Latest / Of Mice and Main Street Men / What We Love About Frozen Ever After with Our Friend Jonathan (Episode 229)

Transcript

What We Love About Frozen Ever After with Our Friend Jonathan (Episode 229) · Of Mice and Main Street Men

• 0:00
  There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.
• 0:04
  Shining at the end of every day.
• 0:08
  There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.
• 0:12
  Just a dream of the city.
• 0:18
  And I am Sean.
• 0:20
  And for the first time on the show, Mr.
• 0:22
  Jonathan Gardner.
• 0:24
  Hello, sir.
• 0:24
  How are you?
• 0:25
  Hi, Tristan.
• 0:26
  Hi, Sean.
• 0:27
  I'm really happy and excited to be here.
• 0:30
  I've loved your show since I first heard it.
• 0:34
  I've gone back and listened to every single episode, and I just love the energy of you guys.
• 0:39
  And love that one.
• 0:41
  Love it also when you have your guest uh hosts like Savannah or Jackie on there.
• 0:46
  In fact, I have to admit, I I choked up a little bit when I heard Savannah back on the show recently when uh Tristan, uh, you and she were talking about uh Lost Island.
• 0:58
  Yeah, I was thrilled to have her home.
• 1:00
  And and I have to say thank you for all your messages because we were you were kind of keeping us posted as you were going back through uh the the 200 plus episodes.
• 1:09
  And you've just always been such a great dude to interact with.
• 1:12
  And I I just you know, I adore you as a as a human being and a friend.
• 1:16
  And so thanks for joining us, man.
• 1:17
  Yeah, we are so glad you are on the show finally.
• 1:20
  We'll we'll make it a little sooner next time.
• 1:22
  Yes, we will.
• 1:23
  We will promise.
• 1:24
  Um, so talk to us a little bit before we get started here, Jonathan, about your Disney fandom and how all that began for you.
• 1:33
  Well, um, I've actually forced myself to think about this um this week, uh, knowing that this episode was coming up.
• 1:40
  And I I see my Disney fandom happening in my life in three phases.
• 1:45
  There there was my childhood where I didn't really have a lot of say in it.
• 1:49
  Um, we we would we we would go and see some of those um older Disney movies, either the ones on re-release or there were the new ones that I do remember.
• 1:59
  Like no one remembers this one, but I I saw the cat from outer space.
• 2:03
  Um I remember the cat from outer space.
• 2:06
  Well, there you go.
• 2:08
  Um, you know, a black hole.
• 2:10
  Um, I actually had a black hole um bed set when I was little.
• 2:15
  Um there's um Tron, and then then the last Disney animated film I saw for quite some time uh happened to be the Black Cauldron.
• 2:25
  Okay, which which actually I was excited about at the time because it was um maybe not the first, but among the very first uses of um computer graphics in an animated feature when that green mist comes out of the cauldron to raise the army of the dead.
• 2:41
  Um and that that that excited a young me.
• 2:44
  Yeah, yeah.
• 2:47
  But at the same time, we were making like sort of biannual trips to not to Walt Disney World, but to um spend Christmas and New Year's with my grandparents who were snowbirds at the time.
• 2:58
  And during those trips, one day we would go over and spend at um Walt Disney World.
• 3:05
  Um after after they stopped going there, we stopped going there, and um uh I was of an age where animated features didn't really um um thrill me.
• 3:16
  Um, but that all changed again um when I met my my girlfriend in college who um went on to become my first wife, and uh her family were Disney obsessed.
• 3:27
  Um there was Mickey Mouse all over their house.
• 3:30
  So they took trips to Disney World like all the time.
• 3:34
  And um I I did go on a trip with Disney World, but before that happened, I saw Beauty and the Beast uh with her, and that changed everything.
• 3:43
  My mind was blown.
• 3:44
  Uh when I saw that uh uh when I saw that ballroom scene, um it was you know, I felt things.
• 3:53
  It was such um such such a thing.
• 3:56
  And from that moment on, I saw every Disney animated feature um in the movies up until uh Dinosaur, like in the early 2000s.
• 4:06
  And and we would take trips to Disney World and there would be longer trips, we'd stay on property, things you know I hadn't done when I was a child.
• 4:14
  Um and uh and that that sort of rounded out phase two.
• 4:19
  Um uh throughout the aughts, uh, I didn't see the movies, um, I didn't go to the parks.
• 4:28
  Uh, but that all changed with my current wife, uh, when in 2014 I decided to go to uh to to run the Disney World Marathon.
• 4:38
  And um and again, you know, I had a great time, brought back a lot of memories of what the Disney parks were like.
• 4:45
  Um and we started doing a tradition where like every four years I was doing the marathon.
• 4:51
  But about that same time, um I had been going to school uh to become a music therapist, and um my first job was going to be working with you know populations of all ages, um uh and a group with children and many individual children.
• 5:10
  At the time I was thinking, what do you what do children like?
