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Orlando Unplugged: Life In Living Color
Welcome to Orlando Unplugged, hosted by the dynamic duo Dustin and Ashley! This podcast takes you on an audio journey through the vibrant city of Orlando. Whether you're a local seeking new adventures or a visitor planning your next trip, Orlando Unplugged is your ultimate guide to the City Beautiful.
Join Dustin, a new Orlando resident with a passion for adventure, and Ashley, a food lover and event enthusiast, as they uncover Orlando’s hidden gems, from quaint cafes to the worlds most known theme parks. Discover Dustin and Ashley's favorite culinary spots and get an insider look on what it's like to be a millinial living in the sunshine state.
Orlando Unplugged captures the essence of Orlando, offering a lively and entertaining podcast experience. Tune in every week for new episodes filled with insider tips and local stories to help you unplug and enjoy Orlando to the fullest. Subscribe now and get ready to unplug Orlando like never before!
Orlando Unplugged: Life In Living Color
Unplugging Hotel Fires, and The Importance of Mental health In The Hospitality Industry.
Have you ever felt a chill down your spine walking past an abandoned building, wondering about its hidden stories? That's how we kick off today's talk, delving into the haunting fire of an old hotel by I-Drive and its potential repercussions for Orlando's community and attractions. But it's not all serious—imagine getting sidetracked by an itch while discussing such a fiery topic. We certainly didn't see that coming! And we're not shying away from the emotional rollercoaster this week has been, opening up about our mental health battles and extending a heartfelt thanks to our loyal tribe for walking this path with us.
Picture the gates closing on your favorite Disney ride; it's a reality we're facing as we speculate on the future of timeless experiences like Dinosaur and Test Track. Is the Animal Kingdom ready for Indiana Jones to whip his way into our hearts, or should it stick to its conservation roots? We're opening the floor to debate and discussing the implications for park strategy and the individuals who bring the wonder to life daily. Remember, a little empathy goes a long way, especially when considering the hardworking souls in hospitality who ensure our escapades are unforgettable.
Therapy, bananas, and firefighting terminology—our conversation takes twists and turns you wouldn't expect, but that's the beauty of a chat among friends. We wrap up with heartfelt advice for those navigating the intense world of theme parks, balancing the fun with a serious note on looking after one’s mental health, especially when the dream world collides with reality through sleep paralysis. Next week's episodes promise to dial up the intrigue further, so make sure to tune in for theories, thrills, and thoughtful discussion. Stay curious, stay supportive, and let's keep exploring this journey together.
You're listening to Orlando, unplugged, celebrating life in living color with Dustin and Ashley. Grab a cocktail or a mocktail and let's get unplugged, orlando.
Speaker 2:Welcome back listeners to the 13th episode of Orlando Unplugged. Only us, only you and I would decide that our 13th episode is going to be a spooky episode. We are but it has nothing to do with spooky things.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's very spooky. We're going to be talking about the recent fire of an abandoned hotel here in Orlando and what else?
Speaker 2:A lack of mental health that we've had this week.
Speaker 1:That is a very scary thing to deal with nowadays.
Speaker 2:It is. It's very scary. Well, welcome back. I'm Ashley.
Speaker 1:I'm Dustin and let's jump in.
Speaker 2:Woo jump in.
Speaker 1:Girl, you got the scabies. What are you doing over there? You're just like ripping off your clothes to scratch your. What do you call that? Your elbow pit, your elbow pit? Yeah, yes, we are by what. You're wearing two layers of clothes. Is that my forearm? Your elbow pit? Is this live? Yeah, we're not recreating this. Yes, we are. I got bit by what. You're wearing two layers of clothes. There's like four bites on my arm. I'm not kidding. Oh well, welcome back, guys. We're glad to have you all with us for another episode. It is our 13th episode. We have finally made it to the double digits, but this is like the fourth double digit episode.
Speaker 2:Third, Third Do you know math this week?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Good Lord. But yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome. It's a podcast day. That's very exciting. I always love a good podcast episode recording. Yeah, we got a lot of things that we're going to touch base on and chat about today. We're going to kind of slow it down a little bit this episode. I know our last episodes have been like balls to the wall and go ham. I mean we literally just talked about a drunk game with friends.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is true, and then a week before that, we were a Shan. So, oh, thanks so much. For before we get started in our pre-show topic, thank you so much for all those that listened to last week's episode with our second guest speaker. Thank you, gio. We appreciate you very, very much. And to all of our drunk brothers and sisters, thank you for listening. Yes, that was a fun episode to record.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I'm glad we're slowing it down this week.
Speaker 1:We are. But before we jump into our fun mental health, main topic today- our spooky um main topic so something wild and crazy happened just like a mile not even a mile from here I know, I saw that, but you, you are closer to that, so you tell me.
Speaker 2:Do you know? Do you know? Do we know what started it? Do we know how it started? Do we know? Why don't we tell the?
Speaker 1:people what it is.
Speaker 2:Oh, I guess Go ahead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so on Saturday, at like six o'clock in the morning, this abandoned hotel which is the I-Drive Grand Resort and Suites caught on fire. It is this decrepit hotel, it's just. I mean, it looks bad, isn't it? It is an eyesore on um. It's just off of iDrive, which is why I think it's really funny that they're like oh, it's on iDrive, it's iDrive Grand Resort, it's on Kirkman well, the end of Kirkman the end, yeah, the end of Kirkman where the drive where they can.
Speaker 1:No, no, it's the end of Kirkman, where the construction is now starting for Epic Universe traffic. Ah so right there. But evidently this hotel caught on fire around 6.15. It was a two-alarm fire, which I'm not exactly sure what that means. Where is our producer when we need him?
Speaker 2:Jeez Zach.
Speaker 1:I think two-alarm means like multiple stations, but it is literally right behind Universal's Dockside Inn and Suites and right beside Hampton Inn, yep, but it caught on fire and it took them about an hour to get it under control.
