Disney Afternoon Is Trending, “Real” Star Wars Returns, & #EpcotFArts
In this episode of Dis and Hers, Lauren and Eric dig into why Disney nostalgia is hitting so hard right now—from a surprise surge in interest around the Disney Afternoon era, to Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge loosening its strict timeline, to a viral Evil Queen moment that sparked a bigger conversation about character interactions. And yes… they also tackle the internet’s favorite (and most childish) nickname for EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
- Why “Disney Afternoon” is suddenly trending—and what an ESRB listing has to do with it.
- How Disney nostalgia connects to disposable income, “Disney adults,” and family spending habits.
- Galaxy’s Edge expands beyond a single era, bringing classic Star Wars characters back into the land.
- The viral Evil Queen performer story—and the tension between individual fame and Disney IP protection.
- #EpcotFArts: where the nickname came from, how widely it’s used, and why it might be sticking.
Disney Afternoon Is Trending, “Real” Star Wars Returns, & #EpcotFArts Transcript
Lauren Hersey: Welcome to Disney and Hers, the show about what’s happening in the Disney community from his, hers, and your perspective.
Eric Hersey: And each week, we break down the stories Disney fans are reacting to online, why they matter, and what they tell us about Disney right now.
Lauren Hersey: Coming up on this week’s episode, we’re talking about why Disney nostalgia still hits so hard. From throwback games you haven’t thought of in years to highstake Star Wars conversations in the park, viral character moments, and even an Epcot festival nickname that absolutely should not work, but somehow does.
Eric Hersey: Let me just say, as a ‘9s kid, I know exactly what story we should start with. So, right off the get-go, Lauren, I think we should talk about this Disney afternoon collection that is getting a little rumbling online and people are talking about. What do we know about this?
Lauren Hersey: Okay, so as far as I can tell, the ESRB listing indicates that the Disney Afternoon Collection is heading to Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, nearly a decade after the compilation first launched on other platforms.
Eric Hersey: All right. You said an acronym in there that I’m not 100% sure of. I think I know what it is, but what is the ESRB?
Lauren Hersey: Uh, well, as far as I could tell, not being a gamer, but it stands for the entertainment software rating board.
Eric Hersey: All right. All right. So, it’s kind of like when movies have to submit their ratings uh ahead of time and they get like the PG&G. So, this is like the version and they I’m guessing this group probably everything is more um out in the public once you submit. Is that how we found out that this game is like coming to the Switch?
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. And like I think I saw this like as it was happening because it went from different uh industry trades that cover Nintendo to speculation because this was filed um just like filing a permit for you know a theme park expansion to this is like something that is definitely you know happening in in the works.
Eric Hersey: Right so you saw it on some type of fan community from a Disney perspective cuz I know you’re not paying attention to video games, right?
Lauren Hersey: No, I definitely am not paying attention to uh video games not like that. But what really caught my attention was, you know, I do keep my eye on things that are trending in the Disney community and I saw this big spike in um like the search term Disney afternoon and I’m like, “Oh, I love Disney Afternoon. Like, what’s going on?” So then, like, you know, any normal Disney fan would, I Googled it and that’s how I was kind of keeping tabs. I watched some videos on YouTube as to, you know, what was going on. And, you know, by the end of the day, the other day, the search volume was up nearly 5,000%.
Lauren Hersey: So that is a leading indicator that if this is something that people are interested in hearing, you know, more about, right?
Eric Hersey: And I think that so for those who are not familiar, so the if anybody that had an NES, a Nintendo system back in the day, they probably had one of these games or at least rented it or played. Um, but the games were Chip and Dale, Rescue Rangers, I think there was a two, there was Ducttales, Ducttales 2, Darkwing, Ducktail Spin, and that is the Disney Afternoon Collective. And I think back in 2017, they actually put out like a game, but it wasn’t on NES, I believe. So now like the fan community that’s more into gaming is getting real excited. But obviously our demographic is not necessarily all gamers. I think we’re all more Disney enthusiasts. So we think of Disney Afternoon. We don’t immediately think of these like Capcom games that were made for the NES back in the ’90s. We think of the actual Disney Afternoon Block, which for correct me if I’m wrong, when did that start? like 1990 about.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah, it looks like about that time frame like 9091ish.
