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In this wondrous place, the fun and imagination of Disney come together with the innovations of the real world.

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WDW Radio you what if Disney built a place you could actually live in?

Well, they have before, but never quite like this.

Catino, the first story living by Disney community sits in the greater Palm Springs area of California and I was among the first to explore this completely new kind of Disney experience.

I admittedly didn't know what to expect, but what Catino revealed about story living truly surprised me.

This week we'll look at what makes this place so much more than homes in a desert.

How it honors Walt's revolutionary ideas and dream for a living, breathing community, how it reimagines that vision for today, and why it might mark the next great chapter in the evolution of Disney's own story.

Hello my friend and welcome to WW Radio, your guide to Disney parks and experiences from around the world.

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But for now, sit back, relax and enjoy this week's episode of the WW radio show.

This week we're looking at something new from Disney that you can't ride, you can't watch and you can't book, but you can actually live it.

Because I had the rare opportunity and privilege to visit Catino, the first story living by Disney community in Rancho Mirage, California, not far from where Walt used to escape with his family to Smoke Tree Ranch for some quiet sun and maybe even some big ideas.

And Catino is really Disney's next chapter in place making not just building theme parks or resorts, but building a place that people can actually call home because it's part private club, part community, part storytelling experiment.

I think with a 24 acre turquoise lagoon right in the middle of the desert, it is a place that mid century modern meets a little bit of Disney imagineering for building a place that you can actually go and stay and live in.

And today I'm joined by someone who was with me at catino.

He is Mr. Daps from MrDapps.com and we're going to talk about what we saw, what we felt, maybe how it ties back to Walt and his ideas for Epcot and what this might mean for the future of how Delt Tisney tells stories that we live in.

Mr. Daps, welcome back.

Thank you so much for having me.

You might remember Mr. Dapst from such shows as Wait.

No, I don't even remember what show.

Wait.

We did a.

We've done shows together.

We talked about, we talked about foods at Disneyland, I believe after the opening of Tiana's.

That's it.

That's it.

Because Disneyland is really where you've called home for as long as you've been doing this, which is a very, very long time.

21 years.

Wow.

Yeah, that's.

Yeah, that's.

So I don't want to say that we're the old timers in the room.

We're the only ones in the room, but we are the old timers in the room.

You know, there is that point at media events where you do become the old timer.

And I think we passed that point several years ago.

So let's.

Before we dive in and there's a lot really, I think, to cover about Catino.

I want to give our friend who's sitting at this table virtually with us listening, sort of a clear picture of Coutinho, like where it is, I think, what it is and what it feels like.

Right.

So geographically it's located in Rancho Mirage, California in Coachella Valley, about 30 minutes from Palm Springs.

And this is the first of what we know of to be two and probably more community under the story Living by Disney brand, which was announced back in 2022, which is a completely new business model for Disney where they partner with developers to create these master planned and Disney curated residential communities.

This one is even bigger than I thought it was.

This is going to be about 1900 plus homes over about 618 acres.

We'll talk about the different types of homes.

Also be a dedicated 55 and over neighborhood.

There's also going to be retail and public spaces and access to the bay when it opens in just a couple years.

So let's go back, Mr. Daps and tell me what was your first initial thought when you heard about this announcement of what Coutino was.

So when they first announced it, it's actually funny because my brain immediately went to oh, this is take two on like celebration or something of that type.

And then ironically enough, I had scheduled already a visit to Rancho Mirage to visit a friend at another complex that turns out to be right across the street.

So when we were driving in on the bus the other day, we had the, I think it was a Marriott complex on the right.

And then story Living is on the left.

And that Marriott complex I was at literally a week or two after the announcement and it was amazing because I think changed my perspective on the whole thing.

Because when I was thinking about this was it three years ago one, my first look at that space was like, oh, that doesn't look very big.

Obviously it looks very different now.

The other thing that I was very aware of is I'm like, oh, this is right in the middle, middle of Rancho Mirage.

And I was like, Disney kind of always has that in the Disney bubble.

We are controlling and protecting and adding extra magic to your space.

And I was wondering how would that actually play out?

Because it felt like as you were standing on the corner where we turned into the place, I was like, this feels like we're right in the middle of everything.

And those fears were blown out of the water as well, or maybe into the Cateno Bay, I don't know.

And so the initial thought process was one, is there enough room to really make this a Disney experience that's completely unique and set apart from everything else in the area?

Two, it made sense because I'm like, well, they have other different living complexes like that in the area.

So it's not a huge jump to be like, oh, we could put another one in here.

And then the connection for Disney with Walt Disney and going down there years ago, I liked.

But I also was curious how that would play out since he always seemed like he was in a more open area with space and mountains.

And I was like, will that really be what it feels like once they've opened it?

And thankfully, I can say, yes, it does.

Like, the mountains were gorgeous from just about everywhere we were at there.

Yeah, I had never been to this part of California before, so all this was very, very new to me.

And when I first got out there, I was like, wow, everything's very brown.

Like, they really like brown.

But I came to have learned that this was, you know, Palm Springs was sort of where the Hollywood elite would go to vacation because the studios made them not be more than two hours away from the studios themselves.

So this ended up being this sort of oasis in the middle of the desert.

I had no idea what to expect when I.

When I got there.

And, you know, the more I learned, the more it's like, oh, I understand.

This is also a big golf community, it's a big residential community, It's a big vacation community.

Paint the picture for me of, I think you sort of had these ideas of what Coutina was going to look like from concept art and what we had heard.

What was your sort of reaction when you first arrived?

Now, to be clear, there's.

It's very much in its very, very early stages.

Right.

Of all the 1900 homes, I think there's what, 30, 40?

That's like a couple dozen, it seemed like.

Yeah.

So tell me about your first reaction when you saw Coutina from the inside versus seeing it from the street.

Like, did it feel Disney or did it feel like the, you know, and I mean this in a good way, the rest of Palm Springs in terms of this mid century luxury first and then a little bit of Disney second.

So my, my first thought, I'm going to say both, to be completely honest, is there's definitely a Disney feel as you're going into Coutinho because you pass this little park area where you can.

I think it was a dog park maybe, but they have these very beautifully curated desert parks and they've got the walkway and they've got the little art fixtures and benches that feel very Disney.

Stylistically different because we don't really have a desert park at this point.

But it definitely had that, like, oh, yeah, this is a step up from what we would see in Orange county in a park or even just Walking around in Rancho Mirage, then you get into the houses and the houses.

I almost felt like we were stepping into a movie set, because it definitely was like, there's definite intention here in planning.

And even the.

I think it was the first house we were at which had houses around it.

And noticing the sight lines to the.

I guess it would have been, I think, south mountains.

Like, there were already houses around that part, but you could see through, and you still had.

From the backyard, they lined up the houses just right that if you were standing in the backyard by the pool, you could see the mountains.

And I was like, okay, so that's a Disney thing.

Like, they've thought through, where is the second floor of this house?

Not gonna block all of the mountains for the house next to it.

And they've done that down the block, which I think is rather impressive.

And just the style of the houses and the thought process of, like, one of the house builders we were talking to, they really wanted to hide the garage.

And so the garage was back around behind the house, not on the main street, just to create that different feel as you were coming in and kind of elevate the experience, which is very.

A Disney thing.

And then as you go further back into Cotina, because you go into the houses and the parks first, and then kind of in the center of the whole thing is Cotino Bay.

That was where I felt like they went from slightly Disney to like, all right, this is where we're really going all in on it.

Because where else do you find this beautiful bay, lake, pool, whatever you want to call it, in the middle of the desert?

That looks so refreshing.

And it looks kind of like what I think of the cartoons when they used to be out in the desert and they'd have the mirage in the distance.

Like, that was kind of.

My first thought was like, oh, this could easily be one of those mirages.

And I hate to go Bugs Bunny on you right now, but I can totally imagine them discharging it, diving, and then landing in the sand.

But as several of our party can.

Can attest, the water was real.

They put their fingers in and.

But there really is this oasis in the middle of the desert that's surrounded by mountains, and it totally feels like it could have come out of a Disney movie.

And as you're looking around and you.

You did the same thing.

I'm sure we kind of just look around and take it all in.

Yes.

You have all of these houses in lots that will be filled at some point as people purchase and create what they want for their houses.

But then beyond that, instead of seeing the city, you saw trees and you saw the mountains.

And yes, there's an occasional light and an occasional building.

But it didn't feel like we were right in the middle of Rancho Mirage.

Like, I was really impressed with that as I was looking around.

And overall, I walked away going like, this really did feel like it was Disney.

Maybe not a Disney park or a Disney cruise or a Disney hotel, but you can tell the DNA has been interwoven into all of the experiences, especially the experiences.

And.

And as we were going through the weekend and we kept looking at these things, three words kept popping up in what people said.

And then also just in my brain is they really focused on creation, inspiration and collaboration.

And that was not just in the building of this living or community, but it continues on as people move in, whether it's with the programming, with the dining.

Like, we heard it repeatedly that there is a process, creation and inspiring people and then collaborating not just with the people that work there, but also the people that live there.

Yeah.

And to your point, you know, you said it felt like it came out of a Disney movie, and it's not because you see castles and characters.

Quite the opposite.

There is a lack of those, which is very intentional.

So the fact that you and I, I think a lot of us who were there got that same feeling.

I think there was this.

This wonderful.

It felt.

It was a combination of feeling like a neighborhood, but also feeling like a private Disney resort all at the same time, but without it being sort of overtly Disney.

And it made me think, like, over and over again, it made me think about connecting this on many levels, not just geographically, but even emotionally to Walt's own story.

Right.

He had a home at Smoke Tree Ranch in the Palm Springs area.

This was his escape.

This is where he went to think and sold his house there to help finance Disneyland.

He bought it back later on and built a bigger home.

And even, like the name, Coutinho is a linguistic nod to Smoke Tree.

It's Latin for the smoke tree, which is contiguous, which is a plant that's.

That's very common.

So I love that it is like many things that are there, it is a subtle, quiet hat tip to Walt and his connection to the region.

And, you know, and I'm sure this is going to come up over and over again while you don't.

There is no Mickey Mouse everywhere.

There is not.

It is not overtly Disney or Disney Parks, but there are these subtle connections.

Sometimes little wonderful Easter Eggs that tie to Disney in the park.

So, for example, like Long Table park is directly connected to Walt and Lillian's tradition of holding these long table dinners in the desert.

These big outdoor communal tables where people would gather around to eat and talk.

And I, I'm sure, plan a little bit together.

And I think that's absolutely what it is, what's happening there.

And even when you go into, for example, and we'll talk more about the Artisan Club, but like, when you walk into that lobby there, you'll see that there are these rotating exhibits that.

That are curated from the Walt Disney archives that showcase Walt and his presence in the desert.

There was pictures of Walt in local events.

He's got his old straw hat that I'm sure we've all seen pictures of him.

And I think the goal very clearly is to connect the residents and the members emotionally to Walt's personal history, not just.

And not specifically not Disney's ip.

Oh, absolutely.

And I think on top of that is connect not just with Walt, but also connect with each other while you're connecting with Walt.

Because you saw everywhere there was great intention put to creating community spaces where people could either intentionally or unintentionally bump into each other and basically just build that community.

Like, it's very interesting to see Disney intentionally working to build a community environment from so many different ways that only Disney can do.

You and I spend a bulk of our time building community and in getting to invest in people.

And I think it's one of the most rewarding parts of what we do.

And we can do that.

You know, we can do that in person.

We can do it virtually.

But we're not going to go out and build houses, and we're not going to go build out a park in a giant swimming pool.

And it was fascinating as we walked around to notice how even, like, chairs on the beach were set up and all of these places that fire pits all over the place where you could just go.

And maybe it's hanging out with your friends that you intended to hang out with.

Or maybe as we did several times, we'd end up with different people in our group just because there was an open chair and people naturally felt like, hey, let's have a seat and be involved in the community.

And that's reinforced with the pictures you see of Walt being a part of the community.

And we even heard how, I think it was at the opening ceremony where we heard about how they really worked with Rancho Mirage to make sure that story living in Cotino was A part of the Rancho Mirage community, as opposed to solely being an exclusive community that is kind of put off on its own and could potentially alienate the local community.