Speaker 1:Wow. And then by the time I had gone to work later that day, like you could see where the building had caught on fire but there was no smoke. You could smell it some, but it was like everything was normal at that point. And I spoke to one of my coworkers when I got to work that day and they were like, yep, two of our openers or two like our six o'clocker and our seven o'clocker, both called out that morning. So she was actively on the floor working and she was like it was chaos because all these people were asking about it and she was like I don't know what's happening, but it's not on our property, so it's fine. And there's like there's a ton of hotels and businesses and restaurants and I think now some apartments all in in that area. I know I think the apartments are another block up, but still um well, I'm just glad that everybody was okay.
Speaker 2:There was nobody inside the hotel during the fire, so nobody got hurt.
Speaker 1:So that's pretty good so we actually when? Was remind me, because I know this, I know this hotel has been abandoned for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for quite a while. I know it was sold around. What was it? 2019, 2018?
Speaker 1:I think it was 2019. So it was yeah, because it was sold to these new investors that wanted to buy into the land, Because Universal had just made their Epic announcement about.
Speaker 2:Epic Universe. They did do that, didn't they?
Speaker 1:I didn't try to just plug the word epic, I just forgot how to say epic universe, um, and I think there were talks of like turning it into a hotel and stuff, but, ironically enough, the building was condemned and shut down by the city in august of 2020 because of the fire suppression system.
Speaker 2:Get out of here.
Speaker 1:So I think that's really funny that it ended up catching fire Now. I had heard some gossip that this is not the first time there's been a fire at that abandoned property, but this was the worst fire there had been. One person was in the hotel and was escorted out.
Speaker 2:Not during this fire, but the previous fire.
Speaker 1:No, during this fire.
Speaker 2:I thought we just said that nobody got hurt, no one got hurt, no one got hurt oh, I didn't realize the fire was on one end of the building.
Speaker 1:This person was in the other end.
Speaker 2:I think it was a homeless person.
Speaker 1:Oh sad um, but they're saying the investigation, they're looking into it, they're saying that it is arson. Wow, so it was probably the homeless person in there threw out a cigarette or lit a fire I doubt it.
Speaker 2:You know what I bet you it is?
Speaker 1:it's a disgruntled ex-employee you closed down my work evidently it was a nice little hotel when it was open, but it it went downhill because it didn't have enough rooms. There's only like 105 rooms. That's so sad. Actually, I think that's wrong. I think there was only like 50 rooms, um, but yeah, if you look um, there were videos and pictures everywhere and it looked it looked a lot worse than what it ended up being um, but there's more information you know what's killing me, though?
Speaker 2:that they're the news is showing all these beautiful photos of this hotel like way back in the day, and they pan up a photo of it burnt to flames and I mean it looks.
Speaker 1:It's clearly something that looks like it was built in the 70s or 80s. Yeah, that's very sad. I'm going to take a sip of my tea.
Speaker 2:I'm glad nobody got hurt. I'm glad it wasn't too much and it was very contained. So thank you, o-f-d.
Speaker 1:Oh, the ginger is strong. Orange County.
Speaker 2:O-O-C-F-D.
Speaker 1:I O-C-F-D, I think I don't know what they're actually called, but yeah it would have been Orange County.
Speaker 1:I was going with Orlando I hate to say this, but I hope that the building is torn down at this point, because it was an eyesore before the fire and now it just looks even worse. I mean, windows were boarded up in it because so many people have broken into it, so they've boarded up all the windows on ground level. Clearly that hasn't kept people out. Um, but I hope to see this building demolished and something else put in its place, because everything in that block looks nice and looks good. And then you have this one really bad eyesore. The parking lot is crumbled, the grass is overgrown and it's just, it's an eyesore right there in the middle of all that and like can you imagine if people are saying at dockside and in suites with universal studios, like they've paid money to stay in a resort, and they're looking down and they're seeing this like I wouldn't want to do that?
Speaker 2:no me either. Oh my gosh, hey, I completely forgot jesus, I'm sorry I have no choice, but like this is this is big, this is big, this is big news.
Speaker 1:Very, very big news. What?
Speaker 2:Did you hear what's closing?
Speaker 1:Where. At Disney World, at Animal Kingdom I was going to say there's a few things closing at Disney.
Speaker 2:Yes, but at Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:I did hear about it. What is it?
Speaker 2:The iconic dinosaur ride.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:I'm not sad. I know you're not sad if all of our friends are quite a few people that are going to come for me, though, in our group chat, because I am not sad that dinosaur is closing so, and here's the thing, though, that makes me the most upset about it, because, like I enjoy dinosaur, but I'm fine with him doing something else to it.
Speaker 1:The thing that bothers me is, uh, disney just recently released videos mostly i've've seen them on TikTok where they've gotten the people that do the pre-show of the ride to put together the closing announcement, but they don't tell us when it's closing. It just says that the program may be shut down soon. So you better get here and ride quick.
Speaker 2:I don't need to ride quick.
Speaker 1:I'm like can I have a closing date so I know to plan.
Speaker 2:I don't need to ride it quick. You going to ride it again with me? No, I'm not. Yes, you are. No, I'm not. I do not like that ride. Well, you're going to write it one more time with me so we can say we wrote it together for our last ride. No, I don't need to do that. I don't need to. You know, I announced another closure. What was the other one? Again at epcoot, epcoot test track test. Oh yeah, I forgot, and they did the same thing.
Speaker 1:Closing, it's closing for what they two? What did they say? Two years?
Speaker 2:I think so, but a year to two years, okay. Well, here's the difference. So dinosaur is is done. Dinosaur is not being revamped as a new dinosaur, so I don't count that well I don't count test track as a closure. Test track is to me.
Speaker 1:It's getting revamped and it is not it is not getting reimagined, it is becoming a new attraction correct where ebcot is being reimagined or not test track is being reimagined yes, and they're from the announcement they played is they're looking back to the past? So the original version of the ride, but maintaining the technology of the current ride I think that's going to be so great.
Speaker 2:I'm really excited to see that because I, to be honest with you, I prefer old test track to new trust track oh, I do too. I 100 agree I prefer old test track over new test track. I just ate words, um. So I'm that one. I'm really looking forward to to being exciting. But you know what I think is comical that the the rumor is is that Indiana Jones is what is going to be replacing dinosaur.
Speaker 1:Which Disney hasn't confirmed that.
Speaker 2:Disney hasn't even teased that.
Speaker 1:But the, the ride is becoming a what are they called Central Americas, which is, yes, would be Indiana Jones.
Speaker 2:Let's have a hot topic. I know this was quite debated in our our. We have a fun little group chat. Um that has quite a few. What's the? The verbiage I can use here? Dinosaur fanatics no um roller coaster theme park enthusiasts oh, yeah, coaster, so big old nerds.
Speaker 2:Love you guys, but a bunch of nerds and um. The topic of conversation was whether or not Indiana Jones fits into Animal Kingdom, because Indiana Jones is right now. There is a show that is at Hollywood Studios. There is over. If you pop across the water there, you've at California. Venture is over there. So the question is whether or not Indiana Jones would be beneficial to Animal Kingdom in that spot. I think if we're going to go with the, if the rumor is true that they're going to become it, what is it? A Central Africa Central?
Speaker 1:Central Central America. Okay, so if we're going to become it, what is it? A central africa, central central central america?
Speaker 2:okay. So if we're gonna go with the central america theme, maybe, but to be honest with you I kind of agree with with our friends here I don't see indiana jones being something that would be compatible inside that area I think that disney has lost their original imagineering team and disney parks are not what they used to be.
Speaker 1:Look at epcot. It was supposed to be an experimental prototype community of tomorrow that was ever-changing, and now it's a world of ips, and I think that's exactly what's going to happen with animal kingdom. Animal kingdom was less than a half day park so they said, oh, let's put an avatar. That's not animals, that's aliens in a different galaxy, like they have to do something to get people to go to these parks. And I think that central america is, because I guarantee you right now, if that is what's happening, we will see encanto, and encanto has nothing to do with animals well, kind of no, they have one person that can speak to animals.
Speaker 2:No, oh no. What am I thinking of? Not Encanto Coco.
Speaker 1:The Family Madrigal. Yeah, that one.
Speaker 2:Well Encanto.
Speaker 1:No Coco.
Speaker 2:Encanto is the Family Madrigal.
Speaker 1:Yes, they are from the Central Americas. That is what.
Speaker 2:The rumor is that Coco coco no, coco does not fit there.
Speaker 1:Coco would be at epcot. Coco was supposed to take over the grand fiesta tour, and then it never did.
Speaker 2:I'm glad it did not.
Speaker 1:I wish it would have. Grand fiesta tour is outdated and boring leave my three caballeros alone.
Speaker 2:Leave them alone. That's bad you're bad anyways, um, anyways, no, I just don't, I don't. I think Indiana Jones is a good ride I've done it over at Disneyland but I just don't, I don't see it being a good addition to Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you right now Disney is scared. I guarantee you they are absolutely terrified with what we're seeing coming out in the industry in Orlando, and I think that they will. I don't necessarily think they're gonna do Indiana Jones, because they already have it.
Speaker 2:However, I mean Disney is known. It has been one of the cats did you say they're not known for?
Speaker 1:no, I said they are known to be copycats. They are known to take rides from one park and put it into another park we know we're not going to get a ventures campus out here because universal studios claims the rights to marvel comic books, so they're not going to bring marvel down here I don't think that's why they wouldn't bring marvel down here no, I'm pretty sure there's because universal doesn't own.
Speaker 2:Okay that they have the licensing they have the licensing just to the comics they have the.
Speaker 1:So the way it's always been explained to me I don't know if this is true or not, but this is the most um most reliable that I've always heard is that in the theme park industry the contract is east and west of the mississippi. Disney owns marvel west of the miss. Disney owns Marvel west of the Mississippi. Universal has Marvel east of the Mississippi, which is why we have not seen an inkling of a Marvel character in any of the Disney parks. You might be right, so, but anyhow, I don't know. I just also don't.
Speaker 2:Here's my thing, though I think Disney needs to kind of cool it down with the concept of of copying and pasting, because you want people to visit your parks for the differential differences between one park and another, like that's the thing, people, if you go to disney in florida and you're not a coaster junkie, you're not going to go to california just to go to disney to be a coaster junkie, to go to california theme park junkie, whatever most people are not going to go to California just to go to Disney.
Speaker 1:You need to be a coaster junkie to go to California Theme park junkie. Whatever, Most people are not going to split and go half and half. If they're on this side of the country, they're going to go to Disney World.
Speaker 2:I don't know. No, I mean, I don't agree with that statement.
Speaker 1:I do.
Speaker 2:I don't because, I'm glad you agree with your own statement. Somebody give him a cookie. I think that we look so much in the concept and the idea that, okay, we can't jump from one to another because this park has everything I need. If you look at Cedar Fair parks, the people that own Cedar Point and Kings Island and Carowinds and Canada's Wonderland and things like that, you go to those different parks for the different varieties. Yes, there's times where it's the same variation of a coaster. However, you go there for the different experiences, for the different rides, for the different food, for the different theming. I think you you do the same thing with disney. I I don't think we live in a world anymore where people are like, oh, I live by florida, therefore I'm only going to florida. No, I think we we go with the concept that there is have you seen the cost of living?
Speaker 2:you are? Oh, I love our pre-show topic conversations.
Speaker 1:Let's actually let's talk about the fact that disney hasn't given anything great in their in the us space parks. Have you seen everything that has been happening in the Disney parks around the world outside of the US? They're getting a whole Neverland area. I think we've got one, if not now two Frozen-themed lands in Shanghai and Disney Seas.
Speaker 2:But I just don't think Indiana Jones is going to fit inside Animal Kingdom. It will.
Speaker 1:I don't see it.
Speaker 2:Indiana Jones is going to fit inside Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:It will. I don't see it If they themed that area of the park to be wherever it is in the world that Indiana Jones is. Now it fits.
Speaker 2:I just think they need to come up with something different. I'm sorry, how does Pandora fit? I never said that Pandora fits in this concept, either said that pandora fits in this, in this concept, either. I think, though, that we we need to pull away from the idea that we have to copy one ride and put it in another just because we can I mean you want to compete with that park down the street, that one that just announced that they're going to open up a brand new park.
Speaker 2:Then actually get up and compete. Stop sitting here and copy and pasting things you already have. Stop being lazy oh, they're your movies are not that great right now, so pick something else to focus on.
Speaker 1:They're not doing that. They're focusing on Disney Plus and Genie, fastlane, lightning Lane. That horrible thing, that absolutely horrible thing that we're not even gonna we're not gonna get into that tonight. This tea is weird. It's tonight. This tea is weird. It's spicy.
Speaker 2:This ginger is strong you ready to talk about our main topic how's your mental health, ashley? Oh, it's shot to shit. How's yours?
Speaker 1:it's okay. It's a little tired right now, but not bad wow, I'm happy for you.
Speaker 2:Thanks, that's it. That's all you're gonna say. Is that you're you're doing fine?
Speaker 1:I didn't say I was doing fine. I said I was doing all right.
Speaker 2:You know what my mother said to me today, what you know what fine means.
Speaker 1:What.
Speaker 2:Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional.
Speaker 1:I like that.
Speaker 2:I hate that. I hate that. Sorry, I'm trying to fix my sleep schedule because it's so, so whack. So this week, this week's episode, is a little different and I know Dustin's going to be call you out, but I'm going to call you out on your, your uncomfortability about bringing our podcast into a more realistic episode where we I mean the past 12 episodes have been very upbeat. They've been very happy. There has not been any negative things, especially when it comes to you and I.
Speaker 1:I mean I'm not saying like obviously there's been some negative things, we just covered a murder, but like I think yeah, and then all those times that you like say the wrong stuff and I have to tell you why you're wrong.
Speaker 2:This could be why my mental health is skewed, Anyways. So we both decided when we were going to do this that we were going to be as real, as transparent, as full, open and honest with our podcast as we possibly can. So because, at the end of the day, we want people to go. Yeah, we may be sitting on our couch drinking spicy tea, but at the end of the day, we're real people with real feelings and real emotions. So I think we kind of want to touch base on that and kind of give as much help as we can. I mean, we literally did an episode about moving, so we want to help out, we want to share our thoughts especially if you're a first-time mover and you're working for a theme park or you're working for any guest-oriented position, especially right now and how we can help. So before we start, I do want to just kind of shout out all of our theme park friends, our guest-facing friends, our guest-interacting friends If you work in any sort of situation Hospitality tourism.
Speaker 2:If you work in any of those areas right now. I just want you to know that Dustin and I care about you. We love you guys. We support you. We are here for you. How you are messing things up, we, not you, Dustin.
Speaker 1:Wow, tell them how you really feel, ashley.
Speaker 2:I'm going to we just want you to know that we get it like from the bottom of our souls and we understand what you are going through. We are here for you, no matter all these tours that are coming in here. We know they're difficult. We know it is not so much fun sometimes. We also know it's a blast. Just know that at the end of the day, when you take your bra off and you sip your spicy tea and you put our podcast on, know that you have a fun what you doing I never took my bra off, but I'm not wearing one when you take your girdle off.
Speaker 2:Is that better for you, chicks? Your pantaloons when you take your pants and your bra off at the end of the day, just know that we care and we're here for you and please, please, please, if you are a tourist coming to Orlando or coming to any theme park, be gentle, be kind and say thank you, Okay.
Speaker 1:And read. Read the signs, For God's sakes.
Speaker 2:Read the signs I don't even need you to read, just say read the signs. For god's sakes, read the signs. I don't even need you to read, just say thank you. Okay, please, because you never know what kind of day that they're having. Have some patience, have some understanding. We understand that your, your trips are stressful, but, like they're there to help you thank you gen z what is that?
Speaker 1:I said Gen Z.
Speaker 2:Why do I have to Gen Z it? I don't know, I'm not a Gen Z.
Speaker 1:I know, just felt like a good time to say thank you, gen Z.
Speaker 2:So you want to go first?
Speaker 1:No, because I don't know what to talk about. You go first.
Speaker 2:Why do I have to go first? Because you're the one that wanted to talk about mental health.
Speaker 1:Our group chat is blowing up. Right, you've pissed them all off talking about dinosaur and you've made them mad at me. I didn't make them mad at you. Yeah, you did. Frazy just said I'm gonna be riding in a different car what what just happened?
Speaker 2:you scream into your microphone I did not scream, I just laugh yes, and you laugh.
Speaker 1:So do you see, I got so much shit.
Speaker 2:Look at that. Do you see the volume level? You know, look at the volume level. I'm turning you down you know, what's comical to me is like every single time we record anything. Ashley, you're too quiet. Ashley, you're way too loud.
Speaker 1:Pick a damn volume well, you know, if somebody just had the voice for radio, we wouldn't have that problem now, would we?
Speaker 2:This is why my mental health is whacked. My best friend in the whole wide world is a dick.
Speaker 1:That was the wrong sound, but I'm rolling with it.
Speaker 2:You're an asshole.
Speaker 1:But all jokes aside, though, I know that Ashley and I argue on the podcast, but we love to do that. It's fun.
Speaker 2:Wow, thank you for clarifying the all jokes aside that we still do that, but we're all good. I was saying it and then I was like like what am I?
Speaker 1:I'm not forming this right.
Speaker 2:No um do you want to try again? No, okay, we'll just move on, okay I'm so okay, so I'm not gonna.
Speaker 1:I'm exhausted, I'm so tired, so I started a new job today and that took a lot out of me well, well, you haven't just started it today, you've been doing it for a week now. Well, I started no two weeks. I have been in training classes and orientation for two weeks. Today was the first day of on-the-job training in a guest-facing role.
Speaker 2:What is it? Otj.
Speaker 1:OTJ. No OJT, ojt, ojt no, and ojt, ojt, ojt on the job training, um. And then when I got here you were like passed out of sleep from work. So I was like I'll try to take a nap. I could not take a nap, could not go to sleep. So I woke up and ashley was like oh my god, let's go get in my hot tub.
Speaker 1:That's literally overflowing and gonna probably get us electrocuted but it's so nice and then, as soon as I got back in the house, from then, like I've I've just been warm and I'm tired well, you're also sitting in a computer, so that's because your house is cold. My house is always cold, yeah, I know, never keep it warm.
Speaker 2:No, it's just been. I feel like this past two weeks have just been finally keeping up with me. I think I never my sleep schedule has yet to recover from Drunk Brother, and I know that was like two weeks ago, but in all honesty, it's kind of just been garbage ever since that. So then, the hotel has just been absolutely insane right now Like- Spring break.
Speaker 2:It's not just spring break, so my hotel is a little bit off the theme park beaten path so I get more of like the business type you know, so like a lot of events, a lot of things like that. So it's been a lot of just corporate, a lot of talking like corporate monsters, and I love and hate it sometimes. And it's just been caping up and my sleep schedule has just been absolutely suffering so, so bad. I don't think there's enough melatonin in the world. I was, you know, I was just off. I know this is probably going to sound really bad, but I I have to take some sort of sleep, like um additive something to like help me to go to bed and um trader joe's love that.
Speaker 1:They just increased their price of bananas First time in 20 years.
Speaker 2:What does it say?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I didn't see.
Speaker 2:I saw the headline today, when I was just there. Oh, I wonder if it's today, it was today.
Speaker 1:It says Trader Joe's increases the price of bananas for the first time in 20 years.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, I know Another reason to be sadatonin. That's like organic for you and good for you and clean and it's really cheap. So I really appreciate that. You know, on Thursday night, ask me how many of those I had to take, how.
Speaker 1:How many?
Speaker 2:Four.
Speaker 1:How many were you supposed to take?
Speaker 2:I think like two, and I slept 12 hours and it was the nicest 12 hours of my life. It was so good. I just ate them like candy, but no, I'm so tired, dude, I'm so tired and I want a vacation. So bad Like I think. The issue is is. I think that you know, we sit and we go on and on about how great all everything looks and the theme parks, and we go to theme parks and we go to bars and we go hang out with friends and we do events, and we do all these things and go ahead.
Speaker 1:So Trader Joe's bananas have been 19 cents for 25 years.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And they are officially 23 cents now.
Speaker 2:Wow, per banana they went down 19 cents to 23 cents. I definitely don't see mine being 23 cents.
Speaker 1:We can all be pretty and smart, honey, you better say something.
Speaker 2:We are literally talking about mental health and you are coming at me nice and strong today. God, I didn't realize. Serious conversations make you so awkward.
Speaker 1:What about any of this conversation You're're? Bullying me that's just because you've been mean to me off the air, so now I have to be mean to you on the air oh my god she yells at me. She yells at me and forces me to watch the same tv show for hours I like big bang.
Speaker 2:Leave me alone. It's my comfort show it used to be. I was going to say something a minute ago.
Speaker 1:But we, oh God, what was it? I'm so upset now. You used to oh, oh Sleep. You're talking about sleep and the lack thereof, so have you ever suffered from sleep paralysis?
Speaker 1:Yeah really bad. So I used to have it a lot a long time ago and then it's gone away and for the most part it's been completely gone. But I had it about three or four nights ago and for a lot of people it's different. Some people see like the sleep demon. They'll see like a figure or something when they have sleep paralysis. If you've ever watched what was that, that um hill house, the hill house show on netflix the bent neck lady. She had sleep paralysis and she always saw this bent neck lady. So I don't ever see sleep demons. My you good girl. I told you that tea is spicy, oh I have a different tea than you oh, what do you have?
Speaker 1:sleepy time oh why didn't you give me sleepy time? Tea I thought you were making a pot of tea, so I agreed to the peach and ginger. You good. Why are you choking on sleepy time tea? That one's good.
Speaker 2:No, I burped. Oh, very ladylike and I swallowed at the same time talent, you feel better I do thank you um so sorry you're good.
Speaker 1:So when I have, my sleep paralysis. I'm sorry, sorry let's talk about our mental health. You want to know why I'm mean to Ashley, because she likes to cut me off. And I have to say the same sentence like six times to get it out. I am really proud of us Swallow the tea before you try to talk.
Speaker 2:I am proud of us, though, because the first time that we did this episode like an episode we would cut each other off so bad.
Speaker 1:It's because I had to try to keep you on topic.
Speaker 2:But I had to do the same thing with you for a minute. No, never Now please continue with your sleep, paralysis and demons.
Speaker 1:So when I have sleep paralysis, I feel like I'm suffocating to death. I feel like I can't breathe Really. Mm, I have sleep paralysis, I feel like I'm suffocating to death. I feel like I can't breathe really, and nine times out of ten, when my sleep paralysis hits, my face is covered with a blanket.
Speaker 2:I never cover my face with a blanket ever so no wonder you feel like you're suffocating because you got something over your face well, it's that.
Speaker 1:And then I also literally like I have to focus every ounce of my being on breathing and attempting to move my body. And the other day it hit me out of nowhere. My face was not covered this time, but it was like I felt it coming on and I was like get up, get up, get up. And I threw my body so hard I literally almost threw myself off of the bed.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, I only get that way if I so. There is a sleep medicine by Alilly O-L-L-Y and they it's like a sleep additive, like a sleep melatonin kind of thing, and he used to be an avid taker of it. And then when I was back home in Michigan this past like last year, I was taking it quite often. And there's a an additive in there called Ashgwanda.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love Ashgwanda.
Speaker 2:I cannot consume anything with Ashgwanda. It gives me the worst nightmares of my entire life, like oh God, awful ones. Like it won't matter if I'm like if I watch something like super sweet and sappy right before I go to bed, watch something like super sweet and sappy right before I go to bed, or like if I watch the news, I literally will have nightmares about it for like the, and I won't be able to wake myself out of it. It's horrible.
Speaker 1:so no ash guanda for me you know, uh, continuing to talk about sleep when I, when I'm like stressed out and I'm not in good mental health, I don't dream.
Speaker 2:Really Mm-hmm. Oh, I always dream.
Speaker 1:And I will tell you, I went for a really long time without having dreams.
Speaker 2:Stop Now when you do dream. Can you remember your dreams when you wake up?
Speaker 1:I remember bits and pieces of them. And if I, if I wake up and I'm like, what was I just dreaming about? I usually can recall things. But if I wait like two or three, like if I were to wake up and immediately like, do a dream journal which I've always said I want to do, because dreams are pretty interesting at times um, but I've always said, like if I wake up and I don't immediately jot it down or immediately think about it, I'm gonna forget about it all together and then I I just I lose it. You're making so much noise in the background. You had to go get your sleep. You sleep in meds. Oh, your tums. Oh, did your burpee thing hurt you and give you a heartburn?
Speaker 2:It really did Listen. I'm like 80 years old and this almost dirty body of mine it's bad.
Speaker 1:Do you think that the overuse of medications has anything to do with people's mental health? Mm-hmm, that's why I get headaches a lot. I don't get migraines, but I get headaches a lot and they're usually always in my eyeball. Maybe that is a migraine? Um, that is what it is. But um, I also think that it is. It is a part of my sedentary lifestyle. The last couple of years of my life, I would wake up, I would go to work, I would come home from work, I would immediately crawl into my bed and I wouldn't leave my bed until I went to sleep. And I'd wake up the next morning and I wouldn't get out of my bed until it was time to get ready for work.
Speaker 2:Oh, my God.
Speaker 1:And, yes, I'd get headaches a lot back then and it got to the point where I would try not to take medicine because I was like I am overusing ibuprofen, I'm overusing Tylenol, so you know, and it's like you always yell at me when I'm like I have a headache and you're like, well, take something for it. Well, I don't want to take something for it. I want to, like, do stretches and stuff and see if I can get this headache to go away without taking medication, because I'm like, I'm 30 years old, there's going to be a time when I hit, you know, the point of no return and I'm going to kill my kidneys or other parts of my medicine I go, I go back, I go back and forth with that.
Speaker 2:So if you don't know, uh, I've been going to therapy for, oh my god, almost two years now on and off.
Speaker 1:You haven't gone like being regularly, like once a week I don't go to a person, so. So my doctor lives in Michigan and I was going to say, do you, do you just talk to the little man in the corner in your room?
Speaker 2:No, not every day. Um, no, we do, we. We either FaceTime and zoom or we, um, we talk on the phone and I'll do that. When I first started, I was doing it three times a week. We just got like I'll do that. When I first started, I was doing it three times a week. There was once upon a time that I literally knew I went to like 300 sessions of therapy before I moved to Florida. That was rough.
Speaker 1:You must have had some nice insurance.
Speaker 2:Actually it came out of my pocket because I did not have very good insurance. It was I love therapy. I am an avid fan of therapy. I believe that I enjoy therapy because I hate talking about how I feel to people. Like I cannot look at somebody and be like hi, I don't feel comfortable because of blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:Well, you try to talk to me and I'm just like okay, because I don't give good because of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah. Well, you try to talk to me and I'm just like okay, Because I don't give good advice.
Speaker 2:No, you suck at it.
Speaker 1:Yes, I do.
Speaker 2:But, like I, will have moments and days where, like I will, I cave into myself Like burrow in there and I will hoard my feelings and I will bury them deep down inside. I'll throw myself into work or I'll throw myself into some sort of project and then the minute somebody says something to me, I will melt into a fucking puddle, like a puddle, which is what happened two days ago, three days ago.
Speaker 2:That was super fun is what happened two days ago. Three days ago, that was super fun. I also think that, like, our mental health is so reliant also on the people around us, yeah like I mean for me. I'm, I'm really, really grateful. I have such fantastic roommates whom I love and are constantly making sure that I'm okay, and this sounds really bad like Ashley, are you never doing okay? There are days I'm doing great guys. Just this month not so much.
Speaker 1:They're just few and far in between nowadays.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen him in a minute and it's so funny because I was doing so well, like I do so well, like there are days that I I do so so good and like months that I do like I'll go like weeks and I'll be perfectly fine, and then we get into a month and I'm just in a rut and this month was my rut month and it's sad because, like I had really exciting things that happened this month bruce turned two, we had drunk brother um, my mom was in town so I got to see her. I had a very full month of March, but I'm also very much ready to kind of put March aside and move on from March.
Speaker 1:Leave that March madness behind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really am. I'm ready for April. I don't know what's coming.
Speaker 1:It's the front door.
Speaker 2:Keep talking I don't know what's coming up in April.
Speaker 1:What does his mom say in in the the tv show are you a? Are you a? A? What a sex? A? What? What's the? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Hang on, hey zach, we have a question a firefighter question oh yeah so, um, there was that fire that happened at the motel and they said it was a what?
Speaker 1:A two-alarm fire. A two-alarm fire.
Speaker 4:What does a two-alarm fire?
Speaker 1:mean.
Speaker 3:Hi, hello. A two-alarm fire just pretty much means each alarm just brings in additional units, additional trucks, additional firemen. So each alarm you go up just brings more and more.
Speaker 1:How many alarms are there?
Speaker 3:There's endless. 9-11 was 11 alarms.
Speaker 2:Holy shit.
Speaker 3:There's just there's no.
Speaker 1:See, I knew it had something to do with the amount of response, but I wasn't sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, literally just the amount of response so with the fire that just happened, is it? Ocfd, orange County Fire Department, I think, or is it Orlando Fire.
Speaker 1:Department. I think it's OFD. Well, no, Orange County would be the county yeah.
Speaker 3:This was probably city. Yeah, did you get both then, because it's a two-county. What does that mean?
Speaker 1:The city and the county she's saying would it be the city and the county Is?
Speaker 3:that what you mean by the no. The city is the city and inside the city is the city and inside the city is different subsidiaries, firehouses in each county yeah, oh my.
Speaker 1:God? No, probably not.
Speaker 3:Ashley, the city is the county, they're all Orlando. Fire.
Speaker 1:Department. Yeah, it's not the police department and the sheriff's department. It's just I forgot you guys were coming home today.
Speaker 3:Anyway, well, I'm not done yet. I was still answering your question.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, continue.
Speaker 3:You will get multiple different agencies on certain calls and firefighters across the nation are trained for FEMA, which pretty much means I could be a firefighter anywhere and know their lingo in layman's terms. Now you get certain things like, say, in New York, if you ask for a bus, you're going to get an ambulance yeah. But you go to Alabama or somewhere in the Midwest and you ask for a bus, you're getting the big yellow thing.
Speaker 1:Where you're from. When you say a wagon, what does that mean?
Speaker 3:You're getting a thing with four wheels and a cart and made of wood. However, if you go in the Midwest or where you're from Tennessee, you're going to get a pumper truck.
Speaker 1:What is a pumper truck?
