Podcast: The Ride - Unlocked: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make Believe

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

Enjoy this unlocked episode from the PTR Patreon! There was a Mister Rogers ride at Pittsburgh's Idlewild Park for over two decades! Whoa!Clunky, click-clacking robots! A human guide that performs live, stilted dialogue! It all takes place in a weird forest!If you want to watch the ride before you listen:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3c3s-4L-Uk&t=2s"Marfalump" episode is up at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FOLLOW PODCAST: THE RIDE:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/PodcastTheRide⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/podcasttheride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BUY PODCAST: THE RIDE MERCH:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.teepublic.com/stores/podcast-the-ride⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PODCAST THE RIDE IS A FOREVER DOG PODCAST⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foreverdogpodcasts.com/podcasts/podcast-the-ride⁠ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Forever Welcome to Podcast The Ride The Second Gate Scott, Mike, Jason I want to cut right to the chase. I love this ride

so much. I'm so excited about this ride. I don't want to screw around. I don't want to goof around. I don't want to lolly gag.

I want to get right to the point. This ride is phenomenal. And I owe you thanks for this, Mike. I'd never heard of it.

I think you brought it up in a Club 3 episode. And, you know, I think in some episodes. We have discussion of like, would this be better appreciated if you went and watched a YouTube version or do you think, and we'll do our best to translate it. And I've got more clips than I ever expected to have. To be sure. And yet, I still would say if there is a way, if you can

check this one out before, because it's, this is spectacular. You mean, watch it before. Watch it before. I think maybe. Yeah, yeah. Um, to get the surprises before we spoil. Spoiler alert on this I mean, look, we're going to weave the tail. We will weave the tail as best as we can. And just to be to be clear here, if you started listening without looking at the title, we are talking about a ride called Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood of Makebelieve. I think it'd be fair to call it like the Mr. Rogers neighborhood trolley. It seems like they're a little loose with the naming.

But the point is, it is a trolley ride where you go on the trolley that takes you to land of makebelieve from old Mr. Rogers' episodes. And you go to the land and make believe and you see all the puppet characters, but brought to life via incredible animatronics. Yes. It's just, I don't know where, I mean, like all the color of it will come as we talk about it. But I was in love with this as soon as I watched a link. What's exciting about it is that I didn't know it existed until a few years ago. Obviously, it was already gone, I think, by the time I discovered it. and it's from something that we all watched as kids.

It's also like discovering something. Like, imagine your favorite show that doesn't have a ride. You discover it did have a ride. And it does have all the stuff in it you would want. Yeah. So, like, that's kind of part of it for me when I noticed or whatever found out about it. Because, you know, if you like us are focused on Disney Universal primarily, maybe some of these other parks. But something like this, Idle Wild is off the map.

Right. And it's a park that you don't, so that's a park in Pennsylvania, it's 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. And I just didn't know this park, to be frank. Right. And it's not the kind of park that you might expect to have IP. Right. Isn't it sometimes it's the best, when it's a park that otherwise doesn't have it, that has precisely one piece of IP. Yeah.

That's often the best formula there is. Well, and I think it's got to be in that part of Pennsylvania because Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood shot in Pittsburgh, correct? Got in Pittsburgh. Yes, indeed. So extremely important to local culture, I guess. Idle Wild is also, means a lot of things, I feel like. There was at some point an Idaho Wild airport. Towns are called Idaho Wild that outcast movie.

Outcasts feature film debut. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Now, I don't know much about the park, to be honest with you, because I got. Who cares? Yes. Yeah. For this episode.

Yeah. A different episode, we will care. It's spelled, there's no wise in it, I'll tell you that. Yeah. Spelled like the word idle and then wild and then put together. And they also got something called Soak Zone. But we're not dealing with Soak Zone. No, not today.

There's too much, we have to laser focus on the land of make believe. Right. And I also just want to, if, I hate to start making demands with the audience. But I'm so curious what you all, do you have any idea who was your guy? in the version because this is a ride it's kind of a longer ride that's the thing in its favor it's a ride with a lot of interaction between a guide all law um the universal tour all out the jungle crews it has things in common with that great movie ride great movie right yes absolutely love when the there's a person and they interact with the ride yes me too and I especially love if the

timing is not super spectacular. This is one of the best recipes there is. Yeah, pretty good for, pretty good, but occasionally there's some long pauses. Yes, sure. Okay, well, then this makes me wonder if we watched the same one, because if I could be really specific here, I would encourage, not to take anything away from whatever versions you guys watch, but I watched a version by the YouTube user Kepster Zero Zero, One. That's the one, yeah.

Okay, great, great, great. That's the first search results, I think, too. Okay, well, then go with the first. Sometimes first is right. Number one with a bullet, because you've got a guide in this one, through the land to make believe, named Beth. As we've discussed in the relatively recent past, at this point, I only want to do Guardians Cosmic Rewind with everybody wants to rule the world.

Now, nobody can do this ride, because it's gone and it's in its current form, at least. But if, even if it were open, I would only want to do it. it with Beth. I am pretty into Beth's performance here. It has a lot in common with another thing that I've always loved with, interaction with a performer, which is the Eminem's, I lost my M in Vegas,

the movie that you could watch in the Eminem store in Las Vegas, where a girl has to come out with, and she has kind of an enthusiasm cap and still give it her all and say, welcome everyone I am the professor and we're kind of in that neck of the woods right right with beth and I love her profile I if we're if you were watching this and somebody was super like welcome to the land of no no no yeah too much too much relax take it be easy going look at beth be like beth sets the standard kepster zero zero one thank you for capturing beth in her element I mean, this video, first off, compared to the M&M's professor, rest in peace.

To the ride. To the ride. I mean, a lot of different people played the professor and maybe some of them have passed on. Possible, yes, you're right. That's true. Just by, yeah, law of average. Some of those, quote, unquote, chocolate smells might be, might have been a little noxious. Might have been a little.

They might have killed. full-time employee. Or at least injured. But in this case, you're going through some beautiful green woods on a trolley. Yes. Got a very comfortable employee. You know, some pleasant shorts and a short sleep polo.

A great first summer in Pennsylvania, because it is humid. Yes, true. They don't make people wear anything terrible, anything that'll, like, wear them down too much, and reduce their enthusiasm. for this attraction. But thank God, the enthusiasm is like,

it's reduced to the perfect level, the best level I could possibly imagine. What can we say about this, though, before we dive in to piece by piece, and also the thing is if you, if you watch it before you listen, just to get a sense of the look of the animatronics, the feel of the animatronics,

this is so, if this were, like, if this were remotely close to me, if this were like three hours, hours away as opposed to across the country. Yeah. I knew about it. I would have gone all the time. You would have had to drag me away from neighborhood and make believe.

Yeah, no, it's great. I, it does feel like something you would make a point to do. Yeah. You would really make a big effort to go see. And friends, be like, trust me. Yeah, yeah. Follow me. Mm-hmm.

Got something great to do. That's right. There is a different ride through video and I think the account is a TX coaster Or something like that And I think there are some teens on the ride And I think they maybe were skeptical at first And then they started having the time of their life

That's right That's right That's what a compelling experience can do It can eliminate all doubters Crush all sarcasm No cynicism, cynicism, cynicism Dah be gone Fuck

Damn it That's a tough one You can get caught in that word. There's a lot of barbs in that word. I can say it. Here's a thing that really endeared this ride to me, and it's throughout some great animatronics clicking clacking. Yes.

Really good. The clack work. It's something that maybe, maybe, only our generation specifically could understand. The calming feel of a bunch of clacking. Is it ASMR to everyone, or is it only people born? between, let's say, 1982 and 1989.

Yeah, it's a good question. It made me think, like, when Parks release, soundtracks, you know, previously cassettes and CDs, now more, like, Spotify or Apple Music are, like, box sets. There should be, like, a bonus CD of the tracks with clicking, clacking. Yes, absolutely. You should be able to turn it on and off. It is part of it.

It's part of the set, like, and in something like the enchanted tiki room, one of the great clanky rooms there is. It's like they're almost even. They're almost the same volume.

Yes. Because of the intimacy of the venue and because you're near animatronics everywhere in the room, you're getting in close to one of your ears no matter where you sit. Yeah.

And it's part, yes. It is, I wonder, I would love to see what it would be like in there just to hear the show and not hear the clacks. How weird would it be? I bet it would be really weird. Yeah.

Because those clacks is I've seen the show a lot. My daughter loves the tiki room. So I've seen the show a lot lately. And I really, yes, especially the, uh, like those like Venus flytrap type ones that are in the back when we're kind of sitting in the back of the room. Those are the loudest. Because they get kind of some extra, you know, they got some elongated mouths that can really like get some wider, uh, trajectory for those clacks.

