Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Epcot to Hollywood Studios and Back with Hosts Josh and Jay

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Hello travelers! This week join cohosts Josh and Jay as they take a post-holiday trip to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. Begin at Epcot where you'll walkabout and explore a bit of the United Kingdom pavilion before exiting through the International Gateway and taking a Friendship Boat over to Hollywood Studios. You'll take in some last minute holiday sounds and observations as you travel down Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards before heading back to Epcot via the Skyliner.   Walkabout the World is now on TikTok! Come follow our visual companion to the audio podcast at Walkabout.the.world.pod on TikTok   Visit us at walkabouttheworld.com - find links to all the things - attraction episodes, Insta accounts of all the hosts, and even how to buy your own Walkabout shirt!   Look us up at @WalkaboutWDW on Instagram and drop us a note to say hi.   You can now also drop us at line at [e-mail]. Say hi, tell us how you found us, and give us some suggestions on things you'd love to hear. Please consider giving us a rating and review wherever you listen - it really helps.   Walkabout The World is a weekly Disney podcast, always recorded on property at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort with the simple goal of making you feel like you are in the middle of the magic.

Well, hello, travelers. Where are we, Jay? I think that they don't know by now. Then they may not be good with this. Welcome to Epcot. And since I haven't said it yet, happy New Year. Oh, happy New Year. 2026. It's going to be the best ever.

We are just stepping into Epcot. Sun is getting low on the horizon. Beautiful breeze. The sun through those. epic pylons at the fountain looking really cool. It's pretty gorgeous. I'm not gonna lie. Just the right amount of breeze. We're getting kind of hungry, so our plan is to walk over.

We're gonna take a right in World Showcase. I know, I know. But with purpose, we're taking a right at World Showcase, and we are going to stop by the United Kingdom Pavilion. Angolan. And grab a bite, get some fish and chips, get some tea, and maybe walk around the pavilion for a little bit. And then, for the reason we are going right,

we are going to exit through the International Gateway and hop a skyliner over to the Disney MGM Excuse me, Hollywood Studios. It will always be MGM, you know that. It will be always. Then we're going to spend a little bit of time there. We'll highlight some good sounds for you at the studios, and then we're going to pop on back over to Epcot.

So you'll get a round trip from Epcot to the studios and back. Absolutely. Come on, guys, let's go. To our left, we have the exit of Spaceship Earth Project tomorrow and the entrance to GEO82. If you've not yet been to the G082 lounge, it's really, really cool. I haven't either, but I really want to go. Yeah, we went, Michelle Pete and I.

Michelle was awesome enough when she was in town to get us reservations. And really cool experience, beautiful view. If you get a good seat. Got you. Fireworks? Drinks are great. We weren't there for the fireworks. Okay.

But I'm sure if you were there, we'd be there. pretty cool. But you definitely can see the monorail on the horizon. We just took a right headed toward Moana as you can hear. Let's give you some of that. And there is Milana right there to our right meeting with guests this afternoon this evening. Coral Reef restaurant to our right and of course the seas with Nemo and friends, aka the living seas. Jay what do you think the odds of catching a monorail while we walk over this way are? Um, one and twelve. Isn't that how many they have? I need to have one and twelve. But I'm not a twelve.

I'm no mathematician, but that, hey, that sounds good to me. When it comes to the odds, never tell me the odds. Some seagulls over here. No monorail yet. But we're going to keep walking up toward the land. Well, we're hoping for a monorail to cross our path. I love recording the monorail. And we're at the perfect spot. Right between the seas and the land, there's the water and the sunset. It's reflecting off the water, the sun's reflecting off the water.

It's really, really beautiful. So, cross your fingers. Come on, Jay, we need to manifest the monorail here. Monorail red. Let's have a listen. That was luck right there. We did it. We manifested the monorail. It came.

and it was red. So do you think we could talk to the powers that be the mouse and pitch him an app for monorail times? Like, so you know, like for people like us who love watching the monorail coming, you don't have to wait around for it? Absolutely.

I do think they have to be very careful because I feel like we should charge a finder's fear or something. Because let's face it. If people knew when the monorail was coming, then they could plan when they're going to be at the station, which means they're going to spend more time in the park, possibly in a gift shop while waiting for the monor to come or getting a drop from coffee,

which means you're going to be spending more money. So Disney, in case you come up with that idea, that's why you didn't know, I'm copywriting it right now. It means really nice photos. That's what it means. Well, there's that. Journey to imagination directly in front of us. And upside down water.

the upside down waterfall indeed they're currently getting ready and putting the last minute touches on the international festival of the arts the eye farts right to those who love it it's the eye farts so the next several weeks you'll be able to check that out

which will be nice I'm sure one of us will cover the festival absolutely lots of good pictures for I know Pete loves, that's his favorite festival, and old Pete spends lots of money at the, uh, the arts festival on all the prints. There's some really great stuff coming out this year. Although Robert Katz, man, man's got my heart. He's got a lot of cool stuff coming out this year. I fully intend to go see his booth and see if I get something signed, that's a sure. Tony Baxter's coming this year again. Tony Baxter, the legendary Magineer.

