Ep. 323 - A Titanic Love of DCL: From Reluctant Cruiser to Disney Cruise Line Addict

00:00.40 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel sam disappointment I've disappointed face because. 00:11.88 Sam I Know you're why you're disappointed because I know I know I know and I was just telling our guest. 00:14.16 dclduo You've got the Aqua Pannna the guest has brought Topo Chico and you have come packing Aquapanna. That's like a gun to a knife fight I feel like not fair I've got my Aqua Panda the preferred water of of me here. Along with the cold brew to alternate back and forth but tope no topo chico in the green room today. 00:37.00 Sam Well, it's funny because I was just telling our guest. Um Brian who so there's gonna be confusing today. Got Brian and Brian but I was just telling him that I had just finished a topo chico and I knew I would need something else to keep my mouth. You know. Hydrated for the show and I was thinking about grabbing another Topo Chico but I don't have that many to left right now because instacart failed to deliver me any Topo Chico today they were all out at the store. But I did go to the grocery outlet and grabbed a whole box of Aquapano waters which is happens to be 1 of Brian and my favorite flat waters whenever we go to Europe I feel like and even when we're on the cruise we sometimes get Aquapana so um, in like. Think it's in remy that they give you aquapaana anyway and then of course I get on the I get on the recording or get on right before we start recording and our guest Brian here has the topo Chico he shows me and I feel terrible now. But regardless there is a tobo chico here. 01:36.81 dclduo Letting the guests letting the guest letting the guests down sam letting the guests down so well, a cats out of the bag. Let's start by welcoming our guest Brian to the show. Welcome Brian. 01:49.54 Bryan Thank you excited to be here today. 01:54.33 Sam Yeah we're so excited to have you and we're I'm really excited about this topic. Um spoiler. It's not a first time cruise report Brian has been on dcl ah multiple times at this point. Ah, but it's kind of a. Ah, journey show. We're going to be talking about how Brian I'm just going to say Brian with a y because our guest Brian uses a why and of course my husband Brian is an eye. Um, there's no I in team though. Ah so Brian ah how you became a Disney Cruise line addict. 02:27.10 Bryan Um. 02:30.25 dclduo Well wait wait wait. 02:31.12 Sam But before we go there and and actually instead of asking your Disney Cruise line background. We're going to just ask you your Disney background because we don't want to spoil the show and talk about the whole topic that we're going to talk about today. 02:46.31 Bryan All right sounds good. Um, yeah so I grew up a you know typical fan of Disney shows and we went to the the parks occasionally not very often. But then when. My wife and I got married. We actually spent a little bit of our honeymoon and Disney world and so that kind of kicked off that we both enjoyed Disney parks and when my oldest daughter was born. We took her to Disneyland she was just about a year old a little little over that and had just a magical time and so started family vacationing in Disneyland every few years. As our family continued to grow. It was kind of the rite of passage you got to get the youngest one to Disneyland before they age out of the free territory so always made sure we planned a ah trip before they were 3 and absolutely key so we were we were big Disneyland fans loved going there. Loved having these these family trips. 03:27.20 Sam And oh that's key. That's key. 03:37.89 Bryan And yeah I guess you want me to go into to start what how we moved on Beyond that or is that that where you want me to leave it at for now. 03:47.22 Sam I will let's start on. Yeah, how did you? How did you venture beyond the parks for the very first time. 03:53.84 Bryan Yeah, so we like I said every few years we did these dizzy land trips. My wife and I even got away once just the 2 of us away from the kids and we were I think it was. It was a but July time frameme and we were thinking about the upcoming Christmas season we're like oh we really want to give our kids a trip or some sort of a really cool experience. But we've done Disneyland we want to find something else and I had always said I would never go on a cruise or set foot on a cruise ship. And a number of reasons for that going all the way back to the childhood museum tour of the Titanic exhibit and which which was actually just up by off of the University Of Washington Campus there was some museum there I was in fourth grade and I grew up in the. Up nearby federal way. So not too far from you and we took this trip up to see the Titanic exhibit. It was right after they discovered it and had you know done documentation and I remember looking at that going. Why would anyone ever get on a cruise ship like that's just crazy is this 4 year old fourth grade not 4 year old fourth grade me. 04:42.69 Sam Um, yeah. 05:00.20 Bryan And kind of just stuck in my head like cruise ships are bad and ah but my wife and I were talking and I had read a couple blogs about Disney Cruise line and I was like well we love disney we want to do something different. We don't want to go to Disney world because that's too much like Disneyland what are we going to do. 05:01.91 Sam Oh my goodness. 05:15.39 Bryan And this idea kind of I opened the door to well we could do a cruise we could get our kids a cruise for Christmas. What do we think and decided to go for it. So we we pulled the trigger and booked our first cruise we actually originally booked a three night on the dream. But then I quickly decided the 3 nights was too short and the same dates we were able to. Switch and do a five night on the magic out of Miami and so that became ah the Christmas present for that year was a five night cruise out of on the magic out of Miami it was a Marvel day at sea we went in January at the time my kids had a year-round school and so they had a big break in January so we could go. Off peak season and didn't have to have the miss school so we planned this cruise the whole Christmas morning was a scavenger hunt trying to find different clues about what we were going to do they'd never dreamed. We do a Disney Cruise and we had all sorts of Cruise supplies and all different things and then we went and it was the most magical incredible vacation. We'd ever had. 06:02.11 Sam Oh my goodness. 06:11.60 Bryan And of course this was January of twenty twenty so we got home and I was like Justy Cruise line so awesome you know 2 weeks later we had our next trip booked for the following year or following December I'm so excited and then of course you know January Twenty Twenty didn't take too long before. 06:15.22 Sam Oh God you poor thing. Ah. 06:24.99 Sam Um. 06:29.97 Sam Right? The world shut down March Twenty Twenty Mid -march twenty twenty wow 06:31.40 Bryan Things changed a little bit. Yeah, so we became ah got our first taste and got hooked and then had to to go through dry spell but that's kind of how it all started so when we went on our first cruise have an 11 06:43.29 Sam Wow How old were the kids at that point. 06:51.21 Bryan a 9 a seven and a 4 year old if I've got that right? Oh so we've got 4 kids? yep. 06:56.41 Sam Oh wow. Okay, so you have a big family. So yeah, yeah, so the 4 kids and the wife. What? um what staterooms are I guess obviously you you may have had a different choice I don't know if that's changed over time. But what was the first. 07:13.80 Sam Stateroom arrangement that you got because the kids were pretty young at that point. 07:16.23 Bryan Yeah, so our our first cruise we did adjoining state rooms ocean view on deck two on the magic which we we loved and actually actually we were in the exact same stateroom numbers on our crews we may talk about. We just got back from 1 for spring break. But on the wonder. 07:23.27 Sam His. 07:34.84 Bryan Got the same stateroom numbers so we could go back to deck two and do ah ocean view again. But we've done several veranda in between those and so this last time was kind of going back to the original and you know Spoiler Alert verandas are great, but so our ocean view we were perfectly happy going back. 07:36.35 Sam Our. 07:51.27 Bryan But yeah, that's how it all all started. 07:51.72 Sam Yeah, amazing. Yeah we're similar in the sense of that we're we're happy with an ocean view. Um, we love a veranda too. But it's not always um, it's not always worth that price. Differential I think is is the issue. Um I think there's some areas. Or some itineraries where the verandah is more desirable than others. Um, but wow so 10 year old Brian would look at adult Brian right now and be like what the heck were you thinking I'm I'm still like ah. Kind of amazed that you came up with the idea and then you decided the 3 nights wasn't enough what what kind of what was that decision making like because I feel like a lot of people ask. Okay what how long should we book for our first cruise and Brian and I tend to tell people. You know 3 or 4 nights is great I think 3 nights is a little short but 4 nights is a great to get you know a taste. Um but're it's not going to be You're going to feel like you just got on there when you leave. But if you're concerned about things like seasickness or are your kids going to like it or you know that sort of thing. It's a good way to start. Yeah, what? What made you say? No okay, 3 nights is too short I'm going to go for 5. 09:07.39 Bryan I think just learning more and more about Disney Cruiseline started listening to some podcasts reading more blogs and I realized we weren't going to have enough time but unfortunately at the time I decided that we'd already booked airfare. And so I had to go back and I was like wait a second if we flew in Orlando still but drove over to Miami which is not an unreasonable drive. We could get a five night on the magic and still have it work. We had planned on figuring some other things to do in the Orlando area and we decided to swap that for a longer cruise and. I think it was just realizing how much there was to do and then realizing oh there's a Marvel day at sea we like Marvel that might be even more fun was what was what made a switch and I'm really glad we did because we wouldn't have gotten nearly enough with ah only 3 nights. 09:53.63 dclduo So sorry you have to find the me button. Um there you go Bri I wanted to ask more specifically because when you wrote in you mentioned that you were super apprehensive about cruising to begin with and so what did push you over the edge. Ah did you? well. 10:10.63 dclduo Should be asked a different question where was your apprehension because people are apprehensive about cruising for lots of different reasons. So I'm wondering what your apprehension was about cruising and then how you got over that apprehension. 