Sure, yeah. It's so, it's wonderful. I was like, and my hopes were up really high. I don't want to, like, spoil because we can kind of go through the events of this ride. But you kind of meet animatronic at a time, essentially. And then at the end, you get a chorus of a bunch of them. And before the song starts, I was like, this better be the best clacking I've ever. I feel like I might be on the precipice of the best clacking I've ever heard.

Sure. But I will be really disappointed if it isn't. And boy, did it deliver. It's a risky proposition, too, because these folks are out in the elements, these animatronics. Yes. They are. There's a Daniel Tiger that I have a lot of concerns about because I don't think he's got a roof. No.

What do they do with this? Unless they come out and cover him every night or take him inside, I'm worried about this Daniel. Again, all of this is, to a moot point, the ride's been gone since 2013, but just in retrospect, I'm worried. Because everybody else has at least like an awning. It feels like maybe like five people came in the middle of the night and set the whole ride up in the middle of the forest. It just is that like and there's just a clock and Daniel Tiger is in it. And maybe they just push him all the way down and there's a little roof over his little robot head. There better be.

That might be it. Just a tiny, just a little drawer. Like the drawer that you cut bread and vegetables on that hides in the kitchen. Yeah. Just at least like something to slide out. I really hope because otherwise, I don't know. It would pool so much.

Daniel would drown. He's so depressed. He's almost more depressed than Lamb Chop. And Sherry Lewis's Lamb Chop. They would get along. They're both so sad. But they'd bring each other down. They would not want to be there at the end of that hang.

But some of this ride is like covered by tarps as well. It's like a dirty tent is covering some of the. Yeah. Are the platypuses just like, yeah, it's just kind of a. Yeah, it's just a tarp. The blue or whatever gray tarp and it looks like it's been hit by the elements. Well, they love to be wet. Platypuses are aquatic, aren't they?

Oh, I guess that's it. They thought about this. It's thematic tarping. There's a reason behind it. I guess a little bit of history on it before we get into it. This ride was open from 1989 to 2013. Fred Rogers passed away in 2003, which means that in 89 he was participating part of it, putting it together.

This is a, again, it's weird that we don't know about that. It's like, it's not that different. All right, okay, it's different. I know. I know that Muppet Vision 3D is a big complicated film made by then still alive, but not for much longer Jim Henson. Right. That you're getting the characters from the guy,

The guy who does like, you know, a dozen of these characters and the specialness of that. Right. It was like the same. I make the show and then I make the theme park attraction. This is like that. It is. Sure. It is Fred Rogers and it's physical.

It's a physical Daniel Tiger that feels like the puppet. And then he passes away and this ride is going for 10 years beyond his demise. And just imagine seeing this thing in 2013 where he's been dead for a decade. And then like the last, like the most vibrant remnants of Fred Rogers are his voice coming out of a bunch of weird animatronics in a field and a little bit of forest outside of Pittsburgh. It must have felt so weird and ghostly but cool. Yeah, because the whole thing, again, the whole thing doesn't feel like it had the biggest budget in the world. So yeah, you're going. The whole ride is even more tired than it was when it opens, which I imagine it was a little tired when it opens.

just because of the money they didn't have to invest in it. So it was already a little janky. And then 10 years after he's dead, you're still getting like his work. This is the last piece of his, maybe you've never seen it before, his ride. Yeah. So like it's like a tribute to him. And it's real secret. I feel like there's, I think there's got to be people who are especially interested in Mr.

Rogers and know a lot about Mr. Rogers who have no idea this was out there. Yes, absolutely. Did he ever plug this on the show? It feels like no. That would be not against what he. What doesn't really feel like the vibe of the like, like, and come on to my ride. Or, well, or just like, like, and remember, there's always, there's always a friend waiting for you here in Mr. Rogers neighborhood. And be sure to head over to Idaho for we got a $5 off with a can of Pepsi.

And remember, I love you. And right now, if you buy one day, you get a second day for free. Did he say I love you? I don't know. I think that was Barney, I think. I think Mr. Rogers said he loved the kid. Clearly neither. None of us can remember exactly what.

I know he would tie his shoes. He would tie his shoes. He would change his clothes, but I don't think he said I love you. One more thing before I finish the last bow. You gotta come check out my ride, you guys. So cool. There is some stuff where it's like

when you're younger or like in your teens or 20s, you forget about this stuff. And then it comes back around. Especially with like the, like, I feel like Frog and Toad have a second life on the internet. I feel like there's a lot of reposting of stuff for people getting tattoos of Frog and Toad. Is that true? I've missed any revival of Frog and Toad. I... You mean like those old, like, the Stop Motion Frog and Toad?

Well, there were a series of books first. Sure. Then there was Stop Motion. I think there was an Apple TV Plus cartoon in the last few years. Well, that's the fastest. way to obscurity. Yeah. He's doing a series on Apple TV Plus.

I would do anything, please. That was just, I was just kidding. I would anything you need Apple TV. I'll make so many on-watch seasons for you, Apple TV Plus. Folks, Michael, here, your style icon. I'm here to tell you about a clothing company called Quince. These are clothes that I wear. T-shirts.

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and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash the ride. Did you watch any of the new frog and toy? I haven't watched any. I think I knew a couple of people who worked on it. Oh, okay. Okay. Please, please, Apple TV.

I read the article by the Dickinson creator that sounded like a nightmare. But please, please. Yeah. John Ham's show sounds wonderful. It sounds not like complicated at all. It seems very unique. I don't even know what this is. You never heard.

The new John Hampshire. I haven't heard. It's very good. Did you know there's a Colin Farrell detective show and the Vince Vaughn detective show? Uh, on Apple? Yeah. Really? And the Vince Vaughn one is based on books.

I believe by bestselling author Carl Hyacin. Are these books you've read on the beach somewhere? I've read one or two. Okay. He wrote the kids book Holes that I believe Jimmy Buffett was a producer on the movie. The Disney movie? I like this. I like Jason talking about books knows he's losing Mike fast.

What can I say to get Mike back on the hook? He's getting so bored. He got to know your audience. I want to yell at him. Stop talking. Let's see. How can I make him know that an author is interesting? All right, yeah, he got me at the end.

Here's something also before we head into it is, I think you referenced this ride and that we should do this ride. When we did the Club 3 episode, Mike gets all this puppet business out of the system. There was some discussion of Mr. Rogers in there as a fundamental, as a touch point for your interest in puppets. We talked about his puppet characters. We talked about Lady Elaine, King Friday, and Prince Tuesday, and Daniel Tiger, and all of these. And I think from what I could tell, I sensed a little bit in comments and reaction that people thought that we were, like, being a little mean to Mr. Rogers or, well, because we kind of, like, made fun of the voices. Oh, oh, I see. A little bit.

We did, yeah. And I think it's, I think probably people are not used to hearing any sort of, I mean, I think I saw the word slander. That seems like, that's a bit. I think we're all pretty sincere in our love of Mr. Rogers, but I think sometimes we use humor to like celebrate that love. That's right. I think that is a good way to put. That's right.

And what Jason just said, if you've ever been mad at us for any opinion that we've ever had, remember what Jason just said. That's the cover. I mean, celebrating the humor. Yes. Celebrating. That's good. All of that to say, if that was the feeling, with apologies.

some of the voices you're going to hear in this. If you can't, like, how could you blame us? Some of these voices are just, they're funny. I don't know, I don't know what else to say. King Friday is funny. The Lady Elaine is funny. There's a, look, the Mr. Rogers himself, I feel like, has lasted in the public consciousness to some degree.

Mm-hmm. I don't know that the puppets have lasted quite as strongly. I know what you mean. I think it's like him more than. Right. Daniel's like of the show. it's a different cartoon, they changed it and they made it, you know, there's actually energy to it. Yes.

But I, and I, this is coming from somebody who only cared about the neighborhood of make believe as a kid. I just wanted, I mean, I liked Mr. Rogers fine, but I was like, let's get to the puppets. Huh. I want the puppets. Because I love when trolley comes and then we go in there and I would follow the narrative. And then you go back and watch this stuff and you're like, this is, this isn't necessarily something that holds up for adults. That's, it's really slow. Remember, but this is, we're going.

Getting into weird territory here, Jason say that thing again? What did you say? Celebrating with humor. Celebrating with, teasing seems a little harsh. Celebrating with love. I feel like Mr. Rogers

and Carl Sagan Cosmos are like untouchable. Really? Those are in the same? I think so. I feel like they were both really kind, intelligent, compassionate. Sweater wearer.

