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Our Millennial Conversation
Our Millenia Conversation brings together the stories of two friends who first met in the heart of Orlando’s theme park scene. After a year of exploring the magic of Orlando together, Dustin relocated to his hometown in East Tennessee, and the duo decided to evolve a passion project formally the “Orlando Unplugged Podcast.”
This new podcast moves beyond the turnstiles of theme parks, diving into relatable millennial musings, stories of growth, and the unexpected adventures of adulthood. With Dustin’s Appalachian charm and Ashley’s Orlando Sunshine, each episode feels like catching up with old friends over coffee— or a roller coaster ride of laughs and insights.
Whether it’s navigating career changes, celebrating pop culture, or reminiscing about their Orlando days, Our Millennial Conversation promises to keep you entertained, inspired, and coming back for more.
Our Millennial Conversation
Unplugging Universal Islands of Adventure's 25 Anniversary & Universal's New DreamWorks Land
In this episode, We discuss what has been going on in our lives and celebrate the 25th anniversary of Universal Island's of Adventure! We also take you behind the scenes of our recent preview of Universal Studios new themed area Dreamworks Land!
We want to hear from you, use the link above to text in and tell us what you think about the new Dreamworks Land for a chance to have your response read on our next episode.
Be sure to follow us on socials!
http://www.orlandounpluggedpodcast.com
Today's episode contains information about universal destinations and experiences. The opinions of the hosts or guest speakers may not align with the opinions, values or ethics of NBCUniversal or its affiliates. Orlando Unplugged Podcast does not speak for the brand or the company.
Speaker 3:Always be iconic yeah but she's the iconic shame.
Speaker 2:I like it. I like controversy. Contains information I am drinking kombucha.
Speaker 4:You're listening to Orlando, unplugged, celebrating life in living color with Dustin and Ashley. Grab a cocktail or a mocktail and let's get unplugged, orlando.
Speaker 3:Hey there, guys, and welcome back. I'm Dustin and I'm Ashley, and this is our 20th episode of. Orlando Unplugged podcast 20 episodes. This is crazy. I know we're old, we're so old.
Speaker 2:No, you are old, you know, I have another I'm thriving.
Speaker 3:I have another podcast now. I think I've only made like I've had it since 2022, and I've only done like 12 episodes.
Speaker 2:That's because Orlando Unplugged. There's so much to talk about. Well, we're updating weekly. We are updating weekly, Minus that one week we won't talk about. It was a dark time for.
Speaker 3:Orlando Unplugged. Yeah Well, guys, we have a great episode for you On today's episode. You can get ready to embark with us on a magical journey as we take you behind the scenes of Universal Florida's newest themed land, DreamWorks Land.
Speaker 2:Join us as we give you peek into this enchanting world where your favorite DreamWorks characters will come to life. We'll be sharing our first impressions, thrilling ride experiences and some unforgettable moments from this whimsical wonderland. Come on, guys, it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 3:So one of the really great things about our hosting site buzzsproutcom is they take care of everything for us. They push us out to all of these platforms that you guys are listening to us on. We use co-host ai to help us come up with our episode descriptions and chapters and it writes our transcript for us. So if you guys ever want to read through our podcast or clarification on anything that we say, you can see it. But one of the newest features that they just released this past week that we are rolling out officially starting today is the new use of fan mail.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited for this. I think this is so cool, this concept that our guests will be able to listen to us when we're talking and then be able to send us a text message while they're listening to us or even after the episode is over, so to give us some feedback, to give us their thoughts or even just like hey, this is really freaking cool. I think that's so neat.
Speaker 3:That's basically what it is right yeah, it gives you guys an opportunity to reach out to us directly without having to go and find our various forms of social media. Now, that being said, we still want you guys to follow us so you can see what we're doing outside of our studio. But this way, you guys can text us directly and you can ask us questions. You can give us a pep talk, you can tell Ashley and I that we're rambling on a subject too long.
Speaker 2:Hey, you can also give us any sort of new podcast episodes you'd like us to cover, so this is super cool. So instead of having to dinosaur Gmail us, you can text us instead.
Speaker 3:Exactly so today, having to dinosaur gmail us, you can text us instead. Exactly so today we're going to give you guys a specific call to action to see who are is listening, because we know that there are a few very devout listeners out there. So after today's episode, we want to hear from you guys, so please text us. That link is going to be located on the episode description for wherever you're listening. So if you're listening to us on apple, just look directly below our photo on your phone or device that you're using and you'll see the button that says text us or message us. Go ahead and click the link in there, and we want to know what your opinions are excuse me, on DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios. We want to know if you're excited for it, what you think about it. So reach out and let us know.
Speaker 2:Oh, I can't wait. I'm so excited to read all your guys' response.
Speaker 3:Another thing that we want to do before we jump into today's episode is give you guys a weekly update on what's going on with me and Ashley.
Speaker 2:Woo so, ashley. Our lives are so cool.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, Let me tell you.
Speaker 2:They're so cool, dude people. People would look at the two of us and be like I'm jealous.
Speaker 3:Well, do you want to know something that's not cool about me?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So about in middle school I started having some health issues. Love that. I get this weird pain. It's like a really tight knot and it hurts really bad, and it's about where my sternum starts to separate, on my chest. So about where your rib cage separates to the top of my belly button. So about where your rib cage separates to the top of my belly button, and the best way that I can explain it is think of it like labor pains. You know how it comes it spikes up and it goes away.
Speaker 2:I do know labor pains. I gave birth to my daughter, bruce, good, good.
Speaker 3:So that is the pain that I get. It's a really sharp pain in there. It can last anywhere from like 30 seconds to over a minute, and then it goes away for one minute, 20 minutes.
Speaker 2:An hour comes back and when it comes back, is it worse?
Speaker 3:I mean, it's like the same. It's sometimes it hurts a lot, sometimes it hurts a little bit. And then my doctor's like, oh, it could be gas, oh, it could be this. I've had a colonoscopy, I've had an endoscopy, I've had CAT scans, I've had a HIDA scan. I've had all these procedures for them to try to determine what this issue is, and they've never been able to figure out what it is.
Speaker 3:So probably about eight or nine years ago, the pain became so severe that I had to go to the hospital. Because what happens when this pain hits? It becomes so painful that my doctor has explained that my body believes that my internal organs may be in danger. So then it starts to restrict blood flow to the center of my body, which in turn causes me to panic, which throws me into an anxiety or a panic attack, and I start hyperventilating. And then the next thing, you know, my face locks up like this and I can't move. My lips and my fingers lock up and my toes curl up and, like I, just my whole body locks up because I'm hyperventilating and I'm panicking, and it's extremely painful. It feels like my thumb is going to literally rip off of my hand because my thumb just folds in on the palm. Yeah Well, two nights ago I was out with some friends at STP after I had a really long day out in the heat.
Speaker 3:It was, you know, 98 degrees and I worked outside for nine hours, spent probably less in total across the entire day. Less than an hour was spent indoors and my body was exhausted. I ended up helping another department close their area because they were a little short staffed, and for two and a half hours I was doing manual labor out in the heat at seven o'clock at night. So the sun was going down, which was nice. It was really hot and when I got to STP I could feel the twinge in my body and I knew immediately. I was like this is not a stomach ache, it's higher than my stomach and it's an odd pain. Well, it came and went. Fortunately it wasn't really bad.
Speaker 3:Woke up the next day, yesterday, and I just felt horrible and I went to work and the current job that I'm doing I have to stand for the whole job and that just made it a lot worse because I'm trying to interact with customers and, you know, put your guest the whole job. And that just made it a lot worse because I'm trying to interact with customers and you know, put your guest service face forward and that's really hard to do when you want to double over in pain. So I got to go home from work early yesterday. I went home about four hours early and rested up. Today it seems to have waned off a little bit.
