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Welcome to The Worst! Beyond the Magic. · The Worst: Beyond the Magic

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we're finally doing it.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I am Pete Morrison and I'm here with Jamie McMahon.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: And um right up front, we are two of the worst travel agents that TravelMation has to offer.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's exactly why we're here, because we want to talk to you about Disney and all things travel and some of the worst scenarios that you can get into.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's uh let's tell the people who we are, but our names.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm Pete Morrison.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a at this point 30-year active duty military veteran who has traveled all over the world.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, trying to parlay that experience um into something more fun.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um I don't want to send you to Iraq or Afghanistan, but I've certainly been to some great places all over the world, through Europe and uh especially Disney with my daughter.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: We have been going every year at least once uh since she was nine years old or since five years old, and now she is 18, about to graduate college.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got about 13 years of yearly Disney experience.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we have definitely learned what is the worst.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: How about you, Jamie?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I uh I don't think I've been to Iraq or Afghanistan.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've been to France, England, Germany, Mexico, and Canada, but that's just Epcot, you know?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: So which we'll talk a little about a little bit later.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but my family and I have my name's Jamie McMahon.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have a family of five.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I live on a Houston Shore, Maryland.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I am currently a lieutenant in the major metropolitan fire department here in the located in the mid-Atlantic of the United States.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um 15 years on the job, going on 16 years.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to start this with my friend Pete because we both joined Travel Mation nearly almost at the same time.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: I talked him into it.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's my fault.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think he enjoys it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But uh we we got into it because we really enjoy helping people put together the best trip possible, whether that's Disney, which we both love.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that the title of the show is the worst, but uh we're gonna get into why we call it the worst, not because we're worst, but or Disney is the worst.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: But we actually really love and joy love and enjoy Disney.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we want you to have a good time as a listener and the families that go as well.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we're here to help you do that.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've taken my family, uh gosh, I don't know how many how many times my oldest is 13 and my youngest is four.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my middle child is uh 10.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, she has been going to Disney since she was a year old.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we've gone every year, if not every other year, since then.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we are DVC members, and so is Pete.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we we truly enjoy it.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: It truly is it one of the happiest places we could go as a family, and we enjoy taking family friends of ours with us along to enjoy the magic.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So here we are to help you today at the very first episode of The Worst Beyond the Magic.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: How's that, Pete?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, we say it tongue in cheek, you know, because we did we do take it very seriously.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: But everyone tries to sell you on the magic and how great it is.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but nobody actually talks about what goes wrong or some of the pitfalls that you can experience while you're doing it.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So today in these podcasts, we want to break down some of the expectation management and what people should really know before they book.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, we've we've probably failed at it once or twice before at the park.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we can give you a good expectation on how to do it better than we did.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So on to our very first segment of the very first episode of the worst beyond the magic.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to go to Disney and we want to do everything we can, have every possible minute of the day planned and see everything and do everything, and we want to do it in three days.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Go.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Pete, how many times how many times have you gotten this uh this phone call or this text message or email from a proposed client?
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: A lot, a lot.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's hey, we want to just jump in there and get everything accomplished and do everything we can all at once.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a saying in the military slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of the same with with Disney.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you try to get in there and do everything too fast, it just becomes a mess.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I know, Pete, you have you uh you have seen it and I've definitely seen it, and I have three small children and uh going hard, going fast, and going sun up to sundown, park open to park close is not the greatest idea.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And trying to do park after park after park, even with a hopper pass, going from park to park and trying to do that is absolutely insane.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna hate it and you're never gonna want to go back ever again.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Pete and I are here to teach you how to do it the correct way and how to not put yourself in that position.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you and I, when we've gone, you know, we can handle it.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've got to drink here and then do some rides and hit some snacks and keep going and going.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: But when I brought my mom, like she doesn't want to sprint to the next fast pass or lightning lane and those little kids, if you don't have them in a stroller, they're not gonna keep up with you.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh luckily for me, my uh four-year-old is still stroller bound.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a huge help trying to get her from place to place in a uh rapid fashion.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But the uh 13-year-old and 11-year-old uh have to walk now, which they're not entirely happy about, but it's okay.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we uh still use the stroller to pack it full of bags, pack it full of uh coats, coolers, whatever we need, and the very bottom of that thing, and we off we go.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um here's our first insider tip for you keep that stroller as long as you can.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Even if they've outgrown it, it's great for carrying stuff.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Rather than the dad being the pack mule, uh the stroller is the pack mule, right?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to have your own stroller.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent a stroller, which I highly recommend doing.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't have to lug it through the airport, you don't have to put it in whatever taxi or Uber or Lyft or whatever you have.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can rent it there and they'll drop it off to you at your resort, and then you just leave it at the resort and they'll pick it back up at your end of your trip.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Jamie, can I preserve that stroller through you?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: You can absolutely rent that stroller through me.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we can do that through TravelMation.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was good, Pete.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I know, Pete, one of the things that you and I like to do is we like to plan in rest days.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have people that come to me and say, all right, we want to do four parks in three days, and we want the hopper past, and we're gonna do this, we're gonna have three meals throughout the day.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds exhausting, right?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it sounds exhausting to say when it comes out of your mouth, right?
