Theme Parks News in Asia Roundup! | 324

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey explorers. Welcome to episode two no. 324 of the TDR now podcast. We are the first English speaking podcast focusing on the Asian theme parks like Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disneysea universities, Japan, Universal Studios, Beijing, you know, all over the place. We are all over. You can find us over on our website tdrxplorer.com and all over social media under the same name. I'm one of your hosts, Chris. I'm the one that you see on camera all the time on YouTube, usually stuffing my face and joining as always is the wonderful and charismatic and spooky Patricia. [00:00:39] Speaker B: I'm like, only one of these things is true. And that's the spooky part. [00:00:45] Speaker A: This is the season. [00:00:47] Speaker B: It is. Hey guys, I'm Trish. I'm a part of a team called Discover Urayasu. We're working on promoting the city in English and you can find me on Dream Sweets, love on Instagram and threads. And I guess I'm the one that was drinking around the city and carving pumpkins, like so many pumpkins. [00:01:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So like really quickly, what was that exactly? I. I looked it up a little bit, but you could probably explain it better than I could. [00:01:17] Speaker B: Okay, so it's actually really cool. And it happens once a year and it's called Urayasu Baru, I think Barukai. And what it is is you. The idea, the concept is to turn the entire city into like a Spanish bar street. And it's actually really good if you're a tourist visiting around that time because it's actually really easy to do. You buy like a set of tickets, they have like a set of three tickets or a set of five tickets and you have two days and a list of all these different businesses. Some are local businesses, some are resort hotels and you go around and they'll have like a already decided menu. You just choose your drink to go along with it and if you want non alcohol options, that's that. There's that as well. So you don't have to drink alcohol and you get to try the different dishes that they've come up with for the event and it's kind of a blast. And I was like kind of shocked because you know everywhere they put something delicious together and usually you have a choice of like some kind of wine or a highball or something like that. Right. But when I went to the Hotel Gran Nico, Tokyo Bay, they had full on bartenders like doing flair bar tricks and like various petit four that you could choose from. And like I was like, oh my God. I should have saved more tickets for here because I wanted to try all the different, like cocktails and the different, like sweets along with it. It was just like so well done, you know, and it's, it's a really great way to like get to know the city, to get to try out different businesses that you've kind of like had your eye on but you maybe ever had a chance to go to or if you're a tourist, like, it's really easy to just hop on the monorail and try the different places at the resort hotels. So I really, really recommend it if you're here in autumn. Urayasubaru. So fun and really easy to do. And you should try it next year, Chris. Maybe we can go together. We'll go out drinking. [00:03:33] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do that. Yeah, that'd be fun. I think that would be really fun. That sounds good. That really does sound good. [00:03:41] Speaker B: It was a blast. And I had never done it before because it's kind of hard because is just for two days. So like, you know, my schedule is very irregular. So like the fact that I could participate this year, I was really happy about it. [00:03:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I would definitely want to do that next year, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And it's also nice to do something that is not theme park related if you're in the area. I think it's always good. [00:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, you could, you could kind of make it theme park related though because some of the hotels are on the monorail line. [00:04:11] Speaker A: That's true. Yeah. You can get real good use out of your day pass for sure. [00:04:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:20] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. Oh, man. It'd be fun to do like a bar hopping thing. Of all the, like resort, like resort line hotels, like even the Disney ones. [00:04:33] Speaker B: I know they do that at the American. I know, like that's a Disney World thing. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, I guess here, like for the Disney hotels, the technically the only ones on the monorail loop line would be. I guess the. Well that has a bar that you can go to would be the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and the Miracosta. Because Toy Story you can't go in unless you're a hotel guest. But they don't have a bar anyway, so it doesn't matter. And the master hotel is technically not on the monorail loop line. [00:05:04] Speaker B: You could go to the other hotels on the loop, like Sheraton Hilton, Gran Nico, the Maihama one. [00:05:12] Speaker A: I guess those ones you end up like walking. [00:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah, a little bit of walking is good. [00:05:17] Speaker A: Always nice. [00:05:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:20] Speaker A: Oh, that'd be fun. We should do that. [00:05:22] Speaker B: That would make a good video. [00:05:24] Speaker A: It would be. Yeah. Well, I guess I haven't been doing as much exciting things as is. You. [00:05:35] Speaker B: You do. You do way more exciting stuff. What are you talking about? [00:05:38] Speaker A: Well, like, I'm working on a project which we're actually. We'll talk about in the next episode. There's a project that's coming. It's going to be finished very soon. So if you've been on Patreon or if you maybe. I think I shared it on Instagram Stories a week ago. I want to say then you already know what I'm talking about. But for those that haven't. Yeah, I'm going to talk about it extensively in the next episode, podcast episode, so stay tuned for that. And also, I've just been living my otaku life lately, which is fun. [00:06:14] Speaker B: It's always fun, though. It is like a fun rabbit hole to like, dive into. [00:06:18] Speaker A: Well, I've been getting back into Dan Sans Revolution, which I love. I've always loved it, like, since like 98 when it came out. So I've been going to like the different arcades to play it. It's kind of funny because, like, I go to the different arcades and just like, kind of pick one that I kind of like just because, like, in terms of, like, the vibe of the arcade, because some of them are too small. Some of them are a little smoky because, you know, maybe the machines are near, like the smoking room or some of them are maybe too loud that you can't hear the music. So I kind of. I like to go around, just kind of find like, oh, which one do I like the most? Because, you know, the DDR machines are pretty much like, they're the same anyway, so it doesn't really matter. [00:07:03] Speaker B: Which is like, your favorite right now. [00:07:05] Speaker A: I think mine is in Ueno. There's a. I think it's a Taito arcade. It's in. I can never remember the name of that street. Amiyako Ami. [00:07:16] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, whatever. Amayoko. [00:07:18] Speaker A: Amioko. Yeah, that street that. That was like my stomping grounds 20 years ago when I was here as an exchange student. That's where I would go when I would come to Tokyo. Because I lived up in Utsunomiya, the Utsunomi area. So like, when I came down there, that's kind of where I went because the. The trainer took. Came into Ueno. So that's kind of like a little nostalgic for me. [00:07:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:41] Speaker A: But also, the arcade is nice. It's small. Not a lot of people really know about it. It's not over. Like, there's people there, but it's not like, overrun, you know, like. Like a round one. A round one's very big and very loud. I find round one places. It's a little tough to sometimes hear the music. [00:08:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it's more like an amusement center. [00:08:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's just very loud. And like, with, like, these smaller ones, everything's kind of like compartmentalized into floors. So, like, the rhythm games are on one floor. So, like, it's all kind of like the same kind of sounds, if that makes sense. So they don't kind of like. Like, they. They don't clash, I guess. So it doesn't. It's easier to kind of focus on what your machine