Speaker 3:I woke up this morning not feeling too great and I kind of still have that. It's like a soreness. I'll be sore for three days afterwards. It's so weird. It's almost like I don't know. I guess a muscle inside my body is probably like twitching or something. I don't know. But it's not a fun time.
Speaker 3:I don't recommend it. And my doctor said if I wind back up in the hospital, he recommends an exploratory surgery where they would go inside my body through my belly button and just take a look at the inside of my body and see what's going on. Because when I'm experiencing this pain and I wind up in the hospital they take, you know, they give me a cocktail which is essentially you're just drinking a numbing fluid into my body. But usually by the time I get there the worst of it's already over and the only thing they've been able to determine at the hospital is my white blood cell count spikes up during that time, which tells them that something is wrong with my body and my body believes it's under attack, so it produces additional white blood cells to try to fight it off. But other than that, this is something that I've lived with since about 2008, 2009, and it's now 2024.
Speaker 2:So you're doing great yeah.
Speaker 3:I haven't had any of these issues. I think I had one like about a year or so ago, but outside of that I hadn't had issues in almost five years, so this is the first time it's hit me. I don't have a primary care physician here in orlando yet. I have, I have insurance, but I just I haven't gone out and I haven't found one because orlando is just so big and I just don't have time because I work seven days a week, um, and I think that that might have something to do with it.
Speaker 3:I think the fact that I'm working seven days a week right now, I think what happened was that day I pushed my body so hard. I think I pushed it past its physical limits. So I don't know if this is a physical issue that I'm having or like a mental stress thing that I'm having. I don't know what it is. Fortunately, like I said, you know I'm feeling a little better today, though, but yeah, that's what's going on with me this week, ashley. What's going on with you?
Speaker 2:that was I'm glad you're doing better. I was very that freaks me out, um, but no, I'm glad you're doing okay. I was very worried for you, um, I I did something really strange and to most are you yourself.
Speaker 3:Strange and unusual correct.
Speaker 2:Most people are going to be like oh, this is no big deal. But for those that know ashley, this is, this is a pretty big, pretty big thing.
Speaker 3:I ran errands alone yesterday oh, I thought you were gonna say you ran errands and I was like like you go adult but I did them by myself, like I didn't.
Speaker 2:so I struggle very badly. Um, it came on about, uh, close to two years now, um, of right after to that very traumatic event that happened in my life happened, um, and I stopped being able to do things by myself. I stopped being able to do things by myself. I stopped being able to like go to theme parks, go to grocery stores, I stopped being able to go out to eat by myself. And I used to like, prior to being in a relationship, I used to do things alone quite often because I had siblings and I have siblings and a loud house. So it was nice to like take a break from all of that and do something by myself. I genuinely enjoyed the silence.
Speaker 2:And then I got in a relationship and then it ended very abruptly and I was like I can't do this. I can't do things alone, I can't do it. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And I stopped being able to do it Like, I could not do it. It would get to a point where, like, I would go to the grocery store and I would call somebody and I would be on the phone with that person the entire time. I was grocery store. Grocery store, grocery shopping like I would call my mom, I would call Rob. Um, there would also be time frames where, like I would avoid going to my own house because I knew nobody was going to be home, so I could not sit at home by myself oh wow, that's that's.
Speaker 3:I enjoyed being by myself in my home no it took a really bad breakup for me to finally go somewhere by myself, because I would never do that. I wouldn't go to a restaurant by myself or anything. But after I went through a breakup it took me a couple of weeks. I really wanted to go to this restaurant that I loved and I went by myself and I ended up having a great experience. The server kept chatting with me. I kind of talked with the restaurant owner because I used to work there many years ago shout out Osaka and Maryville.
Speaker 3:Tennessee. Um, but yeah, I've learned to love going out doing things by myself.
Speaker 2:I used to like I used to love it, I would thrive on it. I'd go to theme parks alone. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Like I'd go out to eat by myself, I'd go to bookstores, I thought it was the greatest thing. And then, when, when this happened, I was like, I mean, I obviously became less of a person and this was one of the things that stayed and lingered, even after I started to become back who I was. So it just didn't go like it didn't and it would get like there'd be moments where it was like progressively worse, like when I moved back home, I obviously I hadn't been there in about six years. So, yes, everybody's like oh, that's home, so you should know that like the back of your hand. But in six years, a lot changes in six years so and and Michigan and where I'm from.
Speaker 2:In Michigan, a lot changed in that time period, so having to to go and function and do things by myself and and whatnot, and where one of the restaurants that I was working at it was was in a strip, like in an outdoor mall. So I'd be like, oh, I'm going to, after I'm done working, I'm going to go and get a cup of coffee and I'll go walk around. The idea of leaving the office to go and get a cup of coffee by myself freaked me out because I just couldn't. I couldn't do it Like it. It freaked me out. So it was about weeks ago.
Speaker 2:A very a friend of mine works for a restaurant I'm a big fan of. So she was like come to this restaurant, come sit, come get a glass of wine, come hang out. And I was like, okay, I'll go do that. So I'm, I will. I got there and she was obviously very, very slammed and very busy. So I brought my Kindle with me and I was like I was enjoying. I was sitting at the bar and I had my Sauvignon Blanc and I had my Kindle and I was like, yeah, I kind of like this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a nice feeling.
Speaker 2:Yes, she was there, which was nice, but like, okay, I felt alone and as much alone as I could and for what I needed, this was as much alone as I was because she was very slammed and very busy so she wasn't able to give me all the proper, like friend attention that I typically would, you know, need, especially doing an event, doing something by myself. So I was like, okay, I can do this, okay, okay. And then yesterday I had come home from being at the hotel and I was like I need a couple of things. Everybody was at the office. I was like, okay, you know what I'm going to do it.
Speaker 2:I threw on I've been listening to our podcast, going back to a couple of old episodes of ours, and I was like I'm going to do this, I'm going to, I'm going to do this. And I hit up Target and I hit up HomeGoods, and then I came home and unloaded those groceries and then I went to Trader Joe's and then you called me and you're like, hey, do you want to have dinner? And I was like, yeah, but I spent a whole afternoon. I never called my mom, I never talked to anybody on the phone. I kept my headphones in.
Speaker 2:I have like these big black noise canceling. I go running with them, um, and I wore those into Target and I you get people that are looking at you like you're crazy for wearing massive headphones in Target. But it was so good, it was nice like it was. I got a Starbucks. I got like things that were comforting, so I went to a place I was very comfortable with so I didn't feel like I was in an area that like if a panic attack happened I was going to be like too far away from home.
Speaker 2:I was you know, 12 minutes from the house, so it was not too bad if I needed to go home quickly. But yeah, no, and I did it and I was.
Speaker 3:I'm very proud so why don't you tell our listeners about what? What happened when you got out of your Uber the other day and told the guy you know, thanks for picking me up.
Speaker 2:Oh yesterday, oh, my God, okay. So for those that don't know, I don't have a vehicle down here, so I rely my transportation on either friends. I lift everywhere, I Uber everywhere or I walk, and I love all of those options. By the way, I am perfectly content in my cute little, my cute little non-vehicle bubble. Um. So I went to the, I went to target and to home goods yesterday. So I am a reusable bag kind of girl. I hate plastic, I hate paper, so I use my reusable bags. So I had also bought a rug for our patio.
Speaker 2:So I get in this lift to come back to the house and he opens his trunk so I can put my groceries and my rug in the trunk. I get in the car booping we're, you know, I'm vibing out to Post Malone's new song and I'm headed to the house and we pull in and I'm like, oh, thank you so much, have a great day, thank you. And I get out of the car and he starts driving away with my bags and my brand new rug still in the back of his trunk. So what did I do? I started like running after him and then I like bang on his trunk. I'm like, hi, wait, stop on his trunk. I'm like, hi, wait, stop. And he was like and he stops and I pop the trunk open and he goes, I'm so sorry. And I was like it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. And he's like I'm so sorry, I grabbed my stuff and I grabbed the rug and I closed the truck and I'm just like that just happened.
