Podcast: The Ride - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter with Jessica Mckenna

Episode Date: February 23, 2018

Join our hosts, the boys who lived, as they talk with Jessica Mckenna (Off Book Podcast) about Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Listen to Podcast: The Ride Ad-Free on Forever Dog Plus: https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/ 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

Warning! Today's episode contains a stomach-churning live taste test of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a firm stance on adult poo-based theme park leisure wear, sincere pionings for J.K. Rowling-approved meat pies. All that, and Jessica McKenna joins us for a spellbinding discussion about the wizarding world of Harry Potter. But just the Hogsmeade part. It's Podcast The Ride. Welcome to Podcast the Ride, the theme park podcast hosted by three men who all share the same childhood best friend, the chunky Epcot Center robot, Smart One. Joining me as always, Scott Gairdner.

Yeah. And Jason Sheridan. Hi. And today we are joined by a very special guest from the improvised musical podcast, Off Book. Is that right? Is that the name of it? Yeah. Okay, cool.

I'm right. Jessica McKenna. Yay. Guys, hi. Hi, Jess. I said the name of it, and I was like, I wrote it down, but I go,

wait, was that wrong? It seems wrong as I said it. Don't want to mess up a plug. I didn't want to mess the plug up. Thank you. Now that I have that, I can leave. Wait, no.

Hey, come back. I'll just add the sound effect of like clunk, clunk, clunk, door slam. Jess, you do have a reputation as the canniest podcast guest. Like, oh, she's so good. She gets her plug

and then she gets out. In and out. In and out. Podcast world. You got eight more podcasts today where you're doing the same thing. Yeah. Every 15 minute interval.

Ghosting. So yeah, today we're, you're doing the same thing. Yeah. Yeah. Every 15 minute interval. Ghosting. So yeah, today you're joining us to talk about Harry Potter. Thank God. Specifically the universal Harry Potter world, which is not what that's called. It's called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Right. Right. But is that, to be really proper with our titles, is that what you call the entire thing,

including Diagon Alley? Yes. Because aren't we, we're sort of're sort of oh Jason says yes very authoritatively like the uh uh I believe the marketing is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is like the overall thing and then it's Hogsmeade for the village and Diagon Alley for Diagon Alley so there's like a dash in between Wizarding World and we are focusing mainly today on Hogsmeade, which is what's currently open at Universal Hollywood and what was open in 2010 at Islands of Adventure, although they have since expanded the Harry Potter world

with Diagon Alley and the train that connects the two parts. Oh my God, it's magical. Guys, I need to make a pilgrimage. I actually have been to Islands of Adventure Wizarding World, but when it was only Hogsmeade. Like I went, my mom gambles a lot and gets gambling perks. Oh, sure. She gets basically a cruise a year.

Great. And she, because she's the sweet, kind mother that she is, she was like, do you want to do like one out of Florida and we'll go a few days early and we'll go to the Wizarding World? My mom, not a Harry Potter fan, just did this for me. That's real nice. We stayed at a park that got us that hour early entry.

Yes, of course. Which was clutch because we did all of we did Forbidden Journey and we did the Florida one has the repurposed dragon ride, which i had been on when it was just the ice dragon fire dragon then it got transformed to be part of wizarding world we did that and then we went back and when we went back you had to like wait in line

and get a ticket to like come back in and out like it was so packed yes oh yeah they were really doing that in in both uh uh sections down down there in Florida when it first opened. And here in Hollywood, too. They were experimenting with it early on. Now it's calmed down. Yeah. And you can sort of get in anytime. Yeah.

So I got to get back. I was going to say there's a thing with credit cards I'm doing right now where they give you a lot of points. I don't want to get into it. What did you say? Credit card churning. Churning? Yeah. Is that a thing?

I think that's what it's called. When you open a bunch of cards and you get all the points. I guess I am churning in a way. You spend money on specific things with specific cards for point building purposes. Yes, but what I'm doing right now is called the Chase Trifecta. It's a series of three different Chase cards. They all work in tandem to get you different points for different purchases. So plus, in addition to this, these bonuses,

I'm saving on getting all these points, and we're going to go to Tokyo. Oh. So I would recommend the Chase trifecta, and we can certainly discuss it off air. Mike, this sounds like a spell. That's great you're promoting this little upstart company, Chase Bank. This early into a podcast episode.

And the Chase Bank representative is nodding. He got his plug. He's leaving. He's nodding. He's putting his small pistol away. He's off to another podcast. Thank you, Chase man. He'll be menacing John Gabrus very shortly. Yeah, so daigon is great

go to it i can't wait uh so let's before we get into it like let's let's get into a different thing let's talk about like your history with theme parks what your feeling is about them what you like dislike well i'm a i'm a socal native so i, so I grew up having annual passes to Disneyland. Love it. Love Disneyland very deeply. Have been to Disney World three times, so I have almost no connection with World. One of those was when I was three. Still pretty good.

That's a lot for a West Coaster. Yeah, yeah. One of them was very, very brief. I would say, and then one time I went in college with a college improv team, road trip from Chicago to Orlando, 24 hours straight of driving. Holy shit. Yeah, it was insane.

But we only went to Magic Kingdom. So I have never been to Epcot as an adult, never been to Animal Kingdom, haven't been to what used to be MGM and now is Hollywood. It's just Hollywood Studios. Yeah. We're waiting for any second now.

A new name's coming down the pike, and we don't want to say one until it's more than just a rumor. Marvel? But we do know. No, it won't be called Marvel. I don't think. Oh, no. We don't know.

They're just changing the name of the Hollywood park again. Ooh. There was a list of rumors, but there is one. Scott is being coy. The name that's the rumor, I know he doesn't want me to say this, but you know what? Go ahead. Whatever. It's going to be called Disney's Cinemagine, they think.

Oh. Disney's Cinemagine Park. It's just such a no valid sources. Scott just doesn't like these rumors. These are very like, these are not backed up. We've got to get it to a bit. We've got to get it. I want to see this on a reputable, on a laughing place or a mice chat.

Screamscape. Do you trust Screamscape.com, which is another website? Screamscape is an aggregate, so I don't know if I can, because they're pulling from lots of different, so depending on where they're pulling it from. Screamscape has always been kind of a rag, let's be honest. And now the Screamscape rep is furious walking out of the room yeah we blew our connection there but uh um hey no we've got there's been legit scoops uh

that's from them too i don't want to throw them under the bus and maybe maybe a better graphic designer i'll say that's yes uh look we can all elevate each other is what i'm saying all us in the theme park media, which we're in now. Rising tides. Come on, guys. We help each other. But I love theme parks. I grew up going to Knott's a good amount.

Were you Orange County? Yep. Okay. Not a lot of Six Flags. It was a bit more of a drive and a bit more of a rumor to be just full of gangs. There was this story when hair wraps were really popular, like you'd go on a beach vacation with your family and you'd get like your hair wrapped in thread and a little like charm at the bottom.

Do you guys know what I'm talking about? I'm scared where this is going. There was like a story that a 10-year-old girl, she had like a blue one and it was like ripped out of her head by a blood which a hundred percent is not true wow like there's no way that's true but that's like the orange county like everybody's like super conservative like you can't go there because gangs will rip your hair wrap right out of your head um but i did go to six flags like as sort of a reward it was a reward for passing this certain level of piano.

And that was a really good Six Flags trip where I went on Colossus for the first time. Six Flags, great coasters. Been back more as an adult. But Disneyland grew up going a lot. I waited in line the opening week of Indiana Jones. Oh, wow. Oh, shit.

Three-hour line in second grade wearing a Taz shirt, which now, I hate when I go to Disneyland and I see people wearing properties that are also at different theme parks. You want to support

this corporation. Yeah, I hate, but you know, I hate seeing a Disneyland sweatshirt at Wizarding World. I'm like, come on, man. Yeah.

Yeah. That feels like a shots fired sort of moment. Yeah, because Disneyland's obviously the king of the castle. So, but it is kind of like, yeah, I think so. It is kind of moment. Yeah, because Disneyland's obviously the king of the castle. So some respect when you're in their house. Yeah, I think so.

It is kind of like, though, where you're supposed to not wear this t-shirt of the band at the band's concert. In general. Do you think in amusement parks or just in general? In general, I'm like, how old are you? What level of, what are you wearing? Like, are you an adult and you're wearing like a cool vintage mickey sweatshirt cool are you wearing anything in the poo universe this is weird are you wearing anything that's like

from a dwarf are you like over 20 and wearing a grumpy sweatshirt i'm giving you some side i mean the grumpy sweatshirt is a valuable warning device that people should not approach that person until they've had their coffee that That person's a grump. Absolutely. You're right. I haven't been thinking of it that way. There's a whole,

the grumpy line is just for dads. Yes. And it's been that way forever and it's a shirt that you can buy for your father that just says,

hey, you're a grumpy dickhead and that's sort of the whole thing. This shirt you're wearing right now is rad. Thank you. I like this don't shirt and I'm wearing

a Harry Potter shirt that is like this don't shirt and I'm wearing a Harry Potter shirt that is like this type of shirt where you name you know you have a list of names. What do you call this type of shirt?

I feel like I was trying to describe this. Ampersand list. Yeah I guess so. But yeah it's all the books. Helvetica ampersand list. Yeah. While we're doing

shirt check let's go over and see what Jason's wearing. Oh right. So Mike brought me gave me this for my birthday back from when he was in Orlandolando it's a margaritaville blue polo shirt uh like a dad would buy it's very good i've been to that margaritaville yeah it's great yeah it fucking rules it's got the seaplane outside and uh those gigantic adirondack chairs right yes huge

adirondack which you can buy and oh yeah you can buy I was actually not in Orlando but in New Jersey you know one of like the beach supply stores had a bunch of them on clearance at the end of the summer but they were all wood and already put together and I'm like how would I get that back to Southern California

that's a great shirt but yeah this shirt is clearly made for someone who wants to be comfortable because it's like very properly fitted in some ways and then like a tent in other ways okay everybody's got shoulders but let's not worry about after that just make it a billowy yeah just make it a billowy whatever your shape is it'll fit under the tent that's great i feel like men's polo shirts already, it's like there's two options. It stops right at the waist or it's real long.

And this is definitely trending towards the latter. But yeah. I also told Mike, there was one or two times I almost wore it before. So he, like an aunt who gave you a sweater, could see me wearing it. But then it was times we were hanging out. We didn't say where we were going to eat.

And I'm like, we could end up at that Margaritaville and people might think I work there. Like people might be complaining about their dipping sauces to me. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world though. Yeah. If you just accidentally got a job at the Margaritaville at City Walk.

Hey, you know, could be my new life. Sir, we haven't gotten a pass from the balloon artist on the stilts yet. Oh, okay. Sorry, let me look into that. I'm very sorry. She's been on the east side for a while now. I also have,

not even thinking about what we're doing today, I got this Hermes tumbler as a stocking set for this year of Christmas, and it's got the Marauders map on it. Very good. I'm drinking some coffee out of it. I'm also rocking some lightning bolt earrings, but yep, this is all standard.

Standard operating. Yeah. Just for you. You're wearing, so yeah, to go back to what you were talking about, there's a cool way to dress as an adult at these places and a not cool way. If I have kids and I'm taking them, I could go full nerd. Don't care. Right.

Oh, sure. But when you're a childless person at a theme park you know yeah our demo guys like yeah i'm right there with you i just think there's you can go for it and like i don't i certainly don't want to like pretend like i'm some sort of too cool for school but like there's a certain like there is a certain line of clothing that just makes me and from when i was a kid not even like as an adult like i was eight being like that dad shouldn't be wearing so much tigger swag you know like there's just like there are certain characters that i feel like i think mickey is safe i think any of the core is safe mickey is a cipher mickey you can paint anything on it you can wear anything mickey i think you

can wear anything donald i think you can wear anything goofy and you're just like cool you're just a disney fan once you go into the other properties you i think you got to be careful i think some of it looks well a little specific and like garish and whenever they try to make it part of a current clothing trend and by current i mean 15 years old by the time disney thinks of it like it's like it looks like it's supposed to be like an affliction shirt but it's just like it's supposed to be like an affliction shirt, but it's just like it's just like saying like all the villains names. I'm like, no, I don't want to see you wear that. Like that's horrible.

