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46. Answering YOUR Trip Questions! · Sisters, Sisters: A Mouselets Podcast

• M2: Sorry for the brief blip. My toe got stuck in my microphone cord and ripped it out of my microphone. We're back. ⁓ M1: It if you are a Patreon Peach and Pit crew member, you know Mouselit 2 has technical difficulties every single week and makes me having to edit this podcast a nightmare. Also, also, wait. And when your toe ripped the cord out, you were supposed to just quickly leave the recording and come back. What did you do? M2: I can snake my cord through this thing. Maybe I should try that. I accidentally stopped the recording, so we had to restart the recording. We still get to preserve everything we said before. It's not that big of a deal. Unfortunate though, but it's okay. Anyway, what were you saying? I think you were about to talk about squeezing in a few rides, perhaps. M1: Yes, the wait times will be low. You should squeeze in a few rides. You should also see the castle show. It's really fun. It's one of our favorites. It's so Christmassy. There's an absolute banger of a song about Donald on a cell phone, and we love it. And then there's Snoop on Main Street, which you just have to see. It's like, it's so iconic and fun. ⁓ that per party. M2: That's so good. It's so good. I think in general though, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is like is so geared towards family and kids. It's geared towards all. The other thing I would say is dress up. It's fun to like dress up for that. ⁓ okay, Jollywood. We love Jollywood. And you know what? I have to shout out this family that we see at Jollywood every single year. And it's like, honestly, it's like we have such a vibe that we're always like, hey, it's so fun to run into them. They have kids and they go and they have an amazing time. ⁓ it's a little bit more adult of anything Disney does. It's a little bit more adult. There's still so much that's geared towards kids, though. There's good, really good shows. So there's three shows. Plus, they do jingle bell, jingle bam, which I would say watch because it's it's so fun. It's the fireworks show. But there's an ice skating show, 10 out of 10 recommend. It's in front of the Chinese theater. And then there's like a variety show that's where the Beauty and the Beast show is. Also really good. There's also a Nightmare Before Christmas party party show. ⁓ it's nothing against the performers or the writers of the show. M1: So good. Not party, show. M2: It's the worst show I've ever seen at Disney. I despised it. I have just gonna be honest. It was so boring and horrible. I know every single other person loves it. So it's really just I actually do. I love I love it now. The show it was so artistic. I think if I was a kid and I had to watch that show, I would rather sit through like anything else. M1: Okay, we don't like Nightmare Before Christmas, first of all. But you didn't when you saw the show. It's a very artsy take. It's like no speaking. So just keep that in mind if you go. the Pixar dance party is so fun. Pixar characters are playing like pop music, there's bubbles. M2: Mike Wazowski, sadness, others, yeah. M1: Amazing vibes, that's really fun. They're going to be low weights for rides. So, like Slinky Dog, even rides like Rise of the Resistance, if your 10-year-old is into Star Wars, you can pop onto rides super easily. ⁓ if you're a character person, they're gonna be rare characters, those are where the lines do get longer. So just like try and plan accordingly, go later in the night if you can, or get in line like pretty early. And M2: Especially if there's like certain priority characters that you you find that you want to meet. Like Phineas and Verb, it's a really long line. But other characters, especially at night, like Lotto can have end up with a short line. Max and Goofy. Like there a lot of people end up with shorter lines. ⁓ another thing to note with bringing kids to Jollywood is that I find the food is a little funky at Jollywood because all the restaurants close at I ⁓ seven PM. Don't quote me on that time, but all the restaurants close. This reminds me of the fact that last year we messed up the times of Jollywood like a hundred times. Don't quote me at a time at ⁓ M1: Yes, I was gonna say you messed up the signs. M2: ⁓ I messed up. We messed up. Don't quote me on the time, but a lot of the food place is closed and there's just the event special food. So just make sure that there's stuff that your your ten year old will like because some of the f yeah. M1: It's harder to get a meal. Like there's lots of snacks, but if you need like a meal, kind of hard to come by. But you're gonna have a lot of fun. M2: Another thing I would say is if you're yeah, you're gonna have so much fun. And if your 10-year-old likes to like dress up and stuff, not even like dress up fancy, but like even as anything, Disney bounding. It's so fun to do like a family kind of outfit. So I would recommend that. And you're gonna have so much fun. The next question, this is a wild one. Is it worth it to try to sneak alcohol into Disney? I don't know if this was a troll or if this is a real question. No, no, it's not worth it. M1: I can't believe That you put this question in there. To be clear, Disney has a set of rules of things that you cannot bring into the parks. Some of those are like weapons. Most of those are things that are dangerous. But one yeah, one of the things you cannot bring in is alcohol, you know, for like honesty safety reasons, guest experience reasons. And if you try and sneak any of those things into Disney, including alcohol, you could get a lifetime ban and never be allowed back. So is it worth it? M2: Glass. Also, I I I went on a weird deep dive of people sneaking alcohol into Disney on like TikTok and like people are doing crazy things and many of them are getting caught. They're putting it in like hollowed out sunscreen bottles. I I'm gonna be honest, I think we're doing a little bit too much because I want to console you that every single Disney park does sell alcohol. So if that's something that's incredibly important to you or someone in your party, you can get a drink at all of the parks, including Magic Kingdom. You can go to the Beacon Barrel Lounge. You can't go to Gaston's. I have beef with that. But ⁓ not that I would be drinking from there, but I feel like some people would. And you can go to the sit-down restaurant. So no do n under literally zero circumstances should you try to do that. And also it's so not gonna be worth it at all. In any way. M1: No. And just know if you do it, you could potentially be banned from going back to Disney ever. So is that worth it? Nar, as we like to say. M2: This does not have the mouse let's approval. Do not do this. Next. I answered this one on Instagram stories actually. And I f I felt like it was so good to discuss. So M1: Next someone said another This is another resort comparison of Saratoga or boardwalk. So, again, the boardwalk is going to be out of the back of Epcot. Saratoga is along the Sastigula River. It's with like Portland's Riverside and stuff. There's technically like ⁓ walking and boat access to Disney Springs. However, ⁓ the boardwalk is gonna win for location hands down. Being able to walk to a Disney park is Yeah, two Disney parks boats is certainly much better. I think in general, other than on price, the boardwalk is going to win. M2: Yeah, from a theme standpoint, so just for reference, Saratoga and Boardwalk are both deluxe resorts. Not all deluxe resorts are created equal. Honestly, I prefer some moderate resorts over Saratoga and Old Key West, which I think someone asked about ⁓ later on as well. We have stayed at Saratoga many times. We've had a great experience there. I like that it comes with certain deluxe perks. Specifically, I like that it has a gym. ⁓ but the boardwalk theming is so, so fun. In fact, it's one of our favorite resorts. And the Saratoga theming is Is good. I like the rooms at Saratoga a lot actually. They feel fresh. They feel new. But the overall story and theme, it does feel like kind of like a timeshare hotel, like where we used to stay as kids. Cause it is. It's a D V C it's one of the OG D like, well, it's not has a really cool history and we'll get into that in a deep dive. But it feels like a D V C hotel. M1: Old Key West and Saratoga Springs were the first two DVC hotels, and so they're very spread out, lots and lots of different buildings, and the theme is like light. Old Key West is themed after Old Key West, Florida. Like they're places, and Saratoga's obviously themed after Saratoga Springs, New York. We've been to Saratoga Springs, New York. It's not the most like M2: Old K Wass. M1: you know, I don't know, themed place in the world. It's not like you're staying at the Grand Floridian or something, which is so beautiful and visually different. It's just kind of like pretty buildings and like pink and green and stuff like that. So the M2: And then it sort of takes Saratoga and even like scales it down a little. Again, the artwork in the rooms is cute. The lobby has fun, like horse things. The lobby area is good. I like the pools at Saratoga a lot. In fact, I actually think I might prefer I might prefer the pools at Saratoga. And I definitely prefer the gym at Saratoga. But for me, the theme and the access boardwalk wins all day. But if cost is important to you, yeah, maybe Saratoga is a good option. Okay, here's one. Would you rather stay at the at Saratoga or at Swan and Dolphin? M1: It has Saratoga has very good amenities. M2: In the same type of room, a studio room. For proximity. Okay. ⁓ M1: Swann an Swann anolphin. Yeah. Can you share some niche pros and cons about grand villas at DVC versus two-bedroom villas? What's your fave? So if you are not familiar with DVC, DVC has studio rooms. That is just like a basically a typical hotel room. Two beds in a single room. One bedroom villas, that is