is doing in terms of sounds, but if it's like other unrelated types of sounds, it kind of. It starts competing and it just. It annoys me. But anyway, I'm getting way too technical here. [00:08:42] Speaker B: This is important. Okay. For the fans of this game, they know where to go. Okay. [00:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah, that is a. That's a good one that I really like going to. [00:08:51] Speaker B: Oh, cool. [00:08:54] Speaker A: But we have news. We haven't done, like, a news podcast episode in a while, so I thought we could round up some news because we have a lot. Some big, some small, some in. In between. Some stuff that's been out for a while, but we're going to talk about it anyway, so why don't we just get right into it? [00:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah, let's do it. [00:09:18] Speaker A: So we're gonna start with the cruise line because Asia is starting to become. Or Asia and Oceania area, the side of the world has. Is starting to become a destination for the Disney Cruise Lines, which is great. So we already know we have. The Disney Cruise Line is down in Australia and New Zealand, and that is becoming a seasonal thing, which is great. And I still have to do a cruise down there. I haven't done that yet. I have to make some time to go and do that. However, more information came out on the Disney Adventure, which is the. What was it? The eighth ship? I want to say I think it was the eighth Disney ship, and it's sailing out of Singapore starting in December 2025. So still a year away. However, you're going to be able to make bookings starting on December 10th of this year. [00:10:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I was about to say they're going to be. They're going to start booking soon, you know. Yeah. [00:10:21] Speaker A: And then pricing and sailing details are going to be released November 14, so in the next couple of weeks here. So Definitely going to have to be on that. I think it's going to be fun. There's. There's a lot of stuff. Like I won't go into too much detail because there's quite a bit, but there's going to be like there's actual attractions on this. I. I don't know how much you've. How much did you. [00:10:48] Speaker B: What kind of, what kind of attractions? What. What are they gonna be like? [00:10:52] Speaker A: So there's like. There's a roller coaster on this. [00:10:55] Speaker B: What? [00:10:56] Speaker A: So it's like this is. This isn't the first cruise line to do that. Like other cruises have done it. It's nothing like super over the top because you know it's on a ship. Right. There's only so much you can do. So this one's the Iron Cy Run and it's a Marvel themed high speed motorcycle type of thing. [00:11:14] Speaker B: What? [00:11:15] Speaker A: And then there's like a Spinner Groot Galaxy Spin and then there's another Pims. Pims. Quantum Racers is a family friendly attraction. Takes guests on a thrilling ride through the quantum realm. So it's like kind of like little carnival type attractions are going to be heavily themed. [00:11:34] Speaker B: Sounds cute. [00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah. So I like that they're doing that. I think it's cool. Then there's going to be San Fransokyo Street. It's an area themed to Big Hero 6. And then there's Disney Imagination Garden. And it's going to have Disney characters everywhere. Right. So there's a lot of that. There is a Broadway style show called Remember that is going to be happening as well. Remember me. Right? Did I read that? Yeah. A Remember Me stage show. [00:12:03] Speaker B: Okay. Which I think is really cool. [00:12:05] Speaker A: Yeah. I love that. I love that they're doing that. Of course character greetings and first run films and things like that. Those are kind of staples of cruises. Then of course there's going to be dining. So they have Apollo Palo Tre. I'm going to say this wrong. Trattoria, Trattoria Palo. Every Disney ship has Apollo Apollo of some sort. That's just like the thing Disney cruise lines do. They have Apollo and it's a fine dining restaurant. That's usually an extra charge. It's not usually included with the payment. Like what, what you pay to get on the ship. Then there's going to be Mike and Sully's Flavor of Asia. It's a family family restaurant. Then Bewitching Boba and Brews, Stitches Ohana Grill, Cosmic Kebabs, Mowgli's Eatery, Grandma Tala's Kitchen, Palo Cafe. You know, it looks like it's going to be a really good ship. [00:13:03] Speaker B: Oh, for sure. [00:13:06] Speaker A: And it's. Yeah, it's sailing out of Singapore and based off what we know, it's just going to be like it's not going to be a destination cruise because, you know, some cruises will go like from point A to point B to point C back to point A kind of thing. These ones are just, they're going out for a few nights and then coming back. So they're not going into any ports or anything based off of what I've read. [00:13:30] Speaker B: So that's probably why there's such a focus on the ship. Entertainment. [00:13:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Because what else are you going to do, right? [00:13:38] Speaker B: Yeah. That sounds cool though. It sounds like a cool ship. [00:13:41] Speaker A: Singapore is, it's a lot farther than you think it is from Japan. It's a seven hour flight. Like that's kind of far. [00:13:51] Speaker B: That is pretty. That's way farther than I would imagine. I don't know why I feel like it's like right there. [00:13:55] Speaker A: I know it feels like it should be three hours, four hours because like Hong Kong is about a four and a half, five hour flight, which is a little. Exactly like that's. I think anything over five hours is long, I guess. Anything like five hours and below and like. Okay, you know, that's, that's not far at all. Yeah, yeah. Singapore from Japan is a good. Yeah, seven hours. I think it's about seven or eight, something like that from like Australia, I want to say. And then of course, if you're coming from like North America, it's even longer. Like a lot of flight, like depending on the airlines, a lot of people will transit through like Korea or Japan or even China to get down to Singapore because it's just such a long flight. [00:14:44] Speaker B: Yeah. For real. [00:14:45] Speaker A: Like, I think like, I think Singapore Airlines does fly direct from like LAX in the, in the United States and that. Like, oh my goodness, I can't. I don't even know how long that is off top of my head. It's probably a good 14, 15 hours. If not longer. It's probably not short. Like that's long. Yeah, very exciting. I will. Depending on, I don't know, I'm like going back and forth. Like, do I want to try and be on the first sailing? I probably should be. It'd be fun, I think, being in sync. [00:15:18] Speaker B: Sometimes it's good to let them work out the kinks too. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah, there's always that, right? I don't know. Well, I still Got some time. I got a month and some to decide, so we'll see. Have you ever done a Disney cruise? [00:15:33] Speaker B: I haven't. [00:15:35] Speaker A: Well, you're in luck because in 2029, Japan is getting their own Disney cruise. [00:15:44] Speaker B: Oh my God, that's so wild. [00:15:46] Speaker A: Right? I guess it makes sense because there's always been talks of like a third gate in Japan, but where are they going to put it? Right? Like, there's not a lot of space here. [00:16:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:03] Speaker A: Unless they bought land somewhere in like it would have to be in Ureyasu. Right. Like, there has to be nearby or. [00:16:11] Speaker B: I could imagine or something. [00:16:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Like I. I could just imagine there. There'd just be a lot of red tape and just like trying to figure that out. Like, I'm not even gonna pretend to know. Like, I have no idea. Yeah, it'd be tough. So I guess OLC going into the cruise line business with the Disney Cruise Line makes sense because it's another destination. Right. For people. So we don't know anything about it other than Oriental Land Company is involved in this with the Disney Cruise Line and it's supposed to start sailing sometime in 2029. So we still got a while yet. [00:16:52] Speaker B: I wonder where it's gonna go. [00:16:54] Speaker A: Yeah, like, my only, like logically I can only think of they. It would have to go in Yokohama because they didn't they just build a new port? [00:17:04] Speaker B: 100%. Yeah. The port is definitely gonna be Yokohama. But I mean, like, I wonder if they're gonna go to different locations in Japan or if it's. [00:17:12] Speaker A: What, like, if it's going to be like Singapore. It just goes out for a few nights