Latest / Ear Scouts Podcast / Beyond the Parks: Our Top Picks for Your Day Off at Walt Disney World
Transcript
- Rob: In this episode of the Earscouts podcast, we're sharing our top picks for things to do at Walt Disney World when you need a day off from the parks. Whether it's a resort day or a park free adventure, we've got some fun ideas to round out your next trip to the most magical place on earth. Hi ho everybody, this is Rob with Ear Scouts coming to you from our makeshift studio here in Celebration, Florida. Also joining me is the other half of Ear Scouts here in Celebration, Eric. Hi ho, Eric. Erick: Hiho everyone! Rob: So Eric will be keeping up with the live chat over on Patreon. If you'd like to join us each week as we record each podcast episode live and take part in the live chat and the Patreon exclusive after party, head on over to patreon.com forward slash your scouts. Also joining us from the great state of Indiana is our resident Disney trivia guru quiz master Craig. Hi ho Craig. Craig: Hiho everybody! Rob: Also with us is our good friend Jessica from the state of Connecticut who is also the host of Jessica Scraps on YouTube. Hi ho Jessica. Jessica: Hi, hello everyone. Rob: So we have a whole bunch of stuff to share with you in today's episode. Lots of different ideas of things that you can do on days when you're not in the parks. And I'll just say if you're planning a Disney vacation and it's your first time planning Disney vacation, you might be thinking that you want to be in the parks every single day that you're here. But honestly, if you're here for more than a few days, you are going to be so much happier if you take. at least one day in the middle of that trip and don't go into the parks because the parks are amazing. They're the reason we all go to Disney World. I love the parks, but sometimes you just need a little bit of a break because there are a lot. I mean, it's just a lot of of crowds and noise and lines and as much fun as it is, it's also kind of sensory overload. So we're going to be sharing some of the things that we love to do at Walt Disney World to kind of a break from that and you're going to find that when you do that, when you go to the parks the next day, you're going to enjoy them that much more because you're just kind of recharged and you're ready to get back into it. So Craig, why don't you start us off this week? What is your first suggestion that people should consider doing when they're having a non park day here at Walt Disney World? Craig: Okay, so my first suggestion is all around shows that are not in the theme parks. We're talking resorts, talking Disney Springs. ⁓ So starting off ⁓ Cirque du Soleil at ⁓ Disney Springs. If you've never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, they have their own theater set up and it's incredible. It was built just for a Cirque du Soleil show. ⁓ The new show right now, or it's not that new now, but the latest show is called Drawn to Life. I still have not seen it. It seems like every time I plan a vacation where I can go, they're on vacation themselves. I just checked again in June. Eric and I were going to go and then it's like, no, they're that whole week, just those seven days. They're not open. So I will see drawn to life eventually. But I did see La Nubia, which was the original one. If you've never seen one, you should at least go see one such as a show. And if you're a Disney fan, this would be the one I would definitely recommend. We also have an AMC theater complex at Disney Springs where you can watch a movie and have dinner or ⁓ sometimes even see a Disney premiere there. There's a House of Blues, there's Raglan Road if you enjoy Irish bands. ⁓ Edison also has live entertainment. ⁓ not every night. I know their schedule is a little hard to follow. I was trying to find stuff online and it was ⁓ more than ever to try to figure out what they were showing on a particular night. ⁓ but it's definitely one to check out if you're around. It's usually only late at night that they do that. There's a stage near World of Disney that has performances. That's where like high school bands and choirs and ⁓ other groups will perform. ⁓ And you can get some great stuff there. ⁓ There's even a traveling piano player. There's a guy or girl, they have a piano player or a piano on ⁓ a automatic basically. So they're just sitting there playing the pianos. They're just riding through Disney Springs. literally cannot throw a rock at Disney Springs without hitting some great ⁓ entertainment option. ⁓ Other things, ⁓ there's Hoop-Dee-Doo at Fort Wilderness, which I'm sure we'll about more later. The Electrical Water Pageant, ⁓ which happens nightly on the Seven Seas Lagoon. If you're around the Monorail resorts, you can see them. It's a contemporary, the Grand Floridian Polynesian, it even goes over to Bay Lake for the Wilderness Lodge in Fort Wilderness. If you're not familiar with this, ⁓ this is an attraction that's been going since day one. So there's a lot of history in this one. And it's the precursor to the Main Street Electrical Parade. It's what kind of inspired that. And it's just, it's so quaint. And the music's so fun. ⁓ And it's one of those things where you hear the fanfare at the beginning and you're just like walking around your resort if you're on the monorail and you hear you're like, it's time. And you're kind of trying to run to a place where you can actually watch it. But ⁓ that's absolutely my one of my favorite things to do as well. Rob: Yeah, there there are tons of shows. I mean, and when you mentioned Disney Springs, ⁓ I've seen, know, on that main stage, it's usually cover bands. I feel like now you'll get a lot of cover bands, but some of them are insane. Like every now and then I'm like, is that actually that band? Because I mean, they're just that good. I mean, sometimes they're really amazing. So I totally agree. That's a that's a great thing to do. You're over towards Springs. And yeah, check the schedule because House of Blues brings in some pretty big acts as well. ⁓ So yeah, lots of great shows. Jessica, what is your next suggestion for what people should consider doing when they're here at Walt Disney World? Jessica: Well, I'm going to have a theme and because when we do strategies, I always get the littles. Today, I'm going to do the opposite. I'm going to do, what do you do if you have no littles? What are the adult activities? I'm going to give you three options for what I call the Disney crawl. The Disney crawl are the bar crawls. I'm going to give you three of those options as my three examples. And I'm going to start off with this and that is, This is for adults There are mocktails at a lot of these options, but I'm really telling you how to do the bar I usually take one day on a big trip and that's what we do. We do a bar crawl, Uber, don't drive, drink water, be responsible, all of the things that, you know, we, want you to do, but there's a lot of good adult beverage locations. I'm going to start with the Skyliner crawl. It is kind of the, think the least attended ⁓ the crawls. And typically what we do is we start by getting Ubered to ⁓ Hollywood Studios because we actually want to do ⁓ the loop. So we get Ubered to Hollywood Studios and take the Skyliner and you're gonna go to Art of Animation and you're gonna go to their bar, which is the drop-off bar. drop-off bar has a kind of a unique set of frozen beverages. It's full service bar. They've got drinks. After you do something there, you're going to walk across to Pop Century and they have the pedal bar. These are their two pool bars. So those are the two kind of bars. You'll notice their menus are almost identical. So the menu at both places is almost identical. And these are just kind of your... ⁓ get a pretzel, can get a snack, but these are really just kind of frozen pool drinks is what I would get at one of those. Now they do have some interesting sangria. They have a fun fruity sangria option ⁓ the Petal Bar as well, but those are the places you would go. Then we skyliner to ⁓ beach ⁓ we go to, Banana Cabana. And that is their pool bar. But here's the This pool bar good food. It has a good set of appetizers. it also has a larger kind of cocktail base. So you can get more adult beverages and a more rounded out version of adult beverages. But if you can hold out and just have a snack here, the next stop is your food stop. Because what you're going to do is you're going to walk to the Riviera and you're going to go to Bar Riva. That is the Riviera's Pool Bar. This is the stop. This is what makes this monorail crawl elevated. Bar Riva is amazing. They have tons of frozen drinks. They have a frosé that's amazing, but they also have some really unique cocktails. and the food is awesome. So a lot of times we will plan on doing a late lunch at Bar Riva and that's where we'll kind of hang. ⁓ Then after you've done these four bars, we normally will either go to Epcot or do something, but since we're not going into the parks, You're gonna Skyliner over to the Epcot International Gateway, then you're gonna walk and you're gonna choose which one of the places that's interesting to you. Whether it's Abra Kadabar ⁓ or whether it's on the beach club side and you wanna go to Alen Compass, ⁓ one of those. And you can end with a dinner. You can watch entertainment on the boardwalk. ⁓ If you're a late night person, The dance hall may be open. And if you're a night person and you to listen to some music, do the dance hall. But this is a really kind of fun day. The way to do this though, is it needs to be about an eight hour, eight to 