And clearly they made every effort to do the exact opposite.

Yeah, I think, you know, we sort of.

We heard a lot from a number of different people about how not just Walt spent time there, but he drew inspiration from this area.

And I feel like Coutinho is very much a continuation of that and is very respectful of Walt's legacy in that.

It's.

It's.

It's very subtle.

Right.

If you sort of know where to look, it's clearly there.

But I think this idea of connect, celebrate and create very much are in alignment with Walt's value and his emphasis on community and belonging.

Not just when you go into his parks, but, you know, this idea of everyday experiences.

And I think that, you know, not that we can sort of speak for Walt, but I think, you know, if you were to go there, he might be like, this is it.

This is exactly.

This is sort of the vision that I had for what building a community where people could together come together and celebrate and create was.

Was.

Was what his sort of vision originally was.

And the environment around there is conducive to it as well, because there was multiple times where you'd be sitting somewhere or standing somewhere.

And I couldn't help but think, oh, this is why Walt loved this area so much.

And you'd look at the sunset on the mountains, or some people got up really early and saw the sun rise on the mountains.

And they really do look like they're straight out of a painting or something.

And as I'm speaking about this, I'm almost thinking of.

There's almost a Grand Canyon feel to it.

Like the colors, and especially during the sun rising and setting, they were so vibrant and beautiful.

And I really wished I'd brought my night nice camera instead of my quick one, because I was just like, it's so gorgeous, the mountains and something about the air and the palm trees.

And I was like, I could really understand why Walt Disney would want to come down here.

One, to disconnect because it is really quiet.

But two, just to soak in nature and be inspired by it.

Yeah.

And I had a chance to have a conversation with Claire Bilby, who is the senior vice president of Disney's Signature Experiences.

And this is the connection to Walt is something that.

That I kept bringing up a lot because I thought it was so important.

I want to play a little bit of my conversation with Claire Here, just for some context.

So this is my very first look.

It's all of our first look at Cotino, the very first story living by Disney experience and community.

And coming out here to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, I immediately thought about Walt.

I thought about the connection to Walt.

He spent so much time out here.

And Smoke Tree Ranch.

How does the connection to Walt and his connection to this place, how does this sort of inspire what you've built here at Coutinho?

Well, you're absolutely right.

Walt loved it.

This was his getaway.

He would talk about it as his happy place.

And really, he got a lot of creative inspiration coming out here.

And he would bring his animators, he would bring imagineers out here.

So when we look at what the Coachella Valley represents, from even the Walt days to now, creativity is such an important part of the culture here.

So what we really did is when we started designing Cotino, we really took the bias of this is a creative oasis.

And so when we work with our builders, you know, that's very much creative in the sense it's an indoor outdoor living.

When we dealt here with the Artisan Club, which is what we're opening right now for our members, it's really, how do we bring that creative oasis here to life for our members?

And Walt was all about, obviously, storytelling and innovation and community.

I sort of imagine Coutinho as an extension of that same kind of legacy and vision that he had for even, you know, Epcot when it was through the city.

Really, story living came out of life is as we just kept watching these branded lifestyle communities becoming more and more popular.

And to your point, how Walt was so, you know, wanted that belonging, wanted that sense of community.

And we thought, you know, with.

With our Disney cast members and Disney service, what a great way to create a community around that aspect.

It's different than a theme park, though, because obvious, you want to be fully immersed to Disney there.

Here you live here 365 days a year.

So you've got to really.

They don't want to live in a theme park.

So how do you give them those Disney touches, which certainly the cast members is number one, but also just little programming nods.

How we can bring folks to hear.

Imagine how we could bring Disney chefs here to teach you your favorite Disney recipes, or how they talk about healthy living, or we bring in authors or imagineers that can come and talk about the latest things that are going on or latest books.

So it's how we blend those things and really talk as you get to Know your members more and what their interests are, cater to those as well.

Right.

Because I immediately get the sense this is not about just selling you a plot of land, selling you own.

This connect, create and celebrate very much feels that it's in alignment with Walt's vision and his legacy.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And really, when we were looking at these branded communities, they're very much.

This is something that's very much the Gen X and the Baby Boomers.

Of course, you know, the Baby Boomers are the last group that grew up with Walt.

And then you've got the Gen X, which I call it kind of the new Disney, when we relaunched everything.

And so they love what that product is, but they also want, as I said to.

They want to connect with people that they can get to know.

So a lot of them are really looking for those communities that they can make new friendships.

Kids are probably out of the house.

You know, they want a cool place for the grandkids to come visit.

And those are things that are all natural in my mind, that we can provide.

And it seems that Coutinho is again, evoking Walt, creating a sense of community and belonging.

Right, right.

Talk to me about this idea of fostering a sense of community.

More importantly, this idea of living our own story.

Yes.

So what we want to do, as I said, when you talk to a lot of folks, when they talk about wanting to come here, they all have different interests.

Some want, as I said, some it's all about health and wellness, some about enrichment.

Some of it is about, I want to learn how to paint, I want to do different things.

So what we are trying to do is how do we talk to the members and come up with what programs the majority of them want to do.

And then that's going to give them a commonality that first, okay, I'm going to go learn how to paint, or I'm going to go learn how to do yoga classes or whatever and how we create those things.

And we also are going to be a facilitator of sorts.

They want to do book clubs or they want to do different things, how we help do that.

So our goal is really to bring them in and help that facilitate those members, those belongings, those friendship, and really let them define what their next chapter.

This is not about us defining that for them.

It's about them doing it and us enabling it.

Right.

Cause when you attach the Disney name to something like this, there are multiple, sometimes unrealistic, but multiple levels of expectation of what that's supposed to be.

And as we were coming in this morning and I saw the story living by Disney community.

What do you want a resident to feel or what do you want somebody to feel?

When somebody says I live in a Disney community, I live in the Catena community, what do you want that to evoke in terms of a resident?

And as they sort of describe what this experience is like for them, I.

Want them to say that they living in a community that they really belong.

That's my headline to them is this is where I belong.

I have made great friends, I get to pursue my passions of this.

This is not about Mickey Mouse running around, it's really about what I want and meeting people that I have, you know, same and different interests and that we become good friends.

You know, we're going to be probably 50, 50 here, meaning full time and you know, second homes.

And so it's how do we blend those and do that?

And a lot of it, I think the second homes will ultimately become permanent homes as they transition as well.

So I think it's really that aspect of it is that they belong and it's very welcoming here.

That's what I want the most and that they feel like they know their neighbors.

And I get a sense that.

And who knows, time will obviously tell that Catino and story living by Disney as a brand is going to attract, I'm raising my hand Disney fans who just want to continue their story and be surrounded by like minded people who understand what the Disney brand is going to bring and then other folks who just want an elevated type of community experience who also understand what having Disney's name means.

How do you sort of reconcile and align the two of those and satisfy the folks who maybe don't want Mickey Mouse running around, but want to sort of feel.

And obviously we're in a room again where there's concept art everywhere.

How do you sort of align and reconcile those two?

Great question.

And it is something that continues to evolve because what I would say again, when you talk about story loom at Disney, what is important is yeah, we have the Walt connection, but we have the Coachella connection.

So if somebody's moving here, they also like the Coachella Valley.

And while we do have some artwork that are the from the Disney archives, you also will see a lot that you wouldn't know it was Disney if you didn't actually know all the history.

So we want to be.

We always talk about welcoming to everyone and we will say that we believe that Disney brand to people does mean very friendly cast, great service, safety and Those are unanimous whether you're a huge fan or not.

And that's what people are looking for.

And who knows, some people that may not be a Disney fan becomes one, meeting all of our other Disney fans as they get to know each other from that perspective.

So that's where I would say we really, we will ebb and flow with them.

And that's why we will always have programming that's not just, you know, Disney.

It's going to be also just as I said, like fitness.

If you just want to go have a great workout, you can do that.

Yeah, this is not a body built on great workouts.

But you know, from a 30,000 Foot View story, living by Disney also seems like a.

And I think this is an important milestone moment that history will look back on today as being because this is really sort of a brand new business model for Disney sort of going into this type of environment.

How do you see this continuing?

And I know it's really day one, but how do you see the not just short but long term vision of what storytelling by Disney is going to continue to evolve into?

Well, I mean our hope is that it's going to evolve to several communities.

Obviously right now we have this one here and we've announced the one in Raleigh.

And what's so great about Disney is we learn so much with each new project that we apply those learnings to the next one.

And I do think that these are going to be wildly popular.

As somebody said to me earlier, where are you going to be in 10 years?

This will be full.

We have 1900, over 1900 residents.

We've got 4000 in Raleigh and who knows where we'll go next.

And I took a look at the plot map of sort of what the next few phases are, not just in terms of the evolution of building of homes, but there's going to be condos, there's going to be a hotel.

How does, how does that fit into the evolution of what this particular storytelling community is going to be?

Yeah, this one is interesting because it is really all surrounding the Cotino Bay.

So in the case of we do have three phases of homes and again part of that also is ebbing and flowing with what the demand is, what homes people want.

And yes, there are future plans for condos and we'll see what, you know, what is the demand in the residential market.

That's what's so great.

Why you don't build everything out at once is that you can adapt to what you learn on.

From that perspective, the folks that own the land here, they do have a plot to go get a resort hotel.

So that is going to be a four star more.

And so when they get that, that'll be great.

And that'll be another activation on the lagoon.

And then obviously there's additional space in addition to the 45,000 square feet that Disney has that they could do some other retail dining.

And it's very much a great co collaboration so that it really just enhances everybody's experience almost.

When I learned that, I started to envision this a little bit differently as yes, to a certain degree it is a residential community, but it's also going to really, I think into a destination and is going to put this area on the map for people who might not have thought of coming here otherwise or when they saw there was a residential community, didn't think that they could enjoy everything that Catena has to offer.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

And I think that's what also excites Rancho Mirage, the city so much.

So, yeah.

This is my first time here in this part of California and I see why people flock.

I see why Walt came here and it was so important to him.

So many.

Well, and I have to say it's remiss of me that I haven't mentioned, I mean, just the mountains that surround us.

And I have to say, as beautiful as they are now in the wintertime when you got snow top covered tops, it's spectacular.

It's just spectacular.

So it really is.

We are in paradise.

So yeah.

And again, I keep coming back to Walt because I really do think this is the realization of some of his early dreams.

If you were to walk with Walt through Coutinho today, what moment or do you or detail, do you think you'd be like this?

This is exactly what, what I had in mind.

Oh, well, it's very hard to ever predict what Walt would want so special.

I think.

What do you think would make him smile the most?

I think he would smile about how we have created such a connected environment here and about how we have created this artisan club for, you know, gatherings.

Because that was always very important to him at Smoke Tree Ranch is how he did that.

We did a nod, by the way, over at the Lawn Table park, which is our 55 plus.

Walt would always have a long table that he would have all the residents come out and do pancake breakfast or whatever.

And we literally mimicked that over there because we knew what Walt was always wanting to do everywhere was the connectivity.

And I think that's what he would be the most proud of is that we're keeping that legacy of his alive.

I imagine that his idea of creating a true community, and I think it's not just about the incredible view, but it really is about the vision.

It is, it is.

And it's a getting to be close with other people.

Absolutely.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you very much.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

It's great talking to you.

I appreciate it.

And so again, I think Walt dreamt of creating places where storytelling and innovation and community and creativity very much come together.

And I think this is part of a relatively long line of Disney attempting to embrace and maybe help shape how people, how and where people live.

Right.

Because EPCOT was originally conceived, as we know as by Walt, as this experimental prototype community of tomorrow, not a theme park, but where people would come together to live in this very optimistically designed, very constantly evolving city of the future.

Celebrations opened in.

Sorry, celebration opened in the 90s near Walt Disney World, where Disney sort of acted like that city planner, Right.

And developer.

They wanted this to be a place with walkable streets and this very sort of new urbanism designs and the schools and the hospital and going back to the idea of having a true physical town square.

Right.

And I think Walt Disney may have stepped back from, you know, the day to day governance.

I think they learned a lot from there about one, how complex it is to run a town.

But what worked and what didn't work, and I know when this was announced and a lot of conversations are happening now is how does this compare and contrast to Golden Oak.

Right.