• 5:13
  And I remembered my daughter had gone off and seen Frozen um with her friends and had come back and was just you know wandering around the house singing, Do you want to build a snowman?
• 5:28
  And it and it sounded so cheerful and happy at the time that I thought, oh, that's right, kids like Frozen.
• 5:35
  I've I've heard of Frozen.
• 5:36
  Um, let me check this out.
• 5:37
  So I sit down at my computer and I fire up YouTube and I I find the clip uh of that song, um, Do you want to build a snowman?
• 5:46
  And I was not prepared, I was not at all prepared.
• 5:51
  Um, as this gut punch of uh scene played out on my screen, and I'm just sitting there at the end with like tears streaming down my face.
• 6:02
  Um just like, what what was that?
• 6:06
  Um I was like, I couldn't I couldn't believe the emotional impact um of seeing these these two girls who I'd only barely heard of, um uh see the way they interacted through that song, and just it was it was um it was quite emotional.
• 6:24
  Yeah.
• 6:25
  Well, don't go see up.
• 6:28
  Don't go see up.
• 6:29
  I've seen emotional jobs.
• 6:31
  Well into phase three of my Disney Phantom.
• 6:33
  I've seen them all.
• 6:34
  Um now.
• 6:37
  Um but pretty much like in 2022, though, which was the third time I ran the marathon.
• 6:42
  Uh at that point I I learned about D23 and I joined it.
• 6:46
  And you know, I went down this big rabbit hole of various podcasts, and um, you know, I listened.
• 6:53
  I soon picked up the idea that there were there were far too many for me to hear them all.
• 6:58
  So yeah.
• 7:00
  Well, we've we're glad we made your curated list.
• 7:03
  Well, you did, and I'll tell you why, because a big a big factor for me is positivity, and it's it's so easy, it almost seems trendy for people to like hating on things and criticizing things, and so I just love the fact that um Tristan will talk about how much he likes cosmic rays.
• 7:28
  Yes, he will, when he is their ambassador, right?
• 7:32
  But when when everyone else, even other people in other positive communities that I belong to will talk about how lousy the food is at Magic Kingdom, which is not something I really get on board with.
• 7:44
  But no, no, but but um, but you're always there um hyping it up, and I I swear when I'm there in October, which I will be, I have a day all by myself, I'm going to try that sleepy hollow corn dog.
• 8:00
  Good it'll change your life, Jonathan.
• 8:03
  So I've heard another notch on his hot dog stick.
• 8:07
  That sounds insane, but anyway.
• 8:13
  Um, but yeah, I I you know I share your sentiments on on Frozen.
• 8:18
  I saw it uh eight times in the movie theater, and I wasn't even a dad yet.
• 8:23
  Um and uh I was obsessed with it.
• 8:26
  I really had a and like it's and as Harper was growing up, it was playing in our house constantly.
• 8:32
  And uh, and then when they opened the the attraction, I was like, this is gonna be the best thing ever.
• 8:37
  And it it is.
• 8:38
  Um so you obviously you you had an affection for the film.
• 8:42
  And did you then, you know, were you excited about?
• 8:46
  I mean, I don't know where you fall in the line of maelstrom and you know, it's shutting down and becoming frozen ever after.
• 8:52
  How did you feel like where did you land in all that?
• 8:55
  Well, that um that that sort of goes into my um um my fifth entry in the uh in the topic at hand.
• 9:05
  But uh I loved maelstrom.
• 9:07
  Um and I think about this a lot, especially because every time you talk about maelstrom, I don't know if you've noticed this, but Sean has to bring up the oil rig.
• 9:18
  I do.
• 9:19
  It was I let me hear your thoughts on the oil rig, however.
• 9:23
  I loved the oil rig.
• 9:24
  I was I loved that scene splashing down into the stormy North Sea, going past the oil rig.
• 9:30
  For me at that time, it was kind of like rise of the resistance when you're like rolling past the big ATAT walker things.
• 9:38
  It was it was a thrill.
• 9:40
  Yeah.
• 9:41
  Well, the we'll we will we'll save, you know, we'll get into it here, but but the topic at hand, of course, is and in addition to getting to know Jonathan, of course, is is what we love about Frozen Ever After, um, the attraction at Epcot.
• 9:53
  So because you are our guest, Mr.
• 9:56
  Gardner, we'll let you kick it off since it sounds like that kind of segues nicely into what you were already talking about, anyway.
• 10:03
  Right.
• 10:04
  So um, if I understand the format correctly, and I believe I do, my number five is that the ride makes use of the old maelstrom boats.
• 10:14
  Oh, sure.
• 10:14
  The maelstrom boats are just so cool.
• 10:16
  Um, those little Viking ships with the fronts and backs on them.
• 10:21
  Um and uh it just it just sort of brings back a nostalgia uh from those days and you know, remembering going past the trolls and the oil rig and things like that.
