Ep. 355 - Bonus - Extra, Extra!: Chatting Disney Cruise Line with Journalist Scott Gustin

00:01.80 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's episode of the DCL duo but ah hold on floed it. Yeah I did. 00:05.64 Sam And you forget say Bonus episode. Yeah. 00:11.42 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's bonus episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and sam we have a really exciting guest this evening. 00:19.70 Sam We do. We have a really special I'm going to call him a celebrity guest because we don't get a lot of people who have I don't know this number of Twitter followers and and don't worry folks I'm not talking about you know a former president. Or anything like that. There's no politicians on this show but we're really excited to welcome to the show. Journalist Scott Guston welcome Scott we are good. Yeah, it's a. 00:45.80 Scott Hey there are you guys. 00:49.19 dclduo We're good. Yeah excited to chat with you Scott I'm I'm curious if you want to let folks in on kind of introduce you as a journalist but you spend ah a decent amount of your time on I'm just going to keep calling it Twitter for everyone out there. It's not like we recorded this episode pre acquisition by Elon but ah. 00:59.74 Scott Please do you know. 01:05.76 dclduo Like X is just not going to come out of my mouth very often. So ah I think they called him. Ah ah see and they ruin Milwaana They ruin milwaana. 01:06.55 Sam Right? I Mean how do you that? What do you even call a tweet anymore a seat That's so dumb. Oh my God Yeah yeah. 01:08.74 Scott Nope, It's supposed to be a zete like with an X E T Yeah, it's but what else would it be but do I yeah. 01:21.31 dclduo Room on I because you can't do the the gag about it if you write it with a bird as a tweet. But anyway Scott I know you. 01:23.99 Scott I Mean well they had to be dumb. Whatever they call it had to be dumb because the entire thing is dumb. So yes. 01:28.67 Sam Yes, it had to yes absolutely. Ah. 01:29.69 dclduo Ah, ah well nonetheless I find your tweets interesting and you cover Disney a wide range of Disney as a journalist and so. Just curious. You can give folks kind of a sense of your background in how you started covering the the parks and the cruise line all that sort of stuff. 01:49.23 Scott Yeah, so I work. Ah I work at a company called nextstar and nextstar owns over one ah hundred television stations across the country including Ktla in Los Angeles Wgn in Chicago or some of the bigger ones we we own. And so I've worked on the national content team as a national editor for a long time. Um, and you know just wrote about hard news and then five or six years ago as I was writing about Disney content. 02:23.46 Scott Occasionally whenever it would kind of reach the the wider audience mainstream. Um I just noticed kind of a growing interest in that as a kind of a side vertical that we would cover at nexttar. Um, and of course I've been a parks fan Disney fan my entire life. So it. Just kind of led to me being able to cover it from a work you know combining work and pleasure a little bit. Um and then Twitter just kind of took off for metering the closure when there was news every day you know and. 03:00.47 dclduo Um, oh. 03:00.68 Scott That that was not a normal thing and it wasn't There's a new cupcake every day It was actual like life-altering news about this thing that we all were curious. What was going on at the parks was it going to reopen. How is it going to look when it reopens so there was just that every single day and. 03:05.26 Sam You right. 03:20.41 Scott Um I think I I really focused in on just trying to cut through all the rumblings and speculation and rumors on social media about what would happen to try to just get the facts which was not easy to get the facts from Disney ah during that and I just kind of would hound them. 03:35.69 dclduo Yep. 03:40.28 Scott To to encourage them to be more proactive with updating people on every little tweak to policies and all of that. So um I think I kind of built my following during during the closure and then the we're still not back to 100% 03:57.34 Sam You Ray fair. Yeah. 03:58.10 dclduo Fear. 04:00.15 Scott So all of the things that came with you know the reopening things returning to normal. Um that was just a headline you know, seemingly 1 or 2 headlines every week when things were starting to come back. So yeah. 04:13.38 dclduo Yeah, what? what? I appreciate what I appreciate about your coverage Scott is just that it's it's not the clickbait stuff that we get used to sometimes in the community. It's it's you know, actual fact based news. Ah, but I also appreciate that you know you. Just mentioned you're a fan. You're a fan of Disney and so sometimes you kind of approach it from that standpoint I'm I'm curious how you became a fan of Disney you said you go to the parks quite often was that from a young age that you were going to the parks and have you been on a Disney Cruise would be another question I think we'd want to ask. 04:41.30 Scott oh yeah, oh yeah so no I have pictures of me going. You know we went every couple years when I was younger it really took off from me in high school and into college and I mean I've I've been to Walters in world. 04:43.80 Sam Yeah. 05:00.81 Scott Probably 60 or 70 times I would guess um and you know Disneyland I've been going there for only only the last like 12 or thirteen years so I don't have quite as much of that og knowledge of Disneyland that so many people that are. 05:03.40 dclduo Um, wow. 05:18.46 Scott Locals out there have for it. So I'm still I still consider myself green on Disneyland um, and then for cruise line we've been on 1313 cruises with Disney Cruise line so um our first one was yeah or platinum that they're they. 05:29.15 dclduo Um, nice. 05:29.50 Sam Yeah Platinum Cruisers Whoohoo that post. Yeah they keep chain moving that end zone. That's right. 05:35.84 Scott Unk going. Keep moving that that bar and that's okay, I'm okay with it people that have sailed people who have sailed 25 times deserve to have their own things I am all very supportive of that. Um, just more life goals. So ah, cruising is what my wife loves. So we we love to do it in Disney we did a honeymoon on carnival and then before we had kids we were like we'll go check out Disney and then that was it. We haven't we have not strayed since so nope. 06:08.59 Sam You you haven't gone back? Yeah, but that's you know that's a kind of a common story. Not not necessarily with carnival but just in general that you know people who love disney if they try Disney Cruise line and they have any sort of interest in cruising whatsoever seem to kind of just go all in. 06:11.26 dclduo That's nice. 06:14.24 Scott Yeah. 06:27.95 Sam You know head first and love it. So at least that's been our experience and that was our personal experience as well. Yeah. 06:28.40 dclduo Yeah, yeah, well well given how closely you follow Disney kind of across the board I thought we should start broad and then narrow down into the cruise line. So this guy kind of want to step back and ask you. 06:29.20 Scott Um, yeah, yeah. 06:47.23 dclduo How do you think Disney's doing right now. Ah from our point of view they're they're struggling a little bit and I know a lot of that's attributable to the streaming side of things but you know there's some chatter out in the fan community that you know the. Parks aren't the greatest anymore and universal Orlando just up the road is building another gate and what's Disney's answer going to be to that and I don't know just stepping back for a second like how would you? How would you characterize how Disney's doing right now. 07:15.66 Scott I mean I I don't worry as much about the epic universe I think I think the fans ah tend to kind of um that's a little overblown because epic universe is going to bring people to Orlando and Disney is going to benefit from it. 07:25.21 dclduo Okay. 07:31.21 dclduo When. 07:33.42 Scott I do worry about you know beyond the first couple of the first couple of years epi the universe is open like Disney really could do nothing for the next four years and be fine, but my concern is we know how long it takes Disney parks to do anything like. 07:51.91 Sam Yeah, right building something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 07:52.65 Scott Make a decision much less like work on anything like actually dirt you know moving that is my thing and yeah I just I am frustrated with the it just seems like everyone's just kind of pushing papers around. Not you know. Actually seeming to I don't know like actually show that they are thinking the same way. Um, and that they're a little self-aware that they take forever to build um and work on projects right now. The company is not in the best financial state right now. But. 08:16.81 Sam A. 08:19.00 dclduo Um, right. 