10 hour kind of adventure to get all of those in. but you could stop at any point. You know yourself, there's a lot of mocktails on along the route, but it gets you an opportunity to see some of the resorts for us. It's the only time we've ever been to Pop Century or Arte Animation because it's not a normal one you get to. It's the first time we ever went to Riviera and saw the Riviera We also did as part of our Skyliner crawl, getting off and on the Skyliner, tried to get as many colors and as many wraps on the Skyliner as we could. So it's, ⁓ you can make it more fun than just doing a bar crawl, but that's the bar crawl. Rob: Very nice. And you know, the Skyliner itself, I feel like is one of the best rides that you can ride outside of the parks. It's a former transportation, but it's it's kind of like a ride as well. And I will say if you do go to Art of Animation, especially take the time to walk through the different themed areas of that resort, because there's just so much beautiful ⁓ work that the Imagineers did in there that I'm not a fan of the movie Cars. It's not one of my favorites. It's fine. know, I'm not the target audience for that. But the Cars area of Art of Animation is I love being in there. Like it's just so well themed. It's just so cool. And yeah, so ⁓ even if you're not planning to have a lot of drinks, I mean, just going to check out these resorts is a great way to spend an afternoon for sure. ⁓ Jessica: Mm-hmm Mm-hmm. Rob: Well, my first suggestion is specifically if you are coming and staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, and that is to make sure you make use of your resort perks. So at any resort that you stay at from May 26th through September 8th, your stay is going to include a water park admission for everyone in your party, everyone staying in the room. gets a free water park admission on your check-in day. So this only works on check-in day, but y'all, these water parks are phenomenal. And you'd be surprised, there are many days in December, January, where it is warm enough to enjoy the water parks. Also, Disney heats the water in the water park. So even if it's just kind of... borderline, you're probably still going to be able to enjoy the water parks because they keep the water heated. But I love there's nothing I'll say this. So we live here in Orlando. We're very blessed to be able to do this stuff all the time. But I've noticed that every single time I go to one of the water parks and I spend an afternoon floating around in that lazy river, I immediately say to myself, I feel so lucky. to live here and do this is just one of the most relaxing, wonderful things you can do. And even as someone who lives here, it never gets old for me. So that's one thing you go to the water parks, even if you're not into the water slides or the thrills, just float around that lazy river. And it is one of the most wonderful, relaxing, beautiful things. Another perk that you may not be aware of if you purchase a package, meaning that you get your room and tickets included together in one purchase, or if you add the dining plan to your room. Either of those things creates what Disney calls a package and you get extra perks as part of that package. And the main thing that you get is there'll be these coupons. There'll be eight coupons. Four of them will say that they're for access to... ⁓ Wide World of Sports, the ESPN complex, and four of them will say that they are for golf. Here's the thing. ⁓ There is nothing currently at Wide World of Sports. And I just learned on our last package day the other week that they now let you use all of those coupons for mini golf ⁓ or Jessica: He Rob: There's kind of there's mini golf and then there's kind of this intermediate golf that's over at the Fantasia course. It's kind of like a it's like a hybrid between real golf and mini golf. They have an option for that. But there are four different mini golf courses. So there's that one that I just mentioned. There's the Fantasia Gardens mini golf, which is themed to the movie Fantasia and is just really beautiful. And the theming is really fun. And then that's over by the Swan Hotel. And it's a very fun theming. It's essentially, it's all kind of Christmas themed, but it's Christmas at traditional time, like winter time. And then the other course is like Santa and his reindeer and elves, ⁓ frolicking in summer. And there's lots of kind of puns and gags involved and they're all really really fun ways to spend an afternoon and it's free. If you have a package, it's included. So this is a great one to do if you've got kids and you're looking for family activities that aren't going to cost you a bunch of extra money, but are going to really round out your trip. ⁓ The other thing I want to mention that's a perk that a lot of people don't realize. I lived here for a lot of years and I've had the annual pass. And I always add the water park and sports option, which I do so that I can visit the water parks as often as I like. And I knew that it included mini golf as well, but only during certain hours. What I did not know ⁓ is it includes golf. You can play a round of golf every single day if you want at the Oak Trail golf course. So if you have a, an annual pass and you've added that water park and sports option, You can actually go and play around a golf at our Oak Trail golf course completely free. It's included in your annual pass. So I thought that was a really cool perk that I didn't even know about. so that's my, my tip. Go enjoy your perks. Craig: say, I just wanted to chime in about the mini golf because it is a lot of fun. haven't done it in so long. You just like inspired me. I need to go back. And especially that the regular course at Fantasia gardens, it's just a little more challenging. It's more like a putt putt course. If you remember putt putt golf, not a lot of windmills or anything like that. Just like straightforward putting. He's just kind of somehow get into the hole and they don't make it easy for you. But yeah, I love the mini golf. Rob: over at Blizzard Beach, there's another course called Winter Summerland. Eric, ⁓ we have any suggestions ⁓ on Patreon of things that people think you should do when you're here on a non-park day? Erick: Yeah, Pala was agreeing with you about the about to go out and play mini golf. And just make a reservation like during the busy times. from my tip is to do a lot of laundry on your day off you're hanging by pool. All the Disney Resorts we have stayed at have great laundry rooms. A mid-vacation laundry day allows our family to pack carry-on only and gets all our sweaty and snack-covered clothes nice and clean for the second half of our Disney vacation. Also, recommend a pop-up hamper to keep room clean and easily transport laundry. Rob: ⁓ wow, that's a great tip. Craig: I love that. Yeah. Erick: I just have a good question for everyone like ⁓ This is related to the mini golf So then is an Amy they were telling ⁓ they were writing in the chat they tried to go to the mini golf But they wanted to split us up. I think it was max five or maybe six So unfortunately, I didn't want to split us ⁓ and the kids up ⁓ did have that issue before? Rob: Hmm. Erick: Because I remember last time we went Rob, we saw a large party, probably of 10 or 12 people. Rob: There was a large party. that's something that they do when they're backed up, you know in terms of ⁓ they have too many waiting for a tea time maybe and so it because that will say When we were there we were behind the lot We there we were a couple of people behind that the large party so the large party was a couple of ⁓ parties in front of and We got to know the party behind us and the party before us really well because we spent most of our time just kind of hanging out and chatting with them because it was, you know, tick, tick, large party, a long time to put through. Um, it was fine. I we, we enjoyed it. I'm not complaining about there being a large party, but that might be a reason why if it's a really busy day, they want to avoid that as much as possible because it did really slow down the course. but I think honestly, I'm just going to throw this out there. If you just split party into four and three and you went one after the other, it's not going to be I mean, you're you're the holes are right next to one another. So you would kind of all be experiencing it together. I would a good work around for that is just plan to, to have two parties, ⁓ one party of four, one party of three, and just know that you're going to get two times back to So you're gonna, you're still going to explore the course together, but that's also going to allow Disney to essentially allocate to time slot. You know what I mean? Like for you guys going through so that it doesn't back up as much as it did like with that group ahead of us Yeah, that's a great. There's a great thing to know. Thank you for sharing that Craig what is your next non park activity that you recommend people considering at Disney World? Craig: Okay, so one of my absolute favorite things to do at Walt Disney World is have a resort day. And the best part is with most of these activities, they're open for all folks, even if you're not staying at that particular resort. Each resort will have a good listing of recreational activities, and they change it often. So, but that's where you can find ⁓ the where's the when's of things you might be interested in at your resort. I'm going to mention a bunch of these here. I'm not even going to be close to mentioning them all, but these are all things you can find at different resorts. Some of them like