[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, Nathan just showed me. He's sitting right next to me. So we have a special guest, Nathan, with us. He just showed me. He just gave us five stars on Apple Podcasts. So.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the Eclipse podcast. That was even better the second time. For those not here, we. Apparently the mic wasn't recording, so we had to start over. It was even more enthusiastic the second time around. Thank you. Yes, it's the DCL duo podcast, brought to you by my path, unwinding, travel. And Sam, as I said the first time around, I'll say it again, haven't been this nervous about recording a podcast in quite a while, because we have, I don't know, about 25 of our closest friends sitting here staring at us. I can barely make eye contact.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: There's more than 25 of them, Brian. Sorry.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Myself on a screen, like, talking, it's weird. So, yes, we're recording live from Animator's palette. They've thankfully turned the background music off. As much as we love it, it would not have made for great audio for us. But, yeah, sitting here in animator's palette with 2025 of our closest friends recording.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: A show, you can't count. Cause this is like 40 people. This is not 25 people. Right.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: All right, well, we'll do headcounts on.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: And we have a very important. So these are all our guests. As we mentioned, we always have guests. And. Oh, Nathan just showed me. He's sitting right next to me. So we have a special guest, Nathan, with us. He just showed me. He just gave us five stars on Apple podcasts. So apparently, finally, that was the one review we were really, really, really trying to get. But, you know, it was a hard get. Nathan, you want to say hi to our audience?
[00:01:43] Speaker C: Hi.
[00:01:44] Speaker A: A man of few words.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I said so this is our inaugural podcast cruise. We've been having a great time on the Disney magic. Three nights. We stopped at lookout Key yesterday. Nassau today did not get off the ship.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: Big surprise.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: Shocking for us, I know. Been having a fabulous, fabulous time and are super excited to be recording live. This is like the peak of the show at this point, I think.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Can only go downhill from here.
[00:02:06] Speaker B: It can only go downhill from here. Yeah. And so really humbled to be sitting in animator's palette, recording one of our shows. For everyone out there, I think we're going to do a couple things on the show. One is, I want to get some of Sam's favorite moments from the crews and Nathan's as well. And I suppose I have to share my own. And then we're going to do some audience participation here. We're going to ask our audience about their experience with lookout Key. We will have already put out a second show with our own thoughts on lookout Key, primarily, sam, since it was her first time going to lookout key, probably get some of Nathan's feedback about lookout Key, especially when you hear from the kids what they think about it in comparison to castaway. And we're also going to just open it up to some audience questions. So, fun little show. Let's start with the group cruise experience. Sam, why don't we actually tell people what our group cruise has been like and then go through some of our favorite moments? So do you want to tell people what it's been like? Sure.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So we all booked with Karen Shelton of my path unwinding travel. We essentially had to book this cruise kind of early. So around the opening day, Mark, I want to say for normal cruise booking, in order to get the group benefits, we had to guarantee a certain number of rooms. It didn't matter whether they were concierge rooms or regular rooms. We had a mix of both, although we had quite a few, I would say concierge rooms. I think we ended up with about 20 rooms, about 50 people, 47 if you don't include us.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Was this Dublin skin as the audience? Was this anyone's first? Like, if you sailed concierge, was this your first experience with concierge? Anyone out there got one? Cindy, we've got one more. All right, well, the mic is headed your way in a few minutes.
Cause I wanna hear about that.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So the group cruise, it requires a lot of advanced planning, of course. And it does require folks to sort of commit kind of early as to being a part of the cruise, but it does come with certain benefits. So if you meet a certain minimum number of rooms with Disney group booking, then you get things like a welcome reception. You get things like spaces to meet and mingle like we have right here in the animator's palette. To record our show. Require special permission, of course, because Disney is an entertainment company, and so they want to know whatever's going on on their ship. If you are a group, like the dentist group that is currently on the ship doing their group cruise, they're doing some continuing education stuff on board and.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Some emergency root canals, probably.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: So, yeah, if anybody has a problem, if you have a toothache, I'm sure somebody can help you.
We also were able to, you know, link dining and set up paulo brunches, set up cabanas which is in part because of being booked through groups that probably also in part because we did have a lot of concierge rooms booked and a lot of that work was done in the background by Karen. Thankfully, we didn't have to do all of that because it's quite a bit of work to kind of figure out, okay, who should we link up for dining? Who might get along with who? You know, we had some ideas because we had met some of you before on other sailings, or at least met some of you through our virtual platforms recording the show. We had. I think about two thirds of you have had at least one member of your sailing party be a guest on our show. So we have some familiarity with who you are and your family structures. And some of you, of course, we had never met. So some of that is just sort of a little bit of guessing and hoping it works for context.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: We have 50 people sailing. You corrected me last time. It says 47 people sailing with us, 50 ish total, which I said this on social media. It's very humbling. It's very humbling to have that many people want to spend any time with us, let alone three nights and twelve.
[00:05:35] Speaker A: Who actually wanted to sit and eat brunch with us.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Well, like I said, yeah, that was probably because they wanted the Palo brunch and the sticky buns and stuff, but, yeah, but no, it was great. The brunch was actually a highlight for me. So, yeah, that was a great, great experience, too. So, yeah, the group cruise experience has been fantastic. We've got a couple of folks from the group cruise experience here who've been helping us. And Jennifer is sitting in the back watching the recording. And Brad. Yeah, and Brad. And they have been fantastic. I think they've spotted us a few times. I want to make sure that we're well taken care of. That's been great.