• 10:34
  I didn't honestly, I did not realize they used the same boats.
• 10:40
  I'm just not attentive, I I guess, but that's a very cool detail.
• 10:45
  I was too distracted by everything else, I guess, to notice that it's still the mael streamed boat design.
• 10:52
  He's easily distracted by snowmen, if you if you know anything about Sean.
• 10:56
  Uh what's what's what's uh on your list, Mr.
• 11:00
  McCall?
• 11:02
  Well, I I went a little more I don't know.
• 11:05
  Some of mine are off the beaten track, maybe.
• 11:07
  We'll see.
• 11:08
  No way.
• 11:08
  My number five, my number five is Sven's tongue.
• 11:14
  I really get a kick out of that little weird detail and the fact that they took, you know, such a great character.
• 11:23
  I do love Sven.
• 11:25
  And, you know, the idea that that rubber tongue is able to stretch, kind of.
• 11:31
  And, you know, I just go, what a brilliant, what a brilliant kind of goofy thing to do to get Sven's tongue stuck.
• 11:38
  I don't even remember what it's stuck on.
• 11:41
  Stuck on some sort of frozen pole.
• 11:43
  It's a pole, yeah.
• 11:44
  That sounds dirty too.
• 11:46
  Yeah, well, you know this you know this podcast is at least PG13.
• 11:52
  Um, but uh yeah, I just I I love that little stretchy tongue and and that little detail.
• 11:59
  So number five on my list is Sven's tongue.
• 12:01
  Oh, that's fun, actually.
• 12:03
  What about you, Tristan?
• 12:04
  Um, mine is the medley of songs because I think uh the musical structure is so cool because it doesn't rely on like one single anthem, of course.
• 12:14
  It like builds on like a strong medley of uh and it kind of shows a little bit of an emotional progression.
• 12:22
  Um and it seems to me, and I don't know if this is just insane or not, but it like it turns the ride into something closer to a stage musical almost, rather than just a theme park attraction, using, of course, let it go as like this emotional peak, but I think every song is doing so much narrative work, establishing tone and character and signaling those emotional transitions.
• 12:49
  And because I'm just I just love all those songs so much, and they're so I mean, they're kind of embedded in the culture, the ride doesn't have to do a lot of explaining because the audience already knows the language based because of the film, but also those songs are so well known that it knows exactly what to trigger in the right moment at the right time, and I think it's really smart.
• 13:11
  And so that's my number five is just kind of the use of the medley of the tunes from the movie.
• 13:17
  All right.
• 13:18
  We've not overlapped yet.
• 13:19
  No, we haven't.
• 13:20
  What about your number four, Mr.
• 13:22
  Gardner?
• 13:23
  We won't overlap, but I I did want to add that as I was talking to my wife Melissa about this and that we were going to talk about this.
• 13:30
  She wanted to point out that one thing she really did not like and was really disturbed by and gave her the heebie jeebies was Sven's tongue stuck on that pole.
• 13:38
  Wow, I'm sure she's a lovely woman, but man, she's gonna be a little terrified that I made it my number five.
• 13:47
  How about you come back on the podcast and be around such deviants?
• 13:53
  Apparently, she had a scary um experience with a popsicle and a tongue, her tongue, and oh jeez.
• 13:59
  There was blood involved, and it was oh no.
• 14:01
  Well, that's understandable.
• 14:03
  My my experience comes strictly from Christmas story, and that was that was amusing.
• 14:11
  Yes, of course.
• 14:13
  Oh what so what's your number four, Jonathan?
• 14:17
  My number four is um the the nods to now we know the ride is largely based off the uh the 2013 movie Frozen, but uh near the end there are some definite nods to um the short frozen fever.
• 14:34
  And I I love frozen fever, it's hilarious.
• 14:38
  Yes, you know, if if if you haven't seen it, Elsa's trying to throw a birthday party for Anna, but Elsa's you know struck and ill with a really bad cold, and you know, she's sneezing all the time, and you she gets completely wasted on Oaken's uh 19th century cold remedy.
• 14:55
  And so it's just it's just nuts.
• 14:58
  But you know, every time she sneezes, she's sort of giving birth because all these little living snowmen, snow geese, I think they're called, start running around and you know, creating havoc, and um and you know they end up living with marshmallow there in the ice palace uh in near the second and final scene.
• 15:15
  And then when you see them in the last scene, which um I believe is kind of like that Arundel dock side um village area, they're in their green, greenish uh florals or pattern dresses from frozen uh fever.
• 15:31
  That's a good detail actually of that.
• 15:33
  I will admit the snow geese almost made my list.
• 15:38
  Your wife isn't terrified of the snow geese, is she?
• 15:41
  Oh but that's good.
• 15:44
  Oh, what's your number four, Sean?
• 15:47
  My number four is the the little Oaken's outpost that's over in the corner of the queue.
• 15:52
  Oh, yeah, that's great.
