Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - A January Late Evening Walkabout In Hollywood Studios

Episode Date: January 23, 2022

Hello Travelers! Come along with us this week on a full park walkabout in Disney's Hollywood Studios not long before park close. We start out near the Crossroads of the World, head down Hollywood Blvd, and then make our way to Toy Story Land. We take in the sounds of Woody, Jessie, and the gang, and hear ole Slinky dog roaring past. Afterwards, we take a trip off-world to Batuu and Black Spire Outpost and hear droids, the Falcon, my favorite Jawa pop song, and of course, space toilet noises. We finish off the night on Grand Avenue.    Your humble host was verbose on this episode. Just saying...I talked...a lot. Haha.   As always, use good listening devices as we always record in 4 channel surround sound. We hope you enjoy the episode and thanks so much for following along!   Look us up at @WalkaboutWDW on Instagram and drop us a note to say hi! Find our producer Josh also on Instagram at @TheSteele. Say hi to our west coast correspondent Ric at @KiltedJediRic.    You can now also drop us at line at [e-mail]. Say hi, give us some suggestions on things you'd love to hear, or even send us a show open - record your own 'Hello Traveler' show open when you are out and about, and we'll work it into a future show!

Hello, travelers! How are ya? I know, you can't answer. But, welcome back to Walk About the World, your weekly audio stroll through one of the parks and resorts of Walt Disney World here in Orlando, Florida and on occasion one of the parks and resorts of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. You know where we are this evening. Ah, there it goes.

We are standing at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine right next to the Trolley Car Cafe, which smells wonderful. And I may pop in there for a treat. I'm on the lookout for a dessert this evening. Not sure what I'm going to get. I even thought about picking up a dessert from Galaxy's Edge, but I'll be honest, I don't know if they have anything over there that I want. Disney & Co. directly across from us.

Keystone Clothiers to our left. And in an unusual move for us this evening, I think we're going to go and take a walk up past Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. I doubt we'll jump on that ride because there is still a surprising amount of people here this evening, even though we're about an hour from park close. So this is a nighttime stroll.

But I think we'll go past Mickey's and go through Toy Story Land. Normally I take a left here and go over past Gertie and Echo Lake. Listen. Ba-da-da-da-da. Hum along. Hum along. Bum-bum. Anyway, I normally take a left, go past Gertie.

But tonight, I'm going to go straight and go to the right of Mickey and Minnie's. Take a walk past Andy. I'm curious as to what the wait is for Slinky Dog. Because there's still so many people here, I'm betting the weight is still up there. Otherwise, I would totally try to take that ride in this evening. We will see. We'll take a look. I'll tell you.

The courtyard here in front of Mickey and Minnie's is very dark. Chinese theater lit up in golds, yellows, spotlights above. I'm going to check the time here. We're looking at 7.44 p.m. I do think the park closes at 9 if it doesn't it's going to be a short walkabout y'all

should I have looked? yes did I? no I see a surprising number of Yes. Did I? No. I see a surprising number of cast members with like the office casual type clothing that makes you know that they're like area managers or something. I don't know what I'm talking about. But anyway,

a lot of them out. Which makes me wonder, are they packing things up here? Okay, heading down the ramp to Walt Disney Presents. And you know what I'm noticing? The building right next to Walt Disney Presents has a big old wall of speakers blasting out the ambience. That's cool. From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom and beyond.

One man's dream. Thought about taking a walk about in there sometime, but like... I would be describing what's in there. I think that's more vlog material. Plus the fact it what's in there. I think that's more vlog material. Plus the fact it's quiet in there. And I would be like, hey, this is over here. And I'm not sure how well that would go over. And so here we are. What is the name of this street?

I do not know. But we are back here where you turn right to go back towards Toy Story Land and we have the market. Not sure what they have. What do they have at the market? Oh, this is where they have the Jack Jack Num Num cookie and things. Nachos, cheese. But this is where, in the olden days, you would turn left and go past the old entrance to Toy Story Mania.