[00:06:04] Speaker A: Jennifer offered to deliver magnets for me.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. She spotted you in the hallway delivering. We always offer magnets in the Facebook group. Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: And this was not for our group. I was just delivering magnets around the ship as I always do. I was delivering our lookout key and our DCl duo magnets. Now I want to tell you all that were on the group cruise. You got exclusive magnets that nobody else got. So those truffle percent magnets that says I'm so fancy, my presets are truffled, those are exclusive to you. And then chart your own adventure, which was. It shows the whole fleet of Disney ships that's exclusively for you.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: And not available for sale.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: So, yeah. So we made sure to make some exclusive swag for this group in particular. And you all got some really lovely swag from my path, unwinding travel as well. So that was part of it. And actually. And groups delivered those bags to your staterooms. So they were inside your staterooms. We didn't have to hang them on your fish extenders, like other people do with fish extender gifts or pixie dust, which is really nice, because then we don't have to worry about somebody stealing them from your fish extender, which, unfortunately, is a thing that does happen.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: We should pause. And just since we have the studio audience here, let's thank Jennifer for everything that she did to help us out.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you to DCL groups.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. Well, let's talk about some of our favorites. So top three here you start.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: Okay, I'm gonna count down then, from.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: Three being the least favorite. No, just no particular order.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: No particular order.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: I'm gonna say. Or. Yeah. The biggest highlight, actually, was when we did the welcome reception. It was at the end of the welcome reception, or maybe part of the way through the welcome reception, and we had everybody get together for a picture. And then I counted down and we all yelled. Counted down. Three, two, one. And everybody yelled, desale duo. And actually, Leia, Karen's daughter, caught it on video. And it was just really, like, this wonderful, exciting moment to realize, like, wow, all of these people actually came to hang out with us, to cruise with us. They all have the same excitement that we do for Disney Cruise line. And it was just kind of this. I mean, I started, like, tearing up. I started, like, feeling the feels because.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: Was this a DCL duo shout? Not my toast.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: Well, I started tearing up again during your toast, but, you know, that was more when you, like, thanked me, you know, as your partner, whatnot. But it's all about you.
He does say, I'm the talent, you guys. Right? He says it all the time on the podcast.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: I have to carefully review her writer with each recording.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: So, yeah, that was a great moment. What about for you?
[00:08:40] Speaker B: So I really loved spending time in the cabana on Lookout key. We got to experience the grand Cabana, which was every bit as fabulous as it looked when I videotaped it on the review cruise, but didn't get to spend any time in ithood. But it was nice because there was a whole group of folks kind of up and down the beach, and we got to meet some families just kind of, you know, like out in the wild. So to speak, having fun together. And it was great that we were able to, because we were in the cabanas, organize, I think, some folks to get over to the other side of the island and experience lookout key for the first time. From the standpoint of the regular kind of family beach offering in the store and the junk anew and all sorts of stuff. I was a little nervous going into that, that folks would be on the cabana side and nothing. Get over to the side of the island where there's the most activity and action. So I'm glad we were able to organize some of that for them to get over there. So I loved hanging out in that cabana just for the afternoon. Also, you know, I like my relaxation.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Time so that, yes, Brian needs his time.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: It's on brand for me. It's on brand.
[00:09:32] Speaker A: That is right.
[00:09:33] Speaker B: All right.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: Well, my second one, I would say, was when we were in Rapunzel's royal table that first night. This was a couple of hours after our welcome reception. And the guitar player and violinists that were there were playing the song 500 miles. You know, I would walk 500 miles.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Anyway, I was walking right after we walked down that pier. Yeah.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: And then I, during the song, went over to Karen and Kaylee's table and we were all. It was like a big sing along together. I mean, hook hand was leading the sing along for everyone. How do you not get video of that?
[00:10:04] Speaker B: How do we patreon content gold right there.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Sometimes there's just these impromptu moments that are just so, so, so much fun and so, yeah, there was kind of.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: A nice, I'm gonna say one of my favorite moments. It was not on this ceiling, but of the eight nights. And if this comes up again on our live show, I'm sure it might. We had one of the best character interactions we've ever had on a Disney cruise, maybe outside of the Star cruise room. We had Lieutenant Croix spend a half hour with us at our table. Yeah, it is. You know, for everyone out there, it's Donald's 90th birthday. And we were sitting in the soul cat lounge. Donald was walking by in his tuxedo because it was formal night. And we all shouted, happy birthday, Donald. Except for Sam, who decided to say, you're looking old out there, Donald.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: I did.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: And Donald continued walking. And I figured maybe, you know, the character didn't hear. Oh, no, he heard because he came skulking back. About like 2 seconds later, he comes walking over and he peers up over the ledge of our booth. And he just gives Sam one of those. He, like, points his two fingers at his eyes and then points at her. And then I'm watching you. And then we're immediately like, no, Don, you don't look at day over 25, you know, and he's giving us, like, the pinky shake. And then he kind of looks at Sam and walks off. And so the next morning, we get off at Castaway Key, and Donald is the invited guest out in front of the post office for photos. Right. And Sam walks up and says, I'm so sorry that I called you old. And without skipping a beat, Donald points his fingers at his eyes and points at her and just, like, turns around and sulks for a minute.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: And then he goes and gives Brian and Nathan hugs as if he's going to take a picture with them and knock me.
It was really funny.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Number one in my heart, Donna.
[00:11:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Those characters, I mean, those characters are just phenomenal. I mean, I always feel like, oh, my God, these are the hardest working people on this ship. I don't know who's the hardest working people, though, honestly, because our dining servers, I think they are some. There's some moments where I think they're the hardest working. And then I see characters out on castaway or lookout key and in. In the sweltering sun, and I think, oh, no, they're the hardest working.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: We gotta give a shout out our dining room server. We've had her before. We've had her all eight nights on the five night in this three night now. And she is absolutely one of my favorites. A brio from Mexico. From Mexico. Fantastic. If you're on board the magic and you have a chance to get a real. She's wonderful. I think they're gonna make her a dining room manager pretty soon, based on what we've heard, so probably so, yeah. But she has been just fantastic. So. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Well, we should get Nathan's maybe one favorite from this group cruise. One favorite experience or moment?
[00:12:30] Speaker C: I actually have two.
[00:12:31] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Getting to go to edge for the first time and the grand cabana lookout key.
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Ooh, Nathan, talk about edge for a second. So Nathan has not aged out of the Oceaneers club yet, right?
[00:12:43] Speaker A: He's ten and a half.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Sam signed a wave so he could go into edge because he wanted to spend some time with another friend who I think is also waved into edge.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: Shout out to Ben Burns.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: Yes. And Nathan, what did you think of edge? You've been in the Oceaneers club now, all of your Disney cruises. This is for your first time in edge.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: What'd you think it's pretty fun. They have a Wii U and two nintendos, a ps four, and then some drawing and coloring, and also some games like uno. Every once in a while they'll play a game, like, they'll turn off all the games and play, like, a more interactive game with everyone at edge. And it's pretty fun.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: How are the other kids in edge? Cause you're younger and they're a little older. How are they?
[00:13:29] Speaker C: They're pretty nice.
[00:13:30] Speaker B: That's good. That's good to hear.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: Let me ask this. Ocean years club on any of the ships or I'm just gonna put it out there. Royal Caribbean Kids Club.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: This is controversial, you guys, especially with the groups folks in the room.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: Yeah, you come for Disney cruise line, but you stay for this. Come on. What do you think, Nathan? What's your favorite?
