Why Did Disneyland Lose Its Magic?

“What Happened to the Magic of Disneyland?”

Disneyland was once a place where you could escape the real world and immerse yourself in something magical. But on a recent visit, we found ourselves asking: what happened?

From constant phone use and social media to endless monetization, intellectual property taking over the parks, and an experience that increasingly feels more transactional than magical, we explore how Disneyland has changed—and whether the magic really disappeared, or whether we simply grew up.

Because maybe the real irony is this: we went to Disneyland to escape the modern world, only to find the modern world waiting for us inside.

We talk nostalgia, technology, commercialization, and the strange experience of realizing that something you once loved may no longer exist in quite the same way.

Was the magic lost—or did we just change?

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Transcript

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Robert 0:15

Hi.

Jarrod 0:16

Hello.

Robert 0:17

Um I'm pooped.

Jarrod 0:20

Are you pooped?

Robert 0:21

I am. It's been it's been a great day, but I am tired.

Jarrod 0:26

It has been a great day. We are gonna talk about our day and what what did our day consist of? We went to Disneyland. We went to Disneyland today.

Robert 0:35

It was so fun.

Jarrod 0:36

And we have uh a bit to unpack. I have thoughts. Yes, thoughts about choices. Yeah. Alright. Um, so let's jump right into it. We went to Disneyland today. We went um during peak season, I suppose. I think so. In the summer.

Robert 0:55

Yeah, it was a it was a peak day without it being like a weekend.

Jarrod 0:58

It wasn't crazy. No. I mean, obviously everybody was walking like it's their first day on planet Earth.

Robert 1:05

That was a common not complaint, but a common uh factor of our factor, like an awareness. We were very aware of how very not aware people were throughout the whole day.

Jarrod 1:19

Totally. Uh, and it was a beautiful day. It it was hot, but it wasn't like swamp ass day.

Robert 1:24

Nice and breezy, so I was good.

Jarrod 1:26

There was a good breeze, um, plenty of shade, lots of air conditioning on certain rides, which was very nice.

Robert 1:32

It was kind of the best day, considering it was it was a summer day. Like it wasn't a day that I normally would have gone, but yeah, it worked out.

Jarrod 1:41

I think I said that it was the best that could be expected for what the Disney experience or the Disneyland experience is now. And we did uh a couple seasons ago, we did a Disneyland episode. Yes, with Dr. Disneyland, with Dr. Disneyland, Dr. Disney, and um this maybe not so much of a follow-up, but kind of like a Disneyland then versus now experience.

Robert 2:08

Yeah, I think that episode specifically was in response to Bob Chaplock being the new parks president or like head of parks and what he was doing. And it was more of an opinion of the moment. This is now years past. Josh DeMaro is is now the new head of parks. Josh Jamal. Josh Jamal. Ooh. Um and this is also the first time that we've been at the parks in years.

Jarrod 2:35

So I think it was what, 2021 or 2022 when we went with my sister?

Robert 2:40

I don't remember exactly, but Splash Mountain was still open. So it's been a while. Yeah. Um, so things have changed and our experience has changed. And it wasn't bad, but there are some things that as we were experiencing, thinking, like, oh, that's odd, or hmm, okay.

Jarrod 3:00

Yeah, I mean, let's break it down because we did both parks. We started with Disneyland today and then moved to California Adventure. And normally we do California Adventure first, um, but our tickets that we had were gifted to us, and they came with the Lightning Lane feature. Yeah. And so we had decided to start at Disneyland so that we could get started with the quote unquote appointments. Right. Yeah. And uh and it wasn't really the experience that I would have expected with that feature. Um, but let's break down both parks. Let's start with California Adventure and just get that out of the way.

Robert 3:41

Yeah, I mean, we weren't there very long. Um no. So I'm I'm noticing more and more without with the exception of the first like entry plaza when you're in that like old town like like the 20s. Yeah, that really beautiful. Like yeah, I love that. But as soon as you pass that area, it becomes the land of IP.

Jarrod 4:01

It's the Pixar part.

Robert 4:02

Yeah, everything is attached to something that is either Pixar or Marvel or that's about it, really.

Jarrod 4:10

Everything is license related. And it's it's overwhelming. It's overwhelming and because it feels like you were just walking through one big advertisement, like you're walking through Times Square or the center of Tokyo, and you're inundated with Locos everywhere. I mean, they've even renamed Paradise Pier, Pixar Pier.

Robert 4:28

It's it's a little sad because it it does feel very banner, like like uh like back in the early internet days when everything had like a web banner on it and it was just slapped on there. Yeah. It like even just walking through what I found to be one of the most like relaxing, quiet parts of the parks, the the San Francisco area where you could see the cochina cucumonga and the old tortilla factory. I really liked that area of the park because it was just it was kind of a toned down moment where you can get some food and relax and get a margarita. And now it's San Francisco based on the Big Hero Six movie, which is a great movie and fun characters. But again, did it need that logo slap? Did it need that? There's no ride, there's no interaction other than a character moment.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Yeah.

Robert 5:14

It's it just feels very much uh cheapened in that way. And I I feel like a lot of the beauty of the park that was once there uh is missing.