Which exists in Walt Disney World proper with homes that are in even a much higher price point of, you know, I think they're now in the 5 to 20 million dollars range.

They must have really, really good podcasts.

Yeah, no problem.

Like Catino, it is gated, it is exclusive, but it's really more about the proximity to being to Walt Disney World.

I think Catino is not necessarily the next step.

I think it's a bit of a pivot.

Right.

Because instead of Disney trying to run a town or just sell prestige high end homes and real estate near the parks, Catino is really about curating lifestyle.

And that is not just in the homes that they built, but in the programming and the story and I think the community identity that they are trying to build here.

Absolutely.

And it was interesting to me, like you see in the press releases and the posts online that yes, there's has a wellness component of this and when we actually went through the whole week or the two days.

I keep wanting to call it a weekend, but who knows?

But it really was interesting at how much of an investment that Disney and I think they partnered with Optum to really create an environment where it's not just the physical that they're addressing.

It's also they have help with, yes, wellness from a working out standpoint and there's a bunch of different things you can do.

And then they have the, like, they had financial wellness they'll help with and mental wellness.

Like, it was very interesting, all of the different investments they're making to help with all of that.

And I don't know that I expected that from, you know, what you read and what you see.

And that is not something that necessarily, I feel like has been an approach before, other than maybe some of the things on the cruise line that you're not going to see in Golden Oak or Celebration.

And it's an interesting.

I think you're right.

It's a pivot of where they're focusing and it's really about creating.

I almost want to just say health in a holistic way of giving you a place that's where you can live in a healthy environment, where you can work on your own health, whatever that looks like.

And then they're going to support you as you do that while also collaborating with you so that you can do it in a better way for what's good for you as the resident at Cotino.

And that was really, I don't know, that was kind of something that I didn't expect to walk out of that experience thinking about, because it's not something that's really on the forefront when you go to a Disney hotel.

And yes, they have things for you when you go on a cruise, but I don't know that we've seen Disney lean that far into this before.

As opposed to coming up with the perfect utopian society instead of coming up with that grand Epcot plan.

I feel like instead they're recognizing that these are things that we do really well and these are things that Optum does really well.

And then you could take it even further.

These are things that the home builders do really well and, and even bringing in the consultants with the food to collaborate with.

And rather than trying to do all of it well, Disney owns the niche it's good at, and then complemented that with the things that maybe it doesn't have the same expertise for.

And because of that, they're not creating an entire city, they are creating a community, which is what the focus of everything is about.

Again, I keep sort of going back to Walt, who I felt was the master of recognizing his and the company's own strengths and surrounding yourself by the people who are the very best at what they do.

I think that's what Catino is continuing.

I think Disney is setting the creative vision and the standards, which are obviously very high, and the experience layer, while the partnered builders handle the homes, the restaurant people handle the food.

Eventually, when the.

Not just again, it's going to expand beyond the private residential areas, but the lakeside town center with the shopping and the dining and the public areas, those will sort of be with very carefully curated partners that are going to come in and stick to that vision and stick to those standards and the layers of experiences.

So I think when people are sort of talking about this in the context of Epcot, the city and Celebration and Golden Oak, I think it's a very different, even sort of, like, emotional pitch from what they are, other than the fact that, like Golden Oaks, yes, it is luxury and it is exclusivity, but I think coutino, I think the pivot, which is important for people to understand, is that it's more about belonging and participation than it is the luxury and exclusivity.

Oh, absolutely.

And as you're saying that, it's interesting that how it builds on recent things that Disney has done through the last decade and a half or two decades.

Like I think of the thing we had in Frontierland years ago at Disneyland that was all about interactive gamesmanship.

And that eventually leads to something like the Galactic starcruiser, which is all about interaction and community and coming together on a common goal for whatever that is.

And then you move even further forward and you maybe pivot away from both of those.

But I think there's lessons learned across from the company of different things they do that, whether it's a cruise director building a week of community on a ship, or people going on a mission with Chewbacca, that you recognize these are the principles that work.

And when you have principles, then you can apply them somewhere else.

I think what they've done is they've reached across Disney experiences and probably beyond and said, these are principles we know that work in other parts of our company to build a community, to build engagement, to build belonging.

And we can apply them in this really targeted space.

And we think that we can create an environment where people are going to really embrace that love living here and live a fulfilling life, because they also talk about purpose a lot in Cotino that kind of connects with missions and all of these other things.

And I really think it's interesting to see.

I would love to know that interweb of different lessons learned at different places throughout the company that they're using for whether it's dancing to an encanto song or learning how to cook.

Like, it would be very fascinating to hear those kind of conversations and, and learn those lessons that they've learned that they're bringing to this community and into.

This focus and look, you know, first impressions are everything, right?

You only get that one chance to make a first impression.

And when it comes to the design and the storytelling in the physical spaces, you know, it's like we eat with our eyes first, right?

It's one of the reasons why I love Japanese food.

Like, it's, it's the.

The visual presentation is so important because it sort of sets the expectation of what is to come.

And I think, you know, I think there was.

It's very interesting in terms of where Catino was located in this sort of Palm Springs Valley and the aesthetic that they need to match and how the overall sort of visual language of Catino very much leans into that mid century modern design that feels very native and authentic to Palm Springs.

You've got those warm woods, a lot of browns, the glass walls, the.

The incredible indoor outdoor transitions and these very clean long horizontal lines.

And you talked about the mountain views.

It's.

It reminds me of the quote about when Bob Iger talked about Shanghai.

Like it's authentically Disney and distinctly Palm Springs.

Like it very much.

It does not feel like it's out of place.

Or you would look down the street and be like, oh, that's where Disney's building.

Because you can see, like there are no bright, you know, Disney like pastels.

There is no castle sort of towering over somewhere as this visual.

Weenie Imagineering, which worked with the builders and Disney and the different other partners, very intentionally blended this regional aesthetic into Disney storytelling.

But it's also very subtle as well.

Like you're not walking in and seeing big character murals and things like that.

Like, it is a very mature, grown up, lived in storytelling.

Did you find it interesting?

At least for me, there was more Disney storytelling than I was expecting.

I think mainly in the subtle, like hidden Mickeys and some of the direct connections that we're used to, to as Disney fans.

And especially the second day when we were walking around the Artisan Club where I was like, wow, this is actually more than I was expecting in a regard because I feel like they kind of.

I don't want to say they undersold it, but they kind of undersold it of like, this is very much a separate thing.

It's not going to be the theme parks.

It's not going to be Disney in your face.

And it's not.

But I think I took that to mean like, oh yeah, no hidden Mickey's, no nods to certain movies or whatever.

And I was very pleasantly surprised that as you walk around you are going to, let's say you're not a Disney fan.

Like, you bring your cousin from Iowa or something over, they might walk around Coutinho and be like, this is just a lovely place to live.

And oh yeah, there's the Incredibles house.

That's really cool.

Whereas I could bring my buddy Johnny from Disneyland and he'd be like, oh my gosh, look at that, look at that, look at that.

You know, like.

And he's just going to, you know, geek out about everything.

And I loved how they kind of rode that fence, I guess, very effectively of if you are really into Disney, you're probably going to love it.

If you're not so into Disney, you're still very much going to love it because it's got that environment and that, that quality level that Disney brings to things.

Excuse me.

And I was really pleasantly surprised in that regard and I shouldn't have been because that's what Disney always does.

But it was fascinating to see how they brought that.

And I really just expected to see Lucille Ball or Frank Sinatra walk down the street.

Yeah.

And I didn't know what to expect.

And to be perfectly transparent, I did not look at a lot of the concept art.

I didn't read a lot of the materials ahead of time because they didn't want to go with any preconceived ideas or expectations.

I wanted to have the place speak to me on its own without me coming in with any sort of preconceptions or potentially misconceptions.

And to your point, you're not going to walk in like, there is no Mickey Mouse on the front entrance.

There's no.

I mean, you talk about hidden Mickeys, they are few and far between.

Incredible subtlety is, is, is the aesthetic.

There are nods and we'll talk about some of those Easter eggs because that's really what they are.

But then you also have the Parr House, Right.

So you also have this physical inhabitable version of the Pars mid century modern home from the Incredibles 2, which I have to tell you, you see it from the outside, you're like Oh, I get the reference.

That's pretty cool.

But when you walk in, there was a lot of things that sort of hit me all at once.

One, it felt to me like this house was built in the 60s and it was just sort of modernized just enough so that it fits in.

I also felt, and I've only felt this a few other times before that when I walked in, I got this huge, stupid smile on my face because I felt like I walked into the Incredibles to.

The last time I felt that was when I walked into Radiator Springs and I was like, I am standing in the middle of this Cars movie.

Now, the, The Par house, just to be clear, is a.

It's.

It's for members only.

There is an additional membership level that we'll talk about for private events, but there are bedrooms.

There are, I think there's six bedrooms.

Like you sleep like 16 people there.

There's a, a kitchen that comes right out of the movie, but also there's a secondary kitchen, so if you want to have catered gatherings there as well.

But if you go and watch that scene from the Incredibles 2, they picked it up and they put it in.

It's like they 3D printed the movie because there are those huge indoor outdoor rockwork elements and the glass walls and this incredible, breathtaking atrium space that you walk into.

And as you look around, there is newly crafted, unique, mid century modern furniture and finishes like that laminate cabinetry.

My mother would loved it.

And you know, the fabrics that are very bold.

So it's like a lot of other things.

It carries the incredible aesthetic without turning it into like a theme park sort of created.

Stunt's the wrong word.

But you're not creating.

It wasn't cartoony, is that what you're saying?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah, it really.

I think I would have loved if Disney had had a camera on when we all walked in, because I really think all of us kind of just literally got this huge, you know, eyes popping, you know, big smiles.

And one of the things that's popping into my head too is that second level hallway thing that's kind of a floating hallway.

And that view was absolutely stunning.

And then you think of the TV that was very retro but brand new, and it.

I completely agree with you that, that it's kind of like walking into Cars Land for the first time, where you're like, oh, they literally just picked it up out of the movie and dropped it here and somehow took it from an animated medium to.

This is physically where they lived.

And that was probably one of my favorite spaces that we've visited in a media event in recent years, just because it was so unexpected.

And I think we had expectations of, I don't know, trying to continue to weave that thread of not being too much Disney, but also infusing the story in.

And in this one case, they're like, pixar, you're right here.

Like, this is it.

And I could imagine I was having a blast walking around and looking at the different rooms, and you're like, oh, well, Edna sleeps here, obviously.

And, you know, like.

And you could imagine the story continuing in this building, and there really wasn't anything identifiable that was like, oh, this is flat out the Incredibles.

Like, there were lots of nods, and the calendar on the wall in the kitchen was adorable, but really, it could have been any family from that era that could be thrown in there.

And that's one of the things that keeps popping back into my brain as we've been gone now a week, and just how it immersed you into the story.

And you could.

I love anything that makes.

When, after the story's over, your imagination continue.

Use the story on.

And you're like, well, this could have happened.

And this is what happened.

You know, like, that's.

That's good storytelling on Disney and Pixar's part.

And this definitely got me into, like, oh, I need to go rewatch Incredibles 2.

And there was nothing actually.

Like, we didn't see any characters.

We didn't see a single.

I mean, it might be the only Disney opening for something in as long as I can remember where we didn't see Mickey Mouse.

We didn't see, like, the Incredibles would have made sense.

They're probably more than Mickey Mouse.

But, like, we didn't see a single Disney character when we were there.

Right.

Nobody came out to cut the ribbon or.

Right.

There was no surprise and delight moment.

Yeah.

And we didn't need it because I think the surprise and delight moment was getting to walk into that house and just getting to spend some time in there with the people that made it come to life.

And really just that view.

Also, like, looking through those windows at the mountains in the bay.

Gorgeous.

It's like Galaxy's Edge.

Follow me around.

It's like Galaxy's Edge, where the word Star wars don't exist.

Right.

It's unlike the.

Because.

Because you might be listening and going, oh, well, it's probably like the contemporary where those rooms were inspired by the Incredibles.

It's not.

It's very different because it's not a place that was inspired by the movie.

Right to your point, every room is inspired by a different member of the Parr family or character like Edna.

But it's through the palette, it's through the textures.