[00:13:47] Speaker C: I mean, royal is fun, but. Ooh, Disney. Oceaneer lab or any of the kids clubs and edge are also really fun. I feel like first things first. I don't think it's royal. Cause sometimes, right, this is our kid, you guys.
Cause I feel like they're too structured. They don't really have, like, free time that much, and I don't get to play, like, games on my own.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Good answer. We don't have to change the wheel.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: It's between edge and oceaneer.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: Oceaneer doesn't have a wii u, but edge doesn't have the crafts.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: Ah, okay, so you like both, but for different reasons. He's a big crafting kid. This kid loves to create stuff. When he says crafts, though, he doesn't mean necessarily the planned crafts that they have. He just likes to take the materials that they're using and make his own thing. He likes to be a little more creative.
[00:14:49] Speaker C: I think the kids clubs and edge are both great.
[00:14:54] Speaker A: All right.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: There you go. It's a tie. It's a tie. I'm glad you had a good transition.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: Our next cruise, you will be strictly an edge guy.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: That's true.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Actually.
[00:15:04] Speaker B: This is the most words you've said on this entire cruise.
[00:15:06] Speaker C: I've been notified by Benjen that if you are eleven, but you have a friend or sibling who is young enough to go in, you can. Yeah, I know it's true because Ben's sister has done that.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Okay. I don't think that's the case anymore. That might have been the case previously, but I think they've changed the rules now. And I think we'll have to verify that. But I think they've changed the rules now. That it's only ten and under that.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: No, I think he's saying they can go up.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: No, no, he's saying the opposite. He's saying that they can age down. The only thing you can do with the kids clubs in general is you can age up if you're within one year, but you can't age down.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: I'm just glad you had a good transition to edge, buddy.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Agreed.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: Okay, so now our third one, right? Our third one.
[00:15:54] Speaker B: I've lost count, but sure.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Yes, but now I. I'm gonna say.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: One that, you know, it's. It's. It's a. It's a little more personal for me, but I'm gonna give one that is. I finally got to play Lorcana because neither of you will play Lorcana with me.
Shout out to the Morrell family for playing Lorcana with me. Finally getting Nathan into to Lauricana.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: That's true. That was great.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Thank God. Cause I've invested more money than I think I have in my four hundred one k. I know.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: I'm not real happy about this Lord Connor's situation. I'm happy that they're playing. I'm not really happy with how much money he's spending on Lorcan, let me put it that way. So thank you, Disney, for once again, Mickey's hand being in my bag, they.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: Fit so comfortably just in both pockets at once.
[00:16:35] Speaker A: It's great.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: I would say that my third favorite moment, in no particular order, was seeing Nathan at our welcome reception with the other kids that were there. They all sort of gathered around one table. They were having a great time. They were playing, they were shouting, they were laughing. It was wonderful seeing them all interact with each other.
[00:16:56] Speaker B: I got to give Karen did an expert job getting the right people to dinner tables because I think all the kids, the teens, the kids, everybody has made friends on this cruise, and I know that's a huge load off for.
[00:17:07] Speaker A: Parents usually, but it was really wonderful to just see Nathan come into his own, you know, from our first cruise with him. That was quite difficult, actually. And, you know, he was obviously much younger then. That was about five years ago, and he didn't really want to go to the kids club back then. And it was more about, like, he needed to sort of make a friend before he would go to the kids club. And now he has just, you know, flourished in that way. And so watching him make these great friendships that sort of continue on even after the cruises is really, like, heartwarming and love.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: Nathan wants to add something.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: Well, actually, it's kind of funny. When I was younger, after 15 minutes of being in the Kids club, I would want to leave.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: Now every time I'm supposed to leave, I want 15 more minutes in the kids club.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: And he leaves dinner, literally every night. He leaves dinner, like, often before dessert comes, because he wants to run out of question.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Now it's just like, I'm going to the kids club sealer.
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah. He's like, is it okay if I go? And then what time do I have to be back in the room? So that's just the curfew question, is really the question we get.
[00:18:12] Speaker B: Well, I want to switch over a little audience participation here, because we don't get this chance very often. We've got a mic out in the audience, thanks to our special security detail here, Tracy and Michael, which Tracy has the distinction of being the first person to leave our show.
[00:18:28] Speaker A: A five star review and a written review.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: And she was guest number two, along with Michael, so. Yeah. So we should give a round of applause.
[00:18:36] Speaker A: Tracy, she's been with us the whole time.
[00:18:38] Speaker B: The whole time, yeah.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Tracy was before she knew us, before we were the duo. We met Tracy and Michael on our eleven night southern Caribbean on a catamaran in Martinique. That's how we met. And so we have now.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Was that the excursion where, like, people were getting. We left somebody behind at the dock and had to go back and get them? Yeah.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yes. This was the catamaran. Not one of us, though. Not one of us.
[00:19:02] Speaker B: No.
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah, this is the catamaran dock. No, not the ship dock. If you scroll all the way down on Apple podcast to look at our written reviews, it shows.
[00:19:12] Speaker B: Four years ago, her review, we were easy listening then. It was back in our NPR phase.
[00:19:16] Speaker A: Yeah, NPR phase. Nobody's gonna hear you, Michael. Not the mic.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: You didn't hear the behind the scenes when we were told, hey, we're gonna start a podcast. We're like a podcast. What are they thinking now? 400 episodes later?
[00:19:31] Speaker A: And now he's wearing the hat and the t shirt for the podcast as well.
[00:19:36] Speaker B: So I wanna open up to audience participation. I wanna ask the question. If anyone would like to share their thoughts and feedback on lookout key, we want to hear. That was my commitment in my first look show, and I want to hear about it. So we've got a couple people raising their hand. Why don't we start with Frederica?