and comes back, you know, maybe. I don't know. Because I guess it depends on how the big the ship is and like, if the ports can handle the ship. [00:17:30] Speaker B: I think so, though. [00:17:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I guess I'm not too knowledgeable in that. I'm not sure. Ultimately, it would be really cool if they had like a cruise that went to the three, you know, the three major areas where all the resort, the Disney resorts are like, go from Japan to Shanghai, then Shanghai to Hong Kong and then back to Japan. That'd be really long though. Wouldn't that be like a week? [00:17:55] Speaker B: Probably longer. [00:17:56] Speaker A: It'd be a while. I would. I would imagine. Because I guess Hong Kong would be the hardest to get down to because it's quite like it's further south. I'm not sure. I don't know. [00:18:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:11] Speaker A: But either way, I think that's very exciting that Oriental Company is involved in this project. So probably suffice to say we probably won't see a third gate anytime soon. [00:18:26] Speaker B: No, I don't think so. [00:18:28] Speaker A: With something like that, I always thought it would be kind of cool. I'm sure we mentioned. Mentioned this before. I always thought it'd be kind of cool if they made their own like Aulani type resort down in Okinawa. But I don't think they will ever do that because it might take too much away from Hawaii because, you know, so many people. [00:18:48] Speaker B: Such different markets though. [00:18:50] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't know. I really don't. [00:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:53] Speaker A: Although it would be pretty cool to have like a Disney Aulani type resort down in Okinawa. [00:19:00] Speaker B: Like a nice like trop, like a beach resort or something. [00:19:06] Speaker A: Yeah, it's like copy what Hoshino does the Hoshino Resorts, you know. [00:19:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:13] Speaker A: Do that and just make it Disney, you know. Well, I'm sure we will talk more about it as the years go on about the Disney Cruise Line coming to Japan officially as soon as there's updates. [00:19:27] Speaker B: Right? [00:19:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Because we don't like. We. This is, this is all we know so far. So there's. The information is very scarce at this point. But moving right. A lot along to Tokyo Disney Resorts. Just a lot of little minor updates. There's nothing too major happening at the moment because, you know, we just had Fantasy Springs open and you know, we have other attractions and stuff coming, but there's not much happening there yet. In surprising news, but not surprising news, more shows were added to the Disney Premiere Access lineup. And for those that don't know, Disney Premiere Access is our, our, I guess, skip the line feature here at Tokyo Disney. And it's also included in. It's also available for shows. So you don't have to, you know, do the lottery or you don't have to line up for it. You just pay extra to see it. So they added it to Mickey's Magical Music World at Tokyo Disneyland. Also Club Mouse Beat at Tokyo Disneyland. And then this is. This one kind of bothers me, to be quite honest. Big Band Beat. Special treat. [00:20:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:40] Speaker A: And. [00:20:40] Speaker B: And I asked you, oh, does this mean they're adding live musicians again and. [00:20:47] Speaker A: It doesn't look like it. [00:20:48] Speaker B: It's. [00:20:49] Speaker A: They're keeping the. I'll just call it what it is. It's the COVID version of Big Band Beat. So this version came during COVID at a time where they couldn't have a lot of people in the shows. Okay, fine, understandably, but that version has just stuck around now. And I don't know if we're ever going to get the old Big Band beat back. Because big. The old version was wonderful. It was like one of those quintessential shows at Disney. See that? I would tell everyone, Nick, you have to see Big Band Beat because it's so wonderful. This version. [00:21:23] Speaker B: Sad. Not like I went with my son and afterwards he was like, what did we just. What was that? He was like, it was awful. I. Like, I know I did not expect it to be that bad, but without the live music, it's like very soulless, you know? [00:21:38] Speaker A: Yeah, like. [00:21:39] Speaker B: Like that's the heart of the show. It's. It's called Big Band Beat because it had a big band in it, you know. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's just very disappointing with just how this. The show continues to be. And I hope they bring it back at some point. I really do. Because, yeah, Big Band Beat the. Was wonderful. And this special treat version is kind of. It's hard for me to recommend it to people. It'd be one of those things like it's not in my top anymore. Like, it'd be like if you're on your second or third day at Disney scene, you're, you know, you're kind of repeating things, then go and see it. But there's other things to put ahead of this show in terms of, like, priority. [00:22:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:22:25] Speaker A: Oh, oh, the price. The price is 2500 yen per person. Little steep, but that's kind of standard. That's just what it is. They've been, yeah. Adding DPA to more of the shows. And here we are. Because. Yeah, the Reach for the Stars show has DPA too. [00:22:44] Speaker B: And like, I wouldn't mind if they would put a little bit more effort into the entertainment, but I mean, I guess it's fine. It's not for me. [00:22:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:53] Speaker B: So if it's convenient for people. Good. I don't know. It's fine. [00:23:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I guess it depends on like what you want to do with it because, you know, if you're. If you're here in like a once in a lifetime thing, then of course, you know, just securing a spot for certain shows makes sense to me. [00:23:13] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:14] Speaker A: You know, I would say, like, if you want to secure a spot for like, believe Sea of Dreams at Disney Sea, that's a good. [00:23:22] Speaker B: That's 100% worth it. [00:23:23] Speaker A: That's worth doing a hundred percent. And then like the, the parades at Disneyland, you can argue if it's worth it or not because the parade route's so long. You can, like, if you're there early, you can get a pretty good spot. But if you want to just pay, you can. And then you have like the prime spots. Because the prime spots are now dpa, Right. [00:23:48] Speaker B: And they cater to those areas as well. Like they'll do a double loop or whatever. [00:23:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:53] Speaker B: In the other areas, like, if I. [00:23:56] Speaker A: Was going to do DPA for like one of the parades at Disneyland, I would, I would make it Electrical Parade. Because like, that's just like a top tier show that we have parade wise and for like the seasonal ones. I don't know, I. I would save it for, yeah, Electrical Parade. But yeah. Anyway, we can go on about that forever. Maybe we should do another episode on like DPA and all that. And like, what's worth it? What we think is worth it? What? It's not worth it. [00:24:27] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. [00:24:28] Speaker A: A good topic. Oh, this one is interesting. And this one, like, kind of surprised me. So you can, you can reenter the park. Like after you leave, you're allowed to come back in on, you know, the same day, right? [00:24:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:43] Speaker A: Before they would stamp your hand. Right. They would put like a special stamp and it was, you know, the glow in the dark, black light type of stamp. But now they stopped doing that and they scan. The cast member has to scan your park ticket before you leave. [00:24:58] Speaker B: What do you mean? Oh, like if you're coming back or if you're just leaving in general, if. [00:25:03] Speaker A: You'Re coming back, they scan your park ticket. So instead of giving a hand stamp, they scan your ticket instead. [00:25:09] Speaker B: Okay. [00:25:10] Speaker A: So just an interesting thing because, you know, we've always said make sure you get your hand stamped. Well, hand stamps are a thing of the past. And now it's scanning your park ticket, which I guess might slow things down a little bit because you're gonna have people fumbling with their phones. [00:25:24] Speaker B: Their phones. Yeah. [00:25:26] Speaker A: And especially if you have multiple people, you're gonna have to like go through everyone's tickets. So I think it's gonna slow things