Speaker 3:The basic fire truck oh no, a wagon.
Speaker 1:Where I'm from, that's like the white raper van that they throw all the drunks in when they take them to jail see not not in firefighter terms no, that wasn't firefighter terms, that was like for just first responder you're getting a fire engine um A pumper wagon like they've got at Silver Dollar City. Want to ride on the pumper wagon?
Speaker 3:Fire in the hole.
Speaker 1:Them hobnobbers. The hobnobbers are coming. I really want Julia to talk about her opinion on Indiana Jones. No, oh, actually yes.
Speaker 3:Julia and I are very, very the same opinionated when it comes to Indiana Jones.
Speaker 1:Let the poor woman speak I will let her talk.
Speaker 3:I'm allowed to have an opinion too.
Speaker 1:Go for it.
Speaker 3:Women rule the world. That's true.
Speaker 1:However, this is the last day of Women's Herstory Month. Herstory Month.
Speaker 3:Yeah, herstory, I get it, herstory, I'm an idiot.
Speaker 1:It's okay, we can all be pretty and smart.
Speaker 3:It's okay, we can all be pretty and smart. I get it, guys. I get it now. Don't worry.
Speaker 1:Hey, I graduated education, so Indiana Jones.
Speaker 3:Indiana Jones.
Speaker 1:Animal Kingdom. What's your opinion?
Speaker 3:It needs to go to Hollywood Studios. Don't touch dinosaur.
Speaker 1:What would you like to see dinosaur turn into?
Speaker 3:Nothing Don't touch dinosaur Dinosaur had to leave, which it is. Yeah. What do you mean, ipa with your beer? Oh, you're an alcohol Alcohol.
Speaker 1:She just learned IP recently on the show.
Speaker 3:So, julia, what's your opinion?
Speaker 4:Oh God, Um, thanks, Ashley. Um, I don't know what I would turn it into because disney currently doesn't have any ips that I really like. That would fit in that area.
Speaker 1:I don't see ashley was saying that she doesn't want it to be indiana jones. She thinks it's overused. But I've come to the or. She says it doesn't fit in animal kingdom and I was like what is Pandora? It's aliens on a different galaxy.
Speaker 4:The reason why I stand by Pandora still fitting is because the Avatar movies are like heavily based on like conserving, like the Pandora, like land, like the whole premise, yeah, the whole premise of the movie. Is the connection with nature and, like conserving, like that nature.
Speaker 1:So like a valid point, I didn't consider yeah, it's just like with indiana jones. I mean I love those movies, don't get me wrong, but it's about a guy just if they do so, if they go with the central america theme, do you think they're gonna throw incanto as another IP into the park? I could see it Encanto.
Speaker 4:Same. Thing.
Speaker 1:Whatever, I didn't take you know what? No, just no.
Speaker 4:I think I'd be more okay with that than Indiana Jones. I don't know. I've seen also a lot of people say Zootopia oh my gosh, wow, thanks.
Speaker 1:I would love to get Zootopia. I love that movie.
Speaker 4:I think it would make the most sense out of everything, because at least it's like.
Speaker 1:But that doesn't line up with the permits that Disney's recently filed.
Speaker 4:I know, I don't know. I'm not going to be happy, no matter what, I'm Dinosaur's biggest fan. I'm going to be mad, no matter what happens.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh, I happens, yeah, so oh, I don't care about test track. Are you excited for the revamp and re? No, because it's not the old version.
Speaker 1:I hope to remake because that's what they're rumoring right now. Is that we're gonna get? Can y'all at least get closer to the microphones if you're gonna talk? I hear that we are going to do an old test track so I literally said in the earlier episode, they're looking to the past of the ride, but keeping with the modern technology.
Speaker 2:So do you think that will be? Are you looking forward to that or do you want them to do something different?
Speaker 3:I want old Test Track. Old Test Track worked. However, with the new Test Track, whatever, it's still physically the same ride. I don't think we're going to get anything different in terms of feeling how the ride operates yeah, I mean it's the same.
Speaker 1:It's the same track now that it was when it was the original track.
Speaker 3:It's just everything's computer generated I do like the new system when it comes to designing my own cars like that's cool. It doesn't work because it doesn't line up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because disney is and the last time we rode test track the the whole ride. It was just jerking, the whole ride.
Speaker 3:She's getting old. She is getting old.
Speaker 1:How old is she? 90s 90s.
Speaker 2:Julie over there sitting there. I don't know how old Is she old?
Speaker 3:She's 98. Yeah, it's 99. That's something around there.
Speaker 2:Hey there, hey, siri, when did the test track open at walt disney world epcot? This podcast episode is so everywhere right now. We went from talking about our oh hey, do you have anything you'd like to add on mental health for theme park employees, because that's what we're talking about right now um 1982 park employees are very depressed.
Speaker 4:that's's why, yes, we are.
Speaker 2:They're doing great.
Speaker 3:You're not even a local theme park employee.
Speaker 2:I still feel depressed, but we did a really sweet. The opening year was 1999. 1999.
Speaker 3:We got the thing Very proud of you. Look at you, thank you.
Speaker 2:We did do a nice little shout out, though, to all the theme park employees and stating hey, spring break is here.
Speaker 3:Please be nice, please be kind say thank you, yes, um, I do have to say something on the mental health crisis that uh, a certain big uh theme park next door, uh does really well in terms of handling mental health and gives some free, free clinics, free hour-long sessions. I can't speak. Yeah, you're good. Yeah, to other employees.
Speaker 2:I think that's good. That probably helps quite a few of those team members. I wonder if Disney does anything like that or if SeaWorld does anything like that. I know when I worked for SeaWorld they didn't have any. They sort of had like a plan, but it wasn't implemented at that point yet I think sea world's just trying to keep their doors open what a staying they're doing a little bit.
Speaker 3:Sea world's doing a little bit better. They have their five-year plan. They're focusing on rides now and getting rid of all their animals, which is yeah, that is true, yeah yeah, they're not gonna piss off all of the animal activists.
Speaker 2:Pita pita.
Speaker 3:PETA, that's it. Thank you, peta. We love the Griffins, love the.
Speaker 1:PETA People against tasty animals.