What did they call that area back there? I can't remember what they called it at the time. But they had a store back there for Pixar-related things, and the army men would march, and you would go on down and run into the big, misting Coca-related things, and the army men would march, and you would go on down and run into the big, misting Coca-Cola machine and go towards the backlot tour. No more. All of that is no more.

Galaxy's Edge. That's okay. So here we are Toy Story Land Hey howdy hey My name is Woody And this is where toys come to play Welcome to Andy's Backyard If I'm not mistaken That's Tom Hanks' brother

Who's a voice actor. Wow, I love this area at night. Here comes Slinky. Keep an eye out for Slinky Dog. He's real fast. Blink and you'll miss him. Oh, I wish Slinky Dog would slow down. He's making me dizzy.

Okay. What are we looking at here? Hollywood Studios. Nine to nine, it says. All right, we're safe. I don't know why they're taking everything down. Tor Nation Wrecks! You're supposed to hang the Christmas flags, not wear them! You know, I'm glad to help, but really, I think I'm more of an indoor toy.

Here comes Slinky again. What a cool coaster. If you have not been to Toy Story Land at night, you are missing out. Because frankly, I think it is most beautiful at night. Ditto Galaxy's Edge, by the way. They have the big retro Christmas lights strung across the path. And just a great vibe. Toy Story Midway Mania to your left.

30 minute wait. Not bad at all. And a cool little toy truck to our right with all kinds of Pixar goodies. Just love all this stuff. Mostly because I'm old, and I played with literally all of this stuff. Tinker Toys, did you have them? What about Lincoln Logs? What are these things you say?

Well, it must mean you're not a grizzled ancient like myself. The big Pixar ball to the left. Woody's lunchbox eating area is actually pretty full. Wow. Do you like walking through bubbles, by the way? When people have these bubble machines in the park? Is that weird? Do you walk through them or do you avoid them?

Saw Ashley Eckstein post that she doesn't like them. What have we got here for a wait? 75 minutes, my friends. So says the sign, if you can trust it, and you can't. But, yeah. We don't have 75 minutes. Even it only ends up being like 45. Too much for me. Too much for me tonight. Fisher-Price Family Camper is the toy that forms the basis for the merchandise kiosks here that's cool i've never noticed that fisher price play family camper it says they have bubble wands and little pixar toys nothing unusual stuff they would have in the world of disney

and your cokes and your ice creams are in a little kiosk here Little Pixar toys. Nothing unusual. Stuff they would have in World of Disney. And your Cokes and your ice creams are in a little kiosk here. Okay. We have turned left. Alien swirling saucers on our right. This is a big attraction. You don't really notice that. You walk past it and this thing takes up a lot of real estate. Woody's Lunchbox to the left.

Absolutely love the tables and just everything about this land was really, really well it's very small very well done jumbo builder set the classic tinker toy construction set to the left in a cylindrical container i literally had it and i was like the front facade of the restrooms is made up of blocks. The old wooden blocks. Red, blue, yellow, orange. Literally had those too. The benches here look like they're made out of Popsicle sticks.

They even have the stain of the color of the popsicle that they used to be in a buddy of mine had one recreated I'm super jealous alright travelers we are headed off world you can hear the transition. heading into Black Spire Outpost I just got to tell you, when you walk through Toy Story Land,

through this little cavernous area that you pass, and you get down in here to Black Spire. I am just stunned at the lighting package that they have for this place at night. It was just to set the scene. The Droid Depot is directly ahead. Very angular, common angular with a domed top Star Wars looking building. It's lit with yellow and orange and then the peaks of the black spires in the background

are blues and purples it is just beautiful when we first visited batu west because it was open first we just so happened to have a vacation back in the day and ended up visiting out there before here. The nighttime sold me. Went in the daytime and I was a little underwhelmed. Of course, they were just getting started and so, you know, not everything was exactly running as planned. But it was also seemed very, very bland and washed out, much like a Tatooine would, I guess, in the daytime. But at night, man, it just comes alive. And then I have pontificated a few times about how fans have made it their own at night, which is cool. Since there isn't a line, I am going to mask up,

and let's go in Droid Depot and look around real quick. I'm going to set you on a trash can. Is that rude? Also, do you know about the Batu Blue Wall? Look up the account on Instagram. I have nothing to do with it. It's called Batu Blue Wall. And that's what we're next to. It's part of the Droid Depot building. Okay, hang on. All right, that wasn't too bad, right?