[00:19:53] Speaker D: Hi, and thank you, Brian. When I first saw your picture of the causeway to the island, I got very concerned because I'm currently on limited walking, and I thought, nope, gonna be stuck on the ship. Well, we had the fortune of being invited to join two of your other members in their family and a cabana concierge cabana. And the ship took perfect care of me, but they would take perfect care of almost anybody. I think I was taken from the ship all the way to the cabana and from the cabana back to the ship in a single golf cart. But even if you weren't traveling with people who are concierge, they would give you multiple golf carts combined with the tramp. So if you've got disability issues, they will get you onto the island and they will make sure you're able to participate.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that is such an important point to underscore, because I've seen some people giving some very bad information about this issue out in the community. They have golf carts. I will say this. Could they have more golf carts? 100%. But there's only so many that they can buy at once. There's only so many that can operate safely on that. On that the pier. And so people, you know, people do have to wait. I'm not going to put a spin on that. You might have to wait for a golf cart, but they, they're not going to leave you behind on the ship if you can't make the walk. They're going to make sure you get someplace on the island and enjoy yourself. So the disability community out there, they have these carts, but if you're parents with kids, and if you want to wait, they will take you down the pier. Now, I will say the first stop we made on the preview cruise, and Craig might start nodding his head here. I don't know. That walk was long and hot, and we were sweating by the time we got to the end of it. The last three times we stopped there, there's been a wonderful breeze. The temperature has been perfect. We've walked down the pier. It has not been an issue, even for Nathan's little legs.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: Yeah, he's been fine in flip flops, too.
[00:21:42] Speaker B: It's been fine. Yeah, it is. It is a little. At the end of the day, I can understand how it could be worse because we've all been there at the parks, you get to the end of the day, oh, my God, I have to get back. And so. But you have to deal with it. And it's. It's. It's a small price to pay. 20 minutes, probably 30 minutes of the guest experience, really, at most in relation to like 6 hours on these gorgeous beaches. So. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Frederica.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: It's.
[00:22:03] Speaker B: It's. I think it's a really good thing to highlight.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah. And for anyone who's walked the park at animal kingdom, I mean, this is cake.
[00:22:10] Speaker B: It's the surface of the sea.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. This is cake.
[00:22:13] Speaker B: Who's next? Who one else wants to share? And we've got, like, all these kids with their hands raised.
[00:22:17] Speaker A: I love this.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: No adults. No adults. Oh, wait, Ashley. Let's start with Ashley, and then we'll just pass the mic down. That's what we'll do. I loved the beaches. The actual. In the water, you feel like you're in an ocean. It cast away. Sometime the water can get kind of low in the lagoon, but this really.
[00:22:34] Speaker A: Felt like you were just having a.
[00:22:37] Speaker E: Great ocean beach day.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: And the sand is so soft, so it was. I loved this island. Your destination.
[00:22:44] Speaker F: Hi, I'm Katherine, Ashley's daughter, and I. The walk to the. To lookout key was really hot, but at least they gave us iced towel.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Like, cold towels. Yeah.
[00:22:59] Speaker F: Put us behind her neck. That was nice. But I liked when I got. When I was walking down in my footprints, I had footprints. And when I was walking back to the cabana, I could still see them. And when I got in the water, I really liked. It wasn't a bad temperature. Like, it wasn't really, really cold. Something on castaway cay that can happen is that at the end, if you have 30 more minutes until you have to get on the ship, the water gets really, really cold for some reason. But then at lookout Key, it's still pretty warm.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: So perfect sand and perfect temperature water. I love that.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: The last few comments have just underscored the highlight of lookout key. Aside from I'm going to continue to hammer on the cultural experience you can have on lookout key that you cannot get on castaway. And I think that's a fantastic addition to the Disney portfolio. But the highlight is the beaches. They are the most gorgeous beaches, and it's not a protected cove, so you don't have to worry about. Is it high tide? Is it low tide? We were on cast away. We'll probably talk about this in the live show. So this may be a repeat, but. But there was no water in front of our cabana for I don't know how long.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Don't get us wrong. We loved it. It was great. But we didn't have any water.
[00:24:07] Speaker B: Beaches on lookout are just. They're another level. They're another level.
[00:24:12] Speaker A: They're fantastic. Well, thank you, Katherine, but you passed the mic to Ellie, I think our number two fan after Tracy.
[00:24:21] Speaker E: So the walk there is pretty long, but you still get the nice breeze, the Junkanoo parade. The water park's good, and so is the kids club. Kids comes really nice. The beaches they never, like, go away.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Yeah, that's great.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: I love that Ellie highlighted the kids club because Nathan does not like going to the kids club in castaway. And we.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: He's only gone maybe once or twice.
[00:24:48] Speaker B: He wasn't free?
[00:24:49] Speaker A: No, he didn't love it. He likes the water fight.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: I mean, I'm not saying the kids club's bad. I'm just saying he didn't like it. Right. And on this trip, they played at the rush out, gush out water play area for hours. And then they decided to go to the kids club. And we thought, oh, they'll be in there for, like, 15 minutes, and, like, 2 hours later, we're like, wait, what happened to the kids? So that kids club is amazing, and I love that they are going to feed the kids.
[00:25:12] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: They have a half hour lunch. If your kid's in the kids club, they're going to feed them, which is great. I mean, that's just great.
[00:25:18] Speaker E: Also, when you walk down from the cabana, the wood is hot from the stairs, but then when you go to the sand, it feels like, soothing.
[00:25:27] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:25:27] Speaker E: And so does the water. And Katherine also pointed out it's never cold or hot. It's just the perfect temperature every single time. Yeah. That's my review.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Thanks. All right.
[00:25:38] Speaker B: I feel like Phil Coulson would say it's just a magical place.
[00:25:40] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, we've got Emma next.
[00:25:43] Speaker F: If you are in a cabana, I.
[00:25:46] Speaker E: Think you're gonna like the ice cream.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: Sundaes at, like, the food place.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. All right. Yes.
[00:25:52] Speaker B: This is so. This is. This is a good point. Across the island. So people been asking for better food on castaway key for I don't know how long, or at least different food. And so look out key has a bunch of different food offerings. And the cabanas, at least on the family beach, I don't know if Karen was able to check out Serenity Bay if they had the upgraded food. But on the Cabana beach, they have a dedicated food location. It has upgraded food offerings. They have steak, they have grilled fish. They had crab legs. They had cocktail shrimp, but they had scooped ice cream sundaes. And I heard a few people complain they couldn't get soft serve. I'm like, what are you talking about scooped ice cream sundaes?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Well, some people, like Nathan, prefer soft serve.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: Could be wrong. But you could get a sundae with, you know, caramel and chocolate sauce and all kinds of toppings. I mean, that's just. It was just perfect. It was just perfect.
[00:26:39] Speaker F: And there's also M and M's and.
[00:26:41] Speaker B: Gummy bears and oreos.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Yes. Extra excellent toppings. Well, thank you, Emma. Emma, will you pass the mic to another friend? Can you tell us your name?
[00:26:50] Speaker F: Mariana.
[00:26:51] Speaker A: Mariana, thank you for coming.