going to be a bedroom. And then you have a separate living area that has like a kitchen with like a pull-down bed typically. There's two bedroom villas, which are the exact same thing just with an additional bedroom. And then there's three-bedroom villas, but what they call them is grand villas because The scale of difference between two-bedroom villas and a grand villa is huge. Grand villas are grand. They literally are like double the points of a two-bedroom villa. They are extremely expensive because they are over-the-top, gorgeous, some of Disney's best, largest, most themed suites. M2: In fact, it's actually probably cheaper in terms of points to stay in two two bedroom villas than one grand villa. It has like a media room. It has a whole kitchen. It's sometimes it's multiple stories. Like it's M1: Dining room, like multiple couches, multiple stories, yeah. M2: It's crazy. I mean, so here's the pros. The pros is that a grand villa is exquisite and amazing. And the con is that it's a bazillion dollars. That's really the difference. Like the so the two bedroom villas, it varies based on resorts, but typically they're gonna sleep ⁓ nine people. So there's gonna be one room that has two queen beds, one, two, three, four people in that room. There's gonna be a main a main, like a a primary bedroom with a king. So six people, and then there's gonna be a living room that has a pull down twin bed and then a pull down Murphy. So that's three more. So it typically sleeps nine, sometimes it sleeps eight. M1: Yeah. M2: ⁓ the grand villas sleep two more I think than that. 'Cause you can sleep in the media room. But like generally it's not even gonna add that many people to your room. It's just gonna give you a lot more space. So M1: They're huge. If you are considering a grand villa in any serious way and you've looked up the price, and again, money is no object, you should absolutely stay in a grand villa. Like it would be amazing. However, again, the cost is crazy. Well, we personally have a lot of DBC points. We have a whole YouTube video up about how much we spent on DBC. If you're curious on that, we have a lot of points. We are going to try to stay in our first grand villa ever by using two full years' worth of points. We have 475 DBC points. M2: Gears of points. M1: Per year, we have to use two years to try to stay in a grand villa. It's extremely expensive. So M2: It's so expensive. So next question. We go every four years, and this time we're going Thanksgiving week. We're doing Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party on our rest day. For the other days, would you do a Hollywood studios magic Hollywood studios or Magic Kingdom on a non party day with bigger crowds, but a full park day? Rope drop, go to Contempo in the afternoon, head back to the park in the evening. Or would you go to Hollywood Studios or Magic Kingdom on a party day with lower crowds, but an early exit? Because if you don't know on party days Magic Kingdom and h and Hollywood Suiz both close early for Very Merry and Jollywood. And so all guests without that ticket would need to leave by a a certain time. I think it's six PM. ⁓ okay, it's a great question because non party days do historically have lower crowds. But when the Ye it was a ghost town. It was a ghost town. M1: And we experienced this. And it was so, I mean, it was crazy. We were zipping around, zipping around to a million rides. It was so nice. M2: It was so nice. But then as the party approaches, it gets a little bit busier and busier. So here's what I would do. As a s as a park hopper hater, I would get a park hopper. I would go to Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom on a non-party day. And when the party's getting ready to start, I would bust out of there and parkop. M1: It gets extremely busy, actually. As all those guests can go in. Yeah. If you don't want to get a power copper. I would think about yourselves. We are religious rope drop people. Nighttime is not as important to us. We prefer the parks during the day. We prefer the parks in the morning. Nighttime like isn't so much our vibe. and we're okay missing firework shows sometimes. If you are someone who is more of like you you don't get up super early in the morning necessarily, but you really like the vibe of nighttime. Firework shows are super important to you, then you know, I would take that into consideration. However, for for our family, I would go to Hollywood. Studios or Magic Kingdom on a party day because seriously the crowds are so much lower. It is crazy, like how much more you can do. And then it sounds like you're yes, it sounds like you're staying at contemporary. You can watch fireworks ⁓ in Magic Kingdom from Contemporary, and so I wouldn't take a rest. I would just blast through your full park day, leave at like early evening, go enjoy an evening at Contemporary, watch the fireworks from there. If you care about fireworks, watch the electrical water pageant and enjoy at nighttime there. M2: Without lightning lanes, you might not even need ⁓ 'cause it's that empty. One caveat to this entire thing is that you are going during Thanksgiving week, which is a very, very busy week. In fact, our annual passes are blocked out for Thanksgiving Week and Christmas to New Year's. Like those are the two busiest weeks. Our annual passes are blocked out those weeks. ⁓ because we have the sorcerer pass, if anyone's curious. So something to think about. We always recommend Undercover Tourists has a crowd calendar ⁓ that you can check to see how busy days of the week are. It might not be in tune completely with the fact that there's, you know, ⁓ a party that week, but just understand or party that night, I should say. But just understand that it might be busy and so you might still experience some higher crowds. They likely will be lower though than the full Thanksgiving crowds. So M1: Next question. Do you guys love Trader Sam's Terrace or Grotto? Is there a difference? Never been. So, Trader Sam's Grog Grotto is when people are referring to Trader Sam's, this is what they're referring to. Trader Sam's Grog Grotto is the indoor bar at the Polynesian. It's very small, but it's really cool. I'll talk about why that is in a second. Trader Sam's Terrace is just an outdoor patio at the Polynesian that serves drinks and often has live music. Super cute, nothing special. It's not like That's not the thing people are talking about. Gra Grotto is the thing. Inside, it's fully tiki themed and it's extremely interactive. Depending on what drinks you order, different things around the lounge will happen. It'll sound like you're going underwater. A tiki god will come out and like do a little chant. You'll get something on fire. The bartender will be spritzing water and wearing like a hippo float. All these different things happen. It's so fun. Everybody in the bar gets really into it. It's like a very intimate atmosphere. So if you're looking to go to the Trader Sam's, it's Grog Grotto. Trader Sam's terrace you can go to at any time and it's literally just outside. M2: In fact, I would recommend because Trader Sam's, and this is currently as of July of twenty twenty-six, because you never know when things change, but anyone can go to these places. Trader Sam's Gro Graddo gets a very, very long wait. Go in there, put your name on the wait list. It might be like two hours. You can walk around the resort as of July of twenty twenty-sixth, because obviously Disney's testing out different things, but go to the terr go to the terrace, grab a drink first. Sit out there, enjoy the live music, enjoy the ambiance, and then once your reservation is called, pop in. So that's kind of what I would recommend, just knowing kind of what the wait times are. The next question: can babies or kids that can't swim well go in the lazy river at beach club with an adult? So we just talked about this in a post recently, and I think on the actually the podcast last week, but the beach club, Storm Along Bay Pool, has a lazy river. It is eight feet deep in some spots. It is not anywhere near like Blizzard Beach size, type of lagoon size. M1: Agreed. M2: It's really almost kind of a large pool with like a like a donut type shape. You're not moving that fast, but you are moving. I would say no. The my answer to this would be no. They can though. They're allowed to. ⁓ but I would say the sandbottom pool is so much better for babies or can't kids who can't swim well. And the lazy river isn't that good that like I wouldn't just because of how deep it is. It's just it's so it's the deepest pool on Disney property. M1: They're allowed to. Yeah, it's so deep. I mean, they have floats, but they're like ring floats. There are seat floats. I wouldn't say it's super optimized for a kid. You're gonna kinda have to be like working a lot to move your kid and, you know, have your kid situated, but like you are allowed to. ⁓ M2: Yeah, like you I don't think you would bring the Miklet in there. I just don't think it'd be worth it. There's so many better places to bring the Miklet in. M1: Yeah, no. ⁓ arrival day, park day or Disney Springs Day. Feel like that's always a good debate. Here's the thing. We're kind of Disney Springs haters. We've talked about this before. I don't know how much of M2: No, I'm a lover. I'm a lover now. I'm a lover. M1: Okay, but you've gone like three times. We I don't know how much you've talked about this on the podcast. We ⁓ Disney Springs is a shopping area. Like it it just has stores, shopping stores. It has some specialty Disney stores, but for the most part, it just kind of has places to eat and drink. So for us, Disney Springs is not a priority. If like there's really some reason, then we would go. But we would typically choose like a resort day over a springs day. If you are arriving midday and you're paying for a park ticket, I like wouldn't really pay for a park day ⁓ on the day you arrive unless you're like really getting in early or you're really