[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm curious. I want to hear your take on which other spaces like the Scat Cat Lounge don't really fit with the theming, because that's one thing.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Power suite.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, there we go.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Nothing says the mystic world of Agrabah like Epcot.
[00:00:35] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's live second live episode of the week of the DCL Duo Podcast. Brought to you by. Brought, yeah. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and also our friends over at DCL Magazine who are kind enough to be sponsoring our live and bonus episodes these past couple months and so want to put a plug in for them. If you have not checked them out, head over to dcl-magazine.com to sign up for their waitlist. They are, I think, on the verge of publishing their first, their first edition of the DCL magazine, as I understand that we may even have an article in there if we can get it put together. Time. And we're really looking forward to this magazine. High quality photos, high quality articles, really knowledgeable people. It's a great, great magazine. And if you head over right now, you can subscribe to WDW Magazine, DLR magazine, buy some great stuff out of their shop, all at 10% off if you use code DCLDUO. So I'll have that on a banner at the bottom of the screen as well. Head over there, check them out, sign up. Let's make DCL magazine a reality. So with that, we are super excited to welcome back a really fun guest. You may remember him from our around the world ABD episode. Benji, I think we've even had you. We had you on more recently. I can't remember what we were talking about though, but welcome back.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Yes, the dvc.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: Yes, yes, yes, yes. So welcome back, Benji. Benji, tell folks about Laughing Place as we kick off our show here.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: So we've been around for a bit. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year.
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. Your silver anniversary. Not at Sea.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Not my silver Anniversary. Founded by Divi Rebecca. I don't want people to think I've been there since the beginning because that would not be fair. But no. And we cover the entire Walt Disney company, from screens to parks to everything in between. And it's. It's been a lot of fun. I was a fan for many years as a fan before when I was in high school. I was a fan when I was working for Disney. And then when I left, you know, it's been an honor to join the crew here as we try and, you know, we cover it as we share the story of the Walt Disney Company and the people that work there.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:48] Speaker C: Well, we love the site and we follow you on all kinds of social media. Always some great stuff coming out and got a chance to meet some of the team on the Lighthouse Point cruise. Just fabulous group of folks. So really excited to have you back on Benji. Before we dive into talking about your experience with the Treasure, I did want to let folks know that big breaking news for Disney this week is that the adventure is now on sale. So those early itineraries they released went on sale to Pearl Cruisers yesterday, Platinum Cruisers today. They've been going on sale here in the US at I believe it is 7:00 Pacific Time, 10:00 Eastern. And they will go on sale to the general public December 10, Singapore. Singapore time.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Seize the adventure, you guys.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: So it's exciting, but I gotta tell you, one of the funniest things about our trip to New York was I get off the plane at LaGuardia and the airport is covered with Disney Destiny ads.
And I was like, okay, I can't call it the Destiny. I can't call it the Destiny. And then they start talking to me about it. Yeah, the theme of the Disney treasure is adventure. And I was like, you can't do that to me.
[00:04:01] Speaker A: That's so confusing. Right?
[00:04:04] Speaker B: I'm getting old.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: I want to put a plug out for anyone out there who has booked the adventure or looking to book the adventure. If you have reach out, let us know when, when we get there. After the Destiny, we're definitely going to have some people on to talk about the adventure and their experience on board. Full disclosure, I am booking kind of a placeholder cruise on the adventure for the maiden voyage in out of Singapore. Thankfully it does not. I'm confirming this before we pull the trigger on it. But thankfully it does look like they are not imposing the same maiden voyage restrictions on this salient they have on the US based maiden voyages. So we're booking one but highly unlikely actually be able to make it work. We'll probably just kind of move it along at some point so that we can, we can go experience it, but we'll be booking something. Yeah.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: And I have put the ticker at the bottom of the show. If you want to book through my Path Unwinding Travel, make sure to reach out to them and you can reach out on Our exclusive link mypathunwinding.com:clduo yes.
[00:05:03] Speaker C: Or email them using
[email protected] all right. With that I want to spend our time, invest our time wisely here with Benji about the Disney treasure not going to roll through the christening and all that stuff. We talked about that with Scott last night and showed some video and things. I really. Benji, you are kind of steeped in Disney history and expertise and imagineering and all of that fun stuff. You really pay attention to the details. And so I want to spend the bulk of our time talking about the onboard things that you got a chance to see. And for everyone out there, Benji was like, Scott was in New York for the christening and there was a special media event and tour, so got a few hours or several hours on board the ship. Benji, the grand hall, it's the first thing you see when you step on board. What were your impressions of the Grand Hall? Is that as good as the Wish? Better than the Wish, Something in between? Like, what did you think about the grand hall when you, when you stepped on board?
[00:05:55] Speaker B: I was surprised how much I liked it. The detail, the sort of that, that Agrabah sort of Middle Eastern aesthetic of, you know, the tile, it really, it really popped more, you know, I kind of felt like, okay, if Wish is your castle at sea, like, where do you go from there, right? Like, you know that, you know, fancy.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: You go to the desert, right?
[00:06:16] Speaker B: Yeah. And I was like, I was like, I don't know how this is going to, you know, play, but I was actually really impressed. And then the other thing that I thought was interesting was, and it's not really grand hall, it's grand hall adjacent, but the, the stuff they have in the 1923 display cases I thought was fantastic.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Ooh, tell us about that. Because that's one thing we haven't seen much detail or seen much chatter about what's in the display cases. We know on 1923, on the wish, of course, you've got like figures and drawings and things like that. But what was different about it on the Treasure?
[00:06:55] Speaker B: You know, it was, I'm gonna put my photos in just so I don't misspeak. But it just felt like a little bit more like deep cuts, you know, I felt like it paid tribute to Roy a little bit more. And you know how they have that fun and fancy free sort of moving mosaic in the background.
On the Treasure it is Steamboat Willie, which I just, I mean, so that black and white, but with the motion I just felt was really a strong play. And, you know, I, I really thought that was a nice.
But, you know, sort of if you think big picture on the ship, it's it still has the sort of layout of the Wish. So for the people that were struggling with those issues that, you know, that's not the. But I think, like, now that we've kind of been exposed to the Wish and kind of knew what to expect, it just felt like the little touches made this.
Made this look like. Like, for example, I was talking about the 1923 thing. They have these mosaics of, like, they have a raja mosaic and a little sort of mosaic of artwork from the parks. And it just. It felt like they, you know, because they weren't just using generic Disney. And it was playing up to, like, Walt's Travels, too. So it had, like, some art, like a hat he wore on a South American trip and some of those kinds of things.