Not literal character faces on the wall.

Like, it's very subtle, it's very complementary to that mid century architecture.

And I think it's almost.

It's almost a caricature of it.

And like you said, it's something that we get to step into as if this place was a physical manifestation of something we saw in the movie.

Again, I know we had a chance to talk to some of the imagineers about their inspiration about some of the Easter eggs.

I wanted to just quickly play a clip of that here.

This is the Parr House, so welcome.

The Parr House is a multipurpose event space for members of the Artisan Club.

So members have the opportunity to rent this for special events, birthday parties, weddings, baby showers, as well as overnight stays.

So they actually spend the night here, which is what makes it so unique.

It's not just like a multipurpose room in a club, it's actually a home that allows guests to stay the night.

So there are actually six bedrooms in this house.

And what's interesting about the bedrooms is we wanted to be to let them be inspired by the characters in the film.

So we used like color nods to characters.

We didn't want any overt sort of expression there.

So we have like nods and colors and in custom wallpapers and in lighting fixtures just to give a little nod to the character.

So it's really exciting stuff that's upstairs because we never really saw a lot of their bedrooms in the film Incredibles 2.

But there's also a ton of Easter eggs, like sprinkled throughout the house.

So, like, hopefully you can find some and let us know your favorite.

Actually, please.

What's one that I can't miss?

We keep talking about the cereal boxes in the kitchen, but there's also a Mr.

Incredible Sing's framed vinyl record that is pretty exciting too.

How much did you collaborate with or take input from the folks over at Pixar?

Because one thing about Disney fans, we are meticulous about attention to detail.

So this has to be right, quote unquote, because it has to be able to sort of match up to what our visions are of the movie.

Yeah, so we worked really closely with Pixar on this, and I don't know if you know, but this is kind of a full circle moment.

Pixar actually sent a team of their artists out here for the 2018 film Incredibles 2.

And they were inspired by the Palm Springs region in the mid century modern architecture when coming up with a design of the home.

So when we were trying to brainstorm of like, what are we going to do with the clubhouse here and how could we make this multipurpose venue come to life, it's like, what's something only Disney can do?

It's make the home from the Incredibles too.

So it was like, oh, we already had a team come out and spend so much time bringing this to life.

Let's see if we can, like, leverage some of that.

So we met with the team that helped put it together and then, you know, we learned all these things.

Like the home itself is this mid century modern marvel.

It's kind of like a caricature of a mid century modern home.

So it's like in animation, a lot of things are exaggerated, like beyond belief.

And, you know, when the team was approaching the design of the home, the Pixar team, it was like, well, we don't have to make it buildable, we just have to make it believable.

And then when we started working on it, we were like, okay, now we have to make it buildable and believable.

So it was, it was really, really fun to try to like, figure out how we were going to bring this to life and have it perform a very unique function for the club.

And it also is really, it's a really cool project because Pixar was able to give us so many assets.

So like the cereal boxes we were just talking about in the kitchen, it's like literally the exact same assets they used in the movie that we were able to, like, reproduce.

So, yeah, because you have to sort of make it authentically mid century modern and a little bit of the Pixar look and feel and squash and stretch and sort of the, you know, suspending our disbelief a little bit, while also making it modern and upscale and fitting into the theming and the storytelling of Coutinho as a whole.

Yeah, you nailed it.

Which has to be a challenge, I imagine, right?

And I think, you know, one of the things that I like to talk about is the color and the finishes throughout the home.

Because, you know, in the Incredibles 2 universe, everything's really contrasted and saturated.

It's concentrated color and there is texture there, but it's, you know, it's a computer generated film, you know, and it's beautiful for what it is, but it's bringing it to life is Definitely a challenge.

I think that we were able, and we were successful and able to bring it to life with the use of texture.

Like, the texture mix is pretty big here, and it's also iconically mid century, you know, the texture and the feel of fabrics.

But as well as, like, the color mix, we wanted all the colors to sort of be complementary to each other and not so contrasted as they are in the film.

You know, violets, purples are really intense, and the reds and the yellows are very intense.

So I think that we achieved a subtle splash of color throughout, and it gives nods to the film, but it's generally, it's a relaxing environment and it's a great canvas for any event or just a chill and watch a movie, you know, night.

I've only just seen.

As soon as I walked in, I've only just seen a very small amount of the first floor, but my instant thought was, okay, somebody inherited, like, their grandmother's house.

It was visited and had to sort of modernize it for, you know, 2025.

But also paying tribute to, you know, a film that.

That you love so much.

So doesn't it.

I mean, to me, I don't know, I feel like this home has been here.

Yeah, exactly.

That's what I mean.

Yeah.

And I think that's, you know, a testament of.

Of great work, great teamwork, and great collaboration.

It just feels natural.

Like, the rocks would have been something that they would have thought was really cool back in the 60s.

I mean, you sort of almost had the sunken living room to a certain degree, too.

Exactly.

Those are the sort of decisions, you know, we have to make when bringing it to life.

And they had that sunken sofa in the movie.

And it's like that for us, wasn't working.

You know, like, that's not what we wanted to do with this space.

So it's like, how do we pay a nod to that and be inspired by it without having to, like, actually, like, replicate it exactly as it was shown in the film?

So I think, you know, we had to, like, make these.

Everything you have to go through and decide, like, oh, what's a must have versus, like, what's a nice to have?

Yeah.

And I think it's like.

I think we got the blend right, but you can tell us what you think.

The furniture looks like it's been here for 64, like, a long, long time.

All the furniture in here is custom, so it's very excited to have that.

And it was done remote, like in Southern California, so locally, which I think is really really nice.

Like, even I just noticed the bar stools look like it's something that could fit Mr.

Incredible.

But it also looks like something that I would have seen, you know, in a relative's house.

And I love sort of the mustardy taupe Y cabinets, which is sort of in stark contrast with the turquoise appliances again, which look like they've been here.

We were really lucky to be able to source some of that vintage looking appliances.

They are modern too, so they're, you know, they're not going to work like mid century appliances.

They're going to do a really great job.

But I'm happy that you pointed out the yellow in there.

It was just as we did with every color in here.

I feel like we really.

I mean, I probably had like 10 chips of yellow laminate to just like go off of the color tones that were provided from Pixar.

And we found the perfect one.

And it was.

And it just.

I feel like we nailed it.

I walked in and I got the same feeling I got.

And this is meant to be the highest compliment when I walked into Cars Land for the very first time, and I was like, I'm stepping into the movie.

I walked in here and I feel like I stepped into the Incredibles too, which now I have to watch tonight.

So I thought I was there.

I was in the living room.

Thank you.

Yeah.

This is beautiful work.

It is beautiful work.

Thank you.

Have you been to any of the other rooms yet?

Not yet.

You were my first stop.

What's the last question?

What is the one?

Because it's all about story.

It's all.

We come.

We come back to Disney because it's the way it makes us feel.

What do you want guests to feel when they step into this space?

Ooh.

So in the movie, I don't know how you remember, but it's when they pull in, like, the home itself looks like a one story ranch when they first get there and then dash and the family kind of throw the doors open and run in and then they descend into this flight of stairs and it's like this big expanse of glass and this view out.

And that's something I think we were trying to pull off here.

And so it's the same thing when you get on, like when you're entering from that side of the house.

It's actually very.

It's like, it's.

It looks very understated.

You know, it's.

Yeah, it's not supposed to be like a real punchy facade.

And then you open up the doors and then we actually have this, like, you know, three steps.

You go down and then it all of a sudden opens up.

So it's playing with this compression and release that the film uses.

And I think that's what I want people to feel like when they get here.

They're not really sure what to expect.

Throw those doors open, and then the steps kind of invite them in, and then they get to really see the scale of this room and.

Cause I think the scale is really effective.

It reminds me of walking into Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, and you don't see the castle, but you turn the corner and you get that reveal moment.

That last step is that big reveal moment.

Yeah, that's cool.

I do completely agree with you, I think.

But we've been giving tours of Parr House for a little with different groups and different members locally and with Disney as well.

And what's exciting is I've.

I just love opening the door.

And we literally.

I've heard so many people just gasp when they see it, and it's just.

Every gasp is like a pat on the back.

Well, I thank you for the first wow moment.

I'm going to continue to tour around.

Yeah, make sure you go upstairs.

Let's get some cool views up there.

There's a great shot from that.

And so this is part of this.

Is this the Artisan Club, which, you know, I think differs.

It's funny because we've been trying to sort of draw parallels.

So to.

How does Coutinho compare and contrast with different things?

The Artisan Club is almost like.

It's almost like a country club membership that you have.

And this club is meant to sort of be like this creative oasis.

And I think this is where Disney starts to lean into it, wanting to create a sense of community, not just build homes.

Right.

They want to lean into architecture and literature and movement and things like that.

And so, for example, there's two different dining venues here.

One of them is Architects Forks.

Architects Fork.

Say it three times fast, which really.

Which I loved.

First of all, the views of the bay were incredible.

The food was amazing.

But like, this really honors again, in such a subtle way the, like, design and imagineering and the planning and the process like that.

There's a massive chandelier, which almost like it's almost.

It almost doesn't even look like a chandelier.

Almost look like a cloud, which they explained is shaped like a topographic model of the local San Argento Mountains with all the little hiking trails.

And if you look at the walls, there's WDI concept art and blueprints for classic attractions.

Like that is the subtlety that we were talking about.

That's not in your face Disney.

But if you are a Disney fan, you know very clearly what those things are.

Even those chandeliers made out of the pencils that are.

That architects and imagineers use.

Yeah.

And that was one of my favorite spaces also that we got to experience, mainly because you walk in and it has a very polished feel.

Like to me, it was actually one of the most Palm Springs area feeling venues we went into.

I mean, all of them were in some regards, but this one stood out to me just because it had the view.

It had the, like the tables and the chairs and everything just felt right for the story that was being told.

And then you could spend, I don't know how much time you could spend hours probably going through and looking at the wallpaper, at the, the pencils, at the.

That chandelier was incredible.

Or just sitting at the bar and enjoying watching the world go by and seeing that beautiful view of the bay.

And this was one of the things that also kept popping into my head as we were going around is this is gorgeous now, wait till it gets to a year from now, five years from now.

Because this is one of those things where homes and communities are meant to be lived in.

And I think this is one of those things Walt Disney talks about when Disneyland started.

It's only going to get better as time goes on because the trees will keep growing and all of that.

And I had that quote popping into my head as we were looking at this because I'm like, this is brand new.

They just are opening it basically that day.

And imagine what it's going to look like when there's trees in that park or whatever it is on the far side of the bay.

And you've got the little village town, the stores and the shops there finished.

And you could see the level of beauty already in the restaurant and then the views that it sees.

And then you could also see where it was going to go.

And then that was complemented by the food and the experience we got with the service, which this was all run by Disney cast members.

And the service was exemplary.

The food was delicious.

I'm still thinking about the bacon wrapped date.

I wanted more because I knew this was probably the last time I was ever going to be able to have it.

I'm like, unless we find somebody that wants to take us there, that lives there, someday, maybe we'll get lucky.

But there were a couple of bites That I was just like, oh, I could take a whole plate of these and I'm going to sleep the rest of the day, but they're delicious.

And.

And then the environment was just gorgeous, like, inside the room also, like, you could have taken that and put it somewhere else, and it still would have been a very lovely restaurant.

And the fact that it was where it was at, I thought was fantastic.

I also liked that.

I. I'm sure it was intentional.

You could see looking out the side, you could see the bay.

You could see the lawn for the Parr House.

The.

But if you really wanted to see the Parr House, you had to go outside, either on the deck or look around the corner.

And I think that was intentional.

And that was just one of those other little Disney details that I thought was brilliant.

Another thing I really liked, and you might have to go with me here, is if actually you did, if you made the trek to the restroom, which was right by the front door, they had some really good concept art.

And one of the favorite was the House of the Future, right before you chose if you were going to go into male or female.

And.

And I loved that detail.

And in fact, I came back from the restroom and two cast members walked up to me and they're like, did you notice the concept art?

And I was like, yeah, I love the House of the Future one in particular.

And they're like, oh, good, a lot of people aren't seeing it.

And I was like, I don't know, maybe, whatever.

But no, I really enjoyed that.