pressed for time. I though would say for staying on property, enjoy your resort. If you're staying off property, enjoy Disney Springs. M2: Would never ever probably go to a park without an annual pass on my arrival day. I would go to a water park with Cool Kid Summer and get the free water park day, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Highly recommend that. That's just for like again this cool kid summer time. ⁓ we went to Disney Springs in 2017 on our family trip, and we went there the first day. I like Disney Springs. I like going with Mouse Lit A specifically. In fact, I only only like Disney Springs when I'm with Mouse Lit A. Not really Mouse Let One as much because you don't like it at all. Mouse Lit A does like it, so it makes it fun. Gideon's cookies are fun. There's fun places to eat. I enjoy exploring it, going to the different stores. Me when we stayed, what, it was in January and we no, it was in October. Whatever. We stayed right near Disney Springs. I popped over there a bunch. I'm starting to like it more, but I would much rather do a resort day over Springs. That's just us. If we're choosing between these two, I wouldn't really do a park day and arrival day typically, though. So okay. Next up, would you rather do a happily ever after dessert party? Or the behind the seeds tour or the wild Africa Tech Trek going mid-September. So to break these things down and define them, happily ever after dessert party, to watch the happily ever fire happily ever after. Why is that such a mouthful tonight? D fireworks, you can watch them on the hub area, so you have a designated area, but you get to have a dessert party over in the Tomorrowland Terrace. They have all sorts of different types of desserts, about the noodle bar, alcoholic beverages. M1: The noodle bar. M2: And that's what that is. Do you want to define w behind the scenes? M1: Behind the scenes is a behind the scenes tour of the Living with the Land greenhouses. So you get to walk around for like an hour, see parts of the greenhouse you can't see from the boat, learn about what they're growing here, there, how they work, and stuff like that. And then Wild Africa Trek is at Animal Kingdom. This is Animal Kingdom's kind of like longest, most expensive, and most like intense of their tours. You are walking on roped bridges over crocodiles and hippos. You get to see a hippo be fed. Crocodiles, it's really M2: Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Sister Sisters. We're back from vacation. We're home. Home sweet home. M1: We normally go to our parents' beach house to the beach that we've gone to every year for two weeks, but because we were in Disney the week before, we could only go for one week, and I'll say I it. Really cool. You get sort of like a private savannah tour. I know my answer for this, hands down. M2: Well, I was gonna say just for reference of the prices, the Wild Africa Trek is gonna be around like two hundred twenty dollars. Happily ever after dessert per per person. Happily ever after dessert party is gonna be around a hundred dollars a person and behind the seeds it's gonna be like forty dollars a person. So these are in different tiers, but they're all a special experience that you're looking to book. What what's your answer? Wild Africa Trek? This is like the tiniest violin. I'm literally like hearing us play the tiniest violin. I felt it. I agree. M1: ⁓ It's just it's also like we have gone to that beach every year, so there's so many things that we like to do. Like places that we literally want to go like eat and stuff that you really just can't fit in in a week. M2: And we always went to Rehoboth Beach. If you Delaware, Rehoboth Beach now we go to Lewis also. So we've like doubled the things to do. Yeah, we didn't have enough time. It was, I mean, I'm so happy we went to Disney, obviously. And this is literally the little tiniest violin ever playing, but ⁓ it did feel so fast. I feel like every vacation feels so fast. And speaking of that, we obviously were in Disney, but for a really short time, one of our shortest trips ever, and it was Cool Kids Summer. And there were a couple of things on my list that I thought M1: Well, Wild A I mean, for me personally, I haven't done the dessert party, so I would like to give it a try. But I think the best of the three is the Wild Africa Trek. M2: It the Wild Africa track that we did it once, it we have a vlog up on YouTube if you want to just like see what our experience was. ⁓ it was so fun. It is such a unique experience. We love talking to like the zoo caretakers and things like the zoo, whatever those people are called. I don't think they're called zoo people. Animal, animal, animal caretakers. It was such a unique experience. There are requirements to it or specificities. For example, children of certain ages can't go, and you need to be able to walk on this bridge independently. M1: Yes. Animal caretakers. M2: I wish we had done from Cool Kid Summer. And I don't know if there's anything on your list because the biggest thing that we did really was the Jesse's Roundup, a Rip Roarin, Revenue Root Root Two and Toy Story Hoedown. Featuring Jesse Woody and B Bullseye. Bullseye was not present. You have to be within a certain weight range. It's nothing yeah, it's something to look up. You have to be a certain height, I think. Like it's just things to know about it. But if you fall within all those guidelines, and probably mostly you don't have like young children, I think the Wild Africa trek is the way to go. ⁓ behind the seeds is super, super fun. We've done it once. It's at Living with the Land. Yeah, it's super cute. It feels like a quicker, slightly, I would say a slightly less special maybe type of experience. I mean, I really liked it. M1: Right. So okay, so So I'm pretty sure that they have, you know, a few different like shows, you know, that that sort of rotate what they're doing. We saw a show that featured Jesse and Woody. And I wanted Bullseye to come out so badly because no offense, Jesse and Woody, I've seen you a million times. Bullseye, like, I feel like is a pretty rare character. And we watched the entire show. I it was really fun. I'm like glad that we watched the whole thing. Mouse the two and I love to dance. We did a line dance, like it was fun. But Bullseye did not ever come out, which was ⁓ a bummer for me. M2: It was cute, me too. But I don't think it's in the same caliber as these two. I would say Savor the Savannah is maybe a little bit more in that caliber. Although I love behind the seeds. M1: No, behind the scenes. M2: Womp womp womp. But it was really cute overall. If if you have kids and you're there for Cool Kid Summer, this is like r so fun. They've and they've games before they do the show, they've all these games out. It was so cute. But there are some other things that I wish we had done. The Goofy Core party at Communicor Hall. So last year for Cool Kid Summer, you you were either there an extra day and I wasn't there or something. M1: Behind the seeds, as someone who isn't super into gardening and stuff, I love living with the land, so it's cool to get to see the greenhouses. However, behind the seeds just doesn't feel as like special. And if you don't love gardening, you might be like, okay, it's good. It was filled with kids, as it should be. M2: I really liked it, but the happily ever after dessert party, yeah, we've never done that one. We have done a couple of Epcot dessert parties. I know that people love this. We have never done it. Personally, for me, I'm not a huge dessert party person. My thing I don't really drink much alcohol. ⁓ I would rather kind of force my way in and find a better spot for the hot fireworks, although the hub does have really great viewing. ⁓ I don't need to eat that many of the desserts. I know what the Disney desserts are and like I can't eat that much That you went to the Goofy Corps party at Communicor Hall and you got food and saw the goof troop, and I did not go to it, and I've never been to it, in fact. M1: I feel like what maybe it was one of those things where like I wanted food from in there and you were getting food from somewhere else. Anyway, I don't remember. It's really cute though. It's like super decorated inside, and they have obviously goofy like playing with kids. I love how interactive everything with cool kids summer is. And even if you're an adult, it's just like a fun thing to watch. They do like a lot of creative things. So I'm sad that we didn't see that for sure. Also, they just generally during cool kids summer have like M2: Maybe I can't remember. dairy really. So for me, a very niche thing, that wouldn't be my vote. The Wild Africa truck would be. I know there are people, especially if you're a family, I think if you're a family, this is the way to go. A family with like younger kids. ⁓ but I would honestly I'm sorry. I'm just gonna I'm gonna have to give it a little bash 'cause I know some people love it. I don't, I would not do this probably. I really wouldn't. I would choose a different experience. I would go eat at a different restaurant. M1: Streetmosphere-esque performers. Last year at Magic Kingdom, Malsa 2 and I watched a juggler for literally an insanely long time. I didn't. M2: Well, and the magician, but we watched the juggler mostly 'cause we were wait, I have to tell this story. Where's the mouse of floor? But M1: I wanna try, ⁓ I wanna try the dessert party and I'm getting ready for it. I'm gonna go soon. It's only $100. I just found out based on you saying it. I thought it was gonna be way more than that. I love the fireworks. Okay, okay, you're crazy and we are moving on. We are going to talk now about, would love to hear more about owner's locker personally. Okay. Mouse Let's You and I are notoriously overpackers, one could say, in the past. M2: ⁓ Only only a hundred dollars for some desserts at a fireworks viewing? Well I might as well just pay for Club thirty three. Like When I was in, I think