WDW Radio # 728 – Our Top Ten Disney Resort Concepts

Lou Mongello: One, two. All right. I'm gonna just do a backup recording here just for giggles. Recording in progress.

Since the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971, the resorts have been an important part of the entire experience. And in fact, Walt Disney World was heralded as the vacation kingdom of the world, and with only one park, magic Kingdom being open at the time. The three themed resorts that came with were soon after the opening war and remain an integral part of the experience.

And now with more than 30 themed resorts on property, the number of accommodations hasn't only increased, but the storytelling opportunities have as well. From themes that revolve primarily around locations to others that are interest based, like All Star and Art of Animation, et cetera, to even time periods like pop century.

There's no shortage of ways to live your own adventure whenever or wherever you would like, but I think Walt Disney World is also on the precipice of expanding and building new resorts due in large part to the need for more rooms on property. And with great demand comes great opportunity. And so this week we're going to do a little armchair imaginary and get hopefully creative as we look at our top 10 themed resort ideas in Walt Disney World.

And when you hear top 10 and creative, you think of hopefully Walt Disney, www, hopefully W DW Radio first, and then little Timmy Foster from Celebrations Magazine and guide to the Magic.

Tim Foster: Oh, I feel I'm a distant second to that WW Radio thing. I've heard so much about it's,

Lou Mongello: you know what it's, it's like, it's like the black and white cookie.

They come together, WW Radio, the top tens side two sides of the same coin. And speaking of good people doing good things, longtime friend and generous contributor to our Dream Team project to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America on Welcome back, Daniel Roberts.

Daniel Roberts: Hey Lou and Tim. This is my ninth top 10 with you guys and I so look forward to it.

And with my daughter, we write out a check, which includes my donation, and she voluntarily has given her allowance the last three years, which is $2 a week. As an add-on cuz she loves the concept. So, oh man. I thank for, I thank you for starting that and yes, like me, she owns a choose the good t-shirt.

Lou Mongello: What you are wearing, dare I say Rocking right now.

Thank you. And, and thank your daughter and, and next time you come down, hopefully the three of us can get together and uh, and share a meal again. But Absolutely. Um, I think, you know, I think the timing of this is accidentally impeccable with the recent announcement of the closing of the Star Cruiser. And not just my, but I think many people's speculation that it can or should become the, the Star Wars resorts that so many people, I think mistakenly thought it was, we just talked about it on the last show from the live WWE live this past week.

But I think there's, there's a great opportunity there for more guests to experience something that is. Remarkable new in the industry and when and if it becomes modified to become more accessible, it's also going to remain an incredibly themed. Experience, but I think that there are many more opportunities to get creative.

And so armed with your fictional unlimited budget and access to stories, characters, franchises, et cetera, in the Disney family, this is your opportunity or task or challenge to come up with a list of some unique, fun, beautiful, creative, inspiring, et cetera resort concepts in Walt Disney World. The more detail, the better, right?

Not just maybe where you would put it or why, but, but how you would do it. So again, um, armed with that knowledge and rules that will probably change on the fly. Daniel Roberts, because you are our oso special guest, I invite you to go first, followed by you, Mr. Little Timothy Foster. So Dan and, and Tim, when you go, when you first heard about this idea, were you overwhelmed?

Were you excited? Is this something, is this like an idea that has been percolating in your mind for some time?

Daniel Roberts: Sure. I mean, I, I love the resorts. My first was 1980 Contemporary, um, very old school. And we've been to my daughter. My wife and I have been to many of them and it is a huge part of the trip. And, um, do I want more?

Uh, yes. So I brainstormed with my daughter and we came up with some

Lou Mongello: doozies. And how old's your daughter for context? How old's your daughter?

Daniel Roberts: She's 10. And her first trip to Walt Disney Road was, um, she was two and a half. And we've gone sort of relentlessly. She loves it. We talk Disney, we every morning.

And when I walk her to school, she wants, would you rathers? Um, she is a big fan of Blue and Tim. She is all in. She is all in. So should I go with my first? Go ahead. Okay. The first one. Is a go with me here, or shall I say sail with me here It is a Disney cruise line themed resort hotel, a dcl themed resort hotel.

Now, have we learned our lesson from the, not gonna say Ill-fated, but the, uh, changing in progress, uh, galactic star cruiser in that people want to get off the ship right? And do their own things like big people. Ines, here's what it's, it will look like the Disney Magic or the Wonder, the Polish Wood. There will be a cabanas, there will be decks instead of floors 15 to 17.

We'll have, uh, Pool, water slides, things of that nature. The rooms will be state rooms. Some will have virtual, um, portholes, and there will be ports of call, which you can look at and see, uh, exotic locations, Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, Alaska, maybe even Europe. As the ports of calls change, one of the dining rooms will reflect the cuisine of where you are virtually visiting.

There will also be in the lobby, the longest lazy river, indoor, lazy river in the world where you can, uh, hitch up your inner tube at a snack stop to get an appetizer or a tropical drink. There will be not three nights, four nights, five night cruises. You could stay as little or as much as you want. You can leave the cruise ship.

And visit the parks. There will be tender boats to take you over a body of water. Is it Seven Seas, lagoon, or Bay Lake? I don't know. The imagineers have to come up with that and Mr. Iger has to come up with the money for this odd but brilliant idea. I'm gonna call the ship the Disney Adventure and it is gonna be a ship.

And because of the name of the ship, it will also have Bupa, an adventurous club, right? Iul, which we, which we need. Finally, all of my ideas have, um, lobby statues, much like the ships have their own, uh, beautiful bronze statues and Lillian and Walter Elias, Disney were great travelers for their day or any day.

And the statues in this hotel concept would be of the two of them, uh, with their luggage, honor an adventure somewhere. The stores on board would also reflect the ports of call, some of the, uh, indigenous things that are made and sold in the Caribbean or Alaska, et cetera. And there would be a cruise director and a captain and a cabanas.

There would be, it would be all inclusive. There would be intranet packaging packages and drink packages sold. It would be expensive pending your room choice. And for those who get seasick, well, you won't because you're, you're not going anywhere. And that is my ideal, and I'm calling it again, the Disney Adventure.

Lou Mongello: So Dan, I, when you first started saying it, I'm like, this guy's nuts. You still might be juries out. However, the more you explained it, excuse me, the more I think this actually makes sense because I think for a lot of people, Like the star cruiser going on an actual Disney cruise is not necessarily a available as, as an option.

It might be the time commitment, it might be the, the fear or hesitancy or inability to go on a ship because of, of seasickness or whatever it might be. It could be the cost, but sort of having this docked ship cruise like experience where again, you're not necessarily bound by the 3, 4, 7, what et cetera day commitment and can kind of come and go as you please.

It might not necessarily be the craziest thing you've ever said.

Daniel Roberts: No, I, well, no, it's not sure, at least on the

Lou Mongello: show. At least on the show. No, not on the show. But

Daniel Roberts: I guess I also think that, like, I bookend two days in the parks, a four day cruise, and then two days in the parks. And it was a lot just the, you know, the, the, the, the change of scenery.

Um, and it would be interesting if you love cruising, if you love the look of the cruise ships, but you wanna stay in the parks and you like things that are nautical, why not? Why not?

Tim Foster: I love state Lou, and you were talking about people who might not be able to go on a cruise for whatever reason. I feel like you were talking directly at me cuz I'm that guy.

We've talked about this. Mm-hmm. You tried to get me on a cruise so many times, Lou, and one day you'll succeed. But I have,

Lou Mongello: I have, I have

Tim Foster: long, pardon the pun wished for this. I have long dreamed of this. Like, I love everything about the cruise ships that I see. I just can't go out there is said, let's dry dham, let me stay there without actually going out there.

But you did one better. You put it in the park. Kudos to you. I love that. I

Daniel Roberts: that idea. Thank you

Lou Mongello: Timothy. You, you're, you're

Tim Foster: right. I, that means it's my turn, isn't it? Which I'm very thankful Daniel did not take my idea. So we, we over in the celebrations family, we, if right behind Christmas as our favorite time of year, it's gonna be Halloween. We are all about the spooky, especially my daughter. And we have long wanted, and we actually did talk about this ourselves and my daughter's first idea, only idea only thing she'll want to do, a haunted mansion themed resort.