So it just felt a little bit less like they put a little bit more thought into it. Like, it wasn't just sort of, oh, well, Walt. You know, here's the same 12 Walt pictures you've seen.
And, you know, so it has, like, the Mickey Mouse doll that, you know, you've seen that picture of Walt and Lillian on the ship, and he's holding, like, a Mickey Mouse plush. So it's a recreation of that plush.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Oh, that's so cool.
[00:08:48] Speaker B: So, and then, you know, like a sort of an homage to his private plane that you can see in Palm Springs. So, you know, I just felt, as a Disney fan, I wish I didn't have as much time as I wanted there. We were kind of running, and we didn't actually get to go in the restaurant, but I felt like, oh, wow, this is a little bit more hardcore than it was on the Wish.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it seems like they went more hardcore into sort of the history, like, archive feeling of, you know, of the Walt Disney Company and then, of course, of Walt Disney, you know, of parks, rides, basically. It feels like more like in touch with the heart or the history of Disney. Would you agree?
[00:09:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I would. And which I didn't expect, because if you think, you know, once again, if this is Adventureland at sea, usually Fancy Land is the heart of the park, right behind the castle. So I was surprised at the little nods that pay tribute now. I mean, there's some interesting choices that we can get into as we go to other spaces that I was like, this is a little incongruous to me. But just looking at this, you can see the mosaic work. And they had.
Unlike the fairy tale storytellers on the Wish, here, they're more sort of travel. It's almost like the peddler from, from Aladdin. That kind of vibe, you know, and so it's the same, same big picture thing, but a little bit more detail. They have trunks filled with stuff. So it just seems like, you know, and I mean, you know, I think it's no secret that the witch was a little rushed at the end there. Yeah. And I felt like they really took their time on this one.
[00:10:30] Speaker C: Yeah. I actually saw on social media today, speaking of the sort of the stage plays someone had, there was like a pop up Aladdin play that they put on. On the stage in the atrium, which that's just so much cool. Like on the Wish, I feel like that stage doesn't get used enough and it feels like they're making a more concerted effort. We saw that, we saw a Jungle Cruise interactive adventure online the other day. It feels like they're making more of an effort to use the space a little bit better.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: So I think and I. They showed us a Peter Pan version, I mean, which, which my understanding was condensed. So I don't really want to judge it based on like, you know, the sort of rushed version they did. I think you can actually see it on our YouTube. But it definitely felt like they were actually using that stage as opposed to it just sort of. They built a stage and didn't have anything to put there, which I felt like on the Wish sometimes that space just feels so empty because there's a huge stage and you can go a whole cruise and not see anything on it.
[00:11:27] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Our friend CT is asking, do we think some of this extra activity is a result of it being a seven night ship? That's possible. You got to have more stuff to do on seven nights than you do on three or four nights.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: More entertainment as well. But I think it's also just like properly utilizing this space. I think to your point, Benji, you're right. It was definitely. The Wish was rushed. I bet that there were things that they had wanted or planned to do that then got scrapped. And then they realized, oh, it's a three, four night cruise. It's already jam packed. We don't really need to now put it on later. And so but with the seven night cruise, so it's sort of this balance of it's a seven night cruise. This ship had a lot more planning time.
It wasn't delayed by Covid as far as construction or rehearsals or. I mean we heard with the Wish that the theater folks, the main stage theater folks, didn't get into the theater until after the crossing. Like the theater wasn't Finished until after the crossing from Europe. And so I mean, that's impossible. How do they rehearse when they can't rehearse with the sets? They can't, they don't even have a stage. Like they're probably rehearsing like out on the deck.
But I mean, that's not, you know, the in theater show. You need to rehearse in the space. It's crazy.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: So, like, for example, I mean, you have the Haunted Mansion parlor here. And I gotta say, they were pushing this pretty hard to us. And I was like, and the Hyperspace Lounge is nice and fine, but I kind of felt, you know, it's like Skyline Lounge of Star wars, right? This is something, this is. I mean it's, it's a shame to even consider comparing this to the Hyperspace Lounge. There's. I mean, if you're a Disney history fan. So this bust here, Disney fans may have heard of named Imagine Roli Crump and his candleman figure which was never built. You know, sort of museum of the weird. And so this is a trip. It's a bust of him and he's melting. The paintings melt and reveal their sort of Haunted Mansion form the ghost fish.
You know, this may be a little in the weeds, but Disney fans may know imagineer Daniel Joseph, who's sort of their head illusion guy. He did the Beauty and the Beast illusion at the Tokyo attraction. You know, in. And he was like, we love this space so much that we put in more time on this than we were probably supposed to. You know, they didn't bill every hour that they worked on it, so to speak. So this is truly was the one thing where I was like, wow, this really exceeds my expectations.
This is much, much, much more than the Hyperspace Lounge to the point where it's like Hyperspace Labs was very busy at the beginning and then kind of people got used to it. This one may be a little bit of a harder ticket for a longer period of time. I mean, the whole everything in here moves and changes and adjusts. It is not.
It is the ghost fish in there, which you can't see in there. But every little detail from the attraction, obviously. Even just like the chair and the wallpaper.
[00:14:36] Speaker A: I love the chair.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Yeah, this is really a love letter. Madame Leota appears back here as well as the ghost from the attraction. And then they have non alcoholic sodas where if you put them upside down, they illuminate and glow.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: Oh, we saw the sodas. We didn't see the flowing part. That's.
[00:14:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's hard to capture on camera. And we weren't able to do it because we had to rush at it. Like. Yeah, one of the high. One of the publicist was like, oh, you got. Have you seen it? And it was like, they're like, you gotta go. And I was like, try and do it. But it's hard to. It's one. It's on my list of when I get back on the ship next week to like, capture it better, but.
[00:15:13] Speaker C: So, Benji, any. Any other standout things from the Haunted Mansion parlor? I mean, I agree that this looks absolutely stunning. I agree it's in a league of its own. It's not.
Is not a comparison over to hyperspace.
Maybe one question that came up last night that I'd be curious to get your thoughts on.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Right, Brian?
[00:15:32] Speaker C: Well, no, not about the Destiny. About the Hyperspace Lounge. Someone asked us, like, do we think that given how much they've invested in this space that it might cause Disney to go back? It seems like there's a ton of excitement about it to go back and maybe make some adjustments to Hyperspace Lounge, which I don't think is generating a ton of revenue for them. I don't think a lot of people really go into that space on the Wish.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: It's a good question. I don't know. I mean, this is this in my opinion about obviously looking at. But this costs a significant amount more than a hyperspace lounge. And so, you know, I often wonder that about a lot of the spaces. Like, I just got off the dream. And I was like, they still have 687 there, which is nothing compared to like, O Gills or something. So, you know, I don't know how frequently they go back and do those things. I mean, the hyperspace, this. I'm sorry, the Harmonial probably will be on the Destiny as well. So I don't. I mean, that's. There's so many times when I go like, I'm surprised they haven't changed this yet. So I would I. If I was, you know, running cruise line, probably, but that I don't run cruise line.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: I really think so. I don't think they should copy this onto the Wish, but I really think that they should look to update hyperspace to make it better. Right. To make it like, closer to.