Jarrod 5:26

It sort of harkens back to when the park first opened. Right. You mentioned that. It wasn't that great. You kind of you you and and they very quickly realized that they needed the park hopper ticket because they were selling the tickets for California Adventures separately, right? DCA. And and I remember the first time I went there and the group that I was with, we went there and we were done with everything that we could do in like two hours. And we're like, what are we gonna do for the rest of the day? This is ridiculous. So we did go to customer service and kind of complained. And the response that we got was, Well, we tell people Disneyland's based on fantasy and California Adventures based on reality. And it's like, well, right now it's based on boring because we've done everything that we can do, yeah, and we have all this time. Like, come on, this is not fair. So they actually did give us tickets to Disneyland gratis, and we had a fantastic time. And then in like the the mid 2000s to late 2000s, California Adventure really found, I think, its footing and they incorporated a lot of the fantasy into the reality of the park, and it was just a ton of fun. Yeah, especially Paradise Pier. You get a corndog, ride the roller coaster, like go to Tower of Terror. And now I can kind of scratch California Adventure off my list.

Robert 6:49

Yeah, they're really we went there uh like around one, yeah, 1 30 after we had already done a lot of at Disneyland. And uh part of the problem too is having the Lightning Lane as an option is nice, but because you have to pre-book your fast passes, so to speak, and you can only pre-book one at a time, uh, they all fill up very quickly. And it's not like uh in the 90s when you would get FastPass and you would get your paper ticket and you knew, okay, well, I can't get another one until like an hour or so around when this happens. But they were available, they were always available. You could always get one. The times would increase. But what I found today as I was trying to stay off the phone, because it's ridiculous, but also keeping aware, some of the rides would sell out of their lightning lane availability, or the next closest one would be at four o'clock or six o'clock. It's like, I'm sorry, it's noon. Yeah, it's 10:30. I'm not staying around for another seven hours so I can ride that one ride. Then like that's crazy to me.

Jarrod 7:58

Stand in the standby line like four times over, right? Just waiting around for this lightning lane. Yeah. And for me, I I kind of thought it was a front of the line pass that we got with our tickets. And it's like when we go to Halloween horror nights and we splurge on the front of the line pass so that we can actually do the mazes in the time that we're there. Yeah. And you just you have your lanyard and you walk up to the front of the line and you show them your pass and you get on the ride.

Robert 8:24

Yeah.

Jarrod 8:25

Now it's it it it is this is this digitized fast pass. Yeah. And the fact that you can't like book out your whole day, like if you could get on the computer the night before and reserve your fast passes, that would be great. So then you have an itinerary for your day. But when one lightning lane, which used to be FastPass, is activated and you're waiting for that time, you can't book any other lightning lane for arrive.

Robert 8:57

You used to be able to do that. When we were in Orlando for a honeymoon in 2014, that's what we did.

Jarrod 9:01

Yeah, Disney World, I think, does it much better.

Robert 9:05

We were able to book two to three of them at a time. Yeah. Not at the same time, but we would have them all. And we could plan that ahead. And then when you use one, you can get one, and that's great. This one for one, especially it's such a smaller park, yeah, is really limiting uh for crowds. Yes. And uh yeah, you're right. It's it's not a front-of-the-line pass. It is essentially fast pass, but it's digital, and now you're paying $40 for it.

Jarrod 9:29

And a lot of the park is digital, like a lot of sour stands and pretzel stands.

Robert 9:34

So overwhelming.

Jarrod 9:35

Um, the the pineapple dole whip stand, like it it is online only. Only, yeah. So you can't just walk up there with a $20 bill and say I'd like a dole whip.

Robert 9:46

Well, you can. They just make you feel like an idiot when you do.

Jarrod 9:48

Well, no, the guy even said he was like, This stand is only online booking.

Robert 9:52

Yeah. Do you have a code? Well, what? No.

Jarrod 9:55

You're like, I'm doing it right now.

Robert 9:56

Um give me a minute.

Jarrod 9:57

That's the other thing, too. Like, some of the attitude of the people that work there, it's so bad. It's like, what's why do you want to work at the happiest place on earth if you're so freaking miserable?

Robert 10:07

It was it was a little off-putting at times. Right? Yeah. It's like your one job is to pull down on the spigot. Like, calm down. I'm getting it.

Jarrod 10:15

Also to enhance the park experience for the fans. Like when you say hello to somebody and the person, the cast member completely ignores you.

Robert 10:23

It's like It was a bit of a bummer. Yeah.

Jarrod 10:26

What what are we really selling here now? Because it's not the fantastical Disneyland experience. Yeah, I I and going back to California Adventure, let's just put a wrap on this. Right, right, right. So it's it's super licensed oriented, it's all about the branding of the licenses that they have, and it's just sort of a bummer experience now. So we did one ride that we could get our lightning lane for, which was Ariel's ride. Yeah, and that's right. We got a churro and we bounced. Yeah. And I'm like, we don't need a California adventure again, even if we are to return to the park. Right. So going back in our day to Disneyland was a much better experience. Yeah, I would agree. And there were a lot of changes that were made that I had commented to you made sense, enhanced the experience. Like I could see the change, it was an evolution, but it didn't take away from anything. California Adventure has made a lot of changes that have kind of erased what made that park so memorable and special.