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do we make that trip better?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: What do what's the best option for those people?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Budget in those rest days.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we like to do two parks, a rest day, and two parks.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's if you're gonna hit all four parks, um, putting that rest day in there is really great.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, one of the things that we like to do is is book something special on that rest day.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not so much of a rest day, whether it's just roaming around Disney Springs or the Hoop De Doop Review, which is another recommendation I always tell people about.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um is put to do right in the middle.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that's a great one to do.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing to do throughout your day is to not plan every second of every day, right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So we as Travelmation Disney experts, we can help set up your day as far as your dining and as far as your lighting lanes.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we take care of all that 60 days out, seven, seven days out, three days out, however, depending on how long if you're on property or if you're off property.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you get the dining package or not, it doesn't matter.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: We Pete and I are take care of that.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're really good at that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my recommendation for dining as far as your everyday part goes, if you're gonna do the Disney plan, Disney dining plan, which uh can be a little bit of a savor on time, it's not so much a savor on money, but what it does do is it allows you to plan it in advance and not have to think about, oh my God, it's 6 p.m.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: on a Friday, and now we want to eat dinner and we can't get in anywhere, right?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: We plan all that 60 days out.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have small children and you have the dining plan, character dining is a fantastic option for the dining plan itself.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is the most expensive dining you can have on Disney property, so it's a great value for the dining plan.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, of course, Disney allows you to bring in snacks, they allow you to bring in coolers.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can pack whatever you like in there.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, of course, it doesn't, it's not going to be alcohol, it's not gonna be anything illegal, no legal, no illegal contraband at all.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: And they're actually gonna take a look at that when you go through security.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm talking about waters that are are uh are are sealed, uh water bottles, um, cans of soda, bottles of soda, those types of things uh that you can take into the park, uh unquestables, just snacks throughout the family throughout the whole day, right?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: You want to keep those kids fed and happy and and going.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh typically my little one tries to or starts to hit hit a wall about four o'clock in the afternoon.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: A Mickey bar is perfect for about four o'clock in the afternoon to keep it going throughout the day.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that's a great idea.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And me too.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Same here.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I like Mickey bars too.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: One of the values, um, and we're gonna throw a lot of information at you.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_01: We're still trying to figure all this out.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we've got all our hot tips right away.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: But um, one of the things that we I like to do is um but character dining, I recommend it to a lot of people so much.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know you mentioned it just now.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, if we're talking about timeliness and trying to fit as much as we can into the parks, if you're if you're kiddos or even yourself, you want to see um the princesses or you want to go see some characters, you're paying a little extra for the dining, but those characters are coming to you.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you're saving a bunch of time.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you see, at a minimum, like three characters, um, even the more expensive one, like uh Artist Point, which my Maleficent, one of my favorites, she's there.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you get to see three characters while you're at your meal.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: So that really does save you a lot of time.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And Jamie mentioned um that that afternoon kind of lull.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I wouldn't be afraid to, and this we'll get into this later about where you want to stay, but I also wouldn't be afraid to hitting the park in the morning and then heading back to the hotel, taking a nap, getting lunch there, hitting the pool for a little bit, and then going back for the evening when it's a little bit a little slowed down, it's cooler.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: You hit those fireworks and those night nighttime parades.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: How about you, Jamie?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Do you just mourn until night or do you get a little break in there?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It depends.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: It depends with the family.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm of I'm of the theory of what you just mentioned, right?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Head back to the hotel, get a nap, uh, get lunch outside the park, take a break, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Slow down your day on purpose.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to do that, right?
