Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, explorers. Welcome to episode 336 of the TDR now podcast. We're the first English speaking podcast talking about the Asian theme parks like Tokyo Disneysea, which we're going to be talking about today. You can find us all over on our website, tdrxpr.com on social media, all under the same name. And I just want to remind you that if you're planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort, you check out our guidebook. Yes, our guidebook that we've been doing since 2018. We have the new 2025, 2026 edition that is out now on our website at tdexplore.com books. It has everything you need to know to plan your trip to Tokyo Disney. We talk about when to visit, what to expect, what hotel to stay at, how the hotels work, how the app works, the food. There's even Japanese phrases in there, itineraries, everything you need to know. Like, seriously, it's the most comprehensive guidebook out there for Tokyo Disney. You do not want to visit without getting the guidebook. So head on over to our website, tdxbar.com books if you have your copy already. Thank you so much and send us, send us your review and we may use it on the website or something or read it on the podcast or something like that. So please let us know.
I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am the one you see on camera all the time on YouTube, usually stuffing my face. And joining as always, is the wonderful Patricia.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Hello.
What am I doing? I am the one. Oh my gosh. Ogling the beautiful, beautiful cherry blossoms which are starting to pop, pop, pop open. And they're so cute and pretty and it feels like spring and it's getting warmer and everything feels so nice. It feels so nice to just walk around outside.
I know, it really does, right? Oh my gosh, Chris. I want to have a picnic.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: Yes, a nice hanami party.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: Yes, we have one. We have one planned, but we're trying to like solidify the day, like depending on like when it's full bloom, you know?
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Right. Well, let me know.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe I'll.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Maybe I'll come.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: Yeah, you should. You should join us.
You can find me @Dream SweetsLove on Instagram and on Threads and Inktastrophe under Blue sky, though I haven't used it that much. Oh my gosh, Chris. So what are we, what, what are we talking about today? It's kind of exciting.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Yeah, we kind of had to change gears because this news just came out today. Like, I only found out about it because. Okay, let me tell you what happened. So I was doing a Patreon Q and A video that's on our other Patreon for the website. Like, we have the Patreon for the podcast, but then we have a separate one for the website. And I was doing the monthly Patreon thing. And this always happens to me. I went and like, I went through the questions and I'm like, okay, this is, you know, I know the answers to these, all that stuff. And one of them was like, stuff about Fantasy Springs. I'm like, well, we still don't know what's happening with Fantasy Springs yet. So it's, you know, whatever the current, the how it's currently working. So I went and I did the video and everything and then I came home because I went outside to record it this time and I came home and I sat down and then, I kid you not, the moment I hit publish on the video, put it on Patreon, I went and I looked on the Tokyo Disney Resort website and there it was. That just came out. That, like, at some point when I was out filming and coming home, that they announced what's happening after April 1st for Fantasy Springs?
It's changing again.
[00:03:34] Speaker B: Of course. Isn't that how it always is?
[00:03:38] Speaker A: It's. It. It's always like that. And then, you know, there's going to be people like, well, it's not out. What you said is outdated.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: It's like, well, it's like everyone else today, bro.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: Like, like, what am I?
Like, I don't have a direct line to them. It's not like they tell me these things ahead of time. I find out when everyone else does, you know.
So I guess what's happening is from April 1, Fantasy Springs is going to work like pretty much everywhere else in the park for the most part.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: So it's about damn time.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: No, like, you do not have to do the standby pass anymore to wait to get into the regular standby queue. You can just line up normally, just walk up like any other attraction and just wait in line.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Which is great. So that's for Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Rapunzel and Frozen, which is wonderful because I'm sure most of you listening already know how it works. You know, you had have to get a standby pass to wait in line. Like there's no other. There was no other way to wait in line or buy the Disney Premiere Access.
So them eliminating the standby pass is wonderful because it, it's confusing. Like people that are in the Know, know what to do. But I bet you there's been so many guests that have no idea and h, you know, don't even check ahead of time, which, you know, whatever, and then are disappointed right when they show up. And it's like, well, you can't ride because you don't have a pass. It's like, well, I didn't know. It's like, well, you can't ride. You know, like, I can understand people being frustrated with that. I totally get that 100%. So it's a really good change, I think.
And I guess I think we kind of predicted this. We kind of thought like that, like, they're. They're gonna go one of two ways, right? They're either gonna do this or they're gonna add like a different pass of some sort for more money. Right? Yeah, they didn't go that route. So, hey, here we are.
So I think it's a good change.
But from what I know or from looking at the website, you still need to do a mobile order for the restaurant restaurants still. So you can't just walk into them without a mobile order.
So.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Don't know if that's. I mean, getting a mobile order is easy enough anyway.
So I don't think it's like, for me personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal, but. But hopefully they maybe change that sooner than later. So you can just kind of go in whenever you want kind of thing.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe it'll be nice.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: I would just wait to see how the crowds are going to go because I bet you it's. It's going to be busy. That's what's going to happen. It's going to get busy.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Especially with spring break.