• 15:54
  Because I'm a big fan of Oaken, you know.
• 15:57
  I I love all the Oaken gags and stuff throughout the film.
• 16:00
  And and and because what is the I'm trying to remember because I don't go through the full queue often, but aren't there like some sounds that come through there?
• 16:09
  Or does do you like see his eyes through the me making all this up?
• 16:13
  No, you see his face and he'll come through and say various lines.
• 16:17
  Oh, right, okay.
• 16:17
  Yeah.
• 16:18
  Because I knew it was just fun and I knew I liked it, so it made my number four.
• 16:23
  I'm glad that it was fun and you knew you liked it.
• 16:29
  Um, what about your number four, Sir Tapscott?
• 16:32
  My number four is uh that backwards launch and then the drop.
• 16:38
  Because this is the moment where the ride's like, oh, we're a friendly boat ride.
• 16:42
  However, uh, here's something for and and it's tied to this uh core memory I have when my brother and sister-in-law we all went down for my daughter and my niece's birthday, and we were like, Oh, this is there's no drops or anything in this, completely forgetting that there's two drops back to back.
• 17:01
  And so uh she was fine, she wasn't too traumatized, but I just have that thought where Savannah and I realized in real mo in real time, oh, we didn't warn them about this, and there's two of them.
• 17:12
  Um, but I I I love this sudden backwards drop because it's small, but it's like so effective and like with let it go right there, it's so well timed.
• 17:22
  And then, of course, you know, you're like, okay, we got through that, and then you shift into the other drop.
• 17:28
  And it's so clever because it's not like roller coaster drop, and it's not like a drop out of nowhere, it's still like part of the narrative.
• 17:37
  And one second you're gliding forward, then the next time you're being pulled back into the ice.
• 17:43
  Oh, it's just so cool.
• 17:45
  Um, it's so thematic and um cinematic, and it's the moment where first timers usually laugh or gasp, which tells you uh it's doing everything it needs to do.
• 17:55
  But part of that is because it's tied to a core memory.
• 17:58
  But that's my number four, the backwards launch.
• 18:00
  Well, and I don't know if you heard, but you used to drop down next to an oil rig, trust that.
• 18:04
  That's what I hear.
• 18:06
  But it was fun and splashy, and some people really bonded with the oil rig.
• 18:11
  Uh I just founded a bit of a juxtaposition to my Disney hopes and dreams.
• 18:16
  I love it.
• 18:17
  I love it.
• 18:18
  Now, originally, when you do the backwards drop, the the end of your boat would sort of go outside.
• 18:25
  That that opening was open to the outside, and you could see the ends of the boats periodically uh from uh well from the outside.
• 18:32
  You'd look up and see the people people could stare up and look at boat butts all day if you were over there in Norway.
• 18:40
  Looking at boat butts all day.
• 18:41
  Not a good band name, but funny.
• 18:43
  Yeah, just an average description.
• 18:46
  Yeah.
• 18:47
  All right, so we're up to number three.
• 18:50
  Mr.
• 18:50
  Gardner, what you got?
• 18:52
  Okay, I um I just went with the it sort of touches upon um I think what you said earlier with songs, but the just the environment with the scenery and the music, um, together sort of keep creating that um like theatrical feel to it.
• 19:09
  Um the lighting and the projections, um no longer on the faces, thank goodness.
• 19:15
  Um but uh just interesting.
• 19:18
  You'll love my number three.
• 19:24
  But the the walls as you as you do the backwards drop, or you know, especially going into the ice palace, ice castle is uh just just phenomenal.
• 19:33
  And um and the updated songs that uh the Lopez and the Anderson Lopez, you know, updated for the attraction, the original voice is re-recorded.
• 19:44
  Oh yeah, that's a good that's a good thought.
• 19:46
  I didn't even think about that particular moment.
• 19:48
  Yeah.
• 19:49
  Good you're a smart guy, Jonathan Gardner.
• 19:54
  All right, Mr.
• 19:54
  McCall.
• 19:55
  Yeah, so my turn.
• 19:57
  Um so yes, dovetailing exactly off of where Jonathan took us briefly.
• 20:02
  My number three are the new audio animatronic faces.
• 20:06
  Yeah.
• 20:06
  Just in general.
• 20:07
  I I I get that we went through a period of time with the projected faces that was not as traumatic as the birthday cake castle.
• 20:18
  It's it's clearly something we needed to do in order to learn.
• 20:22
  But I'm called the birthday cake castle.
• 20:25
  What was that, Jonathan?
• 20:27
  That's like I was there during uh one uh one time when the birthday cake castle was up.
• 20:31
  Yeah, I feel like you and I have a similar well kind of in the Brett realm of we've been around the block a time or two with our Disney vacations.
• 20:41
  Yeah, but it's 1927.
• 20:43
  Yeah.
• 20:45
  But uh, you know, so we experiment that was our experimental phase, and I'm glad we're back to the more traditional Disney audio animatronic.