Gentle. Sweeter wearers. Some of the best sweater wearers on television. Very, you know, admittedly unique ways of speaking, but I think knew that and used it to their advantage. Sure. I saw

some clips of saying speaking before Congress, talking about the greenhouse gas effect in the ozone layer. You're losing me, Jason. Can you mention Jimmy Buffett? Can you in three steps tie this to Jimmy Buffett? Seth McFarlane.

Okay. Stui and Brian. Your favorites. And he's got a new album coming out got a new album coming out. Frank Sinatra, a new, like, unrecorded arrangements from Frank Sinatra. That's what the new album is. I've already listened to one of the songs a couple days ago. And now you're back.

Anyway, you keep talking about Carl Sagan. Oh, that was kind of it. Okay. There's a lost lecture. Carl Sagan, my old stomping ground, who was a professor of Cornell in Ithaca for many years. Well, look, all that to say, the neighbor to make believe isn't something

I'm going to watch as an adult I recognize the charm of it Yeah It's low Quality sets in a good way But it's nearly unwatchable As an adult And that's okay

It's okay to say that That's not as insult If you watch Toy Story Now Toy Story I was watching last night It's so funny So good for an adult For a child It works on all the levels

So it's okay we can say we love this thing, but maybe it isn't the greatest piece. But it's very low fie in the way that like... Well, that's not a knock necessarily against it. Early SCTV, like, killer. All right. No, hold on. Hold on.

No, listen, those sets and props and stuff are very basic. Yeah, yeah. Maybe the greatest comedy cast ever is simple. Like, it's all just killers all the way down the line. This is just like, these are little like... And this is all killers too. King Friday, Lady Elaine. Yes.

I mean, I don't know why this is. I don't know why we're debating. It's just like, hello, dear queens. Are you saying there is something funny about this voice? What could where humor could possibly come from this king voice? My toys. There's someone took my purse away. I was the John Candy of Puppets.

Prince Tuesday, he really gets a short end of the stack. I feel like Tuesday is not as well-received as Fridays and Saturdays. Oh, you mean a day of the week? In terms of day and the week. I like a Tuesday. I don't hate it Tuesday. Really? Yeah. Tuesday.

I mean, I'm like Friday. You know, I say thank God it's Friday every week. Sure. Tuesday's not so bad. You do it. It is always, boy, it's exciting when we record on a Friday like today. And then right before you live, we're kind of wrapping it up. And we're going to do next week.

All right, right. And then you turn around and like, guys, we forgot. Thank God it's fun. And then I hit the record button. You put your sunglasses on. We do it, yeah. So I love the neighbor to make believe. but my statements stand.

I mean, yeah. Well, I'm so excited to get into it. And I've got some, I've got a number of clips here because I think we have to experience it, you know, through this specific lens. But kind of as we've established, you're in like a lovely green forest.

Like surroundings are great. Like any attraction here would be fantastic. And you get into the trolley, which is miniature in the show, but in the ride, It is big enough for all of us to go on. And you head towards a tunnel that takes you into the land of make-believe. It is that classic, like, piano.

Do-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D. So fun, that takes you right bet. Like, again, I don't think I've revisited any of this in many decades. So it is just like a warp back to being five or whatever. Because that music would be, that would signal trolley was coming. And then he would say maybe he would set up something about it. And then the music would keep playing. And then that music would take you to the new.

the segment on the show. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And so in this case, yeah, you go through a tunnel and it feels like clever because when you come out the other side, now there's a castle and there's like there's fanciful stuff. But before you get to the tunnel and this is where this is where I knew like, oh, we're in for a treat here is that Beth, the host is kind of giving instructions of, you know, like doing a little bit of plot. And then she says, all right, hang on.

We've got a little bump coming in a moment. So just hold on. then trolley clunk and it's a sizable like she she did have to warn and i love that that's where this attraction went rather than fixing the bump let's just have the guy he'd have to acknowledge the bump yeah that is going to be easier on day-to-day basis than fixing the tracks was that the track split yeah it's kind of yeah because you have to go well yeah yeah yeah i think it's i think it's one path and then you and then it splits into into one and then loops back around to wrap the ride up.

Yeah. Don't forget, Charlie's got to go backwards before it can go forwards. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. Remember Charlie's got to go backwards. Why? Pesir can go forwards. That's right. We'll hear the real deal here in a second. Let me set up this clip before I play it. This is where you meet King Friday,

ruler of the land of make-believe. A couple things you need to know before you hear this clip. this animatronic has some the skin is a tad loose it's a little bit loose especially around the eyes and when he recites dialogue which he does which is awesome

by the way like there's so there's a lot of charming attractions out there where the lips don't move that's one of the hardest things I think in animatronic world to do and they do it on the I admire the boldness that they do it and it's not just cutouts and stuff

And it's sort of like just aesthetically, like imagine if any of those miners on the calico mine ride at knots were shrunk to half their size. And then instead of just moving past him in a really squeaky train, you sit and talk to one for two minutes. It's awesome. Yeah. It's so great. Yeah, it is. Oh, and then under, because like, yeah, as the skin like kind of like hangs off his eyes, underneath is just. just pure black.

It's just darkness under there. Yeah. Besides the pupil, besides the eyeballs. His eyes are kind of looking in different directions. Yes. Because he looks like something's wrong. I don't know what it is. But also the puppets from the neighborhood of make believe were hand puppets.

They were small. All of the characters on this ride are bigger. And it hits me in the same way that when you saw like the full size Muppets at MGM Studios, where like it's just something's odd. A suited Kermit and Miss Piggy. Right. It's like human size. It's unnatural, yeah.

Weird. Looks weird. And it does, I'm glad they made the choice because you can see these characters better. What are they? Are they like three feet tall? Something like that. It's a tall or even. It's an unsettling size.

And it's like a little bit bigger than small world dolls too. Yes. I will say it isn't uncomfortable. I think it's a like degree of height that theme park animatronics are not usually. Yeah. Like is it full size like great movie ride style or are they small like small, like small world dolls and this is in this in between that's really something it could before he started talking i kind of like honed in on his hand yeah which looked really right and i'm like that's not a

no that can't be a person and then he started click clacking he thought maybe there's a person i didn't i was like no that would be impossible to stand perfectly still in what looks like very warm weather and have a cartoonish head that would it would have to be i would only buy the that if it were a child. If they made a nine-year-old stand out here with a fake beard. Let me add, I was talking about his eyes. It also looks like maybe he just saw the worst thing he's ever seen in his life. And now he's coming to talk to you.

And he's just like his eyes are staring in different directions because of what horrors he's seen. He watched a VHS of a little girl climbing out of a well. And there was some sort of warning? I don't know. yeah so yeah it just to paint in case yeah you haven't watches because what happens is and I'm just gonna forgive me this is this is a longer clip than I would typically play I try to like cut these things down but in this case I think we all just need to experience how you experience it in the ride yeah pull up to it and you get a moment the look that you're describing Mike the look of it's to where it almost feels like the the moment is like hi King Friday Friday Friday Friday okay And he's not okay. Like his ears are still ringing. Oh, yes.

Sure, I am good. I'm good to go. Don't worry about me. All right. So please forgive. This is longer than I would usually play clip. But it has to be done. Just patience.

Patience, listener. It's worth it. Tunnel, can anyone tell me who lives here? King Friday. Yes. King Friday the 13th. His wife meets our Saturday and their son Prince Tuesday. Yeah, they're rolling up, stopping the vehicle near the castle.

We see him. Now full stop. Waiting? Almost. Waiting? Ladies and gentlemen, I presume. Correct, as usual, King Friday. I, King Friday the 13th, welcome you to this neighborhood.

And today, I need your help. Will you help me? Will we help him? Yeah. Please tell everyone you see that there will be a hugging song party in the castle courtyard. And of course you are all invited too. Will you do that for me, please? We sure will.

Incidentally, do you know what a hugging song party is? I don't think we do. It's a castle party for hugging and singing. Okay. So please tell everyone. you see to come to the Royal Hugginsong party. All you need to do is say, come along, come along to the castle Hugginsong.

Would you try saying that, please? Come along, Castle Hugginsong. Now, please tell everyone you meet to come along Hugginsong. We'll be waiting for you all. Farewell, King Friday. All right, everyone, King Friday, give us a very, very much. important. All right,

no, can you find me some very important? Oh, there's so much here. I mean, there's her and there's that,

like, I have to do a performance in front of people, so it has to be in this tone of the voice. She's kind of like Parker Posey and waiting for Guffman.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, so charmingly, just so charmingly fat. Do you know what an Arkin's song party? I don't think we do. I, uh,

it's a masterpiece. I love it so much. There's so much to pick a part there. Where to even begin? Theme-mark speaking cadence. Theme-bark speaking cadence. I don't know. What it is, if that is what ASMR is like for some...