Right. You know, the bigger the face on the shirt, too, if it's Ursula taking over the entire from collar to to bottom, that's that's a little obnoxious. And now that there's all this like it's, you know, Star Wars and Marvel are incorporated, there's, like, so many other things you can wear. Have you guys seen the, like, hip girl Star Wars clothes? Yes. It's wild.

Yeah. I can't decide if I love it or hate being, like, pandered to. Yeah. There's, like, a good version of it where they're making, like, little girl dress-up clothes that are, like, it looks like a princess dress but it's like droid and they have obviously like ray dress up and they have all this kind of like new stuff that i think is for kids is like really awesome i'm like this is great yeah that a girl who like like star wars but as a little girly can wear like a tutu but it looks like c-3po i think that's rad. But then they have this line of like

it's supposed to look like vintage clothing. It's like little cardigans that just have like in embroidering like BB-8. Or like a cool sweater but it's just a porg. Or like truly like poodle skirts. I went twice at Christmas because Disneyland at Christmas was my single favorite thing in the world.

I mean it's great. It's incredible. And I was like, do I love this? Do I love this like reaching out and being like, Star Wars is for all? Or do I hate it? I think the Star Wars stuff for men and women that I tend to like are like decent quality, like vintage looking soft shirts

that use like a lot of the 80s. There was a long run of 80s Star Wars comic books that Marvel put out. And now it's all back in the same roof again. And so like, if you can like beat up that shirt a little and use some of that art where it's like, oh, look, it's the character you know, but it's also like the comic artists of their time

put their own kind of spin on it, and it looks kind of faded and vintage-y. That I tend to gravitate towards. I agree. I think those are cool. And I think this is also winking to the growing thing of the Dapper Days stuff. So this is big time, you could buy this and wear it to Dapper Days.

Yes. I'm assuming your listening audience knows what Dapper Days is. Yes, Dapper Days, when people get dressed up in nice clothing, often anachronistic clothing. It's kind of in reference to that you used to dress up to go to Disneyland in the 50s and 60s. You watch old footage of people on the Matterhorn and they're all in like very fine suits. Like what Archie would wear to a dance yeah but also what's this the old Archie by the way not the

New Riverdale sorry oh yes yes oh Disney Bounding yeah that's a whole other thing where people like wear outfits that kind of nod towards characters because adults are not allowed to wear costumes at Disneyland so yes there's like a there is like a population that has figured out like different ways to,

yeah, you'll dress in like the color palette of Ursula and like, or, you know, the dress in like the color palette and the way that you wear, like, like you're a guy who is just wearing like a white shirt and pants, but you have like a big red belt.

So you kind of look like Prince Eric, but like I have a friend from high school is like getting sort of instagram famous for being like into both cosplay and and a lot of disney specific yeah sure and disney bounding um and i'm like this is this whole world of this girl i did like choir and theater with i'm like where she now is like like thousands of followers on instagram for being in this community and just to like meld our topics today guys yeah to just talk so much already on this podcast she is part of this thing she does like princess stuff like i think she sort of like got through the back door of like she was like a party princess maybe still is and then started getting like better and better at it like her like really really good at doing like the makeup and her wigs got better and like getting

better events and whatever and she's part of this group that does like sorts disney princess into harry potter houses so she does this whole look where she's anna from frozen as a hufflepuff in like a cute school girl hufflepuff outfit but the anna like braids and freckles and like elsa is in slytherin and she'll take like photos with another girl who's like a slytherin elsa and they're like if they went to hogwarts yeah can we pull out like a whiteboard or something? Can you draw some lines between that? I need to keep track mentally of how this works. And they look good. Like they look like cute.

And like, I'm like, I see why. The attention to detail of like cosplay stuff is incredible nowadays. So that's her specialty is that area? I don't know. I think like Disney stuff is more her specialty, but she'll do. And I think, yeah, everything is kind of, besides this Harry Potter crossover, everything's now in Disney Universe. Like she'll do some like

Mary Jane cosplay. She'll do some she'll do like some Star Wars stuff. Another princess crossover, she did four, they did, she did for some event, four some event four Disney princesses as Pokemon trainers. Wow. Whoa. And you're telling us this is popular on Instagram?

I mean, she has like 16,000 followers. Yeah, that's good. You can do this now. Yeah. You can do this. You get a big following doing that. All of this stuff is just, we all want this stuff to be real real so bad and it just comes out

in different ways like obviously the theme park and the immersive lands this harry potter land we're going to talk about and then star wars land that's getting closer to us like living there but then it's like you're following these real people now on instagram so that's like i feel like that's the better you can make people go like oh oh yeah, now I know one of the princesses. You feel like you're liking Elsa. I'm liking the real Elsa. I have a different friend from camp who's really into Harry Potter cosplay.

She has basically, she does a really good Luna. She kind of has the look anyway. And she's full Ravenclawed out and will just do photos. Because here's the difference, you can be in costume in Wizarding World. Yes, you can. Which is wild because the costume

and the like staff outfits are identical. Yeah, the merchandise. The merch is very, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the merch is very good at Harry Potter. And yeah, it looks, the cast member clothing and the merch you can buy as a souvenir

is identical and you could put it on right there. It's very easy to put a cloak on over Levi's and the t-shirts. Yes. And yeah. And people just walk around all ages. And they're like super into it. And it's really cool. I mean, it helps.

Like J.K. Rowling has... Rowling? Rowling? Rowling. Rowling. Has approval over everything. And that I'm sure will keep coming up today. Like that kind of adds

why everything is so good. So you go up that Universal Hill, you can cosplay as Harry Potter, you can cosplay as a shift manager at Margaritaville. Yeah, that's what I will go. Yeah, that's how we started on this. Me talking about this shirt

Mike brought me. So yeah, you are, okay, so you are wearing, you're wearing the ampersand shirt, you're wearing the earrings. Would you go further or have you at Wizarding Worlds? Would you go, would you buy a cloak? I don't have a cloak. The cloaks, I mean, I'm into the school sweater.

I have, I have like from just like before, I have like a Gryffindor tie and I have like a Gryffindor track jacket from high school, when Hot Topic started selling a few items. Oh, yeah. I think it even says Gryffindor Seeker on the back. I'm not sure. And I think I would go sweater for sure.

Oh, sure. I don't know that I'd go cloak. Sweater's a pretty casual way to do it, or the scarf, I'd imagine. Yeah, I think I've worn the scarf. I have a Gryffindor scarf, but it's like, again, I remember when there used to be Warner Brothers stores in malls that started carrying Harry Potter products. You're talking Scott's language here.

In the last month, I watched a corporate in-house video, several of them, one from 93, one from 94, showing it was like, we've made a lot of, there's been tremendous growth this year within the Warner Brothers Studio store. And within that found like weirdo stuff of like, and we're opening a location in Atlantic City. And here now is our new investor, Donald Trump. Oh, my God. You can watch Donald Trump and little Ivanka taking photos with Batman or whatever. If you didn't hate these people already, the fact that she got to go as a little girl and hang out with Batman and Bugs Bunny and stuff. Oh my God.

They're insane videos. That's crazy. But were those still open where Harry Potter merch was a possibility? Yes. Really? I thought they were closed long ago. Right at the end, I think. Yes, right at the end.

So there was one in the Brea Mall, so not far. I mean, I can hear the Disneyland fireworks from my backyard. Wow. Oh, Yorba Linda. Yeah, yeah. So Brea is our mall. You ever go to the Black Gold Country Club? Yes.

That was what I started. I had a really great brunch there with a bunch of mimosas, and it got me golfing. That was four years ago. I had like a really great brunch there with a bunch of mimosas, and it got me golfing. That was four years ago. I've golfed ever since. Oh, that's great. I was so delighted by the Black Gold Country Club. Yeah, very familiar with Black Gold Country Club.

Was there ever like a prom or anything there? I think there have not. Not like in my time. I think we, that is there there was like i think i went there one night like with friends and we like tried to roll around on the slick like sprinkled grass oh nice um there you go but it's a good country an illegal event yeah oh mischief mischief um so grandma had one and i remember like so harry potter got purchased by warner but like they got the movie rights when i was like in seventh or eighth grade and that was like the

last year that that store was open and they had very few products but they did have some like i remember i got a just all black mug that in gold writing just in the harry potter font just said harry potter and i got like i think i got a stuffed head wig and i got two posters that were but they were just like cartoon it was like harry playing uh quidditch and like i can't remember what the other one was but are we talking pre-movies yeah wow so the movies weren't out yet but they had the license to but they already had the like yeah because they had bought the rights. They were starting pre-production. And so all the products were, like, vague.

They were, like, they just would say Harry Potter. They'd be, like, really simple. They weren't yet, like, things that had, like, the likeness of the people who were in the movies. And now this, around the time of the first movie coming out, like, Universal was not the first park to have Harry Potter. Movie World Australia briefly had a walkthrough of, like, sets around the time of the first park to have harry potter uh movie world australia briefly had a walkthrough of like sets around the time of the first and second movies amazing and they were closed very quickly after that because then they they made the uh universal deal this would have also likely been the time that uh disney with lots of rumors over the years that Disney took meetings early on and fucked up.

Like they like, they had proposed like some very small Harry Potter attractions as opposed to Universal who handed over like. Take it all. Take it all. Here is a checkbook. Write however much you want on it we're planning explosives at the Gibson Amphitheater already space is yours that's awesome

Disney much more protective much more hands on and Universal gave the JK rally full final say over everything where like there has been times where stuff had to be taken down because she was like no that doesn't look right she apparently she

like checked everything on the menus she i'm sure we'll do a bigger run about food later but she like personally taste tested everything apparently oh is that right yeah that's what i've heard yeah hell yeah uh uh it shows uh uh so you as a big big Harry Potter fan, do you remember finding out that the theme parks were coming down the pike? Yeah. Yeah. Watching a video of like a fly through, like a broom. A broom through?

A broom through of like what they thought it would look like. Oh boy. And I think, what year did Florida open? 2009? So here, let's get some numbers out there uh orlando opened in uh 2010 with uh the leads of the movie uh there uh uh emma watson uh rupert grint right

they didn't do they participate radcliffe were they part of some weird skit our favorite thing weird opening skits yeah we love weird opening skits. I don't know that they did weird opening. I think they just kind of waved to the press and rode the rides and walked around. They're big enough stars. They don't have to memorize dialogue. I mean, their performances in the ride are great. Yeah. And they got them all back for the ride.

John Williams conducted the Orlando Symphony Orchestra, played the score at the opening. He did? Which is crazy, since he stopped writing the scores after the for played the score. Wow. At the opening. He did. Which is crazy since he stopped writing the scores after the first two. Yeah. I mean, like they still would reuse his themes,

but he didn't write additional music after the first two, I believe. Yeah. Although for the, when they opened Die Got Alley, the supporting cast were the ones that there,

like Alamo Bottom Carter was the highest, was the biggest star still pretty good and they're new in the rides there too so like that's true yeah he's a new presence in the Gringotts ride that's true yeah and of course what are their names the Phelps brothers sure Oliver

and James James yeah I believe they just live at Universal Park like they wheel them out anytime there's a new sandwich on the menu. They wheel them out to give it. And they're great at it. They're great as presenters. The Warwick Davis. Although, wait, no, he's in Harry Potter, too.

But they're like the mascots forever of the things they were in. Yeah. So 2010 in Orlando, 2014 in Japan, and 2016 here in Hollywood for the Hogsmeade's. What does Japan have? Japan has the Black Lake next to it and has real owls. Like, you can meet real owls. That is the main difference between the Japan one and the American one. Do they have both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley?

They're building Diagon Alley, right? I believe so, yeah. They're building Diagon Alley, but? I believe so, yeah. They're building Diagon Alley, but without the Hogwarts Express, which is wild. So they've started with Hogsmeade, much like here, because rumor that LA will expand.