08:24.10 Sam Yeah. 08:27.29 dclduo Um, yeah. 08:30.23 Scott Um, you know they they keep saying all the right things when it comes to parks and cruise line knowing that those are the things that essentially fund the rest of the company and allow them to go have fun with streaming and do everything else that the company has to do to be Disney. Um. But it it just my my personal frustration with it is it just seems like they're a little stuck in the quicksand right now and not moving standing still when others are you know, moving forward. 08:58.00 Sam A. 08:58.43 dclduo Now. 09:04.81 Sam Yeah, it feels like to me and I don't know if this is how you'd characterize it but it feels to me like Disney's doing a lot of navel gazing right? like they they like want to think about a problem for so long that they think about it to death and then nothing ever comes of it and so like. 09:06.81 Scott Um. 09:23.50 Sam You know it's it's like we have all these ideas for a new land. Well they tell us 12 different ideas I I don't want 12 different ideas for a new land I want the one that you're going to build right? like tell me what land or what ride are you going to build and then make it happen I understand it's going to be 5 years before it's actually built or maybe even more but like at least. I don't know it just it seems like they're just this talk about you know, constant different ideas is really unhelpful I don't know if you feel the same way. Yeah, so. 09:51.31 Scott Yeah I Just don't know who it serves I don't know who I don't really I Really don't know who likes that like I don't think the fans like it. Um I don't know who I don't think investors I mean I don't think they're talking to investors when they talk about this stuff but I don't think investors. 09:55.73 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 10:08.64 Scott Like it. Um I mean I I was extremely frustrated at the most recent d 23 ah destination d 23 event just because I would have been me personally I would have been fine if he if Josh Mark had come out and said we don't know what we're going to do with animal kingdom. 10:14.97 dclduo Um, yeah. 10:28.12 Scott But we're going to start construction tomorrow and like we saw dirt moving and we saw progress like I would have been more excited Had they not shown us a single piece of artwork and then just been like you know what guys we're working on some really cool stuff. But guess what we're starting tomorrow. 10:28.74 dclduo Now. 10:45.74 Scott And like you're going to be able to tell that we're actually moving forward I would love to have both I would love for them to talk about what they're going to do. But if I had to pick I would have still taken the the more boring you know public display versus the flashy showing of concept art with no real like description of. What we're talking about here. You know it's kind of like yeah it could be these things that we're showing you um, really all they did was commit to saying that they're going to redo that land at some point in the Future. That's really all that was confirmed. Um. 11:05.96 dclduo Yeah. 11:17.70 dclduo Yeah, yeah, well and it it primes us a bit I think I think there's a little bit of um, there's a little bit of learn behavior on our side now where Disney says we're going to do this fabulous thing and then it just slowly gets scaled back and back and back and never really materializes in the I mean. Epcot is a prime example of that and all of the things that they you know sort of committed to doing and then they all got scale back now. I understand pandemic is what it is. Um, although I think they could have used that time wisely for some investments especially around like ride maintenance and things like that with the amount of capacity they lose every day on broken-down rides. But. 11:53.63 Scott I. 11:55.70 dclduo Yeah, it's it. It's interesting Scott I'd be curious Scott too I think there's a kind of a general feeling out there and I've heard this, you know the the company expresses in different ways like they're going after new audiences. But do you feel like they're continuing to cultivate their existing audiences in a reasonable responsible way. 12:12.39 Scott I I think they're starting to realize that they should be but the problem again with Disney is I don't know how long it will take them to actually act on that I mean at Walt Disney World in January of this year they announced they made a series of announcements essentially saying we hear you we know that we have done a lot of things that have not been popular. They you know they made hotel parking complimentary. Um, and there was a couple other like announcements that they made things that were going to happen throughout the year but even with those. 12:32.40 dclduo Um, yeah. 12:49.16 Scott Things like that I don't feel like Disney gets any credit for it because they take so long to do things you know they announced in may I think when bookings open for next year I think it was may when they announced dining plans are coming back and like all all these things that that. 12:53.14 dclduo O. 13:03.44 Sam Oh yeah. 13:08.17 Scott Get announced where it does even though they're not really new things but they're things that are you know cognizant of their boil fan base and they're saying we are going to remack dining plans. We are going to make it easier. You know, no park reservations for certain tickets like that type of stuff even when they are announcing that it's still so far out. 13:21.58 Sam Me here. 13:27.68 Scott That I don't really think they get really anything from it in terms of of the the loyal like fans. Um, but I I hope I hope that the recognition is there. 13:32.48 Sam Um. 13:33.58 dclduo Me. 13:44.98 Scott Already because if it's not they're going to already be behind on being able to like act on on it I do think there's more coming for parks things that the fans want I don't think park hopping hours are long for this world I think Disney knows that they need to make changes to. 13:49.26 dclduo Yeah. 14:02.96 Scott The line skipping services. Whatever those end up being like they know they know all this stuff. But how quickly how quickly can we get back to you know a solution um is is my question. 14:04.50 Sam Right. 14:08.88 dclduo Yeah. 14:13.17 Sam Right? So do you think? eventually they'll go back to something like or closer to fast pass than what they've done with genie I Mean do you think that's I mean. 14:24.95 Scott Um, yeah. 14:25.00 Sam I'm talking long term I'm not saying like tomorrow I think we all agree. They're not going to switch anything tomorrow. But do you think it'll it'll revert to something more similar to what fast pass used to be. 14:32.38 Scott I think if you will commit to having me on your podcast again this day in 2024 I think we will all be talking about the newer version. Whatever it ends up being and we will already have been able to have used it and have. 14:38.65 dclduo Um. 14:40.57 Sam Yep. 14:48.37 Sam Ah. 14:52.21 Scott Opinions and takes on how well it works versus Genie plus um. 14:54.43 Sam All right I'm I'm going to hold you to that Scott I I love that first of all I love that we can call it lightning lane. Plus we can call it you know magic carpet I don't care what we call it. But I really would love for something different I would love for us to go back to. Max pass at Disneyland let me just put that out into the universe. 