Latest / Ear Scouts Podcast / Disneyland vs Disney World: Why You Should Cross the Country to Experience the Other Park
Transcript
- Rob: In this episode of the Ear Scouts podcast, we are breaking down the differences between Disneyland and Disney World. So if you're a Disney Worlder, we're going to share with you some reasons you might want to plan a trip to Disneyland. if you're a Disney lander, we're going to go over some reasons that you might want to venture over to Disney World. But before we get into all that, I'm going to share some updates from our recent voyage on the Disney Wish. We got a lot to chat about, so let's get to it. Hi ho everybody, this is Rob with Earscouts coming to you from our makeshift studio here in Celebration, Florida. I am joined as always by the other half of Earscouts. Eric, hi ho Eric. Erick: Hi ho everyone Rob: So Eric is going to be keeping up with the live chat over on Patreon. If you would like to join us as we record each episode of the podcast live and get to take part in the very exciting Patreon exclusive after party, head on over to patreon.com forward slash Ear Scouts. We're also joined by our friend. Jessica, who's also the host of Jessica scraps on YouTube. Jessica's joining us from her home state of Connecticut. Hi ho, Jessica. Jessica: Hi, hello everyone, Rob: Sadly, our good friend Craig is not able to join us this week because he is on a voyage of his own. He's not able to join, but he will be back for the next episode. He may also be able to pop in a little bit for the Patreon after party. But for now, it's just us and we've got so much fun stuff to talk about. and I'm going start off by sharing ⁓ some stuff about the really fun that we just got back ⁓ from this morning. When I woke up this morning I was on the Disney Wish. And we just got back to celebration this afternoon. If you've never done a Disney cruise before, it is completely a different experience depending on which ship you choose. These ships are so unique, especially when you go from one class to another. ⁓ So the original ship was the Disney Magic, and that was the first ship that we went on. And there are two in the Magic class. Those are the smallest ships. They're also kind of the most intimate. They're the easiest to navigate because, you know, there's just not, there's not as many levels that you have to explore. And the levels aren't quite as complex as they are on a ship like the wish, which the wish class, the wish was the first of its class. These are huge ships. I mean, much, much bigger than the magic. And the reason I wanted to talk a little bit about our adventure is because if you, if you do some research online, you're going to find a lot of people kind of trash the wish. A lot of folks who loved the first ships did not love the wish when it came, ⁓ when it came out. I got to say, I don't know what everyone was talking about. I think this ship... is beautiful. And what they did with the wish is kind of what Imagineering does so well in the theme parks. They divided the ship up into areas and the areas are very heavily themed. And so as you explore the ship, you know, there are some areas where you really feel like you're inside of, you know, a galaxy's edge. at Disney World or Disneyland. on every floor ⁓ they did a slightly different theming. ⁓ just the level of detail in terms of ⁓ the chandeliers, for example, all look the at first glance from floor to floor, but then you look more closely and you realize ⁓ that the detailing on the chandeliers are to each floor. it's just that level ⁓ of craftsmanship and attention to detail is I love. from Disney Imagineering. I just felt like it was on full display on the ship. And the last thing I want to talk about, there were some things that I didn't love as much. Because it's a huge ship, it was a little bit harder to navigate. And I think that's what a lot of people had bashed the ship for. They would say that it was confusing, the layout wasn't as straightforward. And that's, I would say it's true, but at the same time you figure out how to get there, you know, in, in a few seconds and then, you know, you know, so I didn't think it really, ⁓ took too much away from my enjoyment of the voyage, The one I will say that people have knocked it for, and I kind of agree ⁓ one of the dining establishments is themed to the Avengers ⁓ and it's kind of weird to be eating a meal and also ⁓ I don't know Ultron is attacking or something and we're all supposed to like, we're all supposed to, yeah, we're supposed to like push this button that's on our table and that's going to fix everything and save the day. ⁓ I don't know. Jessica: Save the world. Rob: I would agree that was kind of a miss, but other than that, ⁓ I thought the ship was was really, really cool. But now let's get to the meat and bones of the show. Eric, ⁓ keep an eye on the chat and let us know. We do want to hear from our friends on Patreon. ⁓ What are the things that you love most about Disney World versus Disneyland? But I want to start with Jessica. You actually saw a question that came in. And so we were going to include it in the Q &A and we were like, you know, this should be its own episode. And so that's the genesis of this episode. Jessica, why don't you start by reading that question that we got? Jessica: This is from Denise Orlinski, 8056, and she writes, I am a lover of Disney World. I've never been to Disneyland, but I think I would love to go. But I go solo and I know where everything is in Disney World. Would I love visiting with the characters? It would be a longer flight and there's a time difference. I also don't like roller coasters, but I do love It's a Small World and Peter Pan's flight and those kinds of rides. Also, I heard that Disneyland doesn't have value resorts. So it was more, it was kind of like a lot of talk. And I think the issue there is she had a lot of things she was interested in. And the reason I thought it would be a good show topic is there's a lot of things she was interested in and a lot of things we can talk about. But the genesis is for her is if you're used to Disney World, would you like Disneyland? And is there really, is there a reason to go to Disneyland if you're used to Disney World and you're comfortable with it? So. ⁓ I think that's an interesting, and if you don't mind, I'll just start with my kind of story, which is if you guys remember, last year I turned 50, all I wanted was for my 50th birthday, was to go to Disneyland. And it was, even though I'm an annual pass holder at Disney World, I wanted to go to Disneyland. So I think there's still a reason to go to Disneyland, even if you're a Disney Worlder, and even if you're super comfortable with Disney World. And I would say that I'm pretty, pretty comfortable at Disney World, and I still wanted to go to Disneyland. And there's something about it that kind of holds a special place in my Disney-loving soul. So I think this is a good topic, and it's interesting. Even if a lot of people who are listening to this are more Disney World people, I'm hoping you'll get something from this and maybe see why you might want to do Disney. Rob: All right, well, why don't you start us off? What are the main reasons that you wanted to experience Disneyland and then once you had experienced Disneyland that you felt like made it worth doing even for someone who's used to visiting Disney World? Jessica: So for me, there's a lot of, and I'll quote Hamilton, being in the room where it happens. You know, think if you love Disney, Walt Disney, if you love the idea of what Disney created, ⁓ imagineering of his openness to provide entertainment and education and fun in a way that was practical and yet beautiful. all of the things that Disney World or Disneyland and Disney kind of came to represent for me, going to California and going to Disneyland is a way to see where he had his hands, the things that he actually built. And I talk about it quite a bit, but for me, watching ⁓ the moments with Mr. Lincoln, Thinking about the fact that that animatronic from an engineer's perspective was one of the first times we saw engineering and entertainment, engineering and education, engineering and learning. And it was just this really kind of cool thing. That show and knowing how it changed, it changed entertainment, it changed theme parks, it changed the idea of what you did with your