10:19.71 Bryan Yeah, so I think there's a couple things I mentioned that this childhood Titanic experience just kind of think put in the back of my mind you don't want to go on a cruise ship and I did have some worry weight when I'm out you know away from the site of land and night am I not going to be able to sleep is it going to spoiler alert my best sleep I get when I travels on a cruise ship. But if I gonna freak out with that. There is a little bit of a am I going to be bored stuck on a ship like I like to go and experience cultures and meet people and do things and another spoil alert on a cruise you have this blending of nationalities and you get to meet people from all over the world and actually have. Ah, wider international experience than you do if you just go into one one country and so that's something I've really loved from cruising. But so there was that anxiety side of it I think there's a little bit of ah am I going to be bored side of it and also it's just looked kind of especially Disney Cruise is kind of expensive. Is it really worth the money. Was a consideration as well and I think you know I like to say I was a little bit nervous as I got on on the cruise ship that first day is pretty overwhelming when you first get on realize how big the ship is how cool it is. But also what did I just get myself into I remember being on the top deck kind of magic. A little bit. You know that first boarding day and we brought our our swim gear to change and so we decided I'd go try the aquadunt and it was kind of amazing. It was like all my concerns about cruising got left at the top of the aquadunk I went down that was such a fun slide and I was like okay I'm ready I'm done and I haven't looked back since so. 11:49.30 Sam Oh my goodness. Ok so the aqued duc was like the icebreaker now that's kind of a big icebreaker though. Bri I mean I've only been on the aqua duck once and then once was enough for me I do love the aqua dunk no other way around i. This is the aqua dung on the magic I love the aqua duck that is not the one that goes straight down the one on the magic is the one that literally the floor opens beneath you and you just like shoot down and it's terrifying and you're not on a tube. You're you are basically free falling until you the water slide curves. Um, but yeah, that's kind of a big wake up I guess or a big you know turning point what were the other kinds of things. 1 of the things you mentioned just now was about the sort of international flavor of cruise ships and how wonderful that is. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit more about that side of cruising and what you love about that. 12:53.12 Bryan Sure, absolutely so a good example, you know we just got back off of our our spring break cruise on the wonder out of San Diego we can talk about that a little bit but this would this experience is a great example of that. There was a evening we were made friends with one of the cast members in a shop. Ahana who is from Ukraine and we had a wonderful conversation with her and she was talking a little bit about what what life is like and her view on life and she had this really positive attitude about everything even though some difficult things are obviously going on where she's from but had a chance to talk to her and then multiple times and I came back at one point and. I got to practice a little I got her to teach me a little ukrainian so I got to say hi to her and then there was a cast member from Japan and I know just a few phrases in japanese I got to practice that and another one from spanish- speaking country and I speak spanish flu atly so I got to speak with them and so within a course of about 10 minutes I got to try out 3 different languages and talk to 3 different. People. Ah, and that's just something I love you know I always try and get our servers to teach us something. We had a wonderful server this cruise from Thailand who got him to teach me a little a few things to say and so that's just something. Ah so interesting. You run into so many different cast members from different countries that speak different languages. And you know they all speak great english on a Disney Cruise but if you ask them to They're always happy to teach you a little bit about their homeland and their culture and you know what? you'd eat back home. What's life like back there and so just that that experience and you can have it with 3 different countries. 14:25.42 Bryan In 5 minutes is is kind of a unique thing that I found around cruising that that I really love. 14:31.20 Sam And yeah I love talking to cast members about their home countries about their families I think when you really invest time getting to know people. Um, you know, not ah in in a way that is. You know, organic, but it's not just like this person happens to be the 1 serving you dinner or pouring your water right? but actually asking them about themselves and and they're where they're from it just enriches the experience that much more I feel like they you have a personal connection with them. You you do often end up getting better service as well. Um, um, and they'll you know sort of take note of your particular with kids right of what your kids dislikes and likes are and all of that it just makes the experience that much richer I'd love to hear you know Brian how your. How your second cruise happened on Disney right? because you've got your first cruise in January of Twenty Twenty the world essentially shuts down in March cruising pretty much shuts down completely by April of 2020 and then everything shut down for months and months. What was I you said you had a cruise booked for December obviously that cruise didn't happen because the restart didn't happen until think August of 2021 if I'm remembering correctly, what was the next cruise you actually ended up on. 15:55.58 Bryan Yeah, so after after this first one. Ah and I can't remember if it was before or after we officially knew that the December Cruise was going to get canceled. You know there's a long time there. We all kind of thought things were going to blow over and and they didn't ah. But we booked ah cruise for October of Twenty Twenty one seven night on the wonder out of San Diego one of these sevenite Mexican Riviera and we joined that cruise Facebook group. It was such a fun Facebook group. Such a fun fun thing and a group that was encouraging each other through all these hard times and you know the world was not always easy at the time. We're going through the pandemic and so it was just such a great experience but it was october of 2021 and it became a little bit of a nail biter for us is this going to sale is it not we ended up being on the first revenue sailing of the wonder after the restart was that cruise and so they ended up shifting it from from a seven night to a fortnite and we got a nice little discount from that but we got to to be on that first sailing with paying guests of the wonder out of San Diego down to kabo and back and that was such an incredible experience getting back on board and. Having that and realizing hey we've had this long gap but we actually love cruising and it was a different experience obviously with all the protocols at the time but it was another wonderful experience and actually kind of start us on an interesting trend because we realized hey we sailed on the magic now we sailed on the wonder. 17:19.40 Bryan And we ended up a little discount if we do another cruise because they cut the the 3 nights and it worked out. We could do a three night on the dream for spring break that year so we ended up cruising the ships in the order they were built so we did magic wonder dream and then we did it october this last October did a fantasy cruise. And so short of the match the wish that we haven't gotten on yet. We. We ended up cruising the ships in the order they were built became kind of our our goal. 17:43.25 Sam Oh so fun. That's awesome and I don't want to ask you this yet because we'll cover this at the end of the show. But I'm hoping you've gotten something booked on the wish I feel like you've now you've got this order going but don't answer don't tell us let's not spoil that. Um. Okay, so you you get on now you you've done magic magic out of Miami and Marvel day at Sea you're doing Mexican Riviera so you're doing well probably that cruise encinata or did you even get to cabo because they shorten that crew those cruises we did one of the same time period and I can't remember that. 18:17.00 Bryan Um, it was. 18:21.20 Sam Can remember if we actually got to Cabo out. 18:23.27 Bryan Yeah, we just went to cabo so as ah, it became a fortnight just to kabo and back so we didn't get in salata until our this last spring break. We did the wonder again out of San Diego and got to incinata and cabo that time on a five night but that first wonder Cruise was just kabo and back. 18:39.39 Sam Yeah, well, that's the better of those 2 ports for sure. Um, so. 18:43.43 Bryan We'll have to talk about that because we had what of my daughter would tell you her favorite Disney Port because of the excursion was in sonata ever. So we can talk about what we did there. But. 18:49.37 Sam Oh ok, well I want to hear? Yeah I want to I want to hear that let's we're going to segue to that right now because I am very curious because encinata often is a port that we don't get often. We have gotten off in Encinnata. We like to think of it as the Nasa of the west. Um, ah, just it's not a it's you know there's nothing wrong with it. It is actually quite when you dock you're right at the city of enciinata so there are things very easily in walking distance. But. You know you have aggressive shopkeepers and whatnot and so I feel like that part is the similarity to Nasa. 19:23.61 dclduo Well well to be fair, we had aggressive shopkeepers out at the blowhole and in snata we had a we had a lovely afternoon in encinata when we got off to have tacos that 1 time remember and then actually the only failure good. What. 19:31.16 Sam A La Bu Adora I know but we all add them Yes, but we had ah but we had a lot of aggressive shopkeepers trying to get us to come to their restaurants too. So it it was it. 19:44.33 Bryan Well. 19:46.42 dclduo I don't think I so I disagree I don't think I think the time we got off the ship and we had tacos I thought it was actually kind of lovely and the only failure we had was that you wanted like ah some popcorn or something for Nathan and we did not have we had so much cash they couldn't they they couldn't break the $20 Bill or whatever it was that we had but. 20:01.68 Sam Yeah, they couldn't break in American twenty. 