• 20:55
  It just it just feels right.
• 20:57
  So kudos to the Imagineers for bringing those back just this year?
• 21:02
  Was that just this year?
• 21:04
  Yeah, we switched back.
• 21:06
  Yeah, just this past winter.
• 21:07
  It was February because I was there at the end of February and um beginning of March.
• 21:12
  Yeah.
• 21:14
  All right.
• 21:16
  See, what is my number three?
• 21:17
  Okay, so my number three, um, it's it kind of ties into medley, and now I'm like, I should have Lumongelloed this a little bit, but it's the storytelling beats because uh as I was watching slash listening to a ride-through uh today, it's I think one of Disney's most efficient narrative machines.
• 21:39
  Uh, because just in just a few minutes, it compresses like Frozen's entire emotional art from celebration to like chaos to isolation, acceptance, like all of that into you know, what is it, a three, four minute ride?
• 21:53
  And there's no wasted like moments really, and like every transition feels so intentional and cinematic.
• 22:00
  And what makes it work is it doesn't necessarily try to retell every plot point, but it like focuses on those like emotional checkpoints that you get from the film.
• 22:11
  And it doesn't, I don't know.
• 22:13
  It it essentially trusts you to fill in the gaps, but at the same time, like it's such classic Disney storytelling.
• 22:19
  And I don't know, there's such clarity through emotion, and it's great.
• 22:23
  And so that's my number three is the storytelling beats are superb.
• 22:28
  So there you go.
• 22:30
  Okay, we're up to number two.
• 22:32
  So we're up to that's exciting, Mr.
• 22:35
  Gardner.
• 22:35
  What you got at your number two slot?
• 22:37
  All right.
• 22:38
  My number two is actually something that Sean already mentioned.
• 22:41
  In a way, I'm going with the uh the queue.
• 22:44
  Oh, yeah.
• 22:45
  But but the whole queue, except I've never actually seen the whole queue because we always lightning lane pretty much everything.
• 22:52
  Um, you know, for reasons we used to qualify for DAS, but uh don't anymore, so we still get lightning lanes as much as we can.
• 23:00
  But even from what I can see from the lightning lane, you know, where you're just going through Arendelle at night, which is beautiful.
• 23:06
  They have the those hanging lanterns.
• 23:08
  You can see into Oaken's um shop in the sauna, and um, you can even see the little boats come into the harbor um with the uh riders.
• 23:18
  And it's just it's a really pretty um way to to um you know queue up and wait to ride while getting out of the sun.
• 23:29
  Yeah, that's the queue is so pretty.
• 23:31
  Harp and I normally fast pass that too, or Lightning Lane, excuse me.
• 23:34
  But this past spring we did wait in it, and it was it's really lovely.
• 23:39
  So I love that.
• 23:40
  But what message are we teaching children that you should peek in a sauna, really?
• 23:46
  Oh well, Dis Disney always Disney always has some fun, questionable choices, which I truly applaud.
• 23:54
  Yes.
• 23:56
  What have you got your number two, Sean?
• 23:58
  Uh, we're up to my number two, are we?
• 24:01
  We are you all have been so beautiful and esoteric discussing story points and storytelling and score.
• 24:08
  My number two is the ice skating Olaf, which as Tristan pointed out, I am easily distracted by snowmen.
• 24:15
  I don't know why you actually is there something specific in my past that caused you to say that, Tristan?
• 24:20
  Not really.
• 24:21
  It just fit the moment.
• 24:22
  Okay, good.
• 24:23
  Well, I was like, did I miss something?
• 24:25
  But funny enough, my number two is ice skating Olaf.
• 24:29
  I just he looks so happy.
• 24:31
  You cannot unhappy when you see Olaf like skate now.
• 24:36
  Is it a great, you know, visual effect because you can't really see his feet?
• 24:41
  Yeah, well, and do snowmen have feet?
• 24:44
  Does Olaf have feet?
• 24:46
  Anyway, he looks like he's ice skating, and he just seems to be having such fun and spinning around, it makes me very happy.
• 24:55
  Were you gonna say something, Jonathan?
• 24:57
  Um, no, I was just having you were bringing back memories, and I was remembering happy Olaf skating around and um well and just make does have feet.
• 25:06
  He's got those two little snowballs on the side.
• 25:07
  Oh, yeah.
• 25:08
  Yeah.
• 25:09
  That's right.
• 25:10
  He does around just have your wife focus on Olaf in that scene.
• 25:14
  And I think she'll be okay.
• 25:17
  Oh my gosh.
• 25:18
  What is your number two?
• 25:19
  All right.
• 25:21
  My number two kind of uh you guys kind of touched on it, but it's the animatronics.
• 25:25
  Um, especially since they they swapped those heads, which is great, because I I too have noted these the ice skating Olaf.
• 25:34
  Um, you know, the the Elsa showcase figure for Let It Go is really impressive.