You hear the gaunt droid? Let's go in Droid Depot. We're coming in the exit of Droid Depot, actually, so... This is where you get all all your little sundries your bags your your purses and your droideka figures and some little some little accoutrement for your droid let's go through the main area. There's some cool stuff in here. This is the main assembly area. It's probably loud. They have DJ Rex droids in here, I see.

Some cool t-shirts featuring industrial automation Droid Depot magnets in blue which I really like one of my favorite things that they have here is a set of patches Droid manufacturer patch set also sorry about the mask I'm sure oh man they, man, they have R2s again. What? I just got distracted. For the longest time, they've been out of R2s. They've had DJ Rex.

And they actually have some choppers from Rebels. But they've been out of R2-D2 droids for a while, and they are back. They used to be $100. I'm going to see how much they are now. They used to be $99.99. This one's free apparently. Yes, he's definitely free. Huh. Not a clue. No price tag. I'm guessing it's $99. Whoa, Chopper Droid looks great, actually.

I've thought about snagging him. If you haven't seen Rebels, it's a great show. Okay, now we're going to head out. Okay. Okay, de-mask, unmask. Which is it? I'm going to go with unmask. I think that's the proper thing. Droid Depot, for me, is the... kind of the breakout hit for this place.

The droids are very popular, and it's generally not a hugely long line. Where are we? Do you know? Do you know? I recorded a bit of this way back can't help it, I gotta listen okay I'm gonna blab

so we are next to the speeder bay the speeder repair bay Okay, I'm going to blab. So we are next to the Speeder Bay, the Speeder Repair Bay. It's got a catwalk over it, and this is where you'll see Ray and Chewy. They come down here, and it's one of my favorites. I'm not kidding. It's my favorite track from the Ogas Cantina soundtrack. What's the name of the track? I don't know.

I can't remember. I should know it. But this little speeder area has a radio, a quote radio in the back corner that constantly has music and different pieces of radio shows. Noisy over here.

Uteni! I think that's what it's called. Yeah! Yeah! What does Jawa music sound like? You're listening to it. But it's a mechanics bay for speeders. And they got a radio on.

And it's got galactic radio shows. I believe you can even hear Zero the Hutt on one of them. Who is that? Ah, come on now. Gotta look that one up. Okay. Let's see. What are we going to do? Go straight through the middle here. We're going to go up the steps. Ronto Roasters will be to your left.

Docking Bay directly ahead with a cargo ship atop did you know traveler that if you look at the top of Docking Bay 7 there's a cargo ship up there it has three shipping containers each of the containers is stamped with a number each of those numbers for instance 77

is the release date, the release year, of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies. And it's Ronto Roasters, not Rontos. We talked about this before. Ronto is the creature that's being roasted. Essentially, galactic hot dog stand.

Again, all of the stone, lit in orange, yellow, sometimes deep reds. The mountains are in blues and purples. And here we have the entrance to the seating area of Docking Bay 7, where we recorded some tracks. And we have Doc Ondar's Den of Iniquities to the right I know it's antiquities

I can't help it, I only have a few jokes one of my favorite little vistas here is in front of Docking Bay 7 they have the Docking Bay 7 sign the sign itself is a masterpiece it looks gorgeous but the building is bottom lit in purple so it's stone

but it's bottom lit in purple it's got purple umbrellas out front just looks amazing and then to the right of course is everybody's favorite Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run gorgeous building

we're going to check the wait times Millennium Falcon. Smuggler's Run. Gorgeous building. We're going to check the wait times. Now, are there any treats over here? Any sweet treats? In Ye Olde Batuu? They have some type of moose thing in Docking Bay. Have we talked about my hatred of moose? Not the creature. The nasty, like, little slimy stuff that Disney is making every dessert out of now. Hashtag no moose. Make it a real cake, like actually bake a cake no mousse ah this area is always gorgeous

let us say this is the this is the fan area of Black Spire do we got any folks over here with sabers yes we do This is the fan area of Black Spire. Do we got any folks over here with sabers? Yes, we do. It's actually a pretty crowded courtyard here in front of the Falcon tonight,

which I love. Can't help but stand and stare. wait time 70 minutes by the way for the old smugglers run i think we've talked about this before but all around the falcon they have these upper upper level stages and catwalks They could be doing so many cool shows. Oh, here we go. One day, guys, we will no longer have our announcement. It'll be a glorious and weird day. I feel you, little guy. It's been a long day for me too, pal. So I am standing currently directly

in front of the cockpit of the Falcon, which is very well done. You can see all the lights inside. This is a nostalgia point for me. I mean, duh, it is for like everybody, I guess, but... As a child of the 80s... The Falcon never ceases to impress. This kind of feels like home over here. I know. I'm sentimental. I know we've talked about this before too but have you guys been to Star Wars Celebration?

and if you're like what the heck is that the answer is no you haven't but it is a basically a big old Star Wars convention so nerd fest but all Star Wars like unlike Comic Con it's just total Star Wars nerds.

We've been to several. Made lifelong friends. Coming over in the evenings reminds me of that. Reminds me of Star Wars weekends, where we also met lifelong friends. If you can't tell, I kind of like it few sabers out this evening a lot of people

taking pictures but not a lot of sabers cool thing about this again everybody thinks I have a camera so I stand here and look at the falcon and everybody jumps

out of my way they want to be on video. Jokes on them, folks. I'm just soaking it in you don't mind do you Cargo ship above docking bay has its engines running. That's what you hear to the left. Can you tell us to your left? I hope you can. All right, let's march on. We're going to actually climb back up the stairs by Docking Bay. We'll go back into Dock Andar soon.

You know how often I've thought about buying one of those sabers? There's some classic hilts that I would love. Then I also think, what am I going to do with that? Am I just going to hang it on the wall? Now, I could go to one of the saber meetups and take it with me. I guess that would be kind of nice. Let's walk past the Ronto Roastery. The hissing is very pod racer engine that they have. And now we're in the marketplace.

Have you guys been? It's actually really cool. Can't stir his kettle to the right and hi and to the left one of my favorite shops because they have all the things like t-shirts mugs magnets whatever and we've bought quite a few goodies from this one. I never remember the name of the shop that has... Is it just a creature stall? I think it is. We're next to the creature stall now. What creatures do I see?

You can get yourself a plush Tauntaun. Do you hear that? You can occasionally hear in the ambience of the marketplace a Kwakian monkey lizard above wreaking havoc on the wires, no doubt. But we have a Porg. We also have... What have we got?

We've got some Duba X over here. We have a Bantha. Yes, we do have a Bantha. A Loath Cat. A Puffer Pig. What is all of this you say? I'm a nerd, guys. What can I say?

Some of this is classic Star Wars. Some of it is Rebels Clone Wars you can hear a little bit of DJ Rex's set piped in and like of course over by the bathrooms you hear large and nasty nasty squishing and sloshing

noises over by the bathroom and there is what looks like above an apartment. Not sure whose. It's not Ova's. I know that. She's not over here. But with the windows, with the shutters slightly askew and some splashing noises up there, I don't know if somebody's taking a bath. Maybe taking something else. Let's just say it's a bath. Maybe taking something else.

Let's just say it's a bath. Told you, man. It's nasty over here. Star Wars is a used universe. Wait, what? A Wookiee roar just came from the above apartment. That's interesting you hear him? alright we're heading back out through the entrance of

Galakia's Edge past Rise of the Resistance. Creatures of the Forest are starting. Do you hear them? Gnarled trees. Large creatures of some sort. Oh, I'm glad we came this way. Because there is a... There is a stall, kiosk, etc. over here that I wanted to check out. But first...

Pausing by the X-Wing over here to the right. There's a thing that they've been out of over here for a long time that I can see from a distance that they now have again. And they are aluminum green. Wait, are these the ones? Let's see. Yes. They have green aluminum cups. Join the resistance as one of them.

No, that's what they both say. It's got the symbol of the resistance on one side and join the Resistance on the other. Always thought they were really cool. This is one of the most interesting little kiosks here because they have... I would have said it's Leia's coat, but it's not. I would have said it's Leia's Endor coat. Not Endor, but Endor, the moon of Endor. But it's not, actually. I think it is the coat worn by Carrie Fisher's daughter.

Forgive me, I don't remember her name. In one of the most recent movies. But it looks great. Go around the other side, see what we got. See what we have. Oh, yeah, we have a very Star Wars-looking undershirt here. Dude, that's actually really cool. Han Solo vest.

I've got to take a picture of this shirt. I may have to procure this. And then another item Heather and I were looking into, because occasionally you need to dress the part when you come to Batuu. They have a crossbody bag that is the one that Poe Dameron wore in the movies. And it actually looks really good. It's $49.99, and it is legit. It's got pouches on it and then a large central bag. That's going to have to come home with me soon.

Over here on the other side is some magnets. Nothing new that I see. Very awesome resistance. Almost denim looking green jacket, which is awesome. Okay, nothing new at the other little market kiosk across the way that I can see, anyway. Nope, but this is where you get your helmets of different flavors. Poe Dameron helmet, some other pilot's helmet, I'm not really sure. Let's head on out.

Rise of the Resistance, directly to your right, the entrance. Standby queue still almost all the way out into the main thoroughfare here, so that's going to be a minute or two. Ah. Ah Ah I think it's my first deep sigh of the evening Absolutely love the soundtrack Entrance music John Williams by the way if I'm correct And here we go. We have arrived back on planet.

Grand Avenue. And there is a full moon tonight directly over Gonzo's Royal Flush. Do you think we need to do a toilet-themed episode? Walk about the toilets of Walt Disney World. Those of you new to the show, you think I'm kidding.

Okay. I was about to stroll right out. How dare I? There's a rule here. One does not simply walk past the Muppet Courtyard area without visiting the Miss Piggy Fountain. And we shall not smells wonderful over here that's Mama Melrose restaurant in the back which is one of our absolute favorites

this whole area just makes me happy I love the Muppets but also a lot of really fond memories of this area in particular with the kiddos who you know because they recorded an episode recently we got one of the little fish over here he's just not spitting he hasn't been spitting for a while he's clogged. Sweetums is staring at me. Wretched Refuse is still sailing. you know what that is by now

all right back on grand avenue across from store number 726. The Spring Flower Market. And with that, Travelers, I think we're going to bring this evening Hollywood Studios stroll to a close. Hope you had some fun. I did. Nice to come out with absolutely no purpose. And just wander around. Look us up, please, on Instagram at walkaboutwdw. That's where we be.

Give us a follow. Send us a message. Tell us how you found the podcast, when you listen, what episodes you like, and if there's any areas of any of the parks or resorts that you would like us to seek out and record for you, we will do that and we will name you. I mean, if would like us to seek out and record for you, we will do that and we will name you. I mean, if you want us to.

You can also contact us, interestingly enough, at contact at walkabouttheworld.com. Email. Drop us a line. Send us a show open. What's a show open? You know the thing I do, Hello Travelers, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada. That's a show open. What's a show open? You know the thing I do, Hello Travelers, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada. That's a show open. So wherever you live, wherever you are, out and about, at the mall,

or hey, if you're visiting Walt Disney World, open up your phone and open up the voice recording app on whichever operating system you have and record an intro for us and send it our way and we will credit you and play your intro at the beginning of a future episode what's the worst that could happen that's all i'm saying keep it clean though look up our producer and dare i say co-host yeah you'll see you'll see. You'll see. Look up our producer Josh at TheSteel with an E. Also on Instagram. And look up our West Coast correspondent

Rick Peralta at KiltedJediRick. Also on Instagram. We are a bi-coastal podcast. I think that's a thing. I don't know. But from Hollywood Studios, behind the mic is me, Jeremy, standing next to the Backlot

Express, which is closed, wishing you goodnight. And also, there is a great big, beautiful tomorrow. See you in one of those, travelers. Good night.