Oh man. And she wants to put it like right in back of the haunted mansion. And when we always do this, we always have the caveat, we're playing Imagineer. So we're all about the imagination, the, the engineering, the feasibility, the budget, that's someone else's problem. They're down the hall. All we're worrying about is the idea.

So, but we keep thinking about so many things you could do with this cuz she loves the haunted Mansion. I love it. We all do. But. You take the theming of the haunted mansion, you carry it through to the resort. You could do all sorts of things. Of course you have the, the, the butlers and the maids walking around.

You could have the cast members being character, like they've started to do with Galaxy's Edge and Pandora and things like that. They, the, the lobby thinking of the Grand Floridian lobby of the Wilderness Lodge. This lobby could be the ballroom with a grand pipe organ at the end. And we sit and relax and we listen to that pipe organ playing.

You could have a seance themed lounge. You could have thunder going on outside, lightning, all the windows all the time, even though it's not really thunder and lightning outside. Even the grounds you could do so much with, uh, taking that interactive Q I d and expanding it and expanding the graveyards, having a hearse right outside the door.

And of course every once in a while you have that ooh, wafting through all the quarters and the outside. A lot of sleeping and the, well, the rooms. I thought about like I I, you might have to have different levels of this cuz I don't know if you wanna go full blown attic theme in your bedroom. That might be a lot to take, but we'll have some of those.

But for the rest of us, maybe we throttle back a little bit. But yeah, the elements like the wallpaper we love so much, and the then the furniture and the clocks with the, with the hands on it, the fingers on it. Um, there's so many possibilities with this and I think for a lot of people that we talked to, Halloween is a favorite time of year.

Some, for some people even more so than Christmas. And between that at Tower Terror, that's their one, two. Go to that they can never get enough of. And being able to turn that into a resort would be a dream come true for lots of people, myself included. So I'm putting that on my list.

Lou Mongello: So I have a feeling, Tim, this is one that would be high on a lot of people's list, including Disney.

Because if you think back, the haunted mentioned theme, not necessarily resort, but themed rooms is, is sort of a, a, a Disney concept that never was. And, and I'll share on, on my Instagram and in the clubhouse as week, I'll share some of the concept art for. What these rooms were going to be. Because if you think back to, it probably was 2009, somewhere around there, um, Disney had sort of put out some surveys asking people what they thought of princess rooms and royal rooms and a hearted mansion room and wellness suites.

And if remember in 2010, Caribbean Beach got Pirates of the Caribbean themed rooms in 2012, port Orleans Riverside got. Royal rooms. And then obviously there were other themed rooms that came later on. And if you looked at some of the hotter mansion, uh, concept art, you saw that while they wouldn't have been sort of fully flushed out like a themed resort, they had, you know, hitchhiking, ghosts appearing in the mirrors and floating beds, it looked like doom buggies, um, haunted ma mansion, wallpaper, bread bedspreads and, and you know, gargoyle, SCOs, et cetera.

But I too have thought for a long time about the possibility of a haunted mansion themed resort. And I sort of go back and forth on, I, I think the concept has app like Legitimate Merit and I wonder if Haunted Mansion Resort, you know, we have to think not just about sort of the Uber. Disney fan, but sort of the average Disney fan.

Right? And, and not just domestic guests, but international guests and with the idea of a true haunted house be too scary or, or off-putting for people. So I'll modify it a little bit, keeping it in the Disney Spooky Mansion theme while incorporating summary of your ideas. What about this, what about a Mystic Manner resort, which embodies not just the mystic manner, which I think is a top three attraction worldwide, but the, the Hauntingly Charming World of the Haunted Mansion.

So you have a spooky but immersive yet fun experience. You've got the, the Claude Coats and Mark Davis, the, the spooky and funny coming in, excuse me, together. So you have accommodations that obviously will embody a lot of the. Eerie decor and the haunted artwork and the nods to iconic characters. I think there's an opportunity for some, you know, gly dining experiences that capture that eerie elegance of the haunted mansion.

And there's this candle at dinner and a grand dining room with cobwebs and portraits and everything that we see sort of in the ballroom. And it could even be sort of a, um, you know, uh, like a, a hoopty do sort of a, a three seatings per night type of experience. But I think we can sort of extend this idea.

With some like haunted excursions and haunted tours and they can sort of take guests on these immersive, interactive journeys through hidden passages and there's interaction with characters and different sort of mysteries that could be add-on experiences. Again, like what I talked about when I think can and should happen with the Star Cruiser, you don't have to sort of buy in to be locked into the mansion for three days, but you could sort of do these add-on experiences.

I think there's could be some cool special spectral entertainment that will sort of capture. The, the, the macab charm of the hearted mansion with, with music and magic shows and theatrical presentations that maybe celebrate some of the iconic moments and illusions and special effects. I think it could have some cool little gardens and almost sort of faux cemeteries outside that have, you know, pathways and ghostly apparitions and, and again, fun but atmospheric spaces.

Um, and obviously, you know, the cast members will be, you know, sort of ghostly guest relations and, and dressed in the period attire in the spirit of the haunted Mansion hosts. So I think haunted mansion, mystic manner, whatever we call it, I think this is one, is not only very doable, but I think would be very much welcomed and embraced by guests.

Daniel Roberts: Hey Tim, I have two. I have a question. Were you picturing Victorian public spaces? Um, Victorian exterior. Cause I assume this is after the Disney World haunted and not Disneyland and also Absolutely. Yeah. And then but one I know. Yeah. Um, and then I asked both you guys, um, what do we do about young kids?

Like, do you think it prescribes three to seven year olds or if we do it right?

Lou Mongello: No. Well, that's why I think it has to be welcoming to everybody. It can't be scary, it can't be spooky. I think it has to even be sort of made almost a little bit less spooky than a hardened match in itself. Right? There's no sort of popups, there's no jump scares.

There's nothing that would potentially frighten anybody, but it leans in more towards. The fun, funny, you know, spectral side, which again, mystic Manor and the parts, the reason why I mentioned it is it's not a haunted mansion per se, because the concept of ghosts just is, is culturally different in China.

But I think it, it affords an opportunity to create this sort of mysterious mansion that can, can blend in things from mystic manner, things from Walt Disney World, things from Phantom Manor, wherever it might be, to sort of create this, not a haunted house, but a true sort of mystic manner. I, I dunno, I

Tim Foster: lean, I lean into the spooky, I say just let's go for it.

Lou Mongello: Tim likes to scare children. Got it. Just putting, to be fair,

Tim Foster: cuz I think for people who like the haunted mansion and really like the Halloween vibe on all that, I, I really think I. Letting them get a full dose of that is great. If that means it's a little too scary for some people. Well, okay, maybe by the, by the same token, the Grand Floridian might be a too little, too fancy for your kids, or All Stars might be a little too

Lou Mongello: kiddish, but the Grand Flo Floridian doesn't give anybody nightmares other than what you're gonna get your bill

Tim Foster: on the way out.

My point being, my point being like, different resorts do cater different, right? Dec different not, not every resort distilled everything down. So absolutely everybody, I mean, you know, it's a preference thing and I, I like the idea of having a. You know, not, not everybody goes to not so scary cuz it's too scary.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean they don't have

Daniel Roberts: it. Maybe there's two wings. There's a w that's for

Lou Mongello: family friendly. All right, we'll we'll have the, a

Tim Foster: green team. Creepy. And then we'll have the Lou and Daniel wing. That, that is basically fine. It's just got a little picture of

Lou Mongello: Adam. It's like mission space. You got like the green team and the orange team, green team.

You got, there you go. That's right.

Tim Foster: You'll take the cruise line. Now I'll have a green team cruise line resort that I can stay at. So same kind of thing. I like it. I like either, either way. Bring on some

Lou Mongello: spooky I'm, and listen, to be clear, I would love, listen, I, I would totally buy into a spookier hearted mansion, but I'm trying to think, you know, uh, executive level trying to, to make something that sort of mass appeal.