• 25:40
  And then, you know, the I I have uh Olaf, Christoph, Sven on, like all of them, including the tongue on the pole.
• 25:49
  Um, and you know, there's it's something that I always talk about when when Disney does something new.
• 25:55
  I'm always worried that they're gonna rely so heavily on the screens that they're not gonna give us some of that classic Disney stuff and they're gonna let tech do so much heavy lifting.
• 26:04
  But I think they did this one in the right way.
• 26:07
  There's just enough, it's kind of like what they with Tiana's.
• 26:09
  There's a lot of screens and things, but they do enough animatronics and to make it very Disney.
• 26:14
  And so I think that's a standout feature is the audio animatronics.
• 26:19
  It really is.
• 26:20
  Um, they're kind of uncanny, but in like a good way.
• 26:22
  You know what I mean?
• 26:23
  So that's my number two.
• 26:25
  Nice.
• 26:26
  All right, that brings us to number one.
• 26:30
  Right.
• 26:30
  So it it's funny that Tristan said that at number two because my number one was the upgraded animatronics.
• 26:37
  Um there you go.
• 26:38
  I think Elsa just looks particularly amazing.
• 26:41
  In fact, you know, when um when this this ride or you know, its equivalent opened up in Hong Kong in in their land of frozen, I was so jealous of what their animatronics looked like.
• 26:52
  And so I was absolutely thrilled that uh that we were going to get them.
• 26:56
  And not only were were we gonna get them, but they were gonna be there uh right before my last uh trip there for the Princess Half Marathon.
• 27:05
  Um Anna, you know, she looks great too.
• 27:08
  I just love the faces now.
• 27:10
  Um yeah, they look good.
• 27:12
  They look really good.
• 27:13
  What I really wish is that we could bring those kinds of animatronics to at least some of the main characters over in um Under the Sea, the Voyager the Little Mermaid, for instance.
• 27:23
  Yeah, I'd love to see an aerial like that, uh, rather than what she looks like.
• 27:28
  Start that campaign.
• 27:29
  Start a writing campaign, Jonathan.
• 27:31
  I do love that.
• 27:32
  That's good, Jonathan.
• 27:35
  All right, Sean.
• 27:36
  All right, my number one.
• 27:38
  I have always said that I thought this was just the prettiest ride, maybe on Disney property in Florida.
• 27:46
  And I I to me that's just I mean, there's a lot of stuff that does it, but especially the lighting and the Aurora Borealis.
• 27:54
  I just I just think are stunning.
• 27:58
  I've seen the Aurora Borealis like twice in Iowa.
• 28:02
  The green got down to us.
• 28:04
  And and it was, you know, that in and of itself is cool, but I just everything about that attraction is beautiful, but especially the Aurora Borealis, which you know takes us into the storytelling in Norway, and I it's it's I don't think you can top it when it comes to pretty attractions down there.
• 28:26
  That's a good one, man.
• 28:27
  That is that's a good one.
• 28:29
  Um so yours, sir.
• 28:31
  So my number one is I just love a good boat ride.
• 28:35
  Uh, there's something very calming about this system because you're not strapped in, you're not speeding, you're you know, gliding on ice, if you will.
• 28:45
  But it I think this matters more than people think because the water movement creates that um oh, what's the word I'm looking for?
• 28:52
  Um a rhythm, I guess.
• 28:55
  Uh and it makes, I don't know, there's just something about it that like you're just gliding through each scene.
• 29:02
  And again, that makes it kind of cinematic, but also boat rides, they kind of let those environments breathe a little bit.
• 29:08
  That's why I like stuff like Living with the Land and Three Caballeros, because you're not cutting rapidly between sets or anything like that.
• 29:16
  You linger just long enough to like absorb all the details, and I just I love that.
• 29:22
  And it's slow cinema, but like in real life, does that make sense?
• 29:26
  But I just love a good boat ride, you know?
• 29:29
  That I can't get over it.
• 29:30
  I love a good boat ride.
• 29:31
  That's where I'm at.
• 29:32
  I love them too.
• 29:33
  When I was when I was a kid, you know, in my phase one, um, I loved nothing more than Pirates of the Caribbean.
• 29:40
  Yeah.
• 29:41
  Right.
• 29:41
  And when asked, I still list that as my favorite attraction.
• 29:45
  And it's it's it's a boat ride.
• 29:48
  And yeah.
• 29:50
  And what I really wish we could bring to town would be the tangled attraction like they have at Tokyo Disney Sea.
• 29:57
  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 29:58
  You do, sir.
• 30:00
  Well, and I will say, both set well, my friends Katie and Keegan just got back from Disneyland Paris, and a couple of my clients who listen to the podcast, and we will hopefully get on soon to talk about their experience there, but they say that Frozen Ever After in Paris is even a step above any of these others.
• 30:24
  They just they were all blown away by it, and I can't wait to go see it in Paris either.
• 30:30
  I know that's on my list.