Well, it's taken, we've been waiting, and no announcement, and no announcement. And we have these signs about the dang DreamWorks amphitheater. Like when that construction started next to it, I'm jumping ahead, but it was like, I was like, boom, here we go. Right.

Ding, ding. But it's like a DreamWorks thing. Yes, it's just they're repurposing the Shrek theater to be the Kung Fu Panda theater. Yeah. And it's not, there's also not enough room there for Diagon. Yeah. That's a good question in general.

Where does it go? Where does it go? Because there are rumors that they're going to move the tram tour queue, and then there's going to be a Hogwarts Express down the hill, essentially. That'd be great. It's such a steep incline. To build a comfortable train would take some crazy engineering. When I worked there, I got driven around on golf carts around that lot, and they're all

super steep. It's a little scary moving around around there. So you got to be careful. I used to be an intern there and they would send us up to like city walk sometimes to pick up lunch. And like there were times where it's like, is this golf cart going to get up this hill?

I parked in some lot once for an audition on like on the Universal lot. And when I was leaving, accidentally drove into the tram ride. It's very easy. It's so easy to just like accidentally drove into the tram ride like very easy so easy to just like accidentally be on the tram tour I had to like back up it's right before they were going into like the King Kong tunnel I was like wait a second I shouldn't be like driving towards this like skull display yeah because that's one of the things that's unique about Universal Hollywood it

is a theme park built into a movie studio, which is also like a corporate headquarters. So you could be one of any number of disciplines or jobs or lifestyles crossing through each actors and executives and tourists. My writing partner and partner on the podcast, Zachary, and I both have passes. And anytime that we have a meeting near there, we go, yeah, you pop in, pop in and we say,

welcome home. We crossed the threshold and we say, welcome home. Do you turn to each other and say it or do you just shout it to each other? Okay. Yeah. The day that, uh,

uh, me and, uh, Ryan Perez, uh, past guest of the show that we, we ended up on the lot for something

and we got to like, we like went and were part of Jaws. We like went and reacted at the dock and like pretended we were supposed to be. That's very fun.

We acted like robots. So you were trespassing? You were just trespassing? Yeah, and then we did get caught and the reaction was just like, you guys supposed to be here? Yeah. No, you're not.

No, you're right. All right, I'll get out of here. Like that's as far, and the reaction was just like, you guys supposed to be here? Yeah. No, you're not. No, you're right. All right, I'll get out of here. Like, that's as far as it goes. And nobody's like, people loose on the lot. It's not what happened to the gang from Big Fat Liar. Yes, we wrote that in there. The magic of the lot coming to life for two special children. Like, every decade, there's some new movie that just uses the lot yeah it was

the wizard with fred savage uh then uh then big fella waiting on that new one uh just using everything as is uh yeah so yeah so japan has the black lake uh here at hollywood we have uh we can see a cool feature of hogsmeade here in and they said they like encompass this or tried to use it in the view is you can see mountain peaks like in the distance you can see the mountains which is unique to here yeah and then like the light uh uh the the when they were designing it they talked a lot about how they they realized because you're on top of a hill in Universal Hollywood, the sunlight, they could use the light throughout the day to highlight different things and make sharp shadows and that sort of thing. Another feature of Universal Hollywood's Harry Potter land is that when you're eating at Hogshead, sometimes you hear loudly playing nearby Do the Bartman.

It is very close to Springfield. Super close. Which leads to an odd view from the other side of Disco Stew's Disco with the rising peaks of Hogsmeade behind it. We've already got it in the middle of this. So yeah, we're officially now talking

about Hogsmeade, right? That's, we're officially now talking about hogs, right? I mean, we're, that's what we're doing. We made it. We arrived. We was,

this is like, I couldn't tell. This was the most seamless transition from intro to ride. We usually have to do like a whole hard thing of like, now we're talking about this. So I just wanted to, it's again, real nice.

It's a very candy pot. We barricaded the door trapping are here after our plug. So now she's just kind of going along with it. Whatever you guys say. Yeah. Although we're talking about like, yeah, Japan has a big lake next to it. I guess Islands of Adventure in Orlando does have a giant body of water in the middle. But the illusion is kind of broken when you can see a Marvel superhero island or the Jurassic Park Visitor Center.

When I went there before there was Wizarding World, I was like, Islands of Adventure is one of my favorite theme parks. It is still one of my favorite theme parks. It's really, really good. Nothing touches Disney for overall park. Oh, yeah. But, like, man, that comes pretty close. Yeah, there's a lot of satisfying rides probably the most like the

of all of any new park that's opened since the since the disney parks since the main disney world parks have been built yeah it's a like crazy new arrival on the scene and then adding harry potter to it makes it yeah just sure best unbelievable here's an interesting fact uh uh when harry potter opened in florida that year in in Orlando, a 36% increase in attendance to Universal Orlando. Yeah, they've been making so much money with it. They've been making so much money. In Hollywood, a 50% jump in attendance. Because let's be honest, Universal Hollywood, not that good of a theme park.

No. It is a half-day park. It is a smaller park. It's a sweet little jaunt. Because it's a movie studio that has a theme it's a sweet little jaunt because it's it's a movie studio that has a theme park growing out yes and still growing i totally understand uh i don't hold it to the same standards as a full theme park i like it for what it is but without wizarding world yeah i mean like it just doesn't hold a candle to a full park it's it was my ninth birthday we went there with a group of friends

and it was it was like a fun day but it's like when one of the biggest attractions is backdraft where you just like stand and feel fire it's like oh sure this is not like this is not the same like thrills and chills yeah but they've done a lot better i think at like simpsons world and now obviously wizarding world there's so much more immersive feeling than the park used to feel when it was just like these disparate rides yeah no real sense of like lands or yeah absolutely yeah they're finally doing like place making i i went two days ago and prepped for this and i hadn't been to the one out here i hadn't been to universal hollywood in a while and not only like i think it's really great that the Harry Potter world has the whole street that leads you into the ride.

It feels kind of a first for them. They're starting to really improve the entrance of the park in general. Like, it finally has a vibe. It's sort of like Main Street or the Carthage Circle area. Yeah, they're really leaning into, like, the Art Deco, Golden Age, Hollywood design. Which I think is great. And when I went there at the holidays to see the lights on the hogwarts castle oh yeah which was great fun short but like very delightful and i had the the holiday meal we'll get back to food i'm sure but like oh but we have a lot of thoughts

we got a lot of thoughts wait let me change that i have a lot um but they like the the the grinchmas is great. It looks, that Grinch tree is beautiful. They have a ton of fun stuff. I was like, this is, way to go, guys. You're up in your game. But I think a lot of that is probably, they have a huge influx of money,

so now they can do more. For sure, yeah. Universal in general, a lot of success with weird properties. I don't think there's a lot of love for that Jim Carrey Grinch, but they do great attractions off of it. And Waterworld is,

there's talk of the Harry Potter expansion going into the Waterworld area, but I don't know if they could replace it because Waterworld, extremely popular, extremely well-reviewed. Very well-reviewed, multiple award winning,

I feel like. It's a great show. I saw it just in September again. It was great. Splash Zone, not Splash Zone? I was one seat beyond Splash Zone. Perfect. Just riding the line there.

I got a little missed. I feel like Universal Hollywood benefiting from the changing style of filmmaking where they don't need as many giant sound stages anymore because, unfortunately, so much is shot on green screens. So they've already demolished a few you mean cannibalizing the actual lot yeah yeah so or or rebuilding sound state because they demolished to and just rebuilt them further uh away from the park and that will open up space that i don't know if this is officially in this but it seems like that those demolished

stages will be the Super Nintendo world. Possibly. So that you're not, it's right next to the rest of the park. There's rumors about that, though, replacing animal actors for Nintendo Land. Oh, really? Oh, that's a good chunk of land. They got a, boy, there's big announcements that they have not. Secret Life of Pets is kind of in flux, too.

But a lot of it's also limited by not only the presence of a movie studio, there's houses so close to this park. There's no other theme park I feel like that has residential neighborhoods. There's parts of the studio tour where you can look up and see someone's home. Now, what about this? This might be controversial.

Yeah. Go ahead. Can we get rid of Summer City Walk? Oh, sure. Wait, hold on a second. on which part what do you what do you think you think that opens up like land for that could open up some land and do we really need that long of a walk that city walk has i think it's got there there's some fat you could cut off that city walk. Well, the sock market has to say. Yeah, obviously. I'm not insane.

I'm a big fan. The empty for five years John Lovitz comedy club obviously has to stay. In remembrance. That water massage place gotta stay. Zen zone. The back area past the movie,

past the movie theater where I believe where the Margaritaville is you're stepping into it well I think you keep a Margaritaville but that I feel like that

doesn't get foot traffic they just move the Margaritaville closer to the front like or make it more central like put it where John Lovitz is

right you basically you want to demolish the part that's close to the park but then just move some of those good things. Yeah. But you got the parking garages. Yeah, I think it's hiding park garage.

I think there's also, if you look up in parts of CityWalk, there's office buildings. There's technically office buildings above it. But wouldn't you prefer your office to be in Green Guts? Yeah, for sure. I mean, there was rumors that turned out to go nowhere that there was going to be a Great Hall restaurant that you could enter from the park or CityWalk. And this may have just been a whisper down the line sort of thing that never happened.

Whispered by you and me to each other. That would be great. Talked about it every week, I think. Can I talk about a missed opportunity for some magic making? Yeah, sure. Okay. Now, this is sort of conflating narratives,

but I think there's an opportunity when you... Again, I'm skipping to food. Should I not? Should I hold this? No, we're... Yeah, yeah. We want to go there.

Let's go there. We want to talk about it so much. This is not going to be the only Harry Potter episode. No. This probably won't be the only Hogsmeade episode, honestly. There's so much to cover. Let's not box ourselves in.

For expansion. Come on. Expansion pads. If we take some tangents, I think that's fine. But yeah, food is a big part of this, because like you said, this is a very immersive area. I go there often just to be at Three Broomsticks. Yeah, it's great. I love it when I sit there.

That is like peak moment of feeling in the world. I love that building. It looks beautiful. I love entering on the Hogshead side and getting a pumpkin fizz and maybe a shot of fire whiskey on the side. Oh, sure. You know, just some drink hacks, which there are more drinks in Orlando. a pumpkin fizz, and maybe a shot of fire whiskey on the side. Oh, sure.

You know, just some drink hacks, which I'm, there are more drinks in Orlando. I want us to get more of these drinks. Yeah, there's more drinks. There's also different, this is a big thing, because I went on Yelp and I found the menus for both three broomsticks, and they're a little different. And some of the food is at Three Broomsticks in Orlando, and some's at Leaky Cauldron.

And out here, I feel like they went like, all right, what sells best at both these places? And we're like, which I miss. In Orlando, they have like Cornish pasties, which is not a common food in America. And I'm like, oh, I wish they had that out here. I don't recognize this word. What is it? Pastie is like a hand pie, like a meat pie. Meat pie, yeah, meat pie. And they're delicious yeah well yeah incredible they're incredible well i think there's a so you um i feel like the queue

is really well run you uh you order and then you get you know standard theme park you know like order pay pick it up from a different window but I think you could, you can see the open kitchen and I think you should not be able to see the open kitchen and you see bobbing house, you see like bobbing house elf. Oh yeah. Or pets. Oh, you just see an animatronic. Yeah, that's smart.

Or even just shadow projection. That kitchen, and a lot of people probably don't know this because they're normal, that is a shared kitchen with all the Simpsons restaurants. That's hilarious. But yeah, but a very well run because they also, like, once you order and pay, they find you a table and they bring the food out. So, like, sometimes theme park restaurants are like the Wild West in terms of, like, yeah, you got to order. There might not be a seat. Good luck.

You're on your own. Yeah, yeah. Be our guest tavern. That's kind of seat. Good luck. You're on your own. Yeah, yeah. Be our guest tavern. That's kind of a mess around there. That's on the better end of Disneyland restaurants. And it's still, it's a little rough. Oh, is that right? I think so.

In terms of seating and... You mean the formerly village house? Yeah, what am I talking about? Gaston's, what's that place actually called? You know what I mean. Fantasyland. The one that they repurposed. So they repurposed the village house,

which is right by the Pinocchio ride, and they call it like... The Red Rose Tavern. There it is. Jason got it. Jason got the poll. No more three-star reviews. Look, I can mess up the name of a restaurant.

Get off me. No, I think Be Our Guest Restaurant in Florida is run more like the Three Broomsticks, where you order with an RFID like thing and then they find you a table. They bring your food, appears. I've never had my food brought to a table at Three Broomsticks. Really? Yeah. Do you always just wait? I get on that little tray

and then they'll help you find a table if there isn't one. I think you take your tray. Oh, I think you take your tray. Oh, Leaky Cauldron in Florida. They bring the food out there, I think. Or maybe not. Well, Universal's losing. This might also be different if it's crowded versus if it's not.

Yeah, I don't know. We're going to get torn up in the comments on all this misinformation. But they do help you find a seat. Yes, I've been there when it's slammed and they help you find a seat. And I've been there when it's not slammed. And so it's just like yeah yeah you're you're fine um we had like uh we went there in a really crowded summer day with like my brother my sister-in-law and like kids and we had like a super helpful guy get us like a nice big table so yeah they're great about that but there isn't you pick up your food at that tray

that tray station and then take it to your table. Also, that restaurant and the surrounding patio, I forget, it holds an obscene amount of people. It holds hundreds of people. It's an amazing... Can be fit in there. It's incredible. We spent a bunch of time walking through that space without even ordering food.

It's just like a cool environment to walk through. And the Hogshead side is great. The Hogshead is so perfect. It's just frequent enough, and it's grunts and head turning. It's charming without being distracting or hard to order. It's like you want it to be like the kid sees it and points it out to his dad, and then he turns, and then it doesn't do anything. Yeah.

And you want the kid to look crazy. Yeah, exactly. That's the fun of it. And I like that the sign is like broken and crooked out front, and I feel like on a medium traffic day, a lot of people don't know that you can get all kinds of Butterbeer on that side. You don't have to wait by the Butterbeer trucks. No.

Which typically have longer lines. You can get hot, cold. Yes. Frozen. Frozen. Yeah. And I'm personally really into the pumpkin fizz myself. I've never had the pumpkin fizz.

I have the pumpkin juice. It's pumpkin juice with club soda, and it's dynamite. Yeah. Interesting. So all the beers are made for Universal, all of the Harry Potter beers. Although we joked, Mike and I, a long time ago, because I think we were reading about Diagon Alley, and one of the listings was all of the different Harry Potter beers,

and then also like and cores light like they broke it at one point and then they i think they changed it but there's no coke you can't like get coke no you can only get like pumpkin fizz or lemon squash or butter beer uh-huh they have um they have a few um on the i think on both sides they have a couple other non Harry Potter brewed beers but they're not but they are like they're more like British they have like London Pride Guinness, Magners

Cider or Strongo but they age the taps even if it's a brand you know it's all scratched up and it looks cool I love that part at the carts outside taps like all even if it's a brand you know it's all scratched up and it looks cool yeah like love that part at the carts outside like all that they're like they have chips or candy bars for sale and it's all british candy and then of course in honey dukes it's all packaged for like the

world the chocolate frogs and i think honey dukes could be better i i like the i like the look of it but uh i feel like the products are slightly limited and are never rotated like i thought that there was going to be more holiday treats oh that's true i mean they weren't they put out like a thing i feel like this is a like i said about the rolling out the phelps to introduce something I feel like there was a story a while back of like, Honeydukes now has butterbeer fudge, everyone. And it's like a new era has begun. It's the kind of press event we're all trying to get into. Yeah, we're all trying for that. The sweet podcast, The Ride Card, we hope to pull one day.

I wish Three Broomsticks would rotate the food menu a little more. Because there's lots of other british foods that i know the pat joke is that like british food is terrible but it's like if you put a crust on it and cover it in gravy it's delicious yes um yeah because we got let's see you got your beef uh stew your guinness stew you got your uh fish and chips bangers and chips, bangers and mash. Shepherd's pie, bangers and mash. The lemon roasted chicken. The ribs, the like, there's a rib. Spare ribs.

Spare ribs. Jess is doing this off the dome, by the way. Yeah. Pretty good. I have the menu in front of me and she's got it every, like almost every one. Check, check. You got, and then there's obviously the feast, but I think there's also a Sunday roast. There is a Sunday roast.

Wow. And then there's also, you can get salads and they have three soups. There's a potato soup. There's a cheese ale soup. That sounds good. It's just good. I've had that. How many meals have you had there, do you think, in your lifetime?

I have had probably 10 to 15. I try to keep track of my business expenses and I highlight three broomsticks on my credit card bill knowing that it's a writing meeting between Zach and I. Of course. So I can write it off. Sure, yeah. We often go there and just like blue sky ideas. Have a butter beer, have some fish and chips.

That lemon chicken is really good if you want a lighter. There's also a sauteed asparagus platter? Yeah. Sorry, I missed that. Jumbo asparagus. I had the holiday meal at Christmas time, which was turkey and it came with a sausage roll.

No, not a sausage roll. It came with a sausage cabbage. It was great. It really seems like all of... I did not eat there, but the fact you've been there so many times and everybody's speaking so highly of it. Often a good theme park restaurant is still an impression of a real

restaurant. It sounds like all this is legit. I think that the fish and chips and the shepherd's pie taste totally like I got them at a pub. Maybe not the best pub in the world, but I think the deficient chips and the shepherd's pie tastes totally like I got them at a pub. Maybe not like the best pub in the world, but like, I think they taste like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So in Orlando at the Three Group Six, yeah. Go ahead.

My beloved Cornish Pasties. They just have a rotisserie smoked chicken, spare ribs. We said that. They have a chicken and ribs combo platter. And then, of course, they there also serve a big turkey leg. Very popular. I think more popular in Orlando than Southern California.

I mean, you get them at theme parks, certainly. Yeah, I think that's a common Disneyland food, isn't it, for people? Yeah. I've never been that into it because I don't like how sweet they taste. Nick Weiger previously just dissed the giant turkey

leg on our last episode and sent Jason into a rage. I don't think that's an accurate assessment. Hey, but we should say that led to us. We got our first piece of fan art. We requested fan art of Jason driving

around a Mark Twain riverboat made out of cake, piloting it with holding a big turkey leg. That's amazing. And this was made for us. We should shout out the specific Twitter user. Yeah, I'm trying to find. My wife saw this and lit up like it was Christmas. I've just been high on it for like two days.

Well, if that's all that happened in 2018, that's something. Joseph Milato, at 73door on Twitter. Here you can see. Oh, gosh. Great. That's very good. It got my hair swoop that I sometimes like and sometimes am self-conscious about.

It's great. It's like Conan's hair. It's your logo now. Feel good about that. People have spoken. The giant birthday cake Mark Twain made my day. Hooray! Turkey legs represented in there. We're open all turkey leg opinions

on this podcast. I get their appeal and, and I feel like the older I get, the more I am into quicker walkable options at a theme park, which I like. I like the Bengal barbecue sort of school of thought where you can just have a skewer of meat. You can do something a little smaller. If you don't want to do sit down for both your meals in the day so i get their appeal me personally when they when meats

are smoked and they get that sweet flavor i just don't like it yeah so it's less turkey like i mean that applies to some hams and meat you know yeah for sure so i don't need another i don't need another rage cage over here no stop judging what do we What do we think of the, there's the, at Honeydukes, the every flavor beans. No thanks. With the, uh-huh, uh-huh. No thanks. Well, with that being said, I do, with your no thanks, I do have a package. I do have a package.

Every flavor beans here. The packaging is great. Yes. Here, I'll shake it up for the mic. The thing about Honeydukeses is like this is stuff sold as souvenirs and stuff people are bringing back.

Totally. The chocolate frog boxes are gorgeous. They're gorgeous. Pretty good. Like good chocolate. Totally. The chocolate frogs.

I just wish there was like I don't know. More unique maybe? Yeah like there could be I think they have to sell every flavor beans like I've gone through as a fan

I've like had them before and i'm just like i'm not into this roulette but like they have to have them there's no world where they can't have fudge flies those i think are the best actual candy yeah the chocolate frogs are like rich and big and the box is gorgeous and you get a card they're great but i think that that the fact that they have a fudge stand in there with some other like treats is a real missed opportunity there's like a cauldron cake but it looks kind of ridiculous yeah and there's like i think we could have mini treacle tarts i think we could be selling some of the desserts from three broomsticks there why can't i get a uh like the the freaking sticky toffee pudding here or that almost looks like it could be

like a mini soda fountain stand where they're like another opportunity. Just the fact that they have that glass case and it never looks appealing because it's just sort of like standard fudge. There is some standard like candy from the park confectionary in there. That just doesn't feel like the best execution of,

there's so few things you get to go in and touch and feel and explore like we could i think we could bump it up but they but you know more events as time goes on more opportunities for the phelps to show up and uh have new desserts uh i bet they'll it probably is a good area for them to like you know kind of juice the park a little like we have this thing now we have that thing now. Yeah. How much of this... I'm not familiar with the books, but it seems like there are so many...

Apologies. I should have read all seven of them this week before the podcast. But are all these desserts laid out this thoroughly? Yeah. It's crazy. I have not read the books either. I've seen all the movies

i'm i'm going to get into it one day one day i'm also not a good reader dude it's the best audiobook in the game i should do that to yourself i should do that tree and make those la drives a joy while listening to jim dale okay it's the best all right i'll do it all i re-listened to five six and seven really yeah this year i added 4 because I found it in my childhood bedroom on disc. I was like, I'm going to add 4 to the mix too. It's great. Because what's been described about the books and the movies, people are like, the movies are fine.

Yeah. They get better. Some parts of them are joyous. I like the idea of the books so much. The idea is great. It feels very much like when I was a kid and the X-Men felt like, oh, you get to go to this place and you're special and you have powers and then you fight people.

I don't know why that's part of the fantasy as a kid, but it is. That's fun. The wands are like Cable's giant guns in the 90s. Jason always trying to cram the X-Men character Cable into this podcast. Hey, look, when that new Deadpool comes out, everyone's going to have Cable fever. He is. Josh Brolin character Cable into this podcast. Hey, look, when that new Deadpool comes out, everyone's going to have Cable fever. He is, yeah. Josh Brolin.

Josh Brolin is Cable. What a world. That's fun casting. But what's been described to me about the books that's so great is that the detail is incredible. Food, where you live, what your quarters are like. And so, yeah, when you're reading about desserts, you're imagining eating the desserts.

It's extremely vivid. And also like, I think that movies do a good job of this production design. Like you don't picture any of these stores as like organized shelves, which I think maybe that's my other problem with Honeydukes is like, even if you can't buy it, why isn't there like production design where it's like a, a towel more like how the, um, wants to store looks all vendors where it's like a tower of sugar quills. That's about to fall over.

Like it should look more higgle higgly, biggly. Like it just doesn't. Like if you look at the way that they do wizard, uh, Weasley's wizard wheezes in the sixth movie is great. Like boxes coming out of everywhere it shouldn't look organized like a wizard doesn't need to be organized they can just like summon the box they

need like they don't need it to be like perfectly cataloged i think the honey dukes shelves look a little too clean for my money which that is the thing that happened in orlando like when the orlando hogsmeade first opened they split like Honeydukes was also like half Zonkos. Which is the same here. Yeah. And then when they opened Diagon Alley, they just purged the Zonkos and Hogsmeade and expanded Honeydukes and opened a big Zonkos in Florida. That's cool. So like you can go in the Zonkos and there is like a working facade with the hat tipping.

That's great. Which is great. And then you can go across the street to i'm gonna mess this up for lean for tesco's the ice cream parlor sure you can order well that fabian but it's yeah so it's an ice cream for yeah florian florian he goes missing in the books it's really does he yeah well his ice cream is delicious. Yeah. And you can order the ice cream that Harry gets in the first book when he thinks Hagrid might still be just a guy abducting him and buys him an ice cream. That ice cream parlor is unbelievable.

It's unbelievable. I will say this. We will stop talking about Diagon, maybe. Well, we don't have to, but Diagon is so good. It's the best place ever, except for maybe the ride, which, again, we'll do another episode of it. Really? Except for the ride? The ride is good, but not as good as Forbidden Journey.

Oh, okay. Oh, I thought it was the other way around. I thought I've heard Gringotts is crazy, but you can... No, Forbidden Journey... No, Forbidden Journey is better. I'll say this. Forbidden Journey, I think, is still the best theme park ride currently in the world. And certainly the most innovative

i don't know that anyone's topped it yet and it's eight years old at this point it's gorgeous yeah the the line is amazing the like the all of the like the little like storytelling along the way getting to see ron harry hermioneumbledore. It's so good. The mix of the medias of that ride is incredible. It is a little dizzy making. Yeah, I had a bit of a rough time on there. And we should say the Universal Hollywood one was 3D when it opened and now is not 3D. And I'm really glad I didn't do it 3D because I was not just as it was.

It was way too much 3D and I'm really glad I didn't do it 3D because I was not just as it was. It was way too much 3D. I think there was my friend went with her family and her aunt had to spend hours in a sick tent that had been set up for multiple people having barfing and dizzy spells. So I also think there was like

before they got rid of the glasses, the 3D component, I think there was like well let's try to just like recalibrate a little bit. So there was like I think they made rid of the glasses, the 3D component, I think there was like, well, let's try to just recalibrate a little bit. So there was like, I think they made some of the movements slightly less intense. And then they were like, we have to do even more and got rid of the glasses. And now I think it's pretty great. I think they just upgraded. Is it 4K now?

Some of them, they were upgrading to 4K. Well, I think they were upgrading the old ones. I think this one was a higher def already. Already. Because it was newer. Did it go down for a while? Was it like a financial issue for them to shut the ride down? I don't think it was. I think it was a higher def already already because it was newer because did it go down for a while was it like a financial issue for them to shut the ride down it was it was a quick thing yeah so when it

yeah when it first opened they were just pretty standard 3d glasses there was a very brief period where they had quidditch goggle 3d glasses which were cool i mean they were cool to hold and wear and look at but yeah i mean it is a dizzy-making ride. It uses, so yeah, let's just get into Forbidden Journey. So Forbidden Journey uses what's called KUKA Arm robotic arm technology. And it's got an insane range of movement. Like you can go a full 180 degrees up and down. Like you practically go up and down,

upside down at one point, which is crazy for like a family ride. Is there anything we can describe where you see a KUKA arm? If you've been on the tram tour, I forget if this is still there, but the summer I started working there, there was this truly awful stop on the tram tour

that was the Fast and the Furious. Whatever that... I forget the subtitle. Was it a Tokyo Drift thing? The cars fly at you on these big arms and then they swivel around and they dance for you

to a dead Yankee song. But if you, it was. Is it a Gasolina or something? Gasolina. I had to hear Gasolina three to four times a day, every day,

and just watch, like no one enjoyed it. I never saw it. Scott was a tour tram. He was the guy to her uh i'd still do it if i could what a what a blast and if it was a little more than minimum wage but the uh uh hell of a job though but the like yeah was that a kuka arm those are maybe the first universal's first use of kuka arms and i think like it was it was like them

putting a foot in the door with that technology because it was technology that disney could use too and then in preparation for harry potter they bought the exclusive theme park rights to the kooka arms so disney like had rides and development that would have used these things and in fact they also appear in stitch's great escape there's these like arms that are oh Oh, yeah, the laser cannons. Yes, there you go. Yeah, yeah, those are kookas. But Universal bought the exclusive rights, so they pushed Disney out of the kooka game.

In terms of Harry Potter, it's almost like if you imagine yourself sitting on a couch, and then on the back of the couch, there was an arm that could move the couch any direction it pleased. Yeah, I think it's called an arm because it has a full range of movement. It literally can move you anywhere, show you anything.

You're so surprised when you end up upside down. I remember getting on the ride for the first time in Florida, and the fact that the restraints coming down are always like, oh, God, what's happening here? But I was very nervous because I honestly didn't know what the ride was going to do. And you're on it, and it's still finding new moves. Not tipping in the commercials what the ride was. They mostly showed like the footage of Harry

in the Quidditch game in the marketing and stuff. And you still, as you're on it, you are not really sure what the hell's happening. It's pretty hard to get your head around the ride mechanism. Am I up on wires? I have no idea what that would look like if the lights were on i have no idea what that show building looks like i think the closest it feels to uh to me is like if you could put the indiana jones car on an arm and like some of you know like in terms of like how many separate like chambers it feels like

you're in oh sure and like weaving a narrative a journey you know like if that ride instead of being in a jeep you were being moved and tipped backwards and had a little bit more screenplay yeah yeah yeah and and you know our only complaint about the indiana jones ride which we covered early on is that there's there are kind of like weird dead spaces in it there There's literally like you're in transit from one room to another. So there's maybe a projection effect or something. But it's a mostly like black room that you're going through.

Boy, Forbidden Journey is all action. There is no dead space anywhere in that thing. Yeah. I think the deadest space is the Dementor Beat. But in terms of the walls and the ceiling having the least going on but you still have giant Dementors. Those things things are great the one that sort of follows along with you where it's arm motion matches yours yeah this all i'm it's a scary ride scary i don't like them

i don't like them yeah they're just giant puppets this is another i think we talked at a an episode recently about like uh oh an alien. A lot of the scares in this old Disney ride, Alien Encounter, are just old theatrical techniques. Lighting cues, sound cues, like breath on your neck. It's just an air cannon. And like,

the Dementors are just giant puppets hanging from a ceiling. But they get, and they're not even, they're probably still like 8, 10 feet away. but they get close to you. Disney has a comfortable space usually between you and something scary, and Universal feels like they go like two feet closer. It feels like they're a little more comfortable putting it like four feet in front of you. Speaking of Indiana, again, I remember that time that I went when it first opened we we did go on it like

two times and my uh we went with like another family and my friend Krista Swanson and I were both terrified of the giant snake yes the last time I went on and I was like this is so funny because it's like a cartoon looking snake yes um like a little bit it's like splitting the line between realistic it's all i mean it's obviously not realistic because it's gigantic but like even its eye and face shape are like halfway between a real snake and like an artistic like a cartoon snake but we used to know that third row third seat in was where the snake mostly came and we both like did not want to be in that seat and i remember like she was in it the first time and came. And we both like did not want to be in that seat.

And I remember like she was in it the first time and the way that we were like lined up, she was going to be in it again. And we were walking in and she sat in the second seat. She's like, I'm not doing it again. You have to go there. And I was like, fine. And sat there and like got to that part

and went, you know, full hands over, completely like eyes closed. I was like, I can't handle this snake. That's right where we talked about before. Mike and I broke down on that. That ride broke down. The ride broke down. We didn't break down in tears or anything. And some of the lights in the building

came on, but I feel like the snake kept moving. I feel like the snake kept... Yeah, I think he did come down. He would come down every five, whatever minute or something. We were there for a few minutes. Where do you least want to get stuck in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey? The Dementors.

Oh, the Dementors. Or looking up at the Whomping Willow might be a little tricky. The spider. I think the spider I don't like either. I broke down looking up at the spider once. That wasn't super pleasant. You broke down or the ride broke down? A little bit of both.

I think it stopped at the Dementors too. I do not like. Yeah, the Dementors. The first time my girlfriend Lindsay and I went on it in Orlando, we were freaked out. And I guess we're not very tough people. But then we would tell people, like, this is the scariest ride. And everyone who went on it would be like, that wasn't that scary. And it made us feel real like...

You come back here with your scaredy cat boys, and we all got your back. We started a podcast because we're three scared boys. And then Jason tries to act like he's the tough guy of the three of us. But he's still scared. We know. Yeah, I'm a thrill seeker. Hollywood, when they... Oh, difference between Hollywood and Orlando.

Even more dementors. There's a whole room of dementors out here. There's extra dementors in Hollywood. In Hollywood. Okay. I mean, I went on it in Orlando, but that was probably 2011. So it's been a minute since I remember comparing and contrasting the ride. This is also funny that to go on in Orlando and I went on both Dueling Dragons and the

Unicorn, the rides that got turned into Flight of the Hippogriff and the dragon ride from Goblet of Fire. So both of the other rides that were there at the time I had been on. So it was like, you know, this is the star. But I don't remember the differences now between it. Yeah. Well, Dragon Challenge recently closed in fall of 2017. It's dead and in hell now, as we say about rides. But they're making a new badass-y ticket Harry Potter ride.

They're building another brand new Harry Potter ride. Do we know anything about it? Possibly a coaster. I think it's a coaster type thing, supposedly. Possibly through the woods? Yeah, some woods thing. Because I like them having a big true coaster. I think that's fun.

I think it will be. Anything that's not covered in the existing rides that you would be excited to see as a ride. Oh my gosh, Scott, that's a dream question. I know what you mean. I'd feel a lot of pressure too. Oh, that's so good. Maybe the car? No, no, no.

F that noise. As is, which I think is good for not spoilers, I feel like the world's favorite books three and below, which I think is good for not spoilers. I feel like the world's favorite books three and below, which I think is correct in terms of spoilers and stuff like that. And knowing that a kid might be going there and having only read the first books, that you don't want to introduce them with too much lore that's from the later books, especially since the books get more serious.

Oh, you mean when they start to become analogies for the Blitz? Yeah. For World War II? Right. Exactly. Or like, yeah, exactly. since the books get more serious oh you mean when they start to become analogies for the the blitz right exactly or like yeah exactly um uh so i think i think they are they walk that line correctly but i think what would make a dope coaster is uh threstles uh which are the the winged horses that we meet in Order of the Phoenix. You can only see if you've witnessed death. So when they use them to fly, Harry and Neville and Luna can see them, but the other ones are flying on an invisible horse.

So that would make an incredible coaster, I think. Like a journey from the Forbidden Forest to London to the Ministry of Magic, but you making it in whatever way you could feel like you can't see the thing below you maybe like some six flags tatsu maybe it's more of like a lay down fly feeling coaster but i think that's offhand i mean i could think about this some more but i think that sensation is described so well about like Harry, Neville and Luna all like hop on. They look like reptilian horses that have like bat wings.

Wow. But they're like horse size. And the three kids who've seen death can like just hop on them. And the other three are like, there's nothing here. And they have to like be helped onto an invisible horse i think yeah obviously you can't make a coaster invisible but like something that could approximate the sensation translucent maybe somehow knowing what's below you or having like a couple of beats where like you have that weightlessness of like not seeing the track

like x2 at six flags does this where you can't see the track. Guys, let me think on it more. Sounds really good. We'll revisit it in 20 minutes. I mean, while we're talking. If anything occurs to you, well, if we're blathering on about dry facts and your mind wanders, feel free. I feel like a lot of speculation for a long time, too,

was a Ministry of Magic attraction, Ministry of Magic battle attraction. Yeah, they're building something else in Orlando as well. There's a room next to Diagon Alley. They're building something. We're not sure what it is, but it might be a Ministry of Magic. I feel like they are not slowing down. Oh, they're not slowing down.

And a third park at Universal could have it too. Do we get another stop of Hogwarts Express? They've talked about, it depends where the park goes, I think, but Ministry of Magic, they've talked about making a whole land. There's a whole thing. As it is, though, you still are buying a ticket to Islands of Adventure to access this, right? You have to buy a two-park ticket to get

both. So that was a big thing when it opened. It's never been done before. You ride an attraction to travel between parks. Yeah, so Diagon is in the regular Universal Park. Oh, my word. What a thing they figured out. It also works as a monorail almost

right like taking you between parks and you so you you can't do diagon with just an islands of adventure ticket you need a park hopper you need a park like a park and they have in the king's babies in king cross station you can like there has to be an attendant there to sell you an upgrade because some people don't know it so they go to the attraction thinking they can do the train, and then they go no, and then they have to upsell. So there's a whole person there to deal with tourists that might not actually know about that. That's brilliant.

I think there is one way you could do it. So I think you get one park ticket for Universal Florida and see all of Diagon. And then after Islands of Adventure closes, they do still, Universal Studios Florida usually stays open later than Islands of Adventure. So they still run the Hogwarts Express.

You just take the round trip. The train essentially goes backwards. Got it. So you would not get to do Forbidden Journey then? You would not get to do Forbidden Journey. Or explore Hogsmeade. One park holders might be able to ride the train at night after islands closes interesting uh because like i remember the first

time i went to diagon alley they're like oh you can go on the train you can't get off at the other park but you can just come back and the journey there and the journey back you see different footage like in your train compartment it's a different hot damn it's a different like like you maybe you're probably not spoiling it for yourself but the Diagon that ride that like I've avoided it mostly but the I did I couldn't help but watch a little of uh Hogwarts Express it's insane I'm trying to do no spoilies yeah obviously I've seen photos but I'm trying to just but my question question is, guys, when should my pilgrimage be? Should I wait for more expansion?

Well, I think that's two or three years probably still away. Well, you've done yourself a favor because I was there. I went in 2014, six weeks after it opened, and I waited three hours to ride Escape from Gringotts on the last day because it had broken down so many times. I was there this past summer and I waited 10 to 15 minutes which was

much easier and the crowds were pretty manageable. So like any theme park attraction like a year or two after opening it breaks down less and there's a lot less crowds. So like I would stay on site if you can universal's got some cool hotels there and you get that extra time portofino bay but if you want to wait and do the chase trifecta like i was talking about at the top of the show like that's a good

like you could accrue points over three to six months when are you going to tokyo mike because now i need to know if i need to just go there oh well tokyo we're talking whenever this is real lindsey's when she's on hiatus from her job. Great. So it could be May, could be June, could be July. We're not exactly sure yet,

but we're going to go around that time and we're going to do Tokyo Disney Sea. I've never done it before, Tokyo Disney, and then maybe Universal out there to see that lake, Jason, the Black Lake.

Yeah, which unfortunately Universal out there is on the other side of the country from the Disney parks. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, well, I'll update. We can update you guys further. You're going to be working that trifecta real hard. Please give me an update, because I don't think I'm going to make it to Orlando before the summer, anyhow.

Well, you could also, if you're interested in the opening of Fast and the Furious Supercharged, that's opening in Orlando. Not interested. So, if that sweetens the pot. Okay. All right. How do you feel about the concept of family? Oh, I would say me familia is everything.

Yeah, yeah. You're my brother. A bunch of kids outside just went, yay, right as you said that. That's a nice sign. Those are my kids. That's my family. Wait out here, familia.

I, for one, live my life one quarter mile at a time. That's the best way to live. Have you been on the Fast and Furious Universal out here? Yes. Yeah, on the end of the tram tour? Pretty similar. I feel like it's going to be pretty similar. Yeah, it's pleasant.

Does any of it have the song Gasolina? No, I don't think so. Gasolina died with that small part on the tram. Disney's main song is like When You Wish Upon A Star. Universal's main song is Gasolina. Gasolina. Official anthem. I will say it occurs to me like maybe Universal never had a Mickey, and I think Harry Potter is now their Mickey.

I think they have a – He is all the billboards. He is all – I think that's great. What's interesting I think they have a... He is all the billboards. He is all... I think that's great. What's interesting about... I was thinking when we were in Orlando, we saw all the signs have Daniel Radcliffe on it. And it's sort of funny

that he's going to be stuck at that age in this promotional material for forever? 40 years? 50 years? Until J.K. Rowling dies and they remake the movies maybe? Oh my gosh. I shudder to think of that time. I know it my gosh. I shudder to think of that time.

I know it'll happen. You shudder to think of 2030 when it happens. But could you be in those new movies and would that be exciting? No, they only cast British actors. Yeah, but she's dead now in this scenario and they don't care. You can do an accent. When they put out the casting call for the original movies, my friend Kyle Sheldon and I, who grew up doing plays but he moved back to Texas, he and I got on the phone

and we were like trying out British accents because we were like, could we fool them? We were also one year too old. You had to be between like 10 and 12 and British and I think we were 13 and American, but we were still like, I wanted to be Hermione so bad.

I mean, I, ugh. Well, so many people's, like there's so many like like, magazine profile stories. People pitch themselves as, like, so I went to this audition. I was not supposed to be there. I called out sick from my day job and lied. Like, so many people's, like, marketing stories are, like, I lied my way into the experience of a lifetime. I, I, I, totally.

I mean, like, they saw, it was just, like, I think the age thing would have been fine but the non-british thing the non-british is just like no matter how good my dialect coach could have been there's like why would we cast an American but the Fantastic Beasts uh has yes American I know I thought but they are not good so um we'll see um I did not get to I thought about or my parents wanted me to and I did not audition for the 1997

Leave it to Beaver film Jesus my whole life could be different as Beaver 97 Beaver you didn't audition to be Beaver

I did not audition to be I think I I still I think I could have gotten it I think it could have been me it could have been me up there with Christopher McDonald

as Ward Cleaver. And Erica Christensen is the love interest of Wally. Wally played by, oh gosh, Vaughn. He's got one of those, like Eric Vaughn. He was in Brink, the made-for-Disney movie. We're not talking about a Malcolm in the Middle person. No, he's not a Malcolm in the Middle actor. He was in Brink, the made-for-Disney channel movie.

Oh, stop that. About rollerbladers. He was definitely part of the teen beat. Oh, gosh. You know what's a podcast waiting to happen is all of the Disney Channel originals. Yeah. What's her name?

What's the space girl? Xenon. Xenon girl of the 21st century. Three of those. Yeah. Xenon's an episode. We gotta save the Zeke Wolf for a different episode.

The 13th year where he becomes a merman. Oh, greet me out. That weirded me out. Smart house. Yo, yeah, yeah. Katie Segal. That's right.

This one's sitting right there. Free podcast idea for whoever wants out. Smart House. Yo, yeah, yeah. Katie Segal. That's right. This one's sitting right there. Free podcast idea for whoever wants it. Disney Originals. You've Googled this, Jason? I'm trying to Google it. Okay, don't tell me. Okay. Okay.

We can move on. Do you guys remember the 90s Leave it to Beaver movie? That's what we're talking about. Not Beaver. Jason, let me look at that iPad. You were looking at the pictures of the menu. Walter Matthau, yeah. Yeah, I auditioned to be Mr. Wilson.

At 12 years old. You were too old. Who's that small old man? You were like too old though. They don't like you for Dennis, however. Okay, do you have it, Jason? Do you have it in front of you? He's looking at pictures of Fudge. Is it Eric Vaughn something?

There's one more part. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But is the first part Eric Vaughn? Yes, it is. Eric Vaughn Denton? Deaton Denton? Yeah, that's right. Okay, wow.

Very great. Brink. We have established... Oh, yeah, look at that. Yeah, he looks like a... Yeah. He's a real teen heartthrob. Yeah, boy.

He is a real hunk. He had the Leo and Titanic hair in front of the eyes thing. Was the Leo and Titanic parted down the middle or the side? Middle, I believe. Middle. But everyone had. It was very tussled, rustled. Especially picturing him when he's drawing her and he's got a lot of those stringy, greasy bangs in front of his eyes.

Frickin' hot! No ride of that. No ride that gets you closer to Leo's bangs, unfortunately. Or gets you, like, you pass by the steamy car or whatever. That's a big property that doesn't exist. Come on, young park girl. Does Fox own it? Can Disney make the Titanic ride now?

In their adult park that we were using? Can they do mo-cap with current Leo to make him young Leo? Eric Von Deaton also in the 1995 remake of Escape to Witch Mountain, the second one. Oh, wow. Before The Rock remake. Before The Rock hit it. Also in this movie, Robert Vaughn and the great Elizabeth Moss was in this 1995 remake. Wow.

Wait, of Leave it to Beaver? Of Escape to Witch Mountain. Oh, no. Okay. Boy, we got it to Beaver? Of Escape to Witch Mountain. Oh, no. Okay. Boy, we got reboots flying every which way. I guess we should get back to the Harry Potter. I don't know. I feel like we've barely scratched the surface.

I do kind of feel that way. Well, I want to say an important fact that while this is a great ride and a great area, they did have to demolish the Gibson Amphitheater, one of LA's most average concert venues, in order to put it into Universal Hollywood. And this is a place that has great esteem and one of the great properties of all time. It is where the live album Briefcase Full of Blues

by the Blues Brothers was recorded. So, I mean, have your fun in Harry Potter land, but let's not forget that they had to shatter yeah yeah yeah you pissed on Belushi's grave and Ackroyd's eventual grave I love the way that castle looks I love that I can see it in Los Angeles from the freeway

we're all kind of in this neighborhood and you see it on drives sometimes you see it with the new light show they put in driving down Olive that little hippogriff is a baby little coaster but it's Sometimes you see it with the new light show they put in. It's incredible. That little hippogriff is a baby little coaster, but it's delightful. And I love that you pass the hippogriff. The hippogriff animatronic is really fun. I won't wait another 40 minutes again for it like I did during a soft open.

But it is fun. They do a nice job of hiding. His name is Buckbeak, right? Yes. They hide him from the line. You can kind of see it if you know where to look, but you really do see him for the first time on the roller coaster.

And that coaster gives you some great views of the castle. Yes, and of the NBC office building. That's right. Next to it as well. Have you guys done the Ollivander show? Yes. Yes. Multiple times. What do you think of that? I think don't wait for it, but I mean, if you're visiting, obviously wait for it but i mean if you're

visiting obviously yeah yeah if you can if you can go often i would i wouldn't i would not wait more than 20 minutes for that i yeah i would agree with that but it is enchanting for folks who yeah who have not done this this is the whole spawn ceremony where there's somebody playing a wizard they're not a real wizard uh and they come, sorry, sorry to break it. And usually they choose a child. I have seen it happen where maybe an adult woman friend of mine I was with got chosen and she got to do the whole ceremony and children were upset. Maybe not upset, but they were probably confused. But then, yeah, so then the wand chooses, that's the whole thing, is the wand chooses the wizard and they do all these fun effects of like, is this your wand? And then something happens and the shelves fall down or like the lights go out.

A flower dies. Yeah, it's great. And then you get led into the big wand room. Yeah, and then they make the parents pay for the wand. Which is crazy. Which is crazy. Yeah. But I understand, I was thinking about this because like that sucks that it's like you have to make the parent pay after the kid goes through this awesome like fun experience but

if it was a free wand it would be bedlam it would be chaos every time yeah because you would be like kids would be getting shoved to the front by their parents don't you guys fucking free one don't you guys think at least a 10 discount should be in order yes i'll yes for sure pick for the show yeah yeah I think they should give you a little bump. Or like 20% off your second one because a lot of those kids who get chosen, they got a sibling.

You can't share one Deathly Hallow one. No, no, no. I feel like there's guys have some sort of deal. How not special does that sibling feel? Exactly. Much superior. Sibling get chosen. have some sort of deal. How not special does that sibling feel? Exactly. Watching their, yeah, watching the much superior

sibling get chosen. Yeah, yeah. Here's my other question. I love that JK has approval and, you know, I don't know, it sounds like I'm the biggest Harry Potter fan

in this? Yes, for sure. Yes, yes, for sure. So maybe you guys haven't explored Pottermore, which is the website that allows you to, like, interact,

get officially sorted. I've been sorted. Have your Patronus. Have you guys been sorted? I've been sorted is the website that allows you to like interact, get officially sorted. I've been sorted. Have your Patronus. Have you guys been sorted? I've been sorted. I mean, you, of course.

