Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - A Walkabout In DAK With Marc From DisLife Podcast

Episode Date: May 1, 2022

Hello Travelers! This week we are trying something new and different for us. Join us back in Disney's Animal Kingdom for a walkabout with the very first call-in guest, who is none other than Marc Valentine from Dislife podcast. Marc calls in, and goes on walkabout with host Jeremy, discussing the things about Disney's Animal Kingdom that keep us coming back year after year.    The audio setup was interesting for this one. You guys can let us know what you think of the episode and the audio quality, but regardless it was a day of fun that we both enjoyed.    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 up https://www.dislifepodcast.com/ with Marc to find all of the amazing content that they create. You can also find Marc on Instagram at @dislifepodcast.   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 record your own 'Hello Traveler' show open when you are out and about, and we'll work it into a future show!

Hello travelers and welcome back to Walk About the World, a weekly audio adventure through the parks and resorts of Walt Disney World here in Orlando, Florida. And on occasion, Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Care of our West Coast correspondent Rick Peralta. And normally it's just you and me. Oh, by the way, where the heck are we? We are in Disney's Animal Kingdom back again. It's been a little while, and normally it's just you and me, or you and Josh, or, you know, you and Rick, but today we're not alone. Today we have somebody touring with us, and most of you will know his voice already, but he is the host of Diz Life podcast, Diz Live,

Babu's Frickin' podcast, which makes me laugh every single time I say it, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff. I don't think he sleeps, but it's Mark Valentine. Mark, how are you, and when did you sleep last? Thank you so much. I did catch about two hours last night. It was refreshing. But thank you so much, Jeremy, for having me on Walkabout.

Very excited to be hanging out with you today in Animal Kingdom. Thank you for having me on the show. And, man, I hope you're joking about that two hours, man. It makes me cry. All right, I am. I got four. So, like, if you listeners could see me me like you you already know our hashtag is keep it weird. I have two phones. I've got a microphone. I've got Mark on speaker and I'm walking around

the park and I one of these days security is going to catch up with me. Hopefully it's not today but the idea behind today's show is we've talked about looking at the parks as works of art and something to experience outside of just rides because the rides are amazing we know this we talked about this but I wanted to just ask mark as we walk as we talk what we love in particular about Disney's Animal Kingdom and what keeps us coming back and And so, oh man, Starbucks smells amazing right now. By the way, Mark. Resist the temptation. So we are, we are headed, like we are at the gates of Africa. Like I'm literally looking at the big, the big wooden Africa gates. We're

about to head into Harambee. So Mark, I wanted to just kick off with you. It could be anything, any subject. It could be related to Harambee because we're about there. But tell me something that keeps you coming back to the animal kingdom. What makes it fresh for you? I love the creativity that went in. That Joe Rohde, who's the imagineer and really the master artist that worked for this park. Joe traveled the world over, that he went to Asia, he went to Africa. It was

very important for him, and they painstakingly paid a lot of attention to the details of the park. And it's kind of like years ago, Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith, made a quip and said, it's very expensive to look this trashy. Do we think to look and dress like a hobo that it would be very cheap on my part, but it's very contrary to what you would believe? The Imagineers put a lot of attention into making Africa,

specifically as you're walking in, to make Africa look authentic and look dilapidated. That they wanted that area of the park to have a feel that you were in Central Florida, that you were in Central Africa, that you were in Central Africa, that you were in this marketplace, that you were ready to go on safari, and that you kind of got transported to another part of the world. You very much feel what I love about the park in general, that this part of the park, you feel like you're on the continent, and you feel like you've been taken away from Orlando immediately as you cross that bridge. And it's magical. It's beautiful.

I'm glad you mentioned feeling like you're somewhere else, because of all the parks. If you ask me what's my favorite, I don't like that question. I would have to answer a favorite of the day. But one of the things I do talk about is that if there is a park that you could say, okay, Jeremy, you have an hour. You've got an hour, and that's it. You've got to leave. Where are you going?