And I would love to go back and especially knowing that they're going to change the.

The menu seasonally.

And that's also one of those places where they're going to interact with the people that are visiting and living there, visiting the restaurant, but living in the community.

And that will be a part of the.

The process of.

Of building this.

This artisan club.

And I think that's really cool as well.

Well, I think the fact that you have that conversation with cast members speaks volumes, because it is not about it being so overtly Disney, because it is this reproduction of what looks like a piece of concept art.

Right.

It's very muted tones.

Like, even.

Not that I was taking pictures in the men's room, but fine, like, you know, original concept art, I was the only one in there, I promise.

But of the contemporary, and as you go through some of the other areas, you might not.

Unless you're staring at the wallpaper, you don't see that it's blueprints for it's.

A Small World or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

I think that carries over into one of my.

It really may be one of my favorite spaces.

I need to go back again to really find out which is plot twist and plot twist.

Again, all about story, right?

So even this is architect's fork.

It's all about design and creation.

Plot twist is about storytelling.

This is the beach bar and patio lounge.

And it really doesn't just celebrate storytelling, but more importantly the literature that became Disney films.

There are pages and typographical elements referencing Alice in Wonderland and 20,000 Leagues and Treasure island and the living desert.

Again, subtle.

The very, very subtle little details.

These are not sort of movie posters, but what looks like pages that are hanging out over the bar.

These are little winks for fans instead of overt branding.

And I think, I think that's part of this whole thing, right?

It's those moments that when you first step into it, like when you step foot into the par house, you feel like you're.

You're being on set, right?

Are you.

Or you're staying in a Pixar moving or you're also walking into a very high end luxury Palm Springs home.

And I think that's.

I think that's the point.

I think the storytelling is very elegant, it's very subtle, it's very grown up.

And I think it's like this is what Disney does well.

This is like something that Imagine Ring does well in.

In also dropping in some of these storytelling elements, these tributes and these little Easter eggs which are little gifts for the Disney fans that are residents or are visitors there or are part of the community that come in and get to find them.

And don't you love.

I don't know if this.

I'm sure it was intentional.

Everything's intentional.

Plot twist is all about those origin stories.

You know, that's what was on the wall.

And then they showed like where they kind of recreated like imagineers circling certain words and then doodling on the stories as well on the walls.

And then you had the stories also hanging from the ceiling.

But I also found it interesting that it's a cement building and it's a cement bar.

And it's a very sturdy structure.

In fact, it felt to me more sturdy in some ways than anything else we did.

And I wondered partially, I was like, this could just be me thinking too much too is like it was built out of things that foundations are built out of.

And it used the part of the story that's foundational to creating a movie.

And I Loved that kind of connection, whether it was intentional or not, of like, oh, this feels like a foundational point in the story.

And maybe the foundation in the experience is going and meeting with people and enjoying time on the beach, because that's where community is starting to be built.

And we even had.

We had a mixology class there.

And that was one of those moments where we came together as a community of media members and really got to experience some things that we probably wouldn't have experienced and taste some things that we probably wouldn't have tasted and may not taste again, who knows?

It seemed a little strong for us, but.

But, like, it was interesting, the foundational nature.

I felt like that was kind of carried through all of this and it wasn't anything they outright said.

It was just kind of one of those observations I made as we were touring it.

And then later when we came back for the mixology class and I could spend lots of time down there, like, that was one of the.

There's no shortage of beautiful views at Catino, but that was one where you just felt.

I'm sure it was still 90 something degrees there, but it felt cooler.

Maybe because of the mist, maybe because we're right by the water.

But there was something very relaxing and less formal, obviously, than architect's fork.

Not that architect's fork was formal, but it did have a nicer feel to it.

And then having the beach right there with its.

Did you hear that the sand was specifically blended and made for like.

Of course it was.

That's right.

That's all of us.

Yeah, all of us are now reaching down to like, oh, you're right, it isn't hot and it's comfortable and you don't get it all in your shoes when you walk on it.

Like, it was great.

But you have that right there.

You have all of the seats that are just outside on the sand next to the water.

And then you have the bocce ball court right there too.

And I was like, this is such a great hangout place.

That's foundational from a story perspective, foundational from a community perspective.

And I wish we could go back there, like every weekend, because I just think it would be, you know, I'd be curious who in our group would be Norm from Cheers.

But, you know, it'd be fun.

Well, it's funny that you say that because it was around this moment where the dots started to connect for me.

And I realized because.

And we'll talk about this, there's not.

As we were walking through, there wasn't the.

Oh, okay.

And the gym is over here.

Not at all.

Coutinho is not just about beautiful architecture, but it really is about Disney creating sort of like a lifestyle platform because they talk about wellness and lifestyle, wellness and lifestyle and daily life very, very intentionally.

It is not very much an afterthought because they look at wellness not just as you going to the gym or doing laps or, you know, running on a trail.

It's about the physical and emotional and social and creative and this well being of mind and body and spirit and doing something that is multi generational.

It's inclusive on purpose so that grandparents and parents and kids can all participate in that same activity.

Whether it is the encanto dance class, the Moana breath work, or the Incredibles super circuit strength training, or the Villains power sculpt classes.

The idea is that everybody can feel like it was made for them.

It's not just sort of this generic, quote unquote workout.

I shudder when I hear that word.

But it's wrapping wellness like everything else in story.

So it's fun and it's emotional and it's repeatable and it's something that you want to do and not just do by yourself, but connect with other members of the community as well.

Yeah, it was interesting as we were hearing and seeing all of that and experiencing it, some of us.

And one of the things that popped into my head was this really is something that you could legitimately say is fun for the whole family.

Like there's nothing in it that you're like, oh, no.

Well, you're not going to be able to do this because you're too young or you're not going to be able to do this because you're too old.

And I'm thinking of the encanto dance workout thing they showed us and some people actually did I give them credit, not us.

To be clear, there is no video of us.

I was wearing a bow tie.

What do you expect?

But they had workout clothes.

They came prepared.

But no, as we're going through that, they even demonstrated with the team that was leading the dance.

They had people of all ages doing it and having a blast doing it.

And I could immediately imagine as a kid, my grandfather, who was in his 80s or 90s, I was like, oh yeah, Would he be as smooth with it?

Perhaps not.

But I could totally imagine him doing it because nothing was unattainable and everything was very, very easy to connect with and to have fun doing together whatever level you felt comfortable doing it.

And I think that's a really smart thing.

I would have loved to have seen, honestly, like one of their art classes, like, whatever that looks like, because I do think that would be fascinating also having seen what they did with some of their other demonstrations.

And I could just imagine it being one of those things, like maybe, maybe it's grandma and grandpa that live here and you get to bring your kids and grandkids in and they get to do a thing at the Artisan Club for, I don't know, painting or something.

And they're painting the desert and I would love to see that environment and that.

That.

I just love to see that experience because it just sounded like so much fun and wholesome and, you know, very much what you imagine from a family picture of sitting on the porch and.

And in enjoying an afternoon in the desert together, evening in the desert together.

And like, it really.

That's probably the most surprising thing to me about Coutino was how much effort and thought went into wellness at every level and for every age group.

And it's not a, you know, it's not a 55 plus community.

They have that in the North End.

But it's not.

It's not only for that.

And even during the opening night, we saw the different ages of people that have already moved in.

And that was very cool to me too, because where I grew up in Minnesota, we interacted with all generations.

And sometimes I feel like we get a little bit lost on that.

And I think there's so much I want to say.

Variety is a spice of life, but it really does add so much to the experience in the community when you have somebody that's been through life doing something right along, somebody who's just starting out.

And I think both sides bring something to that experience and relationship that adds to both.

And I think they're creating an environment where you really can come in.

And can you imagine doing the Disneyland trip from the Artisan Club?

Like where you go in, you have the show director talk about paint the night or something, and then you get to go with neighbor Joe and whoever and you go on a bus and you go to Disneyland.

You get to experience these things together with your local community.

That's all ages.

And I just think that's such a fun and fulfilling thing that that really adds to the heart component that, you know, I don't.

I don't know that a lot of businesses think about that all the time when they're like, oh, we're going to build a housing complex in wherever.

And there's been great care put into all of this.

And that was the intentionality behind everything we experienced last week.

And the guests that are experiencing it today was very evident.

And.

And I, I really was impressed and appreciated that.

Well, I'm impressed and really appreciate how you not so subtly are dropping in enough hints to really make sure people know that you want to go back if someone will invite you there.

I think we both need to, don't we?

I mean, I'm just hoping that you'll take me if you get the invitation.

Absolutely.

You're first on the list.

There is no kids club, right?

There is no kids club.

The idea is that it is about connection.

It is about being multi generational.

It is about people doing these things together, multi generationally.

Not just in the artisan club and the studios, but even Cateno Bay, right.

We keep talking about Catino Bay and I've posted videos.

I have more videos coming out.

I know you do as well.

It is about the size of.

Of 80 Olympic swimming pools using this crystal lagoon.

It's massive.

And you can see to the bottom.

It does.

It looks like it's almost this fake blue oasis in the middle.

But there's also like pickleball and there's tennis courts and there's all these different outdoor recreation spaces.

You talk about the 55 and over long Table park, which is going to have not just places for people.

You don't have to go there and work out all the time.

Like there's shaded green spaces and there's gathering tables and something called the Four Winds Park.

Again, I love the nod to Rollie crumps Tower, the four winds from the 64 World's Fair.

But this has this.

And I almost don't want to call it this because it's not, but it all.

It doesn't.

It has elements of a country club type feel, but this is something very different.

And it's something that I think is about bringing people together to form real relationships not within your own family, but with other people.

In this is trying to develop real, true community with programming that is designed for that in a shared narrative.

And I think that's what's interesting too about it is they're doing that in so many different ways and levels.

And this is where it's just starting.

And it's only going to get better as more people move into the community and there's more people to engage with and connect with and then connect with different people at different parts of the community.

And I think that will be interesting as well.

But it's not A country club.

I think that's such a important thing to say.

For one, you're not going to dance to encanto at a country club with, with different outfits on or whatever.

But the level of it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Is that a good way to put it?

I think it is very much a.

Yes, this is a very high quality.

This is very polished, but it's also fun.

And I think that's an important thing to remember.

And that's a Disney thing.

And as you're experiencing the different parts of the community, maybe you're in that 55 plus, there's, there's different opportunities for you to connect.

You know, maybe it's just within your family, but also with your neighbors and with people from around the, the community.

And I also love that they've, the way they've built that is.

No, they don't have a town square.

No, they don't have that.

But they do have the lake or the bay.

And I do think in the future that's going to kind of become the place because I think there wasn't.

They say there was a promenade that you could go all the way around the outside of that.

And I think that's an interesting thing because I feel like that's a place where you will end up bumping into people and it becomes very natural to, you know, oh, we're going to go to this class, or, oh, we're going to go to this restaurant in the new shopping area.

And so I think the way they've kind of funneled everything down to that bay builds on that as well.

And it'll be, I mean, I've said this multiple times to multiple people.

I can't wait to see what it looks like and what it feels like.

Maybe more importantly, when there's more people in it and the development continues and you have the, the, the variable and the, the excitement of people from Rancho Mirage being able to come in with the day passes.

Like, maybe that's how we, we partially get back in at some point, but it'll be.

I think this is where it really, as much as we got to know and experience in two days last week, there's so much more that's going to grow and evolve with this in the coming weeks, months and years.

And it'll be interesting to see how they learn from Disney is fantastic at analyzing and adjusting.

Also, like, how does that progress too?

Like, there's so many fun things to watch and observe and if you're living there, experience as, as this thing Grows and matures.

Well, I think too, you know, we keep talking about these spaces and wellness and what it is.

And you alluded to this a couple of times.

There's also going to be, and this is again part of the Disney difference.

There's going to be scheduled programming in these spaces from Disney archivists, Becky Klein from the Walt Disney archives was there, historians outside experts from things like Nat Geo who are going to come and present in some of these places.

And I think the idea is not just to create the programming and those Disney touches, but third places, right?

It's where you live, where you work, but these third places that you linger and you talk and you build tradition.

And these community gathering spots outside of the home and outside of the work, very thoughtfully designed, very community driven commercial areas, as it were.

