Hello, you're listening to Reedy Geeks,
a Walt Disney World podcast.
My name is Andrew and I'm joined today
by the grilled corn critic JJ.
I feel pretty okay about that.
Corn matters.
I'm missing context there, but maybe that's fine.
And plaid vest skeptic Sean.
Yeah, don't waste your money.
If you have good title for my co-host
after listening to this episode,
please send in your ideas to reedygeeks at gmail.com.
In today's episode, the Geeks share our MySpace Top 8
pre-shows at Walt Disney World.
["Walt Disney World"]
From the very beginning, Walt Disney envisioned his parks
as a place where guests would feel transported
into another world.
Originally, Disneyland used themed lands and queues
to set the scene before an attraction,
letting the setting itself introduce a story.
But as Disney Imagineers continued to innovate,
pre-shows evolved into more engaging experiences.
They began incorporating videos, special effects,
and interactive elements that immerse guests
even before they board the ride.
Now, pre-shows are more than just a lead-up.
They are crucial storytelling moments
that pull guests inside the narrative
and highlight the excitement for the main event.
Today, we're celebrating some of Walt Disney World's
most memorable pre-shows and exploring the ways
they enrich the magic and build anticipation.
That was really good.
Yeah? Wow. That was really good.
That was a good lead-up.
You've got me a little excited. Thank you.
Thank you.
["Great Charming Room"]
So we're going to be sharing the Geeks' official list,
Top 8 best pre-shows at Walt Disney World.
I know how those kids love MySpace.
Yes. It's very relevant in today's day and age.
Top 8 is better than Top 10.
Well, yeah, I think so, too.
I think you have to make some tough decisions with Top 8.
Yeah. 10 is too generous.
It is. Yeah.
There were, like, 11-ish worthy contenders.
So 10, you only have to make one decision.
Right. You have to really analyze these pre-shows
and come up with the best ones in order to get down to 8.
We actually did have one pre-show
that is from a defunct ride that we thought
would have been on this list if it was still around today.
Yeah.
And that was the extra-terror-restral alien encounter.
Yeah. That was truly terrifying.
We got to see the end of poor... Was it Sparky?
Skippy? Skippy. Skippy.
Poor Skippy. Yeah.
So, Sean, you don't remember this, right?
Absolutely no memory of this.
Maybe you never saw it. I don't think I ever did.
I don't think I ever did.
Because that ride was, like, not open all the time.
It's kind of hidden.
And then it was also so scary.
You had a younger sibling.
They might not even have been in a consideration to go on it.
I don't think I ever rode this.
It was so scary that it quickly went into B-mode
after, like, one month, because it was way too scary for kids.
But in the pre-show, you would watch kind of a small-scale
experiment of what they're going to do in front of you.
And they're taking one animatronic, really cute,
like, teddy bear-like animatronic alien
and transporting them into a, like, cell,
like, right next to him, right?
But the whole point was that they were going to take him apart
and transport him into that cell.
Yeah, they're showing off, like, a teleportation experiment
that they're working on.
But it goes miserably wrong.
And you basically see this poor, cute animatronic get
fried up, and then they kill him in front of children.
Good.
I was only a boy.
I left a man.
That's a whole crazy ride in general, that whole experience.
Is that what is known as alien encounter?
Yes.
OK.
Yeah, alien encounter.
And then for a brief time, it was Stitch's Great Escape,
which did not have a pre-show to my memory.
Stitch's Great Escape was so lame, though.
I've never seen it.
It was not great.
Yeah, I think I did it once.
I definitely saw the alien one.
That scared me.
Yeah.
Pretty good.
All right, well, let's get into our MySpace Top 8.
And we're going to start on the bottom of the list with number
eight, and that's going to be Rock and Roller Coaster.
Basically, this is a movie, and it sets up the story.
Yeah, I think it does a really good job setting the story.
And I also would argue that it's not just a movie,
because it looks like you're right in a recording studio.
You see like Aerosmith's Gear, and sure, there
is a movie that plays behind it, but they do a good job
having the screen look like the control room of a recording
studio, and then you get to see all their gear.
It's really cool for the music nerd in me to be like, oh,
check out this drum kit.
Check out this cool guitar.
Check out these great scarves.
Well, and that used to be more of a production, too.
They used to have a cast member in there that would go and grab
his guitar when he asked like, oh, Johnny,
can you grab my guitar?
And it was interactive, too.
Like, he set a line back to the guy that
grabs the guitar would also say a line back to one
of the agent, right?
Yeah, I really have to say Les Paul on the podcast.
I really have to name drop the product.
Yeah.
Doesn't he say grab my black Les Paul?
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that's the line.
Yeah.
For non-music people, is Les Paul like lesser than Paul?
No, it's the name of a man that invented a bunch of guitars.
OK.
Yeah, please go.
I want to go back.
His name is Les Paul.
It's his first time in his last name.
And he invented a bunch of guitars for Gibson in the 1940s,
50s, 60s.
Well, apparently those were real artifacts.
They were actual.
They were an user.
They were all real, right?
And they kept on coming up missing after a while.
They can cast members, maybe took them.
Is that real?
Is it serious?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
I thought you were.
Oh, I didn't know that they actually disappeared.
I knew they were real guitars.
I just thought you were trying to make some really bad joke
about how the guitars are really real.
And I was like, yeah, they're.
And they were really from Aerosmith.
They noted them guitars to make it as authentic as possible.
But then one by one, little things here and there
started turning up missing.
Interesting.
I don't even know that.
No, I think Rock and Roll Coaster is a fun pre-show.
That is quotable, immensely quotable.
I think we've dropped at least one or two of them.
Wait a minute.
I love that idea.
It's one of my.
Podcast episodes, yeah.
One of my favorite drops to use is, wait a minute.
I love that idea, which is from this.
Also the.
Can I get a stretch, Lamo?
Wait.
And just like that.
A super corny.
Like, you know how much we care about our fans.
Yeah.
Oh, so bad.
Yeah.
How about some backstage pants?
Right.
Yeah.
Can't let them down.
Yeah.
Immensely corny, but corny in a very good way.
All right, folks.
We got to go.
Very worthy first entry to the list.
It is.
And some of these other pre-shows might be better,
but this one is so critical to the ride.
Like, if you didn't have this pre-show,
it would just be an indoor roller coaster with no theming.
Yeah.
And it would be no better than a Six Flags ride.
Right.
And actually, arguably, a mediocre Six Flags ride.
Yeah.
So JJ, do you want to take us to number seven?
Sure.
I'll start us off with number seven.
Number seven is going to be at Animal Kingdom,
and it will be the Flight of Passage.
It's just really immersive.
You get into that pre-show.
You really feel like there's a scientific test
being conducted.
Repetitive.
You're getting matched with an avatar.
We're not talking about the queue.
No, not the queue.
This was a ride that was much higher up on our queues list.
Right.
And it is much lower down on the pre-show list
just because there's better.
When you make the cutoff of what a queue is
and what a pre-show is, there are things that just
have much better pre-shows than this.
Right.
This is where they're trying to genetically map you
and match you with an avatar, as well as the video
of the very nervous scientist who loves Sigourney Weaver's
character.
Yes.
Fly.
And fly.
That guy's a really great actor.
I really believe he's a very nervous scientist.
I thought he was in the movie.
No.
I thought he was in.
I thought they were taking characters from the movie.
Yeah.
No, they just hired him for that ride.
How crazy is that?
But stupendous job by him.
Someone give him a race.
He probably made like sag minimum for a day of work.
Thanks, Walt.
Poor guy.
He probably didn't even get like a lightning lane
for that ride.
Calm down, Rover.
I was only kidding.
OK, how about number six, Sean?
Number six, we have Tower of Terror.
Hollywood Studios' former, I think, premiere attraction.
I think this is a ride that the pre-show is,
it's pretty perfect for what it needs to be.
Really no notes on improving it.
But it's short.
It's sweet.
It sets you up.
And then it shoots you right back into another queue.
So hard to put it, even though it's well-themed.
It's the old Twilight Zone.
The guy that does the narration, it's
perfect for what it needs to be.
But I think it's just a little too short to put,
to shoot it up on this list.
Yeah, I think because this is, you know,
we're comparing a ride from 1995 to rides
that came out in 2022.
And I think just making a clear distinction,
because we've already done an episode of queues,
to not factor in how great the queue is in terms of how great
the cast members that work the pre-show is.
This is specifically the moment where you're
in the library watching the video.
And then you look up and you see.
It's like a television, it's an old style television up there.
And in the windows, it progressively gets darker out
as the story goes and it starts raining and storming.
Yeah, it's a storm.
And then that one moment where he's like in the Twilight Zone.
And it's like, you get surround sound.
The thunder and lightning.
But it's almost like 3D sound that it turns into.
Yeah, it goes pitch and it goes like pitch black.
Yeah.
And then the door opens.
Again, it's really, really great and really cool
and iconic, great job casting the Rod Sterling sound alike.
Because you would think that this was just audio pulled
from an episode of the Twilight Zone.
And it's not.
It's a unique story that is just in this world.
Like they almost just made an extra episode of the Twilight
Zone that happens to be this ride.
Well, it's also another one of like, if you didn't have,
well, I guess if you didn't have this pre-show,
you would really not have any idea of what's going on
on the ride.
Like this is definitely necessary.
The pre-show specifically sets up the elevator
that the family went missing in.
Right, right.
Yes.
And then we're going to go ride the same elevator right now.
Yeah.
What could go wrong?
No, nothing can go wrong.
Nothing.
We're going to have a good time.
So our number five, moving on along to number five,
is Smuggler's Run.
So actually, I'm going to put this off on one of you guys,
because I think you guys know this one a little bit better.
I don't really, other than Hondo,
I don't really remember what else is this.
What else is it?
It's Hondo.
It is Hondo?
OK.
It's like, kind of remember you guys saying there's a video
about the video?
Yeah, well, you go through the hangar,
and you go around like the ship's bay,
and you go up the ramp.
And there's all the droids working on the ship.
And then you go into the pre-show video.
Is Hondo explaining what he's doing?
You got to go and get the, I'm missing the coaxium.
The coaxium.
And it's just, it's really fun.
It's a new character.
It introduces some new, some fun new droids.
They come out of the sides, and you see Chewbacca.
Then you, in my opinion, I think part of the pre-show
is when you go into the Millennium Falcon.
That pre-loading area?
Yeah.
Because I don't think it's necessarily
a queue because they're letting in specific numbers of groups.
You're not waiting in line anymore.
You're in there.
You're freely walking around.
You're sitting at the chess table.
You're taking your pictures.
And then they're just assigning you as you come in
what you're going to be.
You're going to be the gunner.
You're going to be the maintenance.
You're going to be whatever.
You're not really waiting in line anymore.
I feel like the pre-show starts at the video
and continues through until you're into the cockpit
riding the ride.
That's what elevates it, I think, for me.
So it is a video.
There is a video.
That starts with a video.
There is a video.
But there's also one of the most advanced animatronics
that Disney has ever made.
It's incredible.
And I think if the whole experience was you wait online
for 15 minutes and then you watch that animatronic talk
for like four minutes, I think that's worth it.
For 15 minutes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15 minutes.
Yeah.
Yeah, and I got to give Disney credit
for making such an advanced animatronic for Hondo
because he is a, like he's like a level D character
from Rebels.
Well, I think they may have, I think they read
content into Rebels, right?
No, no, no, Rebels is old.
Yeah, no, he was a character already from Rebels
and from Clone Wars.
But to make a whole ride.
Basically out of his character.
Yeah.
That was like a deep cut, right?
Yeah.
A little bit of a thank you to the hardcore Clone Wars fans,
right?
And because for a while, that was the only ride
that was open in Galaxy's Edge.
How disappointing that must that have been to experience
Galaxy's Edge before.
And only be able to ride Smud.
That was when we did the Disneyland.
That was how it worked.
We did Rise of the Risen's, it wasn't open.
We got all through Galaxy's Edge and the only thing.
But it was really cool the first time
you see the Millennium Falcon.
The first time you go on the ride, it was awesome.
But thinking back what it is now.
So, and it's Hondo.
Keep on forgetting that.
Yeah, Hondo.
I think I was saying Rondo.
Hondo.
You're thinking of a Rondo rap.
Oh, god, I want a Rondo rapper right now.
Oh, that sounds great.
Hondo Onaka.
Yeah.
We did it!
Let's eat!
OK, so let's move on to number four.
I think this is kind of the OG.
Is this the very first pre-show Disney ever did?
Yeah, and I think because it's not a video.
And so in my introduction, I talked about how it was the land.
It was the queue that would set up the story
before they had videos to be pre-show videos.
Oh, yeah, because this was before.
Because everything is a video now.
Yeah, everything is a video now.
But they had to tell a story on this ride
without showing you a screen, without showing you a movie,
without showing you a moving picture.
So they did it with audio, and they did it with the room
transforming itself.
Yes.
Right.
So we are, of course, talking about the haunted mansion.
Probably should mention that, yes.
Well, we were getting there.
We were building.
It was the pre-show.
We were building.
This was the pre-show to number four.
The ghost host is so cool.
The paintings as the room is stretching is so much fun.
That scream, and then you get to see the, like, you look up,
and there's that, like, there's a visual of, like, the,
is it like a noose or something up there?
Yeah.
And they're definitely hanging themselves.
Yeah.
That's the thing, yeah.
But it's not, like, when I was a kid,
I had no idea what that was.
Right.
Yeah.
You're not really supposed to know that.
But you know it's spooky.
Yeah.
And you know something's falling.
You know it's spooky, and you know the ghost host
is showing us this mansion.
Yeah.
And it's really cool.
And what it was really, it comes from a necessity
for the Disneyland version of the ride.
So the stretching room in the Disneyland version of the ride
goes down.
It is, yes, it is an elevator with an open top.
And it's actually physically taking you lower down
into where the ride starts.
Right.
And don't you have to walk under the berm then?
Yes.
So it's to get you lower to go under the berm
and into the show building.
Right.
Yeah.
And it was such a great trick.
And it painted a picture of the story so well
that when they went to go put it in Disney World,
they had to put the stretching room back in it.
Yeah.
They had to leave it.
They didn't need to do that.
Yeah.
The stretching room, the stretching room in Disney World,
the room is stretching upwards.
Yeah.
But in Disneyland, it looks like the room is stretching upward.
But you're actually going down an elevator.
Right.
Down.
So that is part of Imagineering Magic.
And it's so cool that it was so successful
that they had to put it in the Disney World version.
And talk about quotability.
Right?
Like this.
I was going to say, that's one of the things I think I actually
like the least about this ride is that people feel the need
to recite along.
Yeah.
I definitely mentioned this in the Q version episode of this
is that it's, wah-ha, it's so quotable.
I think that's one of its flaws is
that the fans feel the need to stand there in the room
and recite the entire pre-dialogue.
Yeah, it's a little bit.
And it's just like, just a little bit of a toxic fan base, huh?
Yeah.
A little bit.
A great thing with a bad fan base.
That's never happened before.
Yeah.
He says, being an avid fan of Disney World, the Yankees.
You guys can say the Yankees.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
But your cadaverous power betrays an aura for boating.
Like, that's just so, like, creepy.
They don't make words like that anymore.
No, they did.
I don't.
It's definitely the ride with the most, like, cult fandom.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yep.
OK, Sean, why don't you take us to number three?
Number three, we are going for the first time to Epcot.
And we have Guardians of the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind.
Nui Baguti.
The newest ride on this list.
Am I right there?
Did this come out before?
Oh, yeah.
Number two?
Yep.
OK.
No, so you mean after.
It came after.
The newest ride on this list.
This is the newest ride on the list,
because it came out in 2022.
Right.
I mean, I guess it would be the, what else would it be?
Oh, Tron.
But Tron sticks.
He only sticks.
That's a terrible cue.
Bad cue, not a great ride.
Mediocre ride.
Yeah, like, like.
Mediocre ride.
Not, yeah, we can do that on a different day, but.
It's a one-trick pony.
The one, the only trick Tron has is riding it at night.
Yeah.
It's really cool if you ride it at night.
Yeah.
But then once you go back inside,
it doesn't matter what time of the day you're riding it.
But if you can ride it at night, you go over that first,
that first curve there, and just the ride vehicle.
Just the most uncomfortable thing I've ever been in.
I know.
It sounds cool, looks cool.
And like when you're.
It looks cool when it goes by.
Yeah.
And when you're going up, you know, outside,
and you put your hands up, like, then you're like,
oh, this is cool.
But then what after that?
I'm more comfortable in the Superman six flags seat
that just turns you on your stomach.
Oh, that actually is a very comfortable seat.
To make it feel like you're flying.
But yeah.
I find it to be a very comfortable seat with this,
with that soft vest and then that, yeah.
Yeah.
Tron ride vehicle was not comfortable on the legs
and thighs that have been walking around all day.
Yeah.
Not great.
But well, especially you got some big thighs there.
You got like.
Wrong legs.
Yeah.
Tree trunk's there.
We don't have to go there.
But anyway.
Oh, so Guardians of the Galaxy.
Where were we?
You, boy, hot as fourth of July we've had in years.
Guardians of the Galaxy.
What?
This is a ride.
It's like they pull out all the tricks.
Yeah.
It's got disappearing items, the walls move, the room shakes.
It's got all of the cool stuff that you want in a pre-show.
It tells the story really well.
It's funny.
It's got great guest actors, guest voices.
Iconic guest actors.
You've got Terry Crews and Glenn Close.
It's quotable even though it's only been around
for like two or three years.
Yeah, no, they did a really good job with that.
And this is another ride where you need this for the story.
Oh, yeah.
You need to know what the story is before you get on the ride
for sure.
I mean, it takes you to space, right?
In the pre-show.
That is very cool.
That's like.
And it's funny that Terry Crews, he's
putting on a clinic of how much acting he can do
without taking off his shirt.
Yeah, when you're transported up into the ship,
that's a very cool effect.
And I'm always surprised every time it works.
So I'm like, oh, it works again.
This is great.
And also Terry Crews is like, you made it.
I knew you would.
No, that's from something that didn't work.
That's a dinosaur.
You made it.
I knew you would, but that's from the ride itself,
not from the pre-show.
Right, right.
Yeah, no, that Guardians Galaxy, really, really good one.
Yeah, I think the only thing that keeps it from being higher,
which is funny, like it's number three, it's outstanding.
I think the only thing that keeps it from being higher
is that it's maybe not quite.
It relies a little heavily on screens and videos.
Yeah, it just doesn't quite have the same heart
that the top two have.
It doesn't have that like, it's got magic
and it does really cool magic tricks,
but it doesn't feel like Disney magic.
It feels like technology magic.
Yeah, yeah.
Like it does make you think that's like a hologram, right?
Yeah, and it does that cool trick with the thing that gets
stolen, it disappears in a cool way, it happens.
And you're like, how do they do that?
You're just thinking about how do they pull that off?
Yeah. So cool.
Like you said, you start in a room and the room changes
and all of a sudden you're in space and the room shakes.
Yeah.
And vibrates in a way that I don't think a room's supposed to.
Yeah.
And they pull off so many cool tricks,
but something about it just feels very techy
and not like super Disney.
Yeah, yeah, I get that.
And sometimes like the first time I was in there,
it was a little hard to follow what was going on, right?
Because there's a lot going on.
Yeah, there's a lot of moving pieces here, right?
Like you are going up to the spaceship, okay,
then there's this thing that I was just introduced to.
I don't even know that that's the thing there, right?
That's the story.
Is that little thing on the left,
on the side of the build, on the side of it,
that gets stolen and that's why you have to go.
But I didn't know what that was.
Right.
And you can easily just not even look at that.
Right, exactly.
Because there's so much going on.
If you don't know to look over to the left there,
you might miss it.
Yeah.
What is it, the quantum generator?
Quantum generator, I think that's great.
Wow, now it's cosmic generator.
Cosmic generator, wow.
Cosmic generator, it's the name of the ride.
Yeah, yeah. Cosmic three one, cosmic generator.
Okay, so the cosmic generator,
you don't know it's that little guy.
We took the scenic ride, we got there, cosmic generator.
All right, I think we're ready for number two.
So number two, we have Mickey and Minnie's
Runaway Railway and that's going to be
with our good friend Goofy.
I'm a known Goofy guy.
You are a known Goofy guy.
This might play into why it's so high on the list.
Yeah, maybe I like put a little heavy hand
on putting this up higher because I'm a Goofy guy.
I like that this is, well first of all,
you have Mickey and Minnie in it, right, and Pluto.
And they're going on at Picnic.
And what could possibly go wrong?
Right, and it's nice that it's a cartoon
and it's really cool in that sense,
but then something does go wrong, obviously,
in all the shorts they go wrong.
And there's an explosion and you get invited into-
The cartoon.
The cartoon, yeah.
There's interaction between the cast member and Goofy.
So Goofy's on screen, he's talking to cast member.
I always think that's a really fun thing to do.
When the explosion happens, the screen pops out
and explodes and all the smoke comes out
and it's a fun little trick where the door is open
and you walk in and then that next room, it's all cartoony.
You go from reality into the cartoon as the pre-show ends.
It's really cool.
Again, and this is like all Disney magic as opposed to-
Yeah.
As opposed to Guardians of the Galaxy.
Like everything they do, they're simpler tricks
than what Guardians is doing, but it all feels so Disney.
And you get that like nostalgia for something
that's only four years old.
Right.
And it can't be because of the fact that it's Mickey and Minnie.
Because I mean, for us, that cartoon style
isn't our nostalgia, right?
Unless we're nostalgic for Russ Hanaman,
who is the, he voices that Mickey.
Oh yeah.
The actor who plays Russ Hanaman on Silicon Valley
is Mickey Mouse.
How crazy is that?
I would like to hear a side by side.
What?
Hey, that wasn't very nice.
These are not the doors of a billionaire, Richard.
Really great ride.
Really great pre-show.
So much fun.
You know, there's no height requirement on it.
So even you get to see little, little kids experience this.
And it's like so magical, so fast.
Original song.
Oh, great song.
Yeah.
Oh, God, the song.
Yeah.
Nothing can stop us now.
Bop, bop, bop, bop.
I love to edit the song in and take him and sing it out.
And take me out.
Yeah.
No, we just put it after me.
Well, there's not going to be, there
won't be a copyright strike if Shopee sings it.
There won't be listeners if Shopee sings it.
All right, so JJ, why don't you take us to number one?
Actually, before we get to number one,
I would like to bring up a few of these rides that
may be just missed a cut.
OK.
First on the list, we did allude to it briefly, dinosaur.
Dinosaur is a really fun pre-show.
Dr. Seeker is unhinged.
Claire Huxabull is in it.
A really fun, like, pseudo-sciencey kind of thing
that sets the story up of, oh, we're
going to go back to in time to when the dinosaurs live.
But we're not just going to go back in time
to where the dinosaurs lived.
We're going to go back to right before the world ends,
which what could possibly go wrong?
This also just, like, dinosaur just seems so 90s, right?
Like, is there anything more 90s than this video?
The video is so, like, it's so 90s.
Yeah.
Yeah, and it's, but that's part of its charm, right?
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
And the whole idea of, I guess, Guardians does this too,
where, like, there's a problem and only you can solve it.
You know what I mean?
And that's a very 90s Disney thing.
I think they brought it back for Guardians, but.
I think that's just a ride thing.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess, you know.
Because even in Universal, unlike the Transformers ride,
it's the same thing.
It's like, you got to get the whatever cube.
Or you got to get coaxium, right?
Right.
Yeah, you're the one driving the ship.
Right.
Hondo Onaka knows how to drive the ship,
but we have to.
The first time, we've never, we just met him.
But we're going to be the ones that drive the ship.
Right.
At the end of the ride, Chewie can guide you in.
Why couldn't he guide us the whole time?
What?
So, Sean, how about another honorable mention?
This one is one of my favorites.
We're going back to Epcot, and this one is Soren.
Soren, whether it's around the world or Soren over California,
it's the same.
It's the same pre-show.
Same pre-show.
It's so simple.
It's so basic, but it's so hilarious and quotable
and memorable.
And Patrick Warburton is just maybe the best guest
that has done a video for a pre-show in Disney.
It's a masterclass on what plays well at a theme park.
And what they just did at D23, bringing it back,
was absolutely perfect.
It was so funny.
The guy with the Mickey ears, so perfect.
That was awesome.
Yeah.
And the only reason why I missed the cut is maybe it really
is just like some in-flight safety video.
Yeah, yeah.
It's just about safety.
That's really it.
Yeah.
It's got the humor.
It's got the one-liners.
But I mean, there's obviously so many better.
Yeah.
And you're just watching a little screen.
It's not even like you're in an immersive space.
Like a lot of these other ones are.
Right.
And then finally, our last honorable mention
was Muppet Vision 3D, which is a great pre-show.
I got to admit, I usually miss half of it
because they'll start the pre-show before it's even
filled up.
Yeah.
You know?
Right.
And so I get in there and I'm like, what's going on?
You're halfway through the pre-show when you're walking in
because the theater isn't really filling up like crazy.
So they'll just let you in during the pre-show.
And again, that pre-show is another one
where you're just in a holding area that's not crazy themed
and you're watching a TV screen.
Like on tube TVs.
Yeah.
Like TVs that use tubes.
Yeah.
That's part of its charm, though.
Yeah.
Rizzo will walk between the TVs.
Yes.
That's pretty cool.
Yeah.
Oh, he pretends to be Mickey Mouse.
He does pretend to be Mickey Mouse.
Muppet humor plays really well in the theme parks.
And I hope it never changes.
Yeah.
And it never will because no other ride is going to replace
that area of the park.
And you heard it here first.
Breaking news.
Sean Murphy can confirm.
So our number one, let's head to our number one pre-show.
JJ, take us there.
OK.
The number one pre-show is really
more like the number one pre-show is plural.
And it's the riser resistance.
You could take any of those three pre-shows that
happened during this ride.
And you could say that that's the best pre-show in all
of Walt Disney World.
And it's got three.
And they're all fantastic.
You've got Hologram Ray and a BB-8 amatronic in the first scene.
Then you get put on a spaceship, but it's still not
the ride somehow.
And you've got an amatronic beck.
And you're on this transport ship.
And it gets pulled in.
You're like actually moving in a pre-show, which
doesn't ever happen.
And the videos are different if you're looking backwards
or if you're looking forward because you're looking
at the window of the ship.
Being transported.
And then they pull you into that holding cell pit thing.
And there's another pre-show.
And there's a cool escape thing where they laser blast you
out of the prison cell.
And there's a scene where you get to watch Kylo Ren.
And he uses your force in the room shakes.
And it's all over.
I forgot about that part.
A lot of good.
Also a lot of good.
Even in the pre-show rooms, a lot of good cast member
interaction.
Yeah.
And the real cast from Star Wars.
They didn't hire sound-alikes or they didn't purposefully do.
No, this is the cast of Star Wars.
These are your friends.
This is Rey and BB-8.
The real, it's the real Rey.
They hired Daisy Ripley to do this.
They hired John Boyega.
They hired, what's Poe's name?
Oschrizek.
They hired Oschrizek.
That says a lot about how they feel about the ride.
And it shows and it pays off and sets the story of the ride.
I mean, you're talking about.
This show is your 15 minutes into the pre-show
before you even start the ride.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's multiple pre-shows that tell multiple layers
of story that show how you could have went from being just
a resistance sympathizer to a prisoner of war.
Like, it's so good.
So good.
Yeah.
I think the best ride in Disney World
has the best pre-shows of all the rides.
I think so too.
I think if you look at the top three of our list
and then mirror that to what I think the top three or five
rides are, I think it may be the same.
And some of the other ones on this list
are some of my very favorite rides.
Well, and I also like that our top three
are three of the newer rides.
So this is a good way to show that Disney is taking
the aspect of storytelling seriously.
And you can tell that by their commitment to pre-shows
and how good they are.
No, definitely.
I think that it's commendable that they're not just
like phoning it in for cash grab.
They know how important it is for the rides to be good.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, those are our top eight pre-shows.
We have number eight as Rock and Roller Coaster,
number seven as Flight of Passage,
number six Tower of Terror, number five Smugglers Run,
number four the Haunted Mansion,
number three Guardians of the Galaxy,
number two Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway,
and number one, no surprise here,
Surprise of the Resistance.
And if you have any problems, email Sean.
Finally utilize our email address.
Or leave a comment on the Instagram post.
Yes.
Yeah.
Did we, if we missed one, I don't think we did.
I think we did a good job on this one.
I think this is a very good job.
I also will defend it when we have to make our corrections.
Well, just like the Qs had a lot of corrections
or a lot of feedback, I bet you this one
has a lot of feedback too.
I'm looking forward to it.
I want to have that discussion.
Yeah.
OK, guys, you got time for a game?
No.
Got to go.
8.30 on a Tuesday?
No.
I got to get going.
OK.
Well, then Sean, why don't you take us home?
Thanks for listening to another episode of the Reedy Geeks
podcast.
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You are breaking union rules.
Our insurance doesn't cover any of this.
And you are potentially infringing on Warner Brothers
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Shut this down.
I want a different answer.
This week's Anna Sendoff comes courtesy of Liz from New York.
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Reedy Geeks, a Walt Disney World podcast,
is hosted and executive produced by Andrew Shopee, Sean Murphy,
and JJ Hepburn.
Music and audio engineering by JJ Hepburn.