it was the end of high school, we went to maybe like compounds park. Could have been Six Flags. I can't remember which. It was probably like Compounds for my physics trip to watch the roller coasters. And there was this little show. I think we were just sitting in this area and these performers come out and they're performing the show like their life depends on it. And there are three people watching, and it's me and my two friends. And we're sitting there and like the show we like felt like we couldn't leave because they would be performing for no one. And so we had to sit there and watch this entire Not me yeah in the past, not me anymore. M1: Okay, exploding sort of suitcases because you know we want to bring a lot of stuff to Disney, what can we say? An owner's locker is something they have at Walt Disney World only, where this company has these big like bins, storage bins type things, that they keep in their climate-controlled warehouse. You have as many bins as you would like to pay for, and then when you get we have we have three, and then when you get to your hotel, that you can order the bin and they will bring it right to your hotel. M2: I mean, it wasn't their fault that it was bad, but like it was bad. Random children's show. And that just reminded me of of 'cause the juggler only had a couple people watch. I mean, he was tucked away in the corner and he was amazing. He really should have M1: And it was very, very hot. And he was amazing. So Mouncil 2 and I watched him for so long. Loved him. Love a juggler. Love a magician. It was very. M2: Love a juggler. Love a juggler. M1: But this, so like those are things though that you kind of have to be, you either stumble upon or you really have to know where they are and sort of sit and wait for the thing to happen. And we just didn't really have time for that this trip. But those things I'm sad, but for Street Mystere specifically, in some places they have some almost like citizen type characters, citizen of Hollywood type characters. And I would love, that's the thing I'm like saddest that we missed. Bellhops will bring it up to your room and then you can have whatever you want in the bin. We keep so much stuff in here and it makes our trips so much better because we don't have to pack all that stuff. M2: The biggest like the biggest thing we would say toiletries. We have like huge full shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotions, all that stuff. That's great. I I have a couple of things that like I would die without now. If I didn't have it, I would die. I know, I'm so sad about that. Me too. And it just like it was such a different type of trip. Honestly, everywhere we went, it was like boom, boom, boom. Like we had all of these things that we wanted to do. Like we have to do Soren, we have to Rock and Roller Coast, we have to do this. We didn't even go to Animal Kingdom. We didn't do the Bluey thing. I'm actually okay with it just because of how long it takes to get there and it truly is like a children's dance party. Although I would have liked to just like see what was up to it. Like, even if I was at Animal Kingdom, I don't know if I could have prioritized that. But I feel like in maybe a year or two the baby will probably like Bluey. And so that would be good. So M1: Mouselit 2 on our last trip was wearing the shortest dress of all time. And she forgot biker shorts. And she luckily had kept a pair of biker shorts in the owner's locker. And you know what? It was an emergency because if she had not been wearing those, the whole park would have seen her under ruse so many times. M2: How dare you mention this on the Extras emergency biker shorts. M1: We did not have time for it. M2: Just you wait. Once in twenty eighteen, ⁓ my god, wait, this is twenty eighteen lore. It's both. We were going to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party. Malice one said, I don't interrupt. Malice one said, I have the perfect Santa Claus dress costumes. I said, Great. I'm excited for it. She brings it. It's fit for I can't even be who I don't know who. A child, perhaps? It is the shortest thing I've ever seen. She ⁓ she brought leggings. I said, I don't have leggings. You didn't tell me that. M1: Yeah, at some point we'll go out there. It was not the trip for it. But if you're going down Cool Kids Summer, also something that I really like about Cool Kids Summer is it does have a lot of things that are inside. Like the it's using unused space to bring kids inside, which is a very nice reason to like let your kids kind of cool down. The one other thing that we quickly wanted to talk about is ⁓ Ha ha another thing that they often bring around in the summer, which is H2O glow nights at Typhoon Lagoon. This is a special nighttime it basically Typhoon Lagoon is open at night. They have like sort of like a big dance party DJ on the beach and like glow sticks and everything's like yeah glow themed. M2: I had to purchase a pair of size 12 children's leggings, pajama pants, heather gray pattern with little s and squeezed them onto my body. And thank God I found those because I mean I truly would have been kicked out of the park and dress coated for that. ⁓ all that to say, yes, now I do keep a pair of emergency biker shorts, which aren't in the owner's locker because I brought them home to wash. We didn't have a washer dryer, an extra shirt, my running shoes, so I don't have to pack running shoes has been the biggest game changer since I work out when I'm there. I recently added a portable monitor, which is a game changer. M1: They were gray heather gray patterned. Ha ha M2: Big like aft it's like an after hours event and it's a big thing in the summer. It's at yeah, it's at Typhoon Lagoon. I wish it was at Blizzard Beach because I know you're all about it. But we did it one time and we didn't consider doing it this year. I mean, we truly did not have time. But I'm curious, would you I liked it and I think it's like a fun thing for someone to do once. I don't know if I'm dying to do it again, but I know a lot of people love it. I just like I don't know why I'm not dying to do it again though. Maybe because we spent a bazillion, bazillion, bazillion hours at Typhoon Lagoon those two years, and so I like kind of sick of it. I don't know. I have a headset because I'm working remotely. I have Crocs. I have my like slide-on shoes for the pool. I have my Disney tote bet. M1: Which are so ugly. Taryn, every time she sees them on Mal Slate's feet, she literally says that she wants to burn them. They're like they are. They are. M2: She sends it all caps. She goes, those are the ugliest shoes ever. I bought those in Disney. I bought those in Animal Kingdom when my shoes were getting wet. When I didn't have extra shoes. ⁓ I have a bunch all of my spare like Disney bags. I have a spare pair of ears. I have a bunch of tote bags. You even had to borrow my tote bags because you didn't have them. We have goggles, sunscreen. M1: Yeah. Well I don't remember how much it cost. That would sort of fliff be a factor for me, like depending on how much it cost. M2: What were your thoughts? I'll I'll look it up while you talk. M1: I think it's a vibe. It's a certain vibe. Like we actually ended up on the beach at the dance party, like kind of towards the end. And I thought that was very fun. Going down the water slides in the dark is also like kind of a fun novel thing. And like you're obviously even on the lazy river, you're like sweltering in the heat, you know. It's it's it's just very different to not be in a water park in the sun. But for the most part, it's the water park. We have fans, UV umbrellas, like a billion toiletries, medicine, like everything in there. So when I go down, I literally keep a list on my phone and I'm like, okay, I have makeup remover, I have face wash, I have lotion, I have shampoo, I have conditioner, I have things to slick my hair back, I have floss, I have like hairbands, all this stuff. So I say, perfect, I don't need to pack any of that. I will pack a toothbrush, basically. And M2: Panchos. The pricing is $85 to $89 $85 to $89 per adult, depending on the night. Children get a twenty dollar discount. And there is a DVC and a pass holder discount. The event runs from 8 PM to 11 PM according to Disney website, but you can enter as early as 6 PM and you get, yeah, free Mickey bars. They also have free popsicles, which is great because I'm lactose intolerant. Bottled drinks and popcorn. People go ham on the drinks. People like literally and and the food. Like they will eat so many Mickey bars, which like I It's it's so convenient. On your checkout day, yeah, you call the bellhop, help bellhop up and they come and pick it up. ⁓ I mean you should tip them. That's like the biggest thing I'll say is like ⁓ like a slight added cost. Like they're carrying your owner's lockers. But we have three. I have one, you have one, that's kind well, we basically share them. And then the baby has one full of random baby stuff. ⁓ we don't order them all every time. Pricing wise, it it's actually super reasonable. There's three different tiers. It depends on how often you go to Disney. So if you go to Disney once a year, M1: But mostly yes. M2: I love that for them. Like that's I just like couldn't 'cause my stomach would explode. ⁓ I liked doing the I liked doing the water slides at night. I thought that was fun. I rode a water slide with with one of our friends kind of by chance 'cause they wouldn't let us go by ourselves so we had to ride together, which was a adventure. but in general, I yeah, I'm just not itching to do it again, but I did like it. The lowest tier is the best price for you because you pay a delivery fee, but you're only going once. We have the highest tier because we go so often that we don't have a delivery fee. It's like 20 bucks a month. I mean, for for there's a there's I know it's not for everyone, but there's a niche audience that this is amazing for. ⁓ okay, next question. Do you