I never really went in for it. But I'm like, oh, that puts me at ease immediately. Yeah. Clacking. A little motor from the ride vehicle, the board voice. Yeah. And then the clacking of the robots. Somebody who is going to have to do this five more times today.

Does it come from like when the MCA owned Universal and there were also the biggest tour company in the country being museum tours, national park tour, like tours. Like is that the origin? Like. Of the voice you're saying? I think it, I think it was less handed down from MCA and more just more invented by somebody who, uh, somebody who, uh, snuck a couple of Paps blue ribbons at lunch one time and came back and just couldn't muster up what it needs to be. A gentle buzz.

Yeah, yeah. A gentle buzz, but you're also a little bloated. A little bloated? From lunch you mean? From beer, from like two paps. I feel like paps. Beer is kind of bubbly. I think you're watering enough with those.

I don't know how bloated you're getting. Yeah, that's not like a stout. Waterweight? I don't know. I don't know. You've got bloat, though, because of that Chip-Cholet situation. So you got bloat on the brain. Oh, I'm always bloated.

He's got bloaty brain. And then also, just within that, do you know? Come on. Do you know what a song party? Don't make fun of this. This isn't funny. How could they possibly find any comedic? This isn't funny.

Mr. Rogers, moved me, touched me so much. He got me through. Okay. Now let's all be very serious and listen to the boys. Hello, I am. Open the castle gate. I am going to put a job for your. So thirsty.

I need a hug from you strangers. There is no Fred Rogers in this ride, by the way, right? I mean like a robot of Fred? There's no narration or like, hello, this is Mr. Rogers. No, no. There's no. He loses himself in the characters. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you know what a hugging song party is? And then the explanation, it's a castle party for hugging and singing. If you are ever asked by a king to go to his hugging song party, say no. Just in general. I know this is fantasy, but in real life. I mean, I was like a castle party for hugging. It's like something you get invited to by Max Landis.

You mean like Moby? Any list or Beware of invitations. It does seem like like, yeah, I bought Moby's old castle which is in the Hollywood

bills. There's 17 rooms so there's plenty like so there's going to be screening and do lectures in some of them and do four hour lectures

and then there's just a little bit of hugging and singing of course. Not to jump too far ahead but the hugging song party lighting is a little Kubrick

is a little eyes wide shut or like lit from below. Yeah, if you're saying that the final scene in which you see the Hogan's song party is like a cult tribunal staring at you as if you're on trial. Yeah, everyone's standing in a perfectly straight line looking at you.

So many. Animal Internics, you met, Animatorialtronics, you didn't meet. All in a weird line. All like some elevated and then a Roman numeral 13 up top. it is definitely as we got to that sequence when we were watching it together

I was like this really reeks like one of them is going to say guilty you know that thing and like horror movies or thrillers

where like someone's talking and they're in a restaurant or a cafe and they like clap or snap their fingers and everyone in the restaurant turns around

and looks at the main like like revealing it's all been a simulation or something yeah like it like Michael Douglas in the gate

Like the whole room Is it on it? Yes. It's just something about that That still gives me the willies And Huggin' song party might do that As fun as it looks.

There's something unsettling. I mean, the thing is when you imagine what a hug and song party could be and then you get there and see that it's just, it's a tribunal of ten characters staring daggers at you.

Well, that's actually makes sense, though, that it would be something evil. Yes, true. It makes more sense. Because like what, we're going to have a party. We're going to sing some songs. Okay, fine. But like, what is the hug?

Like, does the hugging last all night? Just hugging for an hour? I feel like that's a thing in recent decades. Been a little more cognizant of like, okay, children, don't, if someone tries to hug you, make sure you really know that, like. How long are you supposed to be hugging? Don't you hug when you see everybody once and then you sing your songs and then you hug on the way out? It lasts an hour and a half.

Yeah, like, what is that? How else will the hugger know that you meant it? Your knees will begin to buckle, and that is when you know the hug is complete. The hug should make you weak. Squeeze the whole time? How long does that? Like, just impractical. Why would you sell a party?

You can cycle it on and off, as long as the arms don't move and no one sits. What if was a shake hands and sing party? You are not getting off this ride until the hugging. is complete and the king tells you hugging is short it's a short

thing to do not dear age do and wait till you hear the songs too you'll find the songs very charming oh

yoh yeah oh jaw distin the piano the piano eyes white shop

music our piano player will go on to direct a very famous film Now we know the story of the ride.

We know that King Friday, you get an assignment from the king. This is very important. You need to find everyone else in the neighborhood, and you need to make sure. You have to serve as a living evite. You have to make sure that all the people you don't know know that they get to come to the party as do you. So you're gathering everybody for the Ogden song party. You have to say, come along, come along to the castle hugging song. You quickly meet the next person whose name is corkey.

This is a character I don't particularly remember from the show. And I really like this info dump that comes from our host. He lives and works in this big pink factory where he makes rocking chairs that he calls rockets. Can everyone say hi, corny? Hi, corny. It's very nice, corny. That is literally the voice you do, Scott, when you're like, do it. like a horrifying voice.

Well, it's palmycky. This? Yeah. A distorted. Dying palmyc. I'll say this. This is one of my favorite neighborhood characters. Oh, I'm sorry.

Cornflake especially. Okay. I'm sorry. They called corny on this. But cornflake especially, who makes rocking chairs. Who makes rocking chairs? Who makes rocking chairs? They go rock it.

And it is interesting to see cornflake in a full size. here. These are not the big famous one. I was on the Mr. Rogers' website refreshing my names as well, and Cornflake is here. I don't know how easily, maybe I can know, I can't really zoom it up. What is he? He's a weasel man.

Or like a, yeah, I guess. He's a fancy weasel. Hornflagin lives in a rocket factory next to King Friday's Castle. Most of the products he manufactures are Rockets. They are rocking chairs. You sit in it and rocket. As an innovative entrepreneur, he produces them all in different sizes, colors, and materials, including some with

umbrellas for a rainy day and magical ones that can float in the air. Corny also takes orders for other items like King Friday dolls and baseball bats. In his eagerness to please and produce, he sometimes becomes overwhelmed and needs help understanding his limits. So sometimes he takes on too much, which we all can relate to from time to time. But yes, he's, I, like more of a secondary, I feel like neighborhood of make-believe character. It's funny, that's one of your favorite characters and rocking chairs are one of my favorite kinds of chairs.

One of. Well, one of, well. It would be hard to. Oh, top five kind of chairs. Go. Oh, boy. Number one. Barstool.

What? What? Oh, no. No, no. Not number one. I thought you were just, I didn't know we were ranking number of order. Make it perfect. I might go rocking chair number one.

Wow. Rocking chair number one. Number two. Slider. What is that? What is that? Door rocking chair that goes up. Oh, that little extra.

Oh, that's wow. Okay. Just beer you're not really going back. You're not tilting back. You're kind of level the whole time. Interesting. Three. Couch. Okay.

Is any specific type of couch? Oh. Just even like just general, like is it an extra puffy one where you kind of sink into it or is it one that's a little more firm? Oof. I like kind of firm, but the extra puffy ones, you can lie on the arm and not need a pillow. That's true. So you're going puffy? Huh?

Puffy. I'll go with puffy. Okay. Number four? Armchair Big over stuff to armchair Leather or like what kind of upholstery I guess just cotton or canvas

Okay Number five Oh that wasn't five That I guess would be barstool Barstool I like barstool I like barstool As a kid I always

Like anytime we went to like You know a lunch counter Or like a burger restaurant I was like can we sit at the bar And my parents would have I have to explain. Like, no, this is an adult, you can't sit at them.

This isn't a burger place. Can't sit at the bar due to the law. Bourbon. And I swear to God, if you ever, ever, engaged with this vice, we will disown you. They can make a Shirley Temple, you know? That's kind of a cocktail for kids, you know,

and big boys. You're right, though, that it is nice to end up at a counter with like bar style seating when you are not able to drink it, at a Johnny Rockets type establishment with a little cushioned stool. That feels special. It feels like a step towards bar and it's stepped towards adulthood

even though you are not there. I feel like there was a lot of 90s kids cartoons where like someone would sidle up to a bar and go like, hit me. And they would get a root pier. Right, right. A real shake or Shirley Temple. Saloons done in kid mode.