[00:06:34] Speaker A: Oh yeah, Spring break. Yeah. It's still happening. Yeah, it's going to get. It's going to get.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens with the wait times for these attractions because we kind of saw before what was happening. You know, the couple of days they turned off everything.
Like there was like, I think there was like a day in January and then like a day in September or October. They were kind of testing. So they just turned off like standby pass and just let anyone line up. I think frozen got over to like 170 minutes or something.
I mean, Rapunto was up there.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: Not so bad, like, compared to like what Toy Story Mania used to be. Like. It's not 200 reasonable.
[00:07:15] Speaker A: 210.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: No. Yeah, definitely not. Well, and like most people, I think they're willing to wait. Like, at least there's a chance to ride it instead of just being told no.
I think that's what. I think that's what people like more.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: I guess it's a much nicer feeling. Yeah. To at least get the chance, you know?
[00:07:35] Speaker A: And of course, like, the. The Disney Premiere access is still available. Like, you can. If you want to skip the line, you can still do that.
So it'll be interesting to see how long those lasts too.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: Because now it's just like, one pass to get instead of two or, like two to choose from. Two types. Yeah.
So it'll be interesting to see. Especially with fairy. I always want to say Fairy Terry. I don't know why I got that stuck in my head. It's Fairy Tinkerbells. But at one point I said Fairy Terry, and it just, like, it's stuck in my mind.
Because that one. That one was always standby pass, only they don't have a DPA line.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: So I'm interested to see what's going to happen to the wait time with that. Because the queue on. That's not that big.
It doesn't have a big queue. It's a really cute queue, though. Like, it's worth seeing.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: Rapunzel doesn't have that big of a queue either. So it'll be interesting to see what happens.
Because, like, when the standby pass stuff was on, the line would go all the way out of the front of the attraction down to, like, the entrance of Fantasy Springs. That's how long the line would get.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: But Peter Pan. Peter Pan's like a people eater. That queue is massive.
So, like, that one moves pretty quickly.
So, yeah, it's just. It's very interesting. Just interesting to see what's going to happen with all that, for sure.
So are you gonna go now? Because I remember you saying you're not gonna go until they remove all that stuff.
[00:09:02] Speaker B: Oh, I am. Like, I mean, now I. If I go, I'll go and I. I'll know I can write it. I, like, there's no rush. You know, it's been open for a while, so. Yeah, we'll eventually get there.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe not now because it's spring break.
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
I feel like the weather is so gorgeous. Everybody is out and about, so I feel like it's gonna be really crowded.
[00:09:25] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: But yeah, when it. When, like, it's like a calm season, I definitely want to go.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: Oh, definitely.
I don't think there's. I don't think the Calm seasons exist anymore.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: No, it's, it's, it's really good. It's really good news. I'm really happy that they're doing this long overdue something that's been long overdue.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think it'll raise like, the customer happiness, you know, like it. Because it really does feel bad to like go. You know, you go, you see it advertised, you plan a trip. And like you said, not everybody follows like Disney news, like super hardcore, you know? And like, you get there and then it's like, oh, it's sold out. Even though we came in the morning and everything. Like, it would not be a fun thing, you know?
[00:10:18] Speaker A: No, definitely not.
Yeah, it's definitely good for like a, a regular guest, I guess. Like. Yeah, I don't know what to call it. Like, obviously, like people like us, we're a little more, we're quite involved in the theme park community, so we're a little more hardcore. Right. So we know the ins and outs of these things. But you can't just expect people that don't follow this stuff, like you said, know exactly what to do. So it just, yeah, it's just, it's just friendlier overall, I think.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: For sure.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: I do. I do know one thing people have been asking about, like, what happens with vacation package stuff.
I'll be honest, I've seen a lot of people online and this is like, not to call any. Anyone specifically out, but I've seen, I see a lot of people buying vacation packages and not understand what they are. And my thought is, oh, seriously, you're spending thousands of dollars and you don't know what you're buying? Like, man, if I'm spending that much money, I want to know exactly what I'm getting. I'm going to read through everything and like, to a T. I've seen so many people just like, buy it and then not under, like not know what's included with their vacation package. Am I. I don't know how, I don't know how people operate that way. I'm like, I can't do that. That gives me so much anxiety.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: I don't know why.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: Yeah, like, just like, like they just.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: Pick a random package.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: It's. I don't, I honestly don't know.