have any suggestions for split stays between Universal and Disney? I just did a split stay between Universal and Universal and Disney earlier this year. And I do have some tips. In the past, I feel like I would have always said just stay at Disney the whole time. M1: Yeah. It's It's just like it's the park in the dark, other than the beach dance party, which I do think is fun. Like they're playing, like, you know, not Disney music. Yeah. M2: And they've characters Captain Hook and Smee, Chip and Dale, Goofy. M1: Characters come out and they're playing like real people, you know, like regular music. So you're like dancing. Like I think that that's fun. ⁓ is that Disney music? It's like it's pop music, which I think is very fun. However, as people, yes, who have kind of been to Typhoon Lagoon a lot, doing the slides in the dark once is like a novelty, but then you're just kind of like in Typhoon Lagoon. And it's like, well, yes. Cause there's no sun to warn you up. M2: But I've changed my tune because I really enjoyed staying on Universal Property and getting the express pass, which is their version of like a a premiere pass, like a lightning pass lightning lane type pass. ⁓ it's like unlimited though. You have to use it on all these rides, you don't have to book it advance, whatever. I enjoyed staying there. The hotel that I stayed at actually really surprised me. I don't remember the name of it, guys. It was called like the Pacifico or something. I'm gonna have to look it up later. But Mal Seday is sitting there being like, I know what it was called. If you're listening, Mal Seday outside my door, please tell me. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. No, I get it. I get it. And we were slightly cold. I think like it was just ever so slightly cold because there's no sun out. It was fun though. ⁓ and knowing it's like eighty nine dollars, which is probably similar to what the water park costs, I do think it's a fun thing to do. They all yeah, they have all the special floats and the lazy river. Like, it is fun. I think if I did it again, we sort of did it on a whim, we would like burn close sticks and like do go a little more all out. But that is another offering for summer that I think is is pretty fun. But But it was one of the deluxe hotels there. And I really liked seeing it Universal. I loved being able to walk to the parks. It was so nice. And I think it made my universal experience better. So my suggestion would be yes, actually do a split stay. If you're wondering how to get to and from them, yeah, they're not going to transfer your luggage. If you don't have a car, we did have a rental car. If you don't have a rental car, you can Uber. ⁓ I would probably rent a car, though, if I'm being honest. So that's my tip. Mouse one doesn't have much to say because she hasn't been to Universal in so long. M1: We need to plan yeah, plan a little bit better. Yeah. M2: Before we get into our trip planning questions, some of which do involve the water parks, which is why I thought that was a good fit. We have a little bit of news. M1: So the president of Walt Disney World, Jeff V-A-H-L-E Vale, I have no idea how to pronounce that. He announced recently he'd be retiring. They just announced his replacement. ⁓ the man is currently the president of Disney Signature Experiences, which I believe involves Disney Cruise Line. It said he was involved in the launch of both The Destiny and the Adventure. He's worked at Disney for like 40 years and started his career as a skipper. So to me, seems like a good fit to come into Walt Disney World. So I'll move on to the next one. Option between a one-bedroom villa at Saratoga, Animal Kingdom Launch, and Old Key West. Thoughts? Okay. I have specific thoughts on this one, which is Animal Kingdom Lodge is currently Malsa 2 and I made a mistake recently. We tried to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge, not realizing that whatever building we were in like wasn't redone yet. Animal Kingdom Lodge is actively being redone. All the rooms are being redone. Once those rooms are all redone, which is gonna be soon, Animal Kingdom Lodge from this list, hands down. I would always say at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you should be able you should try to slurge for a Savannah view if you can. It is so worth it. M2: His name is Joe Shott, in case you were wondering what his name is. ⁓ and you're familiar with it. Not sure if I'm pronouncing the last name correctly, but they gave it my best go. A couple of other pieces of news. Okay, there's a $59 evening ticket at Disneyland. So if you're headed to Disneyland and you want to get ⁓ my god, wait, we should actually do that after D23. We talked about this. If you want to hear more mouse lit's lore, trip planning things, check out our Patreon, our pit and peach crew, because in our sitting on the ground segment, we talked all about our kind of atypical plans for D twenty three. Yet. M1: Yeah. That's a really good deal. Maybe we should do that. See? There. It's one of the only places that we typically will like purposely splurge for a view. Saratoga and Old Key West, as we talked about before, are just kind of more basic in theme. Animal Kingdom Lodge is a big theme. However, if for some reason you would be at Animal Kingdom Lodge when the rooms are not redone yet, those rooms do feel very old to me. They don't have Murphy beds yet. ⁓ they just feel tired. So I would pick Saratoga then next. Old Key West is really not our favorite. M2: That is an amazing deal. Let's look into that. Okay, I'm gonna highlight it in the spreadsheet. ⁓ wait, I want to say the next one because there's so much do you remember the lore with this? George W. Bush's Portrait of Courage exhibit closes at Epcot. M1: It's very limited, so we should. Okay. The the next M2: When we were inside of the American Adventure Pavilion, I think waiting for the show or whatever, we were looking at the portraits. Mouselit one realized that George W. Bush had painted all of them. And you asked Papa Mouselit, you said, Guess who guess who painted these? And I don't even know who we guessed. You asked Mama Mouselit and they had no idea. And you said George W. Bush. And the look on their face was so freaking funny. Why is it closing? And and yeah, I think the the proximity wise, because these are of the three to rent T V C points from, you can get all three of these resorts for like the price of a moderate and they come with deluxe perks and it is really nice. So this in my mind is better in many ways than staying at like a Port Orleans, although I do really like Port Orleans a lot. But I would say Animal Kingdom Lodge, I think is a great option. I didn't mind the pullout couch, but if that's something that would bother you, don't. I think it has some of the best food. I think Saratoga, as far as I I think Saratoga basically has some of the M1: Because ⁓ it was there for two years. Apparently they like slightly extended it to go through the fourth of July and now they're gonna change out the exhibit, I guess. But yes, if you ever went in the American Adventure Pilion and you saw a ton of portraits, ⁓ those are all painted by George W. Bush, which I think is literally so random. M2: Worst food as far as like sit-down places. I mean, they've got like basically nothing, but they're right by Disney Springs. Old Key West truly wasn't our favorite. I would be happy to say it Old Key West anytime, though. I like the pool. I love Olivia's. You can get to Disney Springs on the boat. ⁓ but yeah, in general, not my fave. So I think my vote would be Animal Kingdom Lodge, then Animal Kingdom Lodge, John Bohouse would be my first vote, then Saratoga, then Animal Kingdom Kidani, then Old Key West. He's an artiste. M1: He's narte. And then the biggest piece of news is that the Carousel of Progress in its current iteration is officially closed. So we will be doing a little in memoriam segment later in the episode. So stay tuned for that. But yes, Carousel of Progress in its current iteration is closed. It will reopen, I don't know, next year, I think. Yeah, with brand new scenes. M2: Sometime next year, yeah, sometime next year. M1: I just looking up ⁓ Prices at Animal Kingdom Watch on David's Vacation Club Rentals, which is where we rent DVC points, because I just want to remind people like how affordable this is. Animal Kingdom Watch has a room that's called a value room. It's like a smaller room. These rooms are hard to get. If you can get one of those rooms, your price per night is 200. I'm looking at some random weekend in August. So these are weekend prices. $288 per night. Animal Kingdom Watch, insane. Again, value rooms are hard to get, I will say. So if you're not in a value room, M2: I'm excited, I'm sad, we'll get into it more in our mem in memorium, which I had to look up how to spell memorium because it was so confusing to me. But first up, we're gonna get into our main segment. And our main segment today is answering your trip planning questions. I did a Q and A on my drive home and so many people asked so many good trip planning questions. I could not possibly answer them all over Instagram stories. And so me and Mouse of One have pulled ⁓ a pretty good chunk, trying to answer as many as we can, and there's a lot we didn't even get to about people's questions. Some of them we'll try to go fast, some of them we might have to get into a little bit more detail. But let's just dive into it with question number one. You wanna kick it off? That's insane. M1: 360 per night? That's comparable to like a more expensive mod, right? M2: A ⁓ a moderate. That's literally on par, but you're getting Boma, the best restaurant on property. You're getting Jico, you're getting Sanaa, you're getting the Savannah and all the animals. Like ⁓ y I love I I mean, Animal Kingdom Lodge is actually like every time I talk about it, I'm like, wait, I think this is one of my favorite resorts. M1: This question was, should someone