15:13.11 dclduo Well it it. Yeah, it's curious. It's curious to me because like I think some of these changes you're talking about Scott are fantastic. But at the same time then disney makes these other changes like I'll use Disneyland as an example, you know we're going to limit the early morning magic hours to. 15:13.53 Scott Yeah I. 15:31.30 dclduo Ah, half hour at one park and oh by the way we're adding a whole tower's worth of capacity for for hotel stays right? So like you just completely sort of undercut the the idea of early morning magic and then slammed that park. Ah for the hotel guests who were paying by the way. $80900 a night to stay at the grand cow you know 6 to $700 a night at disneyland hotel so like ah it's it feels just like there's a mixed message happening internally like left hand isn't talking to the right hand all the time. 16:01.66 Scott Yeah I honestly I feel like Disney makes decisions like this and I feel like I can reverse engineer an explanation for it that change at Disneyland I do not understand like the only the only thing I could come up with is that. 16:10.22 Sam A here a. 16:12.26 dclduo Um, yeah. 16:20.75 Scott Maybe it's just not being used as much as we think it is or at least from a Disneyland perspective they're looking at it saying like this is not being used enough for us to justify doing both parks so we need to do just one that's like the only thing I can come up with. But even I feel like that is a is a crap like explanation. So like even the best I can do is not great. 16:22.43 dclduo Who. 16:24.72 Sam Um, me. 16:29.48 dclduo Yeah. 16:29.49 Sam Here. 16:40.69 Scott Um, so that was a that was a very confusing thing to do especially when you're opening a new tower with that being ah a main perk for staying on property. It just it didn't add up and it just seemed so negligible like it's not that we're not talking about like extending. You know. 16:46.24 dclduo Um, yeah. 16:46.26 Sam Um, yeah. 16:59.97 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 17:00.20 Scott It's It's just it's nothing. It doesn't seem like anything on ah on a balance sheet. It doesn't seem like it would be. 17:02.00 Sam Um, yeah, and and it's and it's not like every ride is even open so like for folks who are listening who aren't parks people I don't know if we have I don't know how how many listeners we have that don't ever go to the parks I'm sure we have a few but like. It's not like you get there for your half hour early and every marquee ride is open um, not even half the rides are open for that early morning magic half hour so I mean it's it's kind of it's it's just makes no sense. 17:26.12 dclduo Yeah, yeah, what in Scott how do you think they're doing attracting the new audience because I think they've got a little bit of an uphill battle there too because they have so sort of you know for a period of time I think they really. I don't say alienated that's too strong of a word but they really frustrated their fan base and those are the people who are out there telling their friends go to Disney I think the messaging is shifted out in the community a bit at least as to parks around like it's complicated. It's frustrating. It's expensive. Um, you know you got to be up late or and then up again early like it's you know it's it's a hard vacation for folks to sell now I don't know. Do you think they're doing what they need to do to attract these quote unquote new audiences that they're looking to get. 18:16.62 Scott I have seen very little to convince me that they are obviously moving in a direction where they know what they're doing to get that audience back. Um, my example at Walt Disney World is them eliminating the magical express. 18:24.35 dclduo Yeah. 18:25.81 Sam Um, me. 18:30.71 dclduo Are. 18:30.78 Sam Yeah. 18:33.32 Scott Was just at its core was like this thing that would create the most Goodwill from a person who goes on a trip and comes back home and talks to their friends about going. It's one of those things where it's like we didn't even have to worry about how to get there from the airport. We didn't have to even think about it. 18:44.45 dclduo Yeah. 18:46.43 Sam Um, yeah. 18:52.30 Scott You know, like the family is able to get off the airplane and follow signs and not have to you know? do we want to take an uber like all right? What size uber do we need? Oh we have to get an excel. Is it going to be surge product like all the things should we just rent a car the rental car experience at the Orlando International airport is not great. 19:05.97 dclduo Um, and. 19:06.80 Sam Um, yeah. 19:10.80 Sam Um, yeah. 19:12.70 Scott So it's like all all of these things are um, these hurdles unnecessary hurdles where for so long Disney had something like that and it paid off in my opinion paid off when people that would just go home talk to their friends be like yeah we went. It's it's a stress-free way to end your trip. 19:12.15 dclduo Nope. 19:29.89 Sam Um, yeah. 19:31.55 Scott You don't have to think you got to get up early but like you know and so that's just like 1 example of where I feel like if they truly got it and they were like you know what? we we wrote that really hard for a long time where it was this rite of passage for people to come to Walt Disney World and 19:35.58 dclduo Um, yeah. 19:50.87 Scott We didn't really have to reach out and actively reach out and and get these new audiences. They kind of just came to us thanks to how great of a job we were doing um I don't know I don't know if that's the case anymore I So I still think it is I Just don't think it's as frequent as it was you know. 19:56.57 Sam Here. 20:04.77 Sam Um, yeah. 20:10.33 Scott Prior to to Covid because of a lot of the the things that they've done that would make it where people would easily go talk to their family or friends about how great of a time they had. 20:18.37 Sam Well and it would keep those people in the disney bubble. We always thought that that was like a brilliant idea right? you get them on the disney transportation now they don't have a rental car they're saying at a Disney resort. They're going to use the buses or the skyliner or the monorail you know or the boats to get around and you've just locked them in. 20:20.11 dclduo Um, yeah I mean it's. 20:38.13 Sam That every meal they have every place they go is going to be a place where Mickey's hand is in their pocket so it is just like it's just an easy calculus versus now if you got somebody who decides. Okay I'm going to take an uber or I'm going to rent a car right? Oh they realize. 20:45.22 dclduo There it. 20:55.49 Sam Oh these other things are not that far away I can take an uber and do these other things and maybe eat off property or maybe stay off property. 21:01.18 dclduo Yeah, it it just doesn't feel ah to use a term from a company I or for a customer obsessed at all and ah yeah, that's that's concerning a bit that they're not sort of looking for ways to improve it I almost think that every Disney executive should have to book and plan their own family vacation at Disney. 21:17.78 Sam Yeah. 21:20.30 dclduo World without without you know, int entryate passes and all of that sort of stuff and just go through and and do it themselves and I think they'd quickly arrive at the conclusion this is is a not easy vacation to make. Yeah so so Scott I want to shift gears over to cruise line because there's a ton we can talk about over there. Um. 21:27.13 Sam Yeah, figure out park reservations. Let them do that. 21:37.86 dclduo Before we get into the the topic of the day which is the the disney treasure. You know we've had several guests on our show who have started to claim that Cruise line is one of the best values that remains in the Disney system because of everything that's included in the rising cost of a parks vacation I'm wondering what you think. About that as you know you're an avid Disney Cruise line fan, you take Disney Cruises you think it's a good value these days. 21:59.46 Scott I don't know if you can describe Digy Cruise line as a value I mean it's it's it's a tough set I mean it is for us. But like I I don't think I should be trying to or would would be maybe not trying I don't think I would be able to convince someone that it is a value. 22:03.46 Sam Value. Yeah. 22:04.76 dclduo All right. 