What's the name of the pub in Gallup on the Star Cruiser.
No, on Star Cruiser, the Sublight.
[00:17:03] Speaker C: The Sublight Lounge.
[00:17:04] Speaker A: Make it more like. Like poured in some of the details from Sublight Lounge to just enhance Hyperspace Lounge. I Don't think they have to scrap it completely. I actually, I don't. I don't hate the space. I just think the space needs more. It doesn't have enough detail. It doesn't have enough interaction. Right. Like, this space looks to have that. Right. Because you want. I feel like we expected Hyperspace Lounge because it was supposed to be the Star wars bar, to have more theming, more immersion, and it clearly failed in that respect.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, obviously I don't have the internal numbers on surveys and things like that, but yeah, I mean, I wish it was more.
I wish my magic band didn't vibrate every 10 seconds when I was there.
[00:17:50] Speaker C: I so agree with, like, I. I love that I can use a magic band on the ship. Although I will say, dear Disney, please send someone on Virgin Voyages and see the band that they're using, which is much smaller, much lighter weight, much less unassuming. But I absolutely. I'm the one that maybe a few people. I hate that it, like, lights up and buzzes all the time because we're so. Like, I said this on the show. We're so conditioned. Like, oh, my wrist is buzzing. I'm getting a notification. There's. It's just buzzing and lighting up.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: And I'm like.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: It detracts from my experience.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: It's one time, like, like, if it's to convey a wow moment or like a big, you know, moment, but not every time a ship flies by. Do I need to, like. Because you're trying to have, like, a conversation and you're like. I mean, you just, like, take the thing off.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Yeah, you're trying to enjoy. You're trying to. This is the one space where I agree with you. Because you're trying to enjoy a drink. Brian would get rid of the light up and the buzzing, like, everywhere.
I like it when it interacts with, like, rides and shows and things like that. So I don't mind it.
[00:18:51] Speaker C: I just want them to do what they do at Disney World and put my C Pass card on my Apple wallet.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: He really wants it on his Apple watch. Brian's going to die on that hill.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: I mean, I use a magic band just because. To ease to get in, you know. And I honestly would prefer just being on my Apple watch. But my thing is, like, it lights up during the fireworks show. But guess what? I'm not looking at during a fireworks show. I'm looking at the sky not going, ooh, it's now blue. So, like, it never made sense to me. It's like, you know, they Used to do that with the ears. Right. So that you can buy these ears that go up with the show so that everyone but you can see them.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: And you're like, this makes no sense because I paid for it, yet I don't enjoy it. Like, you should give it to your friend who's like 10ft ahead of you and be like, oh, that's pretty.
[00:19:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that, for sure. All right, I want to move on to another bar space on board, one that I have said repeat. I'm personally excited for, because I think it's such a great thing that Disney's moving, you know, did something different than the Sorbo Gills Irish Pub thing, which is Periscope Pub.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: 687.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: 718. I didn't notice that before.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is that's. That's the whole number, right? Is that the whole number? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. So, Benji, what did you think of the decision around Periscope Pub and, you know, first impressions? I said all along, if they're going to do this, they got to kill it. They got to hit it out of the park. And I don't know, from what I've seen, I think they may have. And I'm so curious what your impressions were.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I really liked it. It was impressive. There's a lot of detail, especially if you're a 20k fan.
You know, the only challenges is that, like, we went to this right after Haunted Mentioned Parlor. So, you know, like, it's. But, you know, I thought there's a lot of neat detail.
You know, for example, like, that is the. There's details about the ship's construction, like where it went to the crossing. I don't have all my sort of Easter eggs committed memory, but there's a lot of neat detail in here. I thought this was a really nice space.
I think one of the challenges the Wish has, which is not going to be fixed by the space, though, is just room to do the activities that they typically do in these types of spaces.
It's going to feel tight in all these spaces, honestly. But I really liked it.
It was a nice balance between. It had IP thing, but it's not like you could go in here and not like Haunted Mansion Parlor. If you go in that. Never been a Haunted Mansion. It's still impressive, but you're gonna have no idea what you're looking at. Whereas here, you don't even need to see 20,000 leagues on the Sea to really appreciate this space.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: But obviously, if you've seen the Film. It does help.
[00:21:39] Speaker A: I might have to rewatch it. I can't tell you when I watched that film, and I. I feel like it probably was well over 20 years ago, let's put it that way.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: I struggle with that one. So I know I'm supposed to love it as a Disney fan, but.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:01] Speaker C: I don't remember the movie. I remember the ride. I remember going on the ride. And that's the part that I. I.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Do remember the ride as well, actually. I remember the ride before it got re. Themed to Finding Nemo, Right?
[00:22:15] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
[00:22:17] Speaker B: So actually, not to be that guy, but the Florida one was themed to 20,000 Leagues on the Sea. The Disneyland version was not.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: Oh, it wasn't. Oh, interesting. Okay, Gotcha.
[00:22:27] Speaker C: That's how I got to ride it. That's how I got to ride it, Sam. Because we went to Disney World when I was a kid, we did not go to Disneyland.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: I only went to Disney World as. I went to Disneyland once as a kid, but I only went a few times to Disney Parks. But the several times I went were. Was one time at Disneyland. The rest were at Disney World until I was an adult.
[00:22:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Cause in Florida, they were nautilus type, and then in California, they're the yellow. Well, they were gray originally, and then they became yellow sort of submarines.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: So, Benji, talk to me a bit more about. So the ceiling aspect of it. We didn't get into this with Scott. Yeah.
[00:22:59] Speaker B: So you can see here that there's, like, marine life that kind of goes over you. It's not a constant thing. And as the publicist will tell you, every time they would start talking about it, there would be none.
You'd be staring at it, and then you look away. So it's a light touch. I don't want to overplay it, but, yeah, it kind of gives you. I think it's more just to give it energy.