It's create and really set out to create environments I think that very organically foster some of that social interaction.

And I think more importantly, they want to create a sense of belonging for the people who are there, right.

And I think there's going to be, people are going to find the places that they go and they hang out, right?

The places that you just sort of go over and over again, whether it is, you know, the pool bar or the lounge or some of the programming spaces.

And I think it's so important and intentional, like you said, even things like that, the, the sight lines are very, very intentional from where you sit and what you get to see.

Because every chair, every place that you sit, you could see water or art or conversation.

And I think it's very thoughtfully and intentionally and strategically designed that way to make sure this place does not necessarily feel like a country club or resort, but a place that is home even if you just moved in.

Yeah, it's helping you find and build your tribe.

Like it's creating that, that environment where you don't just live and go to work, but you live at home, I should say, and go to work, which the homes are lovely.

You also live in the community.

And I think that's something that, especially after the pandemic became a little bit more challenging is I think there was that little bit of fear of interacting too much with people around you or whatever.

And I'm glad to see that it's coming back to saying hi to your neighbor and hanging out with your neighbor and randomly stopping by for conversations on the porch.

And those are just things that happen naturally as human beings.

And then this is like, yes, this happens naturally, but how can we also just help it along a little bit more and how can we add a little bit of Disney magic to that as well?

And they gave us a list of programming that's coming and it was fun to watch.

I don't remember where we were when they were doing this, but it was fun to watch the people in our group light up for different things.

And you brought up National Geographic and one of the groups or the people that are coming in is a photographer from National Geographic and going to teach how to take photos.

And I was just like, oh, I'm on board for that.

That sounds like a blast.

And other people wanted, maybe it was art or I die at the animation Academy.

So that might not be my thing.

But I love that they're fostering the environment where you can really pursue your passion with like minded people.

And maybe one person's a lawyer and one person's a teacher and another person is a student, who knows?

And I love that they've created an environment and they're creating the programming to reinforce that environment where all of these different people that have a shared love of Disney at some level or another can come together and share that joy and share that love.

And I think that's something that connects probably and resonates to us in particular, just because that's why we do what we do at some level is we have a love for this thing that really goes back a very long time.

And we love to get to share that with other people that have that similar thing.

And when you get to do it together and get that shared experience, it just amplifies everything.

And that's something that Disney has somehow figured out how to put into a community now versus seeing it in a parade or fireworks or the first time meeting Mickey Mouse.

And there definitely was that shared sense of happiness.

I mean, joy, like that's what was coming out of it.

And that's not something we always see at media events even, or when we go to things, you know, we go to lots of D23 things or special archives, events that are open for people to sign up to.

And generally it's more of a wow, you know, like, oh, that's cool.

Like it's a geeking out thing.

And I wouldn't say, yes, we geeked out at certain individual things during the two days that we were there.

But I would say more we walked away with a real feeling of, of happiness and joy and togetherness.

Like they fostered the sense of community they're trying to build in Cotino.

With our media group, we've done, I don't know how Many media events through the years, how often do we all get together and take a picture by a sign and we're like, no, we have to do that.

It just doesn't happen.

And it's not because we don't want to.

It's just because that's not the focal point.

Usually the focal point is this is the story we're covering.

We now need to run and cover it as quickly as we possibly can and get it up and not sleep for four days, which still happened.

But because of the environment that they created and the culture that they're creating in this, I think we all walked out by the second night going like, oh, we really need to celebrate this and remember this and get a picture and carry it on with us, because it is so different than what we normally cover.

Well, that photo, to be clear, was also taken immediately after we gather around one of those communal tables.

And we were literally and metaphorically dumping our wallets and purses onto the table to see if we can combine our funds to actually afford to go and purchase one of these as a.

As a communal vacation home.

And I think we need.

It's important that we talk about that aspect of it because this does obviously come at a price.

Look, even the Artisan Club, to be very clear, the Artisan Club is a voluntary paid membership on top of home ownership.

And that membership is limited.

Currently.

I think currently is probably the operative word, currently limited to Cateno residents.

And there's a core membership, there's extended membership, whether it's for your spouse and kids, and there's an extended membership for multigenerational families that are going to run you, you know, $20,000 in order to get access to the private beach, to the pools, to the courts, to the paddle boarding and kayaking and all the stuff that you can do on the water.

The ability to dine at Architects Fork and Plot Twist and some of those special events and storytelling dinners and the overnight access at Parr House, if you want to go for a bachelorette party, your daughter, sweet 16, whatever it might be.

So.

So there is a, again, it's, I think, very intentionally positioned.

Not like a golf club.

It's more about a creativity and lifestyle club.

Like it's Club 33, but every single day, like you sort of live in that model every single day.

And, you know, there might be a sticker shock value to that, but when we start talking about the homes next and the prices, $20,000, relatively speaking.

I'm not.

I'm a podcaster, relatively speaking, for those who are buying a second or third home in, in Cateno, it is relatively de minimis ish.

Right.

And I think, go ahead, just think about how much people spend on other things.

And like out here, my magic key is now closer to two grand than it is to what used to be 200.

And when you think of, of the, like, it's not cheap and it's not something that's ever going to probably be in my budget, but when you think of what it's offering and the distinctiveness of kind of made sense because if they made it too low, like I'm sure there was a ton of thought put into this price point because if it was at a two level or too low of a level and it was too easy to get in, I don't know that they would get the same cultural return on what they're investing in.

And yes, there's the monetary return that they're looking for as well.

But I think there's a very intentional choice made of if we put things at this level and even the location that they put it in.

I think all of that was part of an equation that not only makes this a profitable business because as we need to remember all the time, Disney is a business and not a public amenity, but they need to make a profitable business, but they also need it to be a profitable community or a successful community.

And that's a challenge.

That's the harder part.

It's not impossible to make money off of a community.

What's much harder to do is create a community.

That reaching into that whole inspiration, creation and collaboration thing, and that part was the part I think even as I've been thinking about it for a week, is that's really intriguing how they're going to make that happen.

And part of that is you have to have people buy in enough that they're willing to not just invest the money, but also invest their time and their efforts.

And I remember using, I used to do youth group events and we would do lock ins for free and nobody would show up.

But if we put a five dollar, a $10 fee on it, which literally we just threw into pizza and soda, everybody like the thing would just, we couldn't get, you know, we didn't have enough space then.

And I wonder if there's something to do or you know, there's some sort of logic like that happening here as well where they're like, we need to hit this certain mark financially just to know that people are going to take it.

I don't want to Say seriously, but take it seriously and really invest in the community.

Just like we're investing in the community.

And look, this is, this is not.

And I understand, you know, I'm sure we've seen, you know, the Internet being the Internet and sometimes there is pushback when things like this are announced and figures are attached to it.

I think this is different than Golden Oak where the value proposition is I live in Walt Disney World versus here, where I think it's, I live is part of a curated lifestyle, Curated creative, I think lifestyle.

And this is not about sort of gating the Disney magic for lack of it.

It's about allowing Disney, I think to deliver consistency and standards.

And I think the price points here are probably, I'm guessing might be different than what we might see when it's built in, when the second one is built in the Carolinas.

And if this model works, where else this might evolve to.

And we'll talk about what the future is going to look like because it's not just going to be homes that are at this price point.

And I think we should, I think we should sort of talk about the actual homes themselves, like the physical spaces where residents are going to live and connect and make their own story.

And I think too how the builders reflect, because there are multiple builders reflect Disney's approach to storytelling and design and attention to experience.

So right now there are three different builders and three different collections.

There is Shea Homes which is building the Atelier 2 like a cottage collection.

Davidson Communities is building the canvas which is sort of a grand collection.

And Woodbridge Pacific Group Group is building, we've seen, I think the Westwood 2, which is the estate collection, which are homes that are ranging from about 20, almost 2275 square feet starting to about 4200 square feet starting to end, sorry, two story, very high end luxury, some of which have private guest suites and very expansive indoor outdoor living.

And look, these homes are going to start in the mid one millions and I think the estate collection starts in the upper four millions.

That is a certain price point that is going to attract a certain customer, more importantly a certain resident.

And I think it's reflective of both the story living by Disney brand, the build quality and I think the look.

It's.

You are in very much a premium location of a premium location.

You're in the Rancho Mirage Coachella Valley and some of the unique community amenities that are going to be built in there as well.

Absolutely.

And when you hear those numbers, especially, you know, I'm from the Midwest originally, like you, you say the mid millions first as a starting point.

And my first thought was like, oh my gosh, like how does anybody do this?

But then you start thinking like living in Orange county in California here I'm like, you can't get anything for that.

Like that's, that's sadly like when you look at the houses that we got to tour.

So we toured three houses during this media event and all of them were gorgeous.

All of them had more space than any most houses I've ever lived in.

You know, I might have lived in a farmhouse as a kid.

That was massive.

But the space in each of them were, there was a lot.

And then you look at location, location, location, that's, that's a big deal too.

And I kind of walked away from it, especially when I started looking around my neighborhood as I'm walking around is this isn't the end of the world for a California priced house.

And like that was the shocking point to me was it's actually more reasonable from a California real estate market than I expected it to be.

Maybe not so much for being in Rancho Mirage, because I think the further you get away from the beach, the, you know, the less expensive generally it is.

But it really shocked me that that was the entry point and if you really wanted to live that lifestyle, like I have a few friends that were eagerly following along as we were going through our two days and obviously at some point the price point comes up and I was like, well, they're saying you can start, you know, mid 1 millions.

And they're like, oh, that's it.

And, and they live a very different lifestyle than I do.

And that's, they must have a really good podcast, right?

They have, they have something.

But you know, I appreciate that, like, as daunting as that seems to me and you know, like that just blows my mind is for some people that's kind of a, that that's an expectation.

And, and I don't completely, I, I can't say that I completely resonate or I don't resonate at all with it, but I don't completely understand it, but I recognize that other people do.

And for the people that are going to want to live in this and want to have that lifestyle and then want to spend the extra money to stay at par house or go to Disneyland with, you know, 30 of their closest friends, like on a regular basis, like that's kind of the expectation of, that's what you get when you go into a community like this that is gated with security that are the loveliest people you'll ever meet and is, you know, providing that Disney experience with Disney cast members.

And while you are moving into a community and you're just buying a house as your entry level, I guess you could say, for Catino, I almost would think.

I would almost think at that point, you're also going to just get the Artisan Club as well, because then you're getting the full experience.

And it's kind of one of those things I've gone back and forth on in my brain is you think of that second house we went to, which I think was made by Woodbridge, and it was massive.

We had what, maybe 30 people total with cast members in Disney and media members in this tour, and we could have easily had double that there.

Like, you started thinking of, like I started thinking of, do you ever see the ugly dachshund and they have that dinner party in the backyard that just goes horribly wrong.

I was like, oh, this is way bigger than that house.

And you know, like, you could.

You could start imagining how, like, these were kind of the opening seeds of this is how you build community in this bigger Cotino community is we've built layouts that you can move around and play with that really are conducive for community within your home.

And I thought there were so many elements in it that were brilliant because they had their definite communal spaces, and then they also had the places that you could get away from the community.

Also, if you needed your recharge time or you needed to go work or record a podcast.

I think all of us that.

That have a microphone were looking at that second level suite above the garage they called the granny suite.

And I was like, oh, that's the coolest thing ever.

That's where I'd be spending most of my time, right?

I was like, I don't.

I mean, I need the rest of the house for this suite, but, like, I don't really need the rest of the house because the suite would be plenty.

But it really was like, when you start thinking about the size and the offerings and the pools and the view, all of that stuff, the price is prohibitive, but I don't know that it's unreal.

Like, I don't know that it's unreasonable, even though, you know, it's not for me.

And look, it's.

It's not for you, it's not for me.

Even collectively, we found out it wasn't for all of us.

But you know, the thing that, that's.

It's frustrating sometimes.

Look, and I have no horse in the race.

I have no.

Is when.

And you know, these things come up and the Internet becomes the Internet and people get so angry and so mad.

But look, everything is not for everybody.

And you can't get mad at Disney for providing elevated experiences.

Whether it is concierge level on cruise line, whether it's Club 33, whether it's Golden Oak, whether it's, you know, even sometimes when resorts get built.