20:04.31 dclduo Yeah, but but I actually I enjoyed the time when we walked through the waterfront I got tacos I didn't feel like there was a there were people out front trying to get you to at the restaurants but I didn't find it any worse than when we've been in London ah in that way. so so yeah but I want to hear about the excursion that Brian's water did and what. 20:16.10 Sam Yeah, fair, yeah. 20:22.65 dclduo What she enjoyed doing there. 20:25.85 Bryan Yeah, absolutely so you know insone outta is a little bit of an industrial port I will agree with you that way and the views are not as quite as nice as Nasa. You don't have that beautiful blue water but we ended up booking. It's called the. Ah. You go see the kumei indian reserve tour I believe is what it's called and what it was is they took us on in this split the group into 2 and we were on vans and they took us about an hour drive away from the port and we had this really fascinating tour of. Ah, incinata the the guide with us was telling us all about the history of the casino and the history of the economy in incinata and driving past some of their technical universities and talking about that and this is my oldest daughter who's in an ap human geography class right now so she was just fascinated by the running history tour but we go out to this community where. Ah, this tribe the kumiai or a native tribe that's lived in in the Mexico and San Diego area for you know, hundreds of years and this particular community outside incinota has built this kind of ecotourism group where a number of the women in the tribe. All work together to help support the tribe by running these tours and they built a fairly nice facility and each have a different responsibility and so we we arrived there. It was a little bit of an adventure getting there because of recent rains and washed out the main road and so we had to go the back way and it was a. 21:50.30 Bryan If you've been on the indiana jonesan ride ride at Disneyland this was a little bit more bumpy than the Indiana Jones ride jones ride to get in there. Yeah, we have a chance to directly compare it a few days later. But. 21:55.33 Sam No way. 22:04.50 Bryan That's not normally the case but a little bumpy ride but beautiful views through kind of the wine country that the that inciinata is where we've got all that agriculture and a lot of vineyards and you you arrive this community and the native chief of this group comes and gives you a traditional blessing with some um. 22:22.86 Bryan Ah, sage smoke and and you get to hear some of their native language. They all speak Spanish as well and then they split you off to some different activities. They give us a tour of their museum which was fascinating to hear about their history and add some different artifacts and pictures and things they don't allow photos of of the museum. So You won't find any online but it is ah is a pretty cool little museum so we went through that and then they take us to arts and crafts and teach us some of their traditional weaving techniques and so I made this necklace they started it and and got to weave this little necklace thing and then they had for the kids they could just put beads on a thread a little bit Simpler task. The. Weaving was not easy but they were there to help us Mine did not turn out like what they had the examples in the gift shop but it was still really, really cool and a memorable thing to to make and then they take you over and let you sample some traditional food. It's a sampling. It's not really a meal but it was it was fun. They had some hominy type. Salad thing and some other traditional bean type dishes and then an acorn style hummus all with ah the whole wheat tortilla so sort of food that you don't normally get to try and it was. It was interesting and then I had this drink that um. Ah, milk-like drink that someone described it as if you were to drink the milk after you'd had Honey Smacks snear great cereal in the bottom and that's exactly what it tasted like it was a really good analogy but it's some traditional drink they make and I sure that they don't put honey smack cereal in it. But it's. 23:42.82 dclduo Was that a was that a horchata. Maybe. 23:49.37 Sam It's probably this I was gonna say it probably sounds like O or chata. No. 23:50.55 Bryan It's not an or chata it sounded like it but it did not taste like orchata I've had a lot of or chata and this was a little bit different but it was in that same that same vein. Um, but not quite not quite in orchata. Um, but yeah, and then they you have some time to wander around and and look at the ah the place and then they take you to the gift shop and so. 23:52.59 dclduo No okay. 23:59.18 Sam Um, yeah. 24:09.55 Bryan Think my daughter just really liked it because it was so different and such unique cultural opportunity to learn about this culture. That's very different from anything we've experienced and it's a small group and you've got these personal interactions and I Just really really really enjoyed it because it was something so unique and different and outside of what we've ever done on a cruise or. Experienced even even close to Home. You know we've been to different Native American sort of things and this is a different tribe a little bit different culture and it was just really really enjoyable and so I think ah for her a lot of it was that that love of history and culture and especially kind of relating to things she was studying at school. 24:36.19 Sam Um, yeah. 24:45.87 Bryan You know if you're not into that then this tour wouldn't be for you. But for us it was It was unique and really made the inciinato. One of the highlights of cruise. 24:51.65 dclduo Yeah I would say with some of these yeah I would say with some of these industrial ports like I think take a look at the cruise line offerings just because look we have heard there. 24:52.41 Sam Awesome I got to write that down. 25:06.11 dclduo Great things to do in Nasa there are great things to do in Nasa we have not experienced that and we were turned off to the port a little bit on our first try and then I think the one experience we had in incinata that was not great was actually more my fault than it was the ports fault because I just I I picked the wrong tour like I just picked the wrong tour now. Even that tour I think Sam would say that the ah food at the end was a fantastic add-on ah for us and we had a lovely time eating some really great tacos and food at the end some delicious margittas. Ah so. 25:27.95 Sam It was. 25:36.28 dclduo Look I would never tell anyone don't get off the ship in a particular port I Know we don't get off the ship in certain ports. But that's in part because we've been there a lot and even then every once in a while I do eye the shore excursions at these ports and just take a look I mean there might be something new or interesting or fun that we haven't tried Salsa E Salsa in. 25:48.96 Sam Who. 25:55.40 dclduo Kabo was a really fun port adventure that we did um but I don't know that I'd get off in Cabo to go back to a beach day for instance because we just we we didn't really love the beach day we had so um I think it's just you know look it's sort of like ah we tell our son with food you know do do a no thank you bite and if you don't like it then you don't have to eat it again. 25:56.90 Sam It was awesome. 26:14.85 dclduo Or at least ah we tell him like do no thank you bite and then if you don't like it you know, tried again in a few years and see what you think. So um I think it's always worthwhile to see what's going on in these ports because you know you may not get a chance to visit them. Otherwise so that's great to hear. It's great to hear she had a great experience there um same where should we head next. 26:31.18 Sam I want to yeah I want to ask about your your third cruise because that was on the dream and I imagine that that may have been your first time to cast away key Disney's private island am I correct. 26:45.12 Bryan It was our second so our Marvel day at sea on the magic out of Miami did stop a castaway we got to do key we got to do key west and cast away a Nasa on that cruise. 26:51.10 Sam Oh okay, so yeah. 26:55.60 dclduo Ah, wait hold on hold on hold on. Yeah I want to pause for a second key west since disney doesn't go there anymore. Brian had you been to key west before since and like was it a worthwhile stop. 26:56.20 Sam Oh see that's itinerary. We really want to do? yeah. 27:07.54 Bryan It was. It was really fun. The aquarium in key west we just got off and did key west on our own. You know it was our first cruise and we weren't going to do that on a foreign port but we're as the us we'll be fine and I'm a pretty adventurous traveler anyways though with my kids I'm a little more careful but. 27:12.78 dclduo Here. 27:26.32 Bryan We went to the Aquarium there and they had a touch tank the most interactive like touchtake experience that I've ever had at an Aquarium and that was really Cool. We got some good Keyline pie and just hung out and we loved Key West but the Aquarium there was a startup show wasn't very big. But it was very different and I've been to a lot of aquariums and it was just unlike anything I'd done before and then the Keyline pie was fun and and they take you on a tram. We actually docked at the the dock that's part of the Naval Coast Guard base there and so they have to take you on a tram from the ship for security reasons and and they give you a running tour and it's. 27:56.63 dclduo Yep. 28:02.92 Bryan Unfortunate that Key West isn't an option anymore because it was a really fun place and I think there's a lot more to do there that we than we didn't even get a chance to experience. 28:08.31 dclduo Yeah, it it is an option on some cruise lines. It is not a stop that Disney is making any longer but it it has come back. Virgin Voyages is stopping there? Yeah, but yeah i. 28:09.90 Sam So yeah. 28:15.23 Sam At least for now. 28:20.74 dclduo I'm sad about it because I think the only way I would visit q west is on a cruise I'm not sure I would make the trip all the way down there just to to visit q us by car. Um I am curious too Brian so you when you wrote in you mentioned that. The castaway key five k challenge I think renewed or help you discover your love for running and for for the who's listening. You can't see but Brian's got the castaway key medals and some other running metals sitting right? behind him over his shoulder. Was that on your first trip to castaway key or your second when did you do your first castaway key five k. 28:53.70 Bryan Yeah, so when my wife and I signed up and decided we were going to do this cruise we decided that we wanted to do the 5 k there's a five k on a private behemian island that sounds so fun. Neither 1 of us were ever runners. But ah, we decided but you know I've walked and hiked a lot. My wife exercises regularly and was like ooh. Let's get the app and we'll do couch to 5 k and we tried to get our kids going though. Our kids didn't know why because we were saving the surprise till Christmas morning. But. 29:13.96 Sam Is. 29:20.11 Sam Oh right. 