[00:26:53] Speaker F: I really liked the beach, but there was also, like, some put downs, I'm sorry to say.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: That's okay. Tell us where there's room for improvement.
[00:27:05] Speaker F: So, like, the cabanas are, like, extremely close to each other, and that what didn't happen, like, on castaweki, the cabanas were really nice, and the water was really nice, but there was also a lot of flies.
[00:27:22] Speaker A: Yes, there were flies. And we think Disney's working on that. I will say that we saw really, actually yesterday, we didn't see very many flies, but we.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: The preview cruise, look, the feedback was real. I think I said this on the preview cruise episode like it was front and center for Disney, to the point where someone from Disney, unprompted, said, we gotta take care of the flies. And so they know about it. And each time we've gone, they've done something more to try and address the issue. And the reality is, look, there's construction still even happening on the island. When they built the island, they wiped all of the vegetation off and have replanted, and so are most of it off. And that just is gonna disturb the ecosystem. And the flies come out. The first time they've put that quantity, the food out on the island, it's going to attract the flies just like you would at a backyard barbecue. But each time we've gone, they've done something new. We heard the latest round is they've started to put pheromone, you know, pheromones, to attract the flies to different parts of the island, away from the food.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: Right. We keep joking. They're sending it over to Princess's private island.
[00:28:28] Speaker B: What's that plane flying in spring? And, you know, my joke was they should just take the leftover food at the end of the day and put it on that part of the island too, and then maybe they'll go. But each time it's gotten better, to the point where this last time, I think I saw one or two flies come into our cabana. And for me, that's like, you know, if you're having a picnic in the park, you're gonna see that they've covered the food. So to the extent that there are flies around the food, they've covered it to try and address some of those concerns. So they're working on it. And I think it's one of those things that it will just get better over time. Like, it's just, you know, I've seen a lot of commentary out in the community. Just, you know, the island wasn't ready. Why is it always, you know, kind of half built? It's not half built built. It is ready. I guarantee that. Castaway key, Coco K, Princess K, all of them half moon K had issues when they first opened up. And if you want this thing firing all cylinders, then don't book. Wait a year. Not a year. I'd say maybe three to six months. Right? Like, six months. I bet that thing is going to be, like, everyone in the community will send me, like, don't touch lookout keep. I love it so much.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: Don't change the way they do with castaway. The way they do with cast away. Yeah, that's kind of normal. I mean, like a year in the sense of, like, I remember seeing the wish come online. Right. And we went on the wish on the maiden voyage and the DVC.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: The wish was great the first time we were on it. It just got better.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: It just got better. Exactly. It just got better. Because as. As the operations continue, they tweak things. They learn what's working, what's not working. You know, how to fix the, you know, whether it's allergy, food situation or a fly issue or what have you.
[00:30:02] Speaker B: And I would say this, too, as more and more social media starts to come from later sailings just recognize, too. Yeah, there are flies around. So if you go someplace and you see some flies, you can videotape the flies, and then you can show it off on social media. That doesn't mean they're everywhere all the time, constant. It's not like pigpens walking through the island all the time. So, anyway, I think it's a great island. I think it's only gonna get better. And that's the key here, is like, these are fixable things. It's not something in the structure of the island. So. Yeah.
[00:30:28] Speaker A: Anyway, I think we should move to our audience questions portion of the show.
[00:30:33] Speaker B: Before we do that, Cindy, can I put you on the spot just for a second? I always love to hear from people who've sailed concierge the first time, and what you think of the experience, and, you know, would you or wouldn't you do it again for whatever reason? But what did you think of the experience of sailing concierge the first time?
[00:30:48] Speaker G: My name is Cindy, and my husband and Mike are sailing concierge for the first time. I would say the best part of it is getting, and I don't know how much of it is because of the group or the concierge, but getting the opportunity to have a cabana look up key cabanas are amazing. And we got to experience a family beach cabana on the last cruise through Sam and a Serenity bay cabana on this cruise. And both of them were amazing. I think the experience has been great so far. I think three days is probably a little bit too short to really, truly experience all the things that concierge can do for you. I did go down and go into the theater early last night and get popcorn and water, and that was great. But it's been great so far. The staff up there is so helpful and so friendly, and I think we would do it again. There's also the additional cost, so you have to wait. Do I want to take two cruises or do I want to sail concierge? I don't know that it's swung me over that direction yet, but it has been a wonderful experience so far.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Good to hear. Yeah.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Well, and I have to give a shout out to our concierge host on.
[00:31:57] Speaker B: This show, especially Christina, who Nathan left his phone in a cabana and she went and retrieved it, or not in.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: The cabana on the family beach. Oh, the first day we were at the family beach, the first day we were at lookout Key on our five.
[00:32:10] Speaker B: Nights, retrieved it, came straight to the lounge, still in her island, where to give him his phone.
[00:32:16] Speaker A: She was still, thankfully, on the island, but we had to WhatsApp her from Selena, one of the other concierge hosts phone, because the place is so far apart that they actually, their radios don't radio from the ship to look out key, depending upon where you are on the island. And so we were able to talk to her, tell her exactly where we thought Nathan's phone was. And Brian used the find my, basically making his phone sort of do an alert or ring, and she was able to find it, like, really immediately. But we have to give a shout out to Christina, to Selena and Kenan, and I want to give a shout out to all of the crew on board both of these sailings. And I would say, you see how hard it is for them to operate a new location at Lookout Key, but also when we had three back to back days of private island experience. So lookout key, castaway, lookout key, three days in a row, nobody got a break whatsoever. I mean, they were working every day because when they go. When we go to Nassau, they get a little bit of a break. Right? Because a lot of folks do get off the ship. They're going and doing excursions. So the crew onboard get some extra, you know, get some extra rest time that they need. When you have three days back to back of Disney Islands, it's all hands on deck. Everyone is staffing the islands, and in particular at Lookout Cay, we heard from the crew it is difficult for a ship like the magic or, of course, the wonder to be able to staff that such a big space. It's much easier for them to staff castaway and the fantasy, even though there's more guests, they have more crew, and so it's actually easier for them to staff lookout key than it is for the magic. So really big shout out to the crew.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: All right, let's shift over to audience questions. Does anyone in the audience have any burning question? They want to ask us questions about.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: How we produce the show. We did do an episode all about our origin story, so we aren't going to repeat that experience here. If you want to watch that show. We had Josh Wilson, the DCL villain host, and it was really fun to do that. It's on our YouTube. It's also on our podcast channels. And we told her how we started the podcast. But if anyone has questions about how we produce the podcast or what we think about in particular, particular things or what Nathan thinks about particular things.
