Riley and Aaron discuss Disney's announcement of investing $60 billion over 10 years into their parks, with $1.9 billion specifically going to Disneyland expansions.

They analyze what the investments could go towards, like potential new lands, rides, and expansions based on concepts from Disney parks overseas.

Aaron shares his experiences on new rides like Tron and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind during a recent trip to Walt Disney World.

Both discuss their favorite parts of recent trips to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, including thoughts on Journey of Water and other attractions.

They also look forward to the potential for the parks with this large investment and how Disney can stay ahead of the competition.

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In this episode, Aaron and Riley recap Aaron's recent trip to Disneyland with friends. Aaron shares his impressions of introducing first-time visitors to Disneyland and compares it to Walt Disney World. They also discuss some of the new areas like San Fransokyo in Disney California Adventure.

Next, they dive into a discussion of the Disney theatrical releases of 2023. Elemental emerges as Aaron's favorite while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 stands out as Riley's top pick. They debate the pros and cons of various films and discuss trends in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The episode concludes with Riley plugging his Geeky Stoics project and an invitation from Aaron to check out the return of Doctor Who on Disney+. Be sure to follow Mouse and Castle on social media and check out geekystoics.com for more great Disney and philosophy content!

Contact Info

-mouseandcastle@gmail.com

-@mouseandcastle

-https://mouseandcastle.simplecast.com/

[0:00:01] Aaron and Riley discuss the new live-action Little Mermaid remake starring Halle Bailey as Ariel.

[0:09:01] They talk about the new songs written for the film by Alan Menken, including Prince Eric's solo song "Wild Uncharted Waters" and King Triton's song "Impossible Child".

[0:14:11] They debate the merits of the new songs and whether they added anything meaningful to the story.

[0:18:32] They discuss the casting choices, with Riley liking Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula but Aaron feeling Javier Bardem as King Triton was a miss.

[0:22:56] They touch on the box office performance of the film and debate whether live-action remakes are suffering from oversaturation or if the pandemic has changed audience behavior.

[0:35:55] Overall, they agree the film had some creative high points but also some flaws, and Disney needs to find a balance between remakes and original stories going forward.