29:21.61 Bryan Mom and dad are doing this cat. We're like hey we might want to run a race sometime. You guys should should do this with us and the castaway key five k was the first real 5 k that I did my wife and I both did it and a couple of our kids and we loved it. And I got back and I was like ohoh this was kind of fun. maybe maybe I liked maybe I'm going to become a runner and I like running and sign up for a couple others in the course the pandemic hit and there are so many things you couldn't do but I could still go run around outside and so I kept running and running and are. 29:45.22 dclduo Well yeah. 29:47.18 Sam A. 29:52.38 Bryan City did some limber of the cities here. Did these fun virtual hey we'll give you a course. You'll go run it on your own social distance sort of thing but we'll give you a medal on a t-shirt to keep you active so I kept doing those and then I got hey I wonder if I could do a half marathon. 29:57.11 dclduo H. 30:07.60 Bryan Like I never dreamed I would do something like that. But I found one that was a small one that actually ran and in in the fall of Twenty Twenty and I've done eleven and a half marathons since so I got very addicted for running. Yeah. 30:16.28 dclduo Wow. 30:17.59 Sam Wow, yeah, you caught the bug like big time. That's awesome and you are going to do the disneyland half or sorry, no, you're going to do the Disneyland. Half marathon weekend. You're doing you said the 5 k and the ten k is that right. 30:36.47 Bryan Okay, yeah, yup and I had a chance to do the Disney World half marathon weekend in 2022. So the first one they had back I snagged a spot that opened up late and got to go do that and then I've done several of the virtual ones so when they have things shut down I actually did the virtual castaway challenge. It's like I don't know that'll ever be able to be on the cruise where you can do the actual real castaway challenge. But I kind of wanted to shirt the med so I did that in 2021 on my treadmill as well as the half doing a half on your treadmill was not a lot of fun but you know I've done it now. So I've had on a number of the virtual Disney events as well. 30:56.93 Sam Right. 30:57.16 dclduo Oh. 31:06.89 Sam Yeah, yeah. 31:13.32 Bryan The the real per in like in person Disney events are obviously much better if you've ever thought about doing them. They are incredible and I'm really excited to do Disneyland because the the Disney world experience was pretty phenomenal so running through Disneyland is I'm excited for that. 31:26.70 dclduo I will say the castway key challenge. Always I think the phrase use always sounds like fun but man if you're there on an ° the sun just make sure you do it early because it's far less fun. But. 31:27.63 Sam Oh yeah. 31:38.88 Bryan Or it. 31:39.30 Sam Well well, you're just talking about the regular caster week key Five K Brian because the challenge is the specific race that aligned with Run Disney Weekend Marathon weekend. 31:46.79 dclduo Well is yes yes. 31:53.90 Sam Which apparently is not happening now starting in 2024 we don't know if it will come back but they're not doing the castaway key challenge that they normally do which is ah essentially the cruise right after Walt Disney world marathon weekend used to have a special five k race for. 32:02.68 dclduo Yeah. 32:09.64 dclduo Yeah. 32:13.35 Sam Runners who had done the run disney um, ah run a run Disney race during marathon weekend. So. 32:17.65 dclduo Yeah, we so we suspect that's because Rond Disney needs the staff to head out to California to get those races set up. So um, it may be a casualty of Ron Disney not just having enough staffing right now to support. Hopefully it comes back I always thought it was a. Fun way to go on a cruise and experience marathon weekend so fingers crossed. Maybe it'll come back. Maybe they'll even have a private island a private island challenge at some point in the future. You know Castaway key and lighthouse point runs. So maybe maybe it would be fun. 32:40.89 Bryan Um. 32:46.20 Bryan That would be fun. Be fun I will say though. Oh ah I was just going to say you know you you mentioned how hot it can be at the castaway Five K when you do it and what's interesting to me is originally the idea of running on a. 32:46.39 Sam Um, yeah, so Brian had oh no, no go ahead. 32:47.52 dclduo Now go ahead. Brian. 33:00.68 Bryan Ah, private Bohemian Island really appealed to me and now that I've done a lot of races I can tell you it is not the most pleasant place to run and it is not. You don't get the ocean views like you'd think you'd get like I still do it every time I go because this what got me into running like it's it's tradition I have to do it. But. 33:10.25 Sam Yeah. The. 33:17.40 Bryan There are better places to run. But what's interesting is like I did a race last weekend and it was super super cold and I had one of my my castaway shirt from. The virtual one I did that I had to wear that morning and try and you know summon the the vibes of being overly hot on castaway key to get me through running in the in thirty five degree weather and so that's kind of what what my go to now is if it's too cold to run I just imagine I'm my castaway and surprisingly helps. 33:45.39 dclduo Well, you're right about those ocean views on casts away for the run. You get a fabulous view of the runway there though leading out to serenity pay. Ah. 33:47.81 Bryan So. 33:55.57 Sam Yeah, and lots of like brush and Bushes right next to you. But. 34:00.60 dclduo Yes, yes, and do not leave the path. We ran with someone last time who advised us never ever ever go off the path because some of those Bushes might be poisonous. So yeah, that was that was an interesting tip. Ah so anyway say where you want to go next. 34:13.90 Sam I want to know? Um, what itineraries you have done now Brian I mean let's let's hear how many cruises have you done at this point. It's only been three years since you started and of course we know a huge swath of that was. During the shutdown but how many cruises and what itineraries now have you done. 34:31.73 Bryan Yeah, so we just turned gold so that's kind of going from I'm never going to set foot on a cruise ship to gold which is five means we've done 5 cruises in 3 years with a year and a half shutdown or something for the pandemic's kind of crazy mind blowing to me but we we. 34:46.90 Sam This is pretty good. Yeah. 34:51.69 Bryan We talked about the the magic out of Miami we talked about the wonder out of San Diego the first time our dream was just a three night it was back when the dream was still doing the three night itineraries and we got to experience that and we said well never we don't ever want to do a three night again like it was a bonus cruise we didn't plan to do and we got a discount was great, but. 35:06.00 Sam Um. 35:09.72 Bryan Yeah, 3 nights is is not so great and then we did yes, yes, yes. 35:12.85 Sam It's fine if it's all you can do right? like it's like we we have done 3 nights when it's like you know the middle of the school year and we can get away for a long weekend but that's all we can really fit in um or if it's something where you're really worried about you know. 35:24.19 dclduo We we've also done it just to. We've also done it just to juice our castaway club status. There's that. So yeah. 35:31.11 Sam That's true. We have done it to yeah we we to be fair and it's funny. You said you know 5 in basically a year and a half Brian because you know to other people that might sound crazy but to Brian and I that sounds totally normal and and you know we've got to beat on that. So ah, but. 35:44.71 dclduo Sounds about right? Yeah, ah. 35:50.36 Sam You know, but that's why we call ourselves the dcl duo right? So it's to be expected. Ah. 35:52.74 Bryan This is the addiction that can become dcl for sure and I was talking yes and I was talking to a friend. 35:59.60 Sam Yeah, addiction becomes obsession. Ah. 36:06.77 Bryan Who who was also my my my travel agent who made the comment that I am not the the online communities on Facebook that I hang out with and the friends that I've made I'm not doing my addiction any favors. But after the the dream though. 36:20.59 Sam Totally. 36:24.42 Bryan And to be fair, right? You've you've got listeners across the spectrum and some people maybe a three night is all they can do and I would never say don't do a three night cruise if that's the way you can experience Disney Cruise line do it because it's such a phenomenal experience. But if you're wondering you know I even worried about. 36:35.59 Sam And. 36:40.32 Bryan I Didn't mention this I think when you asked but seas sickckness was on my list of things I was a little worried about because I get motion sick on roller coasters. Surprisingly, it's not really been a problem on the cruise line I Just wear the little What the the sea bands and even now I Almost don't know that I still need them I've I've gotten I almost feel like I don't notice the ship moving so much. 36:45.50 Sam Here. 37:00.24 Sam Um, yeah. 37:00.42 Bryan I imagine then if I was on your last cruise I might feel differently. You guys had a bumpy 1 in Nasa but um, yeah. 37:04.23 Sam Yeah, that was crazy I am so glad I had those patches with me if I had not had those patches with me I'm sure I would have been really sick. There were a lot of people sick on that cruise thankfully as we you know told as our listen our regular listeners like you Brian know. 37:20.19 Bryan Um. 37:23.10 Sam We were on a back to back and the second cruise was smooth sailing right? after this crazy ridiculous bumpy weather. Cruise yeah, so after the dream. 37:31.00 Bryan Um, ah, yeah, but yes, after the dream after the dream our next cruise and we had booked this already was. A seven night on the fantasy because we really wanted to do a seven night cruise that had been a goal and when covid threw us off and so we got to do a western caribbean out of port canaveral on the fantasy stopping in Cosmel Grand Cayman and Jamaica. 37:47.34 Sam Guest. 