[00:34:31] Speaker G: Hi, I'm Leah. My question is, how did you come up with the name DCL duo, and were there any other names in the running?
[00:34:38] Speaker B: There really weren't. I don't like. I just. Yeah, it came down to. We were searching social media for what was available and what was taken, and it just. Yeah, it came down to. Because if I. If I go back now, I would probably try to find a way to work out. Work Nathan in. So it's not just the tree.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: Well, right.
[00:34:54] Speaker B: But now we just call it the DCL duo. Plus, whenever he's on. Yeah, just. It was. It was kind of really. What was? I think it was, like, the first name I came up with.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: It was. It was the first he came up with. I don't know. I don't know that there were. I think you had a couple of different names. I don't remember what they were. Now but, yeah, Brian came up with the. And he said it's available on all the social media except Instagram. We're DCL Duo. We still haven't found whoever has DCL.
[00:35:18] Speaker B: Do you have DCl do on Instagram? Please reach out.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And so, yeah, and, you know, the name, obviously, DCl podcast was already in existence. Steve Creasy was already running that podcast. Wes is a DCL dude. Obviously not in.
[00:35:33] Speaker B: The dude would not have worked with.
[00:35:35] Speaker A: Yeah, that wouldn't have been fitting. DCl couple doesn't have the same ring to it. Right. That was, you know, that just duo just kind of has that ring to it. And then, actually, the logo, our logo was also Brian's conception. We did work with the original logo. And this one is the one that you're wearing for the inaugural podcast that I'm wearing right now. This is actually. I kid you not, the picture was AI generated. Brian gave a bunch of different descriptive.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: Words to generate an island with a lighthouse on it.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And so this is AI generated, but the original logo was Brian's conception and working with a graphic artist to actually create it. So, yeah, our original logo that you can see Tracy's wearing in her shirt, but she's got the word senior added to it. Cause as you all know, we affectionately call them the DCL duo senior. Just cause we're older.
[00:36:29] Speaker B: Just by a little.
[00:36:30] Speaker A: Just a little.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: And not at heart.
[00:36:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, not at heart.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: All right, do we have other questions? Ooh, we have kids questions. Kids questions.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: These are for you, Nancy.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Always the most unpredictable and scary.
[00:36:39] Speaker E: Sam, you do rapid fire, so I'm gonna ask you a rapid fire question.
[00:36:43] Speaker A: Ooh, I love it.
[00:36:44] Speaker B: The tables have turned.
[00:36:45] Speaker A: Love this.
[00:36:47] Speaker E: If you could bring any cruise ship anywhere, where would you go?
[00:36:50] Speaker A: Ooh, any cruise ship anywhere. Okay, well, I'm gonna take the wonder, and I'm gonna take her to Tokyo, so I could go to Tokyo Disneysea.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: Solid. Solid answer. I have another rapid fire question.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:37:05] Speaker F: If you could be one Disney character for a day, who would you be?
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Ooh, each of us. Okay, one Disney character for a day, who would we be?
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Baymax.
[00:37:16] Speaker C: Donald.
[00:37:17] Speaker A: Ooh, I like that one. Genie. Cosmic. Phenomenal powers. Yeah.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: I thought for sure you would have seen Admiral Minnie.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Oh, no, I want to be hero mini. Actually, that's hero mini from the Disney destiny. Yeah.
[00:37:33] Speaker F: This is actually about the restaurants in this cruise. If you went to that animator's palette for the dinner, what did you think? If you were here for the show, what did you think about it?
[00:37:47] Speaker A: The animator's palette show.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: Let's get Nathan's thought. Nathan, what do you think about the.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: One with Sorcerer Mickey?
[00:37:51] Speaker B: Yeah, sorcerer Mickey, coming out for the animator's palette show. You like it? Is it just. Okay, what do you think?
[00:37:56] Speaker C: Actually, it's Sorcerer's apprentice Mickey.
[00:37:59] Speaker A: Okay, thank you. Thank you for that correction.
[00:38:01] Speaker B: But what do you think of the show? That was the question, right?
[00:38:05] Speaker C: Seven out of ten.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: All right. All right. That's pretty. Yeah. I have to agree with you, Nathan. I think it's a really good one. But I like animation magic. I want to see my drawing come to life. And I also really like the crush show. So I would say I like the sorcerer Mickey. Sorcerer's apprentice Mickey. Sorry. Show. He's looking at me. For those who are just listening on the audio, he's giving me a stare.
[00:38:30] Speaker B: You do what Donald did ya?
[00:38:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Get it right, mom. Yeah, I like that show, but I just. Cause I like Mickey, and I like watching him hype up the crowd and whatnot.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: For me, it comes. So I'm not the biggest fan of the crush show, mostly. Cause we've never had a table where he actually interacts with us. I like the animation magic, but I can't draw. So I like this show, but I think it's really dependent upon what table I'm at.
[00:38:53] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: Cause on the preview cruise, we actually had a really awesome table. He was dancing right in front of us, and I was like, this is so much fun.
[00:39:02] Speaker A: You were in the center, but we actually. In the last cruise, so the five night DVC cruise, we were right by the door where he walks in, and I know which door he walks out. So I got great video of him just coming right through the door. But then when he got to the center of the dining room, and I couldn't really see him anymore because of the pillars here. So, yeah, I think it depends where you're sitting and whether or not you are disappointed there's no drawing.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: I like the music. As soon as the music comes on, I'm like, mickey's coming. Mickey's coming. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Any other questions? We got two more.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: Two more.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: They keep popping up. People think of questions, as I learned.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: From presentation training, you have to do the. We have time for two questions. Who has the first question? Mine is, as, like, content creators podcast, do you find it difficult to divide your time and just enjoy, like, cruises and beach days as family? Or are you constantly thinking like, oh, I need to get the camera and get the photos and get the Instagram well, Sam's a talented. She really just relaxes during the day.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: That is not true. That is not true. At home. Brian does like the lion's share of the work. No question for anyone who's listened to the podcast.
You have heard us say this. Brian does all of our editing. He does most of our social media from home. So all the posts about the episode, when he's putting out an episode, because, I don't know, necessarily the timing of when something's coming out, because it's based on his workload and how much time he's been able to devote to, you know, editing the episode and uploading it and all of the things that go into it, which is in addition to having a full time job as a lawyer and being a partner and a.