And it's not like even like a hyperspace lounge, which is super kinetic. It's more of just a light touch. But I think it's good if you have Haunted Mansion Parlor, which is definitely in your face in a good way. You know, this is a little bit more subdued and a little bit more of a, you know, I would say more of a classical way of handling this kind of thing.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Well, and to your point, you had mentioned about activities being done in this space. This is a prime spot. At least Keg and Compass on the Wish is a prime spot for adult trivia games.
[00:23:53] Speaker C: And drawing.
[00:23:54] Speaker A: And drawing. Right. So it has to. It can't have like, you can't have trivia and drawing in the Haunted Mansion Parlor.
It's just not possible. It doesn't right now. It doesn't happen in Hyperspace Lounge either. And legit you could. It would be distracting to have that whoosh that keeps happening every so often. But like, you could have it in hyperspace. There's no way you could have it in. I mean, even just the lighting doesn't work for it and Haunted Mansion Parlor. So it makes sense for this space to be a lighter touch, even though it's definitely themed out. But it's not the sound and the lighting and things like that are a little bit more.
[00:24:30] Speaker C: I'm going to be curious how this holds up when those TV screens aren't displaying like nautilus compasses and instead they're displaying the soccer game, the football game, the baseball, all that. Because this is ultimately a sports pub. That's. That's the sports bar on the ship. And so I will be interested to see, like, how does this, that juxtaposition really work? I also still find it, I remember the comments that came out initially and find it kind of hilarious. Like, you can see here the ceiling is that you're under the sea, but if you just look to the left out the porthole, you're on a cruise ship above the ocean. So it's, you know, it's, it's a tough, it's a tough balance to strike. It's tough detail to sort of make work. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it holds up.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: And I think, you know, having been in the space, it's not trying to be immersive. It's not trying to be. It's not trying to be Harm Rachel Parlor. It's not trying to be like an Oceaneers club. It's just more there as it's evocative. It's not a super storytelling device. It's not like you're going to be the transport. I mean, I know the press release will say that, but. But in reality it's more. It's more. It's very keg encompassy in that kind of way. It's, it's. Yeah, it, it's not a real big game changer. I like the space, but it's not, you know, something that would be like, you know, if I don't go in here, my cruise is not complete.
[00:25:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:43] Speaker A: I needed to bring up this comment from Wesley because this is, this is, I think goes to this comment that Scott kept saying, don't book A cruise because of Blank. And that's. He did say that about this. This space. And. But Wesley was saying he might book the cruise just Haunted Mansion Parlor. And I think that there will be people who are just such fans of Haunted Mansion Parlor that book this ship or book the Destiny because they want to be on a ship that has that space. They want to be in that immersive space. This one, I think is a really nice nod. And big 20,000 leagues under the Sea fans, fans of Nautilus will like this, but it might not be the reason they book the cruise.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: This should definitely not be a motivation.
I suspect it's not trying to be sort of like saying, I want to book this cruise to go to, you know, I'm going to book the treasure to go to Sarabi. Like, don't do that. Like, yeah, the Haunted Mansion Parlor is a little bit of a. I mean, as this, you know, I went into a thing like, okay, I can go on the Haunted Mansion. Like, how is this little hallway, like, ever going to, like, live up to grind all the time? Like, what are you going to do? But no, that is actually impressive. And I don't. Once again, I'm not telling people what to do. But yeah, I could see being like, oh, yeah, I definitely want to do that ship so I can do the Haunted Mansion Parlor. But that's like, like one of the few spaces, you know, or unless you want to say, oh, I really want. You know, I'm a huge Moana fan. I want to see the Moana show, you know, things like that. But, you know, and like, even this, this navigation skipper society.
Yeah, it's nice. It's fun. There's a lot of fun details. Don't book it to go here, you know.
[00:27:25] Speaker C: See, Sam is convinced that she wants us to turn into Trader Sam's at sea. And I don't. I don't have the heart to tell you, Sam, it will never be that.
[00:27:33] Speaker A: I know, but I. So I, Yeah, I, so I love Jungle Cruise. I love Trader Sam's. I love how the Trader Sam's bartenders and waiters are all, you know, flunked out skippers and how they. I love the puns. And so I'm really looking forward to this space. I think it's. It looks really beautiful. I love actually the carvings on that around that stage looking really incredible. I really want them to go full immersive. But I love, loved the star cruiser so much, and I feel like that's where my brain keeps going, which the star cruiser for those who don't know is like a total. Was. We did an episode on it a while back.
It was a totally immersive Star wars experience. And it's completely different. It's not something that can be replicated on a ship. But I just want them to replicate like this, you know, in one space. I want them to replicate that immersive experience. And I feel like this could be the way they could do it with the bartenders. Right? Like that. But they're not going to. I know they're not going.
[00:28:34] Speaker B: Yeah, they're not going to. But they did tell us they're going to have puns. They're going to have.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: And they're in the menu too. I mean, they've got some. The menus has some of the drinks from Trader Sam's.
[00:28:43] Speaker B: So looking aside the vestibules, for lack of better word, there's a lot of detail in those, you know, on each side there, like here. I mean, obviously there's different letters here. You obviously. The paddles representing Disney World. The foliage represents Disneyland's Jungle Cruise. It's a recreation of that foliage. So there's a lot of detail here. And they do say that the puns will be part of it. I'm curious to see how that plays out with a mostly international crew. But I think it's a fun space. It's just, to me, the bayou.
It's in the middle of everything. So it's never really. You never feel secluded. It's more of a space you go to, to, you know, do your trivia or hang out for a few minutes. It's not like Hannah Mansion Parlor or even start, you know, or the Star Wars Lounge because it's kind of in the middle of all of it. But, you know, I am curious. It's one of the things I'm curious about is to see how this space plays when you're actually in a regular operation where, you know, and it kind of settles into itself and what it wants to be.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: Yeah. I wonder. I wonder what you think, Benji, about how this ship plays to the non hardcore Disney people, right? The people who like cruising, who are like, I want to go on a Disney ship because I want to have like good entertainment and good service. But aren't like the hardcore parks people, like, do you think that this ship has something for them? That's my only. I'm hardcore into it, so I want to just be very clear. I love it, but I'm just curious, is it going to. Are they just completely not going to get it and not like this ship, or are they just going to enjoy what they enjoy and leave the rest?
[00:30:36] Speaker B: So one of the hardest things I could ever do is try and get a headspace of a non Disney fan.