Okay. Anyway, so very, very quick. When we talked about this idea, I got very, very excited because I, I love being able to put our, you know, creative hats on and really just sort of let the ideas fly. And I wanted to try and think of things that could possibly happen and really try and, and flush my ideas out as, as much as I possibly could, um, to try and see what the reality of it could be.

Or even if along the way, something that we say as a, as sort of a, a blue sky idea might eventually get brought into a resort. So I started to think about as we celebrate through the disney hundred right now, something that would celebrate the history of the Walt Disney Company in honor of Disney 100.

And so I bring you Disney's Legacy resorts. And it pays homage to the journey and the contributions of the company and the man that immerses guests in the magic, the storytelling, the innovation and the creativity that, that has really defined Disney through these past a hundred years. So for example, you could have this sort of, i I, I imagine this entrance that would almost, not mimic but sort of echo the feel of the magic of Main Street, that charm nostalgia with the architecture and the vintage storefronts and the bustling atmosphere.

And there's, there's shops with Disney memorabilia and historical de displays with company milestones and, and um, you know, maybe even a little, a replica of like the Main Street cinema. I imagined an another area that I called the Ima at the animation Wonderland, sort of that, that transports guests into the world of animation.

They could have rooms with, um, whimsical designs and sketches and concept art and murals inspired by some of the films. I thought. I think there's also a great educational opportunity there specifically about some of the history of Disney animation. Um, I envision like interactive exhibits and drawing classes, and maybe even there's a dedicated theater, you know, that that's free, that guests can go into and, and come in and out of to watch different movies.

I also thought about the imagineering part of the history of the company, and so an imagineering oasis that would celebrate the en ingenuity and the creativity of imagineers. So it would be, um, sort of a, a retro modern, futuristic design with concept art and blueprints and models of attraction. So for those guests that can't do something like an Adventures by Disney to go see a Backstage magic and go to Imagineering, you bring a little bit of imagineering to this resort.

Again, I like the idea of edutainment. So maybe there's interactive workshops there so they can learn about the process of imagineering and create, you know, some of their own little experiences. There, I think you have to, to honor Mickey. So you have this sort of like Mickey's magical garden outside. Um, you could have character meet and greets out there and live performances from characters.

You have to incorporate Walt into his dream theater that would have, um, productions that celebrate the legacy of Walt, whether they be, you know, historical documentaries or musicals or guest lectures or have Disney legends and, and, and people from the company coming in to do gold. Um, q and a sessions.

Obviously you need to have dining, dining that pay tribute to the culinary heritage of the company. So maybe you have. A restaurant that sort of themed after Disneyland's Carnation Cafe, a retro soda, soda fi soda fountain, like the old ice cream parlors and a fine dining restaurant sort of celebrate some of the elegant restaurants of the golden age of Disney.

Um, I think this is the opportunity and the place for years, people have asked, how can we bring something like from the archives to Walt Disney World or have your own sort of Walt Disney World Archives? Maybe this is where you have an area where there's sort of a miniaturized version of the archives that has props and costumes and artifacts from not just theme park history, but film history.

Maybe there's historians there. And tours that really give guests who maybe can't get out and will never get to see the archives. A history not just of Walt Disney World, but the company's past. And maybe the resort has its own little nighttime spectacular with, you know, scenes and music from classic films and its projections or its own sort of little spectacular fireworks display.

But I, I like the idea of a, a Disney Legacy resort, uh, as sort of a tribute to the, the history and the achievements and the magic of the man and the company. Brilliant.

Tim Foster: I love that so much. I'm not gonna say anything until it's my turn cuz I have a, I have a, a related idea. It's a

Daniel Roberts: great idea. I love that idea.

Love that idea. Because as fans, we're so hungry for nostalgia and we're so hungry for the history, for the past and we, you know, Very few of us ever got to meet the man himself to have to bring behind the scenes to the lobby in the public spaces. Maybe even have a, a, a store that sells one of a kind. Um, you know, disneyana.

That is something I would love. I, uh, the old maps of the parks, um, learning more about the parks, uh, through edutainment, as you said. And, um, it's, you know, it's a type of thing where you wouldn't, you wouldn't really need to leave the hotel, uh, at least one day on your trip. You would just sort of get immersed into the, the legacy, uh, resort.

And then when you got to the Magic Kingdom, whether for the first time or the fifth, you'd have such, uh, additional context. I think it's brilliant. I would stay there in a heartbeat. Thank

Lou Mongello: you. Brilliant. Goodnight everybody. We're done. We're we're done. Yay.

Tim Foster: Nice. Nice. Thanks. Nice. See you. All

Lou Mongello: right, Daniel, you're up.

Daniel Roberts: All right. Another go with me here. I'm gonna introduce my, I actually gonna introduce first my companion statues for this lobby, and they are of Steve Jobs and Walt Disney because this is the Apple, the Disney's Apple Hotel. Now Apple and Walt Disney World, two of the top four or five entertainment content companies in the history of the world have had cooperations and a lot of what ifs, um, Pixar comes to mind, but here's the hotel.

It's everything Apple. It's state of the art. It has the largest and best flagship Apple store in the lobby. There are, there's an actual Apple restaurant that serves Apple foods like apple sauce, apple, no apple cider, apple pizza meat. There is also, there is also gonna be, um, a very, very rare sort of merch nexus between Apple and Disney.

Think if, um, an Apple Watch and a a a A Genie Plus fan had the smartest child in the world, that you can design your own. There will be a theater that will have a show dedicated to the history of both Disney Tech and Apple computing In the hotel, the rooms will be white and sleek, like Apple Packaging as an homage.

To the contemporary, there will be a mord monorail seemingly having run off the tracks, but instead it's a bar and lounge as well. I would like for this very special resort to be somewhere close to tomorrow land where white Apple logo of monorails take you to this new gate that gets you right into the, the, the Traverse.

The Apple Hotel would have cuisine reflecting Silicone Valley. They would have a dedicated sushi bar, which no resort has, right? Little including California Grill. It would be a great sushi restaurant. Um, the rooms, everything would be iPad, everything would just work and the two companies would come together to figure this out.

And create something that maybe can never be, but in this one resort can be these two creative geniuses coming together to make a hotel that is easy, fun, modernistic. And that law lodges the relationship over these many decades between these two courting companies. This is their marriage.

Tim Foster: I have a question.

Yeah. So I, I'm, I, I, I imagine this scenario playing out maybe like on a daily basis. Hello, sir? Yes. I'm here to check in. Oh, that's wonderful. So may I, may I see your smartphone please? Oh, yeah. Here you go. Pulls out a galaxy in Android. Oh, I'm sorry. Stop. Century is right down the road. You're not.

Daniel Roberts: No, no, no.

You know what? There, that, there would be no discrimination against world. But I mean, look, if you're gonna book it and if you know it's the Apple Hotel, I imagine that 85% would maybe be Apple fans or have someone in the family with an Apple device. I don't know.

Tim Foster: No. You know what you do, you do like, um, whispering Canyon kind of stuff, and if someone's walking around, they have an Android, you get everybody just a big joke, like got goy.

Like everybody,

Lou Mongello: you, uh, you had su I'm

Tim Foster: an, I'm an Apple head. I would love this hotel. This would be great.

Lou Mongello: You had me at, uh, you had me at Sushi Bar, so yeah. Yeah.

Tim Foster: Alright, Tim, you're apple juice actually.

Lou Mongello: Good, Tim.

Tim Foster: Okay. Uh, so mine, mine's actually sort of the same vein as yours, Lou, and I was worried you were going.

To this one little segment. So you didn't, but so picking on one little segment of Disney history that I adore, and I will say this idea, I think would require weeks, months, maybe years of brainstorming. So I did not completely flesh this out, but mine would be a resort for all of those who have long wondered and wished if Walt Disney ever did, if he did have the opportunity to create Epcot the city the way he envisioned it, what would it actually be like?

Love the, and I would love to have a resort that would answer as best as it can. That question. So, uh, the, the resort would look like, well it wouldn't be Epcot the whole city, cause that would take up a lot of room, uh, perhaps nearing the central tower, even though it wouldn't obviously be nearly that tall.

But as I was trying to flesh this idea out, I was thinking you could pull ideas from. The actual concept of the Epcot city itself and the, and the, the world. What became world showcases, the world showcase bazaars and the shopping districts and all that kind of stuff. Uh, but then you could draw a lot from Horizons too.

And actually, my first idea was a Horizons themed hotel, but then I thought, well, let's expand it and make this the whole thing somehow pulling in elements, all of them in there together. And there's a lot to choose from. And again, I didn't map all of this out, so there's a lot of ways you could go with this, but, um, you could pull all kinds of things from early Epcot two that had that vision of the city of the future in mind from the elements ofor and things we saw.

Interventions like the houses of the future and things like that. Um, Imagineering gizmos of plenty. Uh, uh, you, if you wanted to do a horizons thing and steam the rooms to the, the rooms we saw in horizons, and maybe you had the space station in the seas, in the desert as places you could go. One thing I would love to see if they would do this.

I don't know where you would, if you would put it by either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom. Let's get that transportation system of Epcot the city in place and get not maybe another monorail, but let's get a people mover that goes from the resort to whichever park we happen to be close with. How cool would that be if it were Epcot?

So you could, you could get that, get that, uh, vibe of you take the monorail into the city and the people move to get around and that whole thing. And so again, lots of ideas to pull from and the contemporary. Sort of hits on that at times. There's a little bit now cause you get that early, early history of Walt Disney World before it came, and a lot of monorail, sleekness and goodness in between the incredible stuff.

But I love to go full in for all of us, all of us who love Epcot and nostalgic Disney and wonder what Walt could have done. Let Imagineering loosen. Let's see what we could do in the, in the limited confines of resort. But let's have fun with.

Lou Mongello: So I, this is an interesting, um, entry from you, Tim, because one, it will segue nicely to where I was going to go, and two, it actually, it it seems, if I'm understanding your description, it seems to connect to what was at one point going to be a concept for Epcot.

Yes. I want you to go back to the sixties to, and I think the, the name was a placeholder, but did you ever hear of the Cosmopolitan Hotel? No. No. So the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Was meant to sort of be this hotel in the city center, uh, 30 Story Hotel and Convention Center, very pedestrian centric. I, I actually was find able to find the quote from the Epcot 66 film that says, Among its major features will be a cosmopolitan hotel and convention center, towering 30 and war stories, shopping areas where stores and streets, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Um, uh, theaters, restaurants, and a variety of nightlife attractions, office buildings, uh, Epcot services designed to suit the needs of local corporations. But the towering hotel is the visual center of Epcot, the shining jewel at the center of the city. It offers tourists and vacationers, not only the mod, most modern guest rooms and conventions, facilities, but a seven acre recreation deck located high above the pedestrian and shopping areas of the city.

So, yeah, that's

Tim Foster: what I meant, but I, I forgot it was called that. But

Lou Mongello: yeah, you and waltz were definitely sort of in me and Walt alignment when I said that. This segues into where I was going. I also was going to Epcot, but in a slightly different direction. Um, we've spoken on the, on the. PA in the past on the show many different times about the Epcot that we almost was the World showcase that was supposed to be right.

Phase two of World Showcase was going to include countries like Spain, Africa, Venezuela, Israel, Russia, phase three, and I'm sort of making up my own names of these phases. Possibly could have included the Philippines, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Denmark, and an expanded lagoon that would've included an Epcot resort, sort of a world showcase resort.

So my idea, my concept, would be like a phase four. And include a resort that focuses on nations that are not already represented in World Showcase. And so I bring, I, I offer up for you the Global Gateway Resort. And it's one that would celebrate the cultures and traditions of countries that aren't in World Showcase.

Right. Maybe could never be in World Showcase, so that guests can explore these different destinations, expand their cultural horizons. And the way I envision it is you have sort of these cultural enclaves and the resort would be divided into different sections that would be dedicated to a specific country or region.

So maybe it could be inspired, and I'm, I'm thinking about countries that we've talked about possibly coming into world showcase before, Brazil, India, Greece, Australia, Egypt, or whatever other destination or destinations they might be. So you can be immersed like in world showcase, in the architecture and the colors and the ambience of those respective countries or, or regions.

They would obviously have authentic dining experiences, um, based on, you know, the, the different paces and culinary traditions of the countries. There would be cultural entertainment, including music and live performances and dances. Um, I envision a sort of global marketplace where you can explore and shop not for, you know, Disney branded sort of Epcot, you know, trinkets and souvenirs, but authentic handycrafts I clothing and artwork and souvenir from those countries like you have in World Showcase Now.

I also think that, and, and this is a consistent theme in all the resorts, it's not just a place to stay and eat and, and shop, but I, I like the idea of including cultural workshops and activities. So you really get more of a deeper insight into the customs and tradition and the arts of the country's represented.

Think what they do at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, and even sort of taking that up to another level so you could learn how to, you know, play Brazilian percussion instruments and do Indian henna tattoo, Greek cooking classes, um, aboriginal painting and, and the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics, whatever it might be suitable for both kids and adults and families to do together.

Um, I think there's, there's wonderful opportunity to create some outdoor adventures and activities inspired by, The landscapes and landmarks of the countries represented. Again, almost sort of add-on experiences. You can go on like guided nature hikes through the Brazilian rainforest or Australian bush, w bush, um, bush walks, um, to sort of get a, a feel of not just what it's like, you know, inside some of the, the, the architectural representations of buildings, but the outdoor wonders.

You could have different cultural and seasonal festivals in there and like what we have in, in world showcase and, and Animal Kingdom Lodge, this idea of cultural exchange programs where you can have artists and performers and experts from these countries coming in to interact with guests so that we as visitors, not just to the resort, but sort of tangentially to these countries through these people can learn about their language and customs and traditions directly from the people that live and breathe them.

So we have. I think a much deeper and richer understanding and appreciate of global diversity. And with that, I present to you the global gateway resort. I am

Tim Foster: there in a heartbeat. I love that. Hey,

Daniel Roberts: Lou, would you, when you made a, when you make a room choice, would you have to choose a nation or a region?

Would that be thematic as well?

Lou Mongello: I mean, I guess you could, you know, I guess you could sort of have the option of choosing depending on what is available or, you know, spin the wheel and just, and, and see where you end up. Um, I guess it would be nice if you wanted to go and sort of make sure you can try and stay in different regions every time that you went.

Um, or you know, okay, come on kids, let's just, let's just go to Disney and let's see where we're gonna go and what we're gonna potentially learn about.

Daniel Roberts: Right. Something new. It would be one heck of a, um, food court or food cart hall. Right. Eat your way around the

Tim Foster: world without going

Daniel Roberts: anywhere. Oh, my, my, my last question is, would inclusion, um, culturally as a region or nationality in your hotel preclude you from then ever becoming part of the world showcase?

Would, would that suffice? In other

Lou Mongello: words? Possibly. Possibly. Because it might invite guests who aren't staying at the resort to come visit the resort and then maybe inclined to go and stay there because I think, I think Daniel, for a variety of different reasons, whether they be financial, political, otherwise, whatever it might be there, there are some countries that we would love to see represented in world showcase that for one reason or another, just it, but just might not ever happen.

But this might be a way to have those, you know, almost to a certain degree what you have at Caribbean Beach Resort, right? We have those sort of different themed islands that are the, the, the, the different sort of island regions, I mean, that are represented there. While they may not necessarily be able to have their own world showcase pavilion, it is a way to go and learn more about it.

And I think this is almost taking that idea, but returning it up to 11, or dare I say 12.

Daniel Roberts: That's beautiful. I love it. I would go, I mean, you know, it's like I'm from New York, but I love seeing representations, imagineering representations of New York City, uh, in Hollywood Studios is just interesting. And if I were, uh, Danish, I, I might wanna stay in the Denmark room to see what other people, how other people imagine my homeland, you know, I might not want.

Very interesting. I like it.

Lou Mongello: Daniel, you're up. All right.

Daniel Roberts: All right. The partner statues in this is probably my last hotel are of Joe Roadie and James Cameron. Welcome to the Hotel Pandora. Ladies and gentlemen, this is gonna be a green hotel. Everything's upside down, Lou. It's gonna have a great spot and it's gonna have a sensational gym, amazing spa services.

Um, it's gonna have the world's longest and best salad bar to celebrate the beautiful planet of Pandora and all its flora and fauna. The rooms though, will have some of the technology of the mid 22nd century. When the movie takes place, it will have extraordinary pools that at night will of course, uh, glow with many beautiful colors.

It will have not the orange bird, but the orange Banshee Choose bar with the, with the face of the orange bird superimposed, uh, seamlessly, ideally onto a banshee. When you check in, you will be given a literal and virtual banshee whose adventures you can follow on your high def TV screen at night about what he, she, or it has done that day causing mischief in the forests and the journalists.

It will also have the best adults only nightclub called Avatar, where the tagline is you check yourself at the door. What happens in avatar doesn't happen on earth. Welcome to the hotel.

Lou Mongello: I'm laughing at your tagline for the nightclub.

Daniel Roberts: I know I,

Lou Mongello: well, a little bit of a, like a Vegas spin on there. What happens when Pandora stays in Pandora,

Daniel Roberts: but I feel like, you know, Disney adults, if you're single or you want a break or where you're, you're with your wife or girlfriend, you can go to a place where you don't, you don't have to be yourself for a few hours and dance like no one's watching type of deal.

That's all.

Lou Mongello: It's

Tim Foster: interesting. I'm, I'm thrown between that and Orange Bird face on a ban sheet. I'm not sure how to process all of this, but I, I love the idea of a Pandora hotel in, in terms of recreating the beautiful world of, of Pandora that's in Animal Kingdom.

Daniel Roberts: Um, right. And then no bad guys either. There, there would Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

The technology would be, and the, the rooms would look modern, but would have, it would've to be a perfect, um, hybridization of the, the natural beauty of the, the planet. And the technology of the time without the invasive element. The good guy versus bad guy stuff

Tim Foster: bioluminescence throughout

Lou Mongello: and you know, there bioluminescence everywhere.

There is actually, there's, there's room for a re Let's assume that this becomes a fully flesh out concept. There is actually room for this and it could all, there actually could be a unique, because if you go behind the flight of passage building, um, there is, you know, there's, there's cast parking there, but there's also a small waterway there, um, which you, you can't obviously see from the park, but there's an animal Kingdom guest services building there and there's a small sort of, um, Funny shape, sort of like, almost like a, like a giant jay shaped waterway that has this peninsula sticking out that I imagine that's where you could sort of have this hotel and have a way to let hotel guests get access indirectly into Pandora somehow.

Much the same way you could do over at, uh, Disney's Grand Floridian and, and some of the resorts overseas where you can actually enter into the park if this avatar themed resort. And, and look, it's not outside the realm of possibility with, you know, additional avatar films coming up in the future. So, you

Tim Foster: know, the idea I love that you said there is that, that, that about the animal kingdom and the, the one thing that ultimately keeps us from staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, though we visited a lot and we love it, but the being able to walk or drive or boat or whatever into a park.

Like we do at Magic Kingdom and Epcot and all that, that, that's the one thing with Animal Kingdom and Animal Kingdom Lodge, I missed, I wish would be a part of it, that you could go walk to the park or take a boat or whatever. So adding a resort, whether it's Pandora or something else, that would be the deluxe resort that gives you park access to animal kingdom, whatever shape and size.

I'd love that just from that point of view. But, but yeah, let's make it glow in the dark too. That's cool.

Daniel Roberts: Not at night. And you know, it's like your wolf house at your hotel dinner. Yeah. Morning. It's just not, you know, it should be a mute option.

Lou Mongello: That's all. All right, Tim, you're

Tim Foster: up. Okay. Uh, let's see. For, okay.

For this one, we we're, we're beach people over here. We love the beach. We love going to the shore. I'm saying this and you're saying, but, but Tim, they're already a couple beach themed resorts. They're pretty nice and I love them. But we had a thought of why don't we take that beach ocean theme one step further and actually go in the ocean.

Let's go to the bottom of the ocean and let's have an ocean themed resort. That's not, it's not themed to be a human seaside resort, like beach club or yacht club, but we're actually going hard in the pun, under the sea and not sure where you put, I think what we first were talking about this as an idea, well, we'll put it behind the living seas of course.

Um, which, hey, that would be cool. But you could pull elements from there in terms of your maybe sea base Alpha is fully fleshed out the sea base alpha of old that we all remember, and this is, this is where you are, and I, I don't know the practicalities of doing this, but going back to the idea of space two 20 over on the mission space side where you take your space elevator up to the restaurant, And then marrying that with the hydro laters.

Remember those hydro laters from the living seas? Maybe that's how you enter the hotel or get to your room. And I understand the practicalities of that. And waiting in line just to take this little ride to get to your room is maybe too much. We'll work on that. We'll, we'll workshop that part, but you could have so much fun with the themeing of this.

Uh, you could have windows that have a virtual view out to the bottom of the ocean floor. I haven't reconciled how your actual view outside your window that's above ground. We'll, we'll go with the rest of this resort, but we'll figure that out cuz I can't see enclosing everything so you can't see outside.

That would be silly. We'll figure it out. Maybe we'll say they're fake windows to remind you of the world above. But the imagine the pools. You could have, uh, natural bottom pools with even snorkeling areas. And, and maybe this is where you could do some, introduce some guest experiences that we don't all get to do.

Um, Uh, whether they're at a typhoon lagoon or if you have your diving certification to do it living seas, but things like, you know, swimming with the fishes or petting the razor dolphins, like things like that you could do over there too. Um, the restaurants of course could be fantastic. The Coral Reef is one of our favorite restaurants, so you could expand that idea.

And the lobby thinking of, uh, of having aquariums all over surrounded by aquariums. I, I think the Living Seas aquarium in size has since been surpassed by a mm-hmm. Aquarium that is in the lobby of a hotel somewhere in, in China or somewhere. But having something like that would be really, really cool.

And I do kind of go back like, how are the rooms going to be themed? And I'm, I'm, I, I wanna hold back on going totally overboard with this, cuz as we think about like the Grand Floridians and Polynesians and Wilderness, they have their themes, but I, I don't think any of 'em go. Like 24 7. Totally in your face, enough to make you sick of the whole thing.

Some, there's subtlety at play here, so you do some of that too. But anyway, having a let's go under the sea, uh, resort, I think would be fun. Tying it into living seas. Even tying it back into horizons like we talked about before with that component. That'd be a lot of fun. And giving it an element of you're actually under the ocean and have things going on.

Like those hydro litters, oh, I missed those hyers. And it rained. It rained and rained and rained. The

Lou Mongello: deluge, the,

Tim Foster: so yes, you have the deluge,

Lou Mongello: so all the time. Cause it never rains at Walt Disney. I dig this Tim, because I, I too, I was trying to think of a, some sort of a, a, an ocean theme, a maritime theme. A nautical themed resort.

I, I love the water. I, I love the ocean. And then I try, I was like, I, I came with with a few different ideas and I didn't sort of pull the trigger in terms of going too deep into it because I wanted to keep my list relatively top 10 ish cuz I think there's a few different ways. You could potentially theme this to even make it more interesting, more attractive, not just to adults, but to kids.

So if you wanna have something that is, is water themed, you could almost have, like one of my ideas was like an Atlantis expedition resort. Um, so you have this mythical city of Atlantis, but you have. Windows, these huge windows that overlook these beautiful coral reefs and marine life. And there's an aquarium and snuba or snorkeling, you know, lessons and experiences and almost like a little mini waterpark with, with pools and slides.

Um, another then I was like, you could almost do Moana, but I think you sort of have that in, um, in, in the Polynesian. Mm-hmm. You could almost theme it and, and I think the Atlantis animated film films, I know the second one didn't get as much love as the first, which didn't get a lot anyway. You could almost sort of, and I think it, honestly, I'll, that's a quick aside.