[00:40:39] Speaker B: Dad and a budding Lorcana player.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: And a budding Lorcana expert. Champion Lorcana player. But the answer to your question is yes. It does impact our vacations. There are moments where it's where I'm thinking, oh, I need to go to this activity. For example, like the Encanto celebration. Now, I didn't go on our DVC sailing, and I'm not sure if it's happening, happening on today. Oh, I guess it's not somebody. Thank you, Ashley. But I went to it on the last cruise we were on because it was something that was new, and probably it wasn't really an activity that was geared toward me, but I went to it so that I could get some footage and be able to tell people what it was about. So there are activities that I'll choose to go to. One, actually, the fun in the sun bash. Craig and I went on our first day on lookout. Key to that. Again, it's more of a kid's activity. It's probably not something I would go to. I felt I was just choosing what to do for the day. So there are times where I choose to go to, and I also will be filming or taking pictures of things, or I'll ask some of you, hey, can you send me a picture of a certain thing? I realized, you know, there's a couple.
[00:41:47] Speaker B: Things we've started to do now. One is, we have clearly said we're not going to cover parks. Like, it's just. It's too much. There's great shows out there. Derek and Doug, shout out to you guys. You keep up with it in a way I could never and stay sane, so we just don't cover. So when we go to the parks, it's just, you know, it's vacation. We'll do some posts on social, like, some stories on social media, but it's probably photos we take any way of things, right. It's not anything special, so that becomes a vacation for us. I also have started saying, like, this cruise isn't about our audience. This cruise is going to be about us. And so, like, we're sailing back to back. Well, kind of back to back. With a day split on the treasure maiden. That will be a ton of work for us to get through all of the different experiences and try and get as much content out about the ship as we can. But when we board the fantasy for New Year's Eve, we're going to go dark. That's going to be our vacation, right? Like, we have to take some time to rest and relax and recharge and also don't want to. I've had several creators who've, who've told me, you know, you sail too much or you start to cover the space, and it's just every, it just loses its magic. Like, not just Disney, but any kind of vacation experience. And so, you know, I've really taken that to heart and said, like, we've got to, like, just sometimes have time for ourselves, like, just to be a family. And so I think it's also about, as a creator, kind of drawing lines and saying, there's just gonna be times when I'm not gonna share. And it's not because I don't appreciate my audience or want to share this stuff. It's just because I just need a, I need a break, or else you're gonna get the worst version of me as a content creator when I get home. Right. And so I think that's. I think that's really, really important. I think the other thing, too, is now that we've sailed so much and we've captured so much, we know about everything that's going on. Like, we at times feel like last night, we didn't go to fireworks. We were like, we just, we, we feel less pressure to see it. We've seen it before. There's tons of people out there with videoing every fireworks display on these ships, and so, like, I don't feel the need to go out and, you know, contribute one more video to that community. And so I'm going to, you know, sit in soul cat lounge with some friends and have some espresso martinis and just, you know, and just have an hour to myself and just enjoy that. So I think that it's that same thing I tell people at work all the time, like, set some boundaries. Like, just set some boundaries, because if you don't, you know, everything will just eat up every amount of time that you can give to it. So.
[00:43:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And we on this back to back cruise that we've just done now with all of you and some of you who are on the first leg of the back to back, you know, that first day we were on lookout, I didn't go as crazy, as crazy as the wrong one. But I didn't go as hard as Brian went on that preview cruise. But that was the day I went the hardest as far as going around and taking pictures and seeing as much as I could. So that on the second lookout day on that cruise, we didn't get a. We didn't do a cabana on the first lookout day, but we did do a cabana on the second one. So I kind of used that as my relaxation day. Now, I still got content on that day also, but not nearly as much. And then yesterday when we were at lookout with all of you, I didn't get really any. I mean, I took some pictures, some family pictures or friend pictures, that sort of a thing, but I really just relaxed. And so some of the pictures that I posted yesterday on our social media were not taken yesterday. They were taken on our first or our second lookout key day.
[00:44:41] Speaker B: I think we have one more question.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Can I just say, for Sam's, the amount of food photography that Sam has done, if anybody needs a picture of any food, just check Sam's phone. Yeah, just ask me. I might have it.
[00:44:52] Speaker B: Although I take the better food pictures.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: He does take better food pictures than I do. But he gets annoyed and so he stops talking.
[00:44:57] Speaker B: He's not allowed to eat anything until it's photographed.
[00:44:59] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
My name is Kayleigh, and my question is, you guys, generally, when you're recording, the podcast, are recording in two separate rooms for audio purposes. So I'm curious how you feel about how the dynamic is different when you're able to do it at the same table, see each other, interact differently. It's very different, I would say, because I can, like, you know, nudge him or something behind the table that you.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: Shut up, Brian.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: That you can't see. Or actually, I gave him a little hand signal earlier. You might not have even noticed, but he was tapping the table. I was worried that that was getting picked up on audio. Cause sometimes when we talk, we're expressive with our hands. Right. And on the. On the podcast, I would not. I might try and pantomime that if we're doing video, right? Or I might stop him if I.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: Can hear the behind the scenes when we're recording a show. So we always tell our guests, oh, we have this nice little chat window over here where we can talk to one another, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then Sam and I are on a text thread going, stop asking them questions. I'm ready to ask some questions.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: We do. We do text each other. So we have a chat box that you all can see if you're a guest the audience can't see, and that's so we can communicate with you all. But, yes, we do have a text.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: It was really hard when she switched to a Mac, and it would go into do not disturb, and I would be, like, texting her and be like, she's not seeing my text. Why is she text texting? She could not see it. That was, like, driving me insane.
[00:46:20] Speaker A: He changed my do not disturb settings.
His texts are the only ones that break through my do not disturb settings. Yeah, but that is absolutely. Yeah. There is definitely a different interaction that you can have in person that you can't have virtually, and so that makes it different. We did our live show with Josh in the same. We were all at our living room, our dining room table together, the three of us, and it definitely changes the dynamic, changes the interaction a little bit. Yeah. And you get it makes me.
[00:46:50] Speaker B: I actually like it when we're in separate rooms. It makes me uncomfortable. Like, I like to. I just like, I like you zone in. I just zone in. And, in fact, I usually minimize the window with all the videos. So I'm just. All I have in front of me is this microphone, and I'm just talking and listening and talking and listening, and that makes me much more comfortable. Like, this is freaking me out.
[00:47:08] Speaker A: All right, I think Karen's got a question.
[00:47:10] Speaker G: Hi, I'm Karen. Now that we're on the last day of the inaugural DCL duo podcast cruise, will there be a second?