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's all right.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's um if you're there on a short trip, you may not have a chance to go back to the park.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're there on a seven-day trip or longer, you're gonna go back.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't need to see everything all in one day and all at one time.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's all right.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we're gonna do the best of give you the best outline for the what's the time that you have.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I promise.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move on, Pete, for a second, um, and on to our next uh worst Disney expectation.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Believing Disney is only for kids.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Disney is Disney only for kids, Pete?
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Are we kids?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: I still think I am, but I'm definitely not.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: The whole Disney adult thing is uh it is a little bit popular right now, but it does get a lot of um, you know, a little bit of ridicule, a little people make fun of it.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, there's a lot of great points out there, you know, people that just kind of want to hang on to a little bit of that childhood or just have a place where you're, you know, um really just stress-free from the normal day-to-day.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're not gonna go to Disney.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this is why we want to let you know the worst.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you're not gonna go to Disney and not have a little bit of stress because there's gonna be people there and there's gonna be some lines that you have to wait for, and some things will go wrong.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: But um generally speaking, you're you're in a big bubble in all these different places that you're escaping um real life.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a little bit of a little bit of that.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: And and you know, when we've gone uh recently, especially with Travel Mation, we hope we go every uh January for the travel mission retreat where we get an education and learn more about stuff.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, it's great to um be able to move around the park without the kids with you, and you really it's a sense of um you don't have to worry about them having a good time versus you're just having a great time and you kind of get back to your roots that way.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I whether I'm with my kids or my my family or not, I'm hanging out with you and your lovely wife and and mine, uh, and we're just roaming through Epcot.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: It still brings them back to bringing a child.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's my opportunity to forget about the outside world, just like you said, and have a great time.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not slamming beers, going from country to country because I'm 41 years old and I can't do that anymore.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh 20 year old year old me could do that, not 41 year old me could do it.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pete still thinks he can.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: I still can't.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't, and I can't I can't keep up with him.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um now we try, but um, like he said, it is for adults as well.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about what you want to plan into it.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to do roller coasters, if you want to enjoy Epcot, um, you can absolutely do that.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you just want to bar hop from place to place in Epcot or one of the monorail resorts, you absolutely can do that, right?
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's a little bit of Disney for everyone out there.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I like to put that.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely I think we I think we experience it both sides of the coin, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Whether we go whether our kids are jaming the right trip and travel machine.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can't change the um the magic of seeing your kids go through at any age.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so people talk about are are my kids too young?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point, they might be too young to remember some of it, but you know, the experience you see, seeing their faces light up and them being really enthused by what's going on, um, you can't beat that either.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: So any age is is a good age.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: No, experiencing Disney through the eyes of your child is is something you'll never forget the very first time.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And even though my oldest is 13 now, and my, you know, the middle one is uh is 10 and the youngest is four.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every time we go, I still see that little bit of magic in their eye and that that smile that they give me when they turn around, when they meet a character, when they um when they go after they get off a ride or after I surprise them with something that we're gonna do in the park, right?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: That spark is still there, and that's what draws you back each time after each time uh going every consecutive year or every other whatever you want to do, right?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm pretty sure both of our wives got pretty excited when we saw Mickey and Donald Duck at the Riviera lobby when we got there.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we did.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure your um your wife and I got a picture of it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Her she was smooching we have to say about that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: She was given Goofy a smooch.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tall and handsome, and you are not tall.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, tall.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we're gonna move on and we're gonna talk about the next thing on our list, and uh, that's the worst expectations that all Disney hotels are the same.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does Disney have to offer for hotels?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: So, the good and the bad of the value hotels.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you start down at uh all-star uh music sports um and movies, and they're great.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they really will get you the most value for your dollar.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: The room's a little smaller.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're gonna expect to see a lot of school-aged um teams there.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you get the cheerleaders that all stay there in their groups and the sports that all stay there in their groups, um the cheerleaders, the dance groups, right?