down. That's the decision they made. So just have to adjust, I suppose. [00:25:38] Speaker B: I wonder why you can't just rescan your ticket coming into the park. Because wouldn't it show it's for the. [00:25:46] Speaker A: Same day to avoid people giving their tickets to other people. [00:25:51] Speaker B: But it's on your phone most likely, Right? [00:25:54] Speaker A: Well, you can screenshot it. Right? [00:25:56] Speaker B: I guess. [00:25:57] Speaker A: I think, I think that's. I think that's what it's for. I think it's just them making sure they're. But also I'm pretty sure they take your picture too. [00:26:06] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:26:07] Speaker A: I'm fairly certain the turnstiles take pictures. At least the ones at Disneyland do. I'm pretty sure. Cause there's a camera. If you look, there's a camera in the turnstile. [00:26:17] Speaker B: I did not know that. [00:26:18] Speaker A: The Disneysea ones, I, you know, I don't know. I haven't really looked. Cause I'm usually, like, focused on getting in to do Fantasy Springs. [00:26:27] Speaker B: I would imagine they must, though, if, like, Disneyland has it. I would imagine Disneysea also has it, right? [00:26:33] Speaker A: I would think so, yeah. [00:26:35] Speaker B: I mean, it's fine. I'm kind of ambivalent. I miss the stamps just because of nostalgia. But, like, if it's better from an ops thing to do the scanning, I think it's fine. [00:26:45] Speaker A: Save money on ink, I suppose. [00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. It's probably not good for the environment. [00:26:51] Speaker A: No. Who knows what's in it? That stamp. Yeah. Who knows what's in it? Interesting. In interesting news, the. The gift shop that's in the tunnel when you are leaving. Splash Mountain is closing permanently on November 30th. [00:27:10] Speaker B: Oh, sad. [00:27:12] Speaker A: That spot used to sell unique merchandise. I think they used to sell Splash. [00:27:18] Speaker B: Mountain stuff there and like, Chip and Dale stuff. A lot of it. [00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's kind of like a mix between Smash Mountain and Chip and Dale kind of stuff. Like it was. That's usually all they would sell. [00:27:30] Speaker B: Yeah. I guess. Because they're critters, right? [00:27:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it makes sense. Like critter country. Yeah. [00:27:35] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:35] Speaker A: But I guess. Well, we've noticed this, right, like, over the years, a lot of these specialty shops. Well, I don't know if they call them specialty shops, but like, there. There's locations that just had very specific merchandise that fit with the theming. Things that become more generic now. Just like, oh, kind of just whatever is popular is kind of available everywhere, which is kind of. Yeah, I kind of love that. I kind of liked having that. The, like, the surprise of, oh, there's like, something I had never seen before, but it's only here, like. [00:28:06] Speaker B: And it would make you want to go into the different areas, right? [00:28:09] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:09] Speaker B: Just like, if it's the same stuff everywhere, why bother, you know? [00:28:13] Speaker A: Yeah. But I guess that's not a problem anymore with this location because they're closing it. I don't know what they're going to do with it. [00:28:21] Speaker B: They're just gonna leave it empty, I'm guessing. Right. Because, like, it's a little tiny shop. Like, I would imagine there's not much there. [00:28:30] Speaker A: Right. [00:28:31] Speaker B: To begin with. [00:28:32] Speaker A: So who knows? Oh, this is probably the biggest news that's been happening lately is. So the Celebration hotel celebrating the 10th anniversary of imagining the Magic photo series. And they're doing a hotel room overlays starting January 15, 2025, for limited time. So they're kind of. They're putting. They're putting the. They're putting Imagining the Magic stuff wallpaper over the current wallpaper. That is the Joey. Joey Chow artwork. So they're. They're doing that for a limited time. For those that don't know, Imagining the Magic is like, this series where they would get, like, famous Japanese photographers to shoot photos of, like, the Fab Five essentially in, like, their style of photography. And then they would, like. They would make a photo book and merchandise and stuff like that. It's actually quite nice. It's kind of. It's. It's fun to see, like, what the different photographers would do in terms of, like, the shots and stuff they would take. So, yeah, from what I know, it's a popular line. [00:29:53] Speaker B: It is really popular. So I can see this boosting attendance, for sure. You probably also get some kind of merch. I'm. I'm imagining. [00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah, there. Yeah, there's merch and stuff. I guess, like, the Celebration Hotel is kind of like. It's turning into, like, this is the hotel that we want, lack of a better term, the otaku to go to. Like, we want to push them there. [00:30:15] Speaker B: Or anybody. [00:30:17] Speaker A: What's that? [00:30:17] Speaker B: Or anybody. Because it's just not, you know, it's not. It's not an ideal location for the price. It's not a great location. You don't get a lot at the hotel. So it's adding anything to boost attendance, right? [00:30:33] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, definitely. Because, yeah, they. They were doing. They did something earlier this year where they would. They were selling, like, special tote bags that were themed to the hotel, which is really cute. And you can only get if you were staying there. Yeah, they did that for a little bit. And there's some other merchandise too, which I thought was pretty cute. So, yeah, if you want to book that. Yeah. From January 15th onward is when they're doing it. I don't want to buy any more plastic things, but here we are. So I'm not sure how much you've followed this, but, you know, they've been. For the last few years now, maybe five years or something, they've been releasing, like, these little, like, blind box figures. [00:31:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:26] Speaker A: And they keep doing different series, and the one that they continue to push is they will do, like, themed areas like Areas from actual parts of the park and have, like, the icons from those areas as little plastic minifig minifigures, which drives me nuts because I know if I buy one, I'm going to buy them all. Because. [00:31:52] Speaker B: Don't get started, Chris. [00:31:53] Speaker A: I know. That's why I haven't. That's why I have not started. Sort of. Okay, no, I lied. I'm looking up at some of the stuff I did buy, but they just released Pooh's Honey Hunt blind boxes. [00:32:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:07] Speaker A: So it's all the iconic things from Pooh's Honey Hunt and I want them so bad. [00:32:13] Speaker B: Oh, I'm not gonna lie. Winnie the Pooh is pretty cute. So. [00:32:16] Speaker A: Yeah, like, that's just. [00:32:17] Speaker B: I wouldn't fault you for it. [00:32:19] Speaker A: That's so good. Yeah. The other ones, the blind boxes. Well, they are blind boxes because you can buy them individually, but I just buy the full thing. So I'm like, I'm not playing this game. I'm just gonna buy the whole thing. [00:32:29] Speaker B: Exactly. [00:32:31] Speaker A: I have the full Haunted Mansion set. [00:32:35] Speaker B: Because they released. [00:32:36] Speaker A: They released two. Right? There was two series. [00:32:38] Speaker B: Oh, wait, I only did the keys. I did the keys and the charms. [00:32:43] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, no, they did like the little figures of all the icons from the attraction. [00:32:48] Speaker B: No, I don't want it. But it's true. [00:32:50] Speaker A: I bought that and then I also bought the vending. The vending machine series. [00:32:54] Speaker B: Oh, those are really cool. [00:32:56] Speaker A: Those are cool. I had to buy both those. Two series of those. And then they had two series of the fast pass machines. I knew I had to get those because those. They've been removing them. I think they're all. They're almost all gone now. [00:33:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:09] Speaker A: So I kind of thought, oh, this is very, like, nostalgic. I kind of want. This was like they started selling. I think they sold them in 20. 20. 