[00:47:19] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:47:20] Speaker G: I won't put you on the spot.
[00:47:22] Speaker B: And ask where hard hitting questions. So, actually, this is a good question because it came up. Someone asked, uh, earlier today in the Facebook group, like, when's the cruise going to be next year? And I kindly say we're not going to do it every year, because we, like, we. If we're just the two of us, we might do it, but, uh, as a family, I think it's a little hard. We want to make sure we're planning the vacations we want to take and those sorts of things.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: So and the vacations Nathan wants to take.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: So there. I think, yes, there will be a second. That's the short answer to the question. I think it's likely to be at this point. We're looking at summer of 2026, uh, and this cruise, we took a lot of flights from some close friends who were like a three night bahamian. And so we tried to carefully explain we wanted to be inclusive and make it accessible to as many members of our community as we could. I think the next one, we might pivot toward doing something that we just really want to do and inviting people to come if they'd like. And it may be a smaller group, and that's fine. But I think we've been thinking about potentially doing something in Europe, so we will see about that.
[00:48:25] Speaker A: And we've been talking large ship cruising. We've also been talking river cruising. So we haven't made a decision on what it's going to be yet. We don't even have itineraries from Disney, of course, out that far. So we have some time to complain.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: They just dropped.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: I'm just saying we have time. That's what I mean. We have time to decide what it is that we're going to do, and we're going to be working with Karen to kind of help us figure that out as well.
[00:48:51] Speaker B: South african adventures by Disney Safari, just for Ashley.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: Ashley has her way. It will be. It will.
[00:48:56] Speaker B: It will probably be a cruise in Europe. We're really deciding between, do we want to try to invite folks to experience river cruising in kind of a space with a group of people who can. Support is the word, but family friendly river cruising together, support each other through that kind of transition into a different kind of experience? Or do we just stick with a Disney cruise line, european sailing?
But whatever we do, Karen will know first.
[00:49:19] Speaker A: Yes. Oh, Tracy has a question. Love this.
[00:49:22] Speaker B: Yes. Question in the back.
[00:49:23] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. Tracy from the DCL duo senior, this is a very important question. Will the DCL villain get a truffle percent magnet? Oh, yes, he absolutely will.
[00:49:37] Speaker B: We already said 150 of them. No, I'm just kidding.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: That's a great question. Yeah. So we've got these, as I mentioned earlier, we have these exclusive magnets. He lives maybe an hour from us at home, so.
[00:49:49] Speaker B: Well, he says he wants me to cruise with him on a princess cruise.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: That's true. Yeah, they were talking. We were talking. We just actually recorded an episode with him, a live episode just a couple weeks ago. And so, yeah, I think Brian will bring him a magnet. We will also make sure he receives his DCL villain friendship bracelet. As you can see. If you're watching the video of this as we're recording, I am wearing a bunch of friendship bracelets like the beaded ones, like the Taylor Swift ones the swifties are giving out to each other, although Taylor Swift didn't create them. Ladies. Okay. These existed before Taylor Swift existed. But Cindy, one of our listeners and patreons, who Brian, asked about the concierge experience, she is this amazing person who gives out the. She makes all these bracelets and gives them out wherever she goes, whether that's a run Disney event or on a cruise. And she made a special one just for Josh that says DCL villain. And so I've got that, and I will give it and make sure it gets to him, and I'll make sure truffle percent magnet gets to him as well. Yeah.
[00:50:51] Speaker B: We love you, Josh. I thought for sure Tracy's question was going to be, will the DCL duo junior, who is conspicuously absent from this group sailing, join us on our next sailing? So, Willie, Rebecca, I hope Europe was great, because the FOMO is real in 2026. Yeah. So there you go.
[00:51:07] Speaker A: We hope the FOMO is real so that you'll join us on our next one.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: All right, any other questions? I think we got to let the animators palette staff in here pretty soon so they can get this place ready for dinner. But I want to send a special thank you to all of you who joined us on this cruise. It has been so humbling. Like I say that, so humbling. And so thank you for joining us on this experience, and let's give all of you a round of applause.
You're mouthing something, so why don't you just do whatever it is you're wanting to do?
[00:51:39] Speaker A: I know you wanted to send a special thank you from your preview episode that you hadn't.
[00:51:45] Speaker B: Craig Morrell is here. Who? All of you who sailed with me on the preview episode, heard the preview episode. Craig was essentially my production assistant on the preview cruise. He carried the heavy bag of water and sunscreen all around the island. And I told Sam during the preview cruise that she needed to send a thank you to Craig because he kept me hydrated, not sunburnt and sane, for three nights on that cruise, which was just nonstop activity and content creation, all sort of stuff. So I want to give a very particular thank you to Craig for doing that. Really, really appreciate it.
[00:52:20] Speaker A: And a big thank you to his wife, Kelly, who holds down the fort at home so that he can travel.
[00:52:25] Speaker B: For sharing him with me for three nights so that I could stay safe because Brian alone on a cruise ship is the worst possible outcome.
[00:52:34] Speaker A: The other thank you. We want to give. I want to give first a thank you to both kelly and Kayleigh. They are two wonderful agents at my path unwinding travel who are here and sailed with us. Thank you for coming. Thank you for always helping us with our travel related needs and questions. We really appreciate both of you. And then of course, the final thank you has to go to Karen Shelton of my path unwinding travel for organizing this amazing, wonderful trip for us and for all of you. We hope that you have had as much fun on this adventure as we have had in planning it, doing it, meeting all of you, getting to know all of you. We hope that you'll join us again, as Brian said, in the future. Hopefully in two years in Europe. With that, we should just say yeah, thanks to everyone for coming.
[00:53:21] Speaker B: We'll see you real soon.
[00:53:22] Speaker A: See ya.
[00:53:32] Speaker B: Well, thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us live, we have a live show now every week. Monday nights, 05:30 p.m. pacific 08:30 p.m. eastern over on YouTube.com dclduo so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want to help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episode. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course, you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor my path unwinding travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation, head over to mypathunwinding.com dclduo or email
[email protected] so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to dclduo.com dot. It's got links to all of our things. Full catalog of the podcast episodes, including a searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store where we sell some fun, fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com. dclduo also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So dclduo.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also, of course, email
[email protected] comma or reach out to us on our Voicemail line at 402-413-5590 that's 402-413-5590 the DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company, or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflect the views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at Mypath unwinding travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and well see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL duo.