That always appealed to me. Now, in retrospect, that may also have been like, that is an easy. location for the animators the other side of the world to draw like we already have those animation elements cornflake the the animatronic is scary looking yes like pretty scarier than the puppet now that i've acquainted myself with the puppet uh yeah oh he's horrible he's a little slappy he looks like this guy's like sloppy or like kind of almost like there's something of jigsaw

about him from the saw movies extremely he's the scariest one in the hug and song party tribunal Yes, right, right. He feels the most like what he is wearing is a scary mask. Yes, it does, yes. To cover that he is one of the 20 most important people in the country. He is wearing a really creepy animal mask, like Batman villain Professor Pig, who like melts things on victims faces. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Or like he got these post that process. This would melt down to his face. Yes, exactly. Yeah, I am worried that this guy's going to jump off the ride and just like gnaw at me with his one big tooth. Tearing my face specifically, not all the other people on the troll. And he whispers in your ear, come along, come along. To your last Castle Huggins song.

Then we get into the real star of the show, and that is Lady Elaine Fairchild. Now, what is she again? in the context of the show. She's lady. Is she like a like as in the royal terminology lady? I'll read her. She's a mischievous.

She's mischievous and a bit of a troublemaker, but she's also brave, sassy and ready to speak up. So let's learn more about her. She lives in the museum go round. She's opinionated, eccentric, and often stirs of trouble. But she is also the one who stands up to King Friday's unreasonable demands. She sometimes worries that she isn't the resistance. Basically, yes.

she's like aOC Yeah or like she's like a You know like a guy online Like Jeff Tidrick Well I like to think of You're talking legendary Liberal resistance

Dudes when you bring up Angry Brooklyn defiant Yeah She sometimes worries that she isn't lovable and needs to be reassured That people like her Just the way she is So I think she just is

A lady in town Who works at the museum go round which is a merry-go-round kind of place where she is the curator of all kinds of things real and magical. So she isn't like in the royal family. Lady Elaine also, I forgot, has a magic boomerang.

Yeah. Boomerang. Well, you get the reference in here. Yeah, yeah. Oh, go ahead. Boomerang, tumoring, sumerang. Yeah. But now let's hear what Lady Lang sounds like.

Well, welcome can to my music. Terrible. Wonderful. That voice is like, I'm trying to think if it's, is it like the Seth, to bring up Mr. Seth McFarlane, is it like that old pervert from family guys? Is that the same voice? It talks not like this. It's also similar to Adventure Time character Tree Trunks, which I'm a big of the yellow elephants. Yeah.

The horny, the very horny yellow elephant. Okay. Which is one of my favorite characters from that show. I don't know if that's, those are the two characters, like. But there's something about this voice is a little breathy. Is it a little madamey? No, madam is more high energy. She's more abrasive.

No. No, yeah. An older lady about town. That brat brassyness. Well, you know why I think you're saying that is because I've said the same thing about both puppets is that they have penis noses. I think that's why they're in your head. Now I'm defensive about Mr. Rod. Madam, maybe.

Maybe this was a cheeky decision. I said this. not on purpose if he gave Lady Elaine a penis nose. Yes. That was not his choice. That's just how the puppet was made. Yes. But I feel offended.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine if he heard somebody say your puppet as a penis nose? He might have chuckled. There's the one in the picture with him giving the middle finger. Once in a while he would have fun with some body material. I can't imagine. Everyone's got to cut loose sometimes. He would end the entire interview.

You're on his side? You want this guy telling Mr. Rogers your puppet is. a penis face. I'm horrified by this bad word even overlapping with Mr. Rogers. Sometimes it's just a long... It's a long red nose. And it changes color at the end. She's got like rosy cheeks and a big like red nose.

Yes, the way that a penis is just dark, dark, a different color. It's not how mine is, but it's certainly someone out there. It probably is like that. I don't know whose it is, but as I said, we don't have any idea. the different types of penises that are out there. You can't even begin to imagine all the variety out there. So, yeah, somebody might look like Lady Elaine's nose. Yes, the way that the base is just regular flesh colored and then the top is a dark, dark maroon.

It happens. It's not my experience, but it happens. I am almost certain of it. I don't think he did it on purpose, though. I think some evil pervert puppet maker, whoever made his puppets, put a little sneak in there, a little sneaky joke. You think the person who worked with Mr. Rogers was trying to screw him over via hidden penises?

All the animators put in. I bet whoever he worked with was the kindest man. I, didn't he, but it's possible he made him himself. It's possible he made himself. In which case, there's no way. There's probably no way if he made the puppets himself that he was doing it. But for whatever reason, it is an extra long nose. It is a, it is not generally what a human being.

nose. Human beings noses aren't that long. Anything that's a little bit long just becomes a penis to you. In some cases it does. In some cases it does. I mean, look at this. Come on.

There's, it's obviously phallic. It kind of looks like it's frostbitten. I don't know what condition Lady Elaine has in the show to have a nose that red. I'm not really sure. And the cheeks. I'm not sure if it's like rosacea. I'm not sure what.

if he ever diagnosed it. But I'm just saying that it is a penis nose. I don't think that's blasph. I think that's... Did Lady of Elaine have a little tipple of something at lunch? Oh, you think she's drinking? Yeah, I don't know. She maybe had a two...

Or maybe it was cold outside. Maybe she's always coming at... She's got nose bloat from Paps blue ribbons. I mean, that is what the old time they would show the old time characters. When they were drunk, they would have Rosie T's... cheeks and they would be like you're Foster Brooks who comes up once every six weeks on this

podcast. Yeah, that's right. In one sentence? Yes, we're referring to, yes, we're referring to the common way that people are portrayed as being drunk from 110 years ago. That is what we're, you know that thing where you get really flushed? Right, right. From that many generations ago

established. Right, right. Foster Brooks, W.C. Fields. Yes, they were all, yeah. A lot of big red face. Yeah. So I don't think that's what he was going for either. I think he did make the puppets. I can't exactly find the proof of that very quickly. But I don't think there was some charlatan trying to, I'm going to get one up on this kindly old man. I know what I'm going to do.

I'm going to get my revenge on him by pretend. Well, hello, Fred. I'd be happy to make your puppets behind closed doors. Ooh, I'm crafting the most, the throbiest dick you ever did see. There's dirty frames in these Disney movies. These pervert animators add in stuff from children's entertainment. I'm not saying it's right or I approve. of it. I'm just saying that it's not

impossible. It's good that we have the morality police that is Mike Carlson. He's watching out for dirty puppeteers in a way that he doesn't like it at a degree of bodiness that he doesn't approve of. In the appropriate arena, it's appropriate. And that you're looking out for the, you know, the freakazzoids

who work in Spencer's gifts who are sneaking sex toys into her sneaking something shaped like boobs into our American shopping malls. Well, right. I just like I mean, I will say that all my opinions on all these topics, I think that they're very, there's a real straight line through my logic. That's all I'm going to say.

It makes total sense no matter. If you listen to the whole seven or eight years of this podcast, you will completely understand where I'm coming from. It doesn't contradict itself at all. That's straight line through your logic is so long and straight. It looks like a penis to me. Well, that's fine. That's a penis line of logic. But this is an adult.

This is an explicit show. Look at podcasts the right on. on the Apple podcast app, it's explicit. So, yes, it is a big penis. We can say that. We make a show for adults. That's the case. If you took the round thing in our logo and you broke it apart and you straighten it out,

it would look like a big old penis. Right, and that's fine. It's an adult show for adults. That's what we do. That's why we, yeah, that's why we have that E on the podcast app that just appeared one day. I don't think. Did it?

I don't know if we ever marked it. Did we, do you mark it? Yeah, I think we've always said it was explicit. Oh, go ahead. I think just in case, just in case there's a 10-minute penis talk about a puppet. And that E has to say, that's the same letter that begins the word erection. Well, that's true too. But we can, again, we can say it.

There's penises there. Why, these microphones in front of our faces are basically, I'm seeing it all now through mic size. Everything on earth is a penis. All right. Well, I mean, go by your day and you'll probably see a few more instances. This building we're recording in is basically like a big flat penis. Yes, well, somebody might look like that. Somebody might look like a big building.

I said, we don't know. They're all different shapes and sizes. We don't know. Hey, kids, it's Mr. Rogers. Step away from the TV now and bring your parents to the TV. Today we're going to talk about pathologies and psychosexual madness. So go play with it. blocks in the other room. Don't watch this one.