[00:30:41] Speaker A: I know, right? It's hard. It's hard. Yeah.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: But, you know, as kind of what we're talking about, Haunted Mansion, to me is the one where it's like, okay, you really should be a fan. I mean, not saying you have to be. It's impressive technologically anyway. But you're going to be looking at that bus being like, why is he melting? Like, like, so. Whereas the other spaces, I don't think you need to know the story. Like, you know, you could just think of this. I think people understand what a jungle navigation kind of skipper thing is if they're not at Parks fan. Like, yes, you're not going to be looking at here and being like, oh, my gosh, that's a picture of Aaron Glover. But, you know, I will. But no one, I mean, you can probably count on 10 hands how many people would know that. But. But, you know, I mean, and same thing with like, Scat Cat Lounge. I mean, very few people have actually seen Aristocats, but, you know, I have.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: Seen it, but it's been again, more than 20 years since I have seen it.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: Talk to us about Scat Cat, Benji. Because Scott. Scott's description of this really stuck with me from last night. He said, I think we summed it up as like, so what you're telling me is that the Imagineers were three doors down from a room where they were playing some music from SC or from Aristocats. And, you know, and he was like, yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, six months later, as they were designing the bar, they're like, oh, that's what that was. That was the Aristocats that we've been having in our head the whole time. Like, so talk to us about that space because that's.
[00:32:06] Speaker D: I haven't seen any.
[00:32:07] Speaker C: I mean, there's some floating around, but I haven't really seen too much about it out of the press materials, the promos, all that sort of stuff. Like, what is that space?
[00:32:17] Speaker B: Like, I kind of dig it. Okay, there's.
It's nightingales on the wish and it's right. So it's right off of the hall there. And so this one does have sort of an outdoor service bar, which is kind of a nice little touch. But you go in there and yeah, it feels like someone. Like someone at Imaginary is a huge Aristocats fanboy. Because the piano has paw prints from the movie when the cats are dancing on the piano. So like there's a lot of detail. It's not like they. And even the drinks, when you drink them, there's a cat face in the bottom of the glass.
So, you know, I'm not a huge Aristocats fan. I mean it's, you know, for animation fans it's like Peak Woolly Reitherman, like where it just sort of like, you know, they took what they thought a Disney movie should be without having any sort of wisdom of Walt in it. But yeah, it's not a good movie. The vibe of, you know, everybody wants to be a cat, you know, that's cool. That sort of jazzy jazz club. Yeah. And you know, they have a poster of it. In fact, many some of the folks that were involved in the project, their cats are represented in the poster.
But yeah, I felt like Nightingales, they're both IP based but nobody would know. Right. And I think Nightingales is definitely classier in terms of that. But this is a little bit more fun. I mean, it has nothing to do with the sort of Adventureland theme that they're saying. So that's what's a little odd about it is, you know, Aristocats takes place in here, you know, in France, like, which is not, you know, it takes place not in a far run. Literally. They have the Eiffel Tower in the background. So. So that is what I kind of didn't get. But I like the space on its own.
[00:34:14] Speaker C: Well, I feel like every ship needs. It's like whatever your, the martini bar, the high end cocktail bar. And that's, that's what it's the cocktail and piano bar to the tiki bar or the, you know, the sort of, you know, fun drinks of the skipper society. And then you've got the immersive bar. Right. That's kind of what they're going for. So in the beer pub, which is really, you know, the 20,000 leagues under the Sea. So yeah.
[00:34:36] Speaker B: And it's also sort of the piano bar. So you have the piano guy playing and you know, he was rocking out.
[00:34:41] Speaker A: Oh, he's so good. I forget his name. But he, he's been on all the other ships. I follow him on Instagram. I can't remember blanking on his name, but the, the guy who plays piano on, on this ship is just incredible. He's actually like the music director or one of the music directors on the, on the ship as well. I'm blanking. I know that Taryn's going to be listening to this show and she's going to tell. She's going to be freaking out that I can't remember his name because she's a big fan. Taryn is a fan of our show and I know she's, I think she's the one.
[00:35:10] Speaker C: Matt Grinkle. Matt or Matt Grinky? Grinky. Matt Grinky.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Matt Grinky. She's the one who got. Got me onto following him on social media. He is just fantastic.
[00:35:19] Speaker C: Yeah, that comes from Taryn in the comments. Thank you, Taryn.
[00:35:21] Speaker A: Oh, thank you, Taryn. I knew you.
[00:35:23] Speaker C: I think I saw him when we were on one of the smaller ships in the Cadillac Lounge and I like, I went in to get a drink and, and people were like, oh, so you're here to see Matt? And I was like, like, I don't know who Matt is. And so then he walked in. Everyone's like moving closer to the piano and I have to admit he was, he was an outstanding, outstanding piano player. So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, good to hear that you liked the space, Benji, because I really am excited to try all of these bar spaces on the, on the ship. So good to hear that. That was another one. Did you get a chance to sample this infamous hundred thirty clarified bourbon drink that they're old fashioned. They're going to be serving in the, in that lounge.
[00:36:04] Speaker B: I didn't. I. Full disclosure, I don't drink. So that's why I was really excited about the non alcoholic options they have at most of these places now where it's not just sort of, you know, coke or you know, a bubble gum smoothie. But again, I got to see them do the thing which was cool with.
[00:36:21] Speaker C: The smoke and oh yeah.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Smoked old fashioned. Yeah, that's always fun to watch. Yeah.
[00:36:27] Speaker D: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation. Great news. The fabulous team over at Mypath Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, Relaxed at Aulani and so much more.
[00:36:54] Speaker B: More.
[00:36:55] Speaker D: Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation or adventures by Disney or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, my path Unwinding travel will Elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOMYPATHunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: Thanks.
[00:37:19] Speaker D: My path unwinding, Winding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: I'm curious. I want to hear your take on which other spaces like the Scat Cat Lounge don't really fit with the theming, because that's one thing.
[00:37:36] Speaker B: Power suite.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: Yes. Okay, there we go.
[00:37:40] Speaker B: Nothing says the mystic world of Agrabah like Epcot.
I mean, and it's lovely. I love the space figment everywhere. Super. I mean, I'm a huge Epcot fan. But what?
It's like they were saying, okay. It was like they were like, we're gonna make a Tomorrowland ship. Right? And then they're like, oh, no, we're not. We're gonna do Heroes of Villas. But we already designed this. It makes no sense.
And you literally. You walk in the door and there's, you know, that sort of. I want to say, Herb Reiman, classic Epcot concept art. And you're like, I love the space, but it has nothing to do with anything else here.
It feels like the, you know, the Bagheera Suite. And you're like, okay, this makes sense, right? Not at all.
[00:38:28] Speaker C: It feels like all the ships in this class have some of that problem happening between the stage shows and the tower suit, where it's like, that tower seat actually belongs over here. And this ship should be named that. Like, the treasure should be named the Adventure.