Super nice guy, super nice guy. So he'll be signing at the festival this year, along with all your other favorite Disney artists. Still got a twinge of holiday around here. By the time you hear this, the holiday decor will probably be gone. The tree is already gone. Somebody get that bird a towel. Is it Anhinga on the shoreline of the water?

underneath the monorail drying his wings and hinga or cormorant snake birds as they call them because of their slinky neck that sticks out when they're swimming looks like a snake ah taking taking a deep breath jay what do you smell let's not talk about it you know where we're are take a deep breath you smell the uh freshen the fresh the freshers the refreshers Passing the potty Oh, Swirrude Showcase

Got all the slavours shut down Right now because they're getting ready for the next Swirled Showcase To our right I am always excited to see what kind of Poutine they've got over here Because I am a bit of a Poutine connoisseur And I absolutely love all the different flavors

I like to be here at the refreshment port So All right, welcome to World Showcase We turn right Like I said, they've got the booths out getting ready for the arts festival but my goodness I promise you next weekend

or the next coming weekends it will not look like this do you see that color right here that lovely red color of the World Showcase you won't see that because it'll be covered with people it will be covered with people a sea of people so we're here getting a little

breathing action and you're able to breathe in the World Showcase it's pretty nice it really is very nice It's Canada. We're walking into Canada here. There's not a lot of people, and it's comfortable, it's calm. There's so much room. Smells like popcorn. For activities.

Although people are going to judge me, but I always go to Canada first. Yeah, me too. I am not a Mexico first person. Neither. I like to go upstream, I guess. Smells good. Right? LaSalle is fully making good steaks. You can tell, it smells so good. Got to find some good music here, though. So over Christmas, we ran F. Cott just before the holiday. And at the mill stage, we saw this group called the Holiday Travelers.

And let me tell you, probably one of the best groups I've seen at Epcot in a very long time. Boy, was it good. And they took you across Canada, and they did all these different types of music. And the lady who's the lead singer, besides having one of the best costumes, I mean, she was dressed. It was awesome. But then she would, like, change her accent for each and every province. It was so cool. It was really cool.

All right. We've reached the UK. As the birds fly above. Coming up on the rose and crown to our left. Got some cast members with a jump rope, having fun with guests. Currently a limbo. So here we are in UK.

We are in the U.K. We are in front of the sportsman's shop. shop on High Street. Still dressed out for Christmas. Let's pop into sportsmen's shop to see if there's anything cool. You've got some Rosen Crown pub shirts and sweatshirts. Plenty of United Kingdom merch. Uh-oh.

I see something I've not seen before. I've seen the Beatles stuff. I've not seen Monty Python merch. That's new. Monty Python shirts. One of them says, keep calm and buy a shrubbery. And one spam egg, sausage, and spam. Abby Road, John Paul George Mingo, Yel, Salaun, plenty of Beatles stuff.

Oh, there's another Monty Python. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. The shrubbery shirt is going to be in my closet. If you don't know Monty Python, come on, get on our level, you guys. Absolutely. British humor. And a wall full of corgis, which, strangely enough, I don't own one of these. But you know why?

Because my corgi is a tricolor, and they never have tricolor corgi merge. Yes, we'll blame the queen. Let's keep going in the other room. Scotland, Ireland, football jerseys, crests. Oh, let's look like that. Customize any of these items with your family name history and coat of arms. These are cool.

Oh no. I can't tell if this makes me happy or sad. There's coats of arms for imagination pavilion with figment. And now there's one for dinosaur. Aw. I'll take a picture. Jay, do you fancy yourself a sword or dagger? I have a sword. Well, according to this sign, if you see it, sword or dagger you like, ask an associate for assistance.

Oh, and you can adopt a dragon today. Oh my God. You can. Adopt a dragon. For as little as $115. Well, the eggs are cheaper. I hear Scrooge McDuck. I take my shot, hit a hole at one, and dance till sunrise.