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, school groups.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we see at those hotels.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And you have to manage that expectation.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: So if you if you want to go cheaper in the the the art there in the in the design and the Disney uh theming is fantastic.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's almost a rapper in those uh value ones, you get a real feel for things um than you do with the deluxe.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's a lot more subtle at the deluxe.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um so those value, you you get a little, you get it, you get a cheaper stay, um, a little bit smaller of a room, more people, but um you still get a lot of really great theming and um access to the parks too.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Pop has you have the skyliners to get there and the buses, and so it works really well.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then you get to those moderate level resorts, um, you get a little bit of both.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, a little less people, a little bigger, um, and then um not quite as um luxurious as the deluxe ones, the Riviera, the Polly, the ones on the monorail line.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so there's a benefit for everything, and that's a conversation you want to have with your travel agent, be it Jamie or myself.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, you go through some of those options.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is really important where where in the in the Walt Disney World or in California that you want to be for where you want to stay, um, and then what kind of experience you want while you're there.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: For me, uh, I'm I'm bougie.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and yeah, and you know that.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we uh we like to stay deluxe, don't we?
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: We like deluxe.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we stayed just recently where we stayed at uh Bay Lake Tower.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we stayed that's part of the contemporary for those who don't know, and then we did a night at River Viera.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And once you stay at the Riviera, it's it's hard.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can't ever go back to all-star movies.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, you can't.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: You just you just can't do it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the happy medium in between there, I think, uh, and maybe you agree with me.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I love I love some Port Orleans.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love some Port Orleans.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I recommend that to everybody.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Beautiful resort, and not only do you have the bus transportation, but you have boat transportation for Port Orleans as well, right?
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: You have Port Orleans Riverside, and you have Port Orleans New Orleans on that side as well, and not boat de beignets, and you get you get the fresh, hot beignets, and you just push yourself in the face of powdered sugar, and it's a great day.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And a hot cup of coffee, you can't go wrong.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: For me, as a hidden sleeper, is Saratoga.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can always find a room.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Saratoga's right next to Disney Springs.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: You can all you can walk there, you can get uh well, I'll give you a secret tip later on.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: You can get a golf cart to take you over there.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't we take a golf cart?
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Look at that.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm telling you.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm here to give you the tips.
• 17:09
  unknown: Cool.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we I think we've uh pretty much covered the Luxus.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh like Pete mentioned the Monterey line.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the Monorail resorts are the Pali, um, but help me out here.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Pali, um gosh, I'm drawing a blink for a second here.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Pali Grand Floridian, which is the uh just the flagship.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, then you're moving over to the contemporary, and I believe uh that's all the monorail resorts on the monorail line, right?
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: Bay Lake Towers attached to the contemporary.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a DBC, DVC side of Pali, and there's a DVC side of um the Grand Floridian as well, which are bookable via uh travel advisors like Pete and myself, right?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can see that on Disney's website.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you're not DVC doesn't mean you can't stay there.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: You absolutely can't stay there.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's a much larger room, more bang for your buck, to be honest, if you're looking to stay there for a longer period of time.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh each one of those resorts comes at a different price point depending on the time of the year.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to go during Christmas, uh Christmas season, the between Christmas and New Year's, which is the absolute worst time to go.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you want to go during that time, God bless you, and we will help you through it.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: But uh it is by far the most crowded and busiest time ever at Walt Disney World during Christmas and New Year's.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, those monitoring resorts are at a premium price.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking six to eight hundred to a thousand dollars a night, anywhere in between there based on the night.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Here's another promo for you.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I highly recommend um October, November.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And depending on when you go, um, so October, Halloween's my favorite holiday.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I personally don't think you can beat how nice Disney looks with the Halloween decorations up.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the Mickey's not so scary Halloween party, you can get in there with less crowds, you can go back to back on some of those rides, the kids can trick-or-treat, you meet some of the uh more unique characters like Jack Skelton.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but depending on when you want to go, they close down Halloween, and then uh a few days later they open up Christmas.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it just depends on how you want to do that.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: You might be able to get both, but the Christmas parties and the Halloween parties, they're they're not something to ignore.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then October really um is a lower um uh what's populated month.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it really does, and you still get a little bit of the warmth, but it's not it's not cold yet.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I recommend that as well.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So here's where Pete was going, and I think uh he mentioned the two different parties.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's Mickey's not so scary and Mickey's very merry Halloween party, right?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: But two different events, both in different types, uh different different seasons of Walt Disney World, right?