Well, why are you building?

I'll never be able to afford those bungalows.

You can't.

You have to sort of build for a wide spectrum of guests.

And you're right, it is.

This is a business and this is a new type of business for Disney that is, is very much for, you know, a certain type of guests.

And I think it's unfair to get mad at Disney or get mad at people who live there because they're able to do that.

They're providing something that I think they obviously did their homework on and is a, is an area that they finally wanted to start dipping their toes in.

And don't you think there's lots of these experiences that, you know, we will never like, we'll never live in Coutinho, I'm just gonna guess.

But I'm glad that they exist because it means that the company is growing and the company is expanding.

And as much as there's definitely the FOMO factor on some of these, these exclusive higher end offerings, I like that they're happening because think of the other things that come because of them that we get.

Maybe it's a new land, maybe it's a new, you know, a cruise ship or something.

But like it's a good thing for Disney to be offering these because it means the company's expanding as opposed to retracting.

And I think as Disney fans, like in business you're either going up or down.

And if you're going horizontal, that's not a good thing.

And eventually you're going to coast in for a landing, good or bad.

And I think one of the things that I remember as a Disney fan through the years is like, there's fewer times I've been more concerned about Disney than when there was the possibility of weakness in the company and a corporate raider coming in and purchasing said company.

Like I go back to 2004 and five in my head and all of the uncertainty at that time.

And it was a celebratory time.

Cause we had the 50th coming up, but we also had that like, oh, is Comcast gonna buy Disney and split it up.

And so as is kind of that, I don't know, historical Disney fan, now this is going back to us maybe being the old guys in the room.

But as I look back at these things, I'm glad that as we move forward, we're getting more of these things that I can't afford and I probably won't experience just because it means there's going to be more Disney options for me to experience.

Because there'll be more stability, there'll be more magic that comes out of the things that they've invested in.

And, and that's an okay thing.

I think that's, that's a thing that should be celebrated perhaps more than we do maybe because we just don't think about it that way too.

I don't know.

And I think, and I was going to save this for later, I think maybe it's an appropriate time to talk about it now because I think the question that keeps coming up is, and there's more, I want to talk about the, the structure, the physical buildings themselves too.

But I keep getting sort of asked, well, who is Cateno for?

Is Catino for the high end Disney fan that is look, looking for a luxury Disney community to live in?

Is this for the Club 33 and Golden Oak members that are looking for a second, maybe third home?

Or is it for folks that are looking for a high end luxury experience?

Maybe you're not necessarily Disney fans, but understand and can appreciate the level of the very high standard, the level of excellence, the exceeding expectation that Disney does very well.

I would argue that it's probably a combination of both.

As you were saying that my answer was like, yes, because all three of those groups are going to love it.

And I, I know people in all of those groups and they are the ones that pop into my head of like, oh, I could see this person living there, I could see that person living there.

And then there's other people that maybe it's not their thing, like I very much invested into.

I would rather live in a smaller space that has less financial and time investment so that I can spend more time going to Japan or going to France.

You know, like I, you know, it's where you place your value for your time, your money and in your life.

And I think there is a group of several groups of people that this is exactly perfect for them.

One person I was texting earlier today loves living in the desert.

And this is like, oh, I love this environment.

We've now added Disney to it and it Looks gorgeous.

Sign me up.

Like I would.

If I were to pick one person that will end up living there someday, that would be the person, and maybe it'll be their first home.

Who knows?

But it's very much for those three groups.

And I think we even met some people randomly as we were walking around that kind of fit into a couple of those groups during the opening night.

And I think there is that.

I don't think it's supposed to be exclusive.

I just think it's a.

This is the offering we have at the price point that we can do it at and make it equitable, both for the company and also for the resident and the people that value that might not be the loudest people on the Internet, but they're showing up and they're saying, hey, I would like this level of house.

I would like to either add or detract whatever rooms that they can and make this, you know, Mickey.

You know, if you want, you can put a Mickey pool in your backyard.

Like you're allowed to do that.

But I think those are the people that are showing up for it.

And I don't think they're necessarily the loudest people on the Internet.

And.

And that's.

That's fine.

But I think that's also where it's a gift from Disney to invite people like us to kind of be the eyes and the ears of this is what this is about.

This is who it's for.

And I would not be surprised if there's some people that listen to us today that are like, hey, I didn't think this was for me at all.

But it's something that way down the line, this is where I want to retire, or a future version of this is where I would like to retire.

And so it becomes part of that financial plan of like, oh, I'm going to put whatever aside every month, because someday this is the dream.

And I just.

A lot of powers and dreams, like, when you've really defined your dream and you're pursuing it quite often, it's not a matter of if anymore.

It's just a matter of when.

And sometimes the when doesn't line up to where you want it to be.

But I do think there will be those people that see this and get a better view of it through things like what we've done.

And then as people live there and share about it, that it will inspire them to want to live there.

And maybe that will add a little bit of a different mix into who does live there.

You know, we were there then the evening that we were there, the second night was the official grand opening of the Artisan Club.

And they had invited a number of people outside this, just our very small media group that was there, including current residents, some of the builders, some of the partners, and some folks who already bought homes and who were living there.

And I did not go up to anybody.

I wanted to be respectful of their privacy.

But some people did come up to us and me individually or some of us in a small group, and we're asking, you know, who we were or sort of just making conversation.

And it was interesting because there was one couple that I talked to that said, we've been looking in this area for more than a decade.

We've gone to every community.

We just keep coming back.

We know this is where we want to be.

But it wasn't until we saw Disney come in to say, we walked in, we met with the Disney folks.

We looked around like, this is it.

This is the place that we were looking for.

The flip side of that coin, another couple of I met said, we are the world's largest Disney fans.

Like, we live, eat, breathe, sleep, Disney.

Like, I know that they were Club 33 members.

Like, this is sort of.

This was something they didn't know that they were waiting for.

But as soon as Disney announced it, they knew from their experience with Disney over generations of decades of generations, they knew this is where their second home was going to be.

And, you know, when I first heard the term story living, I didn't know what that was going to look like in an actual neighborhood.

And then when I saw the model homes, it started to all make sense and it wasn't.

And the thing that was really interesting to me was how each builder interpreted sort of the quote unquote, Disney touch a little bit differently.

And when I say Disney touch, I don't mean there's a Mickey Mouse room here, there's a Mickey pool here, because there was really none of that.

We joked around how one of the builders like, look, there's a Mickey Mouse cookie jar over there.

Ever anything like that before.

But each builder and look, you know, we all had sort of relative recency bias and to weeds.

We sort of fell in love with each home for a different reason.

Like the Shea homes, the first home felt, relatively speaking, again, sort of the most approachable.

It was simple.

It was simple, good vibe, and it was comfortable.

Yeah.

Like, I think.

Which will resonate with a lot of people.

It seemed very sort of effortless.

Effortless because it was not incredibly huge.

There was something Very, very comfortable at that second home from Davidson Community really lent itself to those open social kitchens and social spaces.

Like, I think you may have even said something like this earlier.

It almost felt like a little community within the home itself, because you all have different places and spaces that you can go.

Again, it.

It felt very much like it belonged in that part of California, but still a little bit of distinctly Disney, not because of the storytelling elements, but just the way it was designed.

And then that final home from Woodbridge Pacific, that estate collection really feels like.

This almost felt like something out of a Disney resort or even something that could even be like in a golden oak.

It was very grand, it was very detailed, but still warm.

Again, there was private.

It was almost like a villa within a villa, like having its own private suite.

And I think it's really interesting how Disney's role in ensuring there was consistency in emotion and expertise, but not necessarily about design, if that makes any sense.

And I think it's also fascinating to see sort of how Disney has gone from building places we visit to places we live.

And it was, I think, building on what you just said is Disney.

Clearly you could feel the Disney touch when you walked into each of those houses, and not just because there was a Minnie Mouse golf cart in the front yard, but.

But as you walked in.

Disney does a very good job of cultivating the emotional experience as you go through something.

And you could tell there was thought process put into.

When you enter this house, this is what you're going to feel and what you're going to experience.

And it was not the same feeling for each house.

One of the houses, I think it was, the second one there was that massive, massive closet that's bigger than the studio I'm in.

But you could tell despite each one being created and built by separate companies, there was that overlaying Disney connection to it.

And it wasn't, as you said, there were no hidden Mickeys.

There were no paintings, you know, murals on the outside walls or whatever, which you could do if you lived there.

You can decorate the house however you want, but they really set the palette for you to paint on once you've moved in.

And really, that foundation is built when you've decided that you want to live there and you're picking which house you want to live and where it's going to be and all of those fun things, but they're really setting the.

It's a canvas where you can come in and you can create that.

I'll be a little cliche right now story Living experience that is.

Is going to be your family's story once you move in, however long that takes.

And there were three distinct stories that we experienced as we went to these three different houses.

And it was funny, as we were at the third one, each of us kind of talking about what we resonated with at different houses.

And I think there was a little bit of a, you know, agreement that, like, oh, if we could take this from this house and that from that house, which I'm sure people are going to do in the future of, like, oh, I like, like this offering in whatever house, and could we combine, you know, the backyard with.

With the studio above the.

The garage of this house?

And.

And I think that's probably the Disney touch in all of this is creating that.

I mean, it's.

It's going back to what I started with the creation.

Inspiring and collaborating is like, from the moment you said, hey, I want to live here, you're now a part of that lifestyle and that process and that experience.

And I get happy just thinking all three of those houses as I think about seeing the people interacting with each other in the living room or out on the patio or whatever it was, or geeking out about specific closets or suites.

And I think that's going to be really fun to see how that evolves, too, just because they're going to.

You know, we were talking to one of the.

I guess he was a marketing guy from one of the builders, and he was talking about all of the way you can customize each of these houses.

And I'm sure that people who are doing the.

Whatever that process is to design each house, they're going to start noticing trends of like, oh, well, people really like this in the kitchen.

Like, I will say I loved all three kitchens.

I had minor notes on each of them, but, like, I would.

I would love to be cooking in any of them every night of the week.

I would be totally happy.

But, you know, there's going to be certain trends and lessons learned as this builds.

Institutional knowledge that they're going to be like, hey, you know, maybe they like this side size of an island in the kitchen.

Or if you do this with the living room, you can.

You can have a better flow.

You know, like, there's.

I'm sure things that will pop up that become popular and people really like and that will be interesting to watch evolve as well.

But all of that is possible because Disney has created that palette or that canvas where you can really create something that.

Going back to the Shanghai thing is Distinctly Disney, but maybe also uniquely lou Mongello or Mr. Daps.

I was speaking to one of the builders and he basically paraphrasing, said, look, if you can dream it, we can do it.

Like if you can pay for it, we can.

You want that second, you want the in law suite on top of this house, we can do it.

But I think it's, it's, I think it allows us to see how Disney's influence is beyond sort of the theming and design details.

It's about creating spaces where people feel something.

Whether the feeling that you want is comfort, is it connection, is it inspiration, is it something.

I think each of the builders does that.

Look, I think the Shea House, sort of the way I described it was sort of it's approachable luxury.

Again, it's, it's relative, right?

We're talking about, you know, figures that are in the seven figures.

But from a relative perspective, the Davidson really I felt was about that social design.

They were designing for flow and community.

And I think the Woodbridge, again houses that are in the mid fours is very much about that elevated, almost more private, high end living.

But they all sort of integrate the same thing, right?

The views and the flex spaces and the ability to adapt to whatever the homeowner wants.

And I, look, I know that there's a lot that we're trying to, you know, cover and convey and I think we've all been, we've both been sort of creating content and we'll have more about that too.

But I think sort of stepping back a little bit and zooming out, like what does this mean for the guest, for the person, for the Disney fan that is starting to dream about wanting to live in the magic, as it were.

And I think it's important to note too, this is phased one, this is phase one of story living itself.

They've already announced another story living community called Asteria in North Carolina, which is also again could include thousands of residences.

I think they're going to start selling in 2027.

This cateno is going to be building a town center, retail dining.

They already started to announce some of the, for lack of a better term, sort of the operating participants that are going to come in.

There's also going to be some public spaces.

There's going to be access to a public section of the Cateno Bay beachfront that's going to open up next year.