End of presentation. Do this for me. I don't reward you handsomely with toy money. I mean, real money. Okay, no, that's not Scrooge McDuck. That's Scrooge McDuck's Nemesis, I forget his name.

But that's part of the Duck Tales will showcase. Yeah, it is a lot of fun. If you've never done it in the app, it's a good time. It was kind of creepy to see the toy soldier possessed.

I mean, it was definitely a sight. My favorite, My favorite is the little zombies in the train town in Germany. Although I audibly squealed when we got to China and the Buddhist, the Buddha statue comes up out of the lake. I was like, okay, well, whoever thought of that? I think we're probably going to have to do an entire episode of that this year. We should because it's a lot of fun.

So we've entered Winnie the Pooh land. Lots of poo merchandise if you're looking for it. And then at the end, you're looking for it. you have Kidcott. The attraction that could have been, the Mary Poppins attraction back here, it would have been really cool. It would be excited.

Two-door lane, it says. Oh my God, look, the top of the garlands have crackers. Where's those crackers? Should we go into the perfume shop to go into the tea shop, or should we walk by the perfume shop? Yeah, we don't need to go in. Plus, we're kind of hungry, so we're not going to go in. We're just going to, we're going to bypass the

fancy goods. and ladies shop and just go right to the tea shop and then we're going to get some grub and then we'll head over to the studios nothing like the subtle sounds of eating fish i won't record the chewing i promise little tea cakes in the window maybe the shop queen's table established 1702 it says it's got tea cakes in the window really cute it looks like that maybe that's why oh wait wait I'm gonna pick up some mango and strawberry tea because my wife would love that. Alright, well, we enjoyed our fish and chips and chips. But we had to pivot a little bit because the Skyliner...

stopped moving as we got to it. But the friendship boat just got here, so I think we're going to take the boat to the studios. We are going by sea instead of by air, which is fine because both are equally as lovely. There is your magical meltdown. The first of 2026 on Walkabout. Our friendship five, our first stop is the Borgon.

Second stop, yacht, beach club. Third stop, Swan and Dolphin, and then the program finally is Hollywood Studios. So please remain seated. Hip standing. Hold on to a seat back for it, handbrail. And we thank you for not smoking or making on board. Please sit back, relax.

We're the ride and running. First up, here's the door and walk. All right, so we made it to Hollywood Studios. And as you can hear, I know we don't like to date our episodes, but we did say that it was early in the new year. And we're at the tail end of the holidays season. at Disney World. So I had a question and I was wondering, well,

will the studios still have their Christmas music of Blaren? And as Epcot did not, they sure do. And here it is. And they even still have their decor, including the tree, still up. So I think now that we're here, we'll just make a quick trip. What do you say? We go down Hollywood Boulevard and down the sunset. Let's do it.

Let's stroll the boulevards. All right. Sounds jolly. And mini ornaments are still... Can candy cane ornaments? Oh my God, can candy canes. Oh, my gosh. I don't know if I should love you for that or I hate you for that. Over at the Five and Dine.

I mean, isn't that the joke? That's what I would assume. Maybe. It's above our Christmas love. So it does not get old for me. I know a lot of people are in a rush to get down. But it could be Christmas all year and I'd be okay. Thank you so much.

Hopefully you just heard that rumble. That would have been the last indie show. They started doing nighttime indie shows recently. Oh, how cool is that? Which are really neat. If you ever get to check them out. So you're staying to a closing window? Oh, look, Jay, and there's...

They still got the footlight parade girls. Still out in the window. Speaking of more candy cany... They're sweet. ...taleighalers to the stars. I'll take a picture of them just in case you... didn't get to see them. But in case you're unfamiliar,

there is a holiday window that features three of the mannequins. They weren't really animatronics. They were more stationary mannequins. From the footlight parade scene, which was the first scene you see or saw when you rode the great movie ride, Busby Berkeley musical Footlight Parade,

and they've got three of the rescued girls. Who knows, all the rest went, probably to various collectors. It just makes you wonder, Jay, how many things they actually did keep or repurpose from the great movie ride. And I absolutely love that they're like, them being in the window like that, you just get so close to the costume. The detail on those is really impeccable.

Yeah. You don't get to see that when they were on, you know, when they were on the ride, like, yeah, well, because it had a scrim in front of it, too, so it's hard to see. It's fun to be up close and look at them and see all the sequence work. Brown Derby is a bustling. It sure is. Oh, the candy cane triplets are out. I love me, my candy cane triplets.

