By Mari Pizzini –
There are two very different things that seem to be popular with A LOT of people: podcasts and theme parks. However, theme park shutdowns came early in COVID-19’s surge, and podcast popularity was unaffected. I’m a HUGE fan of the Disney franchise, and I absolutely love going to the Disneyworld/land and Universal theme parks, but I understand how important it was for them to shut down. The hosts of The Saddest Podcast on Earth share these sentiments with me, and started a podcast to cope.
Ryan Bergara (of Buzzfeed Unsolved and Watcher fame) and his two friends, Amanda Pham and Byron Marin, have logged “an alarming 2000-plus visits to the park [Disneyland].” Bergara states this at the beginning of every episode and that number still blows my mind.
The premise of the show is that three adults talk about their consensus “top five” things from Disneyland in any given category. Each of the hosts creates their own personal lists where each item is given a certain amount of points. For example, what someone claims as their top item is given five points, their fourth is given four points, and so on. Bergara then takes all three lists, and the top five scores from those combined lists is what is revealed in the episode.
So, I’m not really all that familiar with the specifics of Disneyworld/land as I’ve only been there twice, but the great thing about this show is that all three hosts have the ability to describe details in-depth. On their episode “To 5 Disneyland Cast Member Costumes,” I was actually able to basically picture their descriptions because they were so in-depth.
I will say, some things lack descriptions however. Particularly sounds. It’s difficult to mimic noises accurately, and in the beginning episodes there were few (if any) examples. That did change though, improving the quality of their podcast.
Bergara, who also edits the show, began to weave in bits of audio in the episodes. On their most recent episode, “Top 5 Disneyland Shows,” much of the opening music, narration, or other forms of dialogue were inserted to give the listener some background to their choices. Like I said, GREAT IDEA. They really sold me on future episodes with this little change.
In addition, the banter between all three hosts is actually quite funny at times, and their sheer knowledge of all things Disneyland blows me away. Also, they have incredibly strong opinions about so many things (i.e. the chicken shack in the “Top 5 Disneyland Restaurants” episode) that I never would have thought could elicit strong emotional responses.
To be honest, this has been one of my guilty pleasures during quarantine. I also am writing this when there are only 10 episodes produced, so anyone who wants to catch up on listening easily can. Their instagram is also overly nostalgic and adds to the “viewing” of the show. Overall, I’m giving this podcast an 8 out of 10 Mickey ears.
Leave a Reply