Speaker 2:Julia, do you want to add anything on mental health and theme park employees?
Speaker 4:She already gave it Be here Once again, we're Okay if you're, I got this, I got this.
Speaker 2:I like my little radio announcer thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 2:Um, so you are brand new to moving to Orlando. Hypothetical Okay, no, no, no, like no, no, no. Not you personally, dodo I mean yes, yes, true. However, you are new to the theme park world. You just started. You're now in spring break session. What's your advice on how to get through it? What do you give to that first-time theme park employee or that first-time hospitality employee that is dealing with the Karens and the Chads of the world and their 16,000 family members and their matching t-shirts, that just really, really, really want to ride a ride after it's been closed or not there anymore? What do you do? How do you help them? What's's your advice?
Speaker 4:be nice to your employees, your fellow friends, because it makes it so much easier if you have friends at work or are nice to people at work. It's more enjoyable, even if the guests are mean and screaming at you all the time. I would know I had a lot of that this week, quite a lot um also never week Quite a lot. Also, never victimize the guests, because you know what? Maybe they're new to it.
Speaker 2:Maybe they don't know.
Speaker 4:They don't know what's going on Because you know that makes that worse for them. And then they translate it onto the next team member, Then the next team member, and if you're mean to them from the start. They're going to keep being mean to you.
Speaker 1:So I think one of the best pieces of advice I was ever told in the hospitality industry is to lead with empathy, because if you can empathize your guests, you can serve them better, and I think that that transpires directly to the guests. If guests can learn to enjoy theme parks with empathy, they get a whole lot farther that way.
Speaker 3:Zach, same question. No, yeah, I agree. Coming from upper management, it's Okay. What?
Speaker 4:I was waiting for that plug to be put in here.
Speaker 3:I was waiting for that plug to be added. Sorry, I'll leave my title out of this. Apparently, it upsets the non-salaried people. I'm not salaried, I'm not salaried, I'm not salaried, I'm not salaried just yet. Anyway, I'm still upper management. Anyway, I digress. Yeah, like Julia said. Julia said it best from like a front of the line employee, just empathize with your guests. I am hourly. I already said that they don't need to know. All they need to know is I'm upper management Trust.
Speaker 1:I already said that they don't need to know. All they need to know is I'm upper management. They all trust me.
Speaker 3:Our listeners know we're all poor trust us as I sit here on my yeah, struggling, struggling to make dinner anyway, yeah, trader Joe's your beer. Beer, it's good. Yeah, shout out. Uh, not kidding. Anyway, going back to the question at hand empathize Julia said it best. Empathize with the guest. At the end of the day, you signed up for guest service. If you don't like people, pleasing, don't work at a theme park. There's plenty of jobs out there. Isolation at home Go nuts.
Speaker 1:Isolation at home.
Speaker 3:It is not for everybody, no, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 2:I think if you decide that you don't want to do the theme park, so the guest hospitality industry, that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can test the waters, dip your foot in it, see how it goes, and if you get a Karen or a Chad, that's just too much, then you have to walk away from it, and there's nothing wrong with walking away.
Speaker 3:And you got to realize at the end of the day bring work home with you.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:I personally will sit in my break room and decompress and then, when I'm ready to go, I go home, mostly because I don't have that. You know, I don't have a car ride home. Yeah that's true, I walk to work.
Speaker 1:Hey, make sure that milk is good Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we spend a lot of money on groceries there. Dustin, calm down.
Speaker 1:Yeah this is true.
Speaker 2:I don't have that car ride through Orlando traffic to sit in for hours in my car listening to Orlando, unplugged but please listen to Orlando Unplugged in your car ride home don't forget to like and subscribe and leave a review on whatever platform you stream share with your friends, with your family and, of course, your favorite bartender, and subscribe and leave a review on whatever platform you stream, share with your friends, with your family and, of course, your favorite bartender.
Speaker 3:I'm laughing.
Speaker 4:I'm glad our producer has finally made an appearance on our podcast.
Speaker 3:Maybe one day I'll sit in for an entire show. Who knows, maybe they can schedule it not at like super late when some of us are, I don't know have to get up early in our defense.
Speaker 1:You usually walk in the door and then go to bed who doesn't the same anyway.
Speaker 3:Uh, what were we talking about? I?
Speaker 2:don't know, that's it. You got anything else?
Speaker 3:you want to add oh yeah, like, yeah, don't bring work home with you, it's, it is what it is. You're gonna have those days. Trust me, we've all everybody's entitled to those days. Decompress, do what you got to. I'm not saying turn to alcohol, but I am saying there is, there is bars, a few drinks here and there are never gonna hurt anybody if you're 21.
Speaker 2:We do not condone under 21 drinking on the episode. All right? Well, I think Anyway.
Speaker 1:I think we're going to go ahead and wrap up for tonight. However, I think that this right here has led directly. I think that this, the way that this episode wound out today, is exactly what we wanted to show our listeners.
Speaker 2:Yes, we did.
Speaker 1:Rely on those friends, rely on the people you know I've got my family back home in Tennessee. You have your family in Michigan. Our families are our families, but our chosen families are also our families. So make sure you find yourself that chosen family. They may not be the family. You may choose them and realize these aren't the right people, and that's okay. If you make friends with people that don't support you and make you laugh and have good times, you can find other people. It'll always happen, but I think that this is a great example on what we were trying to talk about tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I think it's great. I think that you need to surround yourself with positive people who can pull you out if you get into situations that are stuck and situations that you need that mental. Hey, hold my hand, pick me up out of this, but at the end of the day you've got to. There's numerous platforms nowadays that you can reach out and support and just know that, if you don't have friends out there, that you have friends with Dustin and I.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll always be there. We'll help you and pick you up. Yeah, you might even find the love of your life.
Speaker 1:So thanks again for joining us. Guys. Tune in next week. We've got two different theories, two different episodes that we may bring to you next week. We may go ahead and wrap up that book or we may dive back into theme parks, as universal has officially confirmed information on one of their new lands coming up in epic universe. So we want to bring that stuff to you guys again in the future.
Speaker 2:So, that being said, stay safe, stay educated and share a podcast with your friends, your family and, of course, your favorite bartender. Bye guys, bye.