Eric Hersey: Sure. And and and it was basically a cartoon block that ultimately everybody was watching and it had like what the gummy bears and and and uh Ducttales and Darkwing Duck and basically what all these games are. So, we’re looking at it and I think it’s just kind of interesting. So, why are we like who’s getting excited about it and why are we getting all excited about it? This is a from the 1990s, a show and a a a general block of programming.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah, but that’s the programming that we all grew up with. And now we’re the ones that are, you know, the Disney adults. I mean, you know, the AJ from the Disney flute blog, she just wrote a whole book about Disney adults. And I think Disney sees that as an audience to capitalize on. So, if you were watching this when you were a kid, you’re probably in your 40s now.
Eric Hersey: Yeah, that makes sense. So, roughly about like you’re probably watching these, it’s made for about 5 to 12, maybe 5 to 13 year olds. And so, you were born probably 1980 to 1986 range.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah.
Eric Hersey: Yeah. So, 40 to 47 years. So, that is a pretty So, we’re pretty much what? Millennials, late Gen Z. Um, and that’s probably the older millennials.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah.
Eric Hersey: the older millennials, right? Well, that’s not the only thing. So, this isn’t the only time you’ve ever heard of this, right? So, we pulled a story. I just found it online not too long ago, but it was from uh November, and Disneyland is doing some of their afterour hours events from the 70th. Are you familiar with what some of the events that they’re doing?
Lauren Hersey: No. No. What What are they doing for the 70th and the after hours?
Eric Hersey: Well, they have these afterhour events and for the most part they’re kind of like you just go to the park and you you can do your rides and and kind of like what Walt Disney World does, but I think it was even last year or the year before there was a big big um deal with meeting characters. And I and I mean Disney has announced this, but I saw it on this DTV News uh Facebook forum, but like Tuesday, March 3rd and Thursday, March 5th, they’re essentially confirmed that there are going to be Disney afternoon characters again like Darkwing Duck. Uh, and it’s just like almost a Disney afternoon block and of course people are excited about it. This that post alone had like 99 shares, a whole bunch of comments, all buddy everybody’s loving and but like why is Disney leaning so hard into this? Is is there something that we should know from a marketing advertising perspective?
Lauren Hersey: If you listen to I want that too. This is a trend that we’ve been tracking with Disney for at least the last year to 18 months. They are leaning heavy into nostalgia. like the things that give you the warm and fuzzies like remember Disney in its prime when it was so special for you because they are about creating happiness in those moments like when I was doing the Disney Institute like that is the foundation of what they teach even from a customer service perspective. So that makes a whole lot of sense. But from a if you’re looking at this through the lens of, you know, advertising and marketing, I I mean, if you’re looking at that 40 to 47 year old that would have been watching Disney Afternoon um in the early 90s, they’re part of the most influential, highly desired demographic, which is adults 25 to 54.
Lauren Hersey: to 54. And these people are they have more of a you know stable income. they’ve got some disposable income and we’re looking for highincome, you know, households, these households that make between $1 and $150,000. And Disney knows that a lot of the Disney adults are in that like more affluent audience that has that buying power or they’re willing to give those dollars to Disney. And I mean this group of people also is more likely to have children under the age of 12 themselves. So from a marketing advertising perspective the you know Disney afternoon feels like a nobrainer. You have the Target demo, you have their household income and they have children to boot. So why not, right?
Eric Hersey: And it is kind of like a double whammy, too. So if you’re going after necessarily gamers too uh from this perspective that have like a disposable income and that like to play games, you also can tab on some of that. So it’s interesting that the Disney afternoon collection and you’re seeing some of these characters crop up. But you mentioned Google Trends earlier, which is pretty fascinating that it’s it’s so high and and jumped up. But I I mean news, you know, will dictate some of that. So I went to Google Trends myself and said, “All right, over the last 5 years, has Disney afternoon ever trended?” Right? Um, surprisingly enough, we are not at the max. Like, Disney Afternoon trended pretty hardcore in April of 2022. So, I was perplexed. I’m like, “All right, what the heck’s going on here?”
Eric Hersey: Lauren, any idea what happened in April 2022? That would make Disney Afternoon the highest from a Google Trends perspective, people searching and talking about.
Lauren Hersey: Well, wasn’t that when the the movie came out with like Chip and Dale? like that was a pretty big deal for us, you know, Disney adults or elder millennials.