are almost all the resorts like the movies, but so here's a few of the things. But again, remembering you can resort hop and you can have phone. I do want to specify though ⁓ pool hopping is not permitted except at a few resorts ⁓ the two Porter liens resorts, the Riverside and French Quarter. You know they can go to the different pools, but. Most places cannot. So just don't expect to be able to participate in activities that take place poolside if you're not staying at that resort. But yeah, some of the things you could do, they have movies under the stars where they put up ⁓ an inflatable movie screen and they play a Disney movie on a lawn, which is always a lot of fun. They have campfires, marshmallow roasts. You can get s'more kits, lots of crap. Some resorts have mosaic classes, even painting classes. You can find tie-dye activities for the kids. ⁓ are pool activities, ⁓ and such, so if your ⁓ is having that, those are a lot of fun. And even as ⁓ a kidless person who generally tries to stay away ⁓ kids, I've had a blast at ⁓ So ⁓ yeah, they have cooking classes, ⁓ excursions. ⁓ Each resort has an arcade, some are bigger than other ones. if you, I think the value resorts have the bigger arcade. So if you have a kid that's really into that and you're not staying at one of those, that might be a fun thing for them to do. There's something called ⁓ University, which I've never participated in, ⁓ but very interested. Erick: you Craig: Eric and I were talking about our June trip and that was one thing he latched on to and was like, okay, well, we'll definitely look be be looking into that. Do it. Awesome. why don't you explain what that is, Jessica, because I really couldn't find the good info on it. But I want to start if you if you've done it. Not at all. Jessica: Do it. Do it. Do it. ⁓ okay. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. ⁓ yeah. Have I done Sangria? ⁓ What kind of question is that? ⁓ Yes, so Sangria University is at Coronado. And the Coronado is, I think we talked about it, it's like my second favorite hotel behind Contemporary. And at their restaurant in the middle, Three Bridges, they're known for their Sangria. They have Sangria flights. Rob: Hahaha Jessica: And they usually have a rosé, a red, and a white sangria. So Sangria University is kind of a play on that, where they talk to you about how to make a sangria, how you have the base of a wine, and then you have usually a cordial, and then you have a fruit juice, and how you combine those things to make different flavor profiles, and how you decide what would go good with each other, what goes good with the rosé, what goes good with the red. And they kind of walk you through the process of why they create their sangria is a certain way, how they put them together. And then at the end, you get to design your own flavor. So you get to have, you have a menu of choices for those three things and you get to put together based on kind of the, what they've talked to you about, about how the flavors go together, about what you like, if you like this, you'll like that. And then you get to make your own sangria at the end. So. I want to say it was a 30 to 45 minute experience. Craig: Yeah, that sounds fun. Jessica: And this is no littles, no littles allowed. Craig: Yeah, I guess that explains why I probably haven't done it. I was a bartender for 12 years in Chicago and that kind of sounds like work. That's awesome. Well, thanks for clearing that up. ⁓ But yeah, lots of other things. have playgrounds for the kids, ⁓ tennis courts, volleyball courts, even pickleball courts I've seen, trivia. Jessica: It does sound like work. does sound like work. Yeah. Rob: hahahaha Craig: There's artwork like some resorts like Riviera and the Polynesian Island Tower have some amazing artwork. That's just worth Hanging out and looking at I think yoga classes horse-drawn carriage rides and and surrey bikes where two to four people can ride a bike through their Resort and neighboring resorts even so I know you like you can do that on Crescent Lake where boardwalk Yacht and Beach Club are and again at ⁓ Portolines and there's probably other ones too that I can't think of right away. yeah, so many wonderful options to do at your resort or any of the resorts definitely looking worth looking into. Rob: I will say the other day we were walking between Yontain Beach and boardwalk and that bridge that goes over that connects the two is really steep. And I remember saying to Eric, like, I cannot imagine trying to get a surrey bike over this hill. I'd be like, yeah, nope, I'm good. I think I'm just going to stay here on this side or I would have pushed it over. ⁓ but you could go the other direction. If you're doing a surrey bike, Craig: You Rob: Don't don't go the bridgeway go around the Epcot way. Yeah. Jessica: And Craig, I don't think you mentioned it, lot the resorts now have scavenger hunts also ⁓ that can, you can pick up and they have a couple different types of scavenger hunts, like at Coronado and at Contemporary, the two specific, they actually have like a set of a questionnaire that says, find this, find this, find this, and bring it back and you get a pin ⁓ thing. ⁓ But most of the resorts now, They have an activity where you can find a ⁓ wooden cutout of their signature character. So for example, ⁓ Contemporary, it's Edna Mode because she's one of the Incredibles and she designs their costumes. And if you find that cutout hidden somewhere in the resort, you take a picture of it, you bring it back to the front desk, they'll give you a button with, you know, a button with that character that you can have. And one of the things that John and I have tried to do is collect as many of those buttons on a trip as you can. So find the characters at different resorts. So while you're going to the resorts, but that's a fun activity for all ages that you can do. And it's free and it's part of it. And it's, I think it's at every resort. I've seen it at every resort I've been to lately. So I think they've added it in. So just wanted to add those on. Those are some other things that in the resorts, if you go to the resort, There's a QR code usually either on the website or posted at the resorts and it'll tell you the activities for the day. And it's a really good, it's a really good thing to do. And those ex scavenger hunts and button hunts to me are just some fun things that it's different every day. Craig: said, no way I could get all of these. ⁓ So thanks ⁓ adding any ones. Jessica: Mm-mm. No. Rob: Exactly. mean that it really is almost endless than the amount of things you can do at the resource. But I do want to just throw in a couple more that are some of my favorites. If you have never been to animal Kingdom Lodge, that is one if your resort hopping, put that one on your list because it's like a trip to a zoo. I mean, you're going to go and be, you know, this close to Giraffes and zebras and it's just it's amazing that that is completely free to just hop over to that resort and experience that And what Jessica was talking about the different, know, like scavenger hunts. They also will often have trivia Challenges at some of the different resorts. We were just at Port Orleans and they have this new thing at Port Orleans Was it Riverside or French Quarter? think it was at Riverside and it was like a plinko board And you play you you play Plinko and then it goes down and whichever one it lands in. That's the category of trivia that you have to answer the trivia questions from and then you can win a button or a pin or whatever. And it's another one thing pin trading. If you're into pin trading, that's a big part of resort hopping. Because I will say I tend to find the best pins for trading at the resorts much better than I than you find oftentimes in the parks now. So. Jessica: You Wow. Rob: Yeah, but you're right, Craig. It's an endless list. I mean, we could do an entire episode that was just nothing but resort activities. There's a bunch. ⁓ Jessica, what is your next crawl to share with us? Jessica: So my next crawl is probably the most famous crawl. And there was a question in our Patreon about which resort hopping would you like to do, the skyliner on the monorail? And I will say the monorail crawl is the best crawl ⁓ in Jessica's opinion. So let me tell you how to do the monorail crawl. ⁓ And you start humorously, not on the monorail. You start at Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge. That's how you start the monorail crawl. You start by getting a, either, usually I get an Uber to Wilderness Lodge. If you're in one of these times where you can't get dropped off without a reservation, you can get dropped off at the TTC, monorail to Magic Kingdom and then boat to Wilderness Lodge. So you've got, you might take you a bit to get there, but remember you've got nothing but time, nothing but time. So you're going to, your point and the monorail crawl is a unique crawl because All of these places I'm gonna talk about have unique hours that you have to really know what hour you can be at what place. So once again, we're tapping into my little type A heart. You should spreadsheet it out. You should write the hours down. You should spreadsheet your monorail crawl. But ⁓ we're pretty good at it, because we've done this one a few times. This is one we do almost every trip. ⁓ Geyser Point, ⁓ food there is amazing. Start there for lunch. Rob: Ha ha. Jessica: then we usually ⁓ leave Wilderness Lodge and we go to the Contemporary. So we go straight to the Contemporary and if the boat's running, you can just take the boat straight over. If the boat's