stay at the beach club or the Swan and Dolphin? So if you're not familiar, the boardwalk area out the back of Apca has the boardwalk resort. Then across the river, it has the beach and yacht club sister resorts. And a Savannah View. This is a weekday night that I just switched to, but a Savannah View, $400 per night. Savannah View. M2: For a deluxe room with a yeah, that's crazy. That's why we went from David's. River River. M1: David's Vacation Club Rentals has cost calculators where you can see all of this. But if you've never stayed deluxe because it's too expensive, I highly recommend checking them out because I think you might be very surprised by the prices. But yeah, if you're considering those ones, I would pick Animal Kingdom Lodge as long as the room is returned. how much pool time should I plan for a future trip? Lake and then it has the Swan and the Dolphin. So the Swan and the Dolphin are obviously very unique hotels. They get the perks of Deluxe Disney hotels, but they're not owned and operated by Disney. They're Marriott properties. But like they were built in collaboration with Disney, so they're cool, but they're not Disney themed. They're very unique. ⁓ Swan and Dolphin is honestly one of the best deals on property because again, you get those deluxe perks, but it's definitely much cheaper because it doesn't have Disney theming and stuff like that. So for that. M2: Yeah. Okay. No, wait, this is mine. This is mine. How much pool time should I plan for a future trip with staying on property? Because I want the one that's two down from this. So I wanted to make sure we were alternating appropriately. ⁓ how much pool time should you plan? This is funny because I think every single year we have progressively changed more and more. Other than we were kids, but when we started going to Disney, twenty eighteen is really the time, right? We were like barely gonna spend a second at the pool. B like almost not at all. It it yeah, price, Swan and Dolphin does win. You can rent D V C points at the beach club ⁓ and stay in a studio room because Swan and Dolphin only has like studio type rooms, regular hotel rooms, which is like what a studio is basically. And you could probably get somewhere close, but it's hard to rent D V C points at beach clubs sometimes. ⁓ in terms of proximity, Swan and Dolphin, so the big pyramid hotel, ⁓ you guys have probably seen it, it's it's right next to the beach and yacht club. M1: That one for a price, Swanedolphin wins. M2: And then like slowly year after year, and Mouseladay, when she started coming in 2020, was like, why would I want to be at the pool? Even Mousel C was like, ride, Mouse Lit C was even a ride fiend. ⁓ even Mousel L and ⁓ so my sister in law and brother-in-law Mouse Leday's sister, they were all about rides, rides, rides. And then the last trip they went on, they were like, Wait, like I think the more you go, the more pool time you want to spend. The less you go, I personally would always be like, I feel like I'm missing park time by being at the pool. M1: She was a ride fiend. M2: I mean it's ever so slightly further from Epcot and it's ever so slightly further from Hollywood. No, no, no. No bar barely. Barely. Barely. Barely barely barely barely barely barely barely. No, I mean it's it's like yeah, ever so slightly is I think what I said. M1: It's it's it's further from Epcot. ⁓ it's further from Epcot. No, no, no, no, no, no. Guys look at a look at a map. Look at a map. ⁓ wait, hang on, I just need to tell the story really quick of the time that M2: So it kinda depends on one where you're staying and how yeah, and how long how many times you've been going. But I think the biggest thing with the pool is that if it's hot, a midday pool break is so nice, especially on Hollywood Studios day. Like so nice. ⁓ good. I don't even know what you're gonna say. M1: You and I were you and I were walking to the Swan of Dolphin. We got all the way to where jelly rolls is. I realized I forgot the pink bag in a locker. I you made me walk all the way back alone. You refused to come. In the blistering, sweltering heat, I'd walk all the way back. I'd walk me neither. It's crazy. And if you are splurging to stay somewhere on property, honestly, at all, but especially a moderate level or above. M2: I had to I must have been I can't believe I did that. I mean I won't admit I'm wrong pretty much ever, but like that's crazy. No, like that's crazy. I was clearly in a horrid mood. If you tell me what trip if you tell me what trip that was and you can find it, I guess it was probably our what trip was that? Our ⁓ April twenty twenty three trip? M1: Then you should take advantage of those amenities, you know, especially if you're staying deluxe. Like one of the reasons you're paying there, and I'm a deluxe girly, I love it, but like if you're gonna pay to stay there, you should bake in time to use the amenities. Just consider your priorities though. If you're gonna be sitting at the pool, being like, ⁓ my god, ⁓ god, ⁓ my god, I'm missing park time, then like it's not gonna be worth it. However, we often find that some of like our peaches of the trip and some of the things that we remember most are when we're not in a park and we go back to the resort and we end up like playing cornhole by It was I don't know, you are an awful monster. You made me walk all the way back alone and then all the way back. And let me tell you, I've never been hotter in my life and a walk has never been longer. The beach club is closer. M2: That's a bit much. That's a bit much. That's a bit much. It would have sucked to walk back from Beach Club anyway. Okay, enough. It's closer to Hollywood Studios. ⁓ but in general you're with the friendship boats. I mean the proximity is good. And in fact if you go to the if you go to the Swan and Dolphin and you get off there, you can walk to the beach club faster than you can take the boat. And we proved that last trip. M1: The lake at Wilderness Lodge, or like whatever, going down the waterside for the first time, or something. Like just something very different and relaxing can be very fun. But I was gonna say one amazing thing about Swan and Dolphin, you're like basically the first stop on the friendship boats, like anytime you are going anywhere other than to Epcot, but like you would basically never take a boat to Epcot, you just walk. and so that's amazing. M2: Agreed. And I think the only other thing I would say is that if you're someone who's staying into value, I mean the pools are still good, but if you're like a park, park, park, park, park person, yeah, maybe a deluxe resort honestly is not worth spending all of that money for. But if you are staying, also love the moderate pools. A big fan of all the moderate pools. I don't on property. Yeah. I would say if you're going on a five-day trip, I would say one resort day, which includes pool time, exploring a resort is a great option. If you're staying off site, That is amazing. So proximity is great. ⁓ M1: Beach Club wins. For Disney Magic, it's definitely the Beach Club because again, Swanna Dolphin doesn't have Disney theming. I think that Swann a Dolphin feels like a fun place to stay. It is like, it is cool and vibrant, but it doesn't necessarily feel like there's like Mickeys anywhere and stuff. So if you not that there's a ton of Mickeys at the Beach Club, but you know what I mean. Like there's a feel of a Disney resort and there's a feel of a non-Disney resort. And Beach Club feels like a Disney resort. And so Beach Club wins there. River Portal's Riverside is one of our favorite pools. We love that pool. Mm-hmm. M2: I wouldn't work in that much pool time to be honest. M1: Okay, Riviera, Boardwalk, Swan and Dolphin, Pop, or Art of Animation for a family of three with a two-year-old. Right off the bat, not Riviera. Riviera is like the most adult resort to me on property. Not to say kids can't stay there, kids can and do stay there frequently. But I just find that it's a little bit more optimized to adults. Like the things to do, the vibe, wouldn't be my first choice with a two-year-old. It would be fine, but I just wouldn't choose it. Riviera. It's very calm. M2: And then the pool, ⁓ I mean so the guys, the beach cool pool storm long bay is amazing. But I do wanna say that of all of the pools, I mean Swan and Dolphin pools, dolphin pools specifically, are some of our favorite pools on property. They have like a series of different pools. They have a f really fun water slide, they have all these pools you can like walk throughout. I mean It it's funny. I think that was gonna be my first choice. But it's a two year old. M1: With waterfalls, it's like a whole connected giant sort of long weaving pool. It's cool. It's a good pool. But like two year olds care about things. M2: No, they don't. And there's a splot that big splash area and you can get the Skyliner. I was thinking like access on the Skyliner popping over to each park. It is the most adult. I would say for like a five and an eight year old, no way, Riviera. But for a two year old, I feel like it's basically I don't have a two year old. I feel like it's two adults with a two year old who's a little enough. I I'm gonna guess I'm thinking of our friends Jamie and Rachel and their two year olds, they would maybe care. But all right, I maybe all next Riviera. ⁓ I mean my vote is boardwalk probably. It is really cool. I I think the biggest thing is if money is no object, and honestly, I'm gonna say that's gonna be a bit of a trend to some of these questions. So we'll answer it kind of. If money is no object, yeah, say at the beach club. It it just yeah, it it's slightly better. But if you are thinking of price, I mean Swan and Dolphin is a really good option. If you're gonna choose between Swan and Dolphin, just know dolphin only has double beds and Swan has two queen beds. And if you're sharing with it depends who you're sharing with. If you're in a room with you, Terran, Mouselit One and Mouse Let