22:19.47 Scott Um I I think I can sell someone if I'm talking to a friend I can sell them on the experience but like the the value part I feel like is is a tough sell like if you want if you want a value like you you just pick your. 22:22.43 Sam Here. 22:35.81 Scott Poison on the other cruise lines and you go you go on royal caribbean and you have a ah a really good time. Maybe not the the peak cruise line experience which I think is Disney but like bang for your bug value I think I would have a hard time selling that but I would still try to convince someone to take. 22:35.82 Sam And. Yeah, yeah. 22:50.77 dclduo Yeah one I think. 22:52.80 Sam Um, yeah, what about as what about as what about as compared to a parks vacation right? Like let's say somebody's coming to you and saying hey I'm thinking about going to Disney park but I'm also thinking about a Disney Cruise 22:55.19 Scott Ah, Disney Cruise line like with their time. Especially. 22:59.52 dclduo Yeah. 23:09.48 Sam Do see sort of um you know any value differentiation in that because that person's already going to be spending a lot of money whether it's a parks vacation or a cruise line vacation. You know, do you see sort of that comparison working in Disney Cruise lines favor 23:23.28 Scott Um, I could I mean I I So I think the what's what what is so different is just experience. You know like I I think about me and my wife I mean my wife would take a cruise every time over the parks. 23:32.35 dclduo Who. 23:41.58 Scott Like every single like if it's you're talking about you're you're going to spend 5 grand on a family vacation cruise versus parks like I I think you can make the value argument for cruise over parks. But then it's the person who just says like I don't know what I would do on a cruise line for a cruise ship for seven days or for a whole week. 23:58.27 dclduo Yeah. 24:01.60 Scott And that that becomes more of the sell. But like if you if you're sitting there debating you're like I love cruising I love going to the parks. It's it's for what you're gonna pay for a family to go to the parks now with food you decide. You don't want to wait in line. You gotta shell out you know. Hundred and twenty dollars a day for Genie plus like it is very very quickly. Um, coming up on the price of a cruise and if if they're the same thing to you I I I could be I could be convinced. The the term value might actually work with Cruise line in that context. Yeah. 24:40.22 dclduo Yeah, well let's let's talk about some of the new things coming down the pipe here and ah maybe I'll start with just lighthouse point for a second. Um you know Disney's building the new private island right? Um, what do you think about the direction they're headed because I think it's going to be. Still very differentiated from a place like perfect day at cocoke or the other similar kinds of islands you can go to for other cruise lines you think they're kind of head in the right direction is lighthouse point going to be a a good thing for the Cruise line. Do you think. 25:13.53 Scott I I think it will be um I do think it's it. It does seem that they've created another castawayki. You know like I um was a little surprised that they didn't look at it and try to do a little bit more of the. 25:20.84 dclduo Um, yeah. 25:31.20 Scott Water Park you know Royal Caribbean Not really that That's what I want but just for them to try to capture again like a different and bigger audience instead. They kind of took something that is still my favorite cruise destination which is casway he they took it and and made it better. Um I. 25:38.48 dclduo Um, here. 25:50.71 Scott Personally think I'm going to love it. But I I was surprised to see them not try something different just to get the person that would look at the coco key cocoke that royal caribbean put together and just kind of be like this is Disney's version of something like that. They really just kind of. 26:01.10 dclduo When he. 26:09.16 Scott Stuck with what they know and I mean I think it will do well for them in the short term for sure but it will be interesting to see if people are really differentiating between Cassway key and lighthouse point when it gets to the point where you're deciding. You're picking your your itinerary based on where it goes if they're the same thing I don't know if Disney will always be able to charge that premium to go to lighthouse if it's kind of just a newer version of the same experience. 26:36.61 Sam Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's a really good point I hear from I feel like a lot of people who say that Castaway key really um, it markets towards sort of the younger family cruising right? meeting younger kids not. Not necessarily younger adults I think adults like casto ake just fine and then sort of your younger um child cruisers but that they're missing sort of that teen and tween market and that royal caters better to that because of the water parks and other sort of adventure things you can do. What do? What do you say to that or or do you think that's really true and do you think that Disney sort of missing out by not doing a little bit more with lighthouse. So. 27:23.10 Scott Um, yeah I mean I I think I think Disney is really it seems they are very comfortable in kind of the the age groups that they are appealing to um, especially you know. Specifically about the island but even just the the offerings on like the new ships. It seems like they they're not trying to go at least with the ships that are going to be base here in the us they don't seem to be going like oh we need to have ah an even better attraction at sea or anything like that they seem like they're. They're pretty much okay with that path and not trying to reach out out of their you know what? they know? best. But um I just I I look at the new ships and I have some serious issues just with. 28:03.85 dclduo Um, ah. 28:14.77 Scott Not not really what you're what you're asking me about but just the the layout of the new ships and more of the the high end direction that they seem to be taking with merchandise and all of that stuff that. 28:26.10 Sam Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, merchandise concierge all of that. Yeah. 28:32.60 Scott Yeah. 28:32.72 dclduo Well, yeah, and let's look well let's hit. Let's go there Scott because that's that's on the list of things to talk about so the wish and obviously we'll talk about the treasure a bit as well. But yeah new class of ships very different from the existing fleet and it sounds like you have some opinions there. Ah what. What? yeah, what do you think. 28:48.77 Scott I Yeah I don't like them. Um and or I don't like the new I I do feel like I'm being very negative I mean I'm not like obviously we all love this company and and the cruise line in the parks. But um. 28:53.93 Sam Alice how you really feel Scott. Ah. 29:03.43 dclduo Um, yeah. 29:08.27 Scott I I had about every issue with the the treasure you know I I was on the ship we went with my family we went on the the media preview cruise of the the wish last year and we all love cruiseine I have a 9 year old son. 29:18.77 dclduo Him. 29:25.80 Scott And he has been on six cruises. So like he he loves it as much as we do and we were on the wish. Yeah is he? Yeah I mean it's it's kind of like he's grown up with it whereas like me and my wife came around to it later in life. But we're on the ship for like 5 minutes and I'm already like picking it apart. 29:28.33 Sam Yeah, he's like our Nathan our Nathan is he's 9 and he loves cruising. Yeah. 29:45.26 Scott Like we get in the elevator and the elevator buttons are all messed up and it's just like dad. He was like you need to give it some time before you're being so negative. Um, but I was I have high standards for for Disney Cruise line I mean the fantasy is my favorite ship and that ship is the the wish and the treasure. 29:48.73 Sam Ah. 29:54.14 Sam Ah. 29:57.27 Sam And here. 30:04.80 Sam He. 30:04.76 Scott Are so different. Um, but I just didn't feel like I'm okay with different but I just didn't feel like any of the differences were an improvement other than the quickservice options like the food options just felt like all the other different was not in my opinion was not like for the better. 