not running, once again, you go back to Magic Kingdom and you walk to the Contemporary or you can start monorailing to the Contemporary, however you want to do it. And when you get there at two o'clock, the ⁓ outer rim bar opens in the Contemporary or you could do Steakhouse 71 bar lounge area, either one. Y'all know from the podcast that I'm an Outer Rim girl. It was kind of sad that we've been there so much. The bartenders know us. So it's like, it's like norm. We're like norm at the Outer Rim. But Outer Rim is great. It has a good kind of selection of cocktails. It's got, it's got all of the nostalgia of being in the contemporary without some of the... prices of the Steakhouse 71 Lounge. So Outer Rim is pretty good for that. And this is when it starts to get tricky because we really want to eat, we really want to eat those noodles, but they don't start serving noodles at Polynesian at Tambu Tambu Lounge until five. So you gotta, you gotta kind of kill time either at Outer Rim or you walk around the Contemporary or the new option is You monorail to the Polynesian and you walk over to the Wailulu and get a drink there, or you can just walk around and then you end up at Tambu Lounge and you get Ohana noodles. And maybe if you can eat them, the pot stickers and you get a drink, you can get the back scratcher, which is really fun because it comes with an actual back scratcher. ⁓ Those kinds of things. And you do that at the Polynesian. Now the add on a Polynesian is if you really want to go to Trader Sam's. you can go to Trader Sam's. Get on the wait list, wait at Tambu Tambu and do that. And then you can go to Trader Sam's. And the last, Rob: Really quickly, share with people why they might want to go to Trader Sam's if they're not familiar with Trader Sam's, because it's kind of a big deal, I think. Jessica: Okay, so Trader Sam's is kind of the hidden, I call it the speakeasy bar in Polynesian. It is a bar, they do this at Disneyland as well, where they have a show for different drinks. So when you order a certain drink, the bartenders have a show that they put on. And I'm not gonna go into too much detail, because it kind of gives it away. But it's hidden inside this room, and there are lights, there is fire, there is... Dancing there is singing they may spray you with water randomly Yeah, it's and You may get wet. I know It is a lot of fun. It is sensory overload. It is super fun up until and Rob helped me out eight o'clock kids can get in and then it's I Think it's eight o'clock and then after a certain time and y'all might want to check me on this because it could change Rob: You Craig: And you may get wet. Rob: Yeah. Craig: Yeah, eight o'clock. Rob: I don't know the cutoff time for that, but yeah, there's. Jessica: ⁓ Then it's adults only. So adults only after a certain time period. ⁓ It is a lot of fun. It is a small group. It's a small room. So there's a wait list for it. ⁓ Sometimes the wait is three hours or more. We've gone a few times. I will just say. If, like me, you know, the show is great, but that's not what you don't need it every time. And maybe after a full week at the parks, that kind of a show may be overstimulating. The drinks, including the souvenir mugs and a wonderful gentleman that plays the ukulele are actually right outside of Trader, Trader Sam's at an outdoor lounge that's related to Trader Sam's. has the same menu. And you do get a lovely man, instead of all the show and you get wet and everything, you get a man playing the ukulele. So Trader Sam's is something that I would at least do once if you can. It is definitely for some people, it's a one and done. For some people it's an every time. John collects the mugs there. They have specialty Tiki mugs that you could only get by going to Trader Sam's. ⁓ it is, ⁓ it's awesome. Rob: It's my favorite bar at Disney World actually. I love it. can't, you know, I don't go that often because it's, you know, as you said, it's challenging to get in. It's a bit of a, you you gotta plan for it. If you're gonna do it, it's kind of a thing. But I love it. I just, it's very campy. It's very much like, if you're a fan of the Tiki Room and you know, it's basically like the Jessica: Mm-hmm. Right. Mm-hmm. Rob: the grown up drinking version of the Tiki Room, I think. Jessica: Yeah, it's really cool. ⁓ And if it's a big deal, the second you walk into Polynesian, I would go get on the wait list, get on the wait list, and then I would do one of the other things I talked about. So I would either go to Wallululu, go to the TAMI lounge, do one of those, and then wait for your name to be called and just kind of kill time. I will say the food at Trader Sam's is not great. It's not like you're not going there to get food. So If you're hungry or if you've been doing this crawl and you think it's time for food, I would get food at one of the other two places and then go to Trader Sam's. But after you've been at the Polynesian, the last place on our list is the Grand Floridian. Here's the thing. Grand Floridian, the best bar at Grand Floridian is Enchanted Rose. Enchanted Rose is a nighttime bar. It doesn't even open until five. So you can't even get in the door, right? So you're gonna, once again, we're killing time at the Polynesian until we go to the Grand Floridian, and then you're gonna go to the Enchanted Rose. it is, and I will probably get yelled at on the internet when this goes live, the best espresso martini on property. ⁓ It just is, it's the best espresso martini on property, in my opinion. ⁓ And they also have a really good cheese board. They have some really good, a French 75, a twist on a French 75. So they have some really fun drinks there. It is the nighttime place to go. I will caveat that I've not been to the new Birdcage perch yet, but the drinks there don't look to me on surface better than Enchanted Rose. But I would end at the Enchanted Rose and having a late night drink. have Rob: Yeah. Jessica: They have a pretty good bourbon selection. I don't know if Nick from ⁓ Dizzlist is on, but I know he likes the bourbon too, like I do. to ⁓ me, it's the best ⁓ espresso martini on property. And that is the monorail crawl, which to me is an iconic crawl that you should do at least once. Rob: And I would say, even if you're not planning on having drinks, ⁓ the Enchanted Rose, if you're a fan of Beauty and the Beast, it is, you really want to go there and just, you know, they have lots of non-alcoholic concoctions as well. And they have, you little snacks kind of, you mentioned the cheese board, they have like olives and different things. So I would recommend going there just to, just to take in the ambiance of the place and really. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: There are so many Easter eggs all through that. And they're perfectly fine for you to kind of wander around and look at the decor in there, because it's really, really cool, especially if you're. Jessica: And they will let littles in, they will let kids into Enchanted Rose. They cannot get in the bar area. They cannot sit at the bar area. So if you have a child that's a huge Booty and the Beast fan, there is seating to the right of the bar that they can sit at, or into the left behind the Rob: Yeah. So my next must do ⁓ if you're looking for something to do beyond the parks. And this one is this one is my favorite of all of the things you can do beyond the parks. And it is Fort Wilderness. Fort Wilderness. You know, when when Disney World first opened, The goal was to make it the vacation kingdom was what they were calling it. And Fort wilderness was kind of the anchor of that. And of course it's evolved a lot over the years, but you will be amazed at how many things you can do at Fort wilderness where you are just a hop, skip and a jump from magic kingdom. I mean, there's traditional outdoor camping activities. Like obviously you can get a camping site if you want and go camping. ⁓ you can even, you can even rent ⁓ a camper. from there's companies that that's all they do is they rent campers to people who are staying at Fort Wilderness and they'll bring the camper there for you so you don't have to worry about having a camper. ⁓ But there's traditional camping activities, there's fishing, there's hiking, there's biking, there's boating. They rent the fishing equipment, they rent bikes, golf carts, canoes, kayaks, they even have. like motor boats that you can rent. If you want to get a fishing boat to go out and go fishing on the boat, you can do that. They have kind of like pontoon style boats that you can rent and go out and, know, just kind of enjoy the afternoon on the water. You can take a guided fishing tour. You can visit the Tri Circle D Ranch where they offer horseback riding, or you can just tour the barn there and see some of the horses that make magic at Magic Kingdom. You can sometimes see the horse that is the Headless Horseman's horse when the Headless Horseman rides through Magic Kingdom ⁓ during the Not So Scary Halloween party. ⁓ You can also get a horse-drawn carriage ride or take traditional hay rides. There are archery lessons. There's a place where you can actually pan for gemstones. I mean, you can tell from this list, there's just an incredible number of things to do ⁓ They also have some really cool gift shops there There's two gift shops that have unique items that you can only find there if you're a fan of Chippendale They're gonna have a lot of Chippendale stuff that only exists at that resort You can also take a boat or a bus over to wilderness lodge Which I feel like wilderness lodge is if Fort wilderness is kind of like ruffin