37:59.66 Bryan And Grand Cayman was a port I really wanted to do. It was one of the ones on our canceled crews that that got canceled because of covid and so we were excited to go there and we did have grand wonderful experience in Grand Cayman we ended up doing on our own but just having the funest bus ride. We took the public bus in Grand Cayman which I highly recommend. They're very friendly. It's it's very doable. 38:16.92 Sam Um, so awesome. 38:18.11 Bryan And our first bus ride. We were on a bunch of families from Columbia that want an msc ship that was import and they were just a riot to to a ride with on the bus There's also a family from chile and I did a study abroad in Chile and so I always love catching up with chileans and. So we just had this wonderfully fun international experience in the bus and then on the way back. We went to seven mile beach and had a great time at seven mile beach we only stayed for a little while but on the way back, we just missed. We were walking out and to the bus stop where they told us they'd pick us up and the bus just went by and we're like oh no and then they turned around and came back and got us. 38:39.82 Sam Oh nice. 38:51.81 Sam A wow. 38:53.31 Bryan And we got greeted by this father from italy this family from italy and he was a very stereotypical kind of italian loud friendly guy who made the bus driver come back to pick up the tourists and we have this really fun bus ride back with him and his family back to the terminal they were also on the msc ship and. So what's again cruising we we we got to meet people from 3 different countries riding a bus in grand kymen and it was just our a riot of of laughs on the bus and a lot of fun and 1 of my most favorite cruise memories now is is is that bus riding grand came in. 39:25.50 Sam Oh my goodness and you probably got to use your spanish skills at least on the first bus ride not with the italians but with the the colombians and the chileans. Although I'm sure a lot of them speak english too right. 39:37.89 Bryan Um, they do. But I did get to use that they wanted to practice their English but they let me practice my Spanish The the crazy thing though is the Italian Dad's English was a little bit. He was trying. 39:40.20 Sam Right. 39:48.73 Bryan But he had a translator and the translator didn't do so well from italian to english but it did really well from italian to spanish and so he kept trying to talk to me kind of in spanish and then as luck would have it. We picked up some cubans who were who were working on Grand Cayman but were from Cuba who spoke spanish that he was talking to and so. 39:54.25 Sam Oh funny. 40:07.80 Bryan Yeah here we in Grand Cay at an English speaking an Island practicing my Spanish more than I had in a while. It's kind of funny. But. 40:14.60 Sam Ah, that's awesome, but these are the weird experiences you have on cruises right? So 7 nights so now at that point you've got to experience obviously ah, all 4 ships. What's the you know. 40:14.64 dclduo That's funny. 40:30.70 Sam What's sort of the sweet spot a number of nights for you. Do you like the seven night are you happy enough with just a five night we already know you're not a three night guy but what's sort of the sweet spot for Brian and your family. 40:40.52 Bryan Um, I would say we loved the seven night but 5 to 7 is good for us because after that we we booked this five night that we just got off and in spring break on a wonder and I was not. It was sad to be done but five night to me was it was okay the advantage we have in that which is kind of if you want to go full circle is we we did tackle on some Disneyland days at the end of that cruise to to extend it beyond the five night and go figure out if we'd missed going to you know, switching from Disneyland to dcl and. 41:06.67 Sam Yeah. 41:16.26 Bryan That was our first time back to Disneyland since we'd made the switch that was kind of an interesting experience. 41:21.33 Sam Yeah, you know we find that a five night also satisfies the dcl appetite not to say I don't prefer a seven night of course the longer I can be on the ship the better but ah, especially if you've got a week off of you know work for example for like spring break. Think of five night plus a couple days at Disneyland if you're doing a west coast sailing is just perfect. It's just an ideal way to cap out a spring break or Christmas week or or whatever. Although of course the parks kind of crowded. So um. 41:53.31 Bryan He says. 41:55.60 Sam So I I'd love to hear sort of your take on. You know you are a convert now from I'll say from parks to Cruise line ah talk to us about the differences and why cruise line is better. Let's just let's just you know say the conclusion of course is Cruise line is better. But I don't think everybody knows why? So what? what kinds of things. Do you think the cruise line is generally better than a parks vacation. 42:23.94 Bryan Yeah, and well I'm going to say they're better, but they are different so no shade if you're a parks person but I think one of the first things that really kept me going back to Disneyland surprisingly was you know I've got a larger family. We're a family of 6 and for whatever reason. 42:31.61 Sam Um, yeah, yeah. 42:43.14 Bryan The good neighbor hotels around Disneyland all have family suites and accommodate a family of 6 surprisingly well whereas you know Disney World disney hotels don't generally and so when I look at a cruise line I was like oh this is going to be ah a pain I'm gonna have to get 2 cabins but you know I actually. We found. We really like him, especially if the kids have grown having the two cabins is great and the price difference here's the really interesting thing especially as you get older kids I realize how much money it costs to feed them when I look at disneyland parks vacations I think about tickets and hotel and I forget the food costs on the Cruise line. 43:03.10 Sam In. 43:15.55 Sam Right. 43:18.86 Bryan Like that's all included and if you've got kids who like my kids like to try different foods. But then if they get it and they don't like it then they don't want to eat it if you've just spent you know $20 on something and then they don't want to eat it and you know they're going to be hungry. That's a problem. The crew's like no big deal. Okay we'll'll get pizza later room service or the servers will bring you something else like. 43:22.17 Sam A. 43:33.83 Sam Um, yeah. 43:36.92 Bryan That's a huge.. There's a huge value for us. We found that are you know they're not inexpensive vacations. But when you actually add up everything that went into our Disneyland vacations even though the cruise line has sticker shock price that you'll see I've decided I think we get more bang for our buck with the cruise line than we do a parks Vacation. So. That's I just wanted to attach the money thing because that was a big holdup for me early on and now I'm like yeah no, there's more value to be had. Ah yeah. 44:01.52 dclduo can can I ask you can I ask you their Brian on the value question like were you staying at like Disney Deluxe resorts or like because I think the value proposition is really interesting to me between parks and crewsline for exactly the reason you're noting if you're kind of a certain profile of of traveler. But when you go to the parks like what's your. 44:13.91 Bryan Um. 44:21.16 dclduo What's your habit around where you stay and you know that kind of stuff. 44:23.84 Bryan Yeah, so we are so I am big on Marriott and have Marriott status and and and Marriott loyalist and so we've stayed at almost all the marriotts around Disneyland and we go to Disney world. 44:32.92 dclduo Okay. 44:37.97 Bryan I have not stated an actual Disney property in a long long time. The last time I was there I've done the Swanna dolphin because they're affiliated with Marriott they're kind of Disney world and kind of not so I've done those recently? Ah so when we're at Disneyland we're staying at you know I've done the fairer field I've done the courtyard I've done the Spring Hill suites 44:39.13 dclduo Well. 44:44.49 Sam Right. 44:57.28 Bryan They're not cheap hotels but they're not paying the prices you pay at the Disneyland hotels and so that kind of gives you kind of an idea. Maybe maybe of where we're at and so yeah, does that answer your question. 44:58.20 dclduo Yeah, yeah, yeah. 45:07.52 dclduo Yeah I I just yeah, totally does and I I just love what I love is the value conversation. You just mentioned around going to a Disney Parks vacation and I do think if you sit down and you pencil out what the hotel costs. What the food costs. 45:25.30 Sam The park tickets. 45:26.40 Bryan Um. 45:26.15 dclduo Rental car if you're going to get one of those and you know, especially if you're staying off property getting to and from resorts to the property parking potentially ah tickets. Yes, the tickets are expensive now to the souvenir like all of that sort of stuff some of that stuff you replicate on the cruise line if you want a t-shirt you're still going to pay for it doesn't come for free, but the food is all now included. You don't have. 45:41.10 Bryan A m. 45:45.60 dclduo You know, necessarily some parking fee you some transportation fees built in. Yeah I mean so yeah I I do like the idea of I agree with Brian and just saying I think there's a lot of value locked up in that cruise line if you really start to pencil out what it costs you to take a Disney vacation. So yeah. 45:47.54 Sam A $5 sodas 46:01.41 Bryan For sure. 46:03.16 Sam And I hadn't even thought about what you said though about older kids because if you think about teenagers I mean you know we have ah a nine year old so it's a little bit different for us. He doesn't eat that much although I will say the kids size portions at the parks are too small for him. The kid size portions on the cruise line are the right size for him. There is a difference. The portions at the parks of the kids meals are like teeny tiny and there have been times where we've had to actually order him a second meal. Yeah right. 