Eric Hersey: The you are exactly right. That is indeed when uh and it came out exclusively on Disney Plus, which I think was kind of crazy because it seemed like it would have been a theatrical movie.
Lauren Hersey: Wasn’t in the theater?
Eric Hersey: No, they put it out on Disney Plus. But yeah, in April was the highest trend and and it was because a movie came out. So, it was very interesting. If this trend continues and Disney is following this trend, do you think that there could be another movie at at play? Do you think we could find ourselves having a Disney afternoon, one of the other characters having a movie and whether it go to Disney Plus or not?
Lauren Hersey: I mean, yeah. Okay. So, let’s connecting dots here. I’m almost wondering like could there be a movie that is literally like the compilation like the Avengers of Disney afternoon characters like so I’m looking at this video game and I’m like okay so it’s a collection has Chipel Rescue Rangers has Ducktales Darkwing Duck um Tail Spin the whole nine and it’s like you’re going on an adventure with um Scrooge McDuck and you’re uh fighting crime as you know, Darkwing Duck or whatever. Like, could they be teeing up for a movie that would include all of the characters together?
Eric Hersey: Listen, I looked online. I didn’t see any type of Disney afternoon movie. I was checking to see if there was a Chip and Dale 2 coming out. Nobody’s mentioning anything, but the Chip and Dale format itself was is capable of doing something like that. It was uh it was human interaction. It was kind of like a Roger Rabbit spin on it. So, I could see that happening. But uh we want to kind of hear from you guys. Do you think that would you like to see a Disney afternoon movie? Did you like Chip and Dale? Would you like to see a Darkwing Duck or a Gummy Bears movie? So send us your thoughts or let us know in the comments if that is something that you’d be interested in. Uh you know, if you’re one of those uh Disney afternoon kids like us. But uh we’ll keep an eye on that and we’ll we’ll see how this story goes. But you’re right, Lauren. think they are actually targeting uh the 40 year olds that uh might have some money to spend on merchandise, park tickets, or movies for that matter.
Lauren Hersey: Right. I think so.
Eric Hersey: All right. Well, let’s move on to the next story here. And and for all you Star Wars nerds, uh you’ll get this one, but many Boffins died to bring us this information. Um but actually, not really. We just had to log on the internet because it’s what everybody is talking about right now. Uh, Lauren, have you heard about the new Galaxy’s Edge timeline expansion at Disneyland in 2026?
Lauren Hersey: Yes, I have. and you know just being a part of the Disney community. not because I am like a diehard uh Star Wars fan. Just, you know, giving you context to be fair. But, uh, what’s what they’re talking about is beginning April 29th of this year, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, um, is going to be expanding beyond the the timeline in this single era setting, which will allow guests to experience multiple time periods from across the Star Wars saga within uh, within Batu.
Lauren Hersey: So I’m I’m just assuming that that means that we’re going to see Darth Vader in Star Wars Land. Is that what they’re saying?
Eric Hersey: Yeah. So you know, you’ve seen the films or at least you saw the I believe you saw like the right after the originals. You have the Ray saga, right? That’s what you actually and that is what they decided to make the whole land off of. So you’ve had Ray and you’ve had Chebacca and and and you had, you know, Kylo Ren as the bad guy. But uh over the years, you know, people are like, “No, we kind of want Luke Skywalker and we’d like the original Stormtroopers and so forth.” So, what they’re doing now is breaking it up in half. So, where the Rise of the Resistance is, that is going to be the Ray saga. That’s still where you have Ray because that whole ride is about that uh Ray and and and all the characters there.
Eric Hersey: where over where Millennium Falcon is, you’re going to have uh Darth Vader and you’re going to have uh Luke Skywalker walking around now. And uh even Princess Leia, I believe, are going to show. So there in Disneyland, they have toys with toyed with that before because they’ve had Boba Fett and they’ve had um uh Mandalorian and the child uh or Grou at that time uh over there. But, uh, they’re breaking this up now, which is kind of controversial online because, uh, many people have over time said, “Hey, why didn’t we start with that?” Right.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. And I mean, does this tie also to the new um, ride film for the Millennium Falcon or are they like
Eric Hersey: Yeah. No, the the the ride film is going to be the Mandalorian uh, overlay because the movie is coming out.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. And I guess why did they not start with this? Like why are they just bringing in the classic characters that everybody already knows and loves? So, like if you came up with watching Star Wars at its finest, like the Luke and the Leia and the Han Solola and all of that, like why would they create a land like of new characters that weren’t like really established?