My answer is always going to be Animal Kingdom because more than any other park for me, also the young visitors are having a good time right now. More than any other park, it's a place where I feel like I can escape. Some of the other parks, I love them. I love them all, but they get a bit busy for me sometimes, and it feels like work. With Animal Kingdom,

it always feels like somewhere I can go, and I'm, as you say, somewhere else. It's a very relaxed park, but I think the philosophy of the park is very different than the other than the other three gates that the concept of animal kingdom it's like it's hook line and sinker it's about exploration yes that i mean and you you even look at it and people people kind of give it a better rap myself included times, but they say it's a half-day park at best.

If you're a rides junkie, then that is a truism. You don't have a ton of rides, and in order to fully appreciate that park, you really have to indulge your inner explorer. And you have to say, all right, I'm not going to be sitting on a ride vehicle, but there's a lot of stuff to do. But I get that man i understand 100 that's the part that if you don't have an agenda or if you don't need to have this burning desire to ride something that's your go like animal kingdom is your go-to and i know like i know that i am blessed to be a local it's a privilege i i understand it, I never, ever take it lightly, but, like, I'll tell you, where we are, we are right outside of the Lion King Theater, which is the theater district of

Harambe here, and just, I'm standing here, sometimes I have a hard time describing it, because it just looks so freaking amazing, like the entire place surrounding you looks legit like you're in an east african town and the point is like yes the parks obviously have rides and we love them and we have all of our tricks like i love touring plans like i like i know like about like getting from ride to ride and you got to get your bang for your buck and if you're coming here like on a once every so often vacation i understand you're really trying to make sure you get your attractions in but what i also say is that while you're here and i know mark agrees with this because he's done his best day ever podcast for

a couple of the parks which are amazing you should totally take those in by the way but while you're here realize that as as mark just said that there is just years of painstaking effort placed into things that you're walking right by. And it's not a matter of guilt, but the point is, like, this is for you. Like, it's part of your trip. It's part of your vacation while you're going from ride to ride. Stop a second. Even if you're in a hurry, it doesn't have to be long. But, like, I can come over here in africa and i'm just astounded i'm looking at that stone benches with layers of faded paint and crumbling walls

it looked like they've been here forever and all of that was done by a craftsman by an artist and these parks really are works of art i'm pontificating mark but like this stuff this stuff really gets to me you know so if you could So if you could see me right now sitting in my studio at home, I'm going to be completely honest with you. Eyes closed, totally closed. I'm envisioning where you are, thinking of the rebarbed wall, the crumbled wall with the rebar that is, like, circling over, that area of the park that has the river that's running

that's going to go all the way and take that wooden walkway all the way up to pandora and then at some point halfway along the way you transition from africa to another galaxy entirely but i'm also i'm not gonna lie as my eyes are closed i'm somewhat tempted to almost peer left into the dollar bar. We're right next to it, baby. Yeah, you're right there. I feel like I need some libations right now from dollar bar. Well, that's the only drawback of having a virtual guest on the podcast.

We can't go get a drink. But also, that's a good point. We are literally right next to Tusker House in Dollar Bar. I'm walking by right now. I could get a drink but also like that's that's a good point we are literally right next to tusker house and dog where i'm walking by right now and that is a i could get a drink i could i could run upstairs we can make this happen even virtually and this is where the show goes off the rails folks but like the dollar bar is one of the best places in any of the parks just to stop and watch the world go by. Because not only can you slowly get inebriated, or quickly if you're Mark Valentine, but you can sit here and watch all of the cool stage shows in the center of Harambe. Yeah, I'm so happy to see the resumption of those stage shows too because they add a life and a culture to that area that I think has been lacking somewhat in the last few years. So it's nice to get those performances back because central to African culture is music.

And I love having those drums. I love having that guitar. I love the dancing as I come into Africa. Of all the countries in the different areas of animal kingdom, Africa for me, I don't know why. I mean, I don't even know if this is a hot seat. Africa to me is kind of like the central area for me. If you were to say what area of the park fits, it's not Asia. It's definitely not Dynamo USA. It's not what Sugar Boots is, the Kingdom Over in Pandora.

It's Africa. It's always Africa for me. feel that music and when I walk into Harambee Marketplace, I feel like I really understand Central, the heart of Animal Kingdom. Well, dude, I totally agree with you. For me, Africa is like what symbolizes Animal Kingdom. It makes it for me. Harambee is my happy place. And by the way, they're playing a song called Yo Lele. It's incredibly loud, and I'm loving it. Can you actually hear this stuff, Mark? I do hear it very faintly on the phone, yes. Well, I'm glad it's vague, because otherwise it would be

drowning you out. It's very loud for me, but hopefully our very strange microphone setup works for all of this. This may be a disaster, folks, but that's the thing. You get to go along with us and find out. Well, in the words of Shakira, we do tell you to try everything. We're trying everything, baby.

Okay, so we have turned the corner past Harambe Fruit Market and past the Zawani Traders, and we are looking at the door of Zuri's Sweet Shop, which has some delicioso treats in here that I am not going to eat right now, but I'm actually peering in the door. I had a pineapple cookie recently, Mark. Have you had that one? I have not had the pineapple cookie.

You know this about me, your audience may not. I've recently embarked on a journey of wellness that I've cut lots of sugar and salt, and I wound up losing I know this. Yeah. So are you allowing some of the goodness back in or is it just banished? I'm in. I did allow, yeah. So, yes, I do allow for some things.

I'm just, I'm really judicious by, I count a lot of calories. But the pineapple cookie could make that list, but it would have to really fight for some other snacks to kind of get. It's like the Hunger Games now when it comes to sweets. And it's really,

yeah, it's for real though. Like, Mark is starving right now. So, like, when it comes to sweets. As soon as we turn this corner, the ambience is very loud, and I actually really love that. What we're going to do is I'm going to shut up, and Mark can talk. You won't hear him, but he can talk if he wants to. But I'm going to walk around. We're going to take a look at the Ficlois Fellow. We're going to go past the bicycle repair shop, and I'm just going to let you guys soak in the ambience because that's what we do. And we're going to resume our blabbery after we get past. What do you say, Mark?

Is that cool? I like that all right here we go The walls to the left to the entrance of Harambee Market says, Hoteli Buradika self contained rooms that's good if they're self-contained fresh water and just the other side of town Wow. Dude, loud sigh. I'm just soaking it up, man.

All right, so we have young tribal drummers to our right beating the crap out of some drums. And we are turning left, headed towards Asia around the discovery river with the tree of life to our right uh my i think one of my favorite views of the tree of life is from that area of the park right there so there's a little ramp that goes down to a viewing area like i'm standing right by it. So if you go off to your right, it's kind of hidden. It's just a little path, but it goes down to a whole viewing area down there where you're at water level, and it's amazing.

Yeah, I like the fact that it is a hidden gem, and a lot of times you don't have to fight the crowds in order to get a really nice picture of the Tree of Life down from that area. On occasion, you'll get a photo pass photographer down there, but I haven't seen one there in years. And it's, again, it's one of the off the beaten path opportunities to get a really nice picture of the park icon with just'm going to bring up right now, because one of the things that keeps me coming back here, in particular, is the ambience. And I'm going to talk about a couple of different types. So, first off, the musical backdrop of this place is incredible. Like the soundscape, like whoever chose the ambience of this park,

like killed it. Like it's, it's astounding. And I love coming to places and hearing a song. And since I know Mark and I are of a certain age, like we've been coming to the parks a long time and I love rounding a corner, hearing a song and it just takes me back like I it's not 2022 like it's 1999 it's it's 2001 like at the very beginning of this park when I came with my family long before we had kids it just takes me right back like what are you the same way like do you hear like park music and you just put you there yeah i mean we we didn't open the park in 96 but we made a family trip it was really a lot big family trip in 97 one year after the park opened so the park was so brand new

and when i walked through i don't know why this park more than a lot of others, but this park holds a lot of memories for me. Same. Vivid ones. Other memories that are in your childhood, it's hard to explain the way, like they're more of an emotional memory, more so than like the imagery that goes along with them. Like I remember singing Tiki Room with my father. I remember certain feelings that I had and certain attractions, but not a lot of memories that I have the imagery that goes along with them.

This park, because I was in high school, I was 18 at the time, I remember this trip with my family. And this park, the music, the feel walking around, I can still remember and see what my mom was wearing. You can see your parents at that age. It's almost like a time capsule. That's right. I agree. If that makes sense. I agree.

People might be like, wow, this is getting a little too weird for me, Mark. No, man. Seriously, our hashtags make it weird. And one of the things that we do is we talk about why we appreciate the parks. And you nailed it, man. This, like, seriously, our hashtags make it weird. And one of the things that we do is we talk about why we appreciate the parks. And, like, you nailed it, man. Like, the parks, like, if you talk about, okay, there's a spoiler alert. I actually have a Magic Kingdom episode coming up where I'm going to talk about my Disney story and what it means to me, why we moved here, all this. But a little spoiler since we're talking about it is i came in 2000 it was a it was a trip

that our parents brought us on and heather not heather and i at the time were quite poor like well below the poverty line we could not have taken this trip they they gifted it to us they brought us along we stayed in a timeshare long story anyway my point is that i came to these parks and in animal kingdom specifically and thought literally mark i i thought and told heather we have got to find a way to be able to come back here and at that time in our lives we didn't know how that was going to happen and so a lot of years later i'm living close to all of this and that's what i mean when i i say i never ever take it for this and that's what I mean when I say I never ever take it for granted and that's why these parks are amazing to me because of memories with my parents

with my kids my kids grew up here I know your kids are still pretty young Mark but like ours are ours are driving and college-ing now and but like all the memories we have with our daughters walking around these parks, I still see those things as I walk around. I'm getting off of the ambience thing, I guess, but it was a good segue. Thanks, dude. No worries. Yeah, I completely understand. Linda and I have been together since we were teenagers.

And so that, in many ways, that Disney trip was the first trip that she and i took as boyfriend and girlfriend where you like you know like the meet the parents kind of deal right we knew it was getting serious when you take the marathon on the disney vacation it's getting serious that's right man so so disney has quite literally always been such a part of our our lives it was a part of our courtship. A few years after that, we went again. We went when we were married and then we took our daughter and then it obviously just brought all that back for us. But it's so funny how my life just continues to go back to these parks in Central Florida. So much of my life and these core memories of my life are wrapped up in the music

and the memories of these places. And I'm, you know, I embrace it now. I used to fight it because you're in your 40s and people look at you like you're weird, that you love the house so much. And then after pandemic, man, you just think to yourself, there's so many other things in life to worry about. Just embrace what makes you happy. And that's my Disney ethos now. I just embrace what makes me happy. Embrace what makes you happy.

Embrace the weirdness. Embrace the weird looks. Folks, don't think we haven't got some weird looks already. We're 22 minutes in. I've got some weird looks. I don't care. haven't got some weird looks already. Like, we're 22 minutes in. I've got some weird looks. I don't care. I'm having a good time here. So, I agree with you.

Like, love what you love. Life is short. Be happy. Do your thing. And, like, okay, to set the scene, because I'm just blabbing, which is what we do. That's fine. But it's Discovery Island time across the way. But right now we are next to...

Where the heck are we? Okay, we're right next to Drinkwalla, which means we're right next to Yak and Yeti. And I love this signage, man. These rusted red and white signs pointing to Cali River and Maharaja Jungle Trek. But Drinkwalla is one of my favorite places in the world. I love getting a frozen Coke here. The building is amazing. And I actually, well, most of you already know this,

but I had a really cool guy recreate the sign for Drinkwalla for me, and it's sitting in my home office. I just love it. I love this area of Asia, Anandapur in particular. And mark the wood of this place. Like the wood carvings of all these buildings actually came from master carvers in bali i'm guessing you know this already but it's it's incredible to look at yeah i love that area of the park it has great aesthetic i love that tree that's right outside

of yak and yeti where you have that uh i think it's a buddha or ahisattva, one of the two, and it's crumbling. You can get a cool magic shot that's right there. Again, my eyes are fully closed as I'm describing the scene and listening to the ambience. But that's a cool, like, what is a cooler, really, it's a Coca-Cola vendor, Dreamwalla. Yep, yep. Really authentic, really neat. I love, again, what I love about the park in general, the way that it works in these conventions, whatever your local player is.

So it's a Coke stand, but it's not. And then Yank and Yeti, I mean, if you want... One of my faves, bro. Okay, so I think, spoiler alert, you and I, thank you for lending us a concept for our show, Dislike Podcast. We do Disney Dining Deep Dives, quadruple D.

Guy Fieri has three Ds, we have four. I feel like you and I should do a Disney Dining Deep Dive on Yaki and Yeti. I'm so in. You can do that. I'm so in. Let's do that. I'm so in. I love that place.

We've been going for years. Those ahi tuna nachos will change your life. I'm sure there's a lot of people that are, they tuned in for the ambient noise, the ambient music, but stay for the ahi tuna nacho talk. All right, Mr. Valentine. In the far distance across the Discovery River, around the corner, is the Forbidden Mountain. And I just heard people screaming. Everest is back, back open, and the Yeti is discoing as we speak.

And we're going to turn the corner here and go into—we're leaving Anandapur and coming into the town, the area of Sirka Zong. And this is amazing. There's a little shrine here with all the beads and cups and a little viewing port where you can look across and see the Forbidden Mountain. The area that they've put together for Kite Tails, I, okay, so like, I have to be honest with you. I'm not really a Kite Tails fan. I don't like dislike it um it just kind of seemed thrown together to me i'm not really sure that it fit just seemed a little weird like it was a little weird to me but it's it's growing on me and they have put together a little launch area over here to the right i'm sitting my, I'm looking right at the Yeti Palace Hotel, and to my right is the launch area, and they've themed it to the land. At first, and I get it,

they didn't have time, but at first it was just kind of thrown together, and there's like pontoons and stuff down there. I'm like, dude, what is this? But now it's themed nicely, and so it's growing on me, Mark. What do you think? Kite tails. We've got some inside jokes about kite tails. All right, so the short, short version is I'm glad that it's being utilized. It shouldn't be. That area of the park should not be sitting empty. Totally.

That's really great. That theater has to have something in it. I do like the creativity behind kite tails, and I do think it's very inventive, and I think it's really creative. The time of the day that you watch it, I mean, we joke and we say that it's inspired by, like, Dante

Alighieri and the Divine Comedy or the Inferno, because you kind of bake in the sun like you're in that other place. Not the good place, but that one. The hot place. The hot place. The hot place. So I don't think they fully thought out the times of the day

and the show times with no shade. To that end, I mean, you have to really love kites to go through that kind of punishment in order to watch the show. You're like, I've lost three pounds in sweat, but like, man, that Baloo kite is amazing. Otherwise, it's pretty fun because of the chaos of it. I mean, let's all be completely and totally honest. No one wants to watch that show to see it perfectly executed. You're lying to yourself if you're not saying in some form or fashion

that you want some kind of kite disaster. You want one of the kites to crash and burn. We all come through the chaos. You want to see Simba land on his face in the bleachers. That's what you're there for. That's what you're there for. It's the car wreck of spectacular, of Disney spectacular. So Mark, here's a serious question.

We've been joking around a lot. Here's a serious one. Why is the Yeti Palace Hotel always opening next season? Why? It's just not, because it's just not open yet. Like, dude, like, come on, let's open this thing. Oh, where are we? We are next to Gupta's Gear, which our listeners know because I've blabbed about it too much.

This is one of the best spots to catch musical ambience in the entire park. There's an abnormally loud speaker next to Gupta's Gear, but if you want to capture some audio, that's the place to do it. The Anandapur ice cream truck is on our left and it's open i swear it's always closed when i pass but she's open today mark have you done it i have very good luck when i go to the park that the ice cream truck is always there one of my all-time favorite desserts is there and it's called it was it was it was the mightiness stop serve and it was a very softer Is it really Yeah, but that is one of my favorite areas to kind of go and get a frosty treat.

And to kind of revisit, circle back if you will, to the pineapple cookie. The reason the pineapple cookie may not make it on my list is I'm a sucker for the frozen stuff, man. When those calories come in, usually I want them to come in frozen more. Yeah, they've got to come in cold. They're coming in cold, that's good on Animal Kingdom Day. Can you hear the screaming, Mark, or is it too far away? I can. I love it. I love it. So what I'm going to do, since Yeti is loud, I'm going to be quiet again because we're right next to the entrance to Expedition Everest, and I thought about going in the store, but the last time I did did it they disappointed me. They didn't have what I what I wanted. The merch is the merch is lacking

right now Mark you know this. So I'm going to be quiet we're going to go past Everest and we're going to reconvene on the bridge headed to Dinoland. Is that cool? I love it. Off we go. I'm sure those are There's like 10 adults. I'm sure those are screams of happiness. Okay, I lied, Mark. I'm going to start talking already. There are prayer flags draped across this area of Circazong as you exit and head over the bridge to Dinoland. And I've got two sets of prayer flags up in my office because, again, I'm weird like that. I'm recreating Mandipore in my office. But I've wanted for years to be able to buy the flags from the store, like, it would mean a lot to me to buy the prayer flags from the Yak, or not the Yak-Nedi store,

the Expedition Everest store, but they're gone, like, like, they're gone, so, so I had to do, had to do them from the, oh, wait, here's some screams I had to do it from the great internet But such as it is Okay Where are we? So Mark, I've taken you across the bridge We are headed towards Dinoland You know the park well enough

What's to your left right now? In the big blue world. There it is. There it is. I'm going to explore in the big blue world that I've never seen before. So many creatures. Yeah, let's just, man. See?

There's falsetto. Yes. Coming back very soon in the summer, reimagined version of Finding Nemo the musical. And it's going to be based on the second movie, is that right? I believe that it's a combination of the two. So there's going to be locations for Finding Dory as well, but there are still going to be some elements from the first film that fans have come to love and expect from the show that they're still going to be a part

of the show itself. So we're rounding the corner. We're near Cementosaurus, which I learned the name of that very recently. I tell a story of that trip that I came with my parents. We took shelter. We took solace under the considerable backside of Cementosaurus while it was in a huge central Florida thunderstorm. So I always look fondly at the backside of Dino. I was going to say it's very much like the Jungle Cruise favorite areas of the park mr. Valentine and. 100%. And that is Dinoland

USA. And I'm pausing here because pausing because the midway rides are midway stuff and the rides are very loud. So tell me how much you love Dinoland, Mark. So I'll take I really do enjoy Dinosaur the ride. So tell me how much you love Dino Landmark. So I'll take, I really do enjoy Dinosaur the Ride.

I do too. I like the ride mechanic. I think it's very fun. I like the fact that it always kind of terrifies my daughter a little bit. She still goes on it, but she's always terrified. I have, though, however, again, you and I are men of a certain age, so I have a love of infinity, again, you and I are men of a certain age, so I have a love and affinity for a certain archaeologist.

Don't we? Don't we? Yep. Knowing what I know about the West Coast and the fact that Dinosaur is essentially, it is Indiana Jones on that coast. It is, yeah. I'm clamoring for Indiana Jones to have a makeover, takeover of Dino Man USA.

And you think, okay, so here's my pitch. I know that you don't, I know you don't do this. We do a lot of imaginary over on our, in our corner of the world. Yep, yep.

The dig site, how perfect, I mean like, world lends itself right to the concept of archaeology. You can keep the dig site intact, Yep, yep. either Raiders of the Lost Ark or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. You can just reinvent that area to have tents and carnival games, but have them have a Middle Eastern flair to it. And then, of course, we do need another ride there to replace what was Primeval World. But with just a very simple update,

that area of the park can really become somewhere that people want to go and explore. And while, dude, so like first off, I'm all in on that. I definitely heard the objections and I've heard, you know, that, oh, that's ridiculous. It doesn't belong there. It belongs in Hollywood Studios. And we could definitely have that. That's not exactly wrong. We could have that discussion. But like also, it would fit so freaking well here, for all the reasons that Mark just said. And Indy is about adventure. He's about exploring the world,

and as you said, that's what this park's about. So I'm standing over here next to Restaurant Osiris, which appears to be closed, which is weird to me. Maybe it closed at like 5 or something. That's super odd, but it's closed right now, so I'm the only one back here. But think about a reimagining of this joint as some cool, like, Cairo-based-looking awesome restaurant

of some sort that would tie into that. I'm all in. I'm thinking now. I think you could turn restaurantasaurus into, like, Marion's Bar. Oh, what? Dude! I would put in so many man hours reimagining into like Marion's Bar. Oh, what? Dude. I would put in so many man hours reimagining Dinoland to Indiana Jones. I'm a fan. I'm a fan. You could turn it into the Raven Bar?

Like, yeah, man. I'm totally in with that. Man, I'm walking. I'm talking. It was about 86 when I came in. It is substantially cooler now, and I see the thunderheads on the horizon. I think we're still safe, but dude, I'm sweating, Mark. Like, I need to do my 5k, bro. I just did a 5k today in a very comfortable 58 degrees. Oh, man. Yeah, you know

what? I would probably be cold. I sound like a wimp now. 58 would be cold for me. I am a heat-seeking creature, though, Jeremy. I will tell you that I would gladly trade my, what some people consider to be a comfortable 58 for a sweltering 85 to 93 with you in Florida. One day, baby. Someday.

Fortunately, kid. Fortunately. Okay, so you're heading over to one of my favorite parts of the park because half of my favorite snacks is over here on the left-hand side. And what is it? That's the trilo bites. It is potato chips. So they are flash-fried potato chips

and they are topped with buffalo chicken. Oh, geez. And they are absolutely as good as they seem. The crisp of the chip with the buffalo chicken and the buffalo sauce on top of them is chef's kiss. Probably one of my favorite food items

in all of Animal Kingdom. Not the of the favorite food items in all of animal kingdom not the healthiest of food items but do they do they give you a complimentary pepto-bismol to go with that when you order it they definitely should well you can get the the door web there which will corner off that so you can get the heat and the sweet at the same place. At Trilobites. So tell me if I'm wrong, but didn't Trilobites used to be the McDonald's French Fry? Oh, God, Mark. It's a French Fry, ladies and gentlemen. It used to be French Fry.

We are revealing our age yet again, my friends. For the youngsters who are listening to you, the way that we feel right now is, back when I was a whipper-snapper, and french fry potatoes every year in the parks. Everybody's like, they still have french fries. Yeah, yeah, but they were McDonald's folks. Like, legit. They had a partnership with McDonald's back in the day. They were from McDonald's, and it was great.

Used to go there and get my big breakfast in the mornings about 6.30. Oh, geez. Okay, so that is, in my opinion, the one place that Animal Kingdom is severely lacking is... French fries? No, the ability to walk around and grab breakfast. They have those sausage and egg on the muffin, but there's not a lot of options throughout the park to go and grab breakfast. I mean, you could go to Starby's and wait in that huge line.

Yes. But Animal Kingdom, listen to me, you need to get a lot more diversity in your grab-and-go breakfast selection. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with that although starbies is our go-to because and like i'm trying to cut down on the show oh we have a screaming kid at the show now mark poor little guy there you go poor little guy that's one of our trademarks here we can't go without a show without one but like starbies is our is our deal because like even though i'm trying to cut back to sugar they have that giant mickey ear uh cinnamon roll or it's not mickey or mickey mickey shaped

cinnamon roll and it is utterly amazing and horrible for you but that's our breakfast go-to well again it's not horrible for you merely because of the fact that it's mickey shaped calories don't count and mickey shaped items are inherently good for you no matter what it is. Okay, all right, I'll tell my cardiologist that. None of that is true, yes, none of that is true. Doctor's like, dude, you're going to die, what are you talking about? Okay, so you know what, we have now done an almost a full walkthrough. We didn't do Pandora, but we started over near Africa, near Refreshment Port.

That's not true. What's it called? Starbies. Nope. To me, it's always the left side of Discovery Island, where we just do Starbucks' island. Creature Comforts. Oh, man. It's a long daylander. Creature comforts. Oh, man.

It's a long day, folks. But we started there. We walked all the way around, and now we are back in Discovery Island. I am looking at Riverside Depot to my left and the Tree of Life, huge in the foreground to the right, and the water and some strange bird life out in the distance, very, very tall, odd-looking birds.

But you know what? It's their park. That's fine. But I wanted to wrap up here. Thank Mark. This is a strange and wonderful episode. And I think I'm just going to... I was going to call it something else, but maybe it'll just be Mark in the park. That's a lie. I'm not going to call it that.

But it's been a lot of fun. Thanks for coming along with us. As always, on our side, look us up at walkaboutwdw on Instagram. It is our one and only social because I'm not ambitious like Mark is. And so you can drop us a line over there. Also, you can now reach out to us via email at contact at walkabouttheworld.com. We actually had a couple of emails this week. Shout out to Randall.

Thanks for dropping us a note and talking to us. And then we also had another listener that reached out via email and told us that very deep in our walkabout of Epcot was somebody dropping an F-bomb. And I was like, oh, man. Because at first I'm like oh was it me like I legit had like a cold like yeah in Epcot I did a full like oh yeah well okay that's yeah that oh geez but I was like oh man was it me no it wasn't me it was a passerby and so that's fine and I was it me? No, it wasn't me. It was a passerby. And so that's fine. And I left it in because I think it's hilarious.

But anyway, guys, thanks for coming along with us. Mark, where can folks find you and all of your numerous endeavors? Yeah, first of all, I just want to say thank you to your audience. Thank you to you for taking me on a walkabout. This was a lot of fun. I enjoyed sitting in my studio, my eyes closed, envisioning walking around the parks with you as i do when i listen uh but you can find our show at is live d-i-s life podcast.com and no matter where you get your podcast all of our directories are on that website and we're hanging out and the best synopsis that i could give of the show is we're

just living our best disney lives talking resorts parks and you need it and every single week we have new content talking about some whole facet of disney that we continue to love and absolutely cherish but thank you again man for taking me on a walkabout. This is so much fun. Most welcome, and what attracted me to Mark's podcast was it is not cynical. It is not the common, like, bashing Disney for everything coming and going, and, like, I'm not saying you have to be all pixie dust all

the time, but the point is Mark's podcast is very positive. It is a podcast that loves the parks, and that's obviously what we're about, so it's a good match. I'm going to end the way I always do, saying that there is a great, big, beautiful tomorrow out there. We will see you in one of those on another walk about the world.

Bye, everybody.