Robert 11:25

Right. Yeah, I would agree with that. It's it's funny because you mentioned early days too, and they they also realized that they needed some Disney characters in the park to bring people in. They needed those character interactions. Um, but now they've swung the pendulum all the way. And it's it is just we joked in the early 2000s that like eventually this will just be a Pixar Park. Like they should just call it Pixar Park. And that's essentially what they've done, with the exception of Marvel.

Jarrod 11:55

Yeah, and I had also mentioned to you too, and this this applies for the Disneyland experience as well as the California Adventure experience in like the early 2000s, mid to late 2000s, especially once California Adventures sort of found its its niche and its personality with Disneyland. Those were kind of like the the golden days of our generation. And I, you know, I said to you, like, dare I say the Eisner days are like the golden days.

Robert 12:22

Yeah, it's so weird.

Jarrod 12:23

It's so bizarre, but it it used to be a fan experience. And you could get like a SoCal pass, and it was relatively inexpensive. There were a lot of blackout dates, but those were the dates that we would never go.

Robert 12:37

Right.

Jarrod 12:37

And you could go off season on like a Monday, and like every ride was like a five to 10 minute wait. You could do everything that you wanted to in a very relaxed manner and really enjoy the park. And I think the expectation of that kind of experience now is completely gone because of the way that they market the park, the way that they sell tickets, the expense of the passes, every you have to you have to make a reservation even just to go to the park now. Yeah, it's really just kind of taken all of the fun out of the Disneyland experience. But we did have some really great moments in the Disneyland park today.

Robert 13:18

Yeah, I still had a lot of fun. There, there I in general, I would have liked to have not been on my phone at all. Um, I I do I it's nice to have the ticket on there to be able to like scan it. Okay, great, it's all in one place, like a concert or something. Um I don't like having to pre-fast pass things as we go because then I'm just constantly on my phone checking ride times and trying to sync this and that. It's like, I don't want that. I really loved the old days when you could walk through the park, you see the giant board at the hub that says these are the wait times for all of the rides. And then you can take a look and be like, okay, well, mansion is yeah, mansion's 30 minutes, but Indiana's 15. So let's hit Indiana first and we'll go there on the way. And maybe we'll get a Fraspass to that first and we'll come back to it. And you're still doing that, yeah, but it's all on the phone for the sake of faux convenience. And really, it's just taking people out of the atmosphere because everyone is on their phones all over the park. Like I was running into people all day today because they just weren't paying attention. They were on their phones constantly. I was trying to be aware of it, like either walking behind you as you were walking to not run into people or like stopping to the side, but that was just not happening.

Jarrod 14:34

Well, and there's also a big wrench thrown into the gears when so many of the rides are down and not closed for refurbishment, right? But just down because something went wrong or something happened. And so then it's like, even if you were willing to stand in line for a ride, well, too bad because the ride's down. We don't know when it's going to be back open. It's just, it's really a bummer. And speaking of phones, one of the things that we noticed was even on rides, it was like being at a concert nowadays. Everyone was on their freaking phone. It was really weird, like so bizarre. And they were, if they weren't taking flash pictures, which is so distracting, especially in dark rides, they were just like checking their Instagram, like in the haunted mansion. Yeah. Like, and you even said you were like, put your phone away. Yeah. It was and the woman like knew immediately, like she like fumbled to like hide it in her shirt because she couldn't turn it off or whatever. And it's like, is this really when you need to be on your phone and ruining the experience for other people? Yeah. And it's like talking about like people walking like it's their first day on planet Earth, there's just this like obtuse unawareness that people have and not realizing that that phone, that bright light on that phone is distracting the experience from other people who don't want to be bothered with technology in that moment.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah.

Jarrod 15:58

Or when we went on small world, like we were sitting behind this family of three, that she was on her phone the entire time recording the ride, taking selfies. It's like, what are you gonna do with this on your phone besides take up storage?

Robert 16:15

It was really weird. Like she would pull in her daughter and like take video of the two of them, or then she would angle the phone at her daughter, who was like, I want to say 12 or 13. Like, this is not a newborn on her first ride with Small World, like angling at her and just watching what her daughter's doing. It's like, get away. Gross.

Jarrod 16:33

The footage she was recording was so extensive on such a long ride. It's boring. Like, who wants to watch that? It's like when someone gets back from vacation, they're like, hey, you want to watch Sumo Slides of my vacation?

Robert 16:43

Right. No. And if you do, go to YouTube. There are full point of view of every ride you could possibly want. Your phone is going to capture shit footage. Why would you bother to do that?

Jarrod 16:54

And then her husband was just like yelling. Like, first of all, they couldn't figure out when they were told which line to stand in. Yeah, they couldn't figure out where to go. Right. Then he just starts like screaming out certain things in line. Yeah. And then he's like in the boat just singing along. And it's like, ugh. And then the woman, once she was finally done recording, decided it was a time to groom herself. And she's like flipping her hair around and flipping it over the back of the seat on our legs. On our legs. And so gross. It's like, how, how I just don't understand how people can be so oblivious and unaware of the space that they occupy around other people. Yeah. And I think that, you know, theme parks, especially Disneyland, attracts a certain type of person. And then within the park, there are certain rides that attract a very specific kind of person as well. And those are rides that I just I don't need to be on. And I think what we were talking about is there are a lot of people at Disneyland that I feel have a hard time with reality. And so the world at large makes them feel unwelcome and uncomfortable. So they're like, I'm going to go to Disneyland where I can be me and I can escape reality.