2021. So they're not really. I don't think they're around anymore more. [00:33:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Unless you go to Merari. [00:33:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Speaking of things closing. Well, Space. Space Mountain already closed. Closed end of July. However, as we predicted. Well, as wasn't really a prediction. I was like, well, this. This is going to happen. They have started dismantling Space Mountain and is the weirdest thing to see. Oh, it is just watching them. It's coming down piece by piece. Like they took the top spires off. Yeah, the top, like pointy bits of it. Whatever. Spires. I suppose. Yeah, those have started to come down and it's just a weird thing to see. [00:33:59] Speaker B: It's kind of cool. On the other Hand to see the new building going up and you can see the interior structure and everything. It's really neat. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's fun. One is coming down and the other. [00:34:10] Speaker B: One is going up right behind at the same time. It's so interesting and kind of wild, right? [00:34:17] Speaker A: It's wild that they're doing that. Yeah. Oh, I didn't write it down here, but Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters closes in a couple days permanently. October 31st is its last day. Yeah, I did write it a few weeks ago. I knew it was going to be my last time. It's time for that thing to go. [00:34:37] Speaker B: It was really fun. [00:34:39] Speaker A: It's fun. But it is, it was, it's very run down. It's not as. It wasn't. It's not as rundown as, sorry, Magic Kingdom. But the one at Magic Kingdom was pretty bad. [00:34:52] Speaker B: Yeah. But they don't do maintenance there, so. [00:34:56] Speaker A: Ours isn't that bad, but is definitely showing its age. Yeah, it's kind of time for it to go. I'm fine with it. I bought the commemorative merchandise. Um, I bought the clear file, of course. I bought the postcard that says like Mission Complete. I'll admit I got a little teary eyed when I read like Mission Complete. I'm like, oh, that's actually, that's, that's really nice. But also on the receipt when you buy the merchandise because you know how all of a sudden receipts, they itemize everything. At the very end it says Mission Complete. [00:35:37] Speaker B: Oh. [00:35:38] Speaker A: I was like, oh, that's really cute. I love when they do those little things on the receipts. Yeah, it's like a nice little, nice little detail that they do. But yeah, it's closing and then is it next year or the year after? It's replacement Sugar Rush. What's the English name? Wreck It Ralph. It's being rethemed to that hopefully. Well, it's, it's going to be the same like shooting type game. Let's hope, let's hope that they put in the same system they have at Shanghai Disneyland for their version of Astro Blasters. [00:36:18] Speaker B: I don't remember it. [00:36:20] Speaker A: It's really nice. Like you can see where you're actually shooting. [00:36:24] Speaker B: Oh, right, right, right. Okay, I got it. I got it now. Yeah, yeah. [00:36:28] Speaker A: That is complicated. [00:36:29] Speaker B: Yeah, that is better. [00:36:30] Speaker A: Or, or if you've done Ant man and the Wasp at Hong Kong, Disneyland. The same, same thing. So, yeah, updated. It's nice. Like I do like the shooting games. Like, I do like. I think they're fun. It's good for like it's fun for everybody. Right? [00:36:44] Speaker B: It's fun for the whole area, you know? [00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's. It's also a people eater. It's a people. Your attraction. And, you know, it's not every ride needs to be an E ticket, so. [00:36:55] Speaker B: And Sugar Rush is really, really popular, so I think it'll do very well for sure. [00:37:01] Speaker A: And then maybe we can see some Wreck It Ralph characters running around Tomorrowland. [00:37:07] Speaker B: Yeah. I want to see the little candy racers. [00:37:10] Speaker A: Oh, could you. Oh, people would die. [00:37:12] Speaker B: They will die. [00:37:13] Speaker A: I will die. [00:37:14] Speaker B: The merch will be super cute. [00:37:16] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I love it. [00:37:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:19] Speaker A: Next, we need to get rid of Stitch's encounter and do something else. [00:37:22] Speaker B: It's cute. It's like, the same. It's like. The thing is, it's not for us. It's for little kids, and it's definitely not for me. And it's. It is adorable, but it's a small. Again, it's a small area, and there's only so much you can do unless you, like, I guess, close down the restaurant or whatever. [00:37:43] Speaker A: So, like, I kind of thought they would do something Star Wars. [00:37:47] Speaker B: Like, is it. Is it popular enough to do here? [00:37:51] Speaker A: Probably not. You know. You know what they're probably gonna do just something Marvel. I bet you anything something Marvel's gonna happen. It could be, because I feel like they're slowly introducing Marvel stuff to us here in Japan, because there's Marvel. There's a huge Marvel section in our Reach for the Stars show. So I would not, you know. Yeah, they'll probably like, something Marvel will come, and they're. [00:38:14] Speaker B: They're kind of like. I think they're testing the waters with that, and then with It's a Small World to see how people react to it. The thing is, I think it'll. I think it'll be fine, because Disney fans are gonna go no matter what, right? [00:38:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:38:28] Speaker B: And the Marvel fan base here or the American comics fan base here is very niche, but also very dedicated. So I think you'll also add on that fan group that wouldn't necessarily be Disney fans. Right. So I think either way, it'll be a win for them to introduce that into the parks, you know? [00:38:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, I have nothing against Marvel. I enjoy Marvel. I just want them to do it. Right. Yeah, that's pretty much it. [00:38:57] Speaker B: Same. I like. I like Marvel. I grew up with it, and I really enjoy it. [00:39:02] Speaker A: I don't want to get into it because we go on forever, but. Have you been watching Agatha all along? [00:39:06] Speaker B: I've been waiting. Okay. I'M gonna, like, binge watch it when it's finished. Don't spoil me. [00:39:11] Speaker A: It is wonderful. It is wonderful. That's all I'm gonna say. It is wonderful. I love it. I love it. Yeah. Okay. [00:39:17] Speaker B: Is it gonna be done by Halloween? [00:39:19] Speaker A: Because I think so. [00:39:21] Speaker B: I wanted to binge watch it on Halloween if it's finished. [00:39:26] Speaker A: I'm not sure. I. I think we're close to done. I think. [00:39:30] Speaker B: I know we're close episodes or something. [00:39:32] Speaker A: Two or three episodes left. Okay. It's all coming to a head very soon. It's. Oh, I love it. I love. I love where it's all going. It's great. It's wonderful. [00:39:41] Speaker B: I'm so excited. [00:39:43] Speaker A: What else? What else? What else? Yeah, we have the. The It's a Small World is coming. The Groot Marvel overlay. [00:39:53] Speaker B: Interesting. Like, so random, unexpected, you know. [00:39:56] Speaker A: Yeah. That starts in January. [00:39:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:39:59] Speaker A: Which is. So that's. That's very soon because it's Small World is currently down now. And then the It's a Small World thing comes up back up in January. Yeah. I'm interested to see what they would do. I know people were up in arms about it, but I personally don't care because it's temporary. It's not forever. [00:40:16] Speaker B: They already added characters to It's a Small World, so I don't know what people would complain about. It's already. They've already sales market oriented, you know. [00:40:26] Speaker A: Yeah. At the end of the day, it's all the seller stuff. [00:40:29] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, at the point it's out already, I don't see it a problem with it. [00:40:35] Speaker A: You know, I think they'll do a good job. I'm just. I'm just interested to see how they're going to pull it off. [00:40:41] Speaker B: I think it should be cute for sure. [00:40:43] Speaker A: This is definitely them going into the realm of let's slowly introduce Marvel to everybody here. And we, we know a lot of the Disney fans skew heavily female, so they're trying to appease to that group of people with really cute things and focusing on Groot. Because Groot is cute. Right. So that's what sells in Japan. [00:41:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:41:08] Speaker A: Gotta make it cute. So we'll see. It'll be very interesting to see how that. That all plays out in food news. The. I think, I think we did talk about this before. The Donald Duck ice dessert. The mango ice. [00:41:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So cute. [00:41:26] Speaker A: It's so cute. And it's good. It's simple and like, that's