30:11.54 dclduo Bo. 30:13.86 Sam Um, yeah. 30:22.90 Sam Are. 30:24.52 Scott Um, and that's where I was just kind of bombmed because this was the I mean we know, but not everyone knows that like I knew when I stepped on that ship that I was stepping on to the next three ships you know like I knew that that yeah the class were locked in. Um. 30:24.64 dclduo Um. 30:35.75 Sam Right? right? The next class. Yep. 30:35.99 dclduo E. 30:43.10 Scott Other than the the things that are going to change based on theming. We're pretty much locked into the the design of the show and it wild beautiful I mean probably more I would say it is more beautiful than ah, the decor is more beautiful than the other ships in my opinion. But. 30:58.92 Sam Um, yeah. 31:02.90 Scott There's just so much So many other things that I I had issues with. 31:07.61 dclduo Yeah, give us some examples beyond the elevator buttons which they by the way have now fixed. Ah, but but yeah I mean so like you mean the common sort of. 31:13.64 Sam Ah, thank god. 31:18.70 dclduo You know feedback we've heard about the ship is lack of the full promenade deck is a big one for people the size of the adult spaces off the ship the you know the way that this the I I even emit a lot of this. It feels a lot chopped up. Um, and I 100% agree with you the high end. 31:22.43 Scott Yes. 31:35.98 dclduo Merch situation on board feels excessive. Ah, but you mean is that the kinds of things that you experience and you know sort of what else would you highlight. 31:44.47 Scott I mean that my complaint on the high end part is not that it's there. It's the placement of it I I should not I want more from my my main deck 3 experience on that ship than that and i. 31:50.59 dclduo Who. 31:50.62 Sam Yeah. 31:57.78 Sam Me. 32:04.32 Scott It doesn't this is where I'm probably completely wrong and I'm comfortable saying that because they the people that know this stuff are probably like you know those ships make as much money as anything else. Whatever or I'm sorry those stores make as much money as any any other. Um, store on the and you know they'll make more one night than the rest of them will make the whole cruise those are probably all accurate. But if someone wants to spend that kind of money I just don't think they need to be in a stumble upon location like deck 3 like that needs to be. 32:24.80 Sam Um, right. 32:32.90 Sam Is there and. 32:36.40 Scott For the masses and not for the niche like that's just like put it on Deck five up in the corner like people will find it if they want to go do it. They'll find it. Yeah. 32:43.11 Sam Right? We need. We need a yeah we need a bigger Mickey's main sale down on deck three or something similar doesn't have to be necessarily called Mickey's main sale but and um, a regular shop. Not the high end merch shop. Yeah. 32:56.25 Scott Yeah, and I I'm glad that they are able to cater to that. There's nothing wrong with people a lot of people like to go on cruises and buy really nice things and they they need to capture that I get it just doesn't you know it's almost like. They would never put Bivy Bopy boutique on deck 3 right there because that is a destination stop if you're going to go to bibvity bobby boutique you're goingnna go find it. But then it's like the coach store has to be right here like on deck 3 if someone wanted that I feel like they would. 33:22.42 Sam Um, a. 33:22.44 dclduo Um. 33:26.14 dclduo Yeah. 33:33.54 Scott Be able to go to the treasure store wherever it is on the ship instead use deck 3 for the merchandise at ah pew the main cell like anything else literally anything else I would rather have in that massive space than what they they use it for on these ships. 33:40.92 Sam Yeah. 33:48.82 dclduo Yeah I mean what's funny as the last time we were on the wish we were looking for the twenty fifth anniversary merchandise and was it in the equivalent of Mickey's mean sale. No, it wasn't would fully expected to go find you know a golf shirt a t-shirt a mug that sort of thing it was that they had. Put it into one of the high end shops. So it. It was a bit bizarre to me. It seems like there's almost an admission there like we don't have enough real estate for all of the merch that we want to sell to everyone so we're going to take up some space in one of these other stores. So yeah, it's it's bizarre it's just bizarre. 34:14.70 Scott Um, oh yeah. 34:20.57 Scott That That's good to hear that is a that is an admission of failure and to be I mean in my opinion that is them acknowledging that This is a problem that maybe they'll it doesn't appear that that's that this is going to be addressed anyway on the treasure but that's at least them aware that. They have not like even considered making that a flex space or something like just you shouldn't have to do that. 34:46.36 Sam Um, well well and they've doubled down on that Scott Let's um, let's talk about that for a second because on the magic and the wonder now they've turned some of the shutters space. Into um into a high end jewelry shop I don't know if you've seen this? Um, it happened on the magic but you know during her dry dock and I believe it just happened on the wonders recent dry dock I'm curious What you think about that. 35:12.53 Scott I I'm more okay with those because those are are in more learned smaller spaces and they're not right there in that I Just don't you they could have built hyperspace lounge too in that space. 35:18.92 dclduo Yeah. 35:28.73 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 35:29.51 Sam A. 35:32.24 Scott They could have done anything else I mean any any use or reuse of shutters etc like is probably hard for me to yeah, complain about um, it's not how I would have done it like there's I would love for them to do things that you know build another trivia area. 35:38.39 dclduo Um, yeah. 35:45.22 Sam Um. 35:45.34 dclduo Now. 35:50.36 Sam Um, you hear. 35:52.31 Scott Like I would love for any of that stuff over high-end shot. But if they're going to have to do it like I'm I'm okay with them taking I'm more okay with them taking that that type of space than what they've they've done on the the Triton ships. It just doesn't doesn't I'm sure someone's looking at ah the number and on a ballot sheet. 36:02.74 dclduo Yeah. 36:12.70 Scott Saying this guy's an idiot. He doesn't know how much they make every night in the store but it it's I just don't I don't like it there. Um my other just real quick. My other issues with the ship I don't like the the the lobby the atrium. I don't really think the stage worked out the way that I wanted it to like I was excited about that new feature. Um, and I just I I don't know if it quite worked the way that they thought it would and how I thought it would um in terms of just use. It didn't. 36:34.17 dclduo Um, yeah. 36:37.17 Sam He. 36:51.37 Scott Didn't seem to be getting used as much as as I think it it should have but maybe they'll use it more on the treasure. Um. 36:56.49 Sam yeah yeah I think I agree I think they could use it more I actually I like this stage and I like the atrium or the grand hall. Um, but I do agree it could be utilized more I felt like it was utilized really well on the twenty fifth anniversary sailings. Um, as opposed to when we're in the atrium for the. 36:58.49 dclduo Um, yeah. 37:16.30 Sam Twenty Fifth anniversary selling on the magic because you could fit all of the characters in that atrium and on that stage. So they all came out and did this like grand reveal that you just really couldn't do on the magic so there are opportunities I think to use it and they do a couple of little game show things like. 37:21.70 Scott Just. 37:34.33 Sam Guess who's behind the curtain and so they they have utilized it a little bit more probably um since you know the preview sailings. But I agree there is a lot of opportunity and perhaps some missed opportunity there. 37:44.61 dclduo Well, it's interesting to me when you when you board the ship. The little show that you're watching is on the upper level stage. You have to crane your neck to see as opposed to just putting it on the stage in the atrium where everyone could could sort of watch you know like it. It feels awkward. 37:47.21 Scott That's good to hear. 37:56.84 Sam Well they they do they do they have those um like those um I forget forgot what they call them the whatever players but they so they do but they only come out sporadically so they're not there. 