Eric Hersey: That’s that’s the million-dollar question, right? And that’s the one that’s everybody’s been asking because I think they went and bet big on Ry and and those characters, but it just never hit. And I don’t know necessarily. I mean, you have a lot of Star Wars fans, and Star Wars fans can be pretty finicky, and I’m one of those. We can complain about a lot of different things, and I think we were all jazzed about the uh episode 7 coming out, and we liked Ray and so forth, but then it had a lot of critique, and over time it just kind of fell out of fashion. And I think Disney gambled and said, “Hey, we’re going to go with this new franchise so we can continue to build upon it.” But they never quite did.
Eric Hersey: Um, and I actually found a video, we kind of stumbled upon it the other day. Um, YouTuber Hey Bricky released a video that was called that basically said, “These changes won’t fix Galaxy’s Edge.” And at the time it’s got 20,000 views, lots of comments, and people are reacting to it. But overall, his summary was that the Star Wars changes, they’re being celebrated by fans because I think we’re all excited to get Darth Vader and Luke and so forth, but it’s just small lowcost adjustment. It’s not going to fix the deeper uh creative problems. And ultimately, he said he they they went in and they didn’t go full in uh they they went with this new um Star Wars world with Ry and and characters, but they they never really fully um gave it its all. And it’s interesting because do you know what like the original Star Wars land was supposed to have?
Lauren Hersey: Oh yeah. It was supposed to like tell me if I’m wrong, but it was supposed to be like completely immersive. Like you were living your Star Wars like story and they were only going to talk in like the native language and there were going to be like roving um droids and like it sounded really really really cool. And at least in Disney World and like the JPEG era and all of that, wasn’t like a lot of that like stripped away to like create the even more immersive, you know, $500 a night experience over at uh what what was it called, Eric?
Eric Hersey: The Star The Star Cruiser, right?
Lauren Hersey: Yeah, the Star Cruiser. Yeah. Like is that what it was like supposed to be?
Eric Hersey: Right. Right. Well, that was all the speculations. is that when they first announced you’re going to have characters, uh, droids and creatures roaming the streets, you were going to have your own interactive gameplay. What you did on Smugglers Run was going to actually impact when you went to Ogas or or went to dock on door and it like never happened. And I think that was one of the major issues. So like if they bet on the new lands and creating your own characters and built off of that because I mean this Black Spire has never been in a movie film franchise or not.
Eric Hersey: They they went off that as opposed to going with the original even I think the original original plans was it was going to be like Tatooine and it was going to be places you knew and you were going to go to Mo Eisley’s and you were going to see these characters that you’ve already dealt with and they just moved away from that and I think they gambled and it did not necessarily pay off. I think we were all excited about having a new land and then we were excited about these new possibilities and then it just came out and it was like well I don’t see any droids walking around. So, I think they’re backpedaling, basically saying, “All right, we’re giving up on this new the new trilogy.”
Eric Hersey: And we’ve seen way more success with people that are tapping back, which kind of goes back to the people that have the money right now, the old older millennials or or or you know, our our demographic right now who still remember growing up with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and so forth. So, I was over on X and I was just checking to see what the fan community was basically saying about this Galaxy’s Edge because I’ve heard it both ways. And I found a a fresh baked Disney, which is a YouTuber and pretty prolific in this uh you know, fandom was basically posted this. Finally, Disney is bringing back the original trilogy characters of Galaxy’s Edge. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo. I can hardly believe it. It all starts April 29th. And of course, we had comments.
Lauren Hersey: Yes. Um, so we’ve got Mr. Reedman01. Uh, he said, “I mean, Disneyland never really had a problem with characters from different eras since we had Boba Fett and Mando with Grou. It was Disney World that had the problem of being stuck because of the hotel, which we mentioned earlier.” And then uh me at me myself and I says, “Yeah, Disney finally realizes who’s paying the freight to come to the park. Us old guys born in the early 70s.” Uh and then in parenthesis paying to bring our kids and grandkids who grew up with the real Star Wars.”