C, it might feel a little tight in those double beds. Like M1: Is an amazing option. M2: For the proximity, but I think that honestly art of animation or pop would be amazing choices. I'm also kind of taking Swan and Dolphin out of the mix. I don't think that's well super well optimized for M1: Ha ha M2: We brought I it would have felt tight in even the Queens, but ⁓ my vote is Beach Club, but I do think you would have an amazing time at Swan and Dolphin, and it is one of our favorite Disney resorts. So we are headed to Mickey question two. We are headed to the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and to Jollywood with our 10 year old. Suggestions on must-do activities during the party. We just have party tickets. I love this question because we love to talk about Jollywood. This is a Jollywood podcast, but also because M1: Yeah, I wouldn't say that's super well optimized for a little kid. ⁓ pop to me is just pop values in general are like a little bit more of like a chaotic vibe sometimes. M2: You're a value hater though. I love pop. I'm a big pop girl. M1: I don't love pop. It's not my favorite. I know people love it. I would choose art of animation over pop, for sure. ⁓ even like Little Mermaid Suites, whatever it is, I would choose Art of Animation. And it has Skyliner, which I think would be really nice. ⁓ but boardwalk is on the boardwalk, which is easy to access. So I think either of those would be good. M2: Jollywood is seen as like less kid friendly. And I'm very curious to hear Mouse at One's thoughts also on Jollywood with a ten year old. But to start, Mickey's very Merry Christmas party. I think like your ten year old's gonna love it. There's so many things to do. I'll I'll say a couple of things I thought of. I think you should see the first parade. ⁓ with a ten year old. I don't know exactly what time your ten year old goes to bed, but just it's so fun, it's so special. You'll get a good spot and that way you don't have to try to worry about staying up super late for that. So that's one thing. I also think the cookie and like the The the kind of the one thing that I'll throw in as a mix here is if you're a family of three with a two year old and you're gonna stay at pop, ⁓ or Swan and Dolphin in a regular type room, you're gonna be going to bed at the same time as your two year old. And so I do think as you're looking at all these options, which are all great, an art of animation family suite, which is a separate room for your child, or looking at all star music or movies family suite, or although I mean boardwalk one bedroom would be amazing. Hot chocolate and eggnog, that walk that you can go to like at different stations, I think is really fun ⁓ in general. And then if he likes or she, your ten year old, likes roller coasters, Space Mountain does a red and green overlay and it's so fun. But all considering thinking does it make sense to stay in one of the in the Saratoga, which again I really like, or an Animal Kingdom lounge that has that has a one bedroom, if that's important to you, because I do think that would be tricky for like if you have a two year old that's asleep and you guys are just sitting right next in the bed, like that would be harder and you might want a one bed. So something think about a family suite, and if you're looking for affordability, an all-star music family suite is an amazing price. So yeah. Okay. M1: It has like rock Christmas music playing and the like you can see the track. It's very fun. There's an overlay on teacups too. If you like teacups, I would say in general try and squeeze in a few rides because you're gonna get lower wait times. And then see the castle show. I absolutely It is, it is. M2: Would a Disney trip over Thanksgiving or in January be better? I'm trying to decide. I want the person who said that they're going on Thanksgiving week and they go every four years to know that I think you're gonna have an amazing time. Okay. But to this person, I would 100% go in January. Always. ⁓ okay. A couple pros about Thanksgiving time. The Christmas decor is up. Super, super, super fun. Love the Christmas decor. You can go to Very Merry Christmas Party, you can go to Jollywood, which is also super fun. Festival of the holidays should be going on at Epcot by that time. Also, Super fun. Weather a little bit warmer. January is gonna be cooler. It's gonna have Festival of the Arts. It's not gonna have holiday stuff up unless you go at the very beginning. But the crowd difference is gonna be so astronomically different. M1: If you are like obsessed with Christmas, you've always wanted to go to Disney at Christmas time, this is kind of your one opportunity. Go for it. Otherwise, go at Christmas time a different time, like early November, early December, something a different year, and go in January. The crowds are gonna be crazy over Thanksgiving. Again, our annual passes are blocked out only two times a year, and that's one of them. M2: You're still gonna have a great time, but if you're looking to do rides and hit those lower crowds, January's gonna be better. Unless you're trying to do Christmas. M1: Okay, next. Where did you how sorry? How did you choose where to buy DVC? I'm torn between the Riviera and the Poly Tower. I'm gonna tell you right now, you should choose the Poly Tower. And here's why. Disney has changed the way that DVC works, where when you purchase DVC at a brand new resort, which would be the Riviera, not the Polynesian. Polynesian is not a brand new resort. It opened in the 70s. The Riviera, your M2: Even the island tower, yeah, that doesn't count as like a new resort. M1: Right, because it's part of the Polynesian. The Riviera is a new resort. If you buy a DVC at a new resort, if you ever were to sell your DVC contract, the new owners of that contract can only use their points at the Riviera. They cannot go to any other resort. However, if you buy it at an existing resort, because of the way like literally like property laws work and stuff, ⁓ if you buy it at an existing resort, Polynesian Island Tower counts as an existing resort, it's part of the Polynesian, ⁓ anyone who buys that contract can use it at all existing resorts. Your DVC contract is going to be significantly devalued on the resale market if you buy it Riviera. It's the reason that Riviera has been being sold through DVC for like five years or something like that. M2: I don't know why they do I'm confused of why they did that. M1: that because they don't want people to keep reselling. They can't Grand Floridian and Polynesian because there were already DBC properties there. They're not allowed. They can't because it's like an extension of the existing. But for like Lakeshore Lodge, when that's on sale M2: ⁓ Do you think they'll do th yeah, that's what I was gonna ask. M1: Yes, it'll have the same rules. Any new property, they're gonna do that. So it's much less attractive. I even if you think I'm never gonna sell my DVC contract, if you did, it's gonna be so, so, so devalued. So unless you are like obsessed with Riviera, you should 100% do Island Tower. Also, I like Polynesian Island Tower more than Riviera. M2: Me too. But also I would say I think even if you're you don't own at Riviera and you're trying to book seven months out instead of eleven, I still think you'll be able to do it, except for really busy times. We've stayed there several times renting D V C points, which means there's availability. All right, guys, the final two have you stayed club level at any of the resorts? Is it worth it? We haven't stayed. The reason we haven't stayed is because we don't think it's worth it. ⁓ I've watched a lot of our friends' vlogs. Kristen Wright has a vlog on this about staying club level. M1: Yeah, you'll be able to stay there. M2: ⁓ the biggest thing about staying club level is that you get access to the club level lounge, which has like food all day as snacks and lunches and dinners and like fun things like that. Let me give an example. I just stayed in Paris at a Marriott hotel that I had access to the special club lounge, and we went up there so many times. It was like crazy. We were like, we should just go up to the club lounge because they have this, they have food. We have drinks. Like, yeah, we're popping up there all the time. ⁓ No, at Disney I think there's so many other things to do than sit in the c I mean in Paris too. But no, I wouldn't I wouldn't pay for it, to be honest. I wouldn't pay for it. M1: Yeah, like for us it's not worth it. I'm sure it's worth it for some people. For us, it's not. Final question, any advice or fun lore about Coronado Springs staying there in March? So Coronado Springs is a really cool, unique resort because the Grandestino Tower basically feels like a deluxe property, but it's on a moderate property. We've never stayed in the Grandestino Tower, but we have seen rooms in there. They're beautiful. So I would say my first thing is if you can stay in Grandestino, you should. However, the casitas are amazing too. That's where we stayed. ⁓ they have something called Dahlia Lounge, which has views out like it's Very high up, so it has views across property. You can see fireworks and stuff from up there. There's a terrace, which is super fun. Our friend Nick, theme park dad just told us that his favorite coffee on property is from the coffee place down at the bar that's like sort of down below ground level. So recommend trying that. And then Three Bridges Bar is a place that I've always wanted to try. M2: Three Bridges Bar, it's so interesting because Coronado has actually changed more than people think. I think that of the Valley of Resorts, Coronado gets forgotten about a little bit because Caribbean Beach is on the Skylander. I feel like everyone's always talking about Port Orleans, and Coronado is like a little bit more hidden. I love Coronado and they've made a lot of improvements. They built the tower. The three bridges thing they added in 2019, which I didn't even realize up