I think the Atlantis franchise still has merit to almost be rebooted again. But you could almost maybe be inspired by Atlantis, the Lost Empire. And you could have these futuristic jewels Verne like submarine designs and interactive exhibits with, you know, or virtual reality experiences to explore the lost city.

And you can go on like treasure hunts and have a, a themed restaurant with cuisine from the movie. So there, there could be sort of just a basic ocean theme resort. Or there could be one that could tie into, you know, a fun story as well.

Tim Foster: I love it.

Daniel Roberts: Make it happen. So how about my, uh, Disney Cruise line concept?

You have Disney Cruise line. More, let's see, in Disney cruise line that crashed under the ocean, that we can

Lou Mongello: incorporate that with the, the folks, the lawyers at dcl probably not gonna like the idea of a crash Disney cruise.

Daniel Roberts: You're not, not good

Lou Mongello: at all. Maybe not good from a a, uh, a PR perspective. Right. So I, um, I I really sort of expanded out on, on my ideas for three other resorts.

I know we're sort of getting close to, I dunno how many more we have, but, um, alright. This one might be ridiculous, but I'm gonna throw it in here anyway, just, just for fun discussion. And again, you never sort of know what other ideas it might. Um, Ignite. So I'm a nostalgic, right? I, I am a nostalgic that grew up in the seventies and the eighties and the nineties.

I'm still a kid at heart, so I love things like pop century. But I think that the idea of nostalgia and sentiment and simpler times and days gone by, it resonates not just with me, but with a lot of people. I think not just domestically but international guests. So I present to you Disney's time travel retreat, which takes guests on a journey through time that allows them the opportunity to explore different historical eras and experience are the magico kind of time travel within the world of Disney.

So the accommodations, these sort of temporal accommodations, Are designed to reflect different historical periods. So you can stay in a Victorian era mansion, you can stay in a medieval style castle or a twenties, you know, inspired jazz age hotel that's very specifically themed to transport you metaphorically to a specific time period with, you know, decor and amenities.

There are obviously historical dining experiences, so whether it's a Renaissance banquet hall, a fifties diner, a Victorian, you know, tea room. The menus will also reflect the cultural traditions of the different areas, so you can savor the flavors of those time periods. Maybe there's even some, you know, time travel, like attractions within the resort for guests themselves that combine storytelling and special effects to give a much more reacher, again, I'm thinking sort of almost entertainment, right?

Educating with through entertainment. Uh, you could have interactive exhibit exhibits and displays that talk about some of these different historical periods with hands-on activities and, you know, maybe let kids or adults or guests try on period costumes or learn traditional crafts or historical games and entertainment.

Getting a sense of what life really was like, you know, turn of the century, um, early days of America and, and having that sort of time centric entertainment with, with music and, and songs from those different eras and theatrical performances that maybe are. Depicting in an entertaining way, some of these historical events.

And then you have to have, I'll, I'll bring in sort of the adult, but it's for kids at some point too. You can have the Time Travelers Club where you can sort of go in and there's it. When I say club, I don't mean like club, I mean a club where you can gather to sort of participate. That was awful by the way.

In fact, listen in different sort of time themed activities, whether it's workshops on historical topics or interactive games, challenges and scavenger hunts, I think. And I was inspired by the old, um, Um, uh, astronomers Club that was going to come into Tomorrow Land. But imagine having, um, uh, character performers who, who portray different historical figures so that you're going in and you can talk to a Galileo, you can talk to different characters and people, whether they be famous or not, from different periods.

So you can appreciate the cultural heritage of different times. So in my world, showcase Resort and in World Showcase proper, you go and appreciate the cultural heritage of people living in this time. Imagine if you could have those conversations with people who are representing what life was like in Victorian era America or in, you know, in the twenties or whatever these different periods would be.

Um, you know, it allows you to connect not just with those characters, but with fellow sort of, Time travelers, um, to sort of delve deeper into the world of history a little bit. And, uh, it promises an extraordinary journey. Um, you know, through time within the realm of Disney. He's so, like,

Daniel Roberts: I could talk to Aristotle and pick his brain or something like that.

Possibly.

Lou Mongello: Possibly. All right. That would be great. May maybe he'll be, or somebody who knew Aristotle. Like I, yeah. Aristotle's not here, but I know

Daniel Roberts: that's fascinating.

Tim Foster: That'd be the perfect cover for a time. Traveling spy from the future

Daniel Roberts: to, I love the time travel club though. Cause you could, the way you would decorate that would be wild.

Like the imagineers will go to town on that.

Lou Mongello: And it's okay if you pull your kid outta school because they're going on a historical learn thi but seriously think about the educational opportunities for kids who are learning in this, in this real world, three-dimensional environment about things that you just wouldn't be able to get necessarily from a book.

Daniel Roberts: I, I, I mean, fun museums work. I know from my daughter, you know, from your kids that boring museums, they, they don't work you, you want the food and, and the fun and games with, but fun museums work and this would be a very fun museum. Well,

Tim Foster: this, let me ask the Phoenicians once and for all if they

Lou Mongello: invented the office.

Daniel Roberts: I have like Lou, I have like a couple honor honorable mentions, but if you guys have full ones, please feel free to go.

Tim Foster: I have, I'm left down. I have a half an idea. That's all I

Lou Mongello: All right. Do your half of an idea. I will, I will ex I'll, I'll take one off my list. I'll explain why and then I'll share my last one and then we can just throw some honorable mentions in.

So Tim, give us your half base. Well,

Tim Foster: Daniel's, this, Daniel's turn, if he's got some, he wants to.

Daniel Roberts: Okay. I have one that I think we will like. Um, it is a hotel entirely devoted to very high end dining. Think Michelin one to three star restaurants from around the world. It is for Disney foodies. It is an elegant boutique hotel with five restaurants, lunches and dinners, wine pairings.

They will be exact, um, sim LaRose, exact representations of high level Michelin star restaurants from around the globe. You come here, you can go to the parks during the day. You can skip lunch or dinner. It's a lot to bridge meals, but you're here only for the dining. I don't know how they would package it, but it would be for Disney foodies.

And there is a group, you know, it's the Pao and Remi folks. It's the, uh, Victorian Albert folks. There isn't that much variety in the highest end dining. I'm not a a a ho cuisine person, although I love extraordinary. Sushi, and I've been to Michelin star sushi places. Um, I don't like to sit that long at dinner, but I know people who adore it and would love to do it in a setting that I think only Disney could do properly.

And to have the variety in one place of four or five top-notch restaurants overseen by the proteges of the, the, the chef to cuisine of the original restaurant where the experience is exactly the same as if you're in Japan. If you are in, uh, Denmark, if you're in uh, San Francisco, if you're in New York City, you know it will look the same.

It will taste the same. And you could do it all. You could do it all on a four or five day vacation. You could expand your culinary horizons. They'll give you a cookbook menu book. They'll give you menus of everything you ate. You'll be there as Lou says, in t-shirts, and live on this podcast. You'll be there for the food unashamed.

The cost. I don't know, but it's gonna be a lot of brothers and sisters. However, you could only do it at this hotel name of which I don't know, but I'm thinking the, the, the cuisine of Disney World or something like that, something better. But I would be interested. I'd still go to the parks, but my job would be to taste and learn.

Lou Mongello: I, I, I'm sure that there is a, I mean, just based on like you said, Apollo, Remi, Victorian, Albert's, um, even Highend experiences like, like to ku. Um, there's definitely a, a market. For people that, although I will tell you, I'm actually, I, if I had a choice between going to Victorian Alberts or wearing my stretchy pants and going to what I'm sure is going to be my new favorite restaurant, the Japanese is a CAA that's coming to the Japan pavilion.

I will always go for sort of the more casual, sort of laid back type of experience over getting all Oh yeah, me too. Absolutely.

Daniel Roberts: I just think there's an, I think there, I think there's a, there there's a, uh, a well to do niche group who would say, who are, maybe they're empty nesters or they're foodies are a little older.