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Here's how you get both, or not so much the parties, but both seasons at Disney in one trip.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: You want to go over New Year's, you want to go over Halloween, right?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: You want to go before October 31st, sometime that week, and stay through the first week of November.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: October 31st to November 1st, it changes magically overnight into Christmas on November 1st.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, November 1st, we are it is Christmas.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is holiday season in Walt Disney World.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: You get all the holiday uh treats, you get all the holiday decorations, characters are dressed in their holiday outfits, everything you'd ever want uh for the holiday season starting November 1st overnight from October 31st.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how you get two in one without paying that Christmas premium, by the way.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: All right, thanks for still listening to our first podcast.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are uh working our way through this first one.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we have a listener, a listener.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just uh looking for one listener out there, and I hope you come back and I hope you subscribe.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine that one listener and like three goldfish.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you know, why are we here?
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big question.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: And why are we talking to you?
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because um, I want to help you not be the worst, want to help you have a great time.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And part of that is the myth that um I can plan it myself.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and you can, you absolutely can plan it yourself.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's where we got to, and that's where we're at.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but until you know how to do that, you've got us by your side.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and some of those pitfalls are the navigating the schedule, like we started off, we alluded to at the beginning, and making sure that you are able to have the right tools to have more spontaneity in your day.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: You're not arguing uh for an hour about where you're gonna eat, you're not standing in line for Pandora for an hour and a half, which is one of the best rides.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you've wasted your day.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're not um, you know, leaving one park to go to dinner at another park to come back to this park because then you just wasted all that time traveling.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's where we are here to help you.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's exactly what we're for, right?
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think a lot of times um now that social media is out there, uh it's been around.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm 41.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Pete's in his you know upper 40s ish.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: We don't talk about it.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, social media, right?
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I Not the greatest at it.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm probably one of the worst at it.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Pete does it for a living in the army.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's the worst.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's um he's much better at it than I am, right?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: He teaches me how to use it myself.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: But because of that, we all see out there, we see the Disney influencers, we see things on TikTok, we see things on uh in this Instagram, and we think, oh man, this person's doing it this way, or this person's doing it this way.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that person is not you, and those expectations that you have based on what you see online are not gonna fit your family or your lifestyle or the way you take this trip, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where Pete and I come in, right?
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to sell ourselves as travel advisors here right now.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you oh maybe just a little.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all right, that's fine.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right, but um truthfully, you need help to plan this type of thing.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: I had a guy at work come to me and say, Can't I just show up?
• 22:50
  unknown: Right.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, yeah, you can absolutely just show up, but you're not gonna get to work, you're not gonna go on any of the rides you want to go on.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna get a chance to eat anywhere you want to eat, and you're gonna have a miserable day because you're just gonna stay in line all day long and not see anything or do anything that you want to do, right?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where the planning and the expert advice comes in handy.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's Pete and I.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we do, and that's why we want to uh take you to the next step and bring you up to where we are and not have you have the worst trip ever or be the um uh have the worst experience ever, right?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: We want to have that magic that we we continue to go back for every single year.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And more importantly, um managing your expectations.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: If you go in there and your family thinks you're going to have the most amazing thing and nothing's gonna go wrong, um, and you just saw this amazing TikTok about uh beacon barrel and you're gonna have the best time.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're we wanna straight shoot you.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: We want to let you know like the pitfalls, what what the worst parts of it are, what you can expect.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I love beacon barrel, but I fell into that um social media.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we had a great time.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I watched some women have the best time, and I I went into beacon barrel for that first time thinking a much different experience was gonna be had than what was.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we're here, we're we're here to help you navigate that.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: What I will tell you though is the bacon in Frontierland absolutely lives up to its social media name.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and we gotta find the uh the ice cream.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we haven't done the ice cream yet in Animal Kingdom, but I've seen the long lines.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: And have you seen the ice cream bar, Jane?
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: I did I did see that today.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: I saw the insane lines for that.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: So stay tuned after June on my next trip, and we'll tell you all about the ice cream bar.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna do a uh trip report for us when he gets back from that.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: He may do a live trip report while he's there, a little bit hit uh tidbits here and there, but definitely when he gets back, we'll do a full trip report for when he gets back in June.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: And for you, and for you adults with older kids, I am taking four 18-year-old high school graduates down with me, um, all female.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see how fun that ends up for us, and we'll we'll definitely have a podcast about it.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I salute you, sir.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Godspeed.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we still appreciate you sticking with us this far.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna close it out here.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so I think we're gonna try this and we'll try uh like a quick little uh session of some of our best tips right away.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: So, Jamie, I'm gonna ask you, what is your worst Disney snack?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Worst Disney snack?
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I don't even know.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't like anything too sweet.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like Epcot's, I feel like Epcot's got a lot of desserts out there, and they're not all great.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're not all great.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I can't pin one down, but um I don't like extra sugary things like that.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: I like a little bit, but not uh not some of the extra uh fondue reserve fondue uh desserts out there that they have.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: I like I do love a savory snack, like the bacon that Pete's talking about.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's a winner.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Worst time of year to go.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: Worst time of year to go, as I mentioned earlier, between Christmas and New Year's.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's doable, but it is the absolute worst time to go.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can do better, I promise.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you're gonna get the better, you're gonna get a better experience.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you have to be ready for that time of year.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: What's the worst park strategy you've ever heard?
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Sun up to sundown, four parks in three days.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing it.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: No man.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's out there.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: People do it.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: All right, this is a tough one.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna throw you a curveball.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: Have you heard uh an erroneous or terrible hack online?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: Did TikTok tell you something bad?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: I uh I'm I'm new to TikTok myself.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh yeah, I am I am also the worst, and I'm old.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's true.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, I I don't know.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: How about you?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Have you seen something bad out there?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know the thing, the ones that get me uh for the worst, and in and most people don't know, but they're like, hey, we've got this secret.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, it's not a secret.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And now that you've told everybody what what was pretty chill is now going to be mobbed.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like that ice cream animal kingdom, I guess.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so tell I mean let's let's go back and forth.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: Before we close this up, I'm gonna tell you uh we'll do three good things because I always like three good things.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of my favorite things to do at Magic Kingdom, middle of the day when it's hot, is Mickey's fill her magic.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: I'm even gonna tell you why.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna remind you to go do that, especially if you're I'm a travel, I'm your travel agent.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna say, hey, you're gonna get hot, you're gonna get cranky.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to go into Mickey's Fillhar Magic and you take care of that for about 40 minutes.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Magic Kingdom, and I want you to see our presidents at the Magic Kingdom.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what that's good for?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: AC.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's dark and a killer 20-minute nap.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's good for that's a really good one.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: No disrespect to our country or our presidents, of course, but if you if you've seen it before, it's worth it's worth a nice comfy seat with some AC and a dim light.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes that AC is definitely what you need.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: All right, my number two is again at Magic Kingdom, because I feel like Magic Kingdom is so big you can go there a couple days and maybe even three, depends on how big your trip is.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but once you've done the rides and you've kind of done all the big things that people do, you got to go do the pirate adventure.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go get your map and your little compass, and then you're gonna walk around uh Frontierland and you're gonna use that compass and do the interactives.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can make the cannons go off, you can make birds talk, and you're all in this little adventure on your map on your map.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really this fun little thing that you can do that's different than what you would expect.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: All right, what else you got?
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: And this sounds super lame coming from uh 41-year-old, but all you middle-aged dads out there can understand where your kids are running around.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let's say you're in new fantasy land and you're at the play area at uh Dumbo at the Dumbo ride, right?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: And they've done Dumbo and you've done all those things, you've seen the characters there, just sit on the park bench.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just watch them play, watch them play in the in the splash pad.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just people watch, find some shade and just enjoy the scenery.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the world pass you by, but just pay attention to what's going on around and just enjoy that time that yourself and your family and watch your kids have fun.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna change this to Disney Dads now.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm feeling that Disney Dad vibe.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, my last one is another little secret trick.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's not secret because I just made fun of people saying it's secret because it's always there.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: But Morocco is not uh the fullest um and most visited of the countries.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so if you walk through Morocco and into the back, there's this uh bunch of seats and tables and shade, and it looks really beautiful.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, beer kiosk right there, but it's just a minute to reset, get your kids together, you know, bring your snack with you, have that, uh, take out your little baby puffs and feed your kid, give, you know, take that little uh siesta there for 10-15 minutes.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's a great spot in the back of the Morocco Pavilion.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's my that's my third one.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: All right, to those three goldfish and one fan that we have, we really appreciate you joining us.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hanging out for this long with us.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hope you join us on the next episode.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll be back uh for the worst and the best.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: Travel and you are absolutely the worst.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you're the worst.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Take care.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time.