until we were talking about it recently. ⁓ yeah, it's like brand new. The pool there is great, it has this big Mayan temple. M1: ⁓ M2: This it's just like a square pool, but that's really fun with a really fun slide. There's a fun playground over there. The tower has Yep. The tower has a gym, which is great, and anyone can use it that's staying at the resort. ⁓ a couple of things to note, it is a bigger resort. There is an internal bus loop. I liked where we stayed in the casitas. We were close to the tower. I would request to be as close to the tower as possible because that's where the bus and that's where like the main buses are. It's where more of the restaurants are and things. ⁓ it's nice to be near the pool too. M1: There's beaches with hammocks, which I love. M2: It's more like scenic. It feels kind of like Caribbean Beach in the way that you walk around. I loved staying there. For many years, we refer to this as our home resort. We've only stayed there once. Site staying there one singular time. But I do love it. Okay, guys. That was a lot of questions. We actually have so many more, but we're not going to answer them today. ⁓ love helping people answer their trip questions though. Like I feel like we have a lot of experience with these things, but I'm also so curious to hear what other people think about these. So let us know in the comments if you're on YouTube. M1: Despite stay there once. But we do love it. M2: I also think Spotify may or may not have comments, but pop over to the YouTube. Great, let's let's chat about it. ⁓ but now we're gonna get into our doo doo doo in memorium. M1: It does. It does. Special segment. This is an in memorium for carousel of progress. Specifically, we have a little final wish, final goodbye to all of the characters in the current carousel of progress as we send them on their way to return to us in a new form later. And we are going to start we should have uploaded ⁓ taps as a sound. Do do do. We're gonna start with John. M2: RAP John Progress. Yo toxic. You're toxic. That's all I gotta say. You're a toxic man. And I love you, but I hate you for that. M1: If you have never thought about this, guys, just sort of think about John Progress and how he perhaps treats his wife. He is toxic. Speaking of his wife. Speaking of his wife. R.A.P. Sarah Progress. We're wishing you luck with your rumpus room. As you move into these new decades, I don't think your rumpus room is gonna be coming with you. So I hope that you finally got it finished before you close down shop. M2: And his daughter and his daughter. I love him, but he's a representation of a previous generation. R.I.P. Rover, probably one of my favorite characters, the dog here. If you're not in the next version, I will absolutely riot. That's all I have to say. Love you. Kiss. M1: RIP to Patty, the daughter of John and Sarah Progress. We are so sorry that your dad was kind of constantly violating your privacy. M2: Awkward and we are all friends, but also at the same time, you're a teenager and you deserve to have that space. And I don't think we'll be seeing that again in the new version. REP to Jimmy. I'm just happy that you won't have to change more fuses in the new version, probably. But thank you for helping your dad always. M1: RIP to Grandma to you, we say we'll see you. We'll see you at the Haunted Mansion. I hope you're enjoying it over there. If you don't know, Grammy can be found rocking on her rocking chair in the ballroom scene of the Haunted Mansion. So in case you miss her in the meantime, go take a ride and wave hello. M2: R E P to grandpa, maybe you'll have a bigger part in the new ride. I had sort of a conspiracy theory that he might also be in the Hall of Presidents or something. He's not. ⁓ you didn't left leave that big of an imprint, but you've always been an important part and I'll see you next time. M1: And R.I.P. to one of my favorites, Uncle Orville. We do hope that you'll get out of the bathroom one day. Honestly, I don't think you will. I think in the new version, you're sort of still gonna be hanging out in the bathroom. Also, Honorary mentioned RIP to the little girl who was in the first scene to crowd self-progress never seen again. I hope that in the future you do not die of diphtheria. M2: And let's wrap up this episode with a pit and a peach. ⁓ I'll start with my pit. Today I was told by somebody that I was 100% wrong. It was and it funny, mouse lit slore. Our mom was once told her first name, ⁓ Mama Mouselit, you are exactly wrong. And it's like a quote our family says, so when this person said this to me, I was like literally like dying of laughter thinking of that person saying that to our mom. But it made me sad. M1: Mm. My pit and peach kind of tie into each other. My pit is that my house, I think I've said this before, but my house is a wreck. So we have been getting our dining room redone to become an office slash playroom. And we also, as we were getting that painted, we were getting like a big hallway area in our house, like our front entryway painted. So I had to clear out those two rooms, which means a million things are slammed into our like living room. And I've gotten new furniture for the playroom, and I've obviously been excited, so I it together it's all just kind of stacked in the living room it's been a disaster then i was in disney i was in rehoboth mouse at sea the miklet were there we have 100 billion million bags all over the house the house is an absolute nightmare mess ⁓ it's actually making me so stressed but my peach is that today they finally finished painting and so we get to go set up the new office playroom i am so excited to get it set up to see it come together to be able to actually use it i'm gonna actually go work on that as soon as this is over and it means I can clean my house i also sort of on a lesser peach I do need to unpack all of my suitcases from Rehoboth and Disney. No, it's a horrible pit. It's a horrible pit. It'll be a peach when it's done because my house will be clean again. My you should see my room. It looks like an actual tornado blew through. M2: Is that a peach? What on on a lesser peach, I'm sorry, it's a horrible pit. ⁓ I saw your closet and I said, James, someone asked about the origin of James. We'll tell you next. ⁓ you're not fixing your closet. I see. Okay. My peach was that I got to see mouse at A because I hadn't seen her in almost two weeks. So I think that that was probably my biggest peach. If I had a secondary peach, it's that I'm trying to go to bed earlier and I went to bed at like 845 last night and it was amazing. So I mean I woke up feeling exhausted still, but I have to be in bed by 9:30. I know. That's why I made sure we started at 713. Other than the little mishap where I accidentally pulled the cord out with my toe. M1: Well my closet is my closet isn't being fixed. My closet isn't being fixed. No. It's eight forty it's eight forty five on the dot right now as you say that. Ha M2: Let's wrap up with a fact of the day. M1: Okay, I did a fun, I think, series this week about Pizza Planet, and by series I mean I posted a YouTube video. M2: Pete Pete Prainzer Planet. A series on Prince of Planet. Why did you say it like that? M1: I didn't say it like that. You sound like Mr. Potato Head. I've also been re-watching Toy Story to try and prepare for Toy Story 5, but I did a little thing about Pizza Planet. Yes, but I haven't seen it yet. M2: We did not already come out. ⁓ okay. M1: I did a thing about Pizza Planet, okay? And I was, as I was doing this, it ties back into like a Muppets Land that was planned for Hollywood Studios. And so my fun fact is that they were supposed to build an entire Muppets Land where Muppet Vision 3D was. That didn't happen because Jim Henson died before the deal was signed and then the deal kind of like fell apart for a bit. But they were supposed to have a restaurant themed around the Swedish chef, which I think would have been really fun. They were supposed to have another restaurant, and they were supposed to have like a parody great movie ride that would have been starring the Muppets. All things that I think would have been great and would have perhaps been a little bit better than Buppovician 3D. I know, but M2: Well, they have had Muppet Vision 3D too, I believe. ⁓ Okay, I'll I'll jump on to your fact with another fun fact. ⁓ they were gonna have two other lands. I've done a deep dive on both of them on YouTube, as well as the Muppet Land. It's an older video, but still good. One of them was a Roger Rabbit land. They were gonna put at the end of Rock and the Rock'n'Roller Coaster area. I despise Roger Rabbit because they have a literal horrific scene where this thing is tortured. Don't talk about it. Seriously, I'll end this podcast. Stop! Stop. Don't speak stop. M1: You love Roger Rabbit. It's a shoe, it's a shoe It's a shoe. ⁓ M2: They were gonna build a Roger Rabbitland. I can barely speak of it because I feel so sick, but it was canceled ⁓ as well. So that's my little piece. I literally am getting like my stomach is churning. That's the perfect way to wrap up this episode. I hope you guys enjoyed this trip planning episode. If you like more stuff like that, please let us know. We got a lot of other questions. We'd be happy to answer. Make sure you give us a five star rating if you enjoyed this episode on Apple and Spotify. Let us know where you're listening, also. And on YouTube, if you're listening. We do have an audio podcast only on Apple and Spotify. That was probably the big biggest question I got about the podcast in our Q<unk>A. Happy to see your faces though, or see our faces, I guess, on YouTube. Happy for you to see our beautiful faces, I guess is what I'm trying to say. ⁓ and then if you want even more mouse lits, a big upfront segment as well as close friends access and things, check out our pit and our peach crew on Patreon. But that is all we have for you. Bye guys. M1: Happy for you to see our faces, I guess. ⁓