Um, who would be like, I can go to Disney World and eat this.

Lou Mongello: Well, it sounds like you're describing Tim, you're basically describing Tim Foster.

Tim Foster: I just wanna know, is this a place where Beverly will not only be tolerated but nay celebrated and welcomed? As it rightfully should.

Lou Mongello: And that explains, that explains why.

Alright, Tim, what are your, um, what are your, what your, your half idea and final concepts

Tim Foster: had kind of a half, half one here. Uh, men, it'll make sense. Why you saying I I was thinking some of these other resorts like a seize one. I was, I was holding back on, going over the top with the theming and the characters and the Disney IP and all of that.

But then I thought, hey, on the other side, let's go all in on one and let's do a castle themed resort. Fantasy resort. Let's just do it. Um, we'd love to all stay in the castle. Maybe all of us do. I don't know, but we can't. So let's make a resort where we can do that. What it looks like. I don't know. We don't wanna compete with that, that there's a pretty nice castle and magic kingdom.

So we don't wanna steal any of it's s Thunder, but you could add different wings to this. You could add a Cinderella, snow white themed area, beauty and the Beast themed area. I'm thinking of animatronics like we see in Enchanted Tales with Bell of Lumier. You could have Cogsworth and Mrs. Pots and Chip and so forth.

Uh, perhaps you see a shadow of the seven dwarfs wandering off to work as high ho plays in the background. And I think having an Elsa's Ice Palace themed resort would be nothing else really cool to visit. I'm not saying go so far as to make it like the ice hotels they have in Norway and so forth.

That's a little maybe over the top, but make it look like it's snowing outside. Make the pool themed, uh, like a snowy ice slow kind of place, but kind of like Blizzard Beach with a frozen theme. So I that I got that far with it and I was wondering, uh, Uh, conceptually as we get into this, I was wondering if it might run into issues with same idea when we were going to have all kinds of castles in new fantasy land and when, uh, tangled was gonna be called Rapunzel when we throttled back on those ideas.

Wondering if it's all castles and princesses of whether it's too and narrowly focused. But I think we'd workshop that we'd come up with a solution. Maybe think it's actually not an issue after all, and we just go ahead. I don't know if we would make a pirate of the Caribbean themed wing or not, but, uh, anyway, that's as, that's as far as I go with it.

Cause I think you'd have a lot of discussions along those lines. But I think having a hotel themed like that, that's all in, it's all Disney. This is a place where you're gonna be Disney 24 7 and you're not getting a break. You are in, and there are people who I'm sure would actually love that idea and, uh, would be all in to something that was done to the nines.

Like that.

Lou Mongello: I, I could see. And then, you know what I, they could do, they actually put like an indoor ice skating rink, which they actually had a, yeah. You know they had a, an indoor ice skating rink once at Hollywood Studios. Really? They did. They did. Uh, it was, I'm trying to remember what it was promoting or what it was for.

I did it, I went on it like you could, you got a helmet. I think it was like, it may have been like for the release of Frozen, but there wasn't. That makes sense. They took where the old who wants to be a Millionaire play. It was that, that sort of area there. I'm 97.7% sure that's where it was. And yeah, you doned a helmet and you got your ice skates and there was an indoor ice skating ring.

It was a short, it was a short period of time that it was there. There's a video of me ice skating or attempting to ice skating somewhere. I need this buried on the

Tim Foster: internet. Need this video somewhere. I need this video.

Lou Mongello: Um, alright, so I'll give you, do you have any le any other honorable mentions or thoughts?

I'm done. Okay.

Daniel Roberts: I, I have one little mini one, but it's not necessarily tell, it's an idea. Assuming that one day they bring back the Fast Pass Plus, which will be a money grab, um, and, and get rid of the Genie. Plus, I would love a restaurant, a breakfast restaurant that was based on the New York Stock Exchange, where you would buy, sell, and trade prior to rope Drop your fast pass.

Pluses. That's all I got.

Lou Mongello: You want people's brains to fall outta their head as if enough Disney World.

Daniel Roberts: That's all I got.

Lou Mongello: All right, so I had two other ideas, and I'm gonna take one off the table, but I'll mention it just because it, it was, I think, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it before. I think we would love to sort of see some sort of like a Marvel Superhero Adventure Resort, you know, with heroic headquarters and themed accommodations.

And we take the Superhero Training Academy from Cruise Line and, and really sort of expand on what it could be. Um, There could be. It's, I, I imagine sort of like adventure themed, like heroes gauntlet with different types of attractions and Marvel experiences.

Tim Foster: I was gonna say it, but I was afraid you were gonna gimme the legal SmackDown

Lou Mongello: and then cut me off.

Well, I, I, I mean, I, I would, I would never give you a SmackDown, but one, yes. That's part of it too. I wanted to course, sort of give you free reign, you know, just in case. Well, of course I'm in the, for a marvel. Yeah. But I'm, I'm going to shelve that instead because I had, I looked back at my list, right? And I had sort of this time travel, I had this global gateway resort, and I had this Disney Legacy resort.

I said, let me try and do something that is a little bit more fun. Maybe create something that is based on a Disney movie and, and the environments that it, it brings in and the opportunities and my mind went right to. Big hero six. And so I present for your review the San Franchi Resorts that brings together the vibrant, futuristic city of San Franchi that once again, I, I want to create something that is going to be immersive and inspired by the film.

So it's the obviously San Fio inspired architecture with. It, it combines the sort of the, the icono uh, the iconography and the landmarks of San Francisco with Tokyos futuristic elements. So, and that, and the blending of cultures that are in the film. So there's Highrise Towers with these sweeping panoramic views and streets with colorful facades.

So you get to that energy of the city. Again, I want this to be not just a resort, but experiential. So there is a, uh, I'll sort of extract this from the, the Marvel idea, a, a hero training Academy hero, h e r o and h i r o, where you can sort of engage in these interactive experiences inspired by the big hero six team.

Whether it's virtual reality or physical or problem solving activities, you can, you know, build up your own superhero skills and become part of the big hero six team. But then I thought about Baymax, right? I love the character of Baymax, not just because we share that. Same, you know, non-threatening huggable design.

But what about, what about having like a Baymax Wellness Center? So it is a state-of-the-art wellness center themed around Baymax that focuses on health and relaxation and rejuvenation. So think about a spa experience, but a little bit different there. There's, yes, you've got spa treatment and fitness classes, but you also get personalized health assessments and it promotes wellbeing and encourages guests to adopt, not just while they're there, but when they leave a healthy and balanced lifestyle the same way that Baymax was trying to do.

That of course goes in line, may fly in the face with the San Franchi street market because again, you have to have the food stalls and the shops and the entertainment and the cool fusion cuisine and, and souvenirs and, and live performances going on in the streets. And it takes on a different, um, uh, feel and vibe at night.

Again, I think you can combine some of these projections and fireworks to sort of bring the city to life. You're gonna have encounters with some of the big hero six characters, hero and Baymax and Gogo and, and Honey Lemon. Um, so you can sort of step into the world of Big Hero six, not just from the characters from the film, but I think sort of this, the, the cultural blending of San Francisco and Tokyo and the health aspect of it, um, that you can incorporate into the resort as well.

I have a question. Lou is

Daniel Roberts: San Franchi. Like future by the way of the past? Is it, is it at all steam punky? Like what, what, what do you think it will look like? Or what will your hotel look like?

Lou Mongello: So I think it, I, and, and actually it'll be interesting to see when it's built over in Disney, California Adventure, which is why I think there's, that this is actually a viable idea because although Big Six came out a number of years ago, I think it's still very popular.

They've done a number of, of shorts that are building a San Francisco there. So I do think it combines a little bit of that modern, futuristic design with a little bit of sort of that, uh, retro San Francisco and Retro Tokyo Fusion that, that you have in the city. Cause I think the visuals from San F and the film are beautiful.

I, I've watched bigger six a number of times over. I watched when I was on my last Disney cruise, I watched again when I came home, sort of in the background working, and I was really paying attention less to what was happening in the foreground and more about what was happening in the background. And that's sort of what, what sparked the idea?