Eric Hersey: Yeah. So it kind of echoes a little bit what we said earlier. I mean the with the Disney world because they had the galactic star cruiser that was built in the ray era and they bring them over and they do all these tasks. You couldn’t in a sense mix around you know Darth Vader who was dead or this or that. Sorry, spoiler alert everyone. And then it’s just funny. Yes. I mean truth be told even the guys in the early ‘7s but people like myself we had the special editions. So we grew up on Luke Skywalker Darth Vader.
Eric Hersey: So once again, like if in the the long play might have been, you know, the Ray saga cuz I think that’s like my daughter’s, you know, era, so to speak, but they’re kind of paying for it right now because they just didn’t see that we don’t evangelize about Galaxy’s Edge as kind of we do for other things. Um, but did you see this other tweet, Lauren? Um, and it was it was interesting. It was from Rachel Suzanne Teen Wood. Uh, and it was kind of about merch. Did you see that one?
Lauren Hersey: Oh, I absolutely did. So, she’s like, “Finally, Disney’s waking up and uh making Galaxy’s Edge great again.” And then she goes on to say, “But let’s be real, they’re only doing this because the sequel trilogy didn’t give them enough merch options. Uh, bring on OG characters and scores.” So, sounds like uh she she gets it. She gets the company and where their head’s at, right?
Eric Hersey: So, I think this is very interesting. We’ll be really paying attention to this. I’ll be interested to see if it happens at Disney World, but for right now, Disneyland is getting uh all the characters and it’s broken up and we’ll see. I tell you right now, if I think people start, you know, really really laying in and like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker has lines and lines and lines and merch sales, uh would you be surprised if they happen over here on the East Coast?
Lauren Hersey: Heck no. Because a Star Cruiser is gone, so it is what it is. Bring on bring on the uh the OG names and bring on the merch.
Eric Hersey: Right. Right. All right. With that being said, um coming up next, we’re going to talk about a single viral moment involving the evil queen that has reignited a much bigger conversation about character interaction and Epcot’s Festival of the Arts and its new nickname and why Disney seems perfectly fine leading into it. But first, this.
Eric Hersey: and we’re back.
Lauren Hersey: So, we’re talking about a viral moment from this week that has to do with the evil queen. So, uh, Eric, did you see that, uh, recently a Disneyland cast member who helped turn a classic villain into modern fan favorite has officially stepped away from the role or, I guess, been asked to step away from the role.
Eric Hersey: Yeah. Yeah, and I think there were several viral moments over the tenure that has created this, but it looks like Sabrina von B, who actually portrayed the evil queen uh over in Disneyland, uh is no more, so to speak. She’s uh bitten the poison apple. Uh maybe she turned into the old hag and and disappeared.
Lauren Hersey: Jim would correct you and say the old crone.
Eric Hersey: That’s right. Right. Right. No, but uh what happened was essentially she went over and I saw this on Reddit and it’s all over the place, but she’s kind of talking about how that’s no longer happening and she’s no longer there. Um and I don’t necessarily know it was a choice. What have you been seeing online on kind of how this is um sparked debate?
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, she confirmed that she was let go by Disney um after eight years in uh this role. And I mean she was immensely popular online. Like people would go specifically to see if you know they could interact with her. Like she gave um she gave you know people the the sharable moments for Instagram or Tik Tok or or whatever. And I mean this got so big that you know it was even reposted by Good Morning America. So I’m I’m thinking that you know all the years that she has played some of these like infamous roles and she was you know funny and like without like cruelty and everything like that. Um I think that you know she’s gonna she’ll end up okay in this.
Lauren Hersey: But, you know, it wasn’t it wasn’t completely out of the blue because I mean, back late in 2025, like I guess there were rumors that were started that about like guest complaints about offensive remarks um that may have put like her portrayal under, you know, magnifying glass. And so obviously, you know, being let go from anything, you probably stings a little bit, but she did publicly, you know, express gratitude for that whole um experience. So, what do you make of all of this?
Eric Hersey: Well, I think there’s a fine line. I mean, I I I Yes, I guess there could be situations where she could have got to the point where somebody took something wrong. I have a hard time believing somebody who’s been portraying this for eight years would not know the guidelines. And it always it was always a matter of she even said it’s not about being she was never cruel. She used humor more so and you kind of always see that with the villain interactions. They’re not like cruel. They’re not going out. So yes, I guess there could have been some complaints.