If you don't vent your sexual energy in a healthy way and acknowledge each other as sexual beings and use sex to connect with your partners, you can end up like our friend Michael over here. Boxing a cement wall. Someone on Reddit said that Lady Elaine is similarly dick-nosed to the character in nothing but trouble. Dan Aykroyd character with the penis nose. We are not beginning that line of discussion.

That's a one-way ticket to a nothing-but-trouble episode that I do not want to do. Please remind me what nothing but trouble is again. No, no, moving along. Okay, come along, come along, to the happy and thugging song. We got away so many more friends to invite. We can't get caught for 17 minutes and nothing but trouble, which is what we will do. Anyway, she's wonderful. Lady Lane is not as red.

This puppet is not as red. Again, she's full-sized. It's a different vibe. than the character too. Yeah, extremely. Yeah, yeah. Kind of longer body. There's nothing sinister.

Even though this is still a scary character, scary animatronic, it's not like sinister in the same way that the puppet is. Corny got scarier. Lady Lane got kind of more acceptable, I feel in the animatronic translation. Right.

I could listen to her, all of her, she cues all of these magical instruments in front of her, which I could listen to all day. What about the violence? How about some clarin? music.

I understand there's a hugging song party today. Are you going to invite me to it? Well, I'll come if I can. I'm busy today. So she, now we have some stakes to the story of the ride that she might not appear.

I like that she's non-committal. She's like, I might just stay home in bedrock. I think so. That's a good thing for me. The guy is in the studio next door, do Nova and they've been barking up my tree for weeks now.

Nova? Yeah, PBS Science show Nova. Oh, wow, okay. Connected to Buffett fast. Or again, we're going to lose them. Yeah, yes, I've heard of Mike. Jesus. Okay, so busy finding, he's trying to find genuses all over the world and he misses

a very famous show. Talks about the celestial bodies when the sun sets and the moon. I look, I watched the frugal gourmet on PBS. I watched Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street. Maybe that was, or Zubli-Zu, was that on PBS? Maybe it was.

I forget. But that's it. If this guy watched Nova, he'd end up saying like, wow, Jupiter looks like a big testicle. Yeah, big ball. Big ball. I just remember in school with a science teacher, like, ooh, we can chill today. Just put in a Nova VHS. That's going to be

like the exact length of class. Nice, nice. Yes, good move. Okay, then you, I think you moved to meet some platypuses. Wait, do I have this? Oh, wait, well, we missed something. There are two characters. You pass by their home. And then our host here tells us that they're on vacation today, so we're not going to meet them.

So obviously they were not functioning at this time. In another video, you can see them. Okay. Like, they clearly were down for repairs or something. something. Yes. Yeah, and it's a cat

and a bird. Okay. I forget their exact names. Yeah, the cat and the bird, hold on, I think I was, well, whatever. The cat meows a lot

in between words. Henriette a pussy cat? Is that weird? Oh, right. Yeah. Oh, and the bird is the blue. Is X the owl? X the owl.

Yeah, okay. Anyways, then we get to Daniel Tiger. Let's, uh, let's meet Daniel Tiger. That, so I guess that's the sound of the trolley. No, it's that each.

Grandfather clock. He's in. No, no, no, I don't think so. Yeah, it's a trolley, though. Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay. When the trolley has a line, it comes down. It sounds like somebody turned on an old speaker system, though.

It's just that like, like, it doesn't sound, I mean, maybe it sounds better in person. It's a death rattle. Yeah. Just a bunch of friendly. Are you? We just saw them. And maybe you may be. Yes.

She almost sounds like she's getting impatient with him, just due to the poor tone. Just ends up like, yeah. Like, yeah, we taught, yes, we invited them. We did it. Daniel, we invited everybody, Daniel. Daniel, we're good, Daniel. And everyone so far, Daniel, he sure is. Is Daniels a little too shy, a little trying, it seems like?

I think, yeah, well, it feels like it's getting on Beth's nerves a little bit. It starts out in the most horror movie way. Are you tame? Are you tame? Like, what a question? That is like, it seems like an, it's like, like, almost feels like an iconic line in some ways of like, oh, of course that movie. I know. You put out the Blu-ray 20 years later and just with a blank page that just says, are you tame?

Are you tame, right. And just that just that sentence gives you chills. Oh, that's called Tiger or something. Are you tame? Are you, that's a cult favor again. It's steel box. That's what that horror movie is. Is that a type of release of?

That is like the collector, uh, blue race. Steel book. Yeah. They still do those. Excuse me. That's what you're doing. They do. Like Griffin,

they talked to Griffin before about Blu-Rays and DVDs and stuff. They're expensive. They can be kind of expensive these days. Yeah. But it's, you know, and it's the sort of thing. Now it used to be a Blu-ray and a DVD copy,

and now it's a 4K Ultra HD and a Blu-R. Sometimes they got a digital in there. Sometimes they got a digital. It's locked down. You've got to be careful with it. It depends on. Because you can't count on those always last.

You know, as far as this media is concerned, they could take that away. Is this tangent going to go for a long time? Because I'm shy of tangents. I don't have a lot of patience. I don't know. Hell, you got your own show. You are so shy. It's too much, Daniel.

Is this tangent, team? How many DVD formats are we going to talk about? Daniel, yes, we have to finish explaining to people that they have to have physical media. It's the only way to preserve the movies. they love when it comes to streaming. Okay. Is it safe to come out? No, it's not safe to come out. It's not safe to come out, but we're done with this tangent.

We have to explain the Memento collector's DVD that was confusing and you had to do puzzles to get to the movie. Yeah. You aren't going to talk about nothing but trouble, are you? Well, not right now, but maybe at the end is a callback. We will. I'm going to learn about it when I go home. Okay. Then we, I think pretty soon we're at the actual.

hug and son you meet Prince Tuesday he's very quiet and his mouth doesn't move we invite them and then we pretty much get everybody and everybody's there except for Lady Elaine

so it's a big lineup of every puppet you met and some that you haven't if they were down for repair and again this is like you're so right it's like two of the King Friday and Queen what? Who's the Queen?

Sunday, Saturday. It's mean Sarah Saturday. Sarah Saturday. Okay, they're all in front of a stone wall, and then there's a lineup of a bunch of other ones behind them, and they're all lit from below, and it definitely has this horror effect. Like Jack, when Jack Torrance goes to the bar in the Overlook Hotel,

and it's glowing beneath them. And everybody's there except for Lady Elaine, and what about Lady Elaine? Did she end up making it? Oh, yeah, I did actually. Oh, good. Glad to hear it. We're just, you, we're waffling all.

Yeah, I just feeling lazy. You know, sometimes you don't want to go out, even though it's going to be all your friends. I know the feeling, of course. So the very dramatic arc of Will Lady Elaine appears solved almost instantly. She rises up. You could have really ratcheted up the tension there.

That would have been good. But you don't want to scare the kids. even though what we're looking at almost certainly would scare any kids with all the things in this ride that are very scary now we meet the King Friday

who's fully missing an eye yes you've also got I know only one of his arms works or exists that all he's been in a fight since the first scene it looks like he's been like

falling down a hill or something since the first thing happened since the first scene went down Corny and I had a falling out, but we made up. But there was certainly some casualty. He bashed me with one of his rockets. He shattered it over my left arm, which fell off. It was kind of a wake-up call. I had it coming.

One harm can still do a hug, though. Don't worry. If any of you think you're excused from hugs, Just because I am one-armed, think again. If anything, I'll hug longer. Also, it's less of a castle and more of a barn. Yes. Yeah, it is, it doesn't look, I don't know, I guess it's got like a plat, like, what do you call it, a crest on the front?

Yeah. So there's that. Kind of like a pavilion, maybe? A pavilion, sure. I don't even, what is the technical... What is it pavilion technically? What is the actual definition of pavilion? It's like an outdoor covered space, I always thought.

Sort of a general term. That's how I always took it. Hmm. I just know the restaurant. I know the grocery store. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's all I know about pavilion.

A summer home, it says, or a other decorative building uses shelter in a park or large garden. Okay. Okay. I was glad they're covered. There's a lot of animatronics here. Right. So it is a pavilion. But this, again, this, like, this group altogether, it really just, it feels like he's, like,

Kitt Friday's going to say, 40 years hard labor. 14 hours of hugs a day. There's nothing fun about this arrangement. There's just nothing fun about the way this looks. And they're not, like, maybe if they all were playing instruments or something, it would work. But, like, I think, yeah, I just. No, we're in North Korea now. When he said the premise of the ride, I was like, well, I hope I see the more.

all together at the end. And I guess I got my wish in a certain sense. You sure did. Are you not charmed? Look at this lineup of friends. Doesn't it put you in a hugging mood? The clicking clacking is comforting. Mm-hmm.