all you need. That's really all you need. It's a, it's a mango flavored ice bar in the shape of Donald Duck's bill. I don't know what, like, what else is there to say? It's, it's really good, but it's also very simple, which is not a bad thing. And I, I really like it. I'm gonna have it again when I go back. Oh, I don't. I think it's gonna be around for a while because there's. I haven't seen like an end date attached to it because usually if something's around for a limited time, they have a date, like end date already on it. So I think it's one of those that's going to be a staple for a while, which is nice. [00:42:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:07] Speaker A: And then the last piece of news for Tokyo Disney. Well, Christmas, Christmas is starting a little bit later this year. Starts on November 15th and goes until December 25th as usual. So I think. Well, because Halloween goes later this year, because it started later, Christmas had to be pushed as well. [00:42:29] Speaker B: When, when does Halloween go until the 7th of November? Oh, wow. [00:42:33] Speaker A: 7Th or 8th. Yeah. So like that's the longest we've had Halloween because usually Halloween would end like the 31st would be the final. [00:42:40] Speaker B: 31St. Yeah, 100. [00:42:42] Speaker A: So this is put. It's pushed out more. I guess they're kind of fall. Well, I don't want to say they're following what universal does, but universal here would always go until November 2nd, so is what it is. I mean, there's nothing too special about Christmas this year. It's kind of, it's a little stripped down as usual. [00:43:02] Speaker B: What are they doing? Like, are we getting a parade or. [00:43:04] Speaker A: Like, same thing as last time. There's nothing really new, I think, I think they specifically mentioned this the last year they're doing Christmas stories. [00:43:14] Speaker B: Oh, how long has Christmas stories been going on? [00:43:17] Speaker A: I think in 2015. [00:43:19] Speaker B: Oh my gosh. [00:43:21] Speaker A: I. Right. Well, I think my guess is they're probably going to change it around 29, like 2020. But then obviously 2020 happened. And then of course, things were, you know, we don't need to get into it, but I think it just, it just stuck around a lot longer than it should have. Because usually for those that have been listening for a long time know that our parades here would change at one point. They were changing every year. [00:43:47] Speaker B: Yeah. And we would have multiple parades a year. [00:43:51] Speaker A: Yeah. And then it slowly started changing to, oh, the. We're going to have an extra year. We're going to have an extra three years. And it's Kind of built up to a point where it's like, okay, now they're. The parades will stick around for five years. Long time. There's seasonal parade. [00:44:05] Speaker B: No rush to see it. Like, honestly, like, they'll run it to death, you know. [00:44:11] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm like, I might watch Christmas stories just to see it one last time. But that's about it. But that's just me personally. If you've never seen it before, it's a cute parade. It's a fun little parade. The music is really catchy. So if you've never seen it, please make sure you see it. I think they're doing a harbor show again, but I'm so over the harbor greetings. [00:44:35] Speaker B: Harbor show in quotation marks. You mean the greeting. [00:44:40] Speaker A: They need to do something about that. Like, I'm sorry, it's, it's, it's not great. [00:44:44] Speaker B: We were watching and it was like really like lovely, but also depressing. We were, the whole family, like, we were like waxing nostalgic and we were watching like the bonfire. [00:44:57] Speaker A: Right. [00:44:58] Speaker B: Show that they used to have in Arabian Coast. And then we're like, you know, telling my son because this was before he was born. I'm like, you know, if you like that, you should have seen Rhythms of the World, which is like one of my favorites. And I'm like, man, the entertainment used to be so freaking amazing and now we have none of that. You know, it was like fantastic live music and costumes and so many dancers and like so many different kinds of performers and just like, like, like a God level show. [00:45:33] Speaker A: Yeah. What was I gonna say? Oh, the other stuff with Christmas and, and I guess, you know, good news. They're bringing back the Country Bear Theater Jingle Jingle Bell Jamboree. Which is nice. [00:45:47] Speaker B: Yes. Okay, I heard that. That's so great. [00:45:50] Speaker A: I'm happy about that because that, because they, well, they brought back the summer vacation this year, so it just made sense that they were going to bring back the, the Christmas one, which I am all for. It is spectacular. Please see it. It is so good. It is so good. I love it so much. Oh, and also the Christmas version of Dream Lights again. Wonderful. [00:46:11] Speaker B: Go see it. [00:46:11] Speaker A: And like, they don't change too much for the Christmas version, but except for the first float is like Mickey and Minnie are in their Christmas outfits. Right. And of course, like, they updated the float two years ago. Is it two years ago now? The, the first float with the train and like they redid the whole thing. Like, it's, it's, it's very bright. It's incredibly bright. [00:46:37] Speaker B: The electrical parade, no matter what the season is, like, spectacular. But yeah, it's got a little wintry touch to it, you know, which is. [00:46:45] Speaker A: Always nice, you know, like, you don't have to. You don't have to go all out in terms of changing. [00:46:51] Speaker B: No. [00:46:52] Speaker A: A show that's already wonderful, but just adding, like, a little bit more. That's wonderful. I love it. 100 Honda Mansion Holiday Nightmare is still going on because that started back in September and it goes into January 13, which is always very lovely. Yeah, I. I do like it. [00:47:10] Speaker B: I love Vampire Kitty, like, gnawing on the lights. [00:47:14] Speaker A: Yeah. It just looks like a lot. Most of the stuff is at Disneyland in terms of the event. [00:47:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:47:21] Speaker A: DisneySea has, like, oh, there's gonna be decorations, there's gonna be food, there's gonna be merchandise. There's a harbor show, which honestly, don't wait for the Harper show. Like, if you see it in passing, cool. But don't. There's other things you could be doing. [00:47:37] Speaker B: And when we say harbor show, like, we're not talking about believe. Watch that 100%. But, like, the daytime. Whatever they're doing in the daytime is not working. [00:47:45] Speaker A: It's literally this barge that has been around since. [00:47:49] Speaker B: Characters wave at you, like, dance a little bit. It's fine if you're walking by. Yes. Catch it as you walk by. But don't, you know, your time is. [00:47:59] Speaker A: Valuable, you know, spend your time doing other things. Yeah. 100%. All right, let's. Let's move on from Tokyo Disney. That went on a lot longer than I thought. [00:48:09] Speaker B: That was a lot of stuff, man. [00:48:10] Speaker A: That ended up being more than I thought. Hong Kong, Disneyland, not too much happening right now. We have Christmas that's starting very soon. Disney Christmas from November 15th until January 1st, 2025. I'm going to be going to that in a few weeks. I'm going to the media event. So keep an eye out for videos on that. That's going to be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it. I love Christmas at Hong Kong Disneyland. It's so cozy. And for the first time in forever, they are doing Christmas in Arendelle in the world of Frozen. So Anna and Elsa are going to be in their win outfits, their Christmasy outfits, and the whole area is going to be decked out, I guess, for Christmas. I'm excited for that. The world of Frozen is wonderful. It's such a good little area. I. I love it. I just love being in there. It just. It's. It's cozy. It's just a cozy little area. Oh, and while the, the ride itself is the pretty much the exact same one from Epcot, but better. We don't have the screen faces. And yeah, the roller coaster is. It's literally 30 seconds. It's not something I go out of my way to do. I probably will ride it once. Like the queue is really cute. But yeah, it's literally a 30 second coaster. But hey, it's for the kids, right? It's not like it's not for me. Over at Shanghai Disneyland, we don't know when they're doing Christmas yet. Kind of par for the course with Shanghai. They kind of announce things a month before they start doing anything. So I'm sure we'll hear something in the next couple of weeks. However, probably the biggest thing that's coming out from there right