family. ⁓ That's really important. that's like, so my first reason really is the nostalgia and the, the being in that place of where Disney was, you're not going to have that. And in Walt Disney World it's great, but you just don't have that same where he put his hands moment. So that's kind of my first one. I don't know if you want me go through some more in mine or if you want to kind of jump in here. Rob: Sure, I'll jump in kind of I'm going to piggyback off of what you were saying, which is, you know, I think what we have at Disney World is an evolution of what began at Disneyland. And if you love Disney World, there is something so magical about being able to see in many cases ⁓ pretty well preserved what the origin of that attraction was and what the people first saw when this park opened, you those opening day attractions. ⁓ Some of them we used to have at Disney where we don't anymore, like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, but the ones that we do have in both places to kind of see, for me, it's the scale of it. It's amazing how you go into that fantasy land, that original fantasy land, and everything feels toy sized. I mean, it's just so small. compared to Disney World and it's just got a charm to it that is uniquely its own. And so I think if you're a if you really deeply love rides like Peter Pan's flight ⁓ Dumbo would be another one. But ⁓ any of those dark rides like Winnie the Pooh is another good one. ⁓ Any of those kinds of of. Fantasyland, Dark Rides, if those are some of your favorites, it's a small world as a big one. ⁓ You're going to be enchanted by the original versions of those attractions. And you're just going to you're going to delight in those moments of saying, ⁓ gosh, that I see that that's different. And I see how that evolved into what we have at Disney World. So I think that would be my first ⁓ thing. kind of piggybacking off of what you said. But I'm gonna take the start another kind of line, which is, I think Disneyland, and I know you wanted to talk about this as well, so I'll hand it back off to you after I start it, but the character experiences that you have at Disneyland are very different from what is at Disney World. Disney World tends to be a very structured, You wait in line to meet a character. There's a few walk around characters that you might encounter, but usually it's like a you find the character in the app. You know where they're going to be. You go, you wait in a very long line. You get your picture taken with the character. They sign autographs. It's a structured experience. And at Disneyland, there are tons of characters that just exist in that world that are just roaming around. And it's a totally different. vibe. And I think if you're a fan of character interactions at Disney World, definitely Disneyland is something you need to experience. But I'll hand that back off to you because I know you had some things you want to share on that front. Jessica: So I'm gonna take that and kind of elevate it just a little bit. And that is to say the character experience is amazing at Disneyland, but even hyped up is the after hours events with the characters. I will say what Disneyland does in my opinion, the best and Disney World doesn't touch it is after hours events with the unique characters, the themes they come up with. And I go back to, know, for Valentine's Day, they had all of the different couples and they had nights devoted to sweetheart nights. They've done pride nights. They do oogie boogie bash. They do a May the Fourth Be With You nights. They take an event and it is an event. And that event, they bring out all kinds of characters feel like sometimes in Disneyland, you're walking down and you don't know who's around the corner. You can't, you don't know if you're going to run into Captain Hook or you're going to run into Ant-Man or you're going to run into, you know, Mater. They are all exist. of the interactions you see on the internet ⁓ of like crazy interactions between characters ⁓ and ⁓ people come from Disneyland because the actors who are friends of the characters ⁓ just kind have a little bit more... ⁓ I'm going to say training or something. don't know. Maybe not Disney training, but they're just more actor-ish. You know, they just kind of know. Yeah. Give them more freedom. Rob: I think they're given more freedom, really. I mean, think that, yeah, I think that here at Disney World, it's much more structured. I mean, that's what we were saying. And so I think they're much more, they're guidelines of where they can and can't be, what they can and can't do. And you're absolutely right. Those guardrails come down. My favorite thing that I ever saw a character do at Disneyland, I'm not sure if he was allowed to do this, but we saw Captain Jack Sparrow just wanders over drunkenly to a table in New Orleans Square and just grabbed something off of their plate. Like while they were eating, just as Jack Sparrow would do, you know, and I just was, they were delighted. I mean, they loved that moment, but I don't think you would ever find that and that would not happen. at the character dining experience at Walt Disney World. No one's. Jessica: No. No, but I just think, I think the characters and the after hours events that have a lot of characters are something that Disneyland just does better. Rob: So I'm going to take a cue from you're talking about the ease of things. And I think that's another thing that I love about Disneyland versus Disney World. Disneyland is a park that is primarily frequented by locals or regulars, people who regularly go to Disneyland. Whereas Disney World tends to be primarily folks who are there sometimes from around the world on once in a lifetime vacations. And the way that they approach the parks is so different at Disneyland. You kind of almost it's almost like, you know, people are at their if it was the eighties, they were at the mall. You know, I mean, I don't think people go to the mall anymore, but you know what I mean? Like they're just there going. It's a place to go and hang out and maybe they're going to ride a ride or two. But it's not this high stakes, high stress feeling. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Rob: that you have at Disney World of I've got to get all of these attractions done. I've got to get all of my lightning lanes. I've got to you know, like this. It's much more of a relaxed vibe. And if you want to go into Fantasyland and ride all of the rides in Fantasyland, you can probably very realistically do that in an afternoon without having lightning lane without having any kind of because it's just not the same. ⁓ it's just not the same crowd that's, that's, that's focused on, on rides as much. So it makes it a lot easier, I think, to have now, not to say that there aren't going to be days where Disneyland's crazy busy and the lines are long. I'm not going to, I'm not going to say that they're never, you're never going to find lines there. It's just on the whole, it's less of an issue at Disneyland than it is at Disney world. And I think there's, it's easier to find. times to go to Disneyland where it's going to be not so crazy. Whereas these days Disney World is pretty much always crazy. There's not much downtime anymore. ⁓ Jessica: Yeah. And I'll piggyback on that and say one of mine is Disneyland is a hundred percent doable in three days or two to three days. A hundred percent doable. You will not have missed anything. Rob: Mm-hmm. Yep. Jessica: And I just think it's a smaller set of parks. One of the things we haven't talked about yet is it is only two parks. It's Disneyland and then California Adventure. So unlike at Walt Disney World where we have the four parks plus a water park, they just have the two water parks. I know, and they've got two. Do they have two open again now? Rob: Two water parks. Yes, no, I think at this moment no, but it will be soon. They'll be the chew open again. Yeah Jessica: Yes. Yeah, there are literally just two parks, ⁓ Disneyland and California Adventure. And unlike at Disney World, where there is a lot to do at the resorts, ⁓ there are things to do with the resorts, the original Trader Sam's, there are some interesting character dining, but it's not enough to where you would feel like you miss something if you were only there two to three days. So to me, another kind of good reason for Disneyland is If you have somebody and you're trying to ease them into Disney, you don't want to overwhelm them with the insanity that is us. ⁓ Disneyland's a great option. Rob: Ha Jessica: You know? Rob: Yeah. And part of what makes it easy to do it all is it's all right there together. So if you're a Disney Worlder, I want you to imagine that you're at a smaller, more compact version of Disney Springs. That is downtown Disney. And right in the middle of Disney Springs, imagine if you look to one side, there was Magic Kingdom and you look to the other side and there was Hollywood Studios and you could literally walk across a courtyard. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: and be from one to the other park. As a Disney Worlder, that is just unimaginable to have Springs and Disneyland, know, and Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios all within steps of each other. That is the reality of Disneyland. And that is a it makes park hopping infinitely more powerful than I think it is at Disney World. Disney World, I'd say it's a toss up whether or not it's ⁓ getting park hopper. It depends on what your plans are and how long you're here. Disneyland, man, it's I don't think I would enjoy doing Disneyland without the park hopping because it's so easy to go right across. And it's such a luxury as a Disney World or to have that ability to be like, ⁓ you know what? Let's go to the other park and ride this ride and then we'll come back in time for this lightning plane in this park. I mean you couldn't you could do that in some parks at Disney World, but it would be a pain. Whereas in Disneyland it's just a breeze. You just you know saunter on over. Jessica: Yeah. And I'll add to that, if you have smaller children, I just want to put it out there. There are probably 20 hotels that are an easy walk, 20 good hotels that are an easy walk from the parks, not just Disney properties, but a Hilton, a Hampton, a Drury, you know, whatever your points are, a Holiday Inn. And that concept of a midday nap that we have to work so hard to do at Disney World. We have to make sure we can get to the skyliner and we have to fold up the stroller and we got to do all this stuff. All of that goes away. You can literally, in some cases, I know a lot of people get, there's a hotel right across the street. That's a really nice hotel. It's not, it's probably average, like a mid here would be like comparable to the Coronado prices. And you just can walk right across the street, get there, let your kids take a nap. They have a good pool. you know, take a little break and then go back for the nights. That ability with small kids, it's, there's a McDonald's, a Burger King, a Waffle House, a Denny's, there's inexpensive food for kids, walkable to the parks. So if you, some reason, do not want to spend the Disney money on park food, which I don't think is that much different than McDonald's really, but if your kid loves a McDonald's hamburger, you can Rob: Yeah. Jessica: walk to it from the parks. can't, it's for parents with kids like that. There's also five grocery stores and a, you know, a convenience mart. And if you run out of diapers, you can get them at a Walgreens price. You know, there really are some, you don't have to do the door dash to the hotel room and all of that, that you have to do in Disney World. So the convenience of having everything close together really is, if you have small kids, a two day trip with all those conveniences. It's a really good way to ease into Disney, in my opinion. Rob: what are what are we hearing over on Patreon to folks have some some specifically ⁓ Disney over Disney World things to share? Erick: A lot of people are agreeing with you all, ⁓ especially with the vibe that it's relaxing. Like ⁓ for Beth, she mentions that Disneyland is better in almost every way to me. ⁓ So much easier to navigate and to do without dealing with any transportation. The copyrights are all better and so many amazing unique rides too. ⁓ actually is Rob make a list about like, ⁓ well, ⁓ he said, ⁓ here's a few head to pigs, haunted Walt Disney World, pirates, Disneyland and Space Mountain Disneyland. ⁓ And actually you miss Big Thunder Mountain Rob Big Thunder Mountain is As of right now, Disneyland is better. ⁓ There are rumors about, of course, like what is coming to the new one at Disney World. So that might change, but yeah, I agree with you. Like there are some rides that are way better over there. Rob: be sure to stick around to the end because ⁓ we go through the differences between Disneyland and Disney World, Jessica and I are going to share some of our hot takes, some things that might be a little bit controversial, but things that we think are better in one park versus the other that maybe ⁓ go against ⁓ you might hear ⁓ common wisdom. So stick around for those hot takes at the end. Those are some really great points. Did you have another one that you wanted to highlight? Erick: Michelle, ⁓ one of the most important things, ⁓ well, Michelle was mentioning that another good thing from is the And totally with that. ⁓ Jessica: Hmm. Rob: Yeah. Jessica: I almost put that down. I almost put that as one of my top ones is the weather, Erick: we were talking about the proximity of like the different options of food ⁓ you can have access to. ⁓ But like also from Michelle, ⁓ mentioned that, ⁓ I find ⁓ food at Disneyland to be more elevated to even the quick service. I found the treats at Disney World to be ⁓ more ⁓ note, heavy on the sugar, but less interesting than the ⁓ ones. ⁓ ⁓ fast food, I will... The quick snacks that you can grab over there, I totally agree with her. Most of them are very, very good. Rob: I would agree on the snacks and I would say yes in especially if you're thinking Magic Kingdom by far you got way you got way better options. But if you're thinking I feel like Animal Kingdom and we're going to we're going to talk about that a little bit in the hot takes. I think what Disney World has going for it food wise is it is a world of I mean there's so many resorts and so many parks and there's just Jessica: Mm-hmm. That's the problem. Erick: Yeah. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Right. Rob: There's just a breadth and a depth that Disneyland can't match because they just don't have the breadth, you know, but yeah. Jessica: Right. I mean, if you're comparing a breakfast chimichanga to the spring rolls at Disneyland and Walt Disney World or Magic Kingdom, yes, breakfast chimichanga is gonna win. That chimichanga is better than the spring rolls. I think that's 100%, that's good. Rob: We we need Did we have the chimichanga when we went I think we did didn't we we did yeah, we did they were good. Yeah Erick: I think we did, I think we did, yeah. Jessica: Yeah. Yeah. But I'm just, mean, like Magic Kingdom versus Disneyland, I think there's no, there's no comparison. The snack carts and the quick service at Disneyland really are good. mean, they have that whole bow bun next to ⁓ the tiki room. I'm forgetting they have a place that just serves bow buns. And then they have a barbecue place. So good. But bingo bar. But if you get past Rob: Bengal bar, yeah, the Bengal barbecue. That is really great. Jessica: If you get past Magic Kingdom, I think we got to fight on our hands. I think then we can like have a real discussion, but ⁓ that's the thing. So I did have two things that I wanted to mention. I've got one kind of serious one and then one not as serious. ⁓ But the first one is, and I know I did this once on a podcast and I kind of got made fun of for sounding like Mayor Buddy Dyer, but I do believe because it's only a two to three day adventure. Rob: Yeah. Jessica: There is a lot of things to do in Anaheim. There's LA, there's all kinds of really cool things. Plus, if you can figure out how to get to Burbank and do the Walt Disney tour, which we did, there are so many things in the California area. You know, just, you're just, you're not that far from a lot of national parks. It's a really cool vacation for your family that can include Disneyland. So if you are a family where you have a couple of people that are big Disney people and a couple of people that want to do a family vacation. ⁓ Disneyland is situated in an area that just gives you a lot more options than perhaps Orlando is. Orlando is the theme park capital of the world and it is amazing, it is wonderful and