Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Holidays In Hollywood 2023 With Host Jeremy

Episode Date: December 10, 2023

Hello Holiday Travelers - this week join host Jeremy for a stroll around Disney's Hollywood Studios to bask in the holiday goodness. This park is hard to beat for nostaglia and holiday atmosphere. Let's soak it up!   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!   If you like what we do, consider joining our crew on Patreon. They help us keep our podcast train on the tracks!   Visit us a 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.

Hey there, and welcome back to Walk About the World, and welcome back to the Hollywood that never was and always will be, Disney's Hollywood Studios, otherwise known at this time of year as a Christmas and holiday wonderland of nostalgia. Standing next to the darkroom right across from us is Mickey's of Hollywood apparel with a peel. Christmas music is happening. We're on Hollywood Boulevard, obviously. Long-time listeners will know that this is my favorite park at Christmastime. Last week we were over at Disney's Animal Kingdom which is amazing but this park at the holidays for me is pure nostalgia.

I'm a child of the 80s and everything about this park just makes me think of coziness and Christmas at my grandma's house. And we are here today for a singular porpoise, and that is to soak up this holiday atmosphere here in this wonderful park. Let's do it. Had to stop by my favorite water feature here At Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard This is the circular feature Of green and blue It's right next to the

Ticket Central Hollywood Junction building And right across from The Trolley Car Cafe aka Starbucks. The garland is stretched all across Hollywood Boulevard. It is silver with

red and green baubles mixed in with a big yellow star in the middle. Oh, no! I also love how the lampposts here are decorated. They either have decorative stars or what looks like shooting stars. Fireworks. Silver, blue, gold wreaths.

On some of the windows, especially the Charlie Carr Cafe. Now, I don't know about you, but when I was coming up as a kid, in the 80s, the small town that I was growing up in, they would bring out these, I don't know how old, but they would bring out these decorations, and they would decorate like the light posts along some of our main streets. I don't know if that's still a thing. Heard the boat in the distance. But I don't know if that's still a thing, that towns do that,

but it just, every single time I visit here and see these decorations on the lamppost, it takes me right back. So what we're going to do now is we're going to take a left and let's go down Sunset Boulevard together. See what we can see with our ears. years. Aw, little baby is sad yeah what he's heading for. Next to the Legends of Hollywood building now. The Pandora store. Not the Avatar people, the jewelry. All the way down Sunset Boulevard,

the lampposts are decorated with stars, and they are double-layer stars. The outer layerosts are decorated with stars and they are double layer stars. The outer layer is red, the inner layer is white, and at night they light up. Thank you. Coming up on Sunset Club Couture Building, this is the blue and slate tiled building. And it has blue and gold and what looks like rose gold leaves mixed in with it. Gorgeous garland. I was talking about the garland, by the way.

Hollywood Tower in the distance and to our left, Anaheim Produce. Above the Sunset Club Couture building is a sign that says, Director's Best Friend Incorporated Stunt Dogs. How do we get there? Passing Sunset Ranch pins and souvenirs on the left. Carthay Circle to our right now it's sunset in Highland Avenue

there is an actual trolley car on Sunset Boulevard. Did you know? Owned and operated, I guess, by the Pacific Electric Company. And it's where you can get your character drawn. I admire you who are confident enough to have your character drawn. Sounds like a nightmare to me. The last thing I want is a drawing that accentuates the features of myself that I don't like.

Here's Hollywood Scoops ice cream. Alright, we've made it to the end of Sunset Boulevard here at Sunset and Gower. Hollywood Tower Hotel directly ahead of us on an incredibly comfortable partly cloudy central floor today about 70 degrees kind of perfect aww sorry little baby Stop That was the lyric That Frosty.

He was a stoic. Stoic individual. So much, and hurry, not in time. But you make a good advice, and don't you cry. I'll be back, you can't stop me. Keep it in, come on, come on, come on, come on. Get across the goal. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Over the hills, I'll show you. Sunshine Day Bar to the right. Sunshine Day Bar to the right.

Coming up on Beverly Sunset and Real Vogue. The International Brotherhood of Second Assistant Directors. We're standing behind you. where do you go Here, put this in your bag. We are now at the confluence of two pieces of ambience, Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard. We're going to walk through this and head over to Echo Lake, which is some of my favorite and some of my favorite decor dr regtor's trunks and travelinging Bags. A star-worthy supporting cast, it says. This has nothing to do with the holidays,

but I have these odd meta thoughts about the Disney parks. Like, part of me is like, man, I kind of want this to be a real town. And then I'm like, Jeremy, this is probably as much of a real town as any town. All the infrastructure, the people, the food, the beverage, the resting places, the lounges. It's, it's, it's very real and very imagined at the same time. You follow? I'm not sure I follow. But regardless, we're standing at Echo Park and Keystone Street, right next to Peavey's Polar Pipeline. Peavey from the Rocketeer. Did you know you could get cosmetic dentistry done here?

You can. Right past Peavey's I love this curved wall of the glass box just love it the directory here at 540 Echo Park Drive says this building includes Glamour Salon that's 101 Office 202 is See How We Pull Em Spark Drive says this building includes Glamour Salon. That's 101.