Speaker 2:You just tried to steal my groceries. I bought three bottles of wine and new wine glasses. You just tried to steal my rug. What?
Speaker 3:And yet you still rated them five stars and gave them a tip.
Speaker 2:Yes, I did.
Speaker 3:I mean? I think a situation like that's funny because you know, I'm sure, a lot of Uber drivers in this area and Lyft. They're used to picking, like business, people up from the airports or families on vacation up from the airports and they're going to and from and you know, I think when they drop people off at a hotel, that's in their brain of, hey, I need to open the trunk so they can get their suitcases.
Speaker 2:Yeah, not when you're picking up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when you're picking up residents and you're providing them transportation, most of the time they just have a backpack or a purse which is with them in the car, and then, when they get out, they close the door and you're not expecting them to go to the trunks.
Speaker 2:I think that well, and I also think it was my own fault too, because I'm going to like blame myself for this, trying to actively steal my rug, but I was like have a great day.
Speaker 2:And typically you said your goodbyes I said my goodbyes, so I didn't I, I forgot to like remind him hey, I need you to open the trunk. I mean because I I stayed at the hotel Saturday to Sunday to Monday and I had to get in a lift and put my, my suitcase in the back of his car. So before I left the hood, before I got out of the car to get to the hotel, I was like hi, please don't forget to pop your trunk because my suitcase is in there. So I didn't do that this go around. Because I was just like you should know. I put a rug back there. But no, that was quite great. But yeah, I, I'm doing things alone. I'm very proud of it. It's terrifying, though, like it's, this whole thing is terrifying. I don't know how people do it every day, but my goal is to to get to a point where I am back at theme parks by myself.
Speaker 3:I want to do that too. Speaking of theme parks today, we are recording on this day, so this is going to come out on a later date.
Speaker 2:It's coming out tomorrow.
Speaker 3:But today is May 28th.
Speaker 2:Yes 2024. Yes.
Speaker 3:Which is the official 25th anniversary of Universal Islands of adventure that's crazy to me so it is wild and crazy to think that that park has now officially been around um since may 28th of 1999, which is when that park opened.
Speaker 2:Now, according to coaster, were you uh in 99 yeah, how old were you?
Speaker 3:I was born in 93 so.
Speaker 2:So, six I was six.
Speaker 3:Well, technically I would have still been five because it was October, but according to Coasterpediacom, in 1991, actually prior to 1991, the plot of land that this park is on was originally planned to be the Galleria of Orlando a shopping center Wow. Apparently those plans fell through.
Speaker 2:I could have had a mall within walking distance of my house.
Speaker 3:You have the Mall of Millennia.
Speaker 2:Listen, we probably wouldn't have had this apartment complex had there not been a theme park.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that is true, but then that fell through. So in the late 80s Universal, I think they, acquired that land. I don't know if they had it when it was originally planned to be the shops. But in 1991 universal planned on building a second theme park called cartoon world. Cartoon world, the park would feature attractions themed to popeye, dr seuss, looney tunes and dc comic characters.
Speaker 2:However, those plans got canceled by the mid-1990s, universal planned to build the proposed theme park. The new park would be called universal studios islands of adventure. It would also feature popeye and dr seuss characters. But universal failed to secure the rights for for time warner. Universal decided to make an agreement with dc's competitor, marvel, instead now the marvel characters would replace the canceled dc superhero land.
Speaker 3:In addition, the lost continent and jurassic park were added to the park, and the park would be themed to literature. It would feature lands themed around fairy tales, dinosaurs, animated shorts, children's books and comics let's speak, let's let's give islands a little bit of attention here.
Speaker 2:What is your favorite? You have to. If you are going to a park, you're going to islands of adventure, you're doing a day. What do you have to ride in order for you to feel like, hey, I went to islands of adventure today? There's two all right, tell me cat in the hat.
Speaker 3:I love that right because it's amazing, it's air-conditioned and it's so much fun it's fantastic um, I have guests that check in sometimes and they're like I'm not gonna. They're like oh, we're gonna skip that it's. And I'm like no you cannot skip it. You have to ride it, correct. Uh, my other is, uh, the jurassic river adventure you're obsessed I am. I love jurassic park.
Speaker 3:I listen to uh michael crichton's jurassic park every night when I go to bed I'm aware I have my alexa turn on jurassic park on audible and I tell her to read for 30 minutes and then I just fall asleep to it.
Speaker 2:So for me I let's see here it's Spider-Man. For me that's a good one. I really enjoy it. I think it is very well done. I quite enjoy that whole entire experience very, very, very, very well. And it's the Seuss trolley in the sky sky in the high seuss trolley train ride.
Speaker 3:Yes, and it's a fun one I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that for the views, I love it for the concept that I get to see every single ride and attraction and food option. I, I love that and I, I really, really, really enjoy that.
Speaker 3:So I'll be sad if they ever take that away I read online that that ride system can go up to 60 miles an hour. Can you imagine 60 miles an hour on that?
Speaker 2:stop. I would love that. That would be crazy next time. Listen, let's go right now. Can we go and try to see if they'll bump it up to 60?
Speaker 3:let's go I'm game, all right. Well, today we've got a super fun topic, so let's dive on into our main show I'm really excited for this let's dive on into our main show. I'm really excited for this, so here. Recently, ashley and I got to go out and visit universal's newest theme land during a special preview, so we are going to be discussing our time at DreamWorks Land, which officially opens on June 14th.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited for this, like I think this is such a great little addition to studios, so I thought it was very cool that we got to. We got to experience this first, and there's some really cool parts that I can't wait to talk about.
Speaker 3:I think my first impression that I loved the most about this is so it's still not open to the public. Right now they're doing special pass holder, annual or annual pass holder previews. Yes, so they have the formal universal fence I call it. It's the the silver fence with the universal like imagery in it crossing all the way across the land, all all the way over to ET, and they have two entrance points that you have to go up. You have to show your annual pass or your ticket, your special ticket, to get in and let me tell you, I felt like we were full on royalty.
Speaker 2:I was.
Speaker 3:Because we walked in, we showed them our little tickets and we walked our happy butts into this land.
Speaker 2:And all of these people are standing outside the Spongeob store just staring at us like they are peasants and we are royalty who are you um, and it's so pretty, though is everybody's just like staring at you they're just like how did you get in there?
Speaker 3:yeah, why are you so special? How?
Speaker 2:do we get?
Speaker 3:um, but yeah, when you walk in, you're immediately greeted by like a special little meet and greet area that they had. There's this character named Gabby. I don't know who Gabby is. I don't know what she is.
Speaker 2:I just know she's at DreamWorks and I know she's very big with little girls.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so they had her, and I think Puss in Boots was out there at that time.
Speaker 3:But from my understanding that's going to be a like a Gabby has like a spot and then beside her there's like a general spot where it's supposed to be a mix of different DreamWorks characters throughout the day yes, um, but I think your first impressions I think it's very colorful, oh, it's beautiful, um, I think there's a decent amount of shade, even though, like they, literally I mean, they took out everything from the original land and put in these new things, and I think that it was great because they still put in decent sized trees and structures that create a good amount of shade. Now, when you first walk in, it's a large open plaza, so there's not a lot of shade in the very beginning, but as you get farther into the land, there's a lot more shade, um, and you can still see what I'm gonna call hidden easter eggs to the land that was there before, which we'll get into you know what else I really enjoyed?
Speaker 2:I really enjoyed all the benches that were there.
Speaker 3:There was a lot of seating.