The Adventure should be named something else. Yeah.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: I had this problem when I went on the Dream for the first time, because the show, the closing night show on the classic ships was Disney Dream. And then I go on the Disney Dream, and there's no Disney Dream.
[00:38:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: And I'm going like, no, it's Believe. And I was like, God help me if they make a ship called the Disney Believe.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:04] Speaker B: And I'll be all.
[00:39:06] Speaker A: All Benji, Absolutely. I'm with you. I think there are certain things that just. Yeah. That fit, and there's certain things that don't fit. I. I want to ask you about Sarabi. We talk a little bit about this on the show last night with Scott, but we didn't get into it very much because we didn't have time. And so I wanted to get your take on Sarabi. It's the space that replaces Luna. Is it. I know that it's different obviously in the artwork and whatnot, but is it different in the design? I have not been able to tell from any pictures.
[00:39:37] Speaker B: No, it's the same. Which I thought was.
[00:39:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:39:41] Speaker B: Because I mean I always thought like after a couple of nights of Match or Mate they would realize they need to close off that venue and. Nope. So. I mean it's beautiful. It has, you know, it feels very. It feels exactly like you'd expect someplace called Sarabi to feel.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: But.
[00:39:57] Speaker B: Yeah, operationally I'm still a little bit puzzled.
[00:40:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I was hoping. But I honestly, as much as I was hoping, I figured that probably would be the case because the layout is the layout and the. You know, I would hope. I mean they could have just sort of closed in the walls. Right. Or put up. Or put up windows or something instead of leaving it open.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: But without being an engineer or anything. I mean, I imagine it's a solvable problem with something. I mean, you know, it doesn't need to be structural. It could have been. Right.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Even like frosted windows or something.
[00:40:33] Speaker B: Right. Yeah. So I, I don't, I don't.
[00:40:36] Speaker C: Well. And the staircase problem they have with that venue, which is if you, if you want to get a drink and you're down on the first floor, like you have to leave the venue sometimes to go upstairs. Yeah.
[00:40:44] Speaker B: It's just, it's is weird because I think it's. That type of venue has been. Is such a heart of what makes you know, all ages venue where you can have family activities is what Disney Cruise Line is supposed to be. And to have those operational issues in that kind of venue, you know, is. It's. It sort of breaks my heart because you know, we talked when I did the Vacation Club cruise. It's like this place is impossible to do that kind of cruise. We have special activity because there's no venues and.
[00:41:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:41:19] Speaker B: You know, for that kind of thing. And I, I didn't expect them to fix it. I mean I would have been happily surprised. But hopefully whatever the next era of these ships is going to be, well, they'll, they'll think a little bit more about how people are going to use the ship and not so much just. I mean, not only focus on the sort of entertainment immersive theme part of it.
[00:41:44] Speaker A: I want to ask a question about. There's a small venue on the same floor that Luna is on that is sort of the karaoke venue. I can't remember the name of it on the wish. I'm blanking. I don't. I haven't heard anything about it on the treasure. Is it exactly the same on the treasure?
[00:42:00] Speaker B: We did not go into that space. And I. Because it's so forgettable on the wish, I forgot that it existed on the ship.
[00:42:06] Speaker A: Well, I did too, until it just came to me. As we're talking about Sarabi, I was just thinking Triton.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: Tritons, right.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: The only thing I remember is I like, I went on a regular Wish cruise and like, I wanted to had trivia in there, and there was like, no way to get in because it holds like 12 people. It's really so, you know, that's something that on my list to check out when we, you know, on another adventure.
[00:42:34] Speaker C: It's funny because the way they designed, like. I like the way they designed the wish. From the standpoint of the adult spaces person. I like that the bars are spread out throughout the ship.
[00:42:41] Speaker D: It's not all in one place.
[00:42:42] Speaker C: But to your point where you. Losing then is like, you know, on the. Even the smaller ships, you have both a D lounge and like an Azure or whatever it is. Like two large, you know, venue, theater type and spaces where you can do drawing trivia, adult entertainment, you know, all that sort of stuff throughout the day. And yes, Sarabi just. I don't know that the way they've laid out that space, it just doesn't. It's not. It doesn't work. It doesn't work to bring a crowd together for bingo. Looks like a total disaster in that space. And that's a revenue generation greater. So.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah, on the, you know, the four previous ships, you could use the Buena Vista Theater sort of that space if you needed to, but with the split theaters, those are so small that you don't.
[00:43:24] Speaker C: You.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: You gave up that as well. I mean, you know, I hate to criticize people who made decisions that I have no idea what went into them, but as a guest, as a. As a person on it, I. I miss those sort of communal spaces that is, you know, I mean, you know, it's like you go back to that Walt story of him sitting on a bench, you know, why a place where parents and children have found together. Now, granted, on a cruise ship, you have place. You have plenty of places to split apart, but you should have those, you know, put a little bit more thought into the communal spaces.
[00:43:55] Speaker A: Yeah, well, let's be fair. There's plenty of beautiful spaces. So I'm just trying to understand, like, where the. Where are the hits, where are the misses?
[00:44:05] Speaker B: And there's no question, there's no doubt that this spaceship is beautiful. It's more of a function thing where I get little questions. But there's not a part of the ship that I think is hideous. And I think they really put a lot of detail. I mean, you have Plaza de Coco here, the Ofrenda here. I mean, it is amazing, right? Amazing.
[00:44:25] Speaker C: And before we dive into Plaza de Coco, I just want to. Wesley, put a comment in about they need to return to the outdoor recreation space. Wesley, I just want to say I will die on the hill. That the thing that they have now is, is far better than that outdoor basketball court space because they can use it for so many different things and the kids can play basketball in an air conditioned space in the middle of the group. And so I think that the way they've set up. I forget now, I'm forgetting the hero zone on these ships. I think that was just of some of the design element choices they made. I think that was a brilliant, brilliant design choice.
[00:44:58] Speaker B: Except with one caveat. And I might have shared the story last time, but. But when we went on the media cruise of the Wish and I'm looking and they have all these ping pong tables on the top floor and bing. And they'd fall down. Bing falls. And it was like raining ping pong balls. And I was like, yeah, no one thought that went through.
[00:45:18] Speaker C: Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.
[00:45:19] Speaker A: Yeah. I think that they've mostly taken out the ping pong. I think it's mostly foosball though now because those and the table shuffle boards because those don't ping out.
[00:45:28] Speaker B: There were two things on that cruise where we knew they were going to change them. One was that and the chairs in Enchante because you would back up and suddenly cast members would be there to hold them because like they had so many problems.