38:06.39 dclduo No, but I'm saying the atrium show when you board the ship first and foremost and you're doing the magical wand thing like they're not using that stage which would be a prime opportunity for them. 38:13.88 Sam No, they are They are that when they do the magical wands thing they they are using that stage not the upper. The upper balcony is the princess. Yeah true. Yeah. 38:22.74 dclduo I don't think so we'll have to yeah but I think they could put the princess down on the main stage for the show. Anyway, anyway, um, Scott let's talk about the treasure for a second so you know lots of announcements people were waiting for all these announcements to come out over new venues new spaces I think. The announcement suffered a bit from the same problem that we saw at at D23 and that they held back a lot of people were really wanting to hear this time around. Ah but what did you think about the announcements overall and the theming of the ship I mean you hit the nail on the head. There was not going to be any structural changes to the design. That ship and I 100% agree with you I doubt there will be I mean they have an opportunity to do such changes with the last ship. But if there are any I think they will be extremely minor, but what do you think? overall about the retheming of the ship and some of the you know the ip that they're trying to bring in to the treasure. 39:16.80 Scott Yeah I mean I wanted I wanted to be wrong on the structure part though like I wanted to just like I wanted to be so confident of something and then then be like oh no, we've actually you know completely? Um, but I knew I I mean I knew that that was not going to happen. Um. 39:22.37 dclduo Yeah. 39:31.62 dclduo Yeah. 39:34.50 Scott I Ah I was hoping that they is as fun as the Aqua mouse is on the wish I was kind of hoping that they would have I want them to do something different with that. Um, so I that that was one thing I was. Keeping my fingers crossed about that We would get a surprise and like another ah main feature attraction something like that. Um, and of course I mean the the haunted mansion bar sounds fun whenever whenever they finally do announce that. 40:00.77 dclduo Oh. 40:09.47 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 40:12.16 Scott Um, but yeah, yeah I mean I think I think I was a little I was a little prepared for what it was going to be because of the knowing how this class of ships works and what their limitations are. 40:31.25 Scott And also just knowing that I was well underwhelmed with the wish my expectations were just not super high. Um, but I I do know that it seemed or at least I don't know it seemed that bookings were soft after after it was announced. Um, but I. 40:37.23 dclduo Um, yeah. 40:48.92 dclduo I mean you can you could still book the maiden voyage today if you want? Oh yeah I checked the other day they had the so what was interesting I want to ask your opinion on pricing here a second. What was interesting is um, all the lowest price rooms are fairly well gone right? like. 40:51.96 Scott Can't you really? oh my gosh. Wow. 41:06.48 dclduo Any inside cabin is gone any ver or sorry ocean view cabin on like a deck 2 is gone I think the entire ocean view category might have sold out. But for you know, verandass the only verandas that were gone were like the non deluxe family. So it's like all the lowest price categories are gone. Can still get a veranda stateroom on the ship and you could still get even concierge on the ship and so I think you're 100% right? Sales seem very soft on this ship considering the wishmaiden voyage sold out before I think it sold out just as it hit gold right? Like. Just a few people in gold got to book it and then it sold out and this made it to the general public and you know a month later he can still book the cruise. 41:49.23 Scott I and I I would Love. Um I mean I would love to hear your take on you know is that because people feel like they know what? but it what it is like they don't need to splurge they can. They've been on the wish or they can go on the Wish. You think there's like people know that it's essentially the same ship or do you think it's like what? What do you?? What is your theory. 42:12.11 dclduo I think for the Maiden voyage specifically the the issue is really 3 things 1 time of year crazy to be selling a maiden voyage at Christmas time because a lot of people are saying I don't want to give up Christmas with my family to go on a maiden voyage. 42:28.37 Scott Yep. 42:29.00 dclduo 2 I think people are a little still shell-shocked from the wish so you're like diehard fans who book the Maiden Voyages all the time booked one on the wish and it got bumped out from underneath them and you know sure 50% credit is nice. Ah, but I think there are some people who say like I'm not convinced that won't happen. This time around I'm fairly convinced. It won't because I don't think Disney can ruin a bunch of people's Christmas vacations and expect to come out of that with Goodwill and then I think the third thing is the price. The prices you're paying Maiden voyage price with holiday pricing. Ah you know you know plus a markup for it being the new. Ship and so you know sitting outside the maiden voyage I think one of the biggest blockers to or the you know the thing that's driving the softness in the market is it's a 30% markup over the fantasy to go on the same cruise on the treasure. And you know there's a lot of people out there who didn't like the wish and to your point look at the treas and go same thing right? It's just got some different spaces on it and so they didn't really address the structural concerns that people had with the wish they just rethemed it and so I think there's a lot of people gone done's rather go on the fantasy. 43:35.78 Scott Yeah I mean that's me, um, but I I like all of this I tend to I am aware that I often fall on the whole of like assuming that everyone thinks like I do. But I mean that's I had the same thoughts and I had the same reaction to when the bookings open. Mean I I will go on the treasure and I am um I do think I'm maybe a little more excited about the the specific theming of you know the spaces like the coco show sounds great I mean I think 1 thing disney. 44:03.10 dclduo Are. 44:11.36 Scott Cruise Line has always lacked is like good Mexican food like just simple like like I love cruising I Love cruising but like ah I just sometimes just want like some chips and salsa. It's some you know some caseo like just a simple like not. 44:15.31 dclduo Um, yeah. 44:27.20 Sam And maybe maybe some guac too Scott yeah. 44:31.20 Scott Some guac like I don't I don't need a ah ah a steak every night I don't need a steak every night I will order it if it's on the menu. So force me to to take a break from that need something different and that's where like I I look forward to to that that would be a fun experience. A good. 44:36.60 dclduo Yeah. 44:50.72 Scott Hopefully willll be some good food. A good menu. Um the the quick service. Wish um, the bowl match is it. Donald's you know that's yeah cantina yeah yeah, see like that was so nice to have just to get something. 44:57.42 Sam Yeah, Donald's cantina Donald Chip Boat lie at sea as we like to call it. Yeah yeah. 44:58.12 dclduo Oh Don yeah cantina yeah. 45:08.59 Scott Can get something light. You don't have to doesn't have to be pizza burgers or whatever. Um, so I'm excited about that I think the we still don't know what the the new musical is for the treasure but I have my hopes that it's going to be something really fun and I mean there's there are some rumors. 45:12.95 Sam Um, yeah. 45:28.40 Scott Um, but I um I am looking forward to that I was a little underwhelmed with the the shows on the wish. So I'm trying to be optimistic that maybe the treasure will make up for some some things with whatever that new show is. 45:39.39 Sam Um, if you if you had your bucket list. You know show like what would if if Disney could just wow you with a show. What's the show that you'd want to see on the treasure. 