Office 202 is C. Howie Pullum, DDS. Ruth Canal, DDS. And lastly, in Office 210, you can visit Les Payne, DDS, LES. Probably picking the latter. Okay, here we are at Echo Lake Echo Lake directly in front of us The fountain is going The holiday decorations floating in the water Gertie with her Santa hat across the lake And the SS down the hatch to the right

No Disney ducks in sight What is in sight though? Gertie with her Santa hat across the lake. And the SS down the hatch to the right. No Disney ducks in sight. What is in sight, though, is Max greeting to the left. Nope, I see one. Disney duck. We found one. This area in particular is what i talk about when i say pure nostalgia all around echo lake the lampposts are decorated with these large circular um what almost look like ceramic painted signs. Santa Claus, Rudolph, mistletoe with

Christmas bells. The garland that lines the lamppost is silver and gold. And these signs are red and kind of a warm cream in the middle with the paintings. And they just look straight out of the 50s and 60s. E-double-L-S. Hard to beat Echo Lake at the holidays, I'm telling you. It's a bustling day. There are a lot of our fellow theme park travelers here, but there are places along Echo Lake to always duck out of the of the chaos and have yourself a nice little chill time

shout out to our pals at dentroverts who point out places like this. Yeah, see? Sometimes it takes the whole family to remember, but they got it right. He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh. And every mother's child Is gonna spy To see if reindeer really know And so I S.S. down the hatch, making her presence known.

I can't smile for you making her presence known. To you. The lake looks beautiful. Just took a couple of pictures for you and you can find them when this episode airs on our Instagram account at walkaboutwdw. Pausing here only because I'm getting so much personal enjoyment out of this area. Passing Hollywood and Vine office space for rent 75 cents a day or five bucks a week sounds like a swell deal Here's Primetime Cafe, which I think is my favorite building here. I just love the architectural style. I don't know enough to know what it is, but I like looking at it.

Okay, Burl, go. Look down the street. Say hello to friends you know and everyone you meet. Ho, ho, the mistletoe hung where you can't see. You're singing, I know. I know you are. My body waits for you to serve once for me. Get permission for that, but still. Now right here we are at the base of... The base of Gertie. I don't know if that's right or not.

But anyway, here's Gertie right above us. With a large ornament dangling from her mouth, smoke coming out of her nose, and a Christmas hat on her head. Right across from Gertie, they have a couple of reindeer that look like old 50s, 60s style ceramic reindeer, and I love them. Snapped a picture of this for you too. An interesting note is that this year, Heather and I have found a lot of Christmas merchandise here and there, you name it uh walmart joann's wherever that looks a lot like this era of decor and i am here for it we have purchased a number of little

things that are reminiscent of what you would see in this area of Echo Lake here at Hollywood Studios. For the browners, the loose, the offers loose For the downers, may the day be the boldest There is a small Indy stunt show to the left. I am going to rejoin you guys around the corner when we get to Grand Avenue. See what type of Christmas tunes they're playing down there. Here we go. Woo! I don't think I've seen them aggressively advertising for Indy Stunt Spectacular before.

Must be trying to drive some crowds. Anyway, see you in a minute. Welcome to Grand Avenue. It is breezy and gloriously comfortable. Standing next to Angelino Alterations, which is a men's bespoke tailor. I want bespoke things. Passing the grand lofts. Let's take a left turn, as we always should. Yeah!

And go visit Miss Picky. This is Grand Plaza, I think. But it's Muppet Courtyard to me. A lot of them. Here is our glorious and gorgeous pig. Accompanying rats. accompanying rats that goose is walking by The water is so clear and clear. Yeah, see, she gets it. Little kid said, put a penny in there, make a wish. An interesting note is that the ambience over here on Grand Avenue is normally quite loud, and it is very muted today.

I would guess half volume. Very strange. Okay, I'm going to exit Grand Avenue area. We're not going to do Star Wars Galaxy's Edge today. This is a holiday time thing. Though there is a life day off-world, the ambience doesn't change.

So we're going to take a left. We're going to go past the commissary, sci-fi. And I'm going to rejoin you over by Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. Why is it so quiet over here? So weird. Mickey and Mickey's runaway straight ahead looking across the way out through the mouth ah

can you feel the holiday seeping in through your ear holes into your soul? Is that weird? Storbritannia Hard to beat This place at the holidays Since I'm here and chilling Let's give a shout out to our patrons Who support us at the Beautiful Tomorrow level, shall we? Beck Castle Bill and Erin Zeese,

Bryony Grant, Debbie Jimbala, Derek at Satisfactual Sign Company, Eric Steinhauer, John Hamilton, Meredith Izzo, Josh Nakano, Hannah Ginn, David Krause, Jessica Davis, and Lindsay O'Connell. Thank you guys again so much for supporting us week after week. If you guys want to join the party, you can do so at patreon.com slash walkabout

WDW. back on Hollywood Boulevard the breeze is blowing the tall palms I quite literally just completely photobombed the entire family who was taking what no doubt was a great picture sorry sorry folks me and the microphone and their family Santa is coming to town

you better believe it thanks for hanging out with me today hope you enjoyed our little foray into the Hollywood that never was and always will be at holiday time holidays at Hollywood. Look us up on Instagram at walkaboutwdw,

our one and only place on the internets where we interact with you guys. You can also visit us at walkabouttheworld.com. From there you can find pretty much everything you need. Links to shows and attractions. Links to Instagram accounts for all of the hosts. You can buy a t-shirt, which you totally should do by the way, and support producer Josh. It's just so nice thank you so much for listening we appreciate each and every one of you that's it for me today from Hollywood Studios

and as always there is a great big beautiful tomorrow out there and a happy holiday in your future. We'll see you in one of those tomorrows on another episode of Walk About the World. Bye, everybody. I'm going to go to the top. Oh, there we go. Thank you.