But the lighting is sinister. They're sinister lighting. Those aren't the robot parts. Those are the chains of everyone behind me. They are trying to escape. Those are the rattles. Forged them. in life like Jacob Marley

Imagine, I'm trying to think of What's a famous ride where You meet all the characters in such a Stern-looking setting and such a Like an aggressive setting at the end All of the diverse group of friends are all mad At you. There's nothing where the Mickey, where the Disney Big Six or whatever

Are all disappointed in you. Or like you see all the pirates just like standing At the end of Pirates of the Caribbean. They're all just looking at you, not having any fun anymore. They're not partying. They're just upset. I feel like the sound cuts out. Like if Pooh,

Pooh's birthday party at the end of the crew rides. Okay, they're all together at the end of that ride. That's true. But they're looking at each other. They're not glaring at you. They're not in a single file line. That's the difference. Line up for a caning from each of us.

It is, it's possible this is a firing squad. If each of the characters held up a rifle. Each one of us represents the very, rich melon family that was very big in Pittsburgh and found at this park. It's, uh, it's, I could be, I, I wonder as a kid, would I have been, what I have thought it was creepy or I just been like, this is awesome. I'm seeing Henrietta pussycat or whatever, like, uh, X.

I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure I would have liked the ride. Yeah. But would I have purely. I still do, let me be clear. None of anything that I've said, any of them making fun of this. If this ride were back, if they set this up in Griffith Park and it was open tomorrow, I would be there first thing.

Yeah, yeah. I love, I'm so sad. I'm pretty. I'm pretty. I'm pretty sure we go to Home Depot tonight. We could buy basically all the materials and put it up in Griffith Park overnight. And it would work just about as good as this did. You think I look cheap enough that you could just get me with materials from a store, me a mail, ma'am, yeah.

I'll go to Target. Is that how little you think of me, meow, ma'amail? I'll go to Target. I'll get one of those toys, Jason mentions, from time to time, and I'll sculpt Lady Elaine's new dick nose out of that. Oh, I didn't know where that was going. I thought it was going to be that you use them to, like, that'll animate the characters.

You just stuff the whole vibrators, and then that gives them the movement. Well, no, that might be. Simple motor, yeah, I guess. You break it down. Poor man's animatronic, filled with 20 vibrators. Yeah. So I bet we could put up a pretty good,

facsimile of this ride. So a lot of model train and model car shops and between that and Home Depot and Lowe's, I think you could assemble stuff. Yeah, I think so. Is there a, you know, how there's always Van Eaton auctions for rides, you know, ride stuff that, you know, generally the rides are gone away or that's a piece that they don't use anymore or something. Is there a piece of this ride you would want? And how much money would you pay for it of all of the things? I mean, there's like, There's the instruments in the Lady Elaine scene. There's actually the clock in the Daniels Tiger. There could just be one of the robots. Like, is there a particular piece you would want? Well, there's a room full of rockets. Oh, you would want the chairs. Yeah.

I don't think you could sit in them, but they would be nice decoration. They're all different colors. A lot of colors in this ride. That's what I remember liking. Yes. Did you know about this when you were younger? Because this is closer to where you grew up? Well, it's the other side of the state.

I'm saying closer than we would. Yeah, sure. No, I didn't know about that. I didn't really even know about. I don't know much about Idaho Wild Park. I was looking. It's the same people that owned, like, opery, Dollywood and Kenny Wood and Kentucky Kingdom now.

Right. I think I'm going for, I don't know if it's just because it's in front of me, but there's a second Daniel Tiger. So you meet the, like, really meek Daniel Tiger in the clock. Yeah. And then in this finale scene, you meet a jacked Daniel Tiger. Like, he put on 30 pounds of muscle weight.

like in the 10 feet it took you to get here. Yeah. And especially one arm is just to his side, but the other one is like a big, like, just like a big square like T-1,000 kind of arm. Uh-huh. That like is like, uh, he has, like it, like, as if he injected a lot of steroids into one arm only.

And then it's facing out like he's blocking tacklers. and it moves around and the other arm just meeking down to his side it's insane like so half jacked Daniel Tiger is what I would want yeah that's good

I think I mean I really do want the full I would like the King Friday Castle but it's big yeah because I do have a fact that image of it is really I do have a lot of

nostalgia for it but it's too big would you rather have like fully intact King Friday from the beginning or fucked up by rocking chair

attacked Fucked up by rocking Cher attack Friday and the end yeah I think that

is probably my choice my dang I fell out again but for practical purposes maybe just that

tarp that's over the platypuses in the middle the dirty green tarp and tell people for

bragging purposes I could be a repro of the tarp from so yeah it didn't have to be the same

I like the tunnels I always liked when they went into the tunnel there's a lot of tunnels and stuff in Pennsylvania, there's a lot of tunnels

and covered bridges and tunnels get it to Buffett fast. When you three steps, we got to connect tunnels to Buffett. We lost him. How is he gonna, we're not gonna be able to finish the record. Jimmy Buffett wrote one to write a song

called Tiki Tunnel. And he would try to drink as many Tiki drinks. Sometimes you have to lie. I liked what he said, though. It just wasn't real. The Tiki Tunnel. I can't wake up until he says something real about Jimmy Buffett.

Points of creativity snort. The Hemisphere Dancer is nearly done being cleaned and refurbished. Well, he's right about that. He's right about that. I did see that and that is very exciting. And I'll kiss it. Like Katie Perry kissed the ground after getting off of her blueboard and space play.

And he threw her flower away. I guess. I'll throw my flower away. I mean, I guess they won't let me in the plane, but I'll throw it away outside. If you get on the plane, you'll sing the song like she sang in space. I would love it. Can they do, can some,

can they start doing flights with the Hemisphere dancer? Like, uh, celebrities, like five or six celebrities and then like a podcaster in there just so somebody can be like the, the keeper of record. I don't know. I don't,

it feels like it's not, I think they got a lot of work to do to make it so you can fly it again. Okay. But like, I think the refurbishment, I don't think they keep that thing in fly in shape. But wouldn't that be fun if it was like Jeff Bezos's wife and Hoda and me go up in the hemisphere dancer

and then come down and I kiss the ground. I mean, what prominent celebrity or celebrity's wife would not want to fly in Jimmy Buffett's famous plane that assuredly everyone is a fan of? Right. And Mike, tour guide style can give the history.

I can. I can. I can. I will. I would love to. I would love to. I would love to. I would love to. Disney Springs has that hot air balloon that's like tethered to the dock. That's right, yeah. With like a length of steel, and they need a version of it in Orlando. If you were to just do like a quick couple laps around universal property.

Land in the water. Land in the water. To seaplane. This is a premium experience you're saying. Yeah. Give people private tours. Right. Don't crash into the the boat or the like the fade out or like the names of the

water taxi. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know any of what you're talking about. The names are by the back of the boats, They all of all those like gimmicky movie style names. Okay. Except maybe one is just like, it says dinosaurs or something.

Like or Islam, New Bar or whatever. Okay. But yeah, they all was like the close up. Clacking coming. Yeah, please. All right.

It is so the Simpsons three little pigs. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. The fairy land that they go to. Oh, man. Fucked up speakers are the best. They make me laugh so much.

I'm telling my neighbors about this hugging song. You may now hug the person you want to hug. Okay, that's saying you can choose. These phones ringing. Phone going off, a kid crying. You may now hug the person. This is, if you find weddings a little too, you know, sexually charged that you can change the, if a kiss is offensive at a wedding, He can turn it into

Depending. Like, Keep that behind closed doors. Right. But yeah, you could change it to you may now hug the person you wish to hug.

That was not clacking, though. Right. I think this is, I think this is clacking. Oh my gosh. So much clacking. Perfect.

It would be so fun to make. It would be so fun, like in the same way that Team America opens with like shitty puppet, like shittier puppets. It's so fun to make a new modern ride that like starts with the most clacking,

shitty looking. Yes. And then like it changes into something else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just like a fake out kind of thing or something that transforms a little bit. Oh, yeah,

yeah, yeah. That nobody's going to do it. None of the big places will do something like that fun. Yeah, I don't know if Disney is aware of the fondness for clack. Well, we know the country bear people were. The people that you,

I think you brought it up. Yeah. Yeah. Is that they were thinking about, can we, should we keep the clacking? Oh, keep it like,

like make it fully fluid, But, yeah, we want some clacking. So there are people in the organizations that know that. Wow. So it would be fun. Well, we will also, knowing this and knowing that our audience overlaps the people that like clacking, we will, the three of us all attempt to get surgeries that put more false limbs inside us, that clack. So that you're hearing clacking in addition to our talking.

