Hello!

And welcome to very amusing, your one-stop shop for the story, secrets, and shenanigans of a popcorn-fueled theme park journalist. I'm Carly Waisel, and the voice is getting there. It's getting there. It's probably going to take two months all said and done, which frankly is unacceptable, but I only have myself to blame. I only have myself to blame. I didn't cut back on caffeine. I did not go on vocal rest. There was a point when we were in Colorado

on vacation over the holiday and I was just with my family and I was like, Pearl, come here, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl, Pearl. Are you listening? Are you listening? Look at me so I know you're listening. Like, I and then I was like, oh, of course my voice is still gone because all I'm doing is speaking out loud all day, not just speaking out loud for my job professionally, but speaking out loud

personally as my other job is a parent.

So yeah, the voice is, it's coming back a little. I'm not, I can't get all the way up. But I think we're getting there. We're getting there. We're really getting somewhere. And I feel more and more like myself. I'm still hoarse. I don't know. Dude, I don't know what's happening.

I don't want to go on medication for it.

I don't want to take a steroid.

I don't know if you've ever taken a steroid for medicine, but oh, my gosh, you'll never feel more alive. I don't want to touch how great it feels. Like, I got it once when, okay, this is not even what we were going to talk about at the start of the show, but here we go. I got it once because I went to, I went on vacation to China in December 2019.

I'll let you do that math. I'll let you do that math in your head. And I came home and was the sickest I've ever been. Wonder why. Wonder why. And then I went to, you know, I went to like the clinic and everywhere. And they were like, we don't know what's wrong with you. And I was so sick for a full week and then it went away. And then it didn't entirely go away. So then I was given a steroid by my E&T. And I got the steroid and like, wow, I've never felt more awake and alive. It was like when you have, if you've ever had like three coffees in the day and all the lights are a little brighter and everything feels just a little like, oh, like everything feels amazing. And then it went away and I was like, oh, I've, I've, I've like tasted the sun. Like, I can't go back. I can't know what that's like. So I'm scared to go on a story again because I was just so awake and just like refreshed. And I don't want to, I don't want to tempt fade with it again. So we're just going to barrel through

and we're going to see if my voice comes back. But I have enough, I have enough vocal energy in me this week and always to yap about Disneyland Handcrafted, which I am beyond thrilled that I'm able to do an episode about. Huge thanks to Disney for letting me be a part of this, for letting me go to the premiere,

which we're going to talk about, for letting me speak to the Leslie IWorks, who you will

hear from later on in this episode.

Truly, Leslie worked so hard.

I just from knowing her work and from knowing her process, like, I knew that she put a lot into

these. But witnessing Disneyland handcrafted with a bunch of people in a theater who had never

seen it before, myself also, it was like, how much time did this take? I can't even wrap my

head around the level of effort and execution and dedication that she brings to everything

she does. And I'm so grateful that this exists and will continue to exist for years because

truthfully, I'm really getting into the podcast and it's just the intro, but I'm just going to get it

off my chest. Truthfully, like, we are 70 years out from when Disneyland was first made. And it

already feels so disconnected from the fact

that this is something people built with their hands, with their hands.

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