Eric Hersey: Um but one some of aspects I thought this was really really interesting is that on the Disneyland Reddit forum it basically explained the whole process. very popular forum with 4,000 upvotes, 452 comments. That’s a lot. But I found it really interesting. The N64 Andy Sorus 92 said it something. Whenever a character per performer becomes bigger than the role they become known for on social media, that’s usually the nail in the coffin for their Disney career, their own safety. And basically for their own safety, many character performers have been stalked by deranged fans. Now, I wouldn’t say somebody trying to have an interaction with you in the park is necessarily stalk, but do you think it’s a matter of like they almost got too big and it’s like, “All right, we need to move this character because it’s becoming a problem where we’re getting giant lines when we don’t want the lines or this person is getting uh a lot of the, you know, notoriety and we need our character, we need the evil queen to be popular, not the character portraying it.” What What is your You’ve been in situations where you’ve had to see this before.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. I mean, I’m thinking with this that, you know, it’s you’ve got to be careful there. Just the way that you said Disney is protecting the IP. They want the evil queen to be popular no matter who is, you know, being a friend of the evil queen versus one standout person. And then, you know, Disney is very, very protective of what cast members can and can’t do um online as as far as how they’re portraying themselves. And so, I’m I’m with you a little bit in the fact that, you know, she’s been doing this for eight years, very very well known. Like I think that maybe this was her termination was because she was getting a little bit too big.
Lauren Hersey: But uh no wonder she had gratitude. Like you think like I think she’s going to be just fine. Like if you look at her um social following and I’m just looking at a post from um TMZ right now that had 7.8 million views. So, like somebody that character just got pretty, you know, global recognition, I think she’s going to be a-ok. Okay.
Eric Hersey: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and I mean, the thing is she’s not going to be able to portray the evil queen somewhere else, right? Like there, you know, she’s going to be like one of the the knockoff uh characters of anything. It’s one of those, you know, when you go to uh Spirit of Halloween and there’s a bag that’s, you know, it’s not Harry Potter’s bag. It’s the the the wizard with circle glasses kind of thing. So she she’ll be fine. And I don’t know what she do she she going to do for a living, but I think
Lauren Hersey: listen Broadway somebody give this girl a call. Like clearly she’s got some talent.
Eric Hersey: There you go. But it’s interesting for any anybody to keep an eye on. I guess if somebody gets a little too popular in their role there there might be a uh difficult conversation that they might have. Um, but you will uh pivoting over uh to where you can meet and greet and and have a good jolly time. Uh did you know that the Epcot International Festival of Arts is going on right now?
Lauren Hersey: Uh yeah, unless uh you’re living under a rock, I feel like we’re officially back in um festival season. And the as for when we’re recording this, we’re only a couple days in um to the Festival of Arts. Uh that runs from January 16th to February 23rd. This this is like the little engine that could I think when it comes to uh Epcot festivals. And it seems like it’s getting a little bit more popular every year. People are getting excited about it. But if you’re not familiar, it is Epcot celebration of visual art, music, u creative cuisine, they uh as they describe it. And um this is also when we’re getting a lot of the Broadway performances um as a part of the festival.
Eric Hersey: Yeah. And and we’ve been there for the festival and I’ve actually really really enjoyed it. I am, you know, a big fan of the arts and almost everything with it. and we painted the little mural that they give you and we’ve seen some of the shows um over in the uh American Adventure Pavilion. Uh yeah, it was it’s fantastic. But what was funny is that those are searching online andor talking about it through blogs or vlogs or so forth. They have a nice little nickname um that that it seems like Disney would not necessarily care for, but it doesn’t seem like they’re shutting it down either.
Eric Hersey: So, I’ll be the um in the most professional way. I I won’t force Lauren to break this news, but some people are saying, “Are you going to Epcot?” Epcot farts uh this year, which is the the acronym that is coming out of this. Lauren, have you When have you first heard people using this acronym?
Lauren Hersey: Oh my gosh. Well, I think I actually I can’t remember if it was you that I told. So, I was clearly excited. I do a merch podcast. I wanted to see what new merch was coming out for the um Festival of Arts and I was on Reddit and somebody like referred to it as farts and so then I asked you I’m like have you heard of this? And it’s kind of like you know when you’re thinking of a blue car then you like see five blue cars. I don’t know if like all of this just started cropping up because, you know, it’s now on our radar, but I saw a friend of mine at Target over the weekend and she’s also a big Disney fan and I was like, hey, do you have any trips planned? And she was like, oh yeah, we’re going to Farts um the first week of April. And I was like, what? Like, is this a thing that I just didn’t know about?