• 30:31
  That is on my list.
• 30:33
  Well, and you know, Tristan, I did send you a text, but I don't know that you saw it.
• 30:38
  I realized that with Jonathan being here for the first time, even though he has spoiler alerted one of the questions, we asked him the individual lightning lane question.
• 30:48
  Yes, we should.
• 30:49
  I didn't just text I did text those to you, and I will let you get started because question number one is yours, and even that has been alluded to.
• 30:58
  Okay.
• 30:59
  Oh, yes, of course.
• 31:01
  All right, all right, Jonathan.
• 31:02
  You you've heard this before, but um, have you tried the sleepy hollow corn dog?
• 31:08
  Not yet.
• 31:10
  But you plan on.
• 31:11
  I plan on it.
• 31:12
  Um, it's just he's got the day picked out, Tristan.
• 31:15
  I I do.
• 31:16
  I um I do.
• 31:18
  The the the problem I've had trying to try it so far is that again, Melissa doesn't really care for corndogs, and when we eat, we pretty much share everything.
• 31:27
  Uh oh, sure, sure.
• 31:29
  So that's that's just how we do it.
• 31:30
  So every time we've been to Sleepy Hollow, we've always gotten like the chicken and waffle thing.
• 31:35
  Oh, of course, of course.
• 31:36
  I'm a huge chicken and waffle fan, honestly, from there, but but you must try the corn dog for Tristan's sake.
• 31:47
  All right, all right.
• 31:47
  Well, then I get question number two, which is who is your favorite character, Jonathan?
• 31:52
  Oh, Rapunzel.
• 31:54
  And and why?
• 31:55
  What is it about her?
• 31:57
  She's just so much fun and so much and so talented.
• 32:01
  And um I actually watched through the series like three times.
• 32:07
  And in the series, she's practically a literal superhero.
• 32:10
  Um, she's just but but even before that, she's um I don't know.
• 32:16
  There's something that um just clicked with her and um so yeah, I just nothing wrong with it.
• 32:27
  She's she's she's a pretty gal.
• 32:29
  All right, Tristan.
• 32:30
  We already got the answer to this, but go ahead and ask it anyway.
• 32:33
  Yes, what's your favorite attraction?
• 32:36
  Uh well, I guess I'd have to say Pirates of the Caribbean.
• 32:39
  Yeah.
• 32:40
  Nothing wrong with that.
• 32:42
  You can't change your ends in minutes later, Jonathan.
• 32:47
  It's what why and why?
• 32:49
  Why is pirates up there?
• 32:52
  Well, when I was young, and to this day, I mean just the immersion of it just it kind of blew my mind.
• 33:02
  And you know, the I every time I write it, I try to look and see something new, and I almost always can.
• 33:09
  Yeah.
• 33:10
  Uh especially like if I'm looking perhaps not in the direction that um imagineers you know expect you to.
• 33:18
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:20
  Totally.
• 33:21
  I love it.
• 33:22
  All right, well I understand.
• 33:24
  The age-old question to which there is a right response, Mickey or Donald.
• 33:29
  Oh, Mickey.
• 33:30
  Yeah.
• 33:31
  You can stay on the podcast.
• 33:33
  You can come back.
• 33:35
  Um that's not true.
• 33:38
  We've had people say Donald, and I find them perfectly lovely people.
• 33:42
  My wife is a big fan of Donald, so well, my my dad's favorite was Donald, but um, you know, I I play a lot of Disney Dreamlight Valley, and uh a lot of people that play that game get really annoyed by Donald falling down throwing tantrums all the time.
• 33:58
  Oh see, there you go.
• 34:00
  Fancy that.
• 34:03
  Uh, what's your favorite animated film?
• 34:06
  I'd put money on this one, but you go ahead, Jonathan.
• 34:09
  No, that's going to be tangled.
• 34:11
  Yeah, that's I figured.
• 34:13
  But I mean, Frozen's right up there, Encanto's right up there.
• 34:17
  Um, Big Hero Six is sort of a different feel, but I love Big Hero Six.
• 34:23
  Um, going back away is Sleeping Beauty.
• 34:26
  I adore it.
• 34:27
  Um you're a very eclectic renaissance Disney appreciator of film.
• 34:33
  You are indeed.
• 34:34
  All right, Disneyland or Disney World, Jonathan.
• 34:41
  It very much depends on how much time I'm going to be there.
• 34:45
  If I have a weekend, like a Thursday to Sunday, I will pick Disneyland every time.
• 34:50
  If I'm gonna be there closer to a week or more, then um I'll go uh Disney World.
• 34:57
  That's a very good way to answer that.
• 34:59
  That's very that's very practical of you.
• 35:02
  That is very practical.
• 35:03
  I do love that.
• 35:04
  That's exactly how I've gone to those.
• 35:06
  I mean, there are times because my mom's family all lives near Seattle.
• 35:09
  Okay.