Robert 18:21

And and you can, kind of. It is an escape. But but but you can't shut everything off.

Jarrod 18:27

Be in a quote unquote adult about the escape. Right. And and if you're going to escape, be in the moment.

Robert 18:33

Yeah. Yeah. If you're going to pay if you're going to pay all that money and if you're going to bother to make the trip, yeah. Be in it.

Jarrod 18:40

Yeah.

Robert 18:41

Like if you're you're doing the same thing that you would do if you were just laying on the couch or in your bed on your phone scrolling. But you're doing it at a dis why bother then? Just do it there.

Jarrod 18:51

Well, because people just it was weird.

Robert 18:54

That one in the mansion was so weird to me. It's like it is dark in here. Yeah. And like, better check Facebook. Yeah. It's so stupid.

Jarrod 19:03

Well, and and in Ariel, too. There was like the mom and the grandma with the two kids, and like they were taking flash photos of the ride. It's like, come on, man. Like everyone sees that. Yeah. It's just, it's it's like 20 years ago when people would pull their phones out in the movie theater. I mean, they still do it, but we don't go to the movie theaters anymore because people don't know how to behave in public anymore. Right. Yeah. And it's just, it's so ridiculous. Um, there's there's also like a very specific body type that frequents Disneyland. Like there was a lot of like barrel-shaped people with sloping shoulders. There was a lot of people in scooters that would arrive at the ride and then literally jump off the scooter and just walk on up to the line. It's like, oh, you're not using the scooter because you have a disability. You're using the scooter because you're lazy and your body is a reflection or a receipt of that choice.

Robert 19:59

I think there is some of that for sure. Yeah.

Jarrod 20:01

And a lot of cankles. A lot of cankles. And it's like, how do you frequent a park like this? Because we agree Disneyland is about the local experience. And get as many steps in as you do and still look like you don't give a crap about your body.

Robert 20:20

Yeah.

Jarrod 20:20

I don't and I'm not saying you have to have a six-pack.

Robert 20:24

Well, you're not body shaming, but you're you're acknowledging the fact that walking through there is definitely a theme park physique.

Jarrod 20:32

Yeah.

Robert 20:33

And it's very odd.

Jarrod 20:34

Yeah. I mean, you and I are not like Adonises by any means, but we are aware of our health. Right. And it's like we had a pretzel, we had a churro, and I had a Diet Coke.

Robert 20:45

And a pineapple juice.

Jarrod 20:46

A pineapple juice to store.

Robert 20:47

But we didn't go crazy.

Jarrod 20:49

But we didn't go crazy. We weren't like, you know, eating everything at every stand.

Robert 20:53

Yeah.

Jarrod 20:54

And and I really not, I know it probably sounds like I'm body shaming, but again, I'm not looking at somebody and saying, you are a lesser-than person because your body looks this way. I'm just making an observation on the public receipt of the choices that you make with this one vessel that you've been given to traverse this life.

Robert 21:17

It's it's not uh it is just an observation. It's like when we see those uh comics or cartoons of the Disney adult, right? And they're often very large and sweating everywhere, and like that it is it is a physique. I'm not I'm not sure what I'm not sure what that happens. I don't think it's just frozen bananas and pickles and turkey legs.

Jarrod 21:40

I think turkey legs. Also, too. I mean, like years ago, we were laughing because they had to redesign it's a small world because the average weight of an American was so heavy that the boats were bottoming out. Yeah. And like I I I mean, it's not Disneyland's responsibility. Like money is money, customers are customers. It's just there's something kind of jarring about being in a place that feels like an epicenter for bad. Choices.

Robert 22:16

It is interesting now that you say it.

Jarrod 22:17

I I mean some of the people I'm sorry, but some of the people that we saw there are which now are is totally acceptable as like an okay size to be, used to be the size of the quote unquote freaks in the sideshows.

Robert 22:31

Well, that's in general anyway. Like you go to the mall, you see the same thing. Like it I think that's just that is just how the world is in the US. Yeah. I think what's happened is Disneyland is a destination. So if we were to go to any destination in the US, it would look like that.

Jarrod 22:51

Yeah.

Robert 22:51

Because if you go to Hawaii, Hawaii looks like that. If you go on a cruise ship, a cruise ship looks like that. Whenever wherever you get a group of Wally, it is really where you get a group of Americans clumped together in a s in one small space like that, we're gonna see it because that is what we are now.

Jarrod 23:09

Representation.

Robert 23:10

Sadly, yeah. And we're we're not going to uh a CrossFit convention, we're not going to uh a marathon race or something like that. We were going to somewhere where like it is it is what it is. Yeah. Um it is a little jarring. I was surprised by I mean, I wasn't looking, but usually, especially on a summer day, you would see like a hot dad running around or two, like attractive gaze. Like there was other than us, I didn't see anyone. It was really weird. Yeah. It it well again. Lots of sweaty fat families. Yeah. Is that mean?

Jarrod 23:43

I don't know.