But like, to me it's like, I, I do know, like, the Toki Disney Resort website is not the most user friendly and sometimes their wording on stuff is very confusing. I totally get that. But if you read through it, you can get, you can get A pretty good understanding of how things work. But yeah, so a lot of people, I've seen a lot of people buy them and not understand. But the reason why I bring that up is because there's been confusion with vacation packages and what happens with Fantasy Springs. So just to kind of make it clear, cut, all vacation packages from April 1st onwards, like, nothing includes unlimited rides on Fancy Springs attractions anymore. That is done. Like, that's not happening anymore. No vacation packages include unlimited rides on Fantasy Springs attractions. With that said, some of the packages will include one, basically one DPA for the, like some of the attractions in Fantasy Springs, which is an additional cost. So you're basically buying a DPA ahead of time. Like when, when you book your vacation package. That's really the only thing that, that's the only way to get those, I guess, DPA stuff with your vacation package.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: And the reason why I know this so well is because I had to go through this with a fine tooth comb for our guidebook.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Oh my gosh.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Like, I had to sit there and like compare all of the packages and just understand like, hey, what is different between these, what's included and explain that. So it's very fresh in my mind. So if that's on another push to get our guidebook, like we explain vacation packages very, very well, in my opinion.
[00:13:33] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. You know it intricately.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: I do. Maybe more than I want to, but you know, that's how it goes.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I love it.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah.
We kind of had to throw this episode together.
Like this news just happened like a few hours before were going to record. So we kind of threw everything out the window just to get this done because it's very important news.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: So like, now that this news is out, what do you think would be good for people to consider when they're planning their day?
[00:14:15] Speaker A: I think, yeah, it's tricky because I.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Guess there's one of two ways we just announced it. So we don't know yet, right?
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah, we don't know. Well, we don't know what's going to happen with wait times and stuff because that kind of dictates a lot of things. But like, one thing I can think of is I guess one of two ways.
Maybe the more obvious one is like as soon as you're in the park, first thing, just go all the way to Fantasy Springs. Like make that 20 minute walk to Fantasy Springs from the front of the park, right. And do the ride, like start doing the rides there or, or what you could do is maybe get into standby for one of the attractions near the front of the park. So like either Soarin or Journey or Tower or even Toy Story Mania and get a DPA for Frozen because we know that's going to go like I, I could almost guarantee you Frozen will be probably the most popular one that's going to go right away. Kind of like we said, Tokyo Disneyland. I think that's, I think that's what's going to happen. That's my hypothesis. So you could, you could do that if you want to like maybe do something in front of the park first, then make your way to the back of Fantasy Springs. Because I have a feeling most people are just going to beeline it for Fantasy Springs. Right?
[00:15:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: So, but like we don't know yet exactly how, what's going to happen. But those are like the two ways I can think of you could potentially do it. What, what, what do you think?
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I guess I would probably like just like you said, go straight there and my first goal would be Frozen.
Although I kind of want to wait and see like when they, when we start seeing the wait times on the app. Because I wonder if it would be better to just save it for the end of the day. Like that's what we often do with like soaring like when we go to Disneysea, you know, so. And maybe then knock out one of the easier ones first like Peter Pan or something like that. And I feel like like Tangled will go really, it will move quickly just because it's a short ride. So even though the line might be really long, I feel like it would move fast, you know, so maybe knock those out first.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: Yeah, so I guess it's just kind of depends. Like Disney Sea is such a weirdly shaped park now. Right. Like Fancy Springs, like I said, is a 20. Like if you walk out of like a normal pace, it's about a 20 minute walk to get from the front of Disney Sea all the way to Fantasy Springs. That's not a short walk.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: No.
[00:16:55] Speaker A: So I guess kind of depends on what you want to do. I like, I do think though everyone's going to have the idea of go there first. Right.
[00:17:04] Speaker B: For sure.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: Which maybe is not the best idea. I don't know, like maybe just grab a DPA and like you said maybe go later for like some of the other attractions or something. I. I'm not sure.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Like since you'll be able to line up anyway, you don't have to worry about like the timing of when you queue, you know.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: I feel like those morning lines are going to be insane, you know, because everybody's gonna like go in there.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: It's always funny when I see stuff on social media about people's like, even up until today, like people are still saying you need to line up at 4am to get into Fancy Springs. I'm like, you don't, you haven't had to line up at 4am for a very long time. Like it's not like, yes, the lines get long, but like not 4am you don't need to be there for 4am.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Like the outer gate's not even open yet. Like what are they even saying?
Well, like even like in the hardcore days we would very rarely line up before 6. Like it would be like maybe like a once in a couple of years thing, you know.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Well, you know how sensational social media can get. Like I see lots of sensational.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: You need, you need hits. Right? Of course.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: I see so much. Okay, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna rant for a moment here. I see so much terrible advice for not just Tokyo Disney, but just Japan and like universities Japan from people that just come here once and kind of speak with authority. Like they understand everything. And it just like I watched some of it and I'm like, this is really bad advice. And then of course other people don't know that, so they follow that advice and then they have a bad time, you know, and it's just like, it just kind of irks me sometimes just like the amount of bad advice out there. So, you know, but I, I think our, our wonderful explorers that listen know better, I would hope.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like if you like, I don't know, I feel like if, if you are following somebody on social media for like, for example, like advice on like travel or like anything, I feel like it would be good to probably follow somebody who has either lived in the location for many years or has some kind of like connection to whatever they're talking about. Whether it's like a particular like activity, like a SP activity or like a niche hobby, like I don't know, like cars or something like that. And they have like a lot of experience rather than somebody who maybe is like they create a lot of really popular videos, but maybe they, they do a lot of broad topics so maybe they don't have that like in depth knowledge. Yeah, but maybe that's too much common sense. I don't know.
You know, because there's so many people that like that and a lot of people like for example, we got it really bad. I don't Know anybody's names? You know, like I know there was like what were their name? There's a girl, she had like, she has like really red hair and she's been living here for like a ton of years and she's been doing a lot of content for a long time and I know she partnered with the prefecture that she lives in and she's been doing like various things and like I'm so sorry, Rachel and Jun, right is the name of the account I think. And then there's an other girl, Esther Molina and she's also really interesting.
She moved here from Spain and she has been working in stationery and she actually opened up her own line under with called Superior labor. And so she's really. She has a really good in depth knowledge of that niche area. Right. And she works with a lot of other companies. She has like a really long term relationships. So I feel like. And that's just like in Japan, like for like any country I know for sure there's people like that that have been involved in certain activities or that they have like a really long experience, you know, like you for example, cover have been covering the theme parks forever. You've been living here a really long time.
So you really know in detail what you're talking about. Right.
So I think it just is kind of like. And of course, like of course we, we watch social media for entertainment as well. So I get it. You know, you want to watch the, I don't know, maybe really wacky person or the person who like, like gives like the points really quickly or something like that. It's like a really quick like thing to consume and I understand the appeal of that. But also, you know, and it's fun, I'm sure it's really fun. But also to kind of balance like if you're planning a trip and you're like spending all this time and invest like investing in it.
I just think it would be good to like balance it out a little, you know.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Oh, exactly. Just be mindful of what you consume. Just kind of like, just like food, right?
[00:22:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean like junk food is fun too, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. I mean, I mean it could like if a lot could be bad but you know, like, but also. Yeah, taking that nutritious stuff too. It's really important and it tastes good too, you know?
[00:22:37] Speaker A: Yep. Like a guidebook.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Yes. There you go.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Yeah, those are good. But yeah, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with the wait times of Fantasy Springs. I know. That's like, I'm seeing comments on social media. That's what everyone's saying. Wasn't this gonna make the lines really long? I'm like, well, what else are they supposed to do?
[00:22:58] Speaker B: It would be better than having no line, you know what I mean? Than not having the chance at all.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: So it's gonna happen. Like, it's.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: It's fine.
[00:23:07] Speaker A: I. It's. I don't know. Like, I don't know how to say this nicely.
Both Disneyland and disneysea are amongst or in the top five most visited theme parks in the world. They're busy. You're not going to have the park to yourself. There are thousands of people that want to be here. So that's just the reality of it. So it's going to be busy. You just have to be prepared for that.
Just. It is. It is what it is to say to, you know, say a little cliche, but I say it very lovingly, but. Well. And that's why people listen to the podcast, because, you know, they want to be in the know and we want to make sure people are in the know.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. But yeah, I also did see. I saw another social, like, a video, you know, people complaining about the crowds and stuff at Tokyo Disney. And I can kind of tell, like, when I watch these videos, I'm like, oh, these are people that just kind of. Well, they're. They're going for clicks. I can just tell. Like, I've been around on social media long enough. Like, I know when people, like, these people know what they're doing. They know they're. They're getting emotional response from people, so they're just feeding into it. Right.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:24:29] Speaker A: I don't. I don't fall for it. Like, I don't comment on this stuff or anything.
I'm just like, yeah, they know what they're doing. But yeah, like, people will complain about the crowds and just like, videos about. Just complaining about everything at Tokyo Disney. Right. It's like, all right, well, you didn't do any research, but you're turning that into content, which is feeding into people's emotions, and people react to it and it gets sent to more people, and it's just like, it's a whole.
It's a whole thing. Right.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: I mean, and there's nothing wrong with complaining about the parks. They're not like, perfect places.
[00:25:03] Speaker A: Oh, no, definitely not.
[00:25:03] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:25:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Like, being critical is perfectly fine. Like, there. There's a way to do it too. Right?
Instead of just being clickbait stuff. But.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: But it gets. It gets views, right?
[00:25:17] Speaker A: It does. It definitely does.
Oh, well.
Oh, my goodness. I feel bad that we really didn't plan this at all.
The weather's nice. I think we already said that the weather's nice.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: Economy.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: Okay, I have a question because I haven't been to Fantasy Springs yet. Are there any cherry blossom trees in Fantasy Springs? I would imagine there must be. Right.
[00:25:44] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:25:45] Speaker B: Actually, that would be kind of cool.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: To go because obviously during the summer when it opened, it was all green.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:25:53] Speaker A: So I don't know. That's a good question.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: I'm kind of excited to find out.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: There is. That'd be nice.
I hope there is. I really do.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Good old Fantasy Springs.
That's not even a year old yet, but, you know, here we are.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: There's not much else going on at Disney right now, except, like, the events are like the. The Duffy 20th anniversary event starting. The Donald Duck stuff is starting. The next event is starting soon.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: Oh, it's a Donald Duck event. Like the.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: Oh, the. The Quacky Quack City. They're doing it again this year.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: Oh, it's back. Okay.
[00:26:35] Speaker A: Yeah, it's back.
I know. Because you haven't been to Disneyland in a while. Tomorrowland is kind of a mess right now.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:26:44] Speaker A: It's just walls, walls, walls, walls. There's walls all up around where Astroblasters was, and then a wall kind of like.
[00:26:53] Speaker B: Right.
[00:26:54] Speaker A: The wall where Space Mountain was as well. So it's like. It's like you're walking down this corridor outside. You know, when you're kind of walking towards theater from, like. If you're walking, like, on the right side of the park, you know?
[00:27:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: Yeah. So, like, that's.
It's like. Yeah. It's boarded up on both sides and everything. And, you know, those walls are going to be there a while when there's speakers built into the walls.
They have speakers in the walls, so, you know, they're going to be there a while.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Ah, that's right. That's two major attractions, huh?
[00:27:32] Speaker A: Yeah. But our Tomorrowland. I have faith in them making our Tomorrowland look more modern.
[00:27:38] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. I kind of like the retro style, though, in a way.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: That's.
It's a little. It's dated. Like, it's.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: It's just like. It's a bit of a mishmash as well, you know?
[00:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah. It's kind of. Yeah. We're kind of in this weird, like, when they added Baymax, Baymax kind of had that part of Tomorrowland kind of. It's more like softer, curvier edges, whereas, like, the former Tomorrowland's very, like, straight, hard edges. Right. So, like, the. They just didn't mesh well together.
[00:28:12] Speaker B: It would be good to have a more cohesive look.
[00:28:15] Speaker A: Yeah, we're kind of. We're going to that. That whooshy kind of like smooth edges, rounded kind of look.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: Well, you know, like, very like Lilo and stitchesque.
[00:28:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, our new Space Mountain is going to look like whipped cream. You know, the top of it, it's swirly. Right.
You can see the. The. The construction going pretty quickly for the new Space Mountain that's opening in 2027.
You can see, like, the front of it. They're starting to build that. And it looks pretty big, like. And it's pretty far back. Like, being in the park, you're like, oh, that's far back. Like, they're getting a lot more space now, pardon the pun, in front of Space Mountain, which is nice because, as you know, with the old Space Mountain there, that area, like that T intersection always felt very crowded or cramped when it was on busy days.
So having just more space to help with flow is always a good thing, I think.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that's. It's a good move on their part. And of course, it's always a challenge for them to get more space because space is very limited.
That's why they keep gobbling up what's left of the parking lot. I guess it's pretty much gone now. It's all Fantasy Springs and Tomorrowland and whatever else. I think there's a little bit of parking lot left, but that's probably unborrowed time as well, I bet.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: I'm not mad about it. You know, we get more parks. That's always good, of course.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I don't know, move, like, move parking somewhere else if you have to, you know.
[00:29:48] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. Yeah.
[00:29:51] Speaker A: Because, like, where do you even park at Universal here? I don't even know.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: I don't drive here, so I have no idea.
I have a driver's license, though, right?
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Yeah. That's weird. I never thought about that. Like, I know the parking garage is for Disneyland, Disneysea, but I never really think about usj.
[00:30:11] Speaker B: Yeah, interesting.
[00:30:13] Speaker A: I don't know.
Is pretty busy.
Yeah.
Not much else going on at Disneyland or DisneySea. I guess. DisneySea. Biggest thing is Fantasy Springs. Everything else is kind of same old, same old.
Oh, I did notice they started I don't know if we mentioned this before, I can't remember, but they, they.
The TDR website now lists plant based options more prominently on the website, which is nice.
[00:30:46] Speaker B: Did we talk about this? I don't remember, but it's fantastic. Yeah, I feel like we did. Yeah, it's really important.
[00:30:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I guess they probably would have got a lot of people asking foreign guests anyway. Japanese people don't really ask that stuff. It's not that common, but.
Oh, the next set of Lorcana cards just came out the other day this past weekend.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: What's going on with that?
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Yeah, so it looks like every few months they're releasing the next like, set of cards in Japanese because, like, I think in like North America or like the English ones, they're. They. They're kind of like.
I don't know how many sets they have four or five now.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: In Japan, it looks like they're slowly gonna. Maybe every few months are gonna release the next one to kind of catch up. I think so. Yeah, that just came out. I didn't buy them. I kind of forgot, to be honest. And I think they sell out pretty quickly. It's quite popular.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Wow. Do you think it would be kind of cool if they do like an event at the resort, like using like the hotel, like conference space or something like that?
Something. Yeah. Wouldn't that be neat?