I love it. But not everybody is like us and some people want both Disneyland and a national park and a beach and some other things. And it's just... That area of California has so many options. And I think that's something we need to remember as part of this discussion is that Disneyland can be really can be part of a bigger vacation. So that's my serious one. My not so serious one is Disneyland gets the best popcorn buckets. They get the best popcorn buckets. And if like me, you love Star Wars, I have had to have Rob: Hahaha! Jessica: People that I know that go to Disneyland, I've got the Jabba the Hutt, I've got the Death Star, I've got the Stormtrooper helmets. They get all kinds cool popcorn buckets ⁓ and ⁓ they don't run out like we do because for some reason they don't seem to have the resale problem that we do at Disney World. I don't know why that is. If they just get more selection or if it's just the lack of people. But if you're like me and there's some things that you just like to collect, whether it's that color changing coffee mug or certain shirts or or the popcorn buckets, Disneyland gets a lot of cool merch. They get a lot of cool merch we don't get and they get it fast and faster than we do. And it lasts longer. So I said it was kind of not halfway serious, it's just, that's a real thing for some of us is that the stuff is just better. Rob: They the Pixar around which like their giant Ferris wheel ⁓ in California Adventure and there's a popcorn bucket of it right now. I'm not going to we're not going to make it to Disneyland until D23 ⁓ Expo. Erick: Yes. Rob: I feel pretty confident that that popcorn bucket is going to be long gone. And I'm very sad because that is one of the coolest popcorn buckets I've ever seen and probably not going to be able to get it. But yeah, I definitely feel you on that one. That's something Disneyland and that's going to kind of be a little segue to my last thing that I want to talk about Disneyland versus Disney World. I feel like there are so many little special things that Disneyland will get. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: because Disney is headquartered in the Los Angeles area. And because of that, because they have such a huge team and such a huge presence there, it's not that they don't have a huge presence here, they do. They're the biggest employer in central Florida. think they're the biggest single site employer in the entire state of Florida. But just so much of the... The brain trust of the company is there. Imagineering is there. The corporate headquarters is there. The executive team is there. They just get cool stuff that we don't get here. And sometimes it's kind of crazy. Like, for example, the BDX droids, speaking of Star Wars, they make appearances at Disneyland all the time. These are these, if you've never seen them, just Google it. They're adorable droids that just Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: roam around sometimes at Disneyland. We have yet to see them. They've been promised that they were going to end up at Disney World. I've never seen them. I don't know. Maybe they've made a special appearance here and there, but I've never seen them in the parks. But stuff like that. Because it's in Disney's backyard, they just do special things. And I also think that I think that they take better care of the attractions in terms of I think they have more uptime. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Mm-mm. Rob: They repair things more more quickly there again, probably just because of the proximity to imagineering and the team that's out there. But they have, for example, rise the resistance. Their cannons work. You know, you want one of our cannons worked last here at Disney World on rise resistance. I I think it was like five years ago. We haven't had working cannons. I mean, it's not a huge thing, but it's just an example of. things get repaired there better than they do. think at Disney World. So I think they do get some special treatment that we don't get here. And that's another reason you might want to consider Disneyland versus Disney World trip. But now let's turn the tables. We've talked about we've given Disneyland its due for the things it's really great at. But there are definitely some reasons why you might want to do Disney World instead. In fact, Eric and I go to a new Disney park around the world, we always have the same conversation. We always say, okay, now that we've experienced this, ⁓ now we've Tokyo, we've experienced Paris. If we could only go to one park anywhere in the world, ⁓ which one it be? It always ends up being Disney World. It's always the, the, our, If we could only do one, we do Disney World. And in this part of the show, we're going to talk about what are the reasons why, even though there's all those great things we said about Disneyland, there are so many things that are great specifically about Disney World. And I'm going throw it to Jessica again to start us off. Jessica, why do you think people who are Disneylanders should definitely make the voyage over to central Florida for Disney World? Jessica: I'm to go with the obvious one, ⁓ which I think is the obvious one, which is the immersion, the bubble. ⁓ A lot of people have about it. ⁓ We kind of hinted around it, but at Disneyland, there's only three hotels. They're very, very expensive. They're like California and ⁓ Grand California Disneyland Hotel and the Pixar Palace. ⁓ None of them can compete with Coronado for cost, I Rob: Pixar, I think it's Pixar Place. It is a palace. I mean, it is a palace to Pixar, but I think they go with the more humble place for their name, yeah. Jessica: Pixar place, sorry, Pixar place. I made it a palace because it's so expensive. I made it a palace. Erick: Hehehehehe Jessica: So many people, including myself, choose to stay off property, ⁓ which there are pluses to, but by staying off property, you lose a little bit of the bubble. think even I stay off property at Disney World and I still feel the bubble. I feel like we're part of something. There's signage all over. You don't feel like you're just in a regular California city and then you walk down to ride a Ferris wheel. having those wrapped buses on road. I mean, you're driving down the road and you see Donald Duck. I mean, you can't, there's something about knowing you're there that to me feels like home. There's a lot of great things that happen at Disneyland. I didn't feel that immersion, that I was in a bubble, that it was all around me and that the joy that you have is all around you. And I think that's something that, that if that's one of the feelings that's really important to you and you're not going just to be at a theme park, Disney World, think has it on, has it above Disneyland in that reason. Rob: Yeah, and that's a great segue to my this is the big one for me. It is the diversity, the variety of experiences that are on offer at Disney World that Disneyland try as they might with Disneyland forward. They're going to add a few more, but they can't even come close because they don't have the space. They don't have the ability. There is no way there will ever be a recreation of an African Savannah Disneyland. It ain't happening. It's not in the cards. That's never going to be part of that experience at Disney World. You have the all of the resorts are their own. mean think about animal Kingdom Lodge. Think about wilderness Lodge. Think about Fort Wilderness. All of these different resorts are their own little mini worlds to explore. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Rob: And some of them, mean, especially Fort Wilderness is a great example of this. They, you could spend an entire day at Fort Wilderness and have not done all the activities that are available to do in that resort and have an amazing day. So I think it's just the, the, the breadth of experiences you can have, ⁓ each of the parks. Now at Disney land. They've done a very good job of differentiating the areas of their parks and making it feel as close as they possibly can to the experience you get at Disney World. Their Galaxy's Edge is very, very much an immersive experience the way that our Galaxy's Edge is. They're going to get an avatar. They're definitely the probably the best ⁓ the best iteration of this that have a Disneyland is the Cars Land. ⁓ that we don't yet have at Disney world. ⁓ but that, that whole area of the park is stunning, but we have, you know, for every one that they have, like Cars Land, we've got three or three or four or five, you know, at Disney world. ⁓ so I think it's just the, the vast number of experiences you can have that are unique to Disney world. That's the, that's really the reason why we can't. If we can only go to one, it has to be Disney World. There's just so many things to do here that we love. Jessica: And I'll piggyback on yours. One of mine is just simply the two words, animal kingdom. Rob: Yeah Jessica: I, I, to me, and I know, I know that there are people that will disagree with us, but Animal Kingdom is the best park. It is the park that I go to every time. It is the park that I feel the most home in. It is the park that I could spend all day in. Rob: Yeah. Erick: want to throw this out the board, but I mean, can we talk about like Prince Charming going above and beyond and building this amazing castle for Cinderella? ⁓ Once. Okay, let's wait for the hot take then. Okay. Jessica: Okay. Okay. Well, we have it. That is one of my quote unquote hot takes. So, but, but we can talk about it now a little bit, not the castles, not a hot take, the castles, not a hot take, but the size, everything. No. Rob: Wait. I was going to say, wow, are you going to say that Sleeping Beauty Castle is better than Cinderella's because that would be a very hot take. Jessica: Everything is bigger in Disney World, including the castle. Everything is bigger in Disney World. And that's one of the reasons, like everything is bigger in Disney World. The space, think Rob just, they literally had enough space they could build whatever they want. So the castle is bigger. The sidewalks are bigger. The space between the rides is bigger. The tiki room is bigger. But you're right, the castle. Rob: Eric, you were mentioning the castles and I'm going to say I do think there's something to be said for seeing Disneyland's Castle first because if you see Disneyland's Castle first, you can have that. ⁓ that's so charming. That's so lovely. You have that moment and then you see Disney World's Castle and you're like, ⁓ my gosh. Wow. Whereas if you do it the other way around, if you're expecting Disney World's Castle, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: And you see Disneyland's castle. You're like, I remember the first time I saw it after I had recently. So when we had been to Disney World and then we went to Disneyland and it was the first time I'd been to Disneyland and the castle just looked like someone's house to me. Like it did didn't it didn't look like it didn't look like a castle. And I do think if I had done it in the opposite direction, if I had started there, I don't think I would have felt that way as much. Jessica: small. Erick: Wendy just wrote that ⁓ the castle at Disneyland is so... ⁓ She called it sweet. So... ⁓ Rob: See this, it is very sweet. Jessica: is sweet. Rob: Jessica, is your next reason that someone who is a Disney lander should make the Voyage Across and do Disney World instead? Jessica: Well, if you're listening to this podcast, you are probably one of those people like us that are a planner. And planning a vacation is almost as much fun as going on vacation. And here's the thing, as we discussed, one of the pros of Disneyland was it's relaxed, it's laid back, it's easy. It is not for planners. Disney World is like a type A planner person's dream. I have almost as much fun making my spreadsheets of what we're gonna do and when we're gonna do it and how much time we have here and what we're gonna do there as I do actually doing the thing and just watching that come together. Disney World is for planners. And I know that seems kind of counterintuitive on vacation, but there are those of us that that's fun. Like sitting down, doing the research, looking into the rides, figuring out how to... how to get a bibbidi-bobbidi boutique time, and then figuring out how to take the pictures afterwards, and 60 days, 90 days, two hours, seven days, three hours, whatever it is, knowing all of that is part of the fun of the vacation. Disney World gives us that, and it kind of extends the high of the vacation. And I think Disneyland, I tried really hard to plan out my Disneyland vacation. I didn't need to. There wasn't a lot to plan. So it's just a different, it's a different vibe. And I think it's for, Disney World is for a different type of person in some way. But if you're that person, if you've ever made a spreadsheet for a vacation and liked it, Disney World is for you. Rob: Ha ha ha. Well, I'm going to, for my next reason, I think you should do Disney World instead of Disneyland. I'm going to go back to what we talking about earlier. You began talking about the bubble, the world of Disney World. And I want to talk specifically about if you stay at a Disney Resort, ⁓ at Disney World, if you want that full experience, if you want to have, I'm going to stay in a Disney Resort, I'm going to wake up. Jessica: This is Rob: at Disney and I'm going to go to bed at Disney and I want to have, you know, my whole vacation built around Disney. The only way you're going to get that depth of experience, in my opinion, is to do world. think it's very difficult. You can do it at Disneyland, but you have to be very deliberate in your choices and you're going to spend probably a whole lot more for the hotel and you're going to get less in terms of. perks and benefits from that hotel at Disneyland versus Disney World. So Disneyland, you've got those three hotels at Disney World. You've got, you you've got double that many just in the value category. You know, you've got the all stars. You've got pop century. You've got art of animation. All of those have their own distinct flavor and style. And then at the moderate level, you can stay at a resort. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: the Coronado Springs where you're going to go to the pool, but beside a Mayan temple. mean, it's just all of these worlds that are built in these resorts are phenomenal and you can go and do a different resort every time and have a completely different feeling vacation than the last time you went. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I think the other thing that's superior at Disney World and we kind of touched on a little bit, but it is sit down restaurants because we have so many options with different resorts, because we have four parks, because our Disney Springs, which we haven't really talked about a lot, I say a good variety of cost restaurants related Disney that have immersion, that have characters, that have ⁓ excellent food. So for me, the sit down restaurants at Walt Disney World, far better. If you're a foodie, and by foodie, I mean, you like the sit down kind of restaurant experience, Walt Disney World, 100%. Rob: Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. We did find some good sit down meals at Disneyland. I think they're definitely there, but there's just for every one that they have there, there's six at Disney World. There's just so many more resorts and restaurants. The next thing I want to talk about is if you are a rides person, if you are a thrill seeking rides person specifically, I think ⁓ the variety of experiences that are available to you at Disney World ⁓ is than than what's on offer at Disneyland. Now, there are some unique at Disneyland. And I'm going to name a few of them that I do think are exceptions to this rule. And Credit Coaster at California Adventure might be my favorite coaster on both coasts. I do love in Credit Coaster. ⁓ We're going to have an Indiana Jones ride that I think will probably end up being superior to the one at Disneyland, but currently Disneyland has that. And we're going to have a that ⁓ who knows if that's going to be superior to what they have with Radiator Springs racers. That would be a tough one to top. So there are some. There are definitely some rides that are unique to Disneyland that are thrilling, that are that are great, but there's so many more at Walt Disney World. Just you've got four parks, right? You we've got on on this coast. You've got Expedition Everest. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: As you may know, I think that's my favorite ride at all of Walt Disney World. I would say the best ride in Walt Disney World. You've got Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind, which most most people will say is the best ride in all Walt Disney World. We've got Tron Light Cycle Run. We have a whole bunch of thrill rides that aren't on offer at Disneyland just because they don't have the space. They can't do as many things as we can do here. So I think if you're a rides person, Disney World is probably gonna be your part. Jessica: I will, I will counter that just a second and say, we didn't, don't think we talked about it in the Disneyland portion, but if you're a little kid ride person, I think they do have, there are a lot of dark rides in Disneyland. In fantasy land has, and their fantasy land comma toon town. I mean, they have so many good rides for kids. So. Rob: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jessica: The counter to what Rob is saying is if you're taking a kid or a kid at heart, the sheer number of kids rides that they have packed into a small place, it's kind of unfathomable. mean, Alice in Wonderland that we don't have, the boats, the train, the gadget coaster, the Jessica Rabbit, there's like a couple more that I'm not even thinking of, Toads, Mr. Toads. Rob: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, the old, yeah, the original Snow White. Jessica: The old Snow White, they have patched in a lot of the little kids, right? So I think Pinocchio, that's right, Pinocchio. there's a counterbalance to what Rob is saying that we didn't really talk about before, which is if you're going with younger kids, and I know we've been doing our, I'm handling the littles on all of our strategies. Rob: Pinocchio, there's a Pinocchio, yeah. Jessica: For example, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom, was like, well, there's not that much for them to ride. Disneyland is the exact opposite of that. I mean, if you have Littles, Disneyland is the place to be and it's an amazing place to be. Rob: Yeah, and I see when I'm talking about if you're a rides person, I think it depends on what kind of a rides person you are, right? If you love classic rides and classic attractions, if you like, you know, if you've got littles as Jessica was saying, then Disneyland by far beats Disney World. But if you're looking for more. the latest and greatest cutting edge, know, the ride that's going to blow your mind because it's doing something that's never been done on a ride before that kind of a ride, then probably Disney World is going to be more, more your speed. ⁓ Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: what is your next ⁓ reason someone should do Disney World over Disneyland. Jessica: So the last one I wrote down is the shows are kind of bigger at Disney World. And I think this is from ⁓ Festival of King to ⁓ Happily Ever I think you're just getting ⁓ bigger shows. And will say fireworks, ⁓ I'm gonna add into my show category. Rob: Hmm? Mm-hmm. Jessica: If you have not been to Disneyland, one of the things that's surprising to a lot of people is they do not do fireworks every night. And in fact, they only do fireworks typically Fridays and Saturdays. Sometimes they do it on Sundays when it's busy, when it's crowded. They ⁓ will cancel those if there's a wind or if there's a burn alert, ⁓ if fireworks ⁓ or the nighttime shows things that to you a lot, Disney World is gonna be your friend. Rob: kind of ⁓ a into what my last reason that I would pick Disney World over Disneyland. And it's kind of what you're talking about. But ⁓ mine just more general. Disney World does ⁓ spectacle than Disneyland. Disney World has more, you turn the corner and your jaw drops and you're just like, wow, that is an amazing. We talked about the castle is a big one. In animal kingdom, the floating islands of Pandora or experiencing Pandora at night when all the bioluminescent plants come to life or Kilimanjaro safaris, just that experience of looking out over the savanna with the giraffes and the zebras. mean, there's just so many wow moments. Yes, they have Fantasmic in both places. And there's something, what I love about the Fantasmic that they have in Disneyland is that they actually manage to put on that scale of a show in an area of the park that isn't built for it. That it's, they managed to pull it off in an area that was like a walkway a moment ago. You know I mean? And they do this huge spectacle, whereas at Disney World, there's a purpose-built theater. that seats thousands of people to do our version of Phantasmic. And we can do some more things with our version of Phantasmic because of that purpose-built space. know, the happily ever after fireworks show at Magic Kingdom, every single night. I mean, very rarely does that show get canceled. So I think if you're if you're looking to have just your mind and your jaw drop ⁓ multiple times on your vacation, it's going to happen more. at Disney World than it will at Disneyland. And that's just that to me, that's part of the reason why if I could only do one forever and ever, I couldn't give up those breathtaking moments. have to pick Disney World over Disneyland. right. Well, now that we've gone through our reasons for why we pick one versus the other, we've got some hot takes because there is some conventional wisdom out there that one is better for something, another is better for something else. And in some cases, we don't really agree with that conventional wisdom. And I'm going to start out with a little one that is probably going to upset some of my friends. who are Disneylanders, but for some reason, Disneylanders are very proud of the fact that they have the best churros. ⁓ And yes, I will grant you if you are comparing the snack cart churro in Disneyland to the snack cart churro in Disney World, Disneyland's are superior. I don't think they're mind-blowingly amazing. I think they're decent churros. They're kind of If you've been to Mexico, they're kind of like convenience store churros in Mexico. They're not really they're not anything gourmet. However, here at Walt Disney World, we have a place called Nomad Lounge and you are going to get your churros fresh from the fryer. And when you bite into it, it's going to melt in your mouth. And they come with dipping sauces that are delicious and elevated. And I mean, it's coming out of the kitchen of Tiffin's. It's coming out of the kitchen of a signature restaurant. I know it's not fair to compare those churros coming out of Tiffin's kitchen to the ones in a snack cart. But Disneylanders like to say they have the best churros. And I'm sorry you don't have the best churros. Disney World has the best churros at Nomad Lounge. And the only reason I think Disneyland is usually thought of as having the best churros is really because Magic Kingdom's churros are so terrible because they really are. They're just do not don't buy a churro at Magic Kingdom. I'm sorry. I can't I can't I can't recommend churros at Magic Kingdom even though I know there's a lot of people who love them. I would say pick a different snack. All right, Jessica, you have a hot take that actually inspired, it inspired us to have the hot take section added to the end of this. Tell us, what is your hot take ⁓ in Disney World versus Disney World? Jessica: Okay, so my hot take, my hot take, which will be much maligned and I'm expecting many comments, is that Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom is better than Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. And my reason is it's just a couple of set pieces and it's a slow boat ride through somebody's living room. some dead people's living room, some dead people's bedroom, some dead people's dining room with just furniture sitting there and you're just slow. There's nothing. And you're looking at a restaurant. It's, you know, I get it. It's just like three cabieros without Donald. It's, it's the weirdest thing. It's like you're doing this. You're in a middle of a restaurant. I'm like, and then all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe I'm going to go from that into a pirate fight. And then when I hit the pirate fight, Rob: You Jessica: fight because the room is physically smaller. It does not have the majesty of our pirate fight. When you go into that room at Magic Kingdom, that room is physically so big and the pirate, ships are right there so big and you're right there and the boom of the cannon. That intro scene into the pirate fight in Magic Kingdom to me