[00:45:42] Speaker A: They had. They were three legged chairs in Enchante. And we, we got to. We sat in them on the maiden voyage of the Wish when we ate in Enchante. And the next time we were there, which was a few months later, maybe six months later, elevator changed out the chairs because this falling over, you're going.
[00:45:58] Speaker C: To be pouring that much champagne. Let's put people on a stable platform. But anyway.
[00:46:02] Speaker B: Oh, the other thing that was funny about this, when we were taking the tour, you can't be amazed at how many people looked into the elevator to make sure there were real buttons.
Everyone was like, what? Like, are we okay? Because we had all Done the media cruise for the Wish, where that was just a disaster.
[00:46:18] Speaker C: You know what, though? Did they fix the issue that they've had on the Wish, which is they've got, you know, they've got that one bank of elevators where only one of their. One or two of the elevators goes all the way to the top. Yeah, yeah. Disney. Come on. It's such an easy fix. All right. Plaza de Coco, this is. People are excited beyond belief for this restaurant.
Benji, what did you think of the space? I will say one thing that we picked up on last night as I was watching kind of the B roll through is seems like the sight lines are a lot better than what's in Arendelle. But I don't know. What did you think of the space?
[00:46:47] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, just to kind of give you an idea of what we did there, we got, like, a brief snippet of the night to show. Show. So the night one show is going to be a little bit more of a celebration of the Madrigal family from the land of the living. And then the night two is the sort of big party with, you know, with our friends from the land of the dead. And so it was, you know, I felt like the. They. They did a better job of kind of focusing the energy in. I think, in Arendelle. There's so much going on on the walls and everything. And here there's. They're decorated. I don't make it seem like they're bare, but they're not as they're focusing in right here. And so it was.
I. You know, I haven't seen the full show, so it's hard to compare and contrast. Exactly. And, you know, we kind of just grabbed seats. We didn't really, you know, look at sight lines in that way.
[00:47:42] Speaker A: The Rivera family. Sorry, not the Madrigal family.
[00:47:45] Speaker B: Oh, no, that's.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: Sorry. Yeah.
[00:47:47] Speaker B: They're very family from Coco. So.
But the. There is just so beautiful as you walk in, you know, on. On the. In Arendelle, they have those two busts of, you know, Anna and Elsa, which are nice. And you definitely have, I think, a great storytelling as you walk in. But this during, like, the world's longest hallway. But here, I really feel like this.
[00:48:07] Speaker C: You.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: You turn a corner, and there's this beautiful piece of art, essentially. And I really like that. That.
And, you know, they seem to.
The. The food is actually was actually really quite good. I think the. From what I had. I mean, I would say, you know, it's definitely a step up in terms of my Taste of the food.
[00:48:27] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
It all looks great. Like, I.
I hope they pulled this off. I think it seems like they've learned some lessons from Arendelle because a lot of people complained about sort of, I can't see the show. And, you know, all the concierge people are sitting at the tables right around the stage, and everyone else is kind of relev. Delegated to, like, you know, not great tables.
So, yeah, this. This looks great. I am so interested to see the menus. We've seen some kind of mixed feedback on the. On the menus in the cruise group, the maiden voyage cruise group that we've been running. But I think this is going to be a win. And I just. Yeah, I'm excited to try it out.
[00:49:04] Speaker B: So I don't know if we're going to be talking about it, because it's. But one thing I was actually pleasantly surprised with was World of Mar. Normal.
[00:49:12] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Talk to. We didn't get a chance to talk to Scott about that. What did. What.
[00:49:15] Speaker D: So, yeah.
[00:49:15] Speaker C: What did you like?
[00:49:16] Speaker B: What I liked. So during the. The original show, Right. You have those quantum cores on your table.
[00:49:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:49:23] Speaker B: And they do absolutely nothing. Right. You push the button, and when you're told to, and it lights up. And that's the extent of this big quantum core thing that they made such a big deal over. But during this show, you are in.
While you're in that sort of dining part of the meal, they play trivia. So each button lights up as of a different color. And then you push the button when you know with the right answer. And then it'll go green or red, depending on what it's like, score or anything, but just a fun way to kind of make use of that device.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: That is kind of like, interactive. Yeah.
[00:50:02] Speaker B: Yeah. And so I really thought that the show. So it's not as like, there's not like a major battle like there is in the other one, but there's. I thought it was just as a dining experience. It actually lived up to the sort of interactive promise that they had kind of not delivered on on the first night show.
[00:50:19] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. Yeah. I'm excited to see. Cause, like, the Guardians of the Galaxy side of things always has, like, the best soundtrack, the best music. And so I love a show that's centered around, like.
[00:50:28] Speaker A: I think it's, like, fun and funny and fun.
[00:50:30] Speaker C: Yeah. I love a show that's centered around Groot and Rocket. I. It's going to have the music in it. It sounds. I just. I think that could Be really, really fun. I. I do hope that. That they take some feedback from folks around the volume levels in these restaurants a little bit, because it is. It is hard to carry a conversation in any of these restaurants at this point.
[00:50:49] Speaker B: So, yeah, my preference would be depending on who I'm cruising with. Right.
[00:50:53] Speaker A: Like, yeah, very, very good point. There's times where I'm perfectly happy to have the music loud, and there's other times where I'd rather have a conversation. Yeah, yeah.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: There was one more thing. I was going that restaurant, but it was. Oh, stay till the end. Like, there's a tag.
[00:51:10] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
[00:51:11] Speaker C: All right. Okay.
[00:51:12] Speaker A: All right. We'll do. We'll do.
[00:51:14] Speaker C: All right. Benji, I want to ask you about the show because I know you're a big show fan.
We've got some B roll here. Well, I'm not gonna show the B roll because last night I showed it. It's like, literally, like, three seconds of Moana on stage. It sounds like you got to see maybe, like, act one, like, 20 minutes of the show. Like, what did you think? Is it a hit?
[00:51:34] Speaker B: It's a great question. I don't know. I think it's much better.
I really don't like that Little Mermaid.
[00:51:44] Speaker A: I like Mermaid show, but it's not. It's not close to my favorite or it's not in the top, like, four even. Yeah.
[00:51:51] Speaker B: Yeah. And I just felt it kind of, like, added. It took away some. I mean, there's parts I like, but I felt like it was. Was trying to do too much in a Little Mermaid show at sea. Like.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: Yeah, my favorite show on the wishes. Seize the Adventure. I'm going to put that out there.
[00:52:10] Speaker B: Absolutely. I just. I love just visioning Bill Farmer just singing in the booth into the unknown. I just love that whole.