Robert 23:44

That's kind of mean. Sorry.

Jarrod 23:46

It's an observation.

Robert 23:47

Yeah.

Jarrod 23:48

And there was a lot of sweat today.

Robert 23:50

Thankfully, it didn't smell. I was surprised it didn't smell as bad as I thought it would.

Jarrod 23:54

Well, it was but there was one smell that we kept smelling all day long. Yeah. And it's like, I don't know. We get whipped. It wasn't bad. No. But from the time we got on the tram to go to the park to the time we got off the tram to go back to our car, we kept smelling it all day long. And I'm thinking there must be some viral hair product that all the girls are using right now because so many people had the same sort of like fruity.

Robert 24:19

It was like when you go to the beach and all you smell is everyone's sunscreen. Yeah. But it was not that.

Jarrod 24:23

But it wasn't sunscreen.

Robert 24:24

Yeah, it was it was interesting.

Jarrod 24:26

It was, and I think it was coming from hair. It must be like a dry shampoo because I feel like Disneyland for a lot of girls is a dry shampoo day.

Robert 24:33

Yeah.

Jarrod 24:33

So there must be some really popular or viral dry shampoo that everyone has to be using. Yeah. Because we know that they're plugged into the social media machine because they were all on their freaking phones.

Robert 24:45

My God, what I we saw our first Disney influencer today. Oh, yeah, by the way, that was weird. Yeah. Uh-huh. Um, so that was that was a little bizarre to see.

Jarrod 24:53

She's dressed up with her phone on a stand.

Robert 24:56

Yeah, that was really weird. And then that other girl in California Venture in her like skin tight mini with the stand.

Jarrod 25:02

Influencers and their natural habitat.

Robert 25:04

And I had never seen that before. That was kind of interesting in a like sad microcosm way.

Jarrod 25:10

Um they're ruining everything.

Robert 25:13

But on the whole, I think we did pretty good for the time that we were there.

Jarrod 25:20

It was a nice experience to go, and I kept saying I'm just really glad that the tickets weren't wasted. Right. Right. But it is a different experience. Yeah. Some of the good things, uh, starting with like Haunted Mansion, there were some refreshes there.

Robert 25:35

It was so nice to be able to ride the mansion without the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay.

Jarrod 25:39

I hate the overlay.

Robert 25:40

I don't hate it, but I wish that it was more equitable time between the two.

Jarrod 25:46

I like Nightmare Before Christmas. Yeah. But this is why I hate it specifically for the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion is already a Halloween-themed ready ride. You don't need to do anything to it. I hate it because it's just another IP slap. Yeah. Well, and you and it's got to go down. Yeah. And it's up for a really long time.

Robert 26:05

It's a really long time.

Jarrod 26:07

And and it's and then it's got and then it has to go down to turn it back.

Robert 26:11

There's no reason it should be up in August, and there's no reason it should still be up in January. Like take it down. It takes you two weeks to put it up. So go down, put it up for late September, October. Sure.

Jarrod 26:22

Call it a day. But some of the the changes that they made, the the new bride was great. Yeah, she's beautiful. The sort of pseudo wall that was like a railing on the loading zone was really cool. Yeah, like one of those old screens, like a uh portrait in the loading view was a really nice addition.

Robert 26:44

Yeah, that April to December woman was really cool.

Jarrod 26:47

And then what'd you call her Lady of the Manor? Yeah, that's that gave me that that vibe.

Robert 26:52

Like it was her house. Yeah. Or like uh maybe Mrs. Gracie at some point.

Jarrod 26:57

Um and we did Pirates. Pirates was fun. Some really cool changes with pirates.

Robert 27:03

Yeah, I I didn't hate that new gold pirate as much as I thought that I would, especially given how much everyone said that they thought they did on Instagram. I it was very effective. Yep. It looked clean. Um, I don't love projection animatronics in general because I think the bright eyes and the face are a little distracting, but this felt pretty good.

Jarrod 27:28

Yeah.

Robert 27:28

It wasn't bad. It felt like a nice effective storytelling element, and it's not the original story. I know that people are very purist when it comes to these like attractions that have been there for 60 years or whatever. Yeah. But Pirates' story has evolved over time with the movies, too. And it's something that we kind of have to get used to. Johnny Depp has been there for 20 years now, he's now part of the ride. Yeah.

Jarrod 27:53

Um and that's okay too. Yeah. But along with these refreshes that they're doing, I wish they would fix the Johnny Depp at the end of the ride.

Robert 28:01

Right.

Jarrod 28:02

Like, how many years has his mouth not moved to the words?

Robert 28:05

That's my thing. Like, I no one asked for this. No one ever will, right? Yeah. But I but I do think before you start adding stuff like this that isn't really necessary, could you just take like an in-service day and go through the park and see what stuff does need to be fixed, what needs to be repainted? Like Little Mermaid, some of those entronics were so faded. And like the colors on them, it's like you're under you're underwater. Like everything should be bright and colorful and fun. And uh Flounder was this like sad, pale baby puke yellow. And like, you can't give them a little paint job, give them a little help here.

Jarrod 28:42

Yeah, no, I got it.