46:28.80 dclduo But but that goes back into the value conversation because on the cruise line if he wants an adult dinner. He can have an adult dinner. They charge us differently for it. Yeah. 46:36.20 Sam Or if he wants a second mac and cheese. He can have a second mac and cheese right? Like if there isn't they don't bring you more if you're ordering at the parks. That's you know, even at the sit down restaurants. We've had we had 1 time where a server was nice enough to bring us more spaghetti for Nathan um without charging us but every other time where he. Has still been hungry. We're paying for you know a second meal or at least ah a side of something. Um, but I think the the value. Yeah, when you're talking about teenagers. Especially and I you know. 46:58.85 Bryan A. 47:07.39 Sam Especially teenage boys I imagine I feel like there are times where Nathan just eats like an animal and I can't imagine when he's like 1516 years old how much he's going to eat if they're growing teenage boys. 47:18.73 Bryan It is certainly interesting and and just to close this out to 2 quick thoughts one. It was interesting. Well I generally would recommend the parks before you cruise because Cruise is relaxing. The parks is go go go the advantage didn't work logistically for us so we did the parks after after all the cruise line food. 47:29.85 dclduo But. 47:32.83 Sam Um, yeah, um. 47:37.98 Bryan My food bill at Disneyland was lower because everyone is kind of like we've eaten so much we don't have to get all the snacks at Disneyland you know? yeah we got to get the benas and a few little things but the food bill was lower than it is when we've just gone to Disneyland and everyone wants to get all the snacks. The other thing. 47:45.24 Sam Right? Yeah, yeah, because you're a little stuffed. Yeah. 47:55.26 Bryan The other thing that I love is that my kids have gotten to experience so many different foods on the cruise line. My youngest loves escargo I would never have expected or him to have an opportunity to have escargo but he loves escargo ah baby. 47:59.90 Sam Yes. 48:07.24 Sam I love that how old how old is he and when did he first try escargo. 48:13.75 Bryan He's now 7 and he was 5 or 6 when he tried it the first time and so it ah it it really isn't all that different from shrimp. But. 48:19.41 Sam That's amazing that's amazing Nathan Nathan won't try it but maybe someday. But. 48:27.65 Bryan You know we don't need a ton of seafood we're in a landlock. We're from a landlock area and my my wife is not a big seafood fan So we don't have it at home very often. But my both my boys love seafood. They get to try seafood. They get to try lamb. They get to try my oh my youngest also is found he like sushi. 48:38.20 Sam Mm. 48:44.25 Bryan I would say the sushi in Kabananas is not always real sushi but you know it's not like the the sashimi the real stuff but he loves sushi now and so you know just the the things they've gotten to experience and try is is something that you know. I wouldn't be doing if we were just traveling and I was springing for the money out of pocket and so I love that experience so you know when I continue this theme of wilds do I love cruising over the parks. It's these experiences that you can have we talked about food now. But. 49:11.19 Sam Um, yeah. 49:15.38 Bryan You know I'll hit on another one we had that we had never experienced before we went to Cabo this last cruise was there' the right time of year we went whale watching and I've always thought whale watching was an Alaska thing but we did it in Cabo which meant it was warm outside and we were on the we did the the. 49:24.42 Sam Ah, amazing. 49:33.65 Bryan It's labeled as the the photographic adventure or something like that and they put us in the kind of the zodiac boats so you're in the group got split to 2 smaller zodiac boots zodiac boats for a ton of fun. It felt like you were riding on a big jet ski my kids just had fun zipping around on water. 49:40.27 Sam Um. 49:48.63 Bryan But then we saw whales and lots of whales and you know that time of year. It's the moms and the the baby whales. The the moms come down to to breath and give birth and so you've got mom and and baby whale pods and we saw like 3 or 4 of them and you know in some cases they're breaching and all the tail waves and all the fun things that. 50:06.99 Sam Um, yeah. 50:08.10 Bryan I've always wanted to see we got to see when we were in Cabo and that that experience with nature is something You don't get in the parks and so you know we've done snorkeling. We've done dolphin encounters. We've had those those experiences that are just kind of once in a lifetime you know when I sit in my family room above the the. 50:15.87 Sam And totally. 50:28.50 Bryan Fireplace my my wife loves doing family pictures and so for many years I had to just suck it up and go to the studio and do the family picture portrait thing now we buy the photo package on Dcl and we have a picture of us with the dolphin encounter that we got ah with our whole family around the dolphin. Ah and that was our favorite picture. We. 50:31.61 dclduo And. 50:37.41 Sam E. 50:46.32 Bryan Blew it up and did the you know the the big poster the canvas and that's now our photo picture and now I haven't had to pose for annoying family pictures because we just get so many good ones on the cruise line in quite a while. It's It's a huge advantage to me and we get our family pictures and they're doing interesting things and. That's another big thing that I love over over the parks and then the the the relaxed book. 51:08.97 Sam Yeah that's a great one I want to so stop you there for a second because that's a great one because I I think we have this we have done the same. We used to get family photos. Um yearly and of course that I think we. Pretty much stopped when the pandemic hit or maybe the year before because our friend who is a photographer a professional photographer moved out of state as well. So it made it kind of difficult to get yearly family pictures with her but then we realized we were getting these great pictures on the cruise so we use them. For let's say our holiday card. You know we send out holiday cards every year and now we always have at least a couple of pictures from a cruise. That become our essentially our family pictures you know and they're usually the ones taken by the photographers. Although occasionally there might be a fun selfie in there from you know something we took aboard a cruise. But yeah, there's I can't think of a you know in the last 3 or 4 years a year where there hasn't been at least 1 picture. Taken that's made it on our Christmas card that's but was taken on a Disney Cruise um that's definitely a great. Ah, a great additional value if you're not paying hundreds of dollars in a photo or photography session at your hometown because you've taken a million pictures. 52:11.22 Bryan Um. 52:29.82 Sam Although I have to say we are not um, record holders for number of pictures. We give that honor and all the awe to our friends William Rebecca who take like you know hundreds of pictures on every single cruise. So what are some other things Brian that are maybe advanced. 52:44.11 dclduo Wait hold on hold on hold hold on see he didn't finish his last answer you cut him off. You had 3 things. Okay, okay, all right? okay. 52:48.93 Sam Yeah, oh no I was going to ask? what are some other things. Yeah, so so so Brian what are some other things that make the cruise line a worthwhile experience and perhaps you know hold held above. 52:50.14 Bryan Up up in. 53:08.21 Sam A parks vacation as we mentioned. 53:08.46 Bryan Yeah, so 2 2 other thoughts come immediately lead to mind 1 thing that I've really loved is the character encounters we've had on the cruise line I remember spending long hours so that my girls could see the princesses in the parks and you know they've kind of aged out of that now which is a little sad because. 53:15.64 Sam And. 53:27.84 Bryan Character photos are so much easier on the cruise line and you know when a ship is full. There can be lines and we've stand in some lines. We've also had some cruises where the characters you know you just run into characters coming around the corner and they'll stop and interact with you or there's no line. 53:39.21 Sam I mean. 53:44.33 Bryan And so if you're somebody who likes interacting with the characters and having photos I Found the experiences on the cruise line have been phenomenal I So I still remember when stitch came and stole one of our shopping bags from the gift shop from my son who's a big stitch fan and they got to play all around a little bit like that and then you know you see the characters and. 54:01.41 Sam Ah, yeah. 54:02.64 Bryan In costumes and and things that you don't see anywhere else. So if your character's fan and that's part of why you go to the park you got to try characters on the cruise line because it is a different experience and it's pretty cool I'm trying to remember what happened there. But. 54:11.96 Sam I Wonder if stitch got sent to the brig. 54:20.53 Sam Ah, for stealing. Ah. 54:21.54 Bryan For stealing he he may have that the other thing that I think's really fun. Is you know parks are go go go and at least for us when we go to the Parks. We're trying to get our money's worth from those admissions tickets and it's pretty exhausting. And on the cruise I find myself spending a lot more time relaxing on vacation that is definitely a a fun thing and 1 of the best parts though is that you know as the dad of ah a family when I'm on a vacation. It's not really a vacation from parenthood it sometimes is a lot of work to keep everything going logistically on the cruise line. My wife and I multiple times had just looked at each other and been like our kids are off having fun. We can do whatever we want. We're free on the cruise line to have our own vacation and so. Sometimes that's we get great. You know time is a couple on the cruise while the kids are in the Kuot Klids club or hanging out or doing whatever they're doing and sometimes we actually go and have our own vacation. You know I love I'm very much into the Disney history and behind the scenes I'll go do the art of the theme show tour and sometimes my wife joins me and sometimes she's off to in one of the fun crafts that she loves to do ah you know we get to go do apollo brunch together and get ah a nice meal out and look at the ocean and not have to worry about what are the kids up to. We can go sit on a loungeger and just read and know that everybody's having a good time and so I feel like it's much more of a vacation for everybody. 55:46.11 Bryan And much more opportunity I also have a lot more one on-one time with my kids with with with four kids. It can be hard. You know not just to have time with the wife. But how do I get individualized time with each of the kids and we've had our own little things and we're going to go play foodsball together table ten s or go to trivia together I remember one particular trivia disneyrutan's trivia we did together. When my my 2 of my so you know kids who brother and sister don't always get along were coming together and playing as a team so we could try and get a high score in disney troops trivia it was such a fun family bonding experience and so that's another thing we really love. Um. 56:22.77 Bryan And then the last thing I think we need to hit on because Sam Sam's one going to want to hear this is. We're big feeder fans. We are big fans of of theater and I bought tickets to see Lion King when it was touring and came to town and then you know which was phenomenal like Lion King awesome and then we went to dinner. 