[00:52:17] Speaker A: I love. Yeah, Goofy Bill Farmer is Goofy's voice, for those who don't know. But it's a fantastic. Yeah, a fantastic number. And I also love the Crush number on In Seize the Advent. So I just think that. That. I think it's a really fun show. I'm actually excited that they brought it over to the Treasure. I think it's a good. It's a really good night. One shorter show when they do, like, a bunch more announcements from the cruise director and things like that. So I think that'll be a good thing. I'm excited for Beauty and the Beast because I love Beauty and the Beast on the Dream, and so I'm perfectly happy if they literally just replicated and put it on the Treasure. But, yeah, Moana is the thing to really look forward to, I feel like. And so you think it's could be a hit, but you're not sure?
[00:53:00] Speaker B: Well, it's hard because, I mean, we didn't get to Maui.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:53:04] Speaker B: And so. And then we didn't get, you know, the big sort of E ticket thing on this is the Taka puppet.
[00:53:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:53:10] Speaker B: Which we didn't get to see because, you know. And so I thought the cast was fantastic.
[00:53:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:53:16] Speaker B: But it was all sort of. We're still on the island for the whole bit of this. So, you know, I think, you know, like, how they handle the kakamora. Like, there's a lot of questions. I think this could go either way. I was.
[00:53:27] Speaker A: Oh, the kakamora I don't like. Yeah, the little coconut guys. Holy cow. Like, how they. I hope they deal with it like they deal with Trolls and Frozen. I'm just gonna say that.
[00:53:36] Speaker B: I gotta say the frozen version. I've seen Frozen at dca. I've seen Frozen on Broadway, and I've seen Frozen on the wall, and my favorite version is the one on the ship.
[00:53:46] Speaker A: 100% agree with you, Benji. I have said that several times on this show. The best version of Frozen on Disney Cruise Line. The fantasy or the Wonder? I actually like it a little bit better on the Fantasy. Just because you have more trolls, because the cast is bigger. But. But it's not any different. It's just. There's just more people on the stage. Right. So it's, yeah, fantastic. But, yeah, I kind of feel like the way. For those who haven't seen it, I'm not going to spoil you. Spoil it and tell you how they do the trolls in Frozen, but to me, that would be the way to do the Kakamora. I just don't know. Yeah.
[00:54:19] Speaker C: Linda saying. I'm curious if they use the same kakamora like in the Magic Happens Parade. I don't remember what those look, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Benji, what have we missed? What stood out for you that we just haven't even talked about?
[00:54:33] Speaker B: I got. I. I really liked. I mean, this is sort of basic, but I like the staterooms, the hallways, like.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:54:41] Speaker B: I just felt that there's so odd, like, design. Like, you can't watch TV if you're in the couch.
I thought even just the carpet I just felt was a little bit more thought through.
I really liked every little detail here that I just really thought.
It caught me by surprise. I don't want to say I came in thinking I wasn't Going to like it because I like the wish. But I wasn't expecting to be blown away. And there's parts of this where I just went, this is really pretty. This is just aesthetically pretty. We talked about how it doesn't all mesh up, but it.
I do. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it first. You know, I come from, like, I grew up going to Disneyland where Adventureland was just a nightmare. And so, like, because they had that big stump in the middle to get to, and like Indiana Jones and you just would always go through Frontierland. So, like, I don't have fond memories.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: It's a bottleneck, for sure.
[00:55:46] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, it's better now. They've made some changes, but it's like, it's. I didn't.
I was really surprised at how much I like the ship. In many ways much more than the witch. Now. It'll be interesting to see when I'm actually sailing on it, you know, and you have to actually live in the space. But, you know, it's. It's.
I'm pleasantly surprised. I would not, you know, I would not avoid the ship like some people who may be a little stubborn might feel. So I'm pleasantly surprised. And it made me more excited for the destiny, too, knowing that it was going to be this different. I guess I wasn't expecting it. If you compare the dream and the fantasy or the magic and the wonder, there's differences, but they're not that many. Whereas this one, it really is quite different. Different.
[00:56:43] Speaker A: Yeah. A lot more different theming. You know, we've got a question about the augmented reality, which is the uncharted adventure.
I have heard it's up and running, but I don't know if you heard or that it will be up and running. I don't know if you heard anything different.
[00:56:58] Speaker B: We were told it's going to have it, but it's not going to be available for the media cruise.
[00:57:01] Speaker A: Oh, not for the media cruise. Interesting.
[00:57:04] Speaker B: Okay, so Maiden is still a few weeks after that, so it might be available for then. I don't know. I do know that the Maiden cruise will be the first time the ship is decorated for the holidays.
[00:57:16] Speaker A: I told you people. I told you people this. Boom. Mic drop. I just need to say that you just made.
[00:57:22] Speaker C: You made Sam's day.
[00:57:23] Speaker A: You literally just made my day, Benji. Because the amount.
[00:57:27] Speaker C: The amount of digital ink that has been spilled in the Maiden voyage group that we've been managing about, like, it's not going to have decorations, and we're like, Disney's going to do something. Yeah.
[00:57:36] Speaker A: Everybody keeps saying and that they've been told by customer service people on the phones. And I'm like, those customer service people don't. Don't know anything. They are to. They have been told to tell you it's not a maritime cruise because it's not a maritime cruise. So it's not going to have all the trappings of a maritime cruise. So it's not going to have the deck party. It might not have some of the other pomp and circumstance, some of the, you know, Mrs. Claus reading stories, all that junk, but it, it's going to have a tree. There are going to be some decorations. Maybe it will be understated, not as much as like some of the other ships, but I am convinced. I have been convinced. I have been saying this to people. And finally, Benji, you have said it. And I cannot even. I'm having, I'm.
[00:58:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm having flashbacks to the Dennis Miller show right now. So not to get off on a rant here, but by the way, our.
[00:58:24] Speaker A: Friend CT is saying they don't know Sam and the power of her prognostications. Tracy's saying Sam called it. So I just want. I needed to point those out. Sorry.
[00:58:32] Speaker B: So what's fun. But first thing went through my mind is these poor holiday services people who usually feel like once December rolls around, I'm right. And they're like, no, no, we need you on December 20th. And like December 20th.
[00:58:45] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. Right. Yeah. Well, and they, they're probably. They're dark at least for, for at least a day before the maiden. Right. Maybe even getting all the stateroom gifts.
[00:58:56] Speaker C: Delivered and all the merch on board they have.
[00:58:58] Speaker A: I mean, I know it's crazy time. I'm not saying that it's like they're like sitting there twiddling their thumbs or anything. It's a ton of work for them to get ready for the maiden. Like Brian said, the merchandise, the pre order, all of that, there's a lot going on right now. They're the maiