Latest / The Parent Tap / The Disney Mistakes Dads Make: Theme Park Survival

Transcript

The Disney Mistakes Dads Make: Theme Park Survival · The Parent Tap

0:00
SPEAKER_01: The parks aren't magic for dads.
0:01
SPEAKER_01: They're a logistic problem with fireworks.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: Eric Mateir, Disney and Universal Art Vet breaks down theme park survival so you get the memories without the corpse march.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: Dads don't fail Disney because they're bad parents.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: They fail because they show up with vibes and no ops plan.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Eric, you worked at Disney World and Universal from the art side.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: So what what's your experience, you know, from that?
0:23
SPEAKER_01: And what did you ever experience in particular, dads, you know, in in your shop or around?
0:28
SPEAKER_01: What was something that they did that was kind of self-destructive in the parks that you witnessed?
0:33
SPEAKER_00: When I worked at the parks, especially, there's any Disney fan will know the term rope drop, right?
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Like when the park opens, they'll let guests in 15 minutes before or however long before, and then they'll line up and they'll have this rope.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And it used to be the main bridge when you walk into Annual Kingdom, but near the end of my time working there, it was after the bridge.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: So it was right by where we were set up.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Because our caricature stands are set up right outside the gift, the one of the merchandise shops there.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, we would obviously we're already there setting up and getting ready.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, we would see lining up.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: And then as soon as that rope would drop, it's like a mad dash for anybody to get where they're going, whatever ride, Everest, Pandora, you know.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes the parents would be like more crazy about it than the kids.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: They would be, you know, trying ahead of people, picking up strollers, running.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: It's like you got to set a good example for your kids if you want them to behave in a park as you know, we do.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: No, it's kind of silly, right?
1:27
SPEAKER_01: To see the adults not behaving the rules and then expecting their kids to do that or them run.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Because I always witnessed my daughter at kindergarten and the teachers always don't run or don't walk or walk, don't run.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
1:38
SPEAKER_01: And it's you always want to phrase it as a positive, honestly, though, as my former educator would say.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't want to say don't run, but you'd be like, walk.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it is crazy how adults behave at Disney Parks, from my experience too.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: We go every year.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the experience you do as working there every day, but yeah, you know, um, my wife loves the parks too, and that's that's really a big reason why I want to kind of do a spin-off of the the podcast.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, kind of focus more on the theme park survival.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: Because go to the parks, there's so many things to think about, especially from a dad's perspective.
2:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, how do you make sure that not only you have a good time, your wife has a good time, but the kid has a good time.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: And we all have a good time because your kid's not having a good time, nobody's gonna have a good time.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: And so, for instance, you don't want to spend 30 bucks, you know, on a chicken tender's, you know, every however some park food is definitely worth it, right?
2:24
SPEAKER_01: So, what's your what's your tips and tricks on like the park food, in particular like Disney World or Universal that you remember?
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Like, what's a good hack that we should know about?
2:32
SPEAKER_00: The midday reset is a classic one that you brought up that was already on my mind when we were talking.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: That's something that I did even before, you know, I lived in Florida and out of vacation with my family.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: We would do the same thing.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: We would have our morning activities, and then like at the hottest part of the day, we would take a reset, go back to the resort, go in the pool, you know, do what we had to do.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: And for the nighttime fireworks or shows or we wanted to do.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: Because the first time we ever went, when I was maybe seven or eight years old, we did like the 8 a.m.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: to 11 p.m.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: seven days in a row.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's that's exhausting for anybody.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how my parents did it because I'm about the age now I think they were then when they brought us as kids.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And there was no way I could do that.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: With my daughter, there's no way I could do all that walk without my daughter, there's no way I could do all that walking and all that running around at the park for seven days.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so pacing yourself, if you have the ability to spread things out, uh, you know, obviously the time at the time when I worked there, I'm still in Florida, but at that time I was Orlando local.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: So whenever I went to the parks, it would usually be to do one or two things and then leave.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: So, like, obviously, not everybody has that ability, you know, especially if you're like vacationing there.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: And I understand if you're vacationing there, you want to get everything in.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Because for some people, we would always say this when we worked there.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: For some people, this might be it.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: This could be their one trip to Disney.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: They've been saving up for years.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we'd see a lot of big families that would because, you know, that's what they would do.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: They would bring, you know, mom and dad, the kids, grandma, uncles, cousins, and this would be like their grand finale of like vacations or whatever, you know.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: And so I understand when this one chance to go to Disney, the need and the want to do everything, but you also have to kind of bring the logistical things into play.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: I know the fast pass stuff has changed a lot in recent years.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: It was FastPass Plus when I was there.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Now I think it's Genie and Lightning Lane, and there's a it's more a la carte now than it used to be.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: When I was growing up, it was just the paper tickets, right?
4:21
SPEAKER_00: So plan fast passes and things for the attractions you really want to do and cut down on those wait times because you may have, you know, a one, two, three-hour wait time for stuff.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, if you can cut that down, you know, try to big ticket items scheduled, and then, you know, in between kind of hitting the less popular attractions, you know, your journey into imagination or, you know, carousel of progress, things like that, really, you know, super popular.
4:46
SPEAKER_00: Those are kind of what I would do to time in between like all the fast pass reservations that I had throughout the day.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: So just trying to kind of schedule out your day and just kind of be aware of what rides along the way, what rides you can kind of book ahead of time.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: Also factoring in if you have any dining reservations as well.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Nobody wants to have to make that between, you know, their 1230 fast pass big fountain and eating at Be Our Guest, right?
5:07
SPEAKER_00: So just make sure that you're aware of like when you schedule meals, how long those meals will probably take.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Because again, you don't want to schedule a 1230 meal and have what 1230 to 130 fast pass because they need to eat as fast as possible to get to your fast pass appointment and it would end well either.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: So just yeah, being aware of just your time and also understanding that there is only so much you can do in a day.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people they like to go and do one park a day.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: It's really not enough if you want to do everything, right?
5:36
SPEAKER_00: I always say that if you give yourself if you are able to, if you're local or you're able to come for a longer period of time, you can give yourself two days per park.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: That way, if you can kind of space out what you want to do, you're not constantly running from one ride or one reservation to another.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Like that's how you kind of get the most out of your trip.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: I know with ticket prices, obviously, is a definitely a financial investment as well.
5:58
SPEAKER_00: But like I said, if you're if you have an annual pass or like that, where you can kind of take advantage of it, then that's probably the best option.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I noticed from just traveling yearly to Disney, that seems like if you go sometimes three and four days is not if in terms of they kind of give you a little bit more to stay longer sometimes, or like the host those hotel packages might do that as well.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: Like a free night if you stay four, three, four or five nights or something like that.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: So those are always those deals are always out there too.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: I know from growing up too.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: So rushing through the park, doing every ride at Disneyland for something I tried to do with my one-year-old the first year we went.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna say we made a huge like you my expectations were super high of oh, we're gonna get this all done.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: Didn't get anything done, basically got two rides done a day.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: And so I think you have to tamp tamper your expectations a little bit on the ride.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: Like my wife and I want to go ride on something, we have to have someone else there, obviously, to watch our kids.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: And you know, even though my five-year-old cannot ride all the rides, like she can't do guardian, guardians technically height-wise, but she's too afraid of that, and then so she can't do Incredit Coaster, you know, out in California, she's too small for that.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: So there's some rides she can't do.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: I think Indiana Jones, the other one physically, but then also so it's like also like wanting to kind of keep your party in mind, feel like is something you want to think about too.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: Cause if you want to, you know, if you're if you're a big fanatic and you want to do those big rides, like you mentioned, kind of sucks to get there, go through all that trouble, all the ad expense, and realize like you can't even ride that ride together with your yeah, significant other if you had you have a party and you have this all worked out logistically.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: So just something to, you know, kind of keep in mind.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm not the expert here, but that's just something I had to throw out there.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, now that you're a dad, like how does it how does your mentality change on like the stroller, the bag, the water, the snacks, the medications, all that stuff that you have to think about bringing?
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Have you and also have you brought your daughter yet on a theme park trip?
7:50
SPEAKER_01: And if not, when are you thinking about starting that?
7:53
SPEAKER_00: So we haven't brought her yet.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: My wife and I are gonna get that.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: She's just too little.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Like my parents made the call because it was my brother and myself, and I was the youngest.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: So they made the call that they weren't gonna go to Disney or any vacations like that until we could walk on our own, have the stamina to go for the whole day, that kind of thing.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: And also height-wise, I think I was able to hit pretty much every ride that I wanted to go on that first time at Disney, which for me is a little great because you never want to be told you can't go on something.
8:17
SPEAKER_00: Right.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: So we're definitely gonna hold off a little bit until, and also just because she's in that phase right now where she's going up on two, so like she's mobile, but doesn't really understand that you can't just run away from mom and dad wherever you want to go.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: And so when you look at places like Disney and how incredibly packed they are, like I would see parents when I was working there, because when I worked there, I was I was in my 20s, I was single, I didn't really know much about parenting, right?
8:41
SPEAKER_00: Except from the kids' side, obviously.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: And so I'd see parents with their kids on like these like leashes and things.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: And at the time, I'm like, putting your kid on a kidding me, but now that I look back as a parent, I'm like, I totally get the application.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So it's like a safety thing.
8:54
SPEAKER_00: So I kind of get the thought behind it.
8:56
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the number one thing, is you just wanna because we saw so many kids get separated from their parents, and it wasn't it was nobody's fault.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: It's just like things that happen in crowded places like that.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: It's Disney's fault.
9:05
SPEAKER_00: It's I wouldn't even say it's the parents' fault.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes things just happen.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: Kids get distracted and they just kind of wander off.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard tracking your kids at the grocery store, I feel sometimes, let alone when you amplify that into like a but Disney or Universal Park experience, right?
9:19
SPEAKER_00: But uh there are definitely instances where I had to sit with a child and until we were able to kind of get guest services to track down their parents and get them back together.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: But that's never an experience on anybody.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: So I think, yeah, so I think always having your plan of something that I always did with my parents as well, is we get separated, we're gonna meet at this spot.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Because when we went to Disney, this was like in the early to mid 90s, right?
9:40
SPEAKER_00: We didn't have cell phones, so at like you really need to have a plan in place because you couldn't just be like, oh, we're separated.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hey, I'm over by Stitches Great Escape, right?
9:48
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't do that.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: I think we might have had walkie-talkies or radios or something one year.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, nowadays, at least with your phones and things like that, and I know that I think they have GPS tracking on magic bands and things.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: So there are there are tools in place to kind of, I think, help with that type of situation, but you it you're better off not being in that situation in the first place.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: That's a good that's a good angle I didn't think of until you brought it up.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: And now that you mentioned it last year, we brought our daughter, and she was four at the time.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: She's neurodivergent, and so she's got a mind of her own.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we were with a party, or we were gonna, we were waiting for her aunts to get them, and she thought she saw them.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: And so she takes off.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: There was this big grass area at Disneyland.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: I was getting a coffee.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: My wife was watching her with my parents, she takes off running, and I didn't know this at the time.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And I hear my wife come out yelling around the corner, you know, Riley's Riley took off because she thought she saw her ants in the big crowd.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: It's super crowded.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: It scared the hell out of us.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: It was a very scary.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: We had to go running through these crowds and trying to find her.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: And ever since then, we started to air tag her, and there's like those little wristbands you can buy on Amazon or whatever.
10:50
SPEAKER_01: And so that's just something that we do, even when we go to the jump park or whatever, just like a the sec an extra line of security of hey, just in case the worst happens, like we can kind of track your area.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, no, I love the plan concept too of hey, if you if we do get lost or something happens, let's meet at this stand or this ride or whatever, because I think that's super important.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: That goes back to, you know, growing up, you know, without the use of technology, because sometimes let's say that air tag does fall off or something like that.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: You can't solely I feel like you can't solely rely on the technology because sometimes it doesn't work, or you know, like you know, it can get you know ruined or fallen off or especially at the theme park, that that's the worst feeling because there's so many dang people.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: And like, you know, I wouldn't even know what to do at that point.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: So I feel for those parents, and that's great of you that you were able to assist with that mechanic kind of a feeling parents have.
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: The important thing to remember at a park like you know, the Disney parks or Universal Parks or any of those theme parks is that there's cast members and there's a lot of them, right?
11:49
SPEAKER_00: Every, you know, gift shop, every attraction, every guest services kiosk, even Disney Vacation Club, there's always people around and they will always help you.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: So and that's probably the that's probably the best way to go.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Because once you tell one cast member, they can kind of tap into that Disney network.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: And so before you know it, you've got Disney Security helping, you've got guest services helping, you know, that kind of thing.
12:11
SPEAKER_00: So it really moves quickly when you alert the right people.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: So I would say that that's yeah, and also just letting your kids know that, like, you know, if you that you know, if you get lost, like you know, go to a go to a you know, Disney Security, anybody like that into you.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's super important to know.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And the leash thing that you brought up, have my kids have backpacks and they have a little leash on them.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: But I'm thinking that too when I first brought my daughter, that's so ridiculous.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, she doesn't need this because you know, she wasn't mobile at the time, she was one, just had turn one.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: And then we brought her when she was two, and they're like, Yeah, she's gonna use that because like we sl, you know, we had all these kids running off, and like she was a runner, you know.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't care, I don't care about the judgment.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: I care about keeping my kid in my you know, site site and making sure that they're not like you know, we're not having a panic attack moment.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Because that that kind of incident where we had last year, it kind of ruined our day because we kind of went through this panic moment as parents, and then we kind of got my wife and I kind of got in an argument because, like, you know, she's like, Why aren't you paying attention?
13:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm getting a coffee around the corner.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, like it was one of those like where we're just like we're pissed off at each other randomly because our daughter, you know, because we were frightened and just even you know, so I think just preventing that from even happening in the first place is something that would make your vacation go much smoother and alleviating that stress of because I think vacation you think vacations is super, you know, not notice and whatever.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: But when you bring kids, I think there's some level of there's gonna be stress involved because they're gonna have meltdowns, they're gonna have, you know, they're gonna be tired, they're gonna be cranky, they're gonna be hungry.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be that goes on that you're gonna like, you know, you're gonna have to go out of your way to make sure that they get right away.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: You can't wait, you know what I mean?
13:48
SPEAKER_01: When the when a kid's tired, they need their na when the kid's hungry, they need their food.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: A very real thing when they go to Disney is I don't know if you've heard this term before, but people, you know, believe in the Disney bubble where nothing bad can ever happen within those four walls, right?
14:05
SPEAKER_00: And it's just not true.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, and this even goes down to like, you know, when people would come over the summer, like in July, and it would rain every day, and they would go, How can it be raining on my Disney vacation to Florida over the summer?
14:17
SPEAKER_00: I, you know, I don't know what to tell you.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: It rains every day.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: So if people have this preconceived notion that nothing bad can possibly happen during their Disney vacation, things happen just like with any vacation or any trip or any outing anywhere.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: You just attention, even more so because there are so many people and certain times that are more crowded than others.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: I would not recommend going near the parks with a young kid anytime around the holidays.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: It's just too crazy.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: I've been there, I was there on uh New Year's Eve.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: I worked on New Year's Eve as a guest on New Year's Eve for a number of years, and that was the busiest I had ever seen the park.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: Just insane levels of guests.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, the the the best times to kind of go are like the off seasons, you know.
14:54
SPEAKER_00: I know you have to kind of coordinate with school vacations and things, but if you can go during September or during January or those periods where it's a little less busy or at least not peak busy, then you kind of set yourself up for success just in terms of kind of being able to maneuver and get your bearings.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's a good idea, that's a good tidbit, making sure that we're not, you know, the the excess crowd, the excess waiting, waiting times in the lines, even if you do have lightning, sometimes I think it's like multi lightning lane multi pass now or something like that.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: At least that's what Disneyland I think went to.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure Disney World.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: There's some differences on that, and I need to kind of hammer out what those are, but I think it's anyways.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: But when you go through, even if it's a lightning lane, sometimes when it's super busy, like sometimes we go during the Christmas, like we try to hit it right like in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, where it's like there's a little bit of a lull, and it happens to be my wife and I'm the anniversary.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: So it kind of what that week is usually where we carve out time to go because it's kind of like you know, after the Thanksgiving crowd, but before the Christmas crowd.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: And but but we've had times where it's been like, you know, Friday nights are just like packed, you know, in California and everyone's there, and you know, even the lightning lanes are nuts, or you can't get them, you know.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Like if you don't, if you don't kind of plan out your day in advance or get there early enough, like they're kind of sold out.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: So that's something too to be aware of.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Is no kid's gonna want to wait in line, and no kid's gonna wanna, you know, like just walk around and do nothing.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta be aware of that.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: We always buy the bubble guns, like something the bubble guns.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: Keep your kid preoccupied.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, keep your kid preoccupied somehow.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: I know it's 30 bucks, 40 bucks, whatever it is, and the bubbles are you know an extra two dollars a pop or whatever, but worth it.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: Save your sanity.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: There's gotta be I know you like sometimes like dads like get in this mindset, like, oh, we're already spending like 500 bucks on tickets and whatever.
16:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to spend any more money.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: And I my dad's totally like that.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: But I'm just like, you know what?
16:45
SPEAKER_01: If it's gonna keep my kid from crying all day, or like it's gonna stress us out because the kid's bored, like you gotta have something, you gotta have something for them, whether it's whether it's a bubble wand, whether it's like a bring bring some toys, bring you know, definitely bring snacks, bring something to keep them preoccupied.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: Cause when you are waiting in those lines, or when you know, like you like they just get they get bored, you know, like and a bored kid is not gonna improve your day, it's not gonna help anyone's day at the park.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: I know that from just my five time or four or four or five times being at Disneyland with kids.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's rough.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: What about the DAS Pass?
17:20
SPEAKER_01: Do you know anything about the DAS Pass?
17:22
SPEAKER_01: Because that's something that we like the disabled disability pass.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any insight into that at all?
17:27
SPEAKER_00: From years ago, always special accommodations that were made for that had or guests that had like additional needs, right?
17:33
SPEAKER_00: And so, as far as I know, most if not all attractions at this point have like dedicated handicap accessible entrance and exit.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Usually they sit there the same to get on the ride.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: And so, like there was a time where if you had you would go to guest services and you would, you know, show your credentials or whatever, and you would get like a handicap pass.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: I remember I did that once when I had an uncle who was visiting and he had a stroke not too long before.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: So he had with balance and he had gotten one.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it allows you to not have to wait in the long lines and be able to kind of get on the ride and get off and whatnot.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: The thing that I know was an issue back then, and I'm sure it's better now, but people would take advantage of that, right?
18:10
SPEAKER_00: Like they would, you know, they would try to get one for somebody in their and then it'd be a party of 24 trying to take advantage of that one pass.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: I think there might be a a person limit, it might just be like the pass holder and like one additional person.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: Don't quote me on that.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: I don't know the specifics nowadays, but yeah, so there are things that have been in place in the past.
18:29
SPEAKER_00: I can't speak for like current state of the parks, what they do, but that's kind of what they had going on back when I worked.
18:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:35
SPEAKER_01: My just to kind of give you my experience, like my wife had to do an interview with Disney the last two years.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: We brought her for, you know, we especially last year.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: I don't know about if we would do that before, but last year we got she got diagnosed with autism, and so we realized that okay, she needs this because she can't wait in line.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just because she can't wait in line, it's like other guests are gonna get really annoyed because she can't, she she's like unable to not bother people around her when she's waiting, you know.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's like any other kid, but she's just it's even more people around her are not gonna have a pleasant time, basically, if she's waiting in lines or whatever.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: So she needed that pass.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: And so it was like a little bit of an interview she had to do where it was like they had to kind of approve it or disapprove it.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: I've been on the kind of Reddit forums looking at it too, and so that's just one thing, too.
19:23
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I'd encourage parents to make sure you do that well in advance.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: I think we had to do it two months in advance to go in Disneyland, so I'm not exactly sure how it works in what the new world or universal or whatever, but um that's just something to be aware of too, is making sure you plan that in advance and also your dining in advance because I think that like you know, there's certain dining places, like they open up what like a month or two in advance, and you you kind of have to book it early, right?
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Or you can't just expect to walk in on that and be able to sit wherever you want, right?
19:52
SPEAKER_01: Or get get the best sit at the best restaurant, right?
19:55
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't happen.
19:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, most of the big ticket restaurants, especially like most of them in Epcot, be our guest, you know, any especially any character dining or any theme dining, those book out months in advance.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're staying at Disney Resort, you can even book out further than that.
20:10
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, if you want to get like those special dining experiences, make sure you book those early.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, you may be able to get like uh, you know, like obviously you may be able to walk up and get like a quick service.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, there were certain restaurants, you know, at the parks where you can, you know, you can go and you can sit, but it's like cafeteria style.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: And so it's not like a full dining experience, but those usually you can just order from your phone, mobile pickup, and then grab a seat and eat like throughout the day.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: So that's where you get like your burgers, hot dogs, fries, that kind of thing, which is usually great for kids because that's kind of usually right on the menu.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, anything character dining, you're gonna want to book as far in advance as possible.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: And especially if your kids have allergies, that's like another thing to think about.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if yours does.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: If there's certain foods don't like, or if they have allergies to you, like that's something to be cognizant of too, is making sure that like in advance you kind of scope out where they are, like what what rides they're around, how to kind of plan that into your day.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's so many things to think about as a dad, and this gets overwhelming.
21:02
SPEAKER_01: It's like trying to just carve it out.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Like it's easy enough, like you know, when you were going, like when you know, when you were in your 20s, you know, you weren't thinking about all these logistical things, but now it's like okay, yeah, you cater exactly to to your kid and all that.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: What's like uh you know, in all your time working in the parks, you know, as as a and you were doing the character caricatures, right?
21:23
SPEAKER_01: And like the art designs.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, because my and my daughter, um, she got it like a Tiana art design at or art, I don't even know if I'm phrasing this right, but she got like a Tiana drawing done at Disney last year for Christmas, and like that was like one of those experiences we had.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: I thought I was like super cool watching them do that, and I'm like amazed that people have that talent.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: So kudos to you for that.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: But um yeah, is there any like secrets or anything that like uh you know you learned or picked up back there or back in your time then that like normal people wouldn't know about, you know, the parks or just like how it's run or anything like that?
21:58
SPEAKER_00: Depends on obviously which park you're going to.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I've been to obviously I've been to Florida a lot more because I live here, right?
22:04
SPEAKER_00: But I've been to Disneyland a few times.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And Disneyland, it's kind of all contained.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: You have like the main parking, and then you go to that plaza, you go through downtown Disney, and you have that main plaza, and then you have Disneyland and California Adventure, right?
22:14
SPEAKER_00: It's a bit more spread out in Florida because we have the four parks right now, plus all of the Disney resorts, plus the water parks, plus Disney Springs.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: So one thing I would say for sure, and a mistake that I do see people make when they first come down, is take advantage of the like inner park transportation if you can.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: So like the monorail, the buses, the boats.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's obviously monorails that run from like Magic Kingdom to the ticket center to Epcot, boats that run from some of the resorts to the parks.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: I remember taking when I used to stay there, there were boats from like the Port Orleans resorts to um downtown Disney and I think Epcot and Hollywood studios at that time.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: So because when you drive by car, which is what we did as locals, right?
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Like you have to worry about parking, and then you have to walk.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: It's usually two miles from where you park just to get to the next destination point, which if you're going to Magic Kingdom, that's still monorail or boat.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: So you'll be parking in the parking lot, takes take note of what your parking spot is, what section, what character, what number.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: And then you walk the one or two miles to the ticket center, and then you decide, okay, what's going to get me there quicker today, the monorail or the boat?
23:18
SPEAKER_00: How the lines look.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: And whatever line you pick, you're going to be wrong.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you that from experience.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: But you know, and then you decide which one of those you're going to take, and then that takes you to the park, right?
23:27
SPEAKER_00: So also account for that time when you go.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Because if you're like, oh, the park opens at nine, I'll get there at 8 45.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to get in the park at nine.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: You're just not.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you're driving in, plan out that extra time.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: If you can take advantage of like the inner park transportation, like even being a local, there were often times where I would, you know, go to one park and then I would hop a bus to, you know, a neighboring resort where I might have had dinner reservations that night or to another park.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: And it made a lot more sense to take the bus system back and forth and then pick up my car at the end of the day than to try to drive.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Because then when you drive into the resorts, you have to give me registration information or not registration, reservation information.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: Because there's there's very limited parking at the resorts versus the parks.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: So just being able to hop a bus, get off, go to dinner, get back on the to the park, you know, do another ride and then get my car was like a much easier way to do it.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: No, that's a great, that's a great tip.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I thought I forgot about that.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, just I I haven't been to Walt Disney World in such a long time since I've been a kid, but just from Universal, the the park or the the bus system, you know, and how it's so spaced out compared to Disneyland, where you know, if you're in Disneyland, you can walk over to California Adventure and vice versa, very easy.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: And the park copper, um, you know, my wife and I was just she was just asking me, should we do the parkour position?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, we should do it.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: It's it's right there, you know, like it's it makes sense to do it.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: It's extra money, but it's also sometimes, you know, and Disneyland doesn't serve alcohol.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: And so that's another tidbit too, is like you need to be aware of that.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to go to California, you know it's alcohol, you need to go to California Adventure.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: You know, I I don't know if anyone, you know, not at not saying anyone has to drink or whatever, but sometimes, you know, I need an adult beverage when I'm with my kids all day.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: I need to kind of unwind and whatnot.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: So that's something to consider too.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if Walt Disney World's like that too with the parks, but yeah, at at least in my time there that I could speak from, all the parks allowed alcohol except for Magic Kingdom.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's still the case or not, but that was the case for a long time.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, one thing to keep in mind, I'll tell a quick story of how we're into this, is make sure that yeah, you understand your tickets and what parks you have access to on what days and if you have park hopper or not.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times you can make a dining reservation and not have access to where that dining reservation is.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: There was a time, this was years ago, I was on a date and we had made reservations for 50s primetime cafe at Hollywood Studios, which is one of my favorites, right?
25:44
SPEAKER_00: And I had an annual pass at the time.
25:46
SPEAKER_00: And so did the girl I was dating at the time.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: And we showed up and we realized that because it was, I don't know if it was Valentine's Day or what day it was, but that particular day was blocked out on our passes.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: So we had a dining reservation for a resort in a park that we were denied entry into because our tickets were blocked out that day.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: So I don't think that's as much of an issue if you buy tickets kind of piecemeal.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: But if you have any kind of pass, you want to make sure that, especially if you're on the holidays, that you have access to the parks on the days that you want to go for whatever special event.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of the hours events are separately ticketed now.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: So, like the not-so-scary Halloween party, the very Merry Christmas party, usually that's a whole separate ticket.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: So it's not really as much of an issue.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, just make sure that you're aware of what parks you're allowed to go into on a certain day.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Because, like you said, unless you have that park hopper option or have the right ticket, you're limited as to what park you can go to on what day.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, your ticket's only good for one park one day unless you add the park hopper option that allows you to jump between.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: And even then, some parks, like I said, are blocked out certain days.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, not every park has the same blockout dates.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Magic Kingdom probably has the most, it's the most popular park.
26:51
SPEAKER_00: And so you'll see a lot of blockout dates around the holidays, a lot of blockout dates around 4th of July and New Year's and Easter and just busy times of year.
27:00
SPEAKER_00: You'll also see, even if there aren't block out dates, that they will actually hit capacity.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: I saw this for the first time after I moved here that I think it was the 4th of July was the first time I saw it.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: I think New Year's might have been a time where they actually did they were at capacity by 10 o'clock in the morning.
27:15
SPEAKER_00: So you could have a ticket, you could have access to the park, but literally they can't let you in because there's already too many people in the park.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen very often, but it's just another reason to get there early and to plan ahead so you don't run into that issue.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine that happening.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: That would be so bad.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: And also something I had to throw out there is Oogie Boogie Nights happens to Disneyland or in California Venture.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: I forgot to, or I think California Venture, right?
27:39
SPEAKER_01: So they're closed early.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: And so that's something you'd be aware about too.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: Let's say you don't do the park hopper and you're in California Venture, they'll kick you out at certain times if you don't have a ticket for that event, right?
27:48
SPEAKER_01: So that's something to be aware of too when those special events happen.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have that hopper, you might have to go home early if you don't have that extra ticket or whatever.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: So just something to be aware of, especially around the Halloween now and coming up on the holidays.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: That's something that you would you probably wouldn't about unless you knew about those events happening and things like that.
28:06
SPEAKER_01: So something to be aware of.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you'll look at the park hours and you'll see 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m., 9 p.m.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: 6 p.m.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: What?
28:13
SPEAKER_00: And that's like the party night, right?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: And that usually happens multiple times a week.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, like usually it's just like magic, at least in Florida, it's Magic Kingdom that has those restrictions.
28:21
SPEAKER_00: I think Hollywood Studios might because they have the night of lights, or they've called it a number of different things over the years, but they have like a nighttime thing as well.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: There'd be days where I'd go to Magic Kingdom in the morning, it was like a uh Halloween or a Christmas party day.
28:34
SPEAKER_00: And so then when they were gonna kick us out, I would hop over to Epcot and watch the fireworks and get dinner or whatever.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, yeah.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: No, that's great, man.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Parenting is hard, man.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: It's it's like nothing you don't know when you go into it.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: It's like nothing you've ever done before.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: I remember when I announced to everybody that I was gonna be taking a paternity leave, they're like, anybody have any advice?
28:54
SPEAKER_00: And Ryan goes, get your sleep now, which was the best advice I could have gotten because that that first year was pretty dicey.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Thankfully they grow out of that.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it just you're just not prepared for you don't know what you don't know.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: And like I read the books and I did the thing.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: My wife read the books, but like there's just there's nothing that could compare you once once you're in it.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: No, the sleepless nights, the sleep deprivation for me personally was really weird.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: It messed with my psyche, it messed with my mental makeup.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: And it's something that it's hard, I think, for men to talk about too.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: There's so much emphasis on the wife, how she's dealing with it, the mother, all that stuff.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: And it feels like the dad is just so expected to be everything's cool and everything's good, but it's I don't know if it's equally as hard for dad, but I'm just gonna say it's really hard for dad too.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: And so giving us grace, giving us, you know, and especially coming back from that maternity leave.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people were like, I got the impression they were just like, or paternity leave, I should say.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: They were giving they were giving the impression that everything was I just had six weeks off, or like I didn't do anything, like I had a vacation or something like that.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: That was the hardest six weeks of my life.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: Once the nurse gives you the baby, and you have to change the diaper every hour, you have to feed it every hour, you have to try to I had a freaking app on my phone, literally trying to decode what a cry meant because I didn't know.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like why is this baby crying at like so much?
30:12
SPEAKER_01: Is it hungry?
30:13
SPEAKER_01: Is it hurt?
30:14
SPEAKER_01: Is it need feeding?
30:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: There's so many things that like have to go through your mind as a parent.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: From you're in this, we have a one-year-old still, like I've my two-year-old.
30:23
SPEAKER_01: So there's some days I'm like, I got this figured out, I'm the parent of the year, parent podcast, obviously.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: There's some do there's some days I'm like, why do I have a parent podcast?
30:32
SPEAKER_01: I suck as a parent, I'm horrible at this.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: My kids hate me.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: It just and it honestly, like for me, this the it just ranges on that spectrum.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: And so if once you figure think you have it figured out, you don't.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: Your kids change, they throw new challenges at you.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: It's tough, man.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's expensive, it's expensive.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: So Eric, yeah, Eric needs the have any contacts for for work for Eric.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Reach out to the same with me, we'll help you get done what you need.
30:58
SPEAKER_01: Parenting is expensive, daycare is expensive.
31:00
SPEAKER_01: We need to kind of fill those gaps while we're looking for that more long term employment because we're in a tough situation, tough spot here.