now is they're changing their ticketing system where you have to show government issued ID to buy tickets. And for foreign visitors, that will mean your passport, I guess, like you already need your passport anyway when you go to Shanghai Disneyland, because it's connected to your name and they have to verify it's you. So obviously if you're visiting, that's your only form of id. So I guess it's just we don't know the process yet. So I guess however that you buy a ticket, you're gonna have to enter probably your passport number is my guess when that all happens. So we'll have to wait and see. Not too sure what else is going to be going on with that. Shall we move on from Disney, move on to parks, moving on to Universal Studios around the world, or at least the ones on this side of the world. Japan University of Japan, they announced their first, the first bit, which they always do this first part of their cool Japan 10. So it's the 10th anniversary this year for Cool Japan. And of course they're bringing back Detective Conan. That's kind of a staple at this point with Cool Japan. Like Conan the Detective is so popular. Like we have a permanent attraction now and took over the Terminator. Terminator show. The dinner show is coming back. Dinner show? Yeah, the mystery restaurant, which is really wonderful by the way. If you have a chance, try and get a reservation for that is really good. Even if you don't speak Japanese, it's still a lot of fun. They do a really good job. Then they're bringing back Detective Conan the Escape, which is this gigantic like escape room theater thing. So it's like you get the show, but then it's also an Escape Room. Escape Room esque. I suppose I did it last year and it's fantastic. Even though I really had no idea what was going on half the time because it was just very fast paced and a lot of the puzzles, some of the puzzles were based off of like, stuff with Japanese language. And I was like, oh, those are. [00:52:18] Speaker B: It can be tricky. [00:52:20] Speaker A: I don't. I don't get it. And it's like it was translated into English. I'm like, I don't really understand. [00:52:25] Speaker B: No. Yeah. [00:52:28] Speaker A: And then Detective Conan's coming back to Hollywood during the ride. You know where they put the. The Voice like track on the ride that you can select when you're selecting your music. And it's usually just the characters screaming at you because they're on the ride with you. That's, you know, if that's your thing. Probably the most interesting thing is they're bringing this new show, I guess, called Peril at the Masquerade, inspired by Keigo Higashino's Masquerade series. I'm not too familiar with this author, this novelist, I should say, Keigo Higashino. They are one of Japan's most renowned mystery novelists. [00:53:10] Speaker B: That's cool. [00:53:11] Speaker A: So it's an incredible live show. I'm just gonna read this verbatim. Incredible live show combines storytelling and spectacle at a level of quality only possible at Universal Studios Japan. Immerse yourself in the story and become a character as you use your wits to solve the case. The ultimate immersive mystery show has a arrived. As you enjoy an elegant mask banquet at Hotel Cortesia, a chilling death threat suddenly interrupts the festivities. It's up to you to unmask the culprit before tragedy strikes. Enter a never before seen, ultra immersive world of suspense and intrigue where the fate of the story rests in your hands. Brace yourself for a climax that surpasses all expectations and will leave you utterly speechless. That actually sounds really fun. [00:53:59] Speaker B: I want to check out the novels, actually. [00:54:01] Speaker A: Yeah. This, I'm assuming. I can't find any information. Oh, there's a Japanese page. Maybe it's in the Japanese page. It's probably a separate. Yeah, it's a separate ticket. [00:54:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:19] Speaker A: It'S 8, 500 yen. [00:54:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:22] Speaker A: Oh, that's a lot. [00:54:23] Speaker B: I feel like it must be similar to like Hotel Albert. I feel. [00:54:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's going on from January 24th through June 30th. And tickets go on sale for various months, like various, like months ahead for different days. Does that make sense? Sorry, I'm Trying to read the Japanese here. I should do this ahead of time, but you know, I didn't. Oh, for January. For tickets in January and February tickets go on sale December 2nd of this year. Then for March goes on sale January 9th, and so on and so forth. If you're interested, go to the English website and then there's a link to the Japanese website. You have to Google Translate how to. If you need to buy the tickets. My guess, it's only good. This thing will probably only be in Japanese is my guess. [00:55:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:55:16] Speaker A: Especially if there's. Yeah. If there's actors. Well, there will be actors involved. So they can't do things in multiple languages at that point. [00:55:24] Speaker B: I feel like this is going to be really popular. [00:55:26] Speaker A: I feel like that. Yeah. Still no news on Donkey Kong country when that is opening at Super Nintendo World. It's supposed to open in 2024. It's now pretty much November. Time is running out. So I don't know what is going on. I. I don't know. People continue to ask me. I have no idea, guys. I don't know. I mean, I know just as much as you. [00:55:51] Speaker B: I can. I can't see it opening for Christmas though. [00:55:56] Speaker A: I don't know. [00:55:57] Speaker B: Right. [00:55:58] Speaker A: Like they haven't changed. [00:55:59] Speaker B: They have to change the date probably. [00:56:02] Speaker A: They haven't changed anything. So who knows? [00:56:04] Speaker B: Like I guess suddenly it's open. [00:56:08] Speaker A: They might. They'll be like, surprise, it's open. [00:56:11] Speaker B: They're gonna have to be like in different packages and stuff. Like ticket packages that you can order, hotel packages. So it has to be in advance. There's no way. [00:56:20] Speaker A: Yeah. Who knows? I'm not sure. [00:56:25] Speaker B: Unless they do previews. Maybe they mean they'll do previews in 2024. [00:56:30] Speaker A: I guess we'll wait and see if we hear anything. Like obviously when official news comes out, we will over report on it. [00:56:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:37] Speaker A: The New Year's Countdown party tickets go on General Sale on November 14, 2024. So you can check like places like Klook and whatnot to buy tickets for that if you're interested. So that means you get to stay in the park overnight. I did it once a few years ago. It was cold, but it was fun. The show, the. The stage show they do is worth it alone for the price of the ticket. So what they do is they basically do like the best of of all their stage shows from the year, which I love. So everything from winter to summer to Halloween, that all comes back. So they'll have stuff with Minions and peanuts and One Piece and Hamikuma And Pokemon and stuff like that. So it's like this, just this, this like big mash of characters on the stage and they usually do it for the countdown. As well. So like yeah, once, once they do the countdown and then there's like the park is just like surrounded by fireworks. It is quite the spectacle and it's a lot of fun and then you get to ride rides as much as you want for the evening. [00:57:50] Speaker B: It kind of like reminds me of the old countdown parties they used to do here because it would be all the different parades and like mini parades, like everything strung and like mixed and like the. With like different costumes and stuff like all into one massive parade that would be like over an hour long. It was like insane. [00:58:10] Speaker A: I'm sad I missed that era. Really. [00:58:14] Speaker B: It was really amazing. [00:58:18] Speaker A: Oh, I actually I just saw this news. Just before we started recording. Universal Japan announced that they are opening their online store. Well, they already have an online store, but the online store, I think it's from November 6th or something is going to have almost, is the wording they used. Almost all the merchandise you find in the in the park will be available online to purchase with your day ticket. So I guess they're kind of going the route of what Tokyo Disney was does where it's like you can buy everything online the day of your visit online, then just have it shipped home. [00:58:58] Speaker B: That is so convenient. [00:59:00] Speaker A: Yeah. Because let me tell you, the shops at USJ are just insanity. [00:59:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:07] Speaker