56:34.35 Sam Um, yes, yes. 56:41.23 Bryan And I looked at how much money I spent and I went huh I get to go 3 Broadway style shows. They're not quite as long but they're as enjoyable as this and dinners included afterwards when I go on a cruise like for us as theater people is a huge another huge value thing and ah. You know I just love the the shows on Dcy Cruise line that's ah, that's a huge fun thing for us as well. 57:04.58 Sam Oh I love that that is a great point. Um I will say I still pay for my Broadway subscription for our local theater because I I can't get enough I and I can't wait for just our cruises to watch live theater. But that's an excellent point Brian because we you don't there are some good shows in the parks. But you're not going to want to spend a ton of time the shows in the parks because then you're missing out on the rides and you know doing all the you know character meet and greets and things like that. So you feel like you just don't get. Unless you're in maybe Hollywood studios. Ah, where there's not that many rides you're really not going to spend a lot of time in shows. Yeah I mean except you must not miss the Muppet Vision 3 d you must not miss my if it in 3 d that's my. 57:40.49 Bryan Yeah, for sure. Oh I so good. Love that love that and then you can go do midship detective agency and the muppets on the midship detective agency like there's a lot of stuff on there for the adult Muppet fans little little things it's it's good oh and while we're talking about muppets if we can go on a tangent here. 1 of my favorite memories now this last cruise ah pirate night we were trying to decide what to do? We usually do late dinner when we sail from the East Coast and on the west coast though with the way the time difference works. We've got to do early dinner and so. 58:17.65 Sam Um, even. 58:20.63 Sam E. 58:23.40 Bryan We were trying to decide what to do after dinner and and it was pirate night and we wanted to get a good spot for the fireworks and my wife's like oh mother Treasure Island is on funnel vision. Maybe we should just go up to our spot because we have a spot now on Disney Cruise line where we watch fireworks from on every ship every time and she's like we just go up to our spot and watch watch it. Well. Have never seen Muppet Treasure Island all the way through I do not know why I'm a huge buppets fan somehow that one I've seen bits and clips missed it but watching muppets treasure island on funnel vision on pyroite at sea on a moving ship is phenomenal experience and I don't know where else you get to do something fun like that. 58:55.20 Sam Yes I mean does it get any better than Tim Curry and the muppets let's be honest. 59:06.48 Bryan It does it. It's a great show but it's even better when you're on pirate night on ah on a Disney Cruise ship like there was just something about that. So yeah, there's just so many great experiences to be had on on Disney Cruise line 59:09.37 Sam Um, yeah. 59:19.22 dclduo Well well try to think do I have any questions I think you covered a lot there Brian yeah I'll save my last question for after rapid fire. Okay well. Brian you've had such an amazing journey with Disney Cruise line and so I can't wait to hear your answers to our next segment a crowd favorite or a fan favorite that segment. That segment where we subject you to arbitrary questions with arbitrary rules and a dash of judgment thrown in or the round we know as rapid fire so Sam You want to take it away. 59:53.64 Sam Thank you all right? Brian this is rapid fire I'm going to ask you your Disney and Disney Cruise line favorites. We're doing our original rapid fire. So tell us. Who is your favorite Disney or Pixar character and muppets are included so you may choose a muppet. 01:00:14.20 Bryan Who well my classic is always Donald duck. So I'm a huge huge Donald fan I'm showing everyone my Donald shirt from the last crews. Ah but Fozzy bear gets a would get an honorable mention for sure. 01:00:15.50 dclduo Yes, yes. 01:00:20.96 Sam Yes, yes. 01:00:26.60 Sam Oh I love that? I love that okay well it's funny because I'm talking to 2 brians both of whom love Donald and so that's yes I love it. 01:00:30.20 Bryan And. 01:00:32.21 dclduo Donald is number 1 number one actually this week when they release the band designs or they hinted at the band designs on the the band plus designs on the website. 01:00:34.70 Bryan Um. 01:00:44.34 dclduo Ah, someone commented on a post you made that they wanted one of the Donald Duck aqua mouse thing where his you know it's just his butt hanging out through a through a through a life ring. Yeah so it's like that would be brilliant. 01:00:50.18 Sam Oh life preserver. 01:00:53.76 Bryan Version. Well no shade on Captain Mickey and Captain Minnie but Donald's the professional sailor am the only one who's also been called admiral so we know that you know the ship wouldn't go if it wasn't for Donald. 01:01:08.80 dclduo There you go. 01:01:12.30 Sam Um I love it. Love it all right favorite Disney or pixar movie Brian. Oh you know you don't hear that that often but I like it. It's a good one. 01:01:16.00 Bryan Has to be in person New groove. 01:01:19.22 dclduo Nice. 01:01:24.99 Bryan It's ah it's a classic, very underappreciated but very good. 01:01:27.71 Sam Yeah, well and a great villain with use much. Yeah, all right favorite Disney song. 01:01:33.84 Bryan Oh so I think I posted on your playlist thing you were doing that I love the there's a metal Disney version of go the distance from hercules that's on my running playlist and it is a huge favorite of mine. 01:01:48.81 Sam That's right. 01:01:52.83 Bryan But this that particular cover that I Really love the other thing I would talk about is I also quite like was lost in the woods from frozen to. 01:02:03.35 Sam Yes, right? I mean it. It is also like 80 S Hair band song um and I will say I did listen to that. Um, the cover that you submitted and it's you know in that playlist. Of course that we have for those who are listening. We have a I think it is it on Spotify Brian sorry my brian detail do o'brien is our our playlist is out on Spotify and it's got a bunch of ah people's favorites from rapid fire. 01:02:32.20 dclduo it is on Spotify it is on Spotify hope to make it available on Apple music at some point as well. 01:02:39.35 Sam Awesome! Okay, well and you yeah. 01:02:40.32 Bryan can can I just ask Brian no 1 question since you're a Donald fan have you heard the song macho duck from the 70 s Disney album. 01:02:46.70 dclduo Oh oh yes, yes I have ah. 01:02:53.46 Sam But oh my good. Oh my goodness. 01:02:53.70 Bryan Um, it's also a good one. 01:02:55.34 dclduo Ah, yes, yeah I think my first I think my first Disney hat was the Donald duck like face with the little cap on top of it. Yeah, oh yeah I love Donald. Yeah yeah. 01:03:01.38 Sam Oh so cute. Okay, so back to rapidt fire. We're moving onto the ship but we're going to stay in the same category right now and we're going to ask you? What is your favorite Disney Cruise line stage show now that we're you know we're talking about music and thinking about music. 01:03:17.34 Bryan This is such a hard 1 You said favorite not the best. So I'm going to go with my personal favorite because beauty and the beast is phenomenal production. But emotionally I just love frozen on Disney Cruise line 01:03:22.60 Sam Sure. 01:03:33.58 Bryan I Think it's got that mix of fun effects and everything but also a little bit of humor with olaf and it's just impressed me every time I've seen it. So yeah, frozen is going to be my my winner. 01:03:46.45 Sam You know and I I won't I won't judge you for that because I think frozen on Disney Cruise line is phenomenal and the puppetry is phenomenal of olaf. But also the trolls. Um there's always the little baby troll with the puppetry and it's amazing. Um, they do something similar actually more puppetry in the olaf's royal tea party which is one of those extra charged tea party things. That's ridiculously expensive on the wish but a phenomenal performance I will say so no judgment. That's a good answer. Okay, what is your favorite adult bar space on any Disney Cruise line ship. 01:04:31.61 Bryan I think I might throw out the Cadillac lounge here because I was on and on the wonder and I was looking at I was just so floored as I looked at it how well-fimed it is when you can put an imagineer on something that's not Disney ip. 01:04:37.13 Sam Oh. 01:04:48.70 Sam M. 01:04:49.71 Bryan And if you really look in there. There's some really interesting theming around the whole Cadillac brand and and on what cas look like in just some really creative ways as I quite was quite impressed with that. Um, on those last sailing. 01:04:59.72 Sam Cool. Yeah I like the gas pumps in there I think they're pretty cool looking all right? What is your favorite space just to relax on the ship. 01:05:12.84 Bryan I don't know if this really counts as relaxing but I love running on deck four so deck 4 running and then sitting on a lounger in the afternoon like deck four is is is my favorite spot. 01:05:27.40 Sam Yeah I love that Promenade deck as well. Ah, not so much on the wish but on all other ships. It is phenomenal. Okay, this is a really important one. What is your favorite rotational dining restaurant. 01:05:45.56 Bryan I knew you werere gonna ask this and I've been going back and forth because I really really like repuns but I haven't been there in a long long time and animators would probably be my second place. Ah. 01:05:48.60 Sam He. 01:05:56.67 Sam Yeah, those are both great all right? What is your favorite sweet food item on a Disney Cruise 01:05:59.57 Bryan Yeah. 01:06:07.92 Bryan I Think that's worm sticky Dick pudding may just be that and there's a variation of it with pecans on one of the other menus that I the welcome the but the magic begin menu. It's slightly different and it's really good on that one too. 01:06:14.39 Sam That's right. 01:06:22.25 Sam Yeah, yeah, I like the original better. But I agree with you the the variation is is a good one as well. Okay, favorite savory food item on Disney Cruise line 01:06:35.00 Bryan Well, you know we're going to go to Animator's palette and go for something that has the letter p in it and of course you know I'm talking about the pork chop in animator's palette which I absolutely love. 01:06:43.24 Sam Um. 01:06:46.84 Sam I will tell you I actually really like that pork shop as well. I don't order it every time but it is probably it's one of the 2 main dishes that I always order at animators. So I know you're teasing me about the truffle per sets but that's okay, if they're not your favorite. 