Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Magic Kingdom and Epcot with Host Jay

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

Hello travelers! This week, join host Jay as he takes you to the Magic Kingdom to enjoy some classic sounds including the Main Street ragtime piano at Casey's, some intrepid ambience in Adventureland, and the Country Bear Musical Jamboree in its entirety. Then you'll end the evening at Epcot for a favorite seasonal and colorful musical treat.    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.

Well, hello, travelers. Hope you guys are having a wonderful day. And I hope you enjoy my little stroll around the Magic Kingdom today. And I may even try to see if we can get all the way over to Epcot because one of my favorite things is happening there. And no, it's not Festival of the Arts, but I do love the Festival of the Arts. But we'll see if we make it over there this evening. But until then, I'm in the Tricket and Transportation Center.

So you know what? Let's spend a little bit of time here. We're going to wait for the ferry boat and enjoy some Disney tunes while we wait. So come on with me and let's get across Seven Seas Lagoon. Oh, looks like I'm in luck. The ferry has just arrived, so everybody's getting off and I should be able to get right on. I do love the Monterey. I do love seeing all the views from the Montereyale. But Seven Seas Lagoon from the ferry right at,

that right around sunset is pretty awesome. So I'm sure we'll have some good sounds on the boat as we make our trip across. Let's get on the boat. Well, we're going to take a little change of course. They had a little accident on the gangway there, and so the ferry shut down. So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to jump on the monorail, and we're going to have to enjoy the sunset from the monorail here. I might head over to the express monitor whale and see if we can make our way to the gates here. We made it to the Monorail Station and the Magic Kingdom, so we're going to head down the ramp and make our way into the park. So let's walk so we can get ourselves in. See the contemporary right in front of me.

The sun is just given a nice bath of golden glow. It's really, really pretty. Make sure to pop a picture for you guys. I had the pleasure of staying at the contemporary a couple of weekends ago for the race. It's just gorgeous of views from that hotel. Just beautiful views from that hotel. And we got a nice cool view of the monorails leaving together. It is a nice touch from the old days, right,

when the monorails will go the same direction. I have found out that in the mornings, it's not that way. I guess it's easier for them to pull them out in different directions in the mornings. But then right around 11 o'clock, they will switch course, and they will start all going the correct direction where they are going the same way. But in the evenings, it's lots of fun. And I just got a beautiful view here. I got a view of it.

Both monorails leaving, heading towards the contemporary. Pretty nice. Pretty, pretty nice. It's definitely that time of day when we get the glow from the sun and the sun setting. We've got a beautiful painted sky. But all the lights are on and all the buildings. So it's pretty cool. All right, well, let's get in line and scan in.

and head down Mainstream. It's always pretty magical when you step right onto the turnstiles and the train joins us. If we've got any architecture buffs out there, a beautiful example of compress and release in the Disney parks, it's walking underneath the train station and onto Main Street. It is used a lot in, architecture. Frankly, Light, loved it. His entryways were always small and they're meant to compress you. And then when you step out of them and into the main space, the glory of that

space just looks so much bigger and more magnificent when you walk into that space from that compression. Beautiful example of it right there on Main Street as we walk onto the main plaza here. Hopefully we can find some music for you guys. So we're going to, we're going to I'm going to walk on the Main Street here, past the confection area in the Emporium, and walk down the Main Thore Fair. Looks like they're starting to get rid of, not rid of, but ready for the Starlight Parade. So I think that I'm going to see if I can find myself a BGM for you guys, because the one on Main Street seems to be off. Oh, here it comes. I find you guys some sounds.

I knew I would. I'm going to head over to Casey's and sounds like the live piano players over there playing some rag time. Let's give that a listen for a little bit here. Gave him a listen. I always love the escapism of listening to live musicians. So we're going to head over here by the Adventureland here past the Crystal Palace. Looking all beautiful decked out in white. The ducks are pretty.

active today. I'll be flying everywhere. It is always hard. I feel like when I hang out of Casey's, I love to get my corn dog nuggets. And I don't know if you're like me, I prefer my corn dog nuggets with cheese sauce. Josh tends

to judge me for that. I think he's a mustard guy. But if you ask me some nice warm cheese sauce, some corn dog nuggets. Coca-Cola Zero. pretty, pretty nice. And so it's hard for me to walk away, but it's okay. The lines are helping.

Maybe I'll try to see if the line for the egg rolls are, is a long one. And as it come across the bridge from Crystal Palace, yes, the egg roll cart line is wrapped all the way around past the bridge. So that's the world telling me we should probably just head into Adventureland and see what we can get ourselves into. I don't need the egg rolls and I don't need the corn dog nuggets. even though that's pretty hard. So let's see what show we can get into in Ventureland.

Let's go. This is definitely not a light day here at the park. I think it's because of the beautiful, beautiful weather. I know our friends up north are not enjoying beautiful, beautiful weather right now, but it's definitely beautiful here. Part of the reason why I like living here. Speaking of snacks that I absolutely love, and maybe a call out,

sure she's not listening, but if she happens to be a listener, Jessica at sunshine, Trey Terrace, the other day, ah, you made my day. I was asking about, I saw somebody who had the darker color of the orange dough whip. It really isn't dough whip. It's more like frozen orange juice, like slushy, and it was way better than the dough whip. And I was like, well, do you have this? I saw the darker color. She'd give me a second. I'll be right back and I'll check. She went inside. She came back a few moments later, and she's like, no, they're saying that the machine's a little messed up, but that's why it looks darker. But just because you seem like a nice person, and I love that you ran, run Disney, and you ran the race, you ran the half marathon.

Here's one for you to have. Thank you to her. Disney is awesome, and the details are awesome, and the park is awesome. But the magic, the life of the park most certainly is the cast members. I'm sure you guys all agree. See what's going on in Akrabah over here. See what the flying carpets are doing. Enjoy some of the Arabian nights.

Always faced with the dilemma here. Do we go over by pirates? Let's see what pirates is doing, or do we maybe go over and see what country bears are like? I don't know. What do you guys think? I'm going to make an executive decision here, guys. I think let's head over to see country bears,

and listen to some of those tunes. And I'm enjoying the weather, and I think the bears will be in good form. So let's go see what the bears are up to, especially since I am J. Bear, so it's definitely akin. And we'll see what these guys are up to. So let's go check out the country bears. How's the time we remind you there's no eating, drinking, or smoking aloud in the theater. And you can take all the photos and video you'd like. Just please, no flash photography or video lighting.

We've already got Rufus on spotlight. Uh, do we? Rufus, wake up. Give us a little intro there, Gomer. Folks, welcome to the one and only original country band musical tambouria, featuring a wild and woolly assault of grizzled old brisleys, singing a little country, a little western, and a whole out of everything in between. So get those paws tapping and those quotes.

claws clapping for five bears who need no introduction but i'll give em one anyway let's hear it full of the five bear rocks in it boys and since i've called out of the dinner it's our country full of honey it's our very own tricksy and a talented trio bunny bubbles or is it bulla bunny and bubbles well anyway you count it there triple the fun Used to play with the mineral cage, but he's here now. Heard of swings. You know, it might surprise you to learn that our next performer is still an eligible bachelor. Is it the clumsy way he walks? Or the grumpy way he talks. Or the pear-shaped, squireshate weirdness of his feet.

He always ends up sort of smelly, but his picture of his true. Poor guy. I'd say that's a rendition we'll remember for a long time. Now, how about we do one of my favorites? You've got a friend and me. We'll lose our show. As you can see, we're still barely keeping it together. Now gather of all your bad necessities and exit out the doors on your right.

What do you say, Sammy? Well, it wasn't that a great time? I hope you guys enjoyed that. And it's one of my favorites. It's always been one of my favorites, and I did enjoy the original version, but the new version does get the crowds going, and I absolutely love that. The energy is definitely back. The old version was a lot of fun. A lot of, it became a very popular attraction for Red Shirt Day, and the theater would fill, and everybody would sing with it, and it was just a lot of fun.

and I think it's really, really fun to see that happen over and over and over again. That same energy. Everybody wants to clap, everybody wants to cheer during this version. So I do think that, well, I miss the classic, and I know that Walt had his hand in it, and there's a lot going on with that. I do love the energy that this new version produces, and I do think that it's a good plus. There's some purists out there that are probably really, really mad at me right now,

but I kind of not sure that I care because this new version, is pretty good. And I love it and they definitely gave it a good treatment. And like I said, I love seeing the kids smile. I love watching the people clap and enjoy it, slapping their knees. And you can hear that in the recording, I think. So hopefully guys enjoyed that. And so yeah, obviously I'm over here, Frontierland. And I'm going to head towards the haunted mansion. And then, as promised at the beginning here, maybe we'll make the trek over to Epcot, because there's something that I would love to share with you guys. It's really special to me.

And Disney is a place that I have always felt that I can be myself. I think a lot of people understand that, especially if you are a Disney adult listening to this podcast. And I think that there's something there that just really makes a special mark on my soul. And it's not here all year long, but it draws in a lot of people and so I don't know I think we might pop back onto the monorail here

and see what's going on over there at the Epcotts before the evening closes out this evening. So I spend some time here in the America section here and enjoy some of that music and then I think let's head back up to the front and make our way to Epcot and see if we can catch the show that I would love to share with you guys.

Let's do it. We're crossing the bridge from Liberty Square over back into the hub. The castle is beautifully bathed in light this evening, blues and pinks. I'm not sure how I feel about the impending color change. I have definitely loved the castle in pinks and blues. I think it does make it seem more magical.

But my heart does like the idea and enjoy the idea of its original color scheme. And so I'm hoping that when the fresh coat of paint comes back and it is in just its blues and grays, we'll have that traditional feel back and it'll be awesome. But let's walk the hub here and head towards the front gate see if we can catch a monorail. Let's stroll.

Well kids, made it to Epcot, which is great. So we're going to hang out here at the, spaceship earth and I'm gonna hope we catch what I'm hoping I want to share with you guys so we'll do a little walking around the spaceship earth area here get some get some good vibes going and um maybe um lightning will strike we've definitely had a lot of fun strolling around here I am going to pop a squat and I'm going to try to catch one of the most magical things that happens when festival of the arts comes to town and um I know that it'll be a special thing for a lot of different groups.

If you're a Muppet fan, if you are just a lover of Disney or just lover of the spirit of making things creatively and coming together. And I think that's something we all need right now. So I hope you guys enjoy it. And here we go. That rainbows are visions And rainbows have nothing Pazing might see The dreamers they sound

That calls the young sailors The voice might be more and the same That is definitely What I came here to hear When they made that song Jim Henson made this song I think it touched a lot of people's hearts it definitely is something that touches my soul.

And it is the epitome of how I feel about Disney and about the Muppets and the why people come here. And I think that that just touches everyone. I've definitely loved spending the day with you guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And here's to the Rainbow Connection. I know that you are all lovers and dreamers, and we all come here together to celebrate some things that we love. So here's to the lovers and the dreamers and me.

Thank you, Travelers.