• 35:10
  So what I'll what I'll do a lot of times is fly out there um until Thursday morning, and then I'll fly down to Anaheim and then spend the rest of the weekend at Disneyland and then fly home.
• 35:20
  That's smart, actually.
• 35:22
  That's a good that's good thinking.
• 35:24
  All right, what is your favorite park snack?
• 35:30
  Oh that's probably the probably the Mickey pretzel.
• 35:40
  That's a good choice with that cheese.
• 35:42
  That cheese is a very good plastic cheese.
• 35:45
  It's a winner.
• 35:46
  AJ's a fan.
• 35:48
  Yes, I love the plastic cheese.
• 35:50
  Yes.
• 35:51
  All right.
• 35:52
  Uh who is the best villain in your opinion?
• 35:57
  The best villain?
• 36:00
  Well, I'll tell you the most I think the most depraved, evil, villainous villain is likely um Judge Claude Frollo.
• 36:12
  Oh, sure.
• 36:13
  Or or perhaps the Horned King, who literally raised an army of the dead to destroy the world.
• 36:19
  But the villain that I like the best and is most entertaining to me is Maleficent.
• 36:25
  Oh, yeah, that's a good answer.
• 36:28
  That's a good answer.
• 36:29
  And I absolutely love that scene where her minions are, you know, they have failed to find Aurora for 16 years because they've been checking all the craves.
• 36:40
  Yeah.
• 36:43
  She has such an I've been surrounded by idiots um seeing at that uh time.
• 36:48
  Poor maleficent.
• 36:50
  Um, let's see here.
• 36:51
  Okay, what's your favorite Disney song?
• 36:57
  Uh I feel like I'm falling into a pattern here, but I'm going to say I see the light.
• 37:04
  Actually, I'll take that.
• 37:06
  Um that's a lovely song.
• 37:08
  I'll say the whole musical sequence starting with Kingdom Dance through I See the Light.
• 37:14
  I do love I See the Light.
• 37:15
  That was sung at me and Savannah's wedding.
• 37:17
  I love that song.
• 37:18
  Loved it.
• 37:19
  I will say you should you you would really enjoy my snugly duckling t-shirt.
• 37:24
  I'm wearing a snugly duckling t-shirt under my Arendelle uh that's the same snugly duckling t-shirt I have.
• 37:30
  Jackie got that for me recently.
• 37:32
  So yeah, right under right under my Arendelle hockey jersey.
• 37:36
  Oh, nice.
• 37:37
  I do like that.
• 37:38
  That look that is really cool.
• 37:39
  That is awesome.
• 37:40
  I was subversive and wore my snuggly duckling to Universal when we were there.
• 37:44
  Oh actually had a great interaction with somebody at the burning uh is it the burning windmill?
• 37:52
  The burning mill?
• 37:53
  The tavern that's in darkmoor.
• 37:56
  We had a really great exchange about my snuggly duckling t-shirt.
• 38:00
  Anyway, I'll tell you what, I want is a snugly duckling lounge right there next to the bathrooms.
• 38:05
  You and me both, brother.
• 38:07
  That would be lovely.
• 38:09
  That would be lovely.
• 38:10
  All right.
• 38:10
  So uh drinking around the world left or right, which of course requires you to be someone who drinks around the world.
• 38:18
  Yeah, well, it's not something I do.
• 38:20
  Um I I do enjoy the occasional drink.
• 38:24
  Um, my wife does not drink at all, so I don't have any help.
• 38:28
  So, but um if I were to do that, I would go um left.
• 38:35
  Good choice.
• 38:37
  Start with the margarita.
• 38:39
  Um, let's see.
• 38:40
  Three words you think of when you hear Disney.
• 38:48
  Um fantasy, optimism, and joy.
• 38:52
  Ah, see?
• 38:53
  Nothing wrong with any of those.
• 38:55
  Those are all great.
• 38:56
  No, no, those are great.
• 38:58
  Well, Jonathan, I'm thrilled that we finally got to do this.
• 39:01
  We'll have to do it again soon.
• 39:03
  Um, but it was really great to and thank you for your kind words at the beginning of the show.
• 39:08
  Uh we're very lucky to uh like have so many people listening to this, but like they always have such nice things to say.
• 39:16
  And uh that was really kind.
• 39:18
  So thank you very much.
• 39:20
  But um, I'm just thrilled that you were able to join us.
• 39:22
  This was so great.
• 39:23
  Yeah, this was this was great.
• 39:25
  Anytime.
• 39:26
  Yeah.
• 39:26
  We could talk more frozen, we could talk tangled, we could talk about it.
• 39:30
  Yeah, we could talk tangled anything, man.
• 39:32
  Um, but yeah, and uh thank you so much again, Jonathan.
• 39:35
  Thank you, Sean.
• 39:36
  It's always a pleasure, my friend.
• 39:38
  Yes, and uh, as we say at the end of these shows, uh we will see you.