I've been sorted. Yeah. What do you guys have not been? No, not yet. No. So there's plenty of other like knockoff Buzzfeed type quizzes that can tell you what house you're in. But this is like,

and they're very easy to like understand. It's like, would you rather be a dick, brave, smart, or nice? You know, the, the, you rather be a dick brave smart or nice you know the the you have selected a dick yeah the potter more one is much more like some of them are like six options some of them are two that are a lot more like ambiguous you can't like necessarily game it to

try to like figure out what house you want to be um there's also a patronus test um which is uh you know the spell expecto patronum that makes dementors go away and it's your own sort of like a spirit animal for lack of a better word and it can be like a guardian and send messages and protect you and you can take a wand test so i'm a little upset that they have tons of wand options but they don't have the full breadth of the wands you can be paired with on pottermore my wand is not available at the store okay that's what do you care to share which house patronus and wand i am a gryffindor my patronus is a uh a red mare which is a uh like

a ginger type horse the exact same patronus as mary holl Wow. Which is like, come on, it's an angel on earth. Yeah. And there's a lot of options. There are like a lot of different Patronuses. Yeah. So that's not so super common. And I can't think of my wand offhand, but I think it's like Unicorn Core and gosh,

I have a picture of it somewhere. There's got to be people like date and get married with these facts as starting points, correct? Like this has to have happened. I was already married when I made my husband take the Pottermore sorting. Was it tense while he was taking it in case it wasn't compatible? Did you have a lawyer on speed dodge? I was like a little, I'm ashamed to admit that a part of me cared at all.

I thought he was a Ravenclaw. He turned out to be a Ravenclaw and so it was great. But, and you know. Because he's a dick? No, I was just like. No, no, that's not. Oh, no, that's Slytherin.

That's Slytherin. I was Slytherin. Yes, and so is Zachary, you know, and there's lots of great Slytherins. Sure. The problem is, is like the Harry Potter narrative is through the eyes of Gryffindor. They're enemies. So we don't, we only hear bad stuff about Slytherins. Sure. The problem is, is like the Harry Potter narrative is through the eyes of Gryffindor,

they're enemies. So we don't, we only hear bad stuff about Slytherins. She has like done a ton in like post, like writings and speakings about like, that's because it's Harry's point of view. Right. They're not,

you're not doomed to evil. I'm not evil. Yeah. Because some of Slytherins are pretty thinly veiled uh nazi allegories and then some are just like i'm going to school right like i'm ambitious and like like i can be shrewd oh you're a slytherin like yeah um and they are sort of uh they have gryffindors can also be like cocky so like they i think gryffindors and Slytherins are sort of opposite sides of the same

coin of just like where you put your, I think they're definitely the cockiest, brashest, most confident of houses. So it's whether or not you filter that into like ambition or like bravery, but you can be a showboat in Gryffindor and you can be just like someone who achieves goals in Slytherin. Yeah.

You don't have to be bad. I'm not bad, guys. I'm good. But I'm a Slytherin. I may, sure do. Do I have a dark side like everyone?

Of course. Of course. You're a pet little puppy dog right now. No, the dog might, look at this. There's nothing wrong with you. Could an evil man

have a dog like this? No. No. Evil people have cats. We'll post it. As many films have established. We'll post a photo of my nice dog on Twitter. Evil people have cats. We'll post it. As many films have established. We'll post a photo of my nice dog on Twitter. Evil people have cats.

I have a story about Harry Potter symbols and iconography. So I first went to Hogsmeade in Orlando in 2012. And I was with my family and my girlfriend at the time. And we're walking around in all the shops. And again, we've said the merch is good. The wands are nicely made wooden wands. For one, this kind of sounds so lame. The stationery is very good.

The letterheads, there's paper you can get and notebooks and all these beautiful books. Jason, I bought stamps there. Don't worry about it. Yeah, and I mailed some postcards. From the Owry? From the Owry, yeah. Oh, and they give it a custom stamp. And they give you the custom stamp. Like Disneyland. worry about it yeah and i i mailed some postcards from the houri from the houri come on when they give it a custom and they give you the custom stamp like disneyland that's a nice little like

advance of that idea um so uh i was looking at little pot i was like oh maybe i'll get a little pocket notepad and and you know they had all the houses and i'm like oh look at this cute little guy look at this cute maybe i'll get this one and they're like that's hufflepuff you would like that my family fucking roasted me everyone's fucking roasted my ass because i'm like that's hufflepuff you would like that my family fucking roasted me everyone's fucking roasted my ass because i'm like oh this hufflepuff one is nice i like this one they're like yeah you would asshole oh jason i'm so sorry i think yeah now it's happening all over we're living no no no i'm saying we are living in a i feel like we're really living in the age of hufflepuff there's been

because i took this pot the pottermore test became like really really big i think like the summer of 2014 when i was in zach and i were in scotland and everyone was taking it and there were all these hufflepuffs and they were like bummed but now i think that there's been like once people have seen just how many like awesome people are hufflepuffs there's like a huge movement for Hufflepuff pride I like tons more people are like pro Hufflepuff than ever before you you get your first uh famous Hufflepuff in I'm sorry the not very good Fantastic Beasts movie but Newt Scamander is a Hufflepuff so okay a lead of one of the new breakoff franchises a Hufflepuff isn't isn't like their their game sort of like nice yeah people

loyal yeah that's good loyal hard-working and kind yeah yeah like sorry I think like if it's great to be a Hufflepuff like I think Hufflepuffs are probably the least likely to be bad you know like they might be like the they might be less likely to be like huge they might have like smaller percentage of huge heroes but I think they also have the lowest percentage of assholes so like hey that's nice yeah isn't that nice I will take the quiz before this comes out and post the results so we can officially

see yes I should too I don't know what it means but I'll do it if you are a Ravenclaw and you're a Hufflepuff we'll have all four represented how about that fingers crossed I like that Hufflepuff, we'll have all four represented. Oh, yeah. How about that? Fun. Fingers crossed.

I like that Hufflepuff is now becoming more accepted. It's a lot like I think people are reconsidering their ideas about what Juggalos are as well now. Because Juggalos had a march and they've been classified as a gang and that might not be fair. And I think it sounds like Hufflepuffs have not been treated fair. I would say the same. It's exactly the same. I'm a violent J in the quiz.

I'm also a violent J. not a shaggy too dope part of the theory is that hufflepuffs might be like stoners their house is like um by the kitchen and uh like there's a little oh you know i think some of the like teehee about hufflepuff is that they like well i do love treats and i do love snacks from the kitchen and I do love marijuana they're just like they're chill little badgers who are just like nice and like

maybe they're stoned and their common room is like really sunny and round oh boy that actually sounds really pleasant yeah it's great

like you no one should be ashamed no one should be ashamed from any house every house has pros and cons do they like discount hotel deals and naps? Oh, boy.

I'm all over that. It says here the official app of Hufflepuff is Hotel Tonight. You can get a great deal on a last-minute hotel room. And now the hotel.com rep is leaving? Hotel Tonight is leaving? No, the hotel.com rep is not coming back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They pissed them off too many times.

They die. Well, I mean, you know, the typical way that we end up ranking the rides is keep it as is, plus it up,

or burn it to the ground for insurance money. It seems a little silly to do it with the world of Harry Potter because how... and we haven't even covered

30%... We've barely scratched the surface. And to how... For us to say burn it to the ground for insurance money how like flippant and brazen would we be that would be a little like what like demanding theme park nerds to say and start over because it's it's all obviously

incredible we've already and you've already been giving us such good plus it up ideas but like yeah like i guess we can we can talk even any other ideas of like what would make this place i have only one and it's very tiny which is that it as part of the immersive world uh even the atm not the atm but the card reader machines when you buy something are like part of the world there's they're like a weird 40s looking little like industrial steampunk-looking kind of piece. And boy, do they not work. Boy, are the employees frustrated. But in both of the transactions I made,

the shopkeeps are rolling their eyes, and somebody had to say to me, yeah, often muggles find them difficult to use. So as much as I appreciate... Insert the chip here. Well, we tried three times. Swipe the magnetic strip, young man. I did have a young guy when I went with my niece and she got a Hermione wand

because you can also get a character-specific wand. And I gave him cash and he said, Huh, weird. I'll never get used to the fact that your money doesn't move. And I was like, so good. Yeah. That's good. And he was like a dorky 16-year-old with braces.

And I was like, you committed. And I loved it. It's got to be the most fun part of the park to work in. And I think that Ollivander show, if you're playing a character in a park, that's got to be at the top. Yeah. Also, we didn't talk about Moaning Myrtle in the bathrooms. Oh, yeah.

She's in the men's room, too. There's a little sad girl that's yelping you in the men's room. Well, in the book, she She's in the men's room, too. There's a little sad girl that's in the book. She is mostly in the men's room. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Is it not in the. Yeah, because, boy, it's present in

the men's room. It's in the way. Yeah. Impossible to ignore. In the book, she's haunting the boys room because she's thirsty. She's super thirsty. For anybody who hasn't been.

I couldn't. Does anyone know offhand? Could someone like do a line or there's a lot of bubble sounds and it smells like cotton candy. And what is the kind of thing that you hear in the bathroom? Does anyone know offhand? Like what Myrtle says?

It's just this weird giggly... It's like very like... Yeah, it's like a real mirthful... Oh, you've come back to my bathroom, have you? There we go. Like very like... Don't clog the toilet this time, idiot. She roasts your ass yeah yeah yeah

one more flush please yeah it's a it's a strange vibe to be in in there and she does the like which is like how she travels in the movies like when she like comes in she makes like is what how is myrtle what how old is she is she uh she's like 13 or 14 um and we meet her first in chamber of secrets um and we see we see her again in book uh in goblet of fire book four and uh half-blood prince book six and she ends in a she's in a bathroom and all of them that's where she died she died in a bathroom Okay. I feel like I shouldn't tell you why. Okay, that's fair. If you're going to read the books.

I will, I will. But, yeah. Okay. There's one other weird, like the fact that everything is customized to that end, the bathrooms are called something really odd and formal. And then the stroller parking, I have a photo. Oh, yeah, pram parking. Yeah.

They're called prams. Every single thing is customized. Over the ATM, there's a little Gringotts logo. There's nothing that is just a regular America thing in this place, which is nice. A plus up that I appreciated this year was that they did anything for the holidays. Last year, they didn't, which was insane to me. This year, it looked gorgeous all covered in like garland and it was so it looked great did they did you see the lights

show then yeah i think i think we both agreed like nice fun a little short yeah yeah yeah i did not see the summer version oh i saw the summer version uh and it was packed it's a little claustrophobic there in the summer when they're doing that lights. But were the lights at the Christmastime Christmassy? Yes. Oh, cool. It was like carols and a big tree. Great.

Yeah. We didn't even talk about the street, the Frog Choir, the Triwizard Tournament, Pepper Alley. We'll have to do another one. Yeah, we'll have to do. We have to do a two-parter eventually. Fortunately, we know a lot of people who really like Harry Potter

in the entertainment industry. It's great. Reventual episodes. Any other thoughts? Oh, yeah, yeah. Thinking about plussing it up, you brought up the fact that there's not enough fun magic

in the candy shop. And it's like, yeah, let's figure out a way where it feels like you're in this fun chaos. So get a child performer to slip on some fudge every 10 minutes or something. Have it be like a fudge spill. I think there should be things flying on the ceiling.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. So the child performer gets hit in the head with a box of candy or something. Oh boy, you might be a Slytherin. Okay, they don't have to be children. Maybe they're adults. Maybe they're, yeah. Mike does call those movies the movies where children get hurt.

Like he doesn't even refer to them as Harry Potter. He's like, I like the movies where children get hurt and are menaced. Are those called again? What are those called again? What are those? That's the menace? Leave it to Beaver? No, no, no. those? Dennis the Menace? Leave it to Beaver? No, no, no.

Harry Potter. I don't like Leave it to Beaver. I don't like the Dennis the Menace movie because he sticks it to the adult. I wish it was like Mr. Wilson's successful revenge on Dennis. That would be what I would like. I'm going to bang the garage door on your head.