is one of the best. kind of awe-inspiring moments of a ride ever. And I still, every time we're on it and you get the smell, automatically the smell, and I'm in it I'm in the ride, I did not feel that at Disneyland because you take so long to get there. You're like, I'm in the old house, I don't know what's going on. Did not do it for me. Did not do it for me. And I know I'm one of the few people and everybody else likes it because there's some sort of multiple drops and it's longer. Rob: Ha ha. Yeah. Jessica: Longer is not always better. That's all I'm saying. Rob: Ha Eric, you look like you have something you want to say. Erick: No, I was going to say actually like I was not a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean the first time I wrote it at Disney World and when I did it at Disneyland, actually like ⁓ that writing it at Disneyland actually made me start liking it just because like I saw like the whole story I saw like the whole process like there are some very cool little effects that that we don't have here, you know, like that that a ⁓ pirate going turning into skull, like, it was super cool, you know? But yeah, yes indeed, yes indeed. Jessica: Like I said, hot take. That's my hot take. Rob: So I'm going to provide the voice of what I'm guessing are going to be many commenters and perhaps many people commenting on Patreon right at this moment. So the original Pirates of the Caribbean is a masterpiece of Imagineering. It is probably one of the most important dark rides. in the history of theme park design. And while I agree with you, that opening boat scene, the ships, you know, with the cannonballs, that scene, I agree with you. That scene is better executed at Disney World. However, the Disney World attraction was shoehorned in as an afterthought because they weren't even planning on doing pirates at Disney World. And everyone was like, wait, How can you have a Disney park without Pirates of the Caribbean? It's like the greatest ride ever. We have to have our own Pirates because that original version was so good that people clamoring for it in Florida. So they brought it. But here's what it's missing because it wasn't built. You know, it was it was kind of shoehorned into a space that wasn't meant to be initially. They don't you don't have that amazing. So you start out if you've never been to Disneyland. You start out on the bayou and you pass by the old man on his rocking chair. And there's like a little outdoor cafe where people are eating dinner on the bayou. And then you go into this kind of mysterious cave and you start to discover these skeletons of of pirates that are long dead. And then there's this magical moment where Eric was mentioning where you see one of those skeletons as you pass it. It. goes from becoming a skeleton to becoming an actual ⁓ living man. It's this beautiful illusion that happens at that moment. And then you are transported into the world of the pirates. And I just feel like there's all this build to the attraction that makes sense, that tells a story. Whereas ours is more of just like, it's there, but it's not as fleshed out. And so... They also have the scenes at the end, right? With the swinging pirate and the swinging one there or is he only in Paris? There's a pirate swing across at the one at Disneyland. Yeah, OK. But that scene is yeah, he's sitting on the cannon. Yeah. Jessica: Mm-hmm. I don't think the pirate swings across. Erick: They are sitting like in the cannons. Jessica: Yeah, they sit on the cannons and there's there's over you. I'm not saying it's a bad ride. I'm just saying I like the other one better. Rob: Yeah. Okay. So I, for me. Jessica: But it is a hot take and you asked for it this is what you wanted. I'm here for it, man. Rob: So I'm gonna, but I'm gonna do the same thing that you did with my next hot tick because this is one I know I'm gonna get in trouble. But much like you think that the Disney World version of Pirates is better, I think the Disney World version of It's a Small World is better. And I know there's a part of me that knows that original Disneyland when that was Mary Blair's hands touched. Jessica: ⁓ Rob: that attraction like it is. It is it is all the things I said about pirates. All of those things are true about Disney about it's a small world. However, for me. I grew up with our it's a small world number one so that I'd never experienced the Disneyland version and the Disney World version of it's a small world is that the technology was just updated right the anime the the the the puppets. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: ⁓ I think at Disney World, think the worlds that they're in look better. They're just more sophisticated in terms of how they're designed. And that was what I was used to. So the first time I saw the original, it's a small world, I will agree the boat at the beginning where you go outside in the boat canal, that's lovely. I love that. The attraction itself has a very kind of. It feels like an elementary school art class project in some ways. there's certain, it just has this very kind of handmade vibe, which is the charm of it, which is the original concept of it. But having grown up with the more fleshed out version, the more sophisticated version, that's just what I, that's what I like better. And I think it's a, prefer Disney World version, even though I know that's a hot take. Jessica: I think that's probably less of a hot take. I think there are people that have not. I think if you've not experienced, if you don't understand the history of the it's a small world there, think empirically the ride might not be as good. ⁓ But the history of it's a small world and the history of Mary Blair and the and the outside of the topiaries and those kinds of things I like. ⁓ There's a lot of people that love the fact that they've added the Disney characters into that too, which I think is an interesting twist. I that can go one way the other. Some people don't care for the Disney characters inside of it, but I think that's kind of cool. So I think I like the Disneyland version. I would say equal to the Disney World version. I don't know if I have one or the other for this, but I will not skip it in either place. To me, they're both very important rides that, ⁓ but I do think the history of All of the things you said about pirates are still true with the Mary Blair version of It's a Small World. ⁓ Erick: Hehehehehe Rob: And that's the irony, right? The argument that I just made for pirates, the same argument is true of it's a small world. Yeah, but I like the one in Disney. Jessica: Okay, so my hot take, my next hot take, the best fireworks display I have seen at a Disney park is Fire of the Rising Moons. Fire of the Rising Moons, which is if you go to Galaxy's Edge on a night that they do fireworks in Disneyland, you see the fireworks, but you do not hear their music. You do not see the castle projections instead. They have a projection on that part of Galaxy's Edge next to Millennium Falcon, and they play John Williams, the John Williams theme songs, and they have the words of the Star Wars movies. And it's just this beautiful story of hope and overcoming evil and all of the things you want about Star Wars right there in front of you in a Disney park. And I loved it. So much. The problem, that's my hot take. The problem with it is if you're only there for two days, you can only see it and you want to see the castle fireworks, you got to make a choice because it only goes on days that there are fireworks and you cannot see, you can't see both. It's a fire of the rising moons or wondrous journey. Is that what it is? Wondrous journey. Is that right? Yeah. Erick: Yeah. Rob: Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that's current show. Yeah. Jessica: ⁓ so it is way back. You have to go all the way back to, to galaxy's edge and you're seeing the backside of the fireworks with all the projections. And as a star Wars junkie and as somebody who I love happily ever after, I love luminous, but as a star Wars person, ⁓ my gosh, it was so great. And that's my hot take is that if somebody was going to Disneyland and they could only see one night of fireworks and they liked star Wars, I would tell them to head on over to Galaxy's Edge and that's where I would see the fireworks from. It was amazing. Rob: I think that probably is a very hot take. I haven't seen