Robert 28:43

Ariel looked like she was on Quaaludes, like Oh my god, yeah. Like, fix those things first. Yeah, by all means, innovate, bring new things, bring new energy and excitement to the park with something exciting and different, but fix the stuff that needs some help too. Yep. If at the very least to show that the money I just gave you to be here is worth it.

Jarrod 29:03

Yeah, I want to see where my money is going. And if it's not going to the fan experience, then it's going to shareholders. Right. So again, Disneyland specifically that caters to I think more local demographic versus Disney World, where people make it a destination from all over the country, uh, has a different uh standard of operations. Yeah. And you can clearly see that it is all about profit margins and shareholders and how much money they can get for what they have spent the money on. And like licensing. Um, we did it's a small world. I don't ever have to do that right again. Yeah, I ate too long. We got stuck on the boat at the end of the day.

Robert 29:51

Yeah, that sucked. I I did not like us being stuck on the boat in the sun, just there while the employees just stared at us. Right. Like no communication, no like, we're so sorry for the delay. We'll get you guys going as soon as possible. Um, there's just a slight hiccup. There was none of that. It was like I was literally staring at the woman behind the control panel while she's just kind of leaning on the phone.

Jarrod 30:14

Uh-huh. No personal calls at work, please.

Robert 30:16

Yeah. It it was it was a little dismissive for a situation where I would have liked a little more communication.

Jarrod 30:22

Yeah.

Robert 30:22

Um the pretzel was banging. Oh, pretzel is so good.

Jarrod 30:26

Yeah. A little too salty for me. I couldn't finish mine.

Robert 30:29

I like mine with a lot of salt like that. It was good. I also like that it's baked on so the salt isn't like falling everywhere.

Jarrod 30:35

Normally I would ask for a pretzel with no salt, but I forgot. Um, and I would also get it with like some mustard or cheese. But you know, when you're walking the park, especially on a hot day, like a hot nacho cheese. Yeah. Like I joked, like, oh, let's get a hot clam chocolate bowl, right? Um churro was. I just wanted to be easy. And the churro was amazing. Nice and soft and crispy. Most of the time, I really don't have any complaints about the churros that I get at Disneyland. I maybe once or twice I got one that was like, really, is this the best churro that you can give me?

SPEAKER_02 31:06

Yeah.

Jarrod 31:07

But yeah, the churro was great. And I think for me, just kind of walking the park was a nice experience with you. It felt like a really cool summer day that had like a lot of of the um like the banner flags up. So yeah, the Fourth of July feeling like Americana. And yeah, you know, it's just it's just a moment to try to recapture what you and I really loved about our Disneyland experience in in the 2000s. It was, you know, a lot of the stuff was freshened up, but it hearkened back to our memories of our experiences as children. And then you had the added benefit of knowing if I go uh during this time of year on this day, I know that it's just gonna be a really cool, fun experience. I'm not gonna have to spend half the day waiting in line or trying to navigate people that don't know how to walk. And then you get like the people with like the double wide strollers.

Robert 32:05

And then there's just always been a problem.

Jarrod 32:07

If you're going to have something like that, you need to be more aware of the space that you're taking up because you're taking up more space. And to that, if your kids' feet are dragging on the ground, they're too big or too old for the stroller.

Robert 32:24

Yeah, get them one of the electric scooters that that fat woman's sitting in.

Jarrod 32:27

That's that's the wow.

Robert 32:28

I'm kidding. When you get started, I am kidding.

Jarrod 32:33

It's well, it but it you can see how the evolution of maybe a kid that's allowed that now grows up to be the overweight person that wants the scooter because they don't want to have to walk the parts.

Robert 32:49

Right. And just to be clear, we I am talking about the people who want the scooter, not the people who have to have the scooter.

Jarrod 32:56

Right.

Robert 32:56

And there's a very clear distinction between that because we know who those people are.

Jarrod 33:00

If you're gonna use the scooter, like know how to use the scooter too.

Robert 33:04

That was happening so much. People were running over my heels or backing up and slamming into buildings and trash cans and stuff.

Jarrod 33:12

It it was it it It was weird. You yeah, you it was a little bit of a shit show. Yeah, and you kind of we you know, there were certain points where I just I had my blinders on.

Robert 33:21

Yeah.

Jarrod 33:22

Um, we wrote the new Mickey ride in Toontown. That was really cute. I'm really glad that you liked that. I thought it was fun, it was a little too jerky for me.

Robert 33:30

For me too. Yeah, it it didn't need to be that much. Um, I liked the speed of it, but if you're gonna go that quick in that small of a space and then like halt to a stop and swirl around somewhere else, I don't I don't need all of that. Yeah, that just felt like they wanted to mess around with our spines a little bit.

Jarrod 33:50

Roger Rabbit is that right.

Robert 33:52

Yeah. At least that's on a like a swirling track and you can kind of know where you're going and it's not so jarring.

Jarrod 33:57

Yeah.

Robert 33:58

But I thought the the technology was very cool. It was it was fun. Yeah. I think he was messing around and and went underneath it. Wow. Yeah. But don't mess around.

Jarrod 34:11

Don't mess around. Or like recently the the kid that jumped out of the Oh, the Splash Mountain or Tiana thing.

Robert 34:18

Yeah.

Jarrod 34:19

Yeah. And then fell like down. And I still don't know if he was like just goofing around and trying to be cute or if he like panicked at the last minute and tried to bail on the ride.

Robert 34:29

I don't know.

Jarrod 34:30

But it you know, it always surprised me that that ride with that kind of uh dip at the end, fall at the end, didn't doesn't have restraints on it either.

Robert 34:41

Yeah. Well, and we were talking about it at the time. Um for me, it's just I I think when they originally designed these rides, they took for granted how stupid people were. And and thinking like, you're on a ride, so these people won't want to get out while it's moving. And now they're realizing, oh no, they don't we have to keep them strapped down.

Jarrod 35:05

Winnie the Pooh has a safety bar.

Robert 35:08

And a door.

Jarrod 35:09

And a door, but yet the logs on Tatiana's Bayou ride has n has no restraint system at all. It is it's the it's just weird. It makes no sense to me.

Robert 35:20

Yeah, I know.

Jarrod 35:22

So uh yeah, I I think that just like Disney then versus now, you can clearly see when you are trying to go into the park that it is not about the fan experience, it's not about the park goer experience, it's definitely a business that they no longer care about hiding what their priority is, which is profits.

Robert 35:44

Yeah. And and the the cus the whole customer experience is get in there and get as much as you can, get your money's worth as fast as you can. Yep. Uh and as quickly as you can.

Jarrod 35:56

And parking is $40 now. That's crazy. Which is crazy.

Robert 36:00

It's like that at Universal Studios, too. It's it's weird how how they can justify that.

Jarrod 36:06

People pay. What are you gonna do? How else do you get into the park?

Robert 36:10

Unless you're staying in a hotel or you live locally, there isn't another way.

Jarrod 36:14

But even if you live locally, which we do, you have like what are you gonna do?

Robert 36:17

Like Oh, I meant like in Anaheim. Park. Take a bus. Yeah.

Jarrod 36:21

Like park at some hotel somewhere or at a strip mall and then take an Uber in. I like You can't you have to park there to get basically get in. The tram setup and the security setup is like in the parking lot now, which is very weird.

Robert 36:37

And it is it is weird, yeah. Yeah, but I'm glad that we only had to go through one security line. That was great. I was worried we were gonna have to go through all that bull.

Jarrod 36:48

The ticket booths are closed. You purchase tickets if you didn't do it prior in the lost and found line. Yeah. Um, it just feels like uh cattle call.

Robert 36:58

Yeah, it was a little hurdy.

Jarrod 37:00

Yeah. And um it's all about the business of making money. And with passes too, like we were talking about passes, and people will spend so much money on a pass and they really push the passes and the reservations because you spend all this money, so then you have to feel like you need to get your money's worth. So, what do you do? Like you continually go back to the park as often as you can. And then when you're in the park, what do you do? You spend more money once you're in the park.

Robert 37:35

Yeah. Well, and and it's always been like that when they first brought the annual passports and really pushed those like everywhere, like with the discounts. And oh, do you have a pass? Do you have a pass?

Jarrod 37:47

Oh, I totally forgot about that. Everywhere you went, they asked if you had a pass. It's like when you go to home goods and like do you want the credit card? It's like, girl.

Robert 37:55

They've pulled back on that because so many people had passes and they were financing it. Everyone had them. Um, and it was just loading up the parks. So now they're not selling them as much because they're so crazy expensive. And people kind of just don't want to be at the parks anymore.

Jarrod 38:12

I never got like if you needed to finance a Disneyland pass, you probably shouldn't be buying a Disneyland pass. Yeah. Sorry, not sorry.

Robert 38:21

No, that's always it's always been.

Jarrod 38:24

I think that the way that the park operates and the demographic that is attracted as a park goer as a whole are kind of working in tandem to systematically destroy any kind of really authentic experience that one can have there.

Robert 38:39

Uh yeah. I I had to work, I didn't have to work hard, but I was aware of that when we were there today. And I was trying to, like you said, put my blinders on a bit and just be happy to be there. Yeah. Be happy that we didn't spend a ton of money to go. Yeah. Like I kind of felt like an influencer where they're like, Disneyland paid for us to go to the park today. Here's what we did. It wasn't that. It was a gift situation, but it was nice to be able to go and relax and focus on just you and me in the park today, doing above all, the haunted mansion. Because the Haunted Mansion, that's us.

Jarrod 39:15

Always and forever going to be my favorite.

Robert 39:17

Um, and I think it was just a really nice day. I think we really we didn't make the best of a bad situation. We made the best of what the park now is.

Jarrod 39:27

Yes.

Robert 39:27

And that's okay. I but I don't have, I don't have the need to be like, oh, when are we going back? Or like we should get a pass today so we can come back all the time. I'm good. It there were like with the Mickey Mouse ride, like I don't need to ride that again. It was really fun. I had a nice experience, but I really don't need to do it again.

Jarrod 39:44

That was another thing too. Like when we were standing in line for the ride, and they had that like Diego's got something to say.

Robert 39:52

He's hungry. He's hungry.

Jarrod 39:54

Um, okay, just a minute, buddy. Um, we're standing in line and they have like the concession, the fake concession stand, right? And there's like the stickers, and like people were peeling off the sticker. It's like, keep your hands off of it.