Eric Hersey: Well, I think it’s and that’s I went online. I’m like, all right, you know, I don’t have a problem. I’ll call it anything. But I went online to find out and I just did the simple Google who calls Festival of Arts farts and we got our AI overview and it did come up and it’s basically people especially fans and bloggers. So it looks like the first article that came up was the Disney tourist blog and and it was from a couple years and they’re kind of talking from a humorous standpoint the acronym FARTS which is Festival of the Arts. Uh, and it does sound like some people are doing, but others are not.
Eric Hersey: And uh, I did, so I was, as I was scrolling and I searched hashtag on Instagram, I did find WDW Prep School, which is a podcast and a blog that’s been around for quite some time. And, uh, she she refuses. She’s going to call it FOA, which the hashtag FOA uh, instead of hashtag farts. Uh, so Lauren, where do you fit on this? Do you think people are calling it FOA? Do you think they’re calling it farts or are they just doing the old classic using the full name?
Lauren Hersey: Well, I mean, I’ve never personally seen anybody call it um FOA. And then when I started digging, like there are certainly a lot of people that are calling it um farts. And personally, I am fine with um either one. I think that like my um my like young boy humor deep down like comes up. I like I think it’s personally hilarious. I’m not um offended, but I’m sure like if you would look up like Disney farts or like Epcot farts that you would get a lot of like obscure um no responses. I don’t know.
Eric Hersey: You know, I did that. I did as as they So, I did check the hashtag. I t I just went You can’t just type in farts or FOA. Those are you don’t know what those are. So, I did type in Epcot FOA versus Epcot farts on Instagram. And although there’s not a ton of data, there were fewer than 100 posts for Epcot FOA. And of course, the farts had 500 plus posts. So then I went to I went to see what other people were typing into Google. So you get, you know, the common recommended. So if you type in Disney farts, you definitely get farts Disney 2026, which that is essentially meaning people are typing in Festival of the Arts. They’re they’re acronym in it. Epcot farts.
Lauren Hersey: Wait, wait. You don’t think that like people are planning their trips around like 2026 Disney farts?
Eric Hersey: No, no, no. There is. But the funny thing is, if you do it on TikTok, you do get some really, really funny uh forums. I did find a very funny forum on Reddit that was, this is a little crude, but somebody asking, and there was a lot of people answering, are more people farting in Disney World this year than ever, which is just hysterical and fun to me, but uh but do you do get things like Disney farts 2025 menu showing up? So, there’s like people are typing it. We’re not the only ones. And it is probably going to stick as more and more influencers and bloggers and podcasters just start calling it that. And here’s the thing, Lauren. I swear, and I do not think I’m making this up, there was an official Disney uh social channel that used the acronym this week, and I could not find the screenshot that somebody shared.
Lauren Hersey: No, I think you’re right though because when I brought this up to the friend I saw at Target, she was like, “Yeah.” And I felt like I saw Disney post something this week where they’re referring to it as farts. So, I don’t think you’re making it up.
Eric Hersey: No. No. But I mean, it’s a it’s a shame that we have to end uh the show on such potty humor. But we do want to hear from you guys as well. Uh what are you calling it? Are you are you going the full route? Are you going farts? What hashtag are you using?
Lauren Hersey: People I want to know. Are you team Epcot Farts or team FOA?
Eric Hersey: Yeah, that’s what we need to know. So, you you definitely let us know. Uh but Lauren, I think that’s going to wrap things up today. I think we had some great conversation in terms of what’s going on in the community and and uh certainly want to hear from everybody else.
Lauren Hersey: Yep. I think that you’re right. I think that that uh that does it for this week’s episode of Dis and Hers.
Eric Hersey: And for more, you can hit us up at disenhers.com where you’ll find episodes, updates, and probably a few things we regret saying. Uh, kind of like probably the last five minutes of this episode.
Lauren Hersey: Yeah. And if Disney’s your vibe, hit subscribe. Uh, and remember, watch what you post online. You may end up in next week’s episode. And that does it for today. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time on Dis and Hers.
How to Listen
Support the Show
Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts
Support Jim Hill Media on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JimHillMedia
Credits
- Edited by Eric Hersey
- Produced by Eric Hersey – Strong Minded Agency