45:52.29 Scott I don't know I mean there were some people saying that the Rogers the musical from Disneyland I don't think I mean I love that show. But I don't think I don't know but that's I don't know if that's made for a cruise line audience. Um, but I I love it. But I I just. 45:57.96 dclduo Now. Yeah. 45:59.15 Sam Yes. 46:07.38 Sam I love it too. It is Yari niche. It's very niche Marvel though you have to be like a Steve Rogers fan I would love for them to do that. But I don't know that they'll do that as like the third show. Yeah, that's what I kind of feel like if yeah. 46:10.85 Scott I Don't know it is. 46:15.60 dclduo You know could could make an appearance on Marvel day at sea at some point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 46:22.12 Scott That would be fun when we when we saw it my 9 year old was who who's a Marvel fan was not having it because he was just like that is not nick fury. You know he's just like this is not how it happened in the movie I'm like that's the joke. But that's the joke. 46:36.33 Sam Ah, yes. 46:39.36 Sam Yeah, and the nick fury was kind of hilarious because he was so like he was handing it up like in a way that Nick Fury would never do and I that was obviously very purposeful but it was really. 46:39.60 dclduo Yeah, yeah. 46:42.20 Scott Um, so it was he was. 46:48.76 Scott Yeah I don't think I properly prepared my son for it. It's so like by the end of it. He was kind of getting the joke but he definitely went in thinking that this was like a retelling of the first avenger Captain Mur the perseverer and he's like this is not what I remember um but. 46:49.25 dclduo Um, yeah. 46:56.39 Sam Yeah. 47:08.84 Scott Yeah I don't know what my I don't know what my ideal show would be um I I Love the I Love the retellings you know the aladdins the the frozens but sometimes those get a little too squished from my liking on the cruise lines and they're just they're so crazy. 47:18.26 Sam Um. 47:23.80 dclduo Who. 47:24.55 Sam Um, sure. 47:28.15 Scott Um, because they have to so to squeeze so much in there that I'd like to see them. Um, really give us a good like original like a villains tonight type show you know like um, even though that wasn't my favorite of the shows but something like that I think would be. 47:37.66 dclduo Are. 47:37.82 Sam Right? yeah. 47:47.91 Scott Would be fun that has like a story and it's not just ah, a clip show I think that would be most interesting for me. 47:51.96 Sam Um, yeah. 47:55.50 dclduo What Scott let's shift gears for one second ah and talk about the literal elephant in the room almost which is the massive new ship that Disney is building for the asian market. 48:08.13 dclduo What what are you? you know if if the treasure and the wish underwhelmed a bit on your end. What do you need to see out of something like the Disney adventure to get excited are yeah or can you. 48:19.40 Scott I don't think I I don't think I can get excited about it's it's hard knowing that you know I mean the the 2 of you may travel over there at some point to see it I don't see myself ever I mean they could. 48:19.55 Sam Um, or can you. 48:25.80 Sam Um, yeah. 48:34.85 Scott Say they're giving out gold bars at the at the front and I would still have to think like really long if I want to go that far. Um, so I've paid attention to it I know it I know what's going on with the ship I've heard a lot of the rumors about things that they're going to put on it and cast members love talking about the adventure. 48:39.50 dclduo Yeah. 48:39.62 Sam Yeah. 48:54.46 dclduo Um, yeah. 48:54.53 Scott Off the Cruise line cast members like they'd love to speculate and talk about it. Um, but I mean for me. Yeah. 48:54.55 Sam Um, yeah, well and some of them are from that part of the world I feel like there's you know plenty of folks from like Indonesia for example, who would love to be stationed out of Singapore because it's really pretty close to home for them. 49:09.94 Scott Yeah I mean I know that's a really good point I't thought about that That's a good point. Um, maybe they're could be their home their home away from Homeship a little bit. Um, so I mean I think it would be without having to feel like it really. 49:16.97 Sam Um, yeah. 49:17.13 dclduo Um, yeah. 49:28.20 Scott There's a cost whereas with the treasure and those ships like whatever Disney does I know that I'm going to go on those ships and I'm going to have a take with the adventure I'm kind of like yeah it would be pretty cool to see them try to put a roller coaster on a ship you know because I'm probably not going to go and like if it doesn't. 49:43.17 dclduo Um, yeah. 49:46.67 Scott Turns out to be chaos I can selfishly say that that's not something I would ever have to deal with so I would like to see them take some chances on the ship and then figure out what chances pay off and which don't and then maybe bring those over during dry dos to some the older ships. 49:58.75 Sam A. Yeah, that's a good point because you can kind of out of sight out of mind that ship I think if you're you know folks like us who live in the United States and you know who it it really is that long distance to go over there and sail you know out of Singapore. 50:04.10 dclduo Yeah. 50:06.33 Scott Um. 50:19.82 Sam Yeah, we don't really have to kind of think of her as part of the fleet we can kind of think of her as the abomination that she looks like she will be Disney nomination. That's what I'd like to call it Disney Frankenstein actually 50:26.40 Scott Just see. 50:27.53 dclduo Fantastic there you go the Disney abomination. Um the it Scott do you think it was oh gosh 6 funnels. Yeah. 50:32.16 Scott That first the first theme are the first concept art that we got for it was on unbelievably awful stuff. 50:35.83 Sam Oh yeah, yes, abomination actually I shouldn't call it Frankenstein I need to call it. Frankenstein's monster not Frankenstein. That's incorrect. 50:42.87 dclduo Yeah, do you think it was a smart move for them Scott and and look I I'm not going to get into like the business of it right? I mean like going into the asian market and untapped market with plenty of Disney fans I think probably makes sense I'm wondering more. Do you think it was a smart move for them to pick up a ship out of bankruptcy as you know. 50:51.92 Sam Sure. 51:01.29 dclduo As opposed to trying to design something themselves because that ship is going to look very very different than all the other ships in the fleet and I think you see the same design language flowing through from the magic to the treasure. You don't see the same design language with the adventure. 51:21.27 Scott Yeah I I feel like at the time when it was first announced. It was kind of like ah wow you know it feels like a low risk. No risk decision and then you start to hear more about how much they're going to have to spend to retrofitt it then it's like well. Ah. 51:28.68 Sam E. 51:34.63 Sam Right. 51:38.20 Scott Like ah but then as I was grappling with that I was like but if they didn't they just would have used another triton Jeff like if they're going to take $1000000000 and put it in the cruise line it would have just been another wish treasure. Whatever the the next ship is um. 51:47.30 dclduo Um, yeah. 51:56.50 dclduo Um, yeah. 51:56.91 Scott Class ship. So I kind of like came back around to where I was good with them taking the chance I do think or I don't think people realize how much Disney is saying and. Has admitted. They're going to have to spend to to retrofitt it. A lot of people just focused on the oh they got it for a steel and which they did um but I I really would like to know when it's done how much the ship would have cost to build from the water up versus. 52:18.34 dclduo 1 52:32.45 Scott How much they're going to have to spend to retrofit it because I mean it sounded like they're so going to spend a billion dollars on the ship. So I mean are they saving like I don't know half a billion dollars by doing this I don't know um and we'll see how how it Mike. 52:36.50 dclduo Um, yeah. 52:41.44 dclduo Now. 52:49.34 Scott Ah, handicaps them creatively will be interesting to see can they really do what they want to do on the ship but maybe it forces them to not fall into some of the things that they fell into on the the Triton class. Um, and. 52:50.60 dclduo Um, yeah, yeah. 53:06.50 dclduo Um, that. 53:07.16 Scott You know, feeling like they have to do certain things. Um, but yeah, it's it's going to be really interesting to watch from the distance and something that I'll probably never personally experience. Um, but roller coaster at sea. 53:11.98 dclduo Um, yeah. 53:25.23 Scott Would be pretty interesting. 