Robert 40:08

It's that's weird.

Jarrod 40:09

Like the the destructive nature of human beings, yeah, especially in an environment like that, Disneyland is so gross. Like, can you have any consideration for the fact that someone else is entitled to an experience the way that Disneyland set it up to be experienced? Yeah. Do you have to put your grimy, grubby little hands on everything? And if you do, do you have to just enjoy it or damage it? It's just it's really bizarre. And I think I'm also just at an age and a time in my life where I had my time at Disneyland. I'm glad that my time was where in the timeline it was because it's a fantastic memory for me to have all those experiences. But again, it's just it's super expensive, it's not convenient. The people that work there are just miserable and not afraid to let you know that they're miserable. So it's like, what's the point when you can't go there and suspend your disbelief for a a day or a half a day?

Robert 41:11

Especially when you have to be on your phone the whole time.

Jarrod 41:13

That's the other thing, too.

Robert 41:15

That's a big bummer for me.

Jarrod 41:16

Yeah.

Robert 41:16

Like I had to physically turn my phone off and put it back in my bag every time.

Jarrod 41:21

Yeah.

Robert 41:21

Because I did not want to be on it if I didn't have to be. Yep. I'm I'm there to disconnect. I'm there to be immersed, and I'm there to be part of this so-called magic. Yep. And you're taking me out of it by reminding me of how mundane the world is.

Jarrod 41:38

Unfortunately, the magic of Disneyland is gone. And I'm okay with that because at least I got to experience that. Yeah, I'm very thankful for that. Um, but it's just it's a completely different experience now. And you know, maybe it's the experience that this generation that is going there. They seem to like it. And that's fine. Great. Everything, everything is sort of like a is social media fodder. Yeah. And not about being present and in the moment, which, you know, our podcast and and our perspective and observations of life is all about being in the moment. Yeah. So I don't want to continue to do things that don't allow me to be in the moment. Like, I don't want to go to a movie theater and have to deal with people taking out their phones.

Robert 42:21

Yeah.

Jarrod 42:22

Um, the other thing, too, that that we actually didn't touch on with California Adventure and the changes that they made is the Guardians of the Galaxy overlay. Like we just decided not even to bother with that because there was no need to do it except to capitalize on the Marvel license. I'm not a Guardians of the Galaxy fan. I liked the first movie, but I didn't I didn't want to disrupt my memories of the Tower of Terror and have this Guardians of Galaxy experience now. So it's like I'm I'm good. I'm cool with all that.

Robert 42:56

I didn't think about it until that moment when we were there. Like I would have been okay to write it leading up to it.

Jarrod 43:01

Yeah.

Robert 43:02

But realizing in the moment, no, like I don't want to be distracted the entire time thinking, oh, that's where the Rod Sterling TV was, or that's where those props used to be, or that's that's when this used to happen on the Twilight Zone ride. Because you and I are also very big Twilight Zone fans. It's not like we're just a purist for the ride for the sake of it's the original, leave it alone. We really loved the ride as it was because of the storytelling, the atmosphere, everything about it was really kind of a perfect attraction. And that's why it's been around for well, 94. What is that, 30, 30 years in Orlando? So yeah, I was the same way. Like I don't really need to do that.

Jarrod 43:46

And it's still the Tower of Terror, terror in Orlando.

Robert 43:49

It is still in Orlando and in Paris.

Jarrod 43:53

Well, and I think too, I mean, you know, Devil's Advocate, you could say, well, people might not be uh Twilight Zone fans, but they're Guardians of the Galaxy fans, right?

Robert 44:01

Right.

Jarrod 44:02

But first and foremost, if it's not broken, don't fix it. There was something about Tower of Terror, even if you're not a Twilight Zone fan, that you could immerse yourself in and get lost in and have a good time with it.

Robert 44:16

Everyone loves a good ghost story, right?

Jarrod 44:18

But with Guardians of the Galaxy, like you've got so much in the park already that is action themed with like Star Wars and what used to be Bugs Land is now that like all those warehouse buildings.

Robert 44:30

Warehouse land, warehouse land, Marvel warehouse.

Jarrod 44:32

It's like, can you just leave a little bit of balance in the microcosm? And that's why again, I think like the magic is gone because it's just so obvious what they're doing with the park now. So I'm glad that we had the day that we had there, and I'm taking what I want from that experience, yeah, but I'm also kind of filing it away in my Rolodex of things that I don't really need to do anymore. Yeah.

Robert 44:57

Yeah, me too.

Jarrod 44:58

So bring the magic back and then who knows, maybe we'll see. But I don't need to be a Disneyland adult.

Robert 45:05

I don't think so either.

Jarrod 45:06

Yeah. Well, on that note, let's go feed the dogs. And let us know what your guys' thoughts are on Disneyland. If if you are a SoCal local and you've had a similar experience, or if you have a difference of opinion, let us know. And uh thank you for listening once again.

Robert 45:26

Yeah, I would like to know if if our listeners go to the park and they uh what do they do to to get through all the stuff that we've talked about? Like they still like it working through some of the things that they're facing now at the park. I'm just curious.

Jarrod 45:41

And we will see you guys next Tuesday.

Robert 45:44

Bye.

Jarrod 45:45

Bye.