Yeah, like fun pranks where a kid gets hurt. Fun pranks. Yeah, so yeah, like more stuff like that and i guess it could be adults getting hit with candy too but it to me it seems less fun sure so child abuse next yeah uh yeah i don't know i mean uh uh i would like some plus it up stuff too i mean a big complaint about the hollywood one is the sight lines like you can see so much around it now clearly the trees they've planted around it will grow this is a thing that happens when you open a new area or land in a theme park is they plant saplings and then they grow and cover it like the

early pictures of california adventure uh are pretty pathetic uh uh especially some of the more red woodsy part and now they look great great. Now it's been well over a decade. They just had signs that say tree on it. Yeah. Tree coming. Tree coming. Parton arm, pixie dust. But yeah, I would like more,

because I mean this area is not going to change, change for a long time. So I think the stuff you have to do is, yeah, new merch, new food, new treats. Like rotate some stuff through. Yeah, I agree. I like the full drink menu. I've seen stuff online that there are more drinks in Orlando. I think give us all the drinks.

Rotate in a few of the least popular three broomstick menu. Get some projections of little elves making my food, even though that's slave labor. Really good idea. Oh, more ice cream. They have the ice cream out here. They have some of it packaged out here, the ice cream. But in Florida, they have sticky coffee pudding.

Clotted cream was really good. Earl Grey I had. Earl Grey. It was very good. That's great. The peanut butter and strawberry ice cream. Again, I think Harry Potter eats that in the books, but it's like, oh, yeah, this is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But no one, I can't say I've ever had peanut butter ice cream

with strawberry in it. Like, how has no one done this before? This is great. And Butterbeer soft serve, of course, in Florida. That's great. Which they don't have here. Which they don't have here which they don't have here which is your favorite version of butterbeer oh yeah barely talks about butterbeer uh cold not frozen same yeah cold i think it's cold yeah i didn't do it it was 11 a.m i was slightly hung over and the right you had a beer you had a regular beer i didn't have a regular beer. Air the dog, right? Air the dog situation.

Love those beers. You can get the butter beer and get a shot of that fire whiskey you poured in. Yes, but they won't... You have to do it. You have to do it. The hot one is delicious, but you can only have like three sips. It's like literally a melted cookie. It's so

good, but it's so much. Butterbeer potted cream like a parfait putting parfait kind of thing very good but again super i wish there was half serving of butterbeer because it does feel it's a lot yes yeah i had the butterbeer fudge once and it was very good but it is it's insane it's so sweet i make my own boozy butterbeer for you know like midnight screenings of new movies type of situations and i do do cream soda, butterscotch schnapps, and like a golden rum. And then if you whisk vanilla ice cream with club soda,

it will float like the head. Wow. Holy shit. Is that, that's not, they never do that in the books. There's never like Harry with a flask and he dumps a little liquor into the butterbeer? Butterbeer in the book is mildly alcoholic. Oh, it is? Yeah, the kids get a little fucked up in the books. There's never like Harry with a flask and he dumps a little liquor into the butterbeer. Butterbeer in the book is mildly alcoholic. Oh, it is?

Yeah, the kids get a little fucked up in the books. Oh, I didn't realize that. And a house elf can get wasted on it. It's very, very, very, very slight. Like the same as like drinking like- Like a kombucha. Yeah. That's the thing I'm interested in

because I've never read the books either. I am interested in the more transgressive stuff where they get a little drunk and like you know the you just want to what you just want to read about kids getting drunk yeah getting drunk i want to read about kids getting hurt you want to read about them getting drunk yeah i should mention that my uh my like longest friend my childhood best friend uh had this like viral thing this year where he via text message revealed that he he'd been reading the harry potter books all the way through and then uh started saying some things to his friend about like stuff that was

happening in him and she was like what are you reading and figured out it was a yeah i figured you might have seen this yeah yeah she he was reading an erotic fan fiction it was very well published of the of order of the phoenix yeah that was like that was my oldest friend chris chapel and he it was like this whirlwind of several days where it was like oh like oh that story's funny oh my god everywhere is picking it up every he's been interviewed by many many things that's so funny but it has all i didn't i don't know all the details offhand but i did know it involved asserting that the wizarding age of consent is 15 and that there there's like, weird, there's like characters, like, fake

rapes, they lie about rapes that happen in these books, and he's telling his friend like, these books are a lot crazier than I thought. And it tipped the scale. There is, yeah, there's an obscene amount of Harry Potter fanfiction, and once you get to a certain amount of

fanfiction, it pretty quickly turns erotic for any topic. I think there's multiple, because I was looking up, I wonder if I could find that book, and it was like the top 12 Harry Potter erotic fan fiction. There's way too many to even, I think there's 12 entire sets of all seven books that exist. Wow. Crazy.

Jesus Christ. As immersive as the park. So I'd like to see some of those on sale. Yeah. Some of the bodier coming of age takes. Yeah. They are coming of age books so there is a little that comes up every now and then. Comes up in the movies.

Yeah I mean they're kissing. They're getting crushes. They're you know like it's still pretty tame. They also don't get drunk Jason. They like are like they felt a little it's not like tame. They also don't get drunk, Jason. They like, are like, they felt a little, it's not like, there's no like,

I just don't want you to get your hopes up. He's a little, a little less interested. They do talk about like, we're gonna see if we can get fire whiskey, you know, but they,

yeah, yeah, there's like allusions to. Right, but they don't make a beer run. No, and there's no like, you don't ever hear about like,

they're getting tipsy enough that they're like actions are affected yeah uh do you think what do you think about a movie version of the cursed child play no thank you no did you see the cursed child no i would love to have you read it okay don't care for it really yeah it's okay i think I like it actually more as like a theater nerd than a Harry Potter fan because I love just like how willing to do spectacle on stage they seem to be. So I would love to see that. I think like that would be sort of amazing.

But there's lots of stuff in the storytelling that I feel like undercuts the purity of the original set. Also, a lot of writers on that, right? Yeah, it doesn't feel totally pure. I don't, i mean spoilers spoilers about cursed child do we care but now for over a year right i think paperback and hardback that one of his kids is a slytherin i think that does more than anything to be like hey this doesn't mean as much as like it meant to harry at 11 like obviously, obviously the whole backbone of wizarding education isn't predicated

on one fourth being evil. So, like, I think that is really cool. And, like, dealing with that is super neat. But there's really lazy time travel stuff that is like, what the F? We can do way better than this. Really? There's time travel? Yeah, because that third movie, the Alfonso Cuaron one, he directed that.

I thought they handled time travel in that great yes like i thought that but it was also amazing that then like that doesn't become like a massive part of the series oh yeah and this is like a huge part of the story is time travel and it's like oh that's not good the thing that is like uh a a unsubstantiated theme park rumor that really uh or a theme park guy uh was it i forget how long ago this was someone speculated that warner brothers is waiting for the three lead actors to hit the ages they are and then they'll make three first child movies first child movie or movies that would be that was quickly debunked I feel like but probably yeah but still

of course they want to do it they want to do that they want to suck as much money out of it as they can that would be cool but I do feel like going back to what I said originally I think what's cool about it

is like trying to make magic work on stage in front of you right yeah I think that's I think that's the main appeal of Cursed Child as a fan would you rather have them

make like seven movies where they're all old like Star Wars style now where you see all the old people you love but now they're ancient? Or remake the seven movie, the original seven? I think remake because there's lots of meat that got left on the bone. And the whole stakes of the story should be gone. Voldemort is vanquished. You can't come up with a better baddie than Voldemort. What if, let's just say, a Snoke type has taken Voldemort's place?

A Supreme Leader Snoke type Voldemort. He looks like Voldemort. He's unclear exactly where he came from. Is that not a good idea, maybe? I'd much rather get into prequel territory. I'd much rather see Harry's parents. I'd much rather see a Marauders movie, or I'd rather see a Founders movie,

the founding of Hogwarts. Oh, sure. I'd be much more interested in going back, which is what the Fantastic Beasts thing is, but like a specific sub-story. I'd much rather go back in magical history, I think, than forward. First Child goes forward and it's like,

they have to just invent time travel to be like, Voldemort could come back through time. It still is Voldemort. You're like, well, I don't know, guys. Let's see. it still is Voldemort. Right. You're like, well, I don't know, guys. Let down. Do we have then any other thoughts about anything from any of those that you'd want to see in the part?

Any final wish fulfillment? I barely scratched the surface. I think it would be rad to have, as much as I didn't love the movie, a Jungle Cruise type ride about Fantastic Beasts. Oh, that's great. Like it's begging for it. Sure.

With like the same a little bit like pithy detached attitude maybe of Jungle, maybe you can't directly rip that off. Maybe it's too bald. some sort of magical creature like mini zoo experience like even a safari type ride where you see magical creatures in their habitats and that's a good way to get that new series incorporated into the parks. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. It does feel like there are infinite I think there could be like many genres of ride within Harry Potter. That's how expensive it is. I think a water ride is maybe time and that would be a good way to do it. Oh, that'd it is. I think a water ride is maybe time and that would be

a good way to do it. Oh, that'd be fun. And all these rides are starting to edge towards the back of that hill so you could use, at least in Universal Hollywood, so you can use

the natural slope to do something. Well, please don't take Jurassic Park away. That's the only other good ride. Oh, no, the other hill, I'm saying. I don't think Mr. Spielberg

will let that happen. Yeah, that ride is so good. But we can have two water rides in that park. I think maybe it could be fun to be more like a rapid ride. Oh, yeah. But I guess maybe it would be too similar to Jurassic Park because I am imagining going and looking at docile animals

and then all of the Fantastic Beasts movie. Some creature has escaped. Yeah. You know. I'd be fine if they rethemed every ride to Harry Potter at Universal Hollywood. Why not? You're going to let the animal actors stage go? Well, but then they're fun Harry Potter animals.

Oh, yeah. It's all owls. It's all owls. It's a whole different variety of owls. And it's like, yeah, Phoenix. Can an owl come out in its underwear or in a bathrobe looking for their missing bra. Can an owl have

big lips and impersonate Mick Jagger? I'm not letting the crucial parts of the animal actor stage go. can impersonate Mick Jagger.

There could be a whole thing with his beak and like he comes out and he does a strut while like Miss You plays or something. Like let's be honest

there's a there's a ways to do it. There's a world. And the Rolling Stones are English, so it works in the universe. It works. It all ties together. Well, all right.

Hey, I think all this being said, Jess McKenna, you survived Podcast The Ride. Thank you so much for joining us. It's so crazy that we barely touched upon perhaps the best ride in one of the best rides in the world. There's only a small portion of this episode. It shows what a great job they did. You could talk about the food almost primarily.

It's insane. But yeah, thank you so much for coming and lending your expertise. Thank you for having me. Yeah, anything you'd like to plug or direct people to? You can find me at JessRMcKenna on Twitter. And yeah, check out Off Book, the improvised musical podcast. Comes out every Tuesday.

Cool. Can I interest anyone in playing this lottery of beans? I will have one of these beans, yes. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if I have the flavor guide offhand, but I think don't look, don't cheat. I'm 90% sure I got the vomit one. No, no, I think vomit is better.

Oh, no, maybe. Let's find out. I'm going to eat the weirder one. Hold on. We're doing a great podcast thing, tasting and crinkling and chewing. Oh, yeah, I love that. Right into the mic.

Very cherry. Mine's fine. Mine tastes just kind of generically jelly beamy. I think you might have gotten watermelon, maybe. Oh, yeah, maybe watermelon. I got a vanilla cream type of a thing. This is all great. How's yours?

Great. Great. I got a pleasant end to it. Wow, we all won the day. Ooh, this one tastes like piss. Oh, my God. Oh, the piss one. Oh, no.

We ended on a sour note after all. It's the bad one. All right. Oh, shoot. Follow us on Twitter, podcasttheride. Email us at podcasttheride at gmail.com. Find out if Mike had to be sent to the hospital or not.

I'm trying to think. It might be good. They think it's good, but it's bad. I don't know. I can't tell if it's like the vomit or. What if it's actually spoiled? What if the jelly bean makers fell asleep at the wheel and you get sick? It's from like the opening day of Harry Potter in Orlando somehow.

It's weird. We need to get Mike onto the fainting couch I keep in my car. Thank you for listening. Thanks, everybody. Bye. See you soon.