that version of show though, so I can't render an opinion. Jessica: So few people get to because of the timing of it. Rob: Well, I invite our friends on Patreon to share their hot takes if they have not already. If you have an opinion that you feel like is maybe a controversial opinion about Disney World versus Disneyland, let Eric know. And while you're writing that, I'm going to share my other hot take. This is probably going to get me in trouble, especially with Disneylanders. I apologize. in advance for this opinion for those who love this show. But I don't get world of color. I think it is. I just I think number one, it's especially the new version, the latest version with the inside out. I mean, I was watching it and I was like, gosh, I waited for a spot. I guess I should finish. Jessica: My hot takes too. Get it. Rob: this maybe or maybe I'd rather just get a short wait on something while everyone else is standing here watching this. I don't get the appeal of world of color. It is a show that happens in California Adventure. They have this gorgeous body of water that's right along Pixar Pier and they ruin this body of water with these really ugly. I mean, it's just like Jessica: Mm-mm. Rob: It's like a thousand hose spigots that are just like filling the lagoon. And I remember the first time I saw it, they raised them up to do work on them, right? To do maintenance on them sometimes. And sometimes they're up all day during the day. You see them up and you see people out there working on them. And I was like, ⁓ well, it looks really ugly because they've got it up for people to work on it. And then they put it back down and I was like, ⁓ it still looks really ugly. Like even when it's down. So it ruins the view of that beautiful lagoon all day and all night. And then the benefit is that you get this show that it's basically like the projections on the sprays of water that happened for phantasmic. But the problem with the world of color is that's pretty much all there is like phantasmic you have so much more that happens with the show. Whereas World of Color is really just the projections and the light and the music and there's not really more to it. I just think it's a terrible show. Don't think you should wait the amount of time that you have to wait for a spot I'm there's me some Disneylanders who are deeply appalled at that. But that's ⁓ as someone who's not there. That's how I feel. Eric do we have any hot takes from Patreon? Erick: Not really a hot take, but Beth added to your comment of ⁓ words of color that, ⁓ the water projection show at Universal Studios was more interesting, Rob: Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of that show either, actually. So yeah, maybe I just don't like the water projection shows. Erick: I don't want say it, but yeah. Jessica: we have one hot take that the Spider-Man show at Disneyland, this is from ⁓ Ray and Lauren, the Spider-Man show at Disneyland where they launched the animatronic Spider-Man was a letdown. And I ⁓ won't disagree with that. I that whole, the whole show they did there that was supposed to be a show ⁓ didn't, as a Disney world who's used to a show, it wasn't a show. But I could tell people were excited about it. Erick: ⁓ yeah. Rob: That one was a let down for us because we've tried to see it three different times. Two times it didn't happen at all. And then the third time where we thought it was going to happen, everything happened up until the point that the animatronic was going to fly through the air magically. then it wasn't working. So yes, that's been let down for us as well, but we haven't seen it. All right. Well, thank you to our Patreon family for contributing your hot takes and your thoughts on our hot takes. But now it's time for happy thoughts. This is a little segment we like to do at the end of each show to go out on a high note, to share something joyful or happy that happened to us in the past week. Jessica, you want to start us off? What is your happy thought this week? Jessica: So my happy thought is this last weekend was a crop at my My Little Scrapbook store online crop that I'm the design team member on. And it was 25 challenges and we had three days of live. So I got a little bit of my creativity scrapbooking out for three days and it was great. And it's always fun when we can do that. We can it about four times a year and it was a lot of fun. So had my Hollywood, the Scrappies we called it. So we got to, and the scrappy goes too. ⁓ but I got to do a lot of scrapbooking this weekend. I think I made like 13 pages, so it was a lot of fun. Rob: Can we see any of that on Jessica Scraps on YouTube? Jessica: You can on Jessica Scraps on YouTube. There's about five or six videos. ⁓ Four of them are lives, which actually is me and other design team members ⁓ working on pages together. And then a couple of them are pre-recorded edited videos. So we do a combo of that over the weekend. But you can also see all of the design team members on the My Little Scrapbook store YouTube channel, which I pop in on also. But so either the Jessica Scraps or My Little Scrapbook store. You can see some of those, but it was a really fun weekend. And if you're into scrapbooking, go check it out. Rob: Awesome. Eric, what is your happy thought this Erick: So we, ⁓ I just have a very similar experience to when we went to Paris Disneyland Paris, where, ⁓ you went to the social media, you look, you review things in advance. And usually just people throw out the negativity of the experience, but like, ⁓ we just did the, ⁓ the wish, ⁓ cruise and I read so many things. I'm not on the positive side. I honestly, like it was a very fantastic experience that we have. honestly, like what I can tell you is just. go with the best attitude and enjoy the moment. You will be surprised of what you find. honestly, don't let yourself drive by what you read ⁓ on the internet. You will be surprised. Rob: Yep, 100 % agree. The Wish is a magical ship. It was a wonderful experience. And don't believe the haters online. You're to have an amazing, amazing adventure. And mine actually, my happy thought this week is also from The Wish. And we went to see the final show there in the Walt Disney Theater, which is the big Broadway-style theater, is the Aladdin. It's their version of Aladdin. And these shows are always really good. ⁓ The ones on the Magic, we loved every single one of them. I recommend all of them. But this one in particular, Aladdin was mind blowing. And the performer who played the Genie, ⁓ Genie is my favorite character, my favorite Disney character. And this performer just brought a whole new dimension to the genie for me. And it also, he also reminded me of why I love the genie and the brilliance of Robin Williams when he played the role of the genie. So in this production, what Robin Williams did when he played the genie was he brought in all of this kind of ad-libbed, very modern of the moment, you know, kind of pop. culture references and things that were anachronistic in the movie, were just, you know, they were what gave the genie so much made him such a fun character and so funny to watch. And they let the performers do that with this version of the show as well. And so it was this very updated, very of the moment. mean, there were some six, seven references. There were some, you know, like very of the moment humor. And it just made me fall in love with that character all over again. And this is the first time I think I've seen a stage production of a classic Disney movie where I liked the stage production even better than the original movie. I haven't seen The Lion King on Broadway yet. I've heard a lot of people say they feel that way about The Lion King on Broadway. But for me, I felt that way about the production of Aladdin on the Disney Wish. So my happy thought this week is they're doing some amazing work in those shows and hats off to the performers, especially the performer playing the genie made my made my cruise made my week and it was my happy thought of the week. So I do want to thank everyone on Patreon for joining us and contributing to the show. If you'd like to be a part of the Patreon crew watching the show. to head on over to patreon.com forward slash ear scouts and you can join us on our next live recording session. Until then, don't forget to think happy thoughts, everybody. We'll see you again real soon.