I sort of envision, we didn't get to go over there, but I sort of envision like a desert version of Disney's Boardwalk meets Disney Springs.

So it's not just for residents, but also for locals and guests.

And I think by attracting a variety of commercial tenants and businesses, it's going to provide not just residents, but people in the area a lot of different options for socializing and programming and dining and curated art and music and things like that.

And allows people who maybe can't afford to live in Cotino, at least in this early phases, the ability to experience Cotino well.

I also think the whole region will make it even more of a destination than it already is, because you think of for the Disney fan in particular, you can go down and kind of have that connection with Walt and just feel what it was like in that area that once inspired him.

Then you can spend the day going to Cateno Bay and shopping and dining there.

Maybe you stay the night there.

And then you spend the next day going over to the Air Museum and seeing Walt and Walt's plane.

And I love that they're starting to create almost a.

It's almost another place that kind of becomes a place to connect with Walt.

As Disney fans, we like to go to these places that are somehow connected with Walt.

Maybe it's Walt's barn up in LA or the Walt Disney Family Museum, or go to Marceline.

And this is almost creating another one of those, because it's now creating a place where you're feeling a realization of Walt's dream in perhaps a way he didn't even realize.

But there's still that through line of the story of community and creating something better than came before.

And also he had the culture of let's keep polishing and plusing up.

And I fully expect that to be happening at Cateno as well.

And then also getting to connect with, you know, 15, 20 minutes away, as well as plane.

Like, I think it creates a new destination for Disney fans to go.

I also think it's a great thing to see how it connects with the surrounding community, because they definitely aren't just making this isolated thing.

They are saying, hey, this is a place that the public is welcome.

And that's good for two things, because one, it makes for a healthier community at large.

But two, you don't know who's going to come through and spend a day on the bay and decide, hey, you know what?

I'm on this side today.

Someday I'm going to be on that side.

And which is funny because we were on that side and we all were like, I kind of want to go over to the other side, but grass is always greener I guess, but, but I think it'll be interesting, especially with this being the first one because this is very connected to the environment around it, the community around it.

And the story that Walt Disney started in the Palm Springs area decades ago and when you move over to the east coast, that's a different story, that's a different environment, that's a different community.

And my question mark is like, oh, what does that look, feel, what is that like once it gets to that point?

And that's going to be something that's I think very interesting.

And then if there's more of them, how do they connect with their local communities and their local interests and their local Disney stories?

And only time will tell that.

And, and to that point, as I said, this is phase one.

And if you look at the plot map, you see that there are multiple phases of building.

We've talked about how there's the space for 1900 plus homes.

On that map is also space for condos.

Right.

Which I'm hoping, assuming are going to come in at a different price.

There's a chance.

There'S also space for a hotel.

Right.

So again, these can all change.

Time will dictate what Coutinho is eventually going to continue to evolve into.

But what I think Disney is creating is not, not, and I don't want to use the word just, but not simply a residential community center around all the things that we've been talking about and storytelling, etc.

But the really potentially creating a destination.

Can Cateno eventually evolve to something that is not just for residents, not just for people who are local or visiting Palm Springs, but folks who want to go and maybe have a condo there, maybe go and stay at the hotel there.

And if so, is this the first step in a series of footprints that Disney is going to put around the country, potentially around the world for similar type destinations?

I say maybe and, and I think potentially history is going to look back on this time, the weekend that we were just there as a monumental step for the Disney company going into a very different type of business and business model that I think can and will become not just a single or two places around the country, but something that could be a very, very important and impactful and I don't just mean financially part of the Disney company and brand.

Well, I think you're completely right there.

And that's assuming that we see happen the picture that was painted for us.

And like all of if it goes on the path that it looks like it's going for, I think the Sky's the limit with this, and that will be very interesting to see how that grows and how that changes things.

And I was thinking as they were doing the opening ceremony in front of the Parr House that night, like, it was beautiful.

It was like they had the lights and they had the colors and the glowing things in the water, but it was also very subdued.

And it wasn't something that was like fireworks and confetti and big, loud moments.

Instead, it was more a connection moment.

It connected with the people that were in the space, it connected with the community, and then it connected with Disney as well.

And I kind of felt like it was one of those moments where Disney's saying, hey, we have all of these things that we can do, and we're using all of them to do this now.

And this is gonna be new, and you're probably gonna love it.

And to me, it's almost like a Disney's Animal Kingdom, when that first was announced and thing came to be is like, what do you mean, animals?

I remember thinking that I'm like, disney's gonna have a safari.

Why?

What do you add to animals?

You know?

And now it's not a zoo.

It's not a zoo.

Right.

It's not a zoo.

And I think in some ways, there's a correlation between those paradigm shifts is where Animal Kingdom kind of redefined both.

You know, it's not a zoo and it's not a traditional, you know, Disney theme park, Castle park, whatever you want to say.

I think this is doing the same thing.

It's not a traditional, you know, housing complex.

It's not a.

It's not a.

It's not a hotel resort.

It's.

It's something different that builds off what Disney already does.

Well.

And I think it could be foundational for future options for this if it.

If people, like, if it becomes something that people really want and value in the market demands it.

Like, we could really see a change in how people connect with Disney, because maybe you go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World from, I don't know, Wisconsin or something once every couple years, but maybe there's something in Illinois or something that's closer, that has.

You can go for a day, you can connect and get your Disney fix, whatever that is, and feel like you're connected in a way that.

That goes beyond watching a movie, connecting on social media and Disney plus.

And I think when you have that kind of connection, it goes deeper than the.

I don't want to call it passive connection of when we're connected on Social media or through movies and all of this stuff.

But there's a deeper connection that comes out of that, and I think we experienced it, that we just got the tiniest taste of what that's like.

And I think everybody that experienced it in our group really did walk away feeling they felt something special and different.

And that's kind of a.

That's an interesting place to be in.

And I really hope it's something that people don't.

Listen to the naysayers and really go check it out for yourself, because it's like all the things that we cover, it looks one way through a screen, and it might look great.

It's never as good as if you go and see Fantasmic and sit in the front row and get wet or World of Color or whatever it is you want.

Like, there's.

There's something about experiencing it for yourself that.

That I. I feel like you really have to have that moment before you can really make a good judgment.

And I used to.

To tell people, like, oh, you.

You know, people when they'd have complaints at Disneyland, I'm like, well, tell you what, I'll walk with you, and we'll go sit in town or city hall for 10 minutes, and then we'll go outside, and you can tell me if you still think it's a complaint.

And every time, once they experience that space, they're like, yeah, you know, that's not really a complaint.

Like, this is a special place.

These people are being completely lovely.

And in the grander scheme of things, the Disney experience really does kind of COVID all of the imperfections.

And it'll be interesting to see how that is translated into this story living.

And what does phase two and phase three and phase four look like as it grows and hopefully evolves around the country and maybe around the world?

Yeah.

And I think this is something that's not just new for Disney fans, but as a new way to create lifelong Disney fans or maybe even lifelong Disney citizens.

Right.

And maybe the next step in sort of what the future of the Disney difference is, not just in how we vacation, but how we live.

And one of the things, again, that struck me most about this is it doesn't feel like Disney is just selling houses.

They're trying to really design how we gather and relax and celebrate and take care of ourselves and our families and friends.

And from Walt's vision of Epcot to Celebration to Golden Oak to Catino, you can actually see how Disney's sort of asking the same question that Walt did.

How do we make like everyday life better.

How do we do it?

Through design and storytelling and story living and community and.

And look, I think whether or not you or I can ever live in a place like this, you can feel Walt's fingerprints on it, his love of that area, his obsession with progress and I think his belief around bringing people together around the literal and metaphorical table.

So I, we want to hear from you.

Like would you like.

I think the end of the answer is yes.

Would you like to live in a Disney community like Catino?

Why?

Or maybe why not?

You know, what about Catino appeals or is intriguing to you?

What other questions do you have about Catino?

We will try and get them answered for you.

Come be part of the conversation over in the clubhouse on Facebook at www.radio.com clubhouse.

Better yet, call the voicemail at 407-900-9391.

Tell me how you feel.

I will play it on the air.

You can share your thoughts and your questions and then when you're done doing that, please go and visit Mr. Daps.

Mr. Daps, first of all, thank you for sharing the Cateno experience with me.

I really enjoyed getting to to chat with you while we were there and of course for your time today, tell people who you are, what you can do.

More importantly, where they can find you.

You can find me everywhere.

If you look up dapsmagic.com like we're connected everywhere and then if you're looking for Me Personally, it's MrDapps for everything.

We keep things very simple as best as we can with a name that is a little bit nebulous at times.

But for those that don't know it's Disney and positive stuff, that's what DAPS stands for.

But yeah, connect with us.

We'd love to connect with you.

And sometimes I hop on the Wednesday night things too.

They're a lot of fun.

It's the Disney apocalypse.

Positive stuff is is one of the many reasons top 10 reasons why I dig Mr. Daps and what you do.

Thank you again for this.

Thank you again for your time today.

Hopefully we have a chance.

I mean we probably won't be able to go in half these on a house, but maybe we get a chance to go back and visit and see what future expansion and phases look like and see what story living by Disney continues to evolve to.

If you can snap your fingers right now and just put yourself anywhere in Catino just for an hour, where would you go?

I would go back to the the beach bar.

But I would like to combine it with the the bacon covered dates.

I was gonna say if you can combine that with snacks and the mystery fans and they do serve stuff.

But yeah.

My idea to allow you did that my idea to go to allow us to go back and I said look to really convey what the story living experience is like let me live in a house for a couple of months.

I don't think that idea actually flew.

That may not fly but I bet we could pitch a part two of our cotina coverage and be like, hey, we'd like to do a live podcast from the par house and you never know.

I like how you're thinking that's going to do it.

For this week's show.

Thank you so much for taking the time to tune in this and every week.

I am so incredibly grateful to and for you and I hope that you found some magic, some value and so maybe a little inspiration in this week's show and you might be saying, hey Mangello, what about this week's trivia contest?

I know I'm going to skip this week only because of time because this conversation did go long.

I promise I will bring it back next week.

So I'm just basically giving you one more week to answer last week's trivia contest question.

If you want to talk more about Catino, we can discuss it on this week's WW Radio Live show this Wednesday, 7:30pm Eastern on Facebook and YouTube.

And please don't forget to connect and chat with me on social.

I am at Lou Mongello on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn and turn on notifications because next week at this time, starting on November 10th, I will be sailing on that brand new Disney Destiny for a preview cruise.

I'll be sharing a lot of video and photos, possibly live video, primarily on Instagram.

So if there's something you want to see, questions that you have or something that you want to know about the Destiny, let me know.

But for now, if you enjoyed the show, please help spread the word, share the show and tell a friend.

Remember, be kind, choose the good.

Have an amazing day today.

Do something kind and unexpected for others.

Positivity is contagious and has a ripple effect and know that I love and appreciate you.

So until next time, see ya.

Hey Lou, Joe Casco here.

It was great seeing you at Creator Camp.

I just listened to episode 843.

It was great.

I want to take the road less traveled on being in or out on Epcot.

Being the best park I am in.

I am lucky enough that my brother is a cast member, and I frequent the parks more often than many people.

But one of my favorite things, he'll ask me, what do you want to do?

And I'll just.

I just like.

I'll just tell him I like being here.

I like.

I just like hanging out.

And Epcot, I think, is the best place to hang out.

I have actually, you know, on days where I was kind of working remotely, I worked from the DVC lounge.

I've hung out in the land.

I love walking around the countries and taking in all the things that you guys mentioned.

And so I am in on Epcot being the best park.

Hey, Lou.

My name is Alex.

I'm from Michigan, and I'm just thinking about attractions that tell the best stories.

As far as what you said, I am out.

I think that the best stories don't rest on context from movies.

So I think the best story told is from dinosaur.

I know that that might be becoming a little archaic.

That is a joke.

I think that the way that you go in the initial immersion into the Cretaceous period, whichever period it is, and then you move through this story that is both comical and frightening, but also, when the attraction ends, the story's not over, because then you see the dinosaur in the lab.

I think it is a beautiful story, told immaculately.

Thanks so much for what you do.

Have a magical day, and bye.

Well, it sounds pretty good.

In fact, that's just the right spirit.