01:07:01.58 Bryan Um, yeah. 01:07:06.44 Sam Ok awkward dunk versus aqua if it's not his favorite. He didn't say he didn't like it Brian well because because because Brian here didn't say he didn't like them. He doesn't you. 01:07:09.80 dclduo wait wait. wait did you say it's okay, if wait did you just say it's okay if it's not your favorite. You've been ripping on Josh for um, all that's I guess I guess all right? all right? All ah, ah. 01:07:24.19 Sam I'd end'm not going to ask him because right now he's like batting a right? yeah and listen listen Brian's battling he's batting a thousand here and he's got the he's like he's going to strike out every batter that comes up right now. So I got to you know we got to see if he can if he can. 01:07:25.60 dclduo If only Josh had been more diplomatic about the whole thing I got it I got all right move move on move on to your next question. 01:07:37.87 dclduo Never. 01:07:43.80 Sam Make it okay Aqua dunk versus Aqua duck. 01:07:46.91 Bryan I know I might strike out here but I got to go Aqua dunk it. It's it's I I told you what it means to me that it was the start of me just letting go and loving cruising So I have to go with aquadunk. 01:07:50.69 Sam Go. 01:07:58.69 Sam Yeah I hear ok ok, all right, all right? ah that you know your reason is so good I'm not going to deduct you any points for picking the Aqua dunk even though you're wrong. Ok. 01:08:15.10 Sam What is your favorite ship now we you know you haven't been on the wish yet. So we know that it can't be the wish it's got to be your favorite ship that you've been on but you've got 4 to choose from. So what is the favorite. 01:08:29.47 Bryan Ah, you know I love all of them That's like whatever ship I'm on but it would come down to the magic versus the fantasy for me and I think because it's been a while since I've been on the magic I think I'm going to have to go with the fantasy. 01:08:33.95 Sam Oh interesting. 01:08:45.70 Bryan Also got to spend seven days on the fantasy but it's hard because I compare show lineups I compare restaurant lineups I compare we got bitship detective agency on the fantasy we got aqua dunk on the magic you know head tohead. But I think I'm Goingnna go with the fantasy especially because the magic's gonna be a little bit different here when it gets out of dry do so i. 01:08:50.60 Sam Yes. 01:09:05.31 Bryan Have technically been on it anymore right? depending on how much they change I Guess we we don't know. But. 01:09:05.97 Sam Yeah, all right? Yeah, we don't know we don't know exactly we know there' are going to be lots of changes in concierge but we don't know and and we suspect there's going to be changed when we know because they the way that they've sold those rooms on the. 01:09:14.67 dclduo Well we suspect we suspect? yeah. 01:09:24.60 Sam On the magic they are selling rooms for future cruises that are labeled conciers that aren't conciers or weren't conciers before the dry dough. So. 01:09:28.39 dclduo Sure sure the cost the concieurs rooms. We don't know how much change there will be to places like the conciers lounge. Although there should be some to accommodate some more some more space but beyond that we don't know how much additional change will be on the ship. Yeah. 01:09:37.26 Sam Um, right? No, we don't know correct. We. The big rumor is of course you know promenade lounge and what that's going to be because we know that that is. The one space that has not been updated and of course its sistership has this amazing french quarter lounge and so we'll see what happens with promenade ok the last question that I ask every person. Who comes on our show and gets a rapid fire around is your bucket list. Cruise Brian you can go anywhere in the world on Disney Cruise line where are you going. 01:10:15.92 Bryan I want to do a South America Cruise I want to hit I want to hit Costa Rica I want to hit Val Pato isso I want to go down the the down around the the tip of South America hit Argentina maybe even stopped by the anorctic but that's kind of expedition cruising. We don't have to go. 01:10:17.74 dclduo Oh. 01:10:20.79 Sam Ooh. 01:10:33.97 Bryan Go there. But yeah South America which is not an itinerary Disney does. But that's okay. 01:10:34.49 Sam Awesome! That's okay, maybe someday that sounds awesome. Well thank you for playing? Well thank you for playing Brian you have won despite the. 01:10:40.60 dclduo Yeah, we have we have done that itinerary with go ahead. Sam. 01:10:51.90 Sam Ah, water slide that you picked but congratulations. Ah. 01:10:54.51 dclduo We have we have done that oh go ahead. Brian go ahead, go ahead. No no, no, no go ahead. Go ahead. 01:10:55.38 Bryan Well I am glad so sorry I'm glad that I did well and picked the right answers I did a lot of studying or a lot of cruising or spent a lot of money whoever you want to look at it. 01:11:10.45 Sam I Love it. 01:11:12.23 dclduo Well Brian I always like to ask what is next up for you and actually I have 1 more question after that. But what's next up for you. 01:11:21.85 Bryan So next up for us is actually we're gonna do a six night to bermuda out of New York so in the fall I'm really excited. It's on the dream. We only got 3 nights on the dream. So I don't feel like I gave it a fair shake. 01:11:28.32 dclduo Oh very fun. 01:11:28.93 Sam Oh fantastic and so will that be on the dream then. 01:11:41.49 Bryan So and New York's one of those like I don't like to sail out of port canaveral to be honest and so I love sailing out of more interesting ports in New York like doesn't get any better than sailing past the statue of liberty and then three days in Bermuda like I've done so much research I'm like at first I thought oh that's so much time we can see everything and now I'm like oh I can't do. 01:11:45.39 Sam Only e. 01:12:00.39 Bryan Bermuted in 3 a's even but we're gonna try so super excited and the best part is i' I've convinced my sister to try at Disney Cruise so she's gonna come with us with her family. So that's gonna be fun I don't know that's the best part but it's gonna be a fun part. 01:12:02.27 Sam Well, that's. 01:12:14.41 Sam That's awesome now. The 1 question I sort of teed up earlier in the show which is do you have plans to get on the wish because obviously you went in order now you're going out of order and that's okay, there's nothing wrong with going out of order once you've done the first 4 original ships. But I'm curious to know is if you're going to go on the wish. 01:12:32.96 Bryan I would love to go on the wish. But the wish is unfortunately only doing 3 and four night sailings which makes it a little logistically. Not you know I don't want to really go all the way to Florida for that. And then it's more expensive and I know people do back-to-backs to solve that but back-to-backs are actually especially with the wish premium. It's just an expensive ship to get on. So it's on the someday category. You know it took us a while to get into cruising. We can wait I don't have anything against the wish I'd love to experience it but just logistically hasn't worked out for us yet. 01:12:45.13 Sam E. 01:13:01.70 dclduo Yeah, so Brian I had 1 more question which is have you considered sailing any other cruise lines apart from Disney now that you've sort of got the cruising bug have you been looking at other cruise lines or are you Disney obsessed. 01:13:02.27 Sam I Hear you that makes total sense. 01:13:16.44 Bryan You know I I definitely would be open to trying something else. You know I I hear mixed experience I Love to hear people's experiences I hear mixed reviews of different cruise lines from different people but we haven't seriously. Considered anything else yet, but it's definitely something I be open to you know, especially if I had a good reason to cool itinerary or something so we'll see. 01:13:34.94 Sam You. 01:13:41.27 dclduo No, no well Brian we just so appreciate you coming on and sharing your experiences with our audience and your journey with Disney Cruise line so thank you? So so much for taking the time today. 01:13:59.39 Bryan Absolutely, It's been fun to to have a chance to actually interact with you too in ah in ah I say virtual way more so than just on social media. 01:14:08.36 Sam Um, yeah. 01:14:09.31 Bryan So definitely been fun and enjoy listening to your show and hopefully this will not be an episode that gives you a bunch of onestar reviews. So. 01:14:16.65 dclduo Ah, well we weren't talking about concier So there's no danger of that So there you go? Ah, ah thanks for? yeah. 01:14:20.23 Sam Ah, thanks, but. 01:14:24.90 Bryan Well I'm just waiting waiting to see that you guys are gonna do a mystery science theater 5 to 5000 ah a review of my show right? right. 01:14:33.63 dclduo Ah. 01:14:36.95 Sam Ah, that would be hilarious. Oh my goodness we. 01:14:38.67 dclduo Ah, that show that show has gotten so much interesting feedback and we really want to repeat it. We were going to do it with the making of the wish and then the problem is like I think if I Rebroadcast the making of the wish I'll get banned off of our podcasts. So. It's like it's like try to figure out. Do we do like a. Ah, sync up like everyone get ready. Okay start and hit play now and then you like listen to us like talk to this show. Let's. 01:15:03.50 Sam I Think that one's too long though too I'm not sure people want to hear our commentary for that long I think you know doing something like that of course when when there's the christening of the treasure I'm sure we will do a do another one of those I'm not sure if there's other stuff that it will work Well for. 01:15:04.46 Bryan Um. 01:15:22.50 Sam But that was really fun to do and and and a really unique experience because obviously only people of our vintage will even get that what we're doing and and the joke behind it. So but thank you for being one of them Brian we appreciate it. 01:15:32.15 dclduo Yeah, yeah, yeah. 01:15:35.74 Bryan For sure. Maybe you need to go get. There's some old Youtube videos of like early Disney Cruise line shows about the magic and ads and stuff like that. Maybe you gotta go pull 1 of those it's over. 01:15:42.76 dclduo Um, that would be actually true Mystery Science Theaterar three thousand because they'd always watched the old movies. Yeah, we'd have to set up the camera I feel like I really want to go full bore on this and have the camera behind us while we're on the couch eating popcorn and yeah, but ah. 01:15:45.65 Sam Um, oh I like that. Why. 01:15:51.70 Sam Yeah, yeah. 01:16:00.30 Sam Ah, me with my pop me Tobo Chico will be perfect I love it. Ah. 01:16:01.60 dclduo Oh all, right? We'll come coming to a theater near you all right? Let me hit stop.