[00:32:05] Speaker A: Because, like, they're. They're starting to lean on. I shouldn't say lean in more, but you know, they're still doing stuff with Twisted Wonderland. Like there's a Twisted wonder. There was a Twisted Wonderland, like dessert set at the Empire Grill that I thought closed. Remember that?
[00:32:21] Speaker B: I would be so sad if it closed.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: I remember I was like, no, it's closed. You're like, wait, what? I'm like, oh, no, wait, that was Hana.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: No, I knew Hana close. Yeah. I did not. I was like, Empire Krill.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: I was like, no, I always got them mixed up because, like, aren't they. They're like right by. They were right by each other.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: They're right next to each other. Yeah.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was like. I was getting confused.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: Three massive restaurants next to each other, which is interesting.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Yeah, they designed that. But. Yeah, yeah. Twisted Wonderland. They. I think the set's done, but, you know, they're still doing some stuff for Twisted Wonderland.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Well, I think it's probably to advertise the show, right?
[00:33:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Because, yeah, there's an anime coming this fall or something, isn't it?
Yeah.
[00:33:05] Speaker B: So I probably see a lot more promotions coming.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: I do not follow that at all. So there's too many things I can't be in everything. And that's one of the things I'm just kind of skipping.
[00:33:17] Speaker B: I have like a really bad time following TV shows, so. Yeah, because it's a lot of. It's like a big time sink.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Oh yeah, no, 100% I get that.
[00:33:27] Speaker B: You know, and like I can't get into another fandom after Shingeki. Like it's just way too much involvement.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: No, I get it.
[00:33:36] Speaker B: But it looks really cool. Like I really like Yana Toboso's like designs. Like her, like especially like the clothing designs look really, really cool and her character designs. But like I just, I can't, you know, it's like, it's. It's like a really massive fandom too, you know?
[00:33:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
Have you played? There's a new Disney game that came out. What is it called? It's only in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan, I think.
Hold on. Did I delete it? Oh no, I may have deleted.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: Oh no.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: Oh no, I didn't. Disney Step.
It just came out the beginning of the month. It's basically Disney's version of Pokemon Go.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: That's kind of cool.
[00:34:25] Speaker A: So you walk around and you collect. You have to collect chests. So like you go to spots and you have to collect chests but you can only open certain chests with different keys and you collect like Keynes and stuff. And you have to walk obviously to these things. I tried playing it. The UI is very clunky. It's very Japanese.
So if anyone that's played like Japanese mobile games, you probably know what I'm talking about. It's just like menu on menu on menu with like oh no, ton of text and like so much explanation and all this stuff. I'm like, this is way too much information.
Like I, I guess like for me that's why when I have problems with Japanese sometimes. Because Japanese tends to over explain everything. Like they'll explain every little.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: It's either that or they under explain. It's like one of the two, you know, like, like they over explain or.
[00:35:20] Speaker A: It'S, it's vague because like I'll get tired of like, of reading. I'm like, oh my goodness. Like why are you explaining to me how to tap my screen? Like I know what to do, you know? And I get kind of frustrated because it's just like text, text, text, text, text, text, text. I'm like, I just want to go. Or sometimes like you said, it's like, it's so vague. I'm Like, I what? Or it's like things are. Are implied. Because, like, that happens in Japanese a.
[00:35:45] Speaker B: Lot where things are just.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: They just assume you kind of know what it means.
No, I don't. I don't know. What. What are you talking about?
[00:35:54] Speaker B: No, I don't know.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: So I tried playing it, and I just kind of.
I just went back to Pokemon Go.
I just did that instead.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Did you notice? Okay. It was really weird. For, like, a short time. It felt like the Tsum Tsum game made, like, this comeback. And I don't know if it was because they were advertising it or what, but it seemed like everybody around me was playing it, like, all ages, too. Like little kids to adults. It was, like, really, really strange. And even my son came up to me. He's like, send me hearts. And I'm like, I haven't played in years. I don't even know if I have the app. And so then I started playing it too, and I was sending him hearts, and then he stopped. And I'm like, you made me start this again.
Did you notice that? Did you notice that all of a sudden everybody was doing it?
[00:36:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I saw, like, a surge in people playing Tsum Tsum again.
[00:36:52] Speaker B: Why? Do you know why?
[00:36:54] Speaker A: I think they must have added some characters or something because I. I know they keep adding, like, Tsum Tsum characters. Like, a lot of. A lot of IP stuff.
[00:37:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Marvel. And I know for a time they had Titanic.
Yeah. You could get Jack and Rose.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: No, that's so weird.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: Yeah. And, like, I think one of their, like, powers to clear the board was, like, an iceberg or something.
[00:37:22] Speaker B: No, no. Okay. I would play to get that skill.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: It was something so stupid. I was like, what? Oh, my gosh, heck, is this so dumb? And then, of course, yeah, there's like, a Marvel stuff and all that. Like, that's obviously a given.
[00:37:39] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Yeah. I just remember the Titanic stuff. And I was.
I wish I. I should have got back into that. Like, Tsum tsum was like, 2013, I think.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. I had so many hearts from when I stopped playing.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I was. I. I played it a lot, too. It was. It was good fun. I wish they did more stuff in the parks with it. They didn't do anything in the parks, actually.
[00:38:01] Speaker B: Yeah. I wish they had.
[00:38:04] Speaker A: Like, they still. You can still buy Tsum Tsums. They're not as. Like, there's not as many anymore, but they still make them. Like, usually, like, the seasonal March will have, like, a couple seasonal Tsum Tsums Like, I bought the. The new sakura ones this year because they had a scrump and stitch one that they've never had before that were pink.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: Oh, pink.
[00:38:23] Speaker A: Pink and purple. So I had. I. I thought, I want to buy them because I bought. I bought like, like this holder that looks like a gumball machine that you put your tsum tsums in. Oh, really?
[00:38:40] Speaker B: Like that? Like the game, like the gacha?
[00:38:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It looks like the little gacha.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: That's cute.
[00:38:45] Speaker A: So. And like I put all my tsum tsums in there, but it wasn't full. Like it was like half full. And I'm like, I feel like I should fill this up. So I started buying tsum tsums again just to fill it up. Oh no, it's so cute. And I remember I went all the way. I went all the way to Haneda once. Like I wasn't flying anywhere, but I went to Hana once because they have Haneda exclusive tsum tsums that are in vending machines.
So you can get like Mickey and like a little. His little aviator outfit and Minnie. I think she's a flight attendant.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: I think that's so cute. I wish, Yeah, I wish they would tie it into location. So like, kind of like Pokemon Go where like, you know, you go to like, let's say Haneda and maybe you could unlock like the, like the like airline kind of like collaboration tsumus or something like that. Or like in the parks, you could get like special parks tsum tsums, you know?
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that that would be a big hit.
[00:39:46] Speaker B: I think that would be amazing. Yeah.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: Because I would do it. I love that kind of stuff. Like I do that with Pokemon Go.
I will go out of my way to do things.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Oh, well, like how cool would have been if they had fantasy springs, like tsum tsums or something.
[00:40:05] Speaker B: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Right. And you could like commemorate the event. And also it'd be like kind of like. Of course you don't need. I guess it would be good to do it like now that like the. The first year. Is it the first year over?
[00:40:19] Speaker A: No, not until June, but soon enough.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: It'S going to be over, you know, to kind of like drive attendance again, you know, like, they don't need it now because it's like spring, you know. But that would be really neat.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: Yeah, I think so. I think that'd be really cool. They should do stuff like that.
[00:40:35] Speaker B: Oh my goodness, I wish they would. And there's like so many like, collaborations that happen in this country, so I. I feel like, it would be like a massive hit.
[00:40:47] Speaker A: Okay, well, it's not Disney related. We should probably talk about on a different episode. But I'll just briefly mention it.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:54] Speaker A: The Wicked event at USJ is freaking wonderful.
[00:40:57] Speaker B: Shut up. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so what are they doing?
[00:41:01] Speaker A: It's not. It's not very big.
What's that?
[00:41:04] Speaker B: The characters are there, right?
[00:41:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's not. It's not a big event, but they're doing it until the end of the year, so it's going for the rest of the year. So you can meet Glinda and Elphaba.
[00:41:16] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:41:17] Speaker A: At the park and. Which is really lovely. I got to do that. It was so much fun. They have some merchandise, some decorations, and they're gonna have like the costumes from the movie right now. They have Madame Maribel and the Wizard. I think the other costumes are coming later. Because my understanding, I think, is the costumes are actually at the Hibiya Toho Cinemas.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I was about to say they're in Hibia Midtown. Yeah.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: Yeah. So I think they're there once, like, I don't know for. I don't know exactly. But I think once they're done there, they're maybe going to USJ or somewhere else then. Usj. I don't know, but they're going to be at USJ at some point. We just don't know when.
So I think that's really cool. And then they have.
They only have one food item, but it's a. It's a peanut butter churro and I freaking loved it.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Sounds really good.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: It was really good. I just wish it was like. I wish it was more peanut butter, like filled with peanut butter or something. It just had peanut butter, like sugar flavor, which it was still pretty good. Like, it's different because you don't really get that that much.
[00:42:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:23] Speaker A: Because they usually don't do that kind of peanut butter stuff. Is peanut butter even, like, popular in Japan? I don't even know.
[00:42:31] Speaker B: You know, I saw. I love peanut butter, but it's like not so popular here. But I saw something the other day. What was it? And I was like, peanut butter. Oh, that's such a rare flavor here, you know. But it tends to be a bit softer than like American peanut butter.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Right. Like it's like creamy. It's almost like. Yeah, like a. It's almost like whipped. Right.
It's not that, like, it's not whipped cream, but it's like close to that. Like, it's not like, like, yeah, peanut butter to me it's like, it's, it's.