53:26.47 dclduo I I was surprised at Disney wasn't the first I was a little frustrated that carnival was the first because I think if anyone could build an attraction at sea. It would have been it would have been Disney and that I all you know whatever Disney wants to call the aqua mouse it is not. It is not attraction at sea. Um. 53:38.79 Scott Now No, it's not. 53:42.59 dclduo Let me ask I got one last question for you Scott before we wind things down here which is just you know, ah moving away from kind of the existing fleet for a second or or we phrase it differently. You got these classic ships that sit there the the magic and the wonder the 2 original Disney Cruise line ships and they are. You know, getting long in the tooth I think Disney's going to have them around for a while longer I don't think they're going anywhere immediately. They're obviously investing in dry docks and all that sort of stuff. But when we get to the end of life for those ships. Do you think there's really any scenario where Disney builds. Smaller ships to replace those ships or do you think that they go the way the industry is going. They just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah. 54:25.29 Scott It's I think bigger. Yeah I mean it it It doesn't make it makes me sad too because I love I Love those ships but I I do think that you're you're right that they will stick around longer than maybe people think. 54:27.93 Sam Oh that makes me so sad know. 54:45.40 Scott Would otherwise think that they would just because Disney does spend a lot more than the other cruise lines on upkeep dry dock all of that all of those things they spend way more than the other cruise lines do um so those ships will last longer than. 55:03.67 Scott Ah, you know a ship from royal caribbean of the same age and same size. But I just I mean all of the the cruise ports are being built with the other cruise lines in mind and they're making all of these you know adjustments. Their docks for bigger ships that I don't think Disney would ever look at you know what? what? I think we might want them to look at which is that a small does not mean worse. You know big is not always better. Um, so it makes me sad to. 55:37.30 dclduo Um, yeah. 55:39.42 Scott Think that too but it just seems like they will follow the trend of superships and you know we have seen the smallest ships released by Disney and they will either stay the same size or get bigger would be my my assumption. 55:51.62 Sam Yeah, what do you follow up question on that. What do you think about Disney's sort of continuing to partner with these other small like expedition expedition cruising lines to do things through adventures by Disney or nat geo on let's say panant or alma waterways right? that. 55:53.62 dclduo Um, yeah. 56:11.26 Sam You know do river cruising expedition cruising that sort of a thing. Do you think that will continue. Do you think Disney has a future in that space as a solo provider or continue with those partnerships. 56:23.87 Scott Um I have I've heard that those river cruises and Disney's partnerships are very lucrative for the company in turn just because of what the actual cost is you know that. 56:37.92 Sam Right? and. 56:42.15 Scott It is a very profitable thing for them so I wouldn't be surprised to see them expand on that. Um I don't see them at least in the near term I don't see them trying to like get rid of the partnerships and own all of that. But I have heard from multiple. 56:58.51 dclduo Um, yeah. 57:02.30 Scott People that that is a that Disney does pretty well with that relationship and um I would bet with the state of the company that they would want to keep keep that revenue and then you know maybe maybe add to it. But not necessarily like try to change it or take over ownership of of that entire business. 57:25.89 dclduo Well Scott it's been really great talking to you I have one sort of final question if you could snap your fingers at Disney Cruise line and create an itinerary like where would you want to sail and what ship would you want to be on. 57:42.74 Scott Um, the fantasy Southern Caribbean is which which we have not done. We've done. We've done the Southern Caribbean on the magic. Um, but the extended fantasy cruises that we just haven't been able to make work. 57:48.76 dclduo Um, ah. 58:02.74 Scott That have gone for like nine ten days maybe it's like eight days just the longer fantasy southern caribbean castaway um is about as good as it gets for us. We we have not done Alaska yet. So um, if I was actually able to snap my fingers. 58:19.98 Sam You. 58:22.16 Scott And not have to pay for it I probably would pick Alaska but if I was just playing the hypothetical like what's our favorite thing. It's it's those islands Southern Caribbean on the fantasy would probably be it. 58:34.22 Sam Yeah, you want the 2019 itinerary because that was 11 nights. That's what we actually were on that sailing. It was yeah it was only our fourth I think our fourth cruise and it was fantastic and we went without our son let me just put that out there. Ah. 58:37.33 Scott Yeah. 58:40.56 dclduo It was glorious. 58:48.80 Scott Yeah, no, we did our Southern Caribbean just me my wife too which probably adds to the memories of why so amazing. But like we we don't when we're with kids we don't always do poor adventures or if we do. It's something you know, walkable. Um. 58:51.35 Sam Yeah, yes, and. 59:06.18 Scott We've we've done bigger port of ventures with them but not as frequent. But yeah, when we went on the Southern We did the best thing and I report and um, yeah, it's It's a really good itinerary so it was a lot of fun. 59:20.89 dclduo Well Scott it has been so fun chatting with you. We've interacted on Twitter a few times and it's I I just love following your stuff. Ah for our listeners out there I cannot plug heavily enough following Scott if you have a if you have a Twitter account at Scott Guston great Great. stuff coming out of that out of from Scott ah Scott are there other ways that folks should look to follow you or find you or read some of your journalism about about Disney that are off of Twitter. 59:50.95 Scott Not not worth mentioning I mean eventually Twitter's eventually Twitter's gonna blow up and there will be I'll have to figure out where where to go next I mean I I guess I don't know like I mean it's not threads is not great. Blue sky is that great. Um. 59:57.86 Sam Are you going to go to threads. Yeah. 01:00:08.31 Scott But you know at some point I think we'll all have to decide on something I just want us all to go to the same place like wherever we end up like it's It's the that's what I That's what I enjoy is community and the the people and you know the the newsy. 01:00:13.22 Sam Yeah. 01:00:13.31 dclduo Yes. 01:00:26.55 Scott New service side that Twitter still offers even though that the platform is not great. Um I I write occasionally for an extar so people might see my name on stories. Um from ktla and and other places so they can see. See my stuff there. But if they're trying to find me I'll be on Twitter until the page just stops loading and then I'll go somewhere else. 01:00:51.58 dclduo Well there you have it well Scott we just super appreciate you taking time out of your busy busy day to come on and share some of your thoughts with ah with our audience and it's a date next year ah October Ninth twenty twenty four we have to have Scott back on to hear about and chat about all the new. Changes that will have come hopefully to the cheie plus reservation system there you go there, you go but there you go ah, but for now Scott we'll just say thank you for coming on. We really really appreciate it 01:01:12.49 Sam It's going to be called magic carpet ride tell I'm telling you yeah right I can come up with I got snappy names left and right Scott. 01:01:14.21 Scott Oh that's good I like that. 01:01:24.57 Scott Yeah, thanks for having me.