It's lying to turkey for a click clacking. Like, no, we don't want the hair. We don't want to be taller. We just need you to make her jaws click-clack. You're perfectly healthy. Why, you don't need anything to be done to you? Well, there is something. Can you make my teeth shatter incessantly?

All right. You survive. You survived. A lot of young influencers, your Kylie Jenner's, are getting clacking surgery. Surgery's that make their mouth make a loud clacking noise. Why all this clackening? Why are the hottest stars in Hollywood all go? in for clackinings.

Big problem. People dying of clacking surgery. It's unsafe to going to Brazil to get clacking surgery. It's dangerous. People should not, humans are not animatronic bears. I don't know what to tell you.

There's no way they ever can be. No matter how many surgeries you get. But they're willing to risk it all for this hot new trend. Here's a little bit of, this is how the video ends essentially like, all right, then the end of the ride. Yes,

that's a mom. Neighborhood Did you all enjoy it? Yes. Greg is we're about to leave the neighborhood The end. Really satisfying. Giant lever

Forward to Backward. It is a good big lever. Yeah, yeah. She has to actually do. She's operating the thing too. It is full jungle cruise. It's this weird off-the-grid jungle cruise with the scariest animatronics

you've ever seen, with the most burnout speakers you've ever seen. This is remarkable. This is like everything I'm after in attraction. IP made by people who don't do IP Ride rusting away in a forest It's so awesome

I love this I'm so happy when you said Yeah That's good Yeah Now Aaron said she's gonna like Find me weeks after the episode She'll like come out to use the restroom

Catch me late at night in the recliner Just like watching it again And muttering Hagen song party You got lost in this ride You got clackening of the brain We never got you back. Is there any other, like, thing that we watch as kids or young adults where you, like, would be so thrilled to feel like, oh, my God, there was a ride there was a ride?

Mm. You know what I mean? Like, like, is there something like that where it would be just such a joy to discover that there was a low budget ride? I live it to the end of, like, Bobby's world. Like a cartoon, I didn't even really care about that much. Right. But just some, like, why, for some reason, I don't know where Howie Mandel is from. Let's, like.

Somebody in Canada. Yeah. Oh, wait. Is he Canadian? I believe so. Oh, that would be perfect. Oh, my God. I didn't know he's Canadian.

Wow, I like him even more. Okay. Oh, yeah. So, like, in the neighborhood outside of Toronto where he grew up, if there was like a weird little park that had a rusting away Bobby's World ride. This hasn't been touched in 2025. Oh, geez. Like, I don't remember the names of any character. I don't know.

There was a weird uncle. Uncle from Bobby's World. It kind of mushes with life with Louis. Well, I know life with Louis. I would have been thrilled about a life with Louis, right? There's lots to death to me, can I? Basically the same voices as Mr. Rogers. Yeah, exactly the same.

There's two cartoons that I liked, but I love the, like, hyper-detailed toys. The Toxic Avengers and Bucky O'Hare. Oh, well, you're speaking in my language with Bucky, especially. Bucky had the best character designs. Yeah. Yes, very cool. looking very deep cop very detailed there was like a bucky who has he appears four times in the ride and three of them have lost one of their ears yeah or final has lost both or it's like that way by crows or like that russ like a rest there's a bucky oh here rest stop in like Louisiana somewhere like the flintstone that weird flintstones thing or the that's a bigger thing but like it's just some weird thing that was licensed and that it's only there's only one of it and it and it was too expensive to pull it out really is why it lasted so long.

Yeah, that's the only of the bees have, is if, like, well, we're going to have to get a guy and we can't afford a guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, there's a Simpsons thing in Myrtle Beach. Is that right?

Oh, yeah, there is. Like a Quiki Marta-Mose? Yes, there is. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting, too. Mm-hmm. Yeah, stuff like that.

I wonder, I wonder what else is out there that we don't know in this, in this genre of one-off things. No, please. Let us know. By the way, I think that Simpsons thing may have closed.

I think maybe RIP, the Simpsons 4D in Myrtle Beach. Oh, right. Well, we got to appreciate them while we have them because not only can they fully close, something else, maybe even more horrifying can happen. They can get refurbished. No.

Speakers fixed. No. Characters made less scary. No. Because that's what happened here. It was refreshed. It has become a ride based on the very popular Daniel Tiger's neighborhood cartoon.

And I was really nervous when I saw that this had happened. I was like, oh, God, they're going to make it, like, technically better, but all of the charm is going to get sucked out of it. And then I watched a ride through, and I was so happy. Now, the animatronics, I can't really speak. You know, it's like, it's flats, unfortunately. it's not weird little three foot tall creepozoids whose skin is melting off.

It is like this is a much better I don't know Prince Wednesday is who I'm looking at here. They kept the cast. It's all the same like this is a very smart refresh, right? They kept the castle, they kept the clock and they just updated the characters and fixed the speakers. God, I'll try to ignore that as I, because while I was very nervous watching this ride through,

I started to feel fine again when I heard the guide. Let's say it one more time So we know we remember it Let's say it one more time So we know So we know So we remember it I

That's a real That's even better than Beth I think yeah I hate to say it But we have a new Beth Right That's even better I think any version of this trolley ride Through the Forest can work

as long as the guide doing it is dead inside. This is the crucial component of the ride. That is the heart of the ride. There's one more little clip that's kind of the same vibe. This is talking to Daniel Tiger's dad. Oh, and correction. New clock. They did make a new clock.

Oh, yeah, or freshened it. Yeah, maybe it's a new pit. I don't know. Structurally seems different. I'm not sure. Yeah, you might be right. I think we can do it. I'm kind of feeling like can't shouldn't try.

Let's go Let's go back You know what Just you everybody get out Just go in forest I don't I don't have it in me Take you back

It's better without me It's my third day I kind of know the beats of this But I'm still getting the hang of it It's public speak It's the spirit of Daniel Tiger It's the shyness Right right

Almost sounds like a fear of public speaking They need shy I couldn't I couldn't find the clip But there's an owner she's like, did, who do you think we'll be there? I have some guesses. Oh, it's so good.

And it's still about a hugging song. It is a hugging song. Still, yeah. Yeah, so the core, I don't think they ruined it. I think as long as you just got to wait in this queue and just try to keep an eye on who's on deck. And if you see somebody who's like, you know, standing up straight and kind of like saying hello to L, are you ready for the ride? then like don't get on it. Say like, oh, ow, I hurt my leg.

I'm gonna need a second. Can I wait for whoever's next? And then just like, look at a girl, like, sipping a big soda, like with big old slurps. And then like wiping sweat off her brow. Like, oh. Like, look for the, look for the palest person you can find. I'm from North Dakota.

I'm not used to this heat and humidity. I'm struggling. I thought it would. be cold here in a charming way. Does you, does, when does it snow? When snow? Look for, look for, look for someone who's coughing. Look for somebody who's like, a shoeing away insects that maybe aren't even there.

This, this is who you need is your guide through the land of make, believe. Yeah. Is it more, I think they, honestly, it's more true to the original spirit than the country beers is in a lot of ways. Wow. It's a lot more, there's the core. there. Wow. I think. Jeez. That's a, well, that's a, that's a heavy

take. I guess. Wow. I just, I'm just spitting backs. That's all I'm doing. Sorry, if it's too real. Sorry, it's real when I say the neighbor to make believe is an adult, satisfying entertainment. Right, easy, Dennis Lee, you put the cigarette out. Just saying.

Yeah, I'm the real, I'm the realest guy. You're the truth teller, yeah. But, but, doing it with love. Doing it with love. All of this with much love. Okay. That's right. Well, This was a blast to talk about. You survived podcast, The Ride. Thanks for subscribing to the second gate.

If you want to dig even deeper, join us on our, wait a minute. Can somebody, like, can you just, like, clack on your keyboard a bunch while I do the wrap-up? Because this will give you the idea of if we were animatronics. Yeah, okay. That'll do it. Okay, okay. Great, great. And then I'll do it, like, I'll do it like muffled.

You survive podcast, the ride. Thanks for subscribing to this second gate. If you need to want to dig even deeper Jonathan R. VAP Pich Patron Tateer Club 3

where you get one more bonus of a Saturday and I get everything. It's pretty good. Yeah, that was satisfying. I'm there. I'm there.

Pennsylvania. I'm there. Forever. This has been a Forever Dog production. Executive produced by Mike Carlson, Jason Sheridan, Scott Gardner,

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