We just swung around over by the Brown Derby, and now we're headed back down Sunset Boulevard in all of its neon glory. Legends of Sunset Boulevard, directly ahead. Tower of Terror, Hollywood Tower Hotel looming in its neon, with a flickering D and missing an O. Beverly Sunset to the left. Now featuring Toy Story. It's a lot busier here than it was at Epcot, Jay. That is, I'm kind of hearkening for Upcott right now.

It's a very calm and collected day. I guess maybe because of the holiday stuff, perhaps. Probably. People are trying to get last-minute holiday moments in. They could still get them here, and Epcot is driving dead. Or maybe this is just a better part, I don't know. I mean, it has my heart for sure. There's Ollie, the gingerbread man, still in the window. There he is, playing the sacks.

Ollie's the gingerbread mascot for the Christmas event here. Jollywood Nights. Jollywood Alley. Mouse about town shop. To our right. Mickey in a top hat and a moving cane. And then our Carthay Circle, which is much smaller than the West Coast version. And less food.

And less food and drink for sure. I doubt they're old-fashioned or their... What's the other drink that they do really good there? Michelle would be mad at me. Oh, I don't know. I do know that their porkshank is amazing. Disneyland's course. It's not weird.

Yeah, I hear you just got a bunch of stuffed animals. There's Beauty and the Beast merchandise here because the show is right next door to the show. So one thing you ought to love about the theming is even during Christmas, in the holiday season, they still theme the music to the period, obviously. It would feel a little weird if it wasn't, especially over in this neck of the woods. But the only sad thing is during the holidays, you don't get to hear the Chattanooga Choochoochoo, right?

You don't get to hear Begin to begin. That's only because most of the music that we find to be traditional, because this music comes out of this era. It's true. I constantly say I do love Magic Kingdom. I love the themeing of Magic Kingdom, but Hollywood Studios will always be my favorite Christmas part because this is our generation's nostalgia.

Yeah, like our grandparents decorated like this. We were changing their records for them with this stuff on it. Like, this is the time. So that's our bygone era. And Main Street is further out our grandparents' nostalgia. So it's beautiful and it's a very traditional Christmas, but I will always love. this Christmas

more than any other type well said Jay in case you while we're wanting a dissertation at Christmas decorations there you go so all the billboards up and down Sunset Boulevard the one at the end is a cuties

mandarin's I would like to find photos because I don't remember what it was before that the one right above the Beverly Sunset boutique it's a cuties Mandarin so obviously they're a sponsor over at the... They are little balls of sunshine, though. But the best billboard, right there.

That Hollywood Tower billboard, it's gorgeous. It is pretty great. It looks like they just redid it, too. It doesn't get it, too. All right, and we are back at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard, and sunset. And we're going to head back out. Yeah.

Since we didn't get to do the skyliner on the way, hopefully, we'll finish it out on the way back to Epcot. Yeah, I think we'll be, I think we'll catch it. I think we'll be, I think we'll like it. They seem to be running just fine once we got over here. We'll see you on the skyliner. On Muppets. I want the Muppet one with Staller and Wall.

It's Peter Pangus-May. Here we go. Welcome aboard the Disney Skyliner and Disney's Hollywood Studios. We are on our way to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort with connecting flights to Epcot International Gateway, Disney's Popc Century Resort, and Disney's Art of Animation Resort. We hope you enjoyed your visit to Hollywood today. Now wave goodbye to your adoring fans below. below.

Bye! In just a few moments, we will be traveling over the headwaters of the Everglades. The water that closed with the two wetlands around Walt Disney World Resort travels all the way to the Everglades, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. You know that the entire Walt Disney World Resort is over 40 square miles? That's about the same size as the city of San Francisco and double the island of Manhattan. World Showcase today, now might be a good time to practice your Olas, Ni'hows, and Konichivas. When you arrive at each nation's pavilion, cultural hosts will be waiting to greet you in their native language,

helping make your visit to Epcot a truly international exchange. We are now arrived. To all who come to this place of joy, hope, and friendship, welcome. Please remain seated until the doors automatically open. When exiting the cabin, please supervise children, collect your belongings, and watch your step. Thank you for flying with us. Well, we made it back to Epcot. Thanks for joining us on our little journey from Epcot to the studios and back.

Jay, any last words before we say bye-bye? Yeah, yeah, thanks guys. I always love a planes, trains, and auto. automobiles moment with everybody. We got to experience some fun stuff. And I always love walking with you guys. Here's to a new year of walkabouts. And I hope you guys have a great one.

Yeah, what he said. Looking forward to a good year, guys. Bam. Come back and see us next time on another episode of Walkabout the World. You never know what's going to happen. Surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous. Have a great big, beautiful tomorrow, you guys. Bye