It's pretty solid coming out of the jar to me anyway. Yeah.
[00:43:11] Speaker B: And it's a lot. I feel like it's a lot saltier in North America.
[00:43:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
Oh, I like my favorite peanut butter is the ones with like the bits of peanuts in it. I love the crunch.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: Yes. It's so good.
[00:43:24] Speaker A: So good.
[00:43:25] Speaker B: Chunky peanut butter also.
[00:43:27] Speaker A: Fun fact. Well, you know this Chiba is known for its peanuts.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: It is, that's right.
[00:43:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
Well, actually, when I. When I buy peanut butter from the grocery store, I make sure I buy Chiba peanut butter.
[00:43:41] Speaker B: You're so good. Yes. Support Chiba 100%.
[00:43:46] Speaker A: Gotta support. Gotta support the local economy.
[00:43:49] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:43:50] Speaker A: And also me buying my $9 freaking.
[00:43:52] Speaker B: Strawberries because whatever they got in really affordable lately. Like if you go to a case store, it was like, what, like 300, 400 yen?
[00:44:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So it kind of depends how I feel.
I kind of go day by day here. I think recent, like the, like I was kind of buying, I was trying all the different strawberries because they're all different price points.
[00:44:15] Speaker B: Yeah. They have different, like, flavors, right? Like, different. Like some are sweeter and some are more sour.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: Yeah. They have like charts and like showing like the sweetness and the sourness and stuff. So it's kind of like, okay, which one do I like best? Turns out I like the 400. The 400 yen strawberries on this one farm. It's like the perfect amount of sourness and sweetness and juiciness for me because some of them, like, they were really tart. I'm like, I don't really care for that. Like, that was more like the higher end ones, like the pricier ones. I'm like, for this much, it's too sour for me. Like, it's just too much.
And then I sometimes will buy them when they're like discounted because you can sometimes get them 50 off. But the problem with that is, like, they're gonna go bad. Like, strawberries do not keep.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: I feel like it's iffy, you know, and it goes to 50% off. It's like, it's like a gamble, but you might luck and like, they're all perfect.
[00:45:12] Speaker A: Well, it's like I have to eat this tonight and tomorrow morning.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Or it goes bad kind of thing.
[00:45:17] Speaker B: Go, go, go.
[00:45:22] Speaker A: Yeah, I've just been eating a lot of strawberries because I freaking love them.
[00:45:25] Speaker B: Yeah. They're so good. Every morning has been really reasonable lately.
[00:45:29] Speaker A: Every morning I have strawberries. That's what I have every Morning.
[00:45:33] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: Oh, I love it, too.
Oh, my goodness. Well, I think. I think we can end this here. I think that's good.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:45:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, next week we'll have a better planned episode, unless more wild news happens, because we will see, I suppose.
Before we go, though, we want to thank some wonderful explorers over on Patreon. So if you want to support the show, head ON over to patreon.com TDR now.
So a big thank you to Acro Disney girl, Adam, Amanda, C, Amy B. Amy C, Mama, Explorer, Benjamin, Brent, M, Carrie, Chris, B, Claire, Claudia, Dave, David, Baker, Kevin, Harry, Marina, Beth, Eli, Robinson.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: Taylor, and Mel and Jamie, Jose, Kathy, Lee, Marie, Michelle, Murray, Sophie, Spoopy, Thomas, Kate, Alexandra, Lizzie, Amy, and Andy, Dana, Cassandra, Annie, Sonia, W.W. paige, Adelaide, Tara, Nina, and TN.
[00:46:31] Speaker A: And if you have suggestions for the show, please send them to us either on Patreon or email us directly. Yeah, we. We want to know what you want us to talk about. Otherwise, we're just gonna do random things like this, which is not always bad, but, you know, the suggestions always help. We did get some other suggestions, so we'll see what we. With what we come up with.
If you haven't already.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: It's like a sneak preview.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: I don't remember what it was. I just saw the email.
But we. Yeah, we did. We did get some. Get some. Nice.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Thank you, guys.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah. So if you're listening, you sent it. Thank you. I need to get to it.
If you haven't already, make sure you hit or tap. Don't. Don't hit your phone. Probably not that far. Tap that subscribe button or follow button on your podcast app of choice. That way you don't miss any of our newest episodes and stay up to date with everything that's happening and the chaos that is our podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I am the one that is trying all the strawberries at the grocery store. Well, I buy them first, then I try them. I don't try them at the grocery store because don't do that. That's bad.
You get in a lot of trouble.
And joining as always, is the wonderful Patricia.
[00:47:46] Speaker B: Oh, I'm living my best cherry blossom life.
You guys let us know what your plans are if you're hitting up fantasy Springs after the first and tell us after you go how it worked out. Like, what worked, what didn't work, what you would do differently next time. And, yeah, keep exploring.
[00:48:10] Speaker A: All right, explorers, we'll see you in the next one.
[00:48:12] Speaker B: Bye.
