and sound systems. But not the cutting edge of

posters. I'd say the same posters they had when they opened We'll get into it. The world's largest hard rock cafe and Hard Rock Live, their first dedicated live concert venue. Additionally, Hard Rock has recently teamed up with the National Basketball Association to create the first ever NBA-themed restaurant, which will premiere at CityWalk in early 1999.

Wow. Fallen Brother as well? Fallen Brother as well in early 1999 wow fallen brother as well fallen brother as well yeah fallen brother as well i was gonna say like boy like boy that's an exciting little press release uh and it might whet your appetite for what we're going to talk about in this series but most of it has closed so uh but we went you know we went and we did what they have there now today i think something that bears mentioning is that when we first did the city walk hollywood saga the very first saga five and a half years ago uh that was city walk hollywood was at the time from where jason and i were living less than 10 minutes away yeah mike had to hoof it mike had to do an entire 16 or 17 minutes drive uh to get up there this time but you know, in downtown Disney,

we went a little further. That's an hour away or so. This time, for the first time, we traveled across the country to gather the contents for a daily podcast mall-oriented series. I believe that we are the only people ever to travel across the nation

just to go to City Walk Orlando. And I think that when the series is over, we will remain the only people who will ever do that. Yeah, we should get like a Presidential Medal of Freedom or something for that kind of dedication to what we're doing, to our jobs and our livelihood. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you could fooliden into thinking that's the kind of thing you should give a medal maybe just get the right of somebody getting the right

advisor's ear folks smoke town cafe a friend of the show friend of the show anthony geo and i always talk about uh how if we just hung out in the lobby of a D.C. bar, we could be working for Biden within three months. It would not be. I'm dead serious. Young go-getters. Yeah. There would be. I truly I could do it in three months.

I swear. Three months. A quarter of an eternity. It would be. Exactly. A mere quarter of an eternity. So, Jason, that was some very good backstory. Just a little since this is the first one to

to kick us in a little bit and then and then we can find out what what our sector and I guess phase are today this is kind of a a crucial part of the big expansion that Universal Orlando did in the late 90s to herald the arrival of jason's beloved islands of adventure um when universal orlando opened it was one theme park a great theme park an innovative theme park but just a theme park it wasn't a resort and it's really what do you need to make a resort you need hotels in this case you need a vast series of interconnected waterways and then you need a shopping and dining and retail destination where you can drink and dance the night away.

That's right. And you know, it felt like a throwback to the old CityWalk saga because the heart of CityWalk was less than 10 minutes away by boat from like Sapphire Falls or Aventura. This is true. It was very relaxed in the getting there day to day, moment to moment.

Getting there in general involved Mike missing a flight, and I fucked up my toe. There was a lot. It's already been, we started at a deficit, I would say. Sure. But we went, we did it, we we found so much fantastic stuff to do um and i guess with that uh you should tell us wow this will this will take us back tell us what our sector assignment is today boys boys we're back baby it's phase one sector one universal studio store jason cinnabon hello quiet flight

quiet flight surf shop rolls off the tongue that's yeah you got it you know you love it and coke icon boys boys please complete this phase in sector. And good luck, boys. Okay, can do. Thank you. Off to the races. You might also better mention it. Wait, you said February 4th, 1999 was the opening of this.

So we're not far, I guess, from the 25th anniversary. This really lined up very nicely. This is when we're on an auspicious occasion that everyone across the nation is celebrating yeah celebrating with our say walk brothers has biden been down there yet we've been bob marley spirit we tribute freedom every day has he been on the uh cowfish in front of the cowfish american innovation led to the combination of burgers and sushi that's the spirit we can never lose sight of. Well, he's got to do it soon if he hasn't. It also opens as part of

when the resort was renamed Universal Studios Escape. Yes. This bizarre era. That is one of the weirdest things they decided on. Yes. I like the logo.

I got some pins. The yellow words? The yellow and blue. I look around the time uh of me buying vintage uh press photos i was also buying vintage like escape pin sets okay so specifically of the escape era it's like one uh escape one uh island of adventure one city walk logo so that was like your taylor swift eras it's the universal era yeah yeah jason's escape era yeah yeah that was the escape era i was trying to

escape my house so i was buying theme park merchandise that was that was the marketing the marketing was escape your horrible life and come here they didn't know universal didn't know how bad the world would get them yeah from february to march you can only do the one park and city walk islands isn't ready till may oh is that right oh what an awkward time that's that's odd um yeah they in this their way of announcing like what you know how disney like disney has more than one thing to do they call it a resort universal was like we got a new theme park than one thing to do, they call it a resort. Universal was like, we got a new theme park. What are we going to do? Let's call it Escape.

This single move confused the public so much that Islands of Adventure was considered somewhat of a disappointment when it opened. Naming your hotel Escape was not a slam dunk. Well, no, the hotels had additional names. And they didn't even open all at the same time. Yeah, escape, noun, a collection of hotels and retail districts and theme parks. That's what one escape is.

I don't think they called it an escape or the escape, just escape. No articles for that. What a strange time. And we'll at some point delve a little back into like some of the things that they that they did have when this place opened but the the first assignment i believe uh was the hey where better to start than with the basics with universal studios store the big store with over 2 000 items that is all things that you uh maybe forgot to get while you were in the theme parks. Or you didn't pay for theme park admission

so you can get it there. Or you didn't go to the little tiny store at the very turnstiles when you are leaving each park. If you missed seven opportunities, this is your opportunity. Did you guys spend any quality time in Universal Studios store? Sure.

I did. Yeah. I have another artifact. Oh, Jason's got something in his bag. Another artifact. Jason's like Felix the cat with this magic bag. I was going to say like Indiana Jones with all the artifacts. Oh, when he's going to replace the artifact with a bag of sand?

Yes, right. Jason replaces the idol with a big bag of sand yes right jason jason replaces the the idol with the hoagie i'm not leaving that reverse reverse he puts the idol down it takes the hoagie i put the idol down take the hoagie then i do the bag i grow in and i do the bag of sand because i'm like i guess i gotta get the item. So buy me many hoagies. Okay, I have not built this yet clear. This is a 3D metal model kit of the Universal Studios

Florida Entrance Arch. Oh, wow. It is no glue or solder needed. Realizing it. You don't need to solder it with a dagger? You don't need to solder it. You just't need to solder it you you just bend back tabs on it although uh it it does show that uh tweezers or pliers would be helpful so slightly

less you're gonna you're gonna cut up your hands i'm gonna cut up my hand so i have little bookshelf decoration and of course i asked the workers hey do you have one of these of the islands of an adventure lighthouse? And I probably got multiple, oh, huh, yeah, we don't. That's weird, right? We probably should. And I'm like, yeah, I agree. But I settled for the art. No big deal.

I might just complete somebody's life over here. Just give me something to do that'll bring me joy. Only the 25th anniversary coming up. Jason, what other ones do they have of that series? Okay, they had The Globe, and they had a shark. The shark hoisted up. Oh, on the- A caught shark.

The caught brood. Which I considered getting, and then I thought the effigy of like a dead shark in my house. I thought that seemed like bad vibes. You thought that would like summon some sort of hell spawn? I mean, Sector Keeper could answer the question, would an effigy to a dead shark bring? Oh, yeah, that's 100%. That's opening up a gate. Yeah, it's not even the right shark.

It's not even Jaws. It's the other shark. The devil loves shark effigies. Really quickly, what does it say in green on there in the corner if it's not too much to... Oh, it says Metal Earth. That's the

company that makes these things. Is that part of the multiverse? That sounds like it. It sounds like it would be going to Metal Earth where everything's made of metal. Metal Earth will be a stop. Oh, no. A long road. I don't want to go there.

We might become metal. We'll freeze into metal and never get to leave it. Metal Earth is really towing the line of, is it meant to be a play on Metal Earth, you think? Confusingly. Probably. Maybe. Jason, let me ask a question. Would it be possible for you to assemble that while we're doing the podcast?

Well, who knows how many days we have So I can certainly get started This podcast right now? Oh, right now? No, I gotta transfer to home And I'm gonna cut off my hands for sure a little bit I tell you what When I stay with you and Jane, we'll do it together

Oh, great Hey, are you good at walking dogs? You got that Doberman. You can really help us out if you can take the dog out. You actually should go with him. I'll hang with Garfield, man. But here's the thing. Garfield's got to watch me. Well,

do you like to sleep? Okay, great. I think you'll work out just fine. So that was your big souvenir purchase. That was my base. From that place. Yeah, from there. A little arch that will be

assumedly irritating to put together. That's the most last minute gift I've ever seen. A last minute gift for myself. Jason puts no thought into his own gifts i mean i didn't buy the five dollar generic chocolate bar with the meat you know and that feels more thought yeah that is a thing they have yeah they'll they'll sucker you you know what this this place has is like um they have this in hollywood too they'll be like you know a bunch of stuff with the old logo, with the old neon Universal Studios logo, which I love. I've bought stuff with that on it.

But I noticed they'll have like retro universal chocolates. And you flip it around like, it's just chocolates. Those don't have the logo. And most chocolates aren't $9 for no reason. It's a trick. Utterly generic. Yeah, yeah. Almost worked on me. I do love the logo and most chocolates aren't uh nine dollars for no reason and it's a trick utterly generic yeah yeah almost worked on me i do love the logo that much yeah i mean they've got the like the slight amount of retro stuff that is attractive to men of a certain age's eyes um but you know it's it's this is the store which is generally this is what you get grandma if you go to universal yeah this is the sort of standard generally This is what you get grandma if you go to Universal Yeah

This is the sort of standard stuff Obviously there's like more hardcore Harry Potter stuff Because they've got some of the in-park merchandise here There's a big Harry Potter wing Yeah and it's very Creative whatever you call I guess you could say Imagineered It's a Disney word

They didn't think of a better word Escaped They escaped their brains get away get away a lot of the um i kind of noticed this across the board a lot of the merchandise a lot more standardized than the last time we were at universal i feel like there's a lot of minions a lot of fast furious certainly a lot Jurassic World. Yeah, that's always the shift. Sometimes you go, oh, they're doing a lot more stuff for me.

And then a couple months later, it's all gone. And it's just a thick sweatshirt in its place that just says Universal Studios. That's the stuff that sells. Like, look, we're in the minority here. I shouldn't be going in these places going, come on, give me something for Michael. Give me something that I want specifically what do you want specifically

what is there an item that we all would especially like any bit of universal lore they do in Tokyo Disney they do have like ride like a lot of ride vehicle toys and stuff yeah they're way better at that there's so much better about the type of thing that we would want

so yeah like they don't sell a scoop a spider-man scoop or something or they don't sell like that type of thing is more what i'm looking for um yeah shirts like with optimus prime or something saying uh your bravery save the planet like obviously that's specifically for me but um yeah i want more toys that forget about the shirt uh or or you know actually do it as a shirt but it should do it backwards that you can look at yourself in the mirror and that message is bouncing back at you you get to start every day yeah yeah yeah my bravery and it's got a little cut out of like his helmet area so it looks like you're wearing it too on the mirror or they should sell those like

mirrors that used to be carnival game prizes that have like the designs on the outside that's kind of what i didn't know until i was a grown adult that those were uh very popular uh as cocaine mirrors the ones where it's like the mirror would say like led zeppelin along that people would try to get it because then they could do cocoa off it how did you find this out i don't know i i don't know i feel like i just learned about it like through osmosis like oh yeah so wait wait wait i remember these mirrors yeah when i was very young you would like try to win the ring toss game or pop the balloon like a clown wig and you look in the mirror and you had like a clown wig is that what you're talking no no like the outside would have like oh it's a band's name yeah a band's name and

like maybe some stripes or something okay okay i looked up led zeppelin coke mirror and there is a listing for that phrase is in there and it says, has that marvelous cocaine era look. So a coke mirror in quotes. I don't doubt that there's something to this. I just think that it's funny that you're a kid playing carnival games. You're like, I don't know, you're doing ring toss and there's a guy next to you like, it's like, oh, damn it, I'm out of rings already.

Okay, another round, another round. Someone won the Pink Floyd one. Can I buy 700 at a time? How much is the yes one? Is that the same level? Can I just pay out of pocket for it? Can I just have the Secret Life of Pets Coke mirror? I'm just saying, if they repurpose those old surplus mirrors

you put Optimus Prime saying I'm proud of you on it. There's so many old surplus mirrors sticking around. Surely. Warehouses are just spilling Wait, you know what? No, this is you know, this is completely a thing I will absolutely give you that, Jason, because now I've just found Black Sabbath Coke mirror

these were usually found at carnivals So I guess the band, I've just never heard of this. As a kid, I was like, wow, if you like that band, you could get a mirror with their logo on it. That's cool. So the band aspect is what made it cool to do the Coke off the mirror. I think the rock and roll aspect. Because it was rock and roll.

So that's probably why. I thought it was a universal thing. No, I guess. No. The people doing it would definitely always say like, hey, you ready to do this cocaine? What, are you expecting some normal boring mirror? Guess what? This one's got rock and roll in it.

Yeah, then it would get everyone excited. My mirror that says rat. Yeah. My dare officer Kevin said, have you seen a Coke mirror run? Oh, wow. Well, they were still referring to it then. I feel like he was speaking from experience, maybe. McGruff never did a commercial about that, as far as I remember.

McGruff never did a song about Coke mirrors? No. Coke mirrors. that as far as i remember mcgrath never did a song about coke mirrors no coke mirrors don't don't win coke mirrors don't play ring toss nothing but trickery to get paraphernalia out into the world don't for two smaller stuffed animals instead of one coke mirror pick two of the smaller plush instead of one coke mirror. Pick two of the smaller plush instead of the larger mirror for cocaine. The fluffier a plush is, the less likely it is it could be used for cocaine usage.

Now, you could carry cocaine across state lines in the back of a plush if you cut it open, but you shouldn't do it. And whatever you do, keep those plushes away from open flames or else this house is going up like a tinderbox uh the only thing worse than coke your batteries right mcgrath counterfeit batteries

make sure you buy duracell if not they may be just a bunch of newspaper in an outer ceramic shell. You could get fooled very easily. Plenty of artists are talking about cocaine, white lines, that song. Nobody else is doing music about not buying counterfeit batteries. Criminals are always sculpting batteries out of Play-Doh and putting them into a 7-Eleven and making people buy them. You got to make sure they're not doing that that common thing people do watch out soldering the packaging so that it can be sold using tweezers tiny tweezers to construct counterfeit batteries metal earth batteries metal earth batteries an approximation A little model of a battery.

Well, does that pretty much cover Universal Studios? Can I ask what you guys would want? Your dream Universal piece of merch? Oh, you know what? I was veering to E.T. Adventure. I was thinking something with Botanicus, but no, wrong. I want a little talking Stevenven spielberg action figure that you press you press his director's hat and he says we haven't got much time so i'll be brief

truly oh that would i know it's got recently sent around some pictures of uh i think they're companies overseas that make these ultra realistic dolls in fact one of them we talked about on the show we talked about on the show there's a third party non somebody made a spielberg but it's not a licensed spielberg it's like mr director man they call it that and yeah but you can't get it it's sold out and it's like very hard to find but there's new ice there was a michael somebody's making a michael jackson and there's a video of them putting in the realistic eyeballs into the head so i just wonder what level of realism do you want on your Steven Spielberg doll?

Do you want it to be what size? Quarter scale, sixth scale, 112 scale, which is like the normal size of an action figure? And what kind of, do you want it cartoon, Steven, or do you want it as realistic as possible? I want it to look like an old Return of the Jedi when they didn't have this technology yet. This stuff creeps me out.

I don't want to see every molecule of Michael Jackson's eyeballs. Nobody should have ever wanted to see that. I like them like blunter and worse. Less articulation. Shittier. Old school. And I want that voice box to sound like shit.

Yeah, it won't be him. It won't be him doing the voice it'll be a sound to hire yeah his brother jim spielberg recording all the lines in cantonese or mandarin every language yeah jason i asked i asked the question to you but i'm not gonna let you answer and i'm gonna answer for you and see if this is correct, if you would do this. Would you buy, let's say it's a $250 really perfect recreation of sort of the entrance area, the port of entry, and the lighthouse? It's a really nice looking model that looks like a lot of work was put into it, and it's $250. Yeah, we consider that. Consider, okay okay that doesn't sound like a slam dunk uh i think i would yeah it looks great it looks exactly like it yeah i'd love some port of entry

merch uh all right i answer you can answer i'd love more islands of adventure merch in general because i thought it was kind of lacking yeah you know would you what if that what if you're the the lighthouse that my brain will not allow me to retain the name of if the lighthouse was fat that shape was fashioned into big old bong i that's got to be a third party company that's your mixed director man i also i have no idea how to use a bong. I've never used a bong. Oh, wow. I'll show you when I stay with you. Oh, okay. Thanks. I guess I can see one in your see-through ghost suitcase.

It's a water bong. I shouldn't say that. You're our guest and I want to be nice. It makes you think if you're just doing this to have a place to crash and do drugs. That I'm just couch surfing? It's a little bit. What is this? All this multiverse stuff that we've dressed up. Gates, portals, holes, wormholes. Wormholes?

That was a new one. I feel like. I didn't mention wormholes? No, there's wormholes too. Psychic Keeper, do you have a piece of merch, a dream piece of merch from Universal? Oh goodness, let me think about it. What was yours? What would yours be? Oh, I was Let me think about it. What was yours? What would yours be?

Oh, I was saying like sort of really good ride vehicle toys. Oh, right. The Scoop. Yeah, right. Scoop or anything. Oh, goodness. The Rip Ride Rocket roller coaster vehicle. I can't, you know, I can't think of one off the top.

You said thick sweatshirts, right? Yeah, they have those, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I like that. Okay, so they have those already. Oh, okay. Yeah, and it'll say this is Universal Studios and it's got like a collection of the characters on it. A thicker sweatshirt, yeah, sweatshirt.

One thing to note is that... Or maybe like a Hermione Coke mirror. So she's on it, so it looks like when you're like you're like putting your face like on her while you're doing it yeah and it says like you know levioso bro well that's good they're not gonna make that official third party again third party they'll receive magical girl uh multi-use mirror yeah because oh yeah they'll have one of those surplus warehouses with all the mirrors they'll girl multi-use mirror. That's the name. One of those surplus warehouses with all the mirrors, they'll just put that on it, slap it on there.

I was going to say, one thing about this, you know, like you gave us the heads up that this was coming, cause we could just go down there, get ready, because then we're going to have to explore the multiverse. You didn't go. You didn't go with us i couldn't make it you couldn't make it it was something very i mean i'll probably dealing with

you know uh uh you know the zone keeper or whatever it is yeah yeah serving papers to the zone keeper and serving paper like for your restraining order or something? I'm in it bad, man. Oh, man. You're trying to get your family away from you? I'm just noticing now your bag looks like, is it crypto.com merch? Is it? Did you get involved in like the Sandbank Benfreed scandal?

Big time. Were you in that polycule? I was in the polycule But I flipped You flipped? What does that mean? I flipped man I'm a fucking rat man You ratted on the polycule

I plea bargained man He was after your money too then Not only ghosts are getting after your money He came in and he was probably he was after your money too then not only yeah ghosts are trying are getting after your money but then the real world he was like i'm the crypto keeper and you know and like i'm the crypto i'm three sheets to the fucking wind man and so he owes you yeah you were open to maybe get some like he said we're gonna rename staples center we're doing it all man that sounds legit yeah there was a time where it seemed said we're gonna rename staples center we're doing it all man that sounds legit yeah there was a time where it seemed like we're still we're gonna have to live with that arena name for a long time and sinker yeah geez uh did you get any like reward money for ratting out the

polycule yeah the reward was not going to jail well that's good i mean that's something that's not yeah but hey at least it'd be a place to crash i don't know that yeah yeah i guess you Well, that's good. I mean, that's something. That's not... Yeah, yeah. But hey, at least it'd be a place to crash. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I guess you got a good point there. Three hots and a cot, you know? Jason's stared down the barrel of jail before.

He's like, that wouldn't be so bad. Jail the army, you know? The judge gives you a choice if you're young enough, you know. If I ever get wrongfully busted for one of these, for this white snake coke mirror. Yeah. I just, I didn't even know what I meant. I thought a white snake was cool. I was a kid. I always forget.

We only can record because it's Fleet Week, right? You're in for, you're just in for a little bit, right? Well, i'm still at ease sir at ease boys can you so i second can you transform your body into like wearing a little navy suit for us oh wow oh it matches what jason's wearing wearing. Yeah, but I got the big lolly and you don't. Yeah.

My usual recording, big lolly. You know that we're done, like we need to end the episode when it's out. Yeah, when it's out. Two and a half hours. Yeah. This place just moved. It was four stores before. These are our first fallen brothers, I think. this place just moved it was built

four stores before these are our first fallen brothers I think Universal was greedy they kicked all of these tenants out so that they could open a big store full of their stuff yes and this used to be where the legacy store is now which in the time

between being there and recording and releasing the legacy store is now okay in the time between being there and recording and releasing the legacy stores now so century keeper i'm sure as you know there was something called the legacy store there was a bunch of like old school universal stuff but it's not there anymore so we don't have to cover it now right now you uh that sounds about right i mean get into it a little bit yeah just a little okay all right if we get into it a little bit We're off the hook Oh thank god Yeah

Okay This place This entire big space Used to be The Island Clothing Company Respects to Fallen Brother Yeah Something called

Pick Which was spelled P Exclamation point Q It's a bunch of Funko pops and shit Okay

Fossil We lost a fossil It was a long of Funko Pops and shit. Fossil. We lost a fossil. It was a long fossil. A long fossil? Yeah, I mean, this is... This was a long store. Like a long cigarette. The store is very wide.

Oh, that's what you're saying. I didn't know if it meant like long time, like it was in the spot for long. No, it was a long, a very narrow fossil. Like a dinosaur spine. Like a dog run. Your dog could go nuts in that fossil. Yeah, up and down.

And then, yeah, watch out. He's going to eat every watch. And then there was a store. There was something called Fresh Produce. Probably a place to get vegetables, healthy snacks. No, this was a clothing store. I saw a listing that said that it had clothing which came in vegetable colors.

What store doesn't have vegetable colors? There was a green shirt? Yeah. And this brother fell? I guess maybe Fresh Produce was as confusing as calling a resort escape. Yeah, yeah.

If you need to Google what the store means before you go in, that's a bad sign. Yeah. So anything else? Do we move on? I think so. Wow, that is our first thing completed. Oh, my God. Hey, we're breezing now.

Oh, my God. It's almost over. I think I earned this one. I'm going to light it up. You have to keep a cigarette count, a rolled cigarette count. Wait a minute. I think you, did you plan this for, because you know what? I detect a little flavor on that.

I feel like I get a whiff of cinnamon. That's right. Because I think. That's right. I think our next. Each of my cigarettes is themed. Wow. Wow. Wow. So's right. That's right. Each of my cigarettes is themed. Wow. Wow.

Hit that Cinnabon, boys. Alright, alright. That's how you transition us. Okay, so Cinnabon. We're back to Cinnabon. This was part of the original one and now we're tasked with talking about Cinnabon again. Did anybody go there?

I did. You did. Yes, I did. I had an iced coffee in the morning. Yeah. And I said, oh, look at these mini Cinnabons. There's like- The sleeve.

Well, they have a sleeve. Yes, they have a sleeve of Cinnabons. I said, oh, could I purchase one? They said, no, you have to buy six. And I said Six sleeves Not gonna get them right now This was what size of the Six sleeves

No no six in a sleeve Essentially Or at least the sleeve I was looking at Jason might have been looking at a different sleeve of cinnamon rolls I ate the sleeve at Port Ventry I did eat the sleeve It doesn't count But it doesn't count

But you bought it in Let's get out of here You bought it in Islands of Adventure Because there's a Cinnabon when you walk into Islands of Adventure as well. It's not it. It doesn't count. Let's get out of here. But you bought it in Islands of Adventure because there's a Cinnabon when you walk into Islands of Adventure as well. Yes, right at the end. That's not what we're talking about. It's next to the Starbucks.

Jason was looking at his own sleeve where he keeps a little cinnamon on the hidden, like a card shark. Yeah, if you remember Taxi Driver, when he gets a hinge, he rigs up something to wear under his shirt so we can real quick you know get a handgun slide into his hand i did that it was set up and i practiced i practice in the mirror a coke mirror yeah if i can practice it an oreo speed wagon yeah yeah

you won at nine at a carnival the mirror might seem say boston but you just walked into hell if you're in a store and you're stressed about a lack of Islands of Adventure metal... What is it? Yeah, it's a little metal model. Metal earth. Yeah, yeah. Metal earth. Yeah, yeah.

Just like, all right, getting a little stressed. Bang! Cinnamon hit. Yeah. So wait. So then, all right, you wanted one single cinnamon Cinnabon. I wanted to get a small Cinnabon. Just a small little mini one.

You wanted one small. They would sell you a big full-size Cinnabon, which is the size of a dog's head. A medium-sized dog's head. Oh, Mike's famous method of measurements. Like, not a Great Dane's head. Well, a Great Dane is a smaller

head, I guess. So maybe it is similar to a Great Dane's head. Did you try, there was like a stand-up sign. Did you try the breakfast sandwich where they have a Cinnabon and put sausage and egg in it? I don't think I even saw that. Okay. But those flavors don't fit together. Well, but I don't think it had the icing.

They fit together. Okay, wait. Salt and sweet. Oh, okay. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, those are all things that might be on a breakfast plate it's kind of like a mcgriddle oh yeah yeah it's a mcgriddle very embedded sweetness i suppose oh but the like caked in chemical sweet i don't know i don't know about this yeah i mean it's it's it

could taste good but it's gonna be gross there's no way around that some aspect of it yeah um so they denied you they would not allow me to single purchase a small cinnabon okay even if i even if i asked nicely um but i got a sweet of they only sell like sweet coffee as well you can't just get a regular iced coffee it has to also contain like 200 calories of course they're they have the ingredients somewhere the ingredients are there they couldn't have sweet coffee if they didn't have regular coffee if they let me behind the counter i think i could have figured it out but it's maybe it's possible it's not maybe it's pre-mixed and they wouldn't they wouldn't let you behind the counter they probably wouldn't they let jason but not me they know he knows what he's doing right no i think they would have you would

have oh maybe yeah um so i had the coffee i will say i mean it was a delicious dessert They know he knows what he's doing. No, I think they would have. Oh, maybe, yeah. So I had the coffee. I will say, I mean, it was a delicious dessert coffee in the morning. It was just like a vanilla sort of iced coffee. Yeah, get your 39 grams of sugar out of the way. Get it put in there before 10 a.m. So, yeah, I started my day one day with a Cinnabon coffee. Usually it would be like a Starbucks or Epcot.

I just went to one of the kiosks. So sorry for bringing Epcot up. He hates theme parks. I know, I know. It's just an impossible mention of Joffrey's. He's shaking. Yeah, yeah. Did it have any impact on you?

You felt like starting your day with a sweeter coffee? Here's what I'll say about myself just in general. I think as I age, and maybe I brought this up before. I know I have. Is that I do think my stomach is becoming a little less tolerant to attacking it with sugar and chemicals. I think that that is not as good and not as easy a cell for my stomach as I age. And yet I, who had this problem from the beginning of this podcast, was mocked. You are no fun.

You're not a little treat boy like us, the little treat boys. Ow, my stomach. It's like there's razors in it it You didn't drink coffee for a long time I started drinking coffee when I was about 36 years old 36 or 37 You are 36 I feel like I mistake you for 16, 17 all the time Oh, thank you so much

You hit 36? I actually am, yeah, around 36 I thought you were a junior in high school, Ben Thank you so much for saying that Yeah He wears band t-shirts of who was popular when you were in you were telling me that in your era of middle school you were telling me that you thought olivia rodrigo and i were like peers yeah so yeah i appreciate that

um but yeah so so half peers uh uh so i'm not saying i threw up i'm not saying i had a nasty shit at city walk i'm not saying any of that i'm just saying right off the bat in the morning i'm less tolerant of a crazy sugar bomb in my stomach than i used to be i can still as usual can still hang i can still go you put a fucking cupcake in front of me i'll eat it it. Doesn't matter how big it is. I'll eat it. And I won't shit immediately. I can still handle it.

I'll snort. I'll snort so much frosting off of a. I'll sprinkle. Sprinkles. I'll snort sprinkles. Off of a foreigner Coke mirror. Jimmy. Whatever they call it.

They call them jimmies sometimes. Sprinkles. Back where I came from, it was like rainbow sprinkles and chocolate jimmies. Chocolate jimmies. That's how I knew them growing up but i think it depends on what part of pennsylvania or jersey or new york chocolate sector keeper you ever had a cupcake sprinkled with chocolate jimmies i can't say but we only call them sprinkles but i've jason i think is the one who talked showed me the jimmies and it's just sprinkles yeah it's just sprinkles sprinkles the jimmies. And it's just sprinkles? Yeah, it's just sprinkles.

Sprinkles are jimmies? Some areas of the country, people call them that. Yeah, yeah. So it's a regional thing. As usual, it's a regional thing. Yeah. So yeah, I had that and I liked it,

but it's not my preference as far as empty stomach right away. Yeah. It's not mine either. I didn't do anything from the Cinnabon. I brought the gift of information. Information such as that the recipe of the original

Cinnabon recipe came from somebody named Gerilyn Brousseau who ran a restaurant in the Seattle area called Brousseau's. There were people who were looking to start a cinnamon bun place that would go into malls, that would take down the prominent one at the time, which I think might have been called PJ Cinnamons.

They had PJ Cinnamons in the crosshairs. It's time to snipe them. And they were looking for the most delicious cinnamon bun they could find. Gerilyn Brousseau was the source. She is still with us she's referred to today as the cinnamom and she seems very nice oh yeah we call her the cinnamami cinnamami i don't want to do this to this nice person all right i don't want to add creepiness to it jason's glasses are fogging upining a literal mommy made of cinnamon.

Yeah. Not this Gerilyn. No, she now spends, the inventor of the Cinnabon is still with us and spends her life removing landmines in Vietnam and planting trees in their place. That is what the Cinnabon does. Cinnabon trees?

Cinnamon bun trees? McDonaldland-esque magical cinnamon bun trees. Wow. Wow. You could just lick the bark and you'd get a sweet treat. That's nice. She's like Jimmy Carter or something out of office. She's doing a lot more good even, I would say, in the world.

That's nice. More good than Cinnabon? Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. What was the old place called? Cinnamon? I think it's PJ's. PJ cinnamons a now defunct i hope i'm not making that up oh maybe i do i i credit myself for uh creativity have we ever said the tj cinnamon apologies have we ever said tj cinnamons

on this show i don't think i am amazed that we have not come across T.J. Cinnamons. Again, a regional thing, depending on where you were. Perhaps Missouri, it looks like. Wow, T.J. Cinnamons. Your place might have been T.J. Cinnamons. Eventually, T.J. Cinnamons was bought out by Arby's, which I think killed the brand. Oh, wait a minute.

Wait, hold on. I'm reading that Arby's locations continue to feature T.J. Cinnamons. T.J. Cinnamons is a cinnamon bun brand within Arby's now. Whoa, is TJ, is there a representation, like a character of them? No, it's just kind of like a ribbon in a circle. Yeah. Okay. So that's up to us to use our imagination to create the Wonka-esque hat with a cinnamon bun swirl and a cinnamon stick cane. TJ Cinnamon.

I feel like he is a, not a stork because that's the Vlasic Pickle stork, but he's like a, let's say he is a mule of some kind. Yeah. TJ Cinnamon. It's a mule? But he's got a sash also. Yeah, yeah. And his saddlebags are filled with cinnamon and icing.

Yeah. And he goes through, like he kind of gallops into different towns and decorates cinnamon buns. Like a Johnny Appleseed type. Yes, from coast to coast. Yeah. Does he sound like a friendly guy or does he just still like bray like a mule? He brays, yeah. He just brays.

It's unpleasant, yeah. He spits a bunch of cinnamon. That's why. He spits the frosting. He just braids. It's unpleasant, yeah. He spits a bunch of cinnamon. He spits the frosting. It comes from him. He's in too caustic to catch on nationally. The frosting is his bile. And the sprinkles and jimmies come out his rear. He couldn't even say butt.

His rear. His asshole. The mule's asshole sprays sprinkles that's what i wanted to say and that's the phrase i was looking for the mule's asshole sprays sprinkles and or i would have accepted jimmy's and i think that brings us to the end of hold on hold on can i bring this up real quick this is the thing that's on the wall in the cinnamon and it says love baked into every bite. Well, that's nice. Do we like this? Yeah, I mean,

it brings to mind that motherly feeling of cinnamom. Maybe that was the secret ingredient. Even if she didn't say it, I wish they just put it in quotes and attribute it to... Yeah, it would have made it feel more meaningful. Gerilyn Brousseau,

the inventor of... Yeah, that's my plus up. Whether or not she said it. Just misattribute it. Yeah. It just makes it feel more important. I think every store should have its own mommy. Like a designated mommy. You've thought that for years well yeah every

store at all yeah kmarts should have had designated mommies they'd still be in business the k mommy the k yeah yeah yeah so what like a store that sells military supplies yeah for sure yes military military mommy yeah Yes. Military Mommy. Military Mommy. Yeah. The Millimami. The Millimami. So. I salute you, Millimami. Boys, boys, did anyone else get Cinnabon? Well, no. Just Michael.

No, I got it out of bounds. Jason made a big fucking mistake here. Hey. And he didn't buy Cinnabon in City Walk. You should have bought it there, because now you can't talk about it. I was paying off other threads where I promised to take more advantage you should have had both i can't believe this one only one cinnamon bun cinnabon sitting on his vacation oh well when you summoned me and you the moment you summoned me if you would have told me only one of the boys got a Cinnabon.

And it was a coffee? I would have fell back and tipped right back into hell. That means no actual Cinnabons were consumed. Is there some punishment for that? Are there minus points? Hold on. Would you allow Jason to talk about the consumption of the port of entry Cinebun? Well, does he have something up his sleeve? Well, I mobile ordered from about 10 feet away,

and I could see the one team member mostly standing doing nothing as I was watching the progress on my food not update and him also not make it for about 15 minutes or so and as opposed to if they were looking a person in the eye and felt the pressure to i better go make the thing that that person told me with their mouth to make. I do want to say there was no line.

And I was just trying out the app for mobile ordering. And then about 15 minutes later, it started to move and I did get the notification that it was ready. So when it says, like, baking up cinnamon goodness,

that isn't them putting all 15 minutes of putting love in it mommy's kissing every mommy's kissing every little cinnamon bun look i eventually got it and it was delicious you know and i feel like we were eating it at the fake rock work you know in the smoking section and we kept like reaching in and it was like a never-ending i guess there was probably six how about a remake of rear window where jason watches the cinnabon employee make his cinnabon over the course of an hour oh no oh jesus christ Jesus Christ. You're not knocking anywhere near it. Just stand in there. You'll be packing it full of sin of goodness.

He's really not giving me all the icing I need. I got to tell the police. Well, the chain's still in Starbucks. She's been in there a while. I sent her over there to investigate. They're going to smother her in frosting. Dear God. I don't know how much batteries left in this scooter. Okay, permitted.

That gave me strength. Yay! You know what? I'm glad you asked. Light up another cig. This should taste like an ocean breeze. Because, boys, it's time for Quiet Flight Surf Shop. Oh, man. I'm so glad that was another cigarette flavor that does have a flavor.

Eventually, we're going to hit a wall. Sure. One of them, it's kind of a stretch. But that one's great. Oh, did I? Oh, I do smell the ocean breeze. Yeah. We're here at quiet flight surf shop why this is a place where you can stock up on beach and skate essentials from brands like quiet flight billabong vans quicksilver roxy rayban oakley

billabong and or choose from an awesome assortment of surfboards and skateboards that might that might tap it out for me. Gentlemen, quiet flight surf shop thoughts. We walked through it. Yeah. We did. We did. We looked around at the shorts. This felt like Billabong.

Everything was very expensive. Keep in mind, it's not Billabong. It's at CityWalk Hollywood. Yeah. Quiet flight surf shop at Orlando. Don't get them mixed up. Skate shop, surf shop, kind of a go-to for these outdoor malls. Trying to get the tweens

and getting the parents credit cards because those are MSRP. Those are suggested prices. What do you mean? You're not getting many clearance items at these skate shops. You're paying a lot for those board shorts. MSRP stands for what

again? Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. Right. Got it. So you're getting that for the $50 recommended from the retailer. It's not like a Ross or a TJ Maxx where they've got that stuff on discount now. You're getting a $50 pair of shorts for $10. Right.

Right. Like that's their souvenir for the trip. There's a pair of shorts. They don't want any stupid minion stuff. Yeah. Or a full surfboard. That was a question I had, is if you can buy a surfboard at City Walk and walk out of there. Yeah. And go on to the water.

Go right there. What was the answer? Surf past some boats. What was the answer? I can't tell exactly. If you can imagine nobody's documenting this surf shop too well, including myself, it was there. I was there.

I saw it. I looked at it. We saw every short. Every short there was. But I can't tell you if you can buy surfboards there. I did read a review that was mad that said, as this should be a family-friendly place, a couple of the staff looked red-eyed and out of it.

I certainly hope that random drug tests are performed. Oh, wow. Man, that's harsh, man. Various skate and surf shops are always drug testing the employees. To make sure the vibe remains chill. Yeah, it's a very important job, though, so I agree with that. They're selling those things that Bart Simpson rides. A naughty boy.

Also, I think it's the end of that same review. P.S. I know the name of the cashier and sales associate who had horrible customer service, but I ain't no snitch. So you're not a snitch, but you do want them drug tested. Just drug tested. Yeah. That's not snitching. That's just being aware of do want them drug tested. Just drug tested. Yeah. That's not snitching. That's just being aware of, you want to know what's in your body.

You want to know, like, it's for their own health, you see. And snitch, you put a review online. Yeah, I do. Do I want anyone to go into this filthy drug addled store again? No. Am I ratting out the specific employee? Also no. Do I want them drug tested on the hour every hour absolutely yeah and keeping it general too makes makes the manager suspicious of everyone so really what they're doing is maybe worse wireless never drug tested

oh that's good we also didn't have time cards well oh no that's not good was it all in a way that like an employee can amble in when they want that's just like they just weren't keeping track no just weren't keeping track man so it wasn't like a fingerprint like paperless system no god no i got it why i asked their phones are that level of a lot of credit yeah. Well, at least you're doing great financially now, right? I mean, man, I'm all right, man. Oh, no, he got sad again. My suitcase is fading again.

Oh, no. You're going to lose your things? That's part of it now, too? You're going to lose what you own if we don't get through all these things? Well, maybe we should keep going. Let's get to the last one here. That's part of it now too. You'll lose what you own if we don't get through all these things. Well, maybe we should keep going. Let's get to the last one here. I know you just lit up that cigarette, but you got another one?

Yeah, I don't have to finish one to start another. Double up. This should taste like or smell like Coca-Cola Classic. Oh, yes. That's a taste. Oh, yes. That's a taste. You can smell it too, though, right? Someone one of those things where I smell it through tasting. Like a Yankee candle.

Yeah. The best I could find of a name of this is Coke Icon. Don't get confused. This is not one giant mirror. Although there is a icon and don't get confused it's not this is not one giant mirror um although there is a rock and roll component to it uh basically this is like kind of a coke refreshment stand but not just some boring little stand it looks like a giant coke bottle the biggest you've ever seen unless you've been to maybe another theme park or the coke museum in atlanta but

besides that what it's this this for sure is this red coke bottle has got to be in the top 10 or 15 biggest coke bottles you've ever seen yeah for sure and i feel like it should be more prominently displayed on advertising for city walk like this is you're gonna you you're gonna not come here in that case you're not gonna get to see this mega ball. The metal where it's a public art. Yeah, yeah. It's a sculpture. Think of it more as a sculpture.

My little ghost brain forgets. Is there Coke sloshing around in it, or is it just? No, it's just red, just like metal. Yeah, oh, metal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's not like, yeah, not full of liquid. Not like the classic. No. Classic glass bottle. Right, yeah, it doesn not like, yeah, not full of liquid. Not like the classic. No.

Classic glass bottle. Right. Yeah, it doesn't look like that. And then it's not like a fountain or a geyser or anything. Yeah. Right. No, it's not that cool, but it's pretty big. And I think that if you have a cup that's meant for Coke Freestyle machines, you could

just take that up to any location in the parks or this place. Yeah. Then they'll give you some more. Yeah. I like that. I like that. I've done that. location in the parks or this place yeah then they'll they'll give you some more yeah i i like that i like that i've done that and there was a summer in disneyland where i had a reusable plastic cup that i paid for and then you'd get a refill for a dollar and you could go anywhere you want and refill i had a lot of lemonade that summer i'll tell you that so this is this is not one of my memories that implanted into you oh wait i just feel like i was possessed for a second what was that what was i saying you're talking about lemon in your

summer of lemonade throw his being into my being i'm telling you weird things happen in the multiverse man oh that's what i think happened there. Jason just threw his whole brain and his experiences into mine, and I started speaking for him. Wait, let's see if something like that could happen again. Hey, how would you describe the little things up on the top of cupcakes? Chocolate jimmies, I'd call them.

Jimmies? Jimmies? From my boyhood, eating sweets. Mike, Mike, Mike, come back, come back. Mike, what would you call the things on the top of the cupcakes? Rainbow sprinkles. Wow. I might have guessed that you might have said

like sprinklies or something weird like that, but sprinkles does sound more like Mike. That's what I said. That's what I called them as a boy. Why? Why do you even bring it up? Wow, geez. There are odd things amiss here in the multiverse.

Yeah. Who knows what any of us could become? Good point. Shapeshifting and holes and wormholes. Gates. And gates, too. So many gates. Oh, boy.

There's going to be a lot of these things, aren't there? This thing also has a big screen. A big, you know, not the clearest screen. Look, it's a pretty pixelated screen. I'm going to be honest. It's not the most updated screen. Are there better screens at most stadiums and sporting events? Yes.

But, you know, I thought it was exciting. One thing I hadn't done was go on YouTube and watch the new Rolling Stones video, which was from their album Hackney Diamonds, which Mike, of course, finished before finishing the entire Olivia Rodrigo album. But I finished them both. I finished them both. He ultimately did finish them both. But I watched the full music video called Angry with Sidney Sweeney in it, where she's a classic Sunset Strip babe riding out of the sunroof of a car.

Yeah. And it was pretty exciting to see. Dr. Keeper's face is incredulous, I would say, right now listening to the description of this video. You know, Sunset Strip, it makes you think of the Rolling Stones. And, you know, seeing a piece of content for the first time on a big Coke bottle. That was the first time you saw that video?

No, I had not. It had been kind of in my mental queue. I was not maybe rushing to watch a new Rolling Stones video in, at that time, 2023. I forgot that that's the first time because we talked about the video on this trip. Mm-hmm. That's where I caught up. So it allows you to catch up on the newest, coolest music videos.

Like, angry. Yeah. Wow, interesting. Pretty cool. So at least we know they're updating it. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is not content that is...

Although, I mean, I wish it was like... I wish that they had never... That it's all like everlast or whatever. Like, it hasn't changed since early 2000. Three doors down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to say like from the Rolling Stones album, A Bigger Bang. The last one was 10, 15 years ago.

I mean, all I, in terms of recent Rolling Stones, all I ever want to hear is that Mick Jagger solo song about COVID ending. Oh, yeah. Well, we're going to get back to having a blast. Pandemic. Schmandemic. I don't want to remember any better what that was. Yeah.

In my head, it's Mick Jagger presents Pandemic Schmandemic. Dr. Fetchy, get lost! So, that's my experience there. I mean, is that... Maybe we're there. We talked Fallen Brothers? Yeah, I like the Coke bottle. Uh-huh. So, yeah, I don't know.

I think that's it. I mean, as far as my thoughts on the bottle and the videos, I think that, yeah. Wow. What else could I say? I think we made it. This is, wow. It's hard to know what it's even supposed to feel like.

But I guess like we were saying, it's just like a, it's a feeling we'll get. And I'm getting a nice feeling. I'm feeling like I'm full of lemonade. I don't feel angry like the Rolling Stones. I feel good. You feel more like Sidney Sweeney out of that sunroof having a ball. Mike, do you feel like Sidney Sweeney Out of that sunroof Having a ball Mike do you feel like Sidney Sweeney If you've seen that video

I've never felt like Sidney Sweeney Before in my life But she's young and you're a peer Well on that aspect yes She's in the poster for that movie And the trailer with the guy from Top Gun Glenn Powell That thing from many months ago

Do you at least feel like Glenn Powell He looks like Glenn Powell. That thing from many months ago. Yes. Do you at least feel like Glenn Powell? He looks like Glenn Powell. I'll tell you that. Thank you. Yeah. No, in that way, yeah, I do feel just like Glenn Powell. Wow. Well, I think we all feel like Glenn Powell.

We feel victorious. I think we made it through phase one, sector one. And wait a minute. Oh, it still happens, I guess. Oh, yeah. There's a magical glow. Is it a stone, or is it some other new thing that we're calling it? That's right, boys.

Boys, you give me strength. You give me such strength. Phase 1, Sector 1 is complete. Wow. There it is. So it's still, for now, a stone, but we'll see where things go. Things might get kooky. It's a stone if you look closely.

It's not just a stone. It's also a mirror. Oh, wow. We can see ourselves in it. I can see it now. That's right. Pass it around. You can see yourselves in it.

Whoa. Whoa. Wait a minute. And there's a little, there's something next to it. That's right. Is that the famous, is that the Rolling Stones tongue? Oh, wow. Yeah.

Wait, no, it's not. No. It's Jason's little puckered lips. It's Jason's little puckered lips from his first kiss on Christmas morning at the Cinnabon. At the Cinnabon. Thanks for opening, everyone. Wow. Happy Christmas. It's little Jason hoping that the powder all over that Mötley Crüue mirror is powdered sugar and not something else.

Happy Christmas, he says. Wow. Happy Christmas, everyone. Oh, my God. Well, we'll take this. We'll value it. Maybe we'll need it down the road. But thank you for guiding us.

And, hey, I'm happy to be back, Sector Keeper. Great to be back. So what's today? Today's Friday. Yeah. So what did we decide? I'm with Mike tonight and then he's going to drop you off at your place tomorrow Friday nights are a night for Mike

It's a night when you guys rock out Sidney Sweeney style Hey Mike Can we go to City Walk tonight? Oh, tonight? Tonight? You gotta go back Maybe, yeah

Can we go to the sunset strip first yeah top down sydney sweeney style yeah we'll sit on the car away let's do that and then we're gonna get me a raiders jersey oh wow wow okay well big plans uh but you know hey don't hit it too hard okay not too much lemonade, not too much cinnamon bun frosting, because we got a big episode tomorrow. I think our first guest of the saga will be joining us. That's something to mention really quick, too. Are we the only maniacs who made a point of going just to City Walk in Orlando?

Well, yes, and we made other people do it. We made some of your podcast, The Ride, guest favorites, demanded, you might say, that they go spend a little time there. Took up valuable time of some of the comedy world's best and brightest. That's right. And so that's going to be part of this too. So who will it be tomorrow?

Who will it be every day? How much fun will we have overnighting with the Centerkeeper? Only one way to find out. But for now, you survived Podcast the Ride, the City Walks Saga, Multiverse of Madness. Thanks to Aaron Gairdner for the art,

our own Mike Carlson and Zach Reno for the new theme music. Multiverse of Madness merch is in our TeePublic store. For the full Multiverse experience, subscribe to Podcast the Ride, the second gate, or join Club three to get every sector ad free and an exclusive bonus sector that you yourselves the club three vips selected you will find all of that at patreon.com slash podcast the ride we're in it now we're not

just recording it we're we're living it um it. Thanks for taking this one, Mike. I'll handle it tomorrow. Cool if I smoke in your car? Just roll the window down. Forever. Dog. This has been a Forever Dog production. Executive produced by Mike Carlson,

Jason Sheridan, Scott Gairdner, Brett Boehm, Joe Cilio, and Alex Ramsey. For more original podcasts, please visit foreverdogpodcasts.com and subscribe to our shows on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keep up with the latest Forever Dog news by following us on Twitter and Instagram at Forever Dog Team and liking our page on Facebook.