it wilderness lodge is like staying at one of the grand you know, national park lodges of your. So you can kind of get both sides of that outdoorsy coin. If you're there at Halloween or Christmas time, it's a must visit because the folks who stay there during that period of time, these folks will sometimes stay there for a month or more and they reserve their spot in advance every single year. As soon as it opens up, they're always in the same location and they do the most incredible decorating around their campsites. I mean, just walking around or renting one of those golf carts and carting around. ⁓ It's amazing what people do back there. I mean, some of the displays are rivaling the stuff you see in the parks. They're just that elaborate and that good. ⁓ But another thing that people really love to do there is go to Clementine Beach, which is where you take the boat over to Magic Kingdom. You can actually watch the fireworks there from Magic Kingdom. So if you're not planning to be in the parks, but you don't want to miss the fireworks, that's a great place to see them. The electric water pageant comes by there as well. So you can see that, which Craig was talking about before. ⁓ One of my favorite things to do is to visit Crockett's Tavern, where they have a really nice flight of moonshine cocktails. And they have some of the best bar food, I think, at Disney World. But my absolute favorite things to do there, and these are must-dos in my opinion, Craig mentioned this before, there's the Hoop-Tee-Do musical review. This one is paid. This one is a little on the pricey side. It's not cheap, but it comes, it's a dinner theater show. It's all you care to eat, fried chicken with all the fixings. Like I think there's mac and cheese and... mashed potatoes and there's like a salad and cornbread and then there's strawberry shortcake for dessert. It does include though for the adults unlimited ⁓ beer and wine and sangria. So ⁓ if you're gonna have a few drinks, it actually ends up being not too bad of a deal. Because you're getting the show and dinner. The show though is what you're there for. It is like Southern fried vaudeville. And this is one of the few shows I think in all of Disney World. I mean, you can have little kids there and you can have grandparents there and you can have everyone in between and everyone loves this show. I mean, it's just, it's that rare gem of a show that just is a crowd pleaser for everyone. So it's got a lot of, you know, Jessica: Hehehehe Rob: humor and singing and dancing and there's some audience participation. If you don't want to participate in the show, don't get a seat on the ground level. So they don't go, don't typically go up into the kind of the balcony seats. So if you're afraid of audience participation, sit in the balcony seats. ⁓ but if you want to be part of the show, Eric has actually been, ⁓ on the stage as part of the show twice now. Is it two or three times twice? Yeah, twice. Yeah. He always gets. Interestingly enough, he always gets cast as a boy scout, which, you know, he's an era scout. So it makes sense. But ⁓ and then the last thing I recommend doing, and this is completely free, even if you're not staying at ⁓ Fort Wilderness, you're welcome to go and experience this. Take the boat over from Magic Kingdom. It's the Chippendale Campfire singalong. Erick: No, twice. Craig: you Rob: And it's just Chip and Dale come out. They dance with, you know, the kids. There's a little stage show with a great singer. And you kind of sing along with some classic songs, the hokey pokey they do every time. But there's just, it's a really fun and festive little show. They have the campfire going. Now this is the one place where you do have to purchase your, either bring your own or purchase your marshmallows to roast. They don't give them out for free because a lot of people just kind of come. It's a very well attended event. So do plan to bring your own marshmallows or purchase them there. But it's great fun and it's one of my favorite free things to do in all of Walt Disney World. what is your suggestion for what people consider on day off from the parks at Walt Disney World? Craig: Yeah, so this is a lovely evening activity and that is watching the fireworks from the resorts Now you can see the fireworks from many of the resorts by just being there Some have better viewing places than others and you may not hear the music at a lot of these places But you can still see the fireworks now I will always recommend if you have not seen this particular show like happily ever after or luminous Make sure you see the full show in the park first ⁓ it's That happened to me years ago as Wishes was new. And ⁓ we were with a group of people and we had ⁓ dinner at the Contemporary at the California Grill on the rooftop. And it was a great show. But the perspective was so different. So when I saw it again, I kind of felt cheated because I'd already knew the story, but the fire was just so much cooler from that area. So it's the kind of thing you want to do if you've already seen the show and you want a different perspective. ⁓ It's a great thing to do. like some of the resorts where you can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks include the Contemporary. Now at the Contemporary, they do have a little known terrace. It's on the fourth floor. It's on the side that goes to Bay Lake Tower. ⁓ It's the floor where the Fantasia shop is ⁓ most of the stuff in the atrium. So if you just go out these doors and it almost looks like you're not supposed to go there, but you absolutely can. And you open up there and there's just a terrace with benches and a perfect view of the fireworks from that angle. ⁓ Not a lot of places have that. ⁓ And beyond that, there is a bridge from the main contemporary building to Bay Lake Tower. You can stand there and watch. And they do have the music there as well. ⁓ It's a great place. Another place, the Grand Floridian, you can see them from the Polynesian. ⁓ the wilderness lodge. I don't know, can you see them from Fort Wilderness, Rob? ⁓ Rob: Yes, yeah, so it's it's you won't be able to see the castle at all. You know, you're just going to see the fireworks themselves. ⁓ But yeah, you can see them from there. Craig: Yeah, in a lot of these places you won't be able to see the castle for sure. ⁓ So and then places where you can see the Epcot fireworks are Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk, ⁓ Caribbean Beach and Riviera. ⁓ Now we'll say ⁓ Riviera and Coronado Springs. Now there are two places you can actually see different fireworks from the same place. ⁓ When I was there during the pandemic, we had dinner at Topolino's and just because the way things were scheduled, they had like fireworks at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, and even the studios. It was very minor, but they all had them within like a half an hour of each other. So we got to see different fireworks from that one vantage point, and it was ⁓ amazing. And Coronado Springs has views of lots of different parks too, but you to be on top of the Dahlia Lounge at the Grandestino Tower at Coronado Springs. Jessica: Hmm. Craig: But yeah, Riviera at ⁓ Terrace, ⁓ fantastic place. ⁓ one of my favorite, absolute favorite things to do, and I highly recommend you do this at least once, ⁓ is to combine a fantastic dinner and a fireworks show. So there are some restaurants at the resorts where you can get a great few of the fireworks and you also get the music piped in. So ⁓ one is the Contemporary, the California Grill at the top of the A-frame. It's on the 15th floor. And if you turn around and you look toward the Bay Lake side, you can even see Epcot from there as well. The Polynesian, you can watch the fireworks from Ohana, the big restaurant there. But you have like a window seat, you really don't get a very good view. But they do have the music at least. ⁓ Personally, I prefer some that has like a dedicated location that you can actually go outside and watch them. The Grand Floridian is probably my new favorite place to watch Magic Kingdom fireworks is Narcusses. If you're familiar with the resort, Nacuse's is the round restaurant that sits right on the Seven Seas Lagoon. And even though it's at ground level, you get a really cool view of the fireworks. And I actually prefer that to California Grill where you're way up. earlier, Riviera is another one I just ⁓ love for fireworks viewing. Topolinos Terrace is one the best restaurants on property ⁓ and it has like the most spectacular views, including Luminous and Epcot. ⁓ Now, another thing do want to mention about fireworks dining is that ⁓ you don't have to be there during the You don't to be like eating to enjoy the view. If you have an earlier reservation, you just hold on to your receipt and they'll let you back into whatever fireworks viewing area that particular restaurant has. I'm not sure if this works for Ohana because they don't like have a separate terrace, but like California Grill, Narcosis, and Topolino's Terrace, they all have a separate terrace. So if you come back, just show them your receipt, they'll let you back into the restaurant and you can go out and watch the fireworks as they're occurring. ⁓ And if you are a Eating there during that time, you don't have to worry about your food getting cold. The servers all understand what's going on. Tell them you plan on seeing the fireworks if they don't ask you and they will time your meal. So you're not sitting, you don't get your appetizer right as you want to go outside and watch the fireworks. So ⁓ yeah, they're great. They're way on top of that. Rob: And I will second what you said at the beginning. It is. I do think it's important that it not be your first time seeing the show because when you see the show from the traditional vantage point, I mean, Disney has choreographed everything to look perfect from that angle. But what's magical about seeing the show from these other places after you've seen it is you kind of get an appreciation for how it actually like you're like, wow. I can't believe those fireworks that I was seeing that looked like they were right over the top of the castle. They're way over there, like just seeing from other vantage points where everything's really coming from. It makes it really cool to see that, but if you haven't seen the show, that's all lost on you. You know what mean? It's just like, OK, well, there's stuff happening over there and over here and it's not making the picture for you because you're not in the right spot. But once you've seen it, you're like, wow, that's pretty mind blowing. The other thing I will say, will second Craig Topolino's that for me now granted, I saw it first in the park. That's important. But for me now, that is my favorite view of Luminous. Luminous is a beautiful show from above. It's just so pretty. And I that one. That's one that I highly recommend if you can make that happen. you will not be disappointed by that view of luminous. Craig: Yeah, and one thing I neglected to mention, Dennis and ⁓ Amy mentioned it on Patreon about the fireworks cruises, and they do mention it's a hefty price. and honestly, that's one thing I haven't done, and it's mostly because of the price. And it's definitely not on my list. ⁓ I know a of people do, and I'd love to see Jessica raising her hand. I'm sure she has a comment on this. But for me, yeah. Did you enjoy it? Which one? Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: No, I did it. It's amazing. Yeah, we did the Magic Kingdom one and it was one of those deals where we had a couple of friends that were already doing it and the people they were going with couldn't make it. And so last minute, like we're talking day of, they were like, do you wanna, we've already paid for it. Do you wanna come with us? And it was the absolute best way to get to do the fireworks cruise. Rob: Hahaha Jessica: But it was everything you wanted to be. I'm not gonna lie. It was everything you wanted to be. would, if you get an opportunity, if you have those friends, I would say yes. Rob: were invited by ⁓ actually some members of our Patreon family were doing and they had ⁓ extra spots on the boat. So they invited Eric and I ⁓ it got rained out. So, but we had a lovely evening chatting ⁓ at Contemporary in the rain, but ⁓ did not get to do the fireworks cruise. Jessica: Yeah, it was it was amazing Rob: Yeah. Well, Jessica, what is your final crawl of the evening? Jessica: So, originally I just had the two crawls on my list, but based on some questions we had in Patreon, I'm adding the Disney Springs crawl just to kind of talk about, ⁓ one of the questions was if you didn't have kids for adults, what are some of the best kind of bars in Disney Springs? So I'm gonna give you our Disney Springs crawl that John and I typically do, and I'm gonna give you some options. ⁓ The thing I will say is there is no physical way you could do every bar in Disney Springs in Rob: Hahaha! ⁓ Jessica: in like three days, okay? So I'm gonna give you what I consider to be like our favorites and what we do, but there are four or five versions of a Disney Springs crawl that you could do. I'm just gonna go over what I think are some of the best ones. ⁓ One of the things that we typically do is we get dropped off by an Uber on the West side so that you can start at City Works. ⁓ City Works is a underrated because if you're a beer person. So if you like beer, and particularly if you like local craft beer. And you guys all know, I talked about Women Up, I talked about microbreweries. I'm a big fan of local, support local. They do a lot of Florida beer there. They do a lot of really good things at CityWorks. So if you're a beer person, 100 % started CityWorks. I skip House of Blues because House of Blues is a chain and it's not specific. ⁓ So I would skip House of Blues. However, I would go to Splitsville. So Splitsville, particularly if you go upstairs, the bar up there is really cool. It's really fun. You get to watch people bowling and they have some pretty good sushi. I know it's kind of unique. That's an interesting thing to say about Splitsville, but Splitsville has good sushi and they have good cocktails. So. ⁓ Craig: ⁓ they do. Rob: I would have been afraid to order sushi at a bowling alley. So it's good to know that they have good sushi. Jessica: Let's actually... Craig: Hmm. It's. Jessica: I was afraid, but I decided to do it and it was pretty good. Pretty good sushi at a. It was great, yeah, it's a good. It really is good sushi in splitsville. And this is where after splits barrel you have to you have choices you can make. Now, if you need a break and you want a mocktail or you want something different and they do have some cocktails, I highly recommend adding going to the top of the Coca Cola building. Erick: I agree. Craig: Yeah, no, I'm a sushi fan and it was great. It really is good. Jessica: at Coca Cola store and doing the, what I call the Beverly crawl, which is all the drinks that you don't like, that you think you're getting in Epcot, you can get a full line of them at the top of the Coke store, all these sodas, but you can also get a Jack and Coke. You can get some alcoholic beverages up there too. They usually have fun ones, but the view. And I know we've been talking about Topolino and we've talked about the Coronado, but if you want a great view of Disney Springs, the top of the Coca-Cola store, I have a picture of my mom, my sister-in-law, my daughters and I from up there. It is one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever taken. The balloon is in the background. It's a great, mean, full disclosure, it really is a gorgeous place to go, get a great view of the water from up there. So I highly recommend going to the of the Coke store. It also gives you a little break in the alcohol content. ⁓ Then after you leave the Coke store, we typically, we. Rob: Before you continue though, think you need to see you mentioned the Beverly beverage. Some people, maybe you're not familiar with Beverly. The Beverly beverage that you can find at Epcot at Club Cool. Club Cool is where you can try different Coke products from around the world. And Beverly is supposed to be a Coke product from Italy. I've been told by Italians. Jessica: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Rob: that it's not really sold anymore because even they didn't really care for it that much, but tell people about that. Jessica: So Beverly is like a, it was, it's like bitter. It's just a bitter, to me, I think even the people that drank Beverly drank it as a kind of like a tonic water. was added to other beverages. I don't think it was ever intended, ever intended to be drank straight, but it's a bitter soda water is what Beverly is. But the thing about the Coca-Cola store, particularly this one is they have ⁓ a sampler of, I believe it's 12 different Coca-Cola products from around the globe. And you basically do them. And I would say three of the 12 are things that you will like. And the other, the other nine are fun. Like see who can drink it drinks. we had a great time. Every time we do it, people laugh. The kids love it. My dad did it with me and he had a great time. ⁓ and my mom refused to drink any of them because she was not going to be fooled by. Rob: Hahaha! Jessica: the fun glasses she knew, so she just refused. But Dad and I did it. And I think even John kind of refused a couple of them too. He was like, no, it's green. Why would I drink something that's green? But I... Rob: Hahaha It's kind of like the Coca-Cola version of the, know, with Harry Potter, they have the, the every flavor jelly beans where like, you just know someone we're going to be really disgusting. This is the Coke and Coca-Cola did it before Harry Potter. So this is, yeah. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. ⁓ It is a similar thing that they do at the end of the Coca-Cola Museum in Atlanta. They do that there and they do it at Club Cool. But this is a ⁓ paid for you sit up there. To me, the benefit of doing this is the view. This is another one of those places where I really like to go up to the top of the Coca-Cola store. just think it's a great kind of addition to a Disney Springs day. If you're not there with If you're not there just trying to get your shopping in and you you got a mission and you don't have a reservation to get to. I mean, the other beauty of this bar crawl I'm talking about is I'm assuming you're there with maybe one or two other adults and you're getting bar seating. So you're not having to worry about making reservations. You're not having to worry about 60 days out. You're walking up, you're sitting at a bar. It's a lot more relaxed way to do Disney Springs. ⁓ So after you do the Coca-Cola store, we typically go to Homecoming. which is Chef Art Smith's restaurant. ⁓ is, ⁓ draw for Homecoming is moonshine and they have a moonshine flight. the moonshine flight needs to be shared between two people. ⁓ No one should drink the moonshine flight by themselves. ⁓ Just, it's a lot, but it is really cool. ⁓ It's a great kind of different taste of flavors of moonshine. It's a lot of fun. That's one of the things you get. If you're not into moonshine, they have a lot of other drinks at Chef Art Smith's and Homecoming has amazing food. If you are like me and you are a whiskey person, you would go from there to Polite Pig. And then the, I know it doesn't seem like this is the place. It's a quick service place in the middle of Disney Springs. one of the best whiskey bourbon menus I've seen at any restaurant ever, ever. I would put it against any of the high end bars I've been to in New York. Like, it's got a good whiskey selection. So, polite pig, if you are not a bourbon whiskey person and you're a tequila person, from Tera Conchina, same situation with tequila. They have tequila flights. They have amazing margaritas. Rob: Yeah. Jessica: that's where I would go. So I would go one of those two places. Then I would go to Hanger Bar. And Hanger Bar is an Indiana Jones themed bar. It's Jock Lindsay's Hanger Bar. Jock Lindsay was the pilot in Raiders of the Lost Ark. ⁓ There are actual props from the movies in there. There's hidden details. It's a lot of fun. The drinks there are really themed and kitschy. So you would like that. Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: And then we end most of the time with flaming cheese and wine at Wine Bar George. Now, what I haven't said is some of the big hitters. I haven't said Rainforest Cafe, I haven't said Boathouse, I haven't said, I'm trying, there's another one that I haven't said, Helejo. There are, like I said, a million other bars it feels like there. These are the ones that John and I go to. These are the ones that we typically do I would recommend if you're going with two adults that you look at the menus. If you have any questions, you hit me up on Patreon and I can give you recommendations. ⁓ Over the last four years, I would say we've hit up almost every one of these and I can give you a recommendation, but those are the ones that I like. And I do think an adult afternoon, evening, kind of walking through Disney Springs, not having to worry about buying stuff or making reservations and being able to play it by ear. It's one of the best non-park days you can spend. Rob: Springs is one of those things I think is underrated because I think a lot of people who come who've never gone to Springs, they're like, well, I'm at Disney World. Why would I go to a mall? Because it seems like from the outside that you're just going to a mall. But Springs is so much more than that. I mean, there's so much entertainment. There's these these bars like I think Jock Lindsey's Hangar Bar is a great example. It's Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: You know, it's as cool as any of the theme bars that you're going to find in like Hollywood studios. I mean, it is it's at that caliber, especially if you go during the holidays, they decorate, they deck that place out for the holidays. It is very cool. ⁓ So, yeah, don't don't sleep on Disney Springs. It's it's it's so much more than, you know, an outdoor shopping mall. It's it's it's a Disney destination is worth visiting. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Craig: Yeah, and I needed to ask, so as far as homecoming goes, have you ever had trouble getting a bar seat there with two of you? Jessica: I've never had trouble. We might have to wait for somebody leave, but ⁓ there's a good bar seating on the inside and we've always been able to find seating in there. Craig: Yeah, they have two bars, right? One inside and one outside. ⁓ Yeah, I agree. That's that's one of my favorite places at Disney Springs period. And that's what I recommend to people, too. If you can just get a seat at the bar and you can order from the menu, get those thigh high chicken biscuits. ⁓ Fun fact, Art Smith used to come into the bar where I used to work in Chicago when he was ⁓ Oprah's chef. Jessica: Yeah, one inside, one outside. Mm-hmm. ⁓ Art Smith's is amazing. Raglan Road, I didn't talk about Raglan Road. Raglan Road is amazing. Like, there's so many. You cannot possibly in one day, yeah, you can't do it. It's just so many good things, but don't miss on it. Go there, have a good time. Rob: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. So this is the perfect segue to my final suggestion. But my suggestion, you're going to start at Disney Springs, but you're going to leave Disney Springs, not because you should leave Disney Springs. It's a great place to be, but this is another fun thing that you can include on your Disney Springs adventure. And that is a boat excursion. So if you want to do a free boat excursion, you can take the Disney transportation boats. You could go to Old Key West if you wanted some delicious fried chicken at Olivia's, which is the restaurant there at Old Key West. You can also just kind of walk around. That was the very first DVC resort, and that was built in the heyday of the Eisner era where it was all about storytelling. Like every resort had to have a complete, thorough backstory. And so the theming there is very fun. If you take the time to kind of investigate the backstory, it's kind of cool to see the little hidden Easter eggs that are there to be found. ⁓ You could also take a boat to Port Orleans, either to Riverside or to French Quarter. If you go to Riverside, it's just a lovely resort to stroll around. It's very pretty. You can even take a horse-drawn carriage ride around that resort. ⁓ If you're there in the evening and you're lucky enough to be there on a night when yee-haw Bob is performing, he is a Disney legend. I mean, he's just he's been performing there for a long time. I know Jessica was not a fan because he is very audience participation oriented. I mean, and that is a thing. He's he's he's over the top, man. He's he's he's a trip, but it's a really cool, fun show. He'll do lots of Disney tunes. And it's the craziest thing. It's like he's playing the piano, but it's like, is it just like the piano was like moving and his chair is moving? It's. Yeah, it's it's a it's a one of a kind kind of a piano show that's just very cool. And he's just got, you know, he's a he's a an older gentleman and he has so much energy. I mean, he's just like. Jessica: It's on a moving platform. Rob: It's amazing to watch him perform. But that's one thing I recommend checking out if you never have. You could go to Port Orleans French Quarter and get some of the famous Mickey shaped beignets. And we were just there the other day and we were posting on Patreon about the beignets and immediately like six or seven people were like, ⁓ my gosh, I dream about those beignets. They're really good. I mean, I have not yet made it to New Orleans, but I'm guessing this is probably as close as you can get to a true legit New Orleans beignet outside of New Orleans because these are really good. ⁓ And ⁓ the other thing I would recommend considering. So those are your free options. You could also go to Saratoga Springs, but that's basically right next door. It wouldn't be much of a boat ride. ⁓ But the other one you could consider this is paid. You can ride in the amphibious car. ⁓ And they are ⁓ styled like cars from the ⁓ ⁓ And they have kind very cool, it's like, you know, from Greece. It's like that kind of Greece lightning kind of a car. And you get in and ⁓ you're driving in the car then you drive into the water and it becomes a boat. ⁓ And ⁓ I've not yet done this. It's definitely on my list of things I want to do, but you just see these, these classic cars driving around the, the, the water there. And it's, it's, it's very cool to see. And I'm sure it's very fun to be in the car. So one day I'm going to do that. ⁓ but yeah, when you're at Disney Springs, consider doing some of these boating excursions, especially at sunset. That is just one of the most beautiful boat rides. When you go through at sunset, it's just a beautiful scene. My favorite is coming into Springs, coming back into Springs as the sun is setting. you see, sometimes you'll see that volcano go off from Rainforest Cafe. And it's just a spectacular view as you're coming in. It's very, very cool. Got the balloon that Jessica mentioned. So consider a boating adventure. We have our question of the week. And since we were doing non park related things, we asked our patreon family to submit some questions that weren't about the parks. And we got so many great questions. We're going to cover most of them in our patreon exclusive after party. But Jessica, why don't you read the question that we chose to include in the show? Jessica: No problem. So this is from Lassie Scout 422. We are staying off property in October with three kids, aged seven and four. What is there to do outside the parks and universal parks? We have two off days to fill, thanks. So I'm gonna start us off with a few of my suggestions and then I'll turn it over to you guys. But the... Rob: So we've been talking all episode about things to do at Walt Disney World. This question is we're gonna go beyond Disney World into Orlando itself. Yes. Jessica: Right. We're to go beyond the bubble. We're to go beyond the bubble. It's very exciting. Beyond the bubble. And if you're going to go beyond the bubble and you have kids, depending on how adventurous they are, ⁓ John would be very upset with me if I did not mention Gatorland. And Gatorland was a huge hit with the kids. ⁓ And you're in that right age group for those kids. It is like 30 bucks a person. ⁓ and it is a good afternoon activity. ⁓ it's a lot of fun. ⁓ it's not necessarily something that I would do as an adult now, but with four and seven year olds, man, big, big hit. So Gatorland look into that. ⁓ depending on how, ⁓ mature your four year old is, I really recommend escape rooms. ⁓ so there are some escape rooms in escapology is a chain in Orlando. and they have some rooms for younger kids as well. An escape room day is a fun day, but your four-year-old kind of needs to be able to handle being locked in a fun room and playing games with the family. So that is an idea. And the last one is it's about an hour south. So if you have a rental car, but there is a safari drive-through. where you drive your car or your rental car through a safari. So imagine you are the safari driver in the Kilimanjaro's safari and there are giraffes and rhinos and you drive through and it's your own view of them. It's even more up close than they are in the safari. ⁓ And if that's something that really appeals to your kids ⁓ and it's a good drive down, you can make a day of it go and do like, restaurant or something, but that's another kind of fun thing that we've done outside the parks. And those are some three activities that I would say the kids that age enjoyed when I had them. So I will turn it over to you guys. Any other kind of more unique suggestions that I didn't think of or other things. Craig: Well, this isn't terribly unique, but they mention Universal and they have City Walk, which is basically their version of Disney Springs. So there's a lot of really cool restaurants and shops to enjoy there for free. Rob: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and I feel like that one, if you've got little kids, there's some very cool, I mean, places for kids to explore. think definitely go to, ⁓ the cannot remember the name of it. Is it the, the, the chocolate Emporium? The, the yeah. What's it's doctor or something or yeah, it's yeah. Craig: chocolate. I know that's what you're talking about. Yeah. Jessica: Yeah, the chocolate emporium. They also have their. Yeah, I don't remember what it is, but it's cool. Their mini golf is also really, really over the top at City Walk. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, City Walk's a good one. They have some good photo ops too. Craig: Yeah. Yeah, it's themed to like 50s horror movie or not horror movies, sci-fi movies. Rob: Yeah. So a couple that I would mention that these aren't necessarily related to kids, but in terms of just things to do beyond Disney World that I think a lot of people don't recognize are there. ⁓ There's two kind of local favorite places to go hang out that I would recommend considering their winter garden and winter park. ⁓ And these are just kind of They really feel like old small town downtown areas. Winter Park is especially cool because there's an actual active current ⁓ Amtrak station there that comes right into the middle. And it's just a very charming downtown area built around that train station. And you're going to find everything from high end shops, you know, like Williams Sonoma. to really cool local boutique stores. ⁓ There's just lots of charming local restaurants and And then Winter Garden ⁓ is very similar. ⁓ but it's a little bit more historic and it's kind of the Orlando that existed pre Disney is kind of what they teach you a lot about what the area was like before Disney and there's a railroad museum there. ⁓ I really love going through the railroad museum and seeing just how life was like, you know, when you were on these old school railroad cars that came through Florida, these were very elegant. ⁓ experiences. mean, they have the place settings that you would have found, you know, on all these different famous railroad lines that came through. It's just a very cool, interesting thing to learn a little bit about the history of railroad in the United States. ⁓ So there's just a couple of, I think, more local favorite things. And then the last one I want to mention, if you're a big fan of ⁓ manatees and wildlife, So there's Blue Springs ⁓ State Park and ⁓ you'll want to go there if you're here when it's still ⁓ this, the, manatees, when it's too cold for them to be in the regular they all go to Blue Springs, which is a natural hot spring because the water there is warm enough for the manatees. So they all travel there during the cooler months. And you can just see up close, you know, all of these, I mean, it's, hundreds of manatees coming through there and it's, it's really a cool experience. ⁓ they have different guided tours there as well. That's one that's great for all ages. If you've got kids, there's a lot of stuff to do there. If you're there during the warmer months, you won't see the manatees, but you can go swimming in the Springs, ⁓ as well. It's a cool, they have kayaking. You will definitely see gators, but the gators don't go in the spring. So you don't have to worry if you're swimming about gators, but if you go kayaking, you'll see the gators. So those would be some of my suggestions for things to do around, beyond the parks. All right. Well. Thank you for sending in your question. If you have questions that you would like answered in a future episode of the podcast, just leave your question as a comment on one of our videos on YouTube or join our Patreon family and ask your questions in the forum or the forum over at your scouts.com. And hopefully we will include it in a future episode. We even have some episodes that are completely dedicated to nothing but your questions. So We do answer a lot of questions here on the show, but we also always like to end each show with a little dose of happiness. A little segment we like to call happy thoughts. Craig, why don't you start us off this week? What is your happy thought this week? Craig: Well, my happy thought is I'm just realizing that I have another trip planned in just a few weeks and I've just been so busy with my UK trip and it's just like starting to, you know, come to life here. And I realized I really haven't done much as far as planning goes, which is kind of fine because like this is the kind of trip that I do to learn more so I can be able to talk more during the podcasts, try different things. if any of you Patreon people, if you have anything like you want me to try out for you. Throw me a comment, I might be able to sneak in to this trip. Rob: Very nice. Jessica, what is your happy thought this week? Jessica: So as we're recording this, yesterday was Easter. I don't know if everyone realized, but yesterday was Easter and I have all adult children. And so although I purchased a egg decorating kit, I actually got to, in my kitchen, all alone, decorate all the eggs the way I wanted them to with no one fighting. I got to leave them in so they got saturated and really strong colors. I got to make... Craig: You Jessica: purple with red and blue and nobody made a mess. So it was, I think, the first time in my life that I got to do all the eggs by myself exactly the way I wanted them. And ⁓ I have a picture of my rainbow eggs and I was very, very happy about my rainbow eggs and I loved it. So that is my happy thought. There's a lot of great things that happened yesterday, but my happy thought is I made rainbow eggs all by myself. Craig: Nice. Rob: Very nice. We will look forward to seeing that picture on Patreon. Eric, what is your happy thought this week? Erick: So I was very excited that I was selected as one of the winners for a backstage ⁓ through the Disney Conservations Research Tour in Epcot for the International Flower and Garden. So I'm very excited to experience what it's going to be like and to find out more about how they create these amazing top theories. Jessica: ⁓ wow. Erick: I'm very excited. Rob: Very cool. That is going to be a very, I can't wait to hear about that tour. You'll have to share some details with us ⁓ in a future after party after you get to do the tour. So for me, my happy thought is also related to Easter Sunday, which was, when this comes out, it'll be, you know, some time away. But as we're recording this yesterday was Easter and we were making Craig: That's awesome. Erick: Absolutely. Rob: We made two videos in Epcot over the weekend on Saturday. We did a new Epcot early entry video. But yesterday we were there all day doing a new lightning lane guide to Epcot. I love to do the lightning lane guides on the busiest days I can just because I think it you know, it makes it as challenging as it can be so I can give you kind of a real world idea of what it's like. But yesterday was. probably the most beautiful day I've seen in the parks in a very long time. I can't wait for you guys to see this video just because every shot I was getting I was like, wow, that looks amazing. But it's just if you've ever been in Epcot on a day when it's blue skies and those perfect white puffy clouds and everything just looks magic from you know, from the flower and garden festival was in full bloom. It was just a beautiful day in the parks and I'm still kind of riding high from just what a magical experience Epcot is when you're there on a perfect day. So I can't wait to share that video with all of you. It'll be coming out really soon. But until then, I hope you all have a whole bunch of happy thoughts and we'll see you again here real soon. Next week, I should say we're going to have a very special episode of the podcast. because we're going to have some guest hosts. Eric and I are going to be away. We're not going to be here to film next week. So our friends from the Dizzlist are going to be coming and, and co-hosting with Craig and Jessica. It's going to be a Dizzlist crossover episode and they're all going to do a Dizzlist here on ⁓ Ear Scouts podcast. I can't wait to listen in. So Be sure to check out that episode next week until then think lots of happy thoughts and we'll see you real soon.