A: Closing time, it's just wall to wall people and I can see why they're doing this to alleviate that congestion because it's only going to get worse. [00:59:15] Speaker B: Honestly I think the last thing that we went to like specifically for merch, we ended up sending the bag through the mail anyway. [00:59:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:59:24] Speaker B: So you, you don't have to bring like the baggage for that. You can just send it straight, which is amazing. [00:59:30] Speaker A: Now without even looking, I can probably say, you know, with probably pretty good accuracy they won't ship overseas. I highly doubt it. [00:59:40] Speaker B: No, I don't think Japan. Yeah. [00:59:42] Speaker A: So if you're visiting likelihood, I don't think they're going to ship overseas. But if you, if you are a resident of Japan then yeah, this could be a good, a good option for you. Which is always nice. Like I would personally use it because sometimes like when I'm traveling to Osaka there's stuff I want to buy but I'm like, I don't want to carry it with me on the shinkansen. I'd rather just like buy it and have it shipped home. You know, I've do that 100%. So that's it for Universal Studies Japan. There's not too much there happening over in Beijing. They're gonna have their Christmas event and then followed by their Chinese New Year event. There's no dates yet. I tried looking. There's no dates yet for that. So I don't know what they're doing, but they'll do something. We know they will. Then over at Universal Studios Singapore, they're gonna do Christmas again as well, but there's no dates. The Minions land is coming along. I think it opens next year or something. [01:00:46] Speaker B: Cute. [01:00:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So they're building a Minions land. You could definitely see it. It's coming along. It's supposed to have one unique attraction that's not at any other Universal Minions Park. Minions Land. So that'd be nice for Singapore to get something unique for sure. No, once we have an opening date, I'm sure we'll. We'll report on that as well. And then I guess our final piece of news, because it's hello Kitty's 50th birthday. She looks good for 50. I would say she has not aged a day. So Samuel Puroland is doing their Christmas event again. Puroland illumination Christmas from November 7th until December 25th. And it looks cute. I mean, it's always cute. This stuff is always cute. It's always adorable. It just. It looks so cozy. Yeah, the artwork is so cozy. Like, it's very pastel colors, like the. The blues and the purples and the pinks, but also a lot of oranges and yellows and reds. Like just very. It looks cold but also very cozy at the same time. [01:01:56] Speaker B: It's gonna be super adorable. [01:01:58] Speaker A: We love that. Their starry, starry Christmas party. It looks so cute. Everyone is in like white and gold outfits. [01:02:07] Speaker B: I love it. [01:02:09] Speaker A: Pochacco. Pochacco's in like this little cute star outfit that's like gold and white and it's so cinema roll. [01:02:16] Speaker B: What about Hangyodon? [01:02:18] Speaker A: Oh, my God. I don't see him in the artwork. [01:02:22] Speaker B: How dare. [01:02:25] Speaker A: Do people like. I know he's popular. He's popular, but I never really see him like feature. I guess he's not quote, unquote cute. [01:02:32] Speaker B: He's ugly cute. [01:02:33] Speaker A: He's ugly cute. He's often overlooked. [01:02:37] Speaker B: He's a popular character, though. [01:02:40] Speaker A: Yeah, he's just like in the character lineup in these shows. He's never in them. [01:02:44] Speaker B: What's that? [01:02:45] Speaker A: Like, there's. [01:02:46] Speaker B: Every show should have, like. [01:02:48] Speaker A: There's Kiki and Lala. [01:02:49] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:02:50] Speaker A: Hello Kitty. Of course. And cinema. No, she's actually not in it. [01:02:56] Speaker B: Again. How dare my Melody. [01:02:59] Speaker A: You feel personally attacked. [01:03:00] Speaker B: How can they have my Melody and not have Kuromi? I don't like Kuromi. Erasure. I don't like it. [01:03:06] Speaker A: Pom Pom pudding. [01:03:07] Speaker B: Pom pom pudding is cute. [01:03:08] Speaker A: What's the rabbit's name? Wish mail. Oh, I should know this. Wish you. Wish you Meru. It's the rabbit. I don't know who this rabbit is. Who's this rabbit? It looks like a little red satchel. [01:03:25] Speaker B: Oh, I do know. Vaguely. But I don't know the name. [01:03:29] Speaker A: I think it's Wish Meru who is. Okay, I have to look this up. Sorry. I'm reading the Japanese website, so bear with me. A Wish me Mel. Okay. No, I have heard of them. Wish. That's a. The katakana kills me. Like, how am I supposed to figure that out? Wish Me med. Okay, fine. Whatever. Wish me mel. The little cute little rabbit. Okay, fine. [01:03:55] Speaker B: All right, fine. [01:03:58] Speaker A: I approve. [01:03:59] Speaker B: Add hangyodon and we'll. We'll talk. [01:04:01] Speaker A: Yeah, just put a little hangudon in there and little white outfit with gold. It'd be cute. [01:04:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I can see. Hanged on doing their own thing. [01:04:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Sanrio Pure Lands. It's. It's. It's fun. It's not the best amusement park in the world. Like, the attractions are kind of like. [01:04:18] Speaker B: It's. The shows are really popular. [01:04:21] Speaker A: Yeah, you go for the shows. You go for the pictures. You go for. The food is fine, but the food is cute. You go for the exclusive merchandise, like if you're a hello Kitty Sanrio fan. Like, it's. It's kind of a pilgrimage. Pilgrimage, Right. You have to go to Semio Pure Land. It's one of those things you just have to do, hopefully. You know, I'm planning to go there for the Christmas event because I. I wanted to do it for Halloween this year, but it's just there was so much else going on, like traveling to different countries. Let me tell you, that's a lot of work. Right? [01:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:54] Speaker A: So, not that I'm complaining. Just. Just couldn't make Samuel Pure Land fit in the Halloween schedule this year. But we'll do it for Christmas, hopefully this year. So I think. Yeah, I think we got through a lot of the news. I'm sure we missed stuff. [01:05:12] Speaker B: I mean, also a lot of news there is. Yeah, it kind of like, piled up there for a little while. [01:05:18] Speaker A: It did. Yeah. A lot to look forward to, for sure. Well, before we go we're going to thank some wonderful explorers that are supporting us over on Patreon. So if you want to support the show, head ON over to patreon.com TDR now, where you get access to our shows ahead of time. We also have bonus episodes and also for those of you that are on Patreon, Patreon releases new feature where you can subscribe to the the Patreon exclusive podcast feed and you can have it be sent right to your Spotify without having to use like, I'm not, you know, I'm not even sure how you can listen to the, the, the Patreon feed without going into the Patreon app. So if you use Spotify and you're on the Patreon there, you can do that. So that's also a really good option. So just go on Patreon. I'm sure they'll have instructions on there. So a big thank you to Acro Disney Girl, Adam, Amanda C, Amy B. Amy C. Mama, Explorer, Benjamin, Brent M, Carrie, Crispy, Claire, Claudia, Dave, David, Baker, Kevin, Harry, Mar, Beth, Eli, Abby, Robinson. [01:06:30] Speaker B: And Taylor and Jamie, Jose, Kathy, Lee, Marie, Michelle, Murray, Sophie, Spoopy, Thomas, K, Alexandra, Lizzie, Amy, and Andy, Dana, Cassandra, Annie, Sonia, W.W. paige, and Tara. [01:06:43] Speaker A: And if you haven't already, make sure you hit that subscribe or follow button on your podcast app of choice so you don't miss any of our episodes. And that way you can stay up to date with everything that is going on in this side of the world. I'm sad that Christmas or not, Christmas is ending. Halloween is ending. I felt like it felt like it's been going on for a little quite a long time. I always like this time of year. I do. I really. [01:07:10] Speaker B: You can celebrate all year with me, Chris. That's true every day, every season, Halloween. [01:07:19] Speaker A: All right, explorers. I'm Chris, one of the hosts. I suppose sad about Halloween ending, but I guess I'll continue celebrating with Patricia. [01:07:29] Speaker B: Yay. It'll live in our hearts. [01:07:34] Speaker A: Yes. Live on forever. And yes, of course, joining as always, is Patricia. [01:07:38] Speaker B: You guys, hope you have a happy Halloween and we'll see you next time. Bye. [01:07:44] Speaker A: All right, see you in the next one.