Got it. So, um, alright, very quickly because I just had way too much fun. You know, letting the, the creative juices flow. I'm just gonna throw out non fully realized concepts, just just for giggles. So, that's right. Let me try and come up with some ideas Based on Disney movies and characters, again, we wanna appeal to the Disney fan and adults and kids.

And, you know, there's, there's a few locations throughout Walt Disney World that are islands that either served other purposes in the past, could serve other purposes in the future, were meant to serve other purposes at, at different points. What if we had a little Neverland island resort, a little magical island retreat inspired by Peter Pan.

They could have like little pirate ships and hidden tree houses with treasure hunts and pirate themed water activities and storytelling by the campfire and, and encounters with Peter Pan and Hook and Tinkerbell, et cetera. Um, and I, and I think I would know where I would actually put this, right? I spent a lot of time looking at the map.

What if you did like a Zootopia metropolitan resort near Disney's Animal Kingdom? So you're immersed in this bustling city in inhabited by these anthropomorphic animals with a lot of different, you know, modern and eclectic de decor, representing different sort of animal habitats, and it could have, you know, a Z P D themed detective experience and themed animal dining options, et cetera.

Um, I had an idea for an Incredibles themed, like an Incredibles themed hideout. Um, Again, I, I sort of, I love the, the, the visual aesthetic of the sleek and modern design of the Incredibles, and, and I can imagine virtual reality type experiences and a sort of a high tech crime solving adventure. Much like the midship detect of agency on Disney Cruise line.

Um, I also thought about Marvel again, right? So if I'm gonna abandon my sort of overall Marvel themed resort, what if we built, and this could be a resort, it could be an experience, it could be, I'm not exactly sure, but what if we built, as was was referenced in the original Black Panther film, a Wakanda retreat, an international outreach center.

Because at the end of the film, uh, TETA says, you know, I bought this building and that one and that one, and this is where the first Wakanda International Outreach Center is going to be built. It obviously never was in the films, but this could be a way to sort of step into the advanced nation and world.

Fictional obviously of Wakanda, but it's inspired by the African culture as well as the technological marvels of Wakanda and rooms could have sort of this mix of traditional and futuristic designs and. I don't know what a vibranium inspired experience would be, but some sort of, you know, but, and lessons on Wakanda and, and African traditions and warrior training and, and a, a great sort of restaurant as well.

And

Tim Foster: now as, as was mentioned in Infinity War, this will have a Starbucks,

Daniel Roberts: right? Of course

Lou Mongello: it will. Okay. So, uh, I had more, but I think, I think that is enough for now because I, I was gonna touch on one that was inspired by an old idea for a hotel, and I'll only leave you with this, that it was going to be not near, but at Magic Kingdom, I, I know in the past I have touched on, um, on show 91, we talked about Lost Resorts of the Magic Kingdom.

Maybe I'll make that the archive show this week so you can go back and listen to some of those lost resorts, because I think there's. I think there's great ideas that were never realized from those resorts. Um, back on show 6 32 and 6 33, we also talked about some other resorts in terms of unrealized Walt Disney World attractions of the Disney Decade.

A link to both of those in the show notes. Uh, but I do wanna think, I think I wanna do sort of the Lost Resorts of Walt Disney World and touch on some more of these that never got to be built, maybe can inspire future resorts or maybe there's a way to sort of piecemeal take elements of some of these original concepts and create the next Disney resort.

Cuz as I said at the outset, I do believe we are on the cusp of having new resorts being announced. I know the Reflections Resort was announced, construction started. Uh, on it. A number of years ago, it was halted for obvious reasons. We don't know if that will ever be resurrected, but there is a need, there's a demand for more space on property, and with that, I think also comes great opportunity to create some fun, entertaining, interactive, and yeah, maybe even educational opportunities within the resorts as well.

So, I would also like to know from you, not you, Daniel, not you, Tim, but you, our friend, who is sitting here listening and hopefully imagining and blue skying ideas as well. What is your idea for a Walt Disney World Resort concept? You can let me know one of two ways you can call the voicemail. I'll play it on the air at 4 0 7 909 3 9 1.

That's 4 0 7 900 WDW one, or come be part of the community and conversation. I will post this question in the clubhouse over at ww or do.com/clubhouse. Then when you're done with all that, make sure you go ahead on over to celebrations, press.com, subscribe or pick up the next issue of Celebrations magazine.

Subscribe to the Celebrations podcast cuz you could never have enough. Timmy Foster and what else are you cooking up over in the Celebration Labs? Well, I'll

Tim Foster: mention real quick, episode 48. Of the Celebrations podcast. We actually kicked this question around, so, and I hesitate sending you there cuz you'll realize how many other people's answers I stole initially, but it's, it was not a fun listen, um, big announcement time, Lou, I don't, you might not even know this.

So real quick, few years ago we put out a book, 112 Disney list, speaking of top 10 lists. This was our list book full of attractions, movies, characters, all sorts of things. So, big news number one, we're updating that for 2023, there's a couple new entries on fastest attraction in Walt Disney World. Mm-hmm.

You may have heard of Visa just open, where did they stand? Who knows? Even bigger. We are putting out 112 Disney lists. Volume two what? All new lists, all new content. These are both gonna be out in early June and we're gonna be launching officially very soon. But that's, that's the big announcement from my little corner

Lou Mongello: of the world.

Are these physical books, are these digital books? Physical, physical books, real

Tim Foster: books. Paperback, 280 pages. You can leaf through 'em, you can smell the pages, you can tear 'em out, you can make paper airplanes, do whatever you want. Yes, they're real, real books.

Lou Mongello: I am making room both on my shelf and my coffee table for the copy that I hope you send me or that I will buy, um, as soon as it comes out.

So, oh, you clearly have to buy these prints. That's fine. No. So I'll obviously link to celebrations, press and, uh, where you can find celebrations on social as well. And, uh, Daniel Roberts, anything that you would like to plug?

Daniel Roberts: Um, I only, I'm a a private equity guy, a venture capital guy, so I have funds, but most of them are closed.

And I think that was Pong plug. But I did write a, uh, my first novel, uh, called Barmaid, which became a USA Today Today bestseller. And that is available on amazon.com. Admittedly, it is not Disney oriented. It is sort of a dark, romantic comedy set in me and Lou's special age, which is the mid to late eighties.

I, and I'm sorry, the only other thing I'll say is that my second novel, which will come out is called Ponder. Um, through Simon and Schuster, and that does take place in Walt Disney World. Oh, more on that. More on

Lou Mongello: that to come. Interesting. I have my copy of Barmaid. I will link to where you can find Barmaid on amazon.com and Daniel Roberts.

Little to me, foster. This was a lot of fun, uh, playing imagineer, playing around some blue sky concepts and, and seeing where these takes us. Uh, it'll be interesting to see what the future holds, uh, in Walt Disney World for resorts, uh, for immersive entertaining experiences, and of course the dining options that will come along with it.

Uh, I love and appreciate both of you and I look forward to our next top 10. And by the way, if you, our friend, have an idea for a top 10, let me know. Shoot me an email lou@wwradio.com. And who knows, we might cover it on a future episode. So gentlemen and I use that term loosely. Thank you very much. Thanks buddy.

Tim Foster: My bags are packed. Thank you. I'm ready to go.

Daniel Roberts: Thank, thank you

Lou Mongello: buddy. Okay. Of all the resorts that we talked about, if you could stay in one tomorrow, what would it be?

Daniel Roberts: Um, dcl, my Disney Cruise Ship one.

Lou Mongello: Oh, we're allowed to

Tim Foster: pick our own. Oh, no, no, no. I would stay in loose

Lou Mongello: Legacy for the shopping. You can pick.

You can pick your own. Yeah, you can pick your own. It's fine. Good. Don't

Daniel Roberts: mansion hotel. I would never stay in the mansion. Hotel that would freak me out. Would freak me out. You really, like I jumped the shark with the, the Orangeburg ban sheet, but you jumped the shark with the, the hourly, uh, wolfing.

Tim Foster: Oh, that's incorrect.

But that's okay. Lou is the only adult...