Speaker 2:That was nice, so like which is great because this is a kid's area in a kid's play area, so it gives parents and people places to sit while the kids play there's also a lot of it's a it was it felt, very open so that, like strollers could get into this area as well, which was super nice.
Speaker 3:So I didn't feel like when, because there was a couple strollers during our preview I didn't feel like they were having to like hit ankles because this is such a tight space that they're having to walk through, like in other parts of of some of the other lands yep, um, and before we dive completely into that land because of this new area and we'll go more in depth into this but there's a Shrek meet and greet with and they built Shrek's house from the swamp.
Speaker 2:So I am a massive Shrek fan. It's my sister's nickname, so when it came to this, I thought this was so cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, it's raining. What's interesting about this is they built Shrek's house directly in front of an existing attraction, the ET Adventure.
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 3:So ET has recently gotten a facelift. She's got a new facading over her building entrance.
Speaker 2:I do have a photo, so I will be putting it on our social media.
Speaker 3:They moved the sign for E's adventure farther up yes, next to dreamworks land, and it's a beautiful new sign. It's gorgeous um, so et got a bit of a facelift. All right, as you go in and it's really really pretty because the entrance for et now, or the original entrance for et, was right where shrek's house is. So they've moved the entrance to et up farther along the side of dreamland, which created like a new area for it which is really nice.
Speaker 2:I feel like it created a better flow there too. So as much as everybody's like oh. Shrek replaced the entrance. No, it was kind of needed.
Speaker 3:I think it's a little tight right now, but they still have all the construction fencing up or the preview fencing up around ET, so no one can sneak in from the side. So I think once that comes down too, that'll open up space and it gives more seating. Yeah, um, but as soon as you get in past that meet and greet area.
Speaker 2:On the right hand side you have the shrek area.
Speaker 3:Yes, this is so pretty, um, and, I think, one of the coolest in their house. I know I think one of the coolest and things that they have in this area is shrek's home yes um, which is the formal meet and greet, like we've seen throughout the park in the past. Donkey is there.
Speaker 2:Fiona. We saw Princess Fiona.
Speaker 3:I saw she was out for one and then she wasn't out for another, but Shrek and Donkey are always there.
Speaker 2:Yes, but I think Princess Fiona is on rotation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it was neat. We did not get in line and we didn't do the meet and greet, but we watched other people doing it and Donkey is just as sassy as he ever was.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love him. He's so moody.
Speaker 3:And I think one of the coolest aspects that we saw that you really like someone I'll let you talk about is when the characters are not out doing the meet and greet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to me this was the coolest thing. So we were sitting down at a bench and we could hear all of this, and so when they are in their house, in their hut not there anymore you can hear conversations that they're having inside the hut, so it's Princess Fiona and Shrek having a marital spat about what time the kids were going to bed. You're hearing Donkey make a comment about. I think he was making a comment about food or something he's making waffles.
Speaker 3:I heard Gingy was in there, I believe.
Speaker 2:There was comments about waffles. There was comments about what time the kids should go to bed, which I thought was super cute, but you can hear all of that while you're waiting for them.
Speaker 3:I think that's great for the kids because it gives you this level of immersion when the characters aren't there and like the kids, like you know. I want to see Shrek or blah blah blah. Mom can say, like you know, listen, they're inside the house, they're not accepting guests right now, and I think it's cool because it brings this whole level of immersion to where it really brings you into the world of Shrek and the land of Far, far Away and those things, and I think it's great.
Speaker 2:But one of the other things that I love about Shrek- but I really like the fact, though, that this is something that they can use as a way to hey instead of. I remember when we were a kid, we would go to Disney World, and when the characters would need a break, they would be like, oh, they have to go back to their, their land, or poo needs to go get honey, or whatever, and you'd be like, but he just walked back there. That's not as hot like that. How's he gonna get honey?
Speaker 3:yeah, they walk behind a fence, yeah, so it.
Speaker 2:It didn't match this matches. Oh, they're going in their house, and not only are they going in their house, but you can actually hear them talking while they're in the house yeah so way to go, universal. I thought this was great. 10 out of 10 hats off.
Speaker 3:Another thing that I love about the shrek area is swamp snacks this was something that I had been looking forward to from the very get-go green cheese. Um yeah, so one of the things that I know that rob is the most happiest about this, because every time we go to disney he has to get a mickey shaped pretzel yes and now, every time we go to universal, he has the opportunity to get a shrex shrexel which is a shrek shaped pretzel and it comes with green cheese which is so weird.
Speaker 2:So we ordered this. We got the, the shrek pretzel and and the green and the green cheese and it shrexel, shrexel. There you go, oh boy it threw me off, like the green cheese threw me off and I think it's the weirdest, because I mean it just tastes like nacho cheese yes but it you're just like it's green and it's not like lime green. No, this is like puke green it's ogre green it is.
Speaker 3:It is literally ogre green cheese it's his earwax that he pulls out of his ear oh my god, it is but it I mean it tasted really good yeah no, it was great, but it's, it's green now they have a couple of other options that we didn't get, and I believe everything that we're about to talk about is either 13, I think 12 something was the highest I saw.
Speaker 3:So these are definitely snacks. Um. Another thing that we didn't get was the swamp dog, which was a green cheese hot dog, so, and then it's wrapped in a pizza pretzel bark um, I am not a big fan of hot dogs at theme parks, um, so I didn't get this one, um, but I've heard a lot of people be like it's weird, but it's good because there's like green cheese in the bread and it's, and I'm like this is a very shrek thing it's just you know what universal creative should get a cookie for this, because they came out with some weird snacks.
Speaker 3:But it matches the theming so well here can you imagine being in the test kitchen for all of this? Like being the person that gets to sit down and try these foods.
Speaker 2:Stop, that's my dream job just to get paid to eat theme park, to try different theme park foods oh, sign me up.
Speaker 3:What was one of the other things that we didn't get that they had, so so they have two different options for a far, far away waffle.
Speaker 2:So you can get this with either a ham and cheese or you can get this as pepperoni version. So we decided not to do either of those two options. But I thought it was super cute that on the display that was showing all of these options you've got Shrek's face plastered next to the Shrexel and the hot dog and then you have Donkey that's the one selling your pretzels or the waffles to you, and I'm just like this is so cute.
Speaker 3:And the way that I've heard it is it's like a waffle, but in the batter of the waffle is the ham and cheese and the pepperoni, so it's cooked in the middle of it. Correct, which I think is interesting and weird. I want to go back and try it sometime um one of the 14th when it opens one of the items that I did get that day because we want to try it out, was the mud puddle pudding.
Speaker 2:Um, I think the name was a little deceiving but it was still really good, because it's not pudding, it's cake yeah, like it's cake and I don't know.
Speaker 3:I think it might have been pudding, but it was more of an icing texture because it's a frozen treat. So I think it's a frozen treat that gets thawed out for sale. But it was. I mean it was still good. It comes with chocolate pudding, cookie crumbles cake and then gummy worm and it had these weird little white crunchy dots on it like Rice Krispie Crunchies. And you get a shovel. What did I do?
Speaker 2:You ate the gummy worm and I didn't get a bite.
Speaker 3:I did. I did eat that gummy worm. It was so good, worst best friend ever. It wasn't like over oh bless you. It wasn't overpowering sweet, because I have a big thing. You okay over there, my word, she's dying. It wasn't overpowering sweet, it was just that right amount of like. I need something sweet, a little pick me up. I ended up not eating all of it because we were on a time crunch and there was a couple other things that we wanted to do, but I think we all tried it. We ate about half of it and it was good and I think that it's a great treat.
Speaker 2:It's a pretty decent sized portion, though, too. Yeah, I definitely think my favorite thing that we ate during this whole thing was they have a frozen ogre sour apple ice pop. So they also have a chunky donkey chocolate ice pop. Chunky donkey, chunky donkey that is Chocolate ice pop. Universal in their wording.
Speaker 2:So it's two different popsicles and you get the, and the best part about them is they're molded to either shrek's face for this, our apple, or for the chocolate one it is shaped to donkey donkey and I'm just like sorry, there was an email that just hit up my thing, um, and I'm just like this is so cool and they come in their own little packaging, which is super cute. I loved the stick is very strange.
Speaker 3:It is a weird stick.
Speaker 2:It's a very weird stick, but it makes it easier to hold, which is pretty nice. I also read that the stick is held like that for kids with disabilities that aren't able to hold something properly, that's why the?
Speaker 2:stick is shaped that way, so universal attaboy, um, but I thought this was so good. I want to go back and try the chocolate one, but I loved the apple one. I thought that was so refreshing. It was very, very hot the day that we went. This was super refreshing. I could have eaten like 1200 of those and been content with my day. Like it was melting very, very, very, very fast, but it was so good that's okay, we ate it before it melted yeah, we did um but I was very happy with that.
Speaker 3:So yeah, right, uh, right now, right next to the shrek meet and greet, you have shrek swamp for little ogres, which is a play area designed for children. Um, and one of the coolest things that I found out about this area is there are little baby ogre feet imprinted into the concrete walkways.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Which I absolutely loved about that and I think it's a great thing, think a smaller version of Camp Jurassic over in Islands of Adventure, and that's kind of like what this play area is Minus all the caves, yeah, minus the caves yeah, minus the caves um, I did very much enjoy going up and, and I also enjoyed the fact that this was wheelchair accessible as well.
Speaker 2:So, um, children with any sort of uh, ecv or or a push wheelchair are able to go all the way through this entire thing. Um, they're also experienced. They're able to experience one of my favorite things about this, which was the pinocchio doorbell. Um, so you walk up, you hit a little tree stump and it rings pinocchio and he gives you a fun fact about, um, shrek and fiona's marriage, which I thought was super cute. So he like we did it and it's an.
Speaker 3:It's an animatronic. There's an actual pinocchio up in the little tree house and he pops out and he's so cute.
Speaker 2:I just I I have I want to know if his nose starts growing, if he starts telling lies I was looking.
Speaker 3:I didn't necessarily see it move, but I'm pretty sure it looked like it had the ability to um. His eyes moved, he blinked, his mouth moves his arms and hands move so he's a fully articulate animatronic, which is interesting because he's fully outdoors and in the elements. So I'm interested to see how he continues to work. But I thought that was really cool. I think you got some video, I know I have a video of this random woman doing it.
Speaker 2:So we'll probably post those videos online so you guys can see some of the stuff that we experienced to Pinocchio because Rob went with us yeah, rob went down one of the slides, the coolest slide, the farting slide, the farting slide.
Speaker 2:So it's an outhouse. It's very specific. It is Shrek's outhouse in the very first movie. You see Shrek's outhouse. I think it's just in the first one. Yeah, so it's the door with the, with the crescent moon shaped onto it, and the coolest part is you walk in to this to get ready. This is the entrance for the slide, the poop shoot, and I think that is that what it's called.
Speaker 2:I think that's what we just deemed it. But as you're going through it and you're sliding through, it makes farting noises and I just love that and it looks like there was.
Speaker 3:There's a total, I think, of three slides. Yes, there's two. Uh, I call them rope ladders. It's where you like. You go in and then you crawl up onto the next platform. Then you crawl up to the next platform and then they have an overhanging rope area, um, that's just open underneath so you can go out and climb on that. That's similar to Camp Jurassic, so. But, like as Ashley was saying, the great thing about this is you can get up to that level in a wheelchair or ECV. So children that do have the ability to transfer out their parents can take them up top, they can transfer them over to the slide, the child can slide down and the parent can then go to the bottom with the wheelchair and transfer the child back in. So those children really do have an opportunity to be able to play a part in this which was so cool.
Speaker 2:It also is nice for not just for children in ecv and wheelchairs, but also for grandparents, that maybe, instead of climbing up all of those things, it's a lot easier for them to use that kind of uh system there, because it's it's not, it's it's one flat surface, which is super nice it's, it's very inclusive, oh um.
Speaker 3:And the one thing that about dreamworks sentinel is there's water elements everywhere so in shreks. You've got the splash pad. Which is it? It is, uh. There's no like pooling area, there's no pool with water, it's just a splash pad. But they've got like imprints of lilies and then those weird things. Like I call them the corn dog plant, cause it has like the little corn dog shape on top.
Speaker 2:I'm done. I don't know what those are actually called.
Speaker 3:I think it may be a part of lilies, I'm not sure, but it has like sprinklers in them, so water comes out there. On the top of the playground there is an area that have water cannons over the splash area. Yes, so you can play in the water there and splash. My personal favorite area of Shrek's land is King Harold's Swamp Symphony.
Speaker 2:That was so cute.
Speaker 3:So you go over, there's a statue of King Harold the frog in frog form.
Speaker 2:Do you know who King Harold is?
Speaker 3:Isn't it Fiona's dad?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then there's a bunch of little frogs that go out to the left and right of him and their mouths articulate, and there are lily pads on the ground. As you step on the lily pad, the frog mouth will open and it will make a tune, so you can jump from the lily pad to lily pad and play all of these sounds and music. I thought it was so cute which was, which was super, super fun and you hear king harold go and he he speaks during it.
Speaker 2:He'll, I think he says what a lovely sound or what a lovely, a lovely melody or something during during this as well. So I was like this is really adorable.
Speaker 3:I love it it was, it was, it was cool.
Speaker 2:I like it was just a fun little thing the land that I or here's the area that I don't understand because I'm not I've never I've watched shrek. I've seen shrek a thousand and one times, but I've never seen the spinoff, the puss in boots spinoff. So, mama luna, feline, festa, fiesta, um, it seems to be a take on um, like computer games in a sense.
Speaker 2:So you, you walk in and you hit buttons and you spin some of the panels and there's like a spray bottle and there's things like this, and then I don't know fully if you are supposed to like try to do all those things and then you win something. I don't know if this is just no.
Speaker 3:to me it just seems like an interactive thing where you get to play with cats, but they're obviously digital cats.
Speaker 3:They're um, they're animated on screens. Um, now, I will say there was ample signage throughout the land that said that these particular attractions are in technical rehearsals. Um, so when we, when we went to this, not all of the elements were working the whole time. Um, some of them were, some of them weren't, but there's, there are four screens and in the back there's four different things there's a spray bottle, there's this like wand stick and there's two other things. I don't remember what they are.
Speaker 3:I think those steering wheels those work specifically for one of the four screens and there's an image of whatever like the spray bottle would be a spray bottle image on the the far right screen and when you would spray it it would spray water on the cats on the screen. And then, as you go up to the screens, there are two buttons per screen that if you, if you click that button, it would animate something on that screen. For one was you press the button and then, like a, a door to a bathroom would open yeah and every time it was something different.
Speaker 3:It was a cat, like trying to jump from the counter to the bathtub, but he misses and he lands in the bathtub and it splashes water, um and it's. It just seems to be like a little interactive thing to keep the kids busy.
Speaker 2:Um for what? So shade covered, which was super nice yeah so it was a nice area to to get out of the sun for a little bit, which I really liked. It just was very confusing for me.
Speaker 3:It was, and I always say people seem to be having a fun time. Yeah, it was in technical rehearsal, so not every button worked every single time people pressed it, but this is the first time that these attractions were really getting used on a regular basis for multiple hours straight. So it's giving, uh, universal creative and universal tech an opportunity to work through those things and it seemed like everyone was having a fun time. And there's a cat. I don't remember its name, I don't know if it was mama luna I think it was um.
Speaker 3:She's gray and black but it was so funny because she walked in while all these other adults are in here playing and she starts playing with the lever for the cat tree and the cat tree like spins and shakes and it throws all the cats off and she starts like dancing and she's so happy and it was just. It was absolutely adorable to see the universal characters.
Speaker 3:Join in on this fun with people like you. Didn't just have to get in line and take a picture with them, but there was that full immersion of people getting to interact with these characters outside of a standard meet and greet correct and I don't know if that's going to be standard for universal once it opens to the public.
Speaker 2:I really hope so, um, but yeah, I really liked it I thought it was pretty good, but yeah, no, I really don't, because I've never seen the piss and boots spinoff, so I was very confused. But I saw that it was cool, and I really appreciated the break from the sun, which was nice. This is the area, though, that I really really liked, and, as much as everybody's going to kind of give me some crap for it, I really enjoyed this. So, in DreamWorks, there is another sub area of this that is Trolls Village, so this is where you can meet Poppy, and the troll coaster is here, and there's some treats and things like that.
Speaker 3:so what did you call the troller coaster the last time we were reading something? What'd you call it the cater bus, the cater bus the cater bus.
Speaker 2:The cater bus because it's a caterpillar hello hello oh hi have a wonderful day at work. I love you, miss you um ladies and gentlemen, that was jul.
Speaker 3:We didn't know she was home.
Speaker 2:So I really enjoyed this. So the troll coaster is a full-on copycat of the old attraction that used to be their woody woodpeckers roller coaster, which I loved as somebody who loves the barnstormer, this is the same concept. I loved it, thought it was great. So then when they were like hey, we're closing it, but we're gonna turn it into something cool, I was like like okay, what are we turning it into? This is terrifying, utterly terrifying. The Caterbus, the Caterbus look it's first off. The entire vehicle is a caterpillar with like the most terrifying face I have ever seen in the entire planet. And then you get on this thing and it is Woody the Woodpecker, so it's like oof, oof, stop. It is Woody the Woodpecker, so it's like oof, oof, stopping and going and stopping and going and it goes really fast and you're just like, oh my gosh. And you know what's crazy? It's the Maxi. It's only 21 miles per hour. But I swear to God, I thought we were going 80.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 3:It was fun. It was definitely a great re-theme of that attraction. So I mean's it's a kid's coaster. It's a small coaster. It's got a 27 foot drop, which is into what I would call an extreme s curve, the same as thunderhead at dollywood, but it's not a huge drop um or for those that live locally, it's the exact same thing as the barnstormer yep, when at the top of the lift hill there's like a spider web and there's some spider uh statues throughout the attraction, which I'm sure has something to do with the movie.
Speaker 2:It is so. The caterpillar is trying to protect the trolls from the spiders, so it's getting us trolls out of the way from the spiders.
Speaker 3:Interesting. It's a cute little fun ride, but they're not scary spiders.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh Please. Parents.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, no, they're adorable.
Speaker 2:They're like super cute, nothing, nothing. There's no animatronics here, it's all a fun. Good ride pops out at you. They're just statues you can fit.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna call it two standard size adults into one seat height.
Speaker 2:But yes, you can do that yeah, you and rob rode together.
Speaker 3:I rode by myself, um, so I've got that credit now, um, but it was a fun little ride. It's not a super long ride, it's just one one, one round and then you're back off. Seems super quick, seems like the throughput for that will be really, really good. And one of the great things about this queue and again it's great with Universal is their queue line is completely ADA accessible.
Speaker 3:So if you have children in wheelchairs, you don't have to go through a completely separate entrance, you are just like everyone else at universal studios and you get to be with those other people in line and you get that full, that full experience of waiting in line. Everyone loves waiting in line, but it's great because it's it's a completely inclusive queue line and I really like that about universal I did appreciate the fact that the queue line though was it had the fans.
Speaker 2:It was a little bit of shading that was in there, which was super nice.
Speaker 3:A little bit of covered walkway, yeah, and it's very colorful.
Speaker 2:Very colorful, except don't look at the do yourself a favor and don't look at the caterpillar. Okay, that's all I got to say on that.
Speaker 3:Now for the little tykes that aren't quite tall enough um to ride this attraction.
Speaker 2:Excuse me, they did create a little area called poppy's playground which is the pink troll, the iconic pink troll that everybody loves what does she do? No, this isn't the one that farts glitter. Yeah is, it is poppy the one that farts glitter I thought so okay, wait, you look that up.
Speaker 3:You look that up. So this area it's not a large jungle gym, it is a yeah, is it?
Speaker 2:Is Poppy the one that?
Speaker 3:farts glitter. I thought so Okay, wait, you talked about Poppy. You looked that up. So this area it's not a large jungle gym. It is a big tree that overhangs a small area with like a padded ground. There's a little bug thing for them to climb on. And there are these vines that hang down and have these giant bulbs that kind of look like plums, but they're hollow in the inside so the kids can climb inside them.
Speaker 2:There's a seating area all the way around it for parents so they can also sit in the shade while the children play or they take a rest break. What'd you find out? So, guy diamond is the one that farts the glitter, farting troll oh, I thought poppy did that no glitter guy. Diamond is poppy's brother, oh, and he do be farting.
Speaker 3:I need to watch this movie.
Speaker 2:Poppy's real cute, though. She's adorable. Have you seen her? I have a picture of her. Hang on. Yeah, she's pink. Yes, but she's like pink everywhere and I love it. She's so cute. I think she's adorable.
Speaker 3:Ooh, tell us about Troll Street.
Speaker 2:I was so sad that this was not open, because I really, really wanted to eat this. When we were there, it was closed. However, trolls Treats is inside the cutest little kiosk set up it's a boom box.
Speaker 3:It's a big old and it is big. It's massive. Yeah, it's a giant stereo, If you know anything about Trolls.
Speaker 2:Trolls is all about music. It's very, very music oriented. So the whole spot, the whole quick service walk up or, I'm sorry, the whole treats walk up, is all. It's in a boom box. It's massive, so you order in one speaker and then you pick up in another speaker, which that was so cute yeah, I thought that was really cool and I don't know what the full menu for trolls treats is for preview they only were offering two items yes, if it was open yeah, it was.
Speaker 3:It was closed that day. They did have a sign out front that said the location, that stall, was temporarily closed and we saw some guys doing some work on the back side of it um, but they have two treats that were available as of then, and the first one I'll talk about because it's uh the boy one uh is brozone berry ice cream, and it came in the blue troll yes so it's a waffle.
Speaker 3:It's like a waffle cone, but the waffle cone was put inside a sleeve. That was the face of the blue troll and he had ears that stuck off out from the sides and he was?
Speaker 2:it was a wrapped cone, um, and it was the brozone berry, so I'm assuming it was like a blueberry flavored ice cream and it's soft serve um, and then you want to talk about the girl flavor well, I know some of the girl flavor, but I don't know all the details of the girl flavor well, you tell the flavor and now I can fill in I like that, so this one is the poppylicious pink lemonade I love that that's all I know for it, so the word the word lemonade is not in the title, but it is a pink lemonade soft serve ice cream.
Speaker 3:Yes, and this one is in a poppy shaped or a poppy themed wrap, so it has it's pink for poppy, the ice cream is pink and then it has the little, her little ears sticking off from the sides.
Speaker 2:But it was really cool because you get to put it in a wrapper? Is it because the ice cream is supposed to be their hair?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I believe so yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I believe. So, yeah, oh, it's very cute.
Speaker 2:Stop Universal. So smart, I love them so much.
Speaker 3:I think that Universal Creative is doing a great job of bringing immersive foods.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as somebody who food obviously is my favorite part of going to theme parks this whole land for their food options I was very, very happy with.
Speaker 3:Now, when you go to a theme park, it is inevitable that merchandise sales are a thing.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And there's merchandise available in certain areas, but their main one is going to be Cloud Guys, high Five Hideaway. Now, do you know what that's?
Speaker 2:from Hideaway or.
Speaker 3:Highway Highway.
Speaker 2:Highway High.
Speaker 3:Five Highway. Do you know? Is this a specific movie? Is this from Trolls?
Speaker 2:I think this is Trolls, but I don't know. I think this is Trolls. You talk about it and I'll find out for you.
Speaker 3:They had DreamWorks merchandise available in this store. They had everything from just your standard universal rainbow stuff. They had Kung Fu Panda items available, they had Trolls stuff available, they had Shrek stuff available, so they encapsulated all of the the dreamworks. Ah, that's the guy. What movie is that from trolls? Okay, so that is okay. I've seen that cloud guy before, so I know, I know what that is?
Speaker 2:he's so cute, he wears tube socks. Look at him.
Speaker 3:He wears tube socks, yep so this is a trolls themed store because it is in the middle of trolls land, but they have all of the merchandise. Now moving on is going to be it's kind of like my favorite area this is, but this is where, well, it's my favorite area because of the easter egg, which I'm gonna.
Speaker 3:I can't wait to show the entire internet our amazing photo of this yes, so the next area that they have, it's the last themed area. There's one more area, but it's not really a themed area, it's a theater. So this is the last themed area to DreamWorks Land and it's Kung Fu Panda Training Camp Woo. Now, this is an interactive playground and themed area to Po's village yes, so there's, this is where he grew up. Yes, this is like his home. Yes, and when you enter the land, there's a really cool sign that you go under that Ashley and I took really amazing Kung Fu photos in front of, and people looked at us like we were weird because we're full grown adults and we're over here like I'm sorry, how does that go again?
Speaker 3:I don't know, that's my Kung Fu sounds. Paul would be so disappointed in you Now there's tons of wet and dry play areas in this area, so when you first walk in, my favorite Easter egg about this is the village itself is the remaining structure from the curious george playground yes so, um, when you walk in, you can see it's kind of a u-shaped area and um, the wind, the wind is blowing outside and it just blew the rug up and, uh, bruce got terrified. Um, but look at how fluffy the tail is.
Speaker 2:We are so scared, brucey, are you okay?
Speaker 3:it tried to attack her through the window, um, but anywho. So getting back to it, it goes um. You go in. On the right hand side is like a laundromat area that has some clothes hanging up. There's water play elements in this area. None of the water was turned on when we were there, um, but it was. It was neat.
Speaker 2:On the far left side is mr ping's noodle caboodle and you know who mr ping is right that is poe's father yes, but he's not a panda no, because poe was adopted ah, I see um now this he didn't want him to be a kung fu master, he wanted him to make noodles at the noodle caboodle at his noodle caboodle now I will say I love it I was a little sad.
Speaker 3:I was totally hoping we would get ping's noodle caboodle like they have out in california where you literally talked about it noodles.
Speaker 3:Hey, go listen to that one podcast episode, guys yeah, um, but for this one it's got these poles that are supposed to be noodles, and if you grab the pole you can spin it. Yes, and it makes like there's a box up top with like a jewelry box bell in it, and as you spin it it makes noises like it's ding ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Um, that was definitely a banjo, noises from deliverance, but um. But mr ping is up there now. He is not an articulate animatronic, he is a statue. So his mouth doesn't move, he doesn't blink, but, but he has sayings yes so he's giving you his um what, what is it?
Speaker 2:inspirational speeches and things like that.
Speaker 3:Aspirations yes, aspirations, and there's also two little merry-go-rounds um in that area that can do Ashley talk about the gong.
Speaker 2:This was my favorite part about this entire thing. So when you walk in and when you walk out, you go past this massive gong and you have to pull.
Speaker 3:Wait, you got to say its legal name the gong of resounding. Resonance Resonance. No Resonance Resonance the gong of resounding resonance.
Speaker 2:I love this thing. So you step on this floor and you go next to the gong and you pull the cord oh sorry, brucie and the whole gong goes off, but the floor vibrates.
Speaker 3:You feel the resonance of the gong it was the coolest thing ever that was so so, so neat and over on the left hand side they have um I just love these names the pond of perpetual wetness, which I just find so funny because it's just the universal um, but it is. They've got um a little. It's supposed to be like the little water tower inside the pond where they get their water, uh, and it's just a whole nother splash area with little splash buckets and stuff, and there's a big splash bucket like one of the ones that water, excuse me one of the ones at water parks that like tip over and pour out like a hundred gallons of water on you.
Speaker 3:They've got one of those ones at water parks that like tip over and pour out like 100 gallons of water on you. They've got one of those there love it.
Speaker 2:Can I talk about my favorite part? Can I talk about it? Can I talk about it please? Yes I loved this, so they have what they call poe live. This is an interactive experience where kids get to meet poe while he is supposed to be babysitting his cousin ling ling, and together they learn a little bit of kung fu and how to make a decent stir fry. This is um Universal's concept. I don't want to compare, but I'm going to it's similar to listen, it was. You know, it's me.
Speaker 2:I know this, um, it's very similar to if you've ever been to Epcot and you've done Turtle Talk with Crush at finding nemo's area. This is very similar to that. So it is a a screen that you talk to poe. He talks back um, you can have full conversation with him, full dialogue with him, and then he will teach you guys how to do these things during this entire thing. There is no, it's um.
Speaker 3:Sit yourself in a scenario here there is no, I mean, it's just a big open space inside the old ball pit play area correct um, there is no air conditioning.
Speaker 2:This is not closed. This is very open you're at, yeah, however however, there are multiple fans big fans there's big, big fans. There's also um. This is fully covered, though, so you are out of the sun. However, you are still experience the humidity and the heat in this room.
Speaker 3:Now I want to point out one thing about this that I really thought was cool. That makes it different than Turtle Talk. So with Turtle Talk you have Crush who just kind of floats around, and he does move some.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:But this one from so we didn't get to experience Poe Live that day.
Speaker 2:No, this is closed. So we didn't get to experience.
Speaker 3:Poe live that day. No, this is closed. So it was on B mode, where the shades are closed, and you see Poe just moving his shadow through.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:But I've seen a video of it and it almost to me looks like the performer that is being Poe is in a back of house area and I don't know if he's wearing a suit or he's wearing gloves and like feet things, but he fully moves around this room. He turns his back to the audience, he's moving his arms up, he's grabbing things off of the shelves. He's dropping those things into the stir fry that you guys are making. I watched him drop a soup dumpling in and he was like shh, don't tell Ping, but he puts it in there. And it's so cool because it's so just. You really feel like poe is there in front of you because he can move. He's pointing at you, he's talking about the person in the universal shirt. He's calling people out in the audience and making you participate with him and get up and do these moves with him and I thought that was so cool well, and you know what else.
Speaker 2:I really appreciated the fact that if you ride fast and furious at universal, at studios, you go through a show before you get on the actual ride the pre-shows but the pre-show, they keep the same name. Those people do not have that name. There's not 1200 people that are named chris. I mean there is, but not. They didn't hire these people just because their name is Chris.
Speaker 2:In this scenario, with this attraction, the person who is doing all these and like the speaking part of this, actually says the actual employee's actual name oh yeah so I thought that was really neat that it matched to that because, like I've seen some videos and stuff of on on social media of when they did it once they like have the the attractions attendant help out with with part of like getting all the kids ready to go for the show, and he was like, hey, brenda, can you help us do this? And then I saw the same video a couple days later and it was a guy and he was like hey, jim, can you help us? So I'm curious to see, like the next time we go in there, if Brenda and Jim or whomever the name was, I can't remember is used again, or if this is going to be a different, a different circulation. I know people are like really, that's what you're getting excited about.
Speaker 3:I think it's a realism and it's immersive.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think that's pretty neat. It makes the kids feel like Poe is actually right there yep, um, and so the last thing in dreamworks land.
Speaker 3:Neither one of us have seen this live the the show time. The next show time was like an hour after we had to leave because we had to go. Both had to work. That day is a new show that universal is bringing. It is dreamworks imagination celebration, which takes place in, formally, the barney theater in the back left corner.
Speaker 2:Do you know? I didn't know this, I just found this out and I've been waiting for us to talk about DreamWorks so I could tell you this. My mom has photos of me being four in front of this theater. I had thought we had never been to Universal in my entire life and my mom was going through old photos. Here you are and she goes Ashley, I think this is Universal. And I was like what do you mean? You think this is Universal? And she put them in the mail. They're on their way to my house and they are photos of me, my mom and my dad, and I'm wearing a Barney Live shirt and it says on the bottom Universal Studios, florida, nice. I'm wearing a Barney live shirt and it says on the bottom Universal.
Speaker 3:Studios.
Speaker 2:Florida, nice, and I thought it was so cool, so I've been to the Barney Theater.
Speaker 3:Now, the outside of this theater is probably my favorite element in this whole land.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's beautiful.
Speaker 3:It's a cloudscape of just clouds.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:But the clouds make up various DreamWorks characters. Yes, which is cool because you know, you know you. Always, as a child, you'd look in the sky and you'd be like, oh, that cloud looks like a bunny, and that cloud looks like this, that cloud looks like donkey, and that cloud looks like poppy, and it's it's done in a way that like it's a beautiful, beautiful sky, it's not just blue sky, white clouds, I mean, it's like it's a beautiful sunset there's pinks and blue hues and golden hues of the sun, and it just looks really, really pretty well, and I think it goes with different time frames throughout the day.
Speaker 2:So I know there's certain times in the morning where it's that sunset very pretty, very beautiful, and then towards the end of the night it then decreases into a sunset, so it's more like brown or like brown blues and and dark colors and it's. This is so pretty yeah now inside the theater.
Speaker 3:This, I think, is a really amazing concept of how they put this show together and I love it. So when you go in, you're sitting and you're almost like in a grotto, like a secret land, and these two adults come out on stage and they're your host for the show and they're super excited to find you there, because you have stumbled across their favorite childhood play area, where their imagination would soar. And suddenly the winds begin to whip and the clouds begin to move and they're almost like what's happening and the next thing you know you are transported into a secret land where all of the DreamWorks characters come to life before your eyes.
Speaker 2:Yes, so you're going to get some special guest experiences from Poppy and Branch, which are from Trolls. You also get a guest experience from Shrek and Donkey.
Speaker 3:And the dragon.
Speaker 2:Oh, and Donkey's wife.
Speaker 3:You get to see the moment they fall in love. It's beautiful and it's funny, because they're telling Donkey what to say. They're like they're giving him the lines that he says from the movie and then he says it and they fall in love. It's super cute, that's adorable.
Speaker 2:And then one of my favorite movie franchises, the Madagascar franchise. You're going to also see King Julian from that and some other characters as well. We love you, king Julian. I love them, they, I love them. They're so cute, they're so freaking adorable. They're on the same level that the aliens are for me in Toy Story.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah, I just love them.
Speaker 2:Now you get to also see some more characters, and this is fantastic because for me, this is a great opportunity to get out of the heat. There's plenty of room between seats for the kids to get up and dance, and boogie and hang out and they get to watch a troll fart.
Speaker 3:So what's?
Speaker 2:and dance and boogie and hang out and they get to watch a troll fart, so, and it doesn't seem to be like a super long show, um, so it's just like the perfect 20 to 30, I think.
Speaker 3:30 minutes, yeah, something like that um, so it's a nice little show to get you inside out of the heat, uh let the kids run off some steam.
Speaker 2:Maybe somebody can take a nap if they need to, and it's got some great songs, songs and dance there's.
Speaker 3:I noticed at one point there's like several dancers that come out and they're dancing along with the characters, so it's super, super cute I love this.
Speaker 2:I think it's adorable and I cannot wait for us to do it I know I don't want to go back.
Speaker 3:I want to see the show all right, but that is that's it, guys. That's our views and our opinions on wait, wait, wait. I've got wait, wait.
Speaker 2:I've got a question.
Speaker 3:Oh, what's your question?
Speaker 2:I've got an Ashley question.
Speaker 3:Okay, what.
Speaker 2:Do you think they could have done this better or do you think this was done in exactly what Universal needed for this area, for KidZone?
Speaker 3:Oh, I think for me personally, as a 13-year-old adult, I think it's cute. I love it. It's going to probably be formally like it was to me. It's not an area I'm going to go in until HHN, when I'm going to get in line for houses after the park's closed. But I think that Universal totally hit the nail on the head for providing an area for kids to be able to play, because it's an area that a lot of theme parks around our country, I think, miss out on yes um, you know, like with dollywood, you've got country fair and you've got wildwood grove, these great areas for kids and then play areas for the younger kids, and I think that that is what universal made here.
Speaker 3:I would have loved to have seen another ride, like two rides, in that area just for the little ones, um, but I think that they, like I said, I think they refeemed the woody woodpecker ride to the troller coaster perfectly. I think there's a lot of experience for the little ones to do, a place for them to get wet and cool off, and, you know, hats off to universal. I think that this was a great sneak peek as to what we could potentially see moving forward with new technologies that universal is going to do, and I look forward to it.
Speaker 2:You know, I've always been one to to when people ask me which park they should take their kids to, whether it's at work or whether it's it's at a grocery store, and we I make friends with strangers. I get people that all the time that are like, okay, what should we do? Should we go here? Should we go there? Should we go to Universal? Should we go to Disney? And I've always said Disney's for the kids, universal's for the adults. I've always said that, and now I feel like this is a step in the direction where Universal is kind of going. Yes, we are alcohol stands and we are a very scary season of Halloween, horror Nights, and we are, yes, a little bit geared towards the teens, tweens and the young adults. However, we're also kind of staking one step back or one step further, and we're going to become for the kids as well.
Speaker 2:So I think this is pretty neat. It's not just oh, okay, we're on the way for the big kids to go ride Hagrid's. Look, you can see King Julian over there.
Speaker 2:That's the only kid thing that you got to do. Or here, get on seuss, that's the only kid thing you get to do. This is an entire land. I mean I can see parents being like, hey, you go take them to mib, to men in black, I'm gonna sit here while she rides the trolley coaster until she throws up, like I could. Just I can see. I can see parents doing that, which I think is is big props for the fact that universal has now created an entire dedicated area not just to children too, it's also to accessibility children, so all kids can feel I get to be a part of this, I get to experience all of these things, just like my siblings get to, which I think is pretty neat, which I think is pretty neat.
Speaker 3:So, guys, we want to know what is your opinion. What do you think about Dreamland? What do you think about DreamWorks? There's a lot of clouds.
Speaker 2:It could be.
Speaker 3:Dreamland. Are you excited for it. What's your opinions? Don't forget to hit that link just below our photo here on the episode description and let us know for your chance for us to read off your opinion on next week's episode. Speaking of which, don't forget to tune in next week when ashley and I are going to jump in and unplug the cost of living in orlando.
Speaker 2:We look forward to divulging all of our financial details with you guys, and letting you know, what it's like for us to live in orlando and the cost of living it's going for us to live in Orlando and the cost of living it's going to be very expensive guys, it is, can't wait.
Speaker 3:Don't forget, follow us on our social medias. Instagram and Facebook is where we're mostly active, but to get a list of all of the places that you can find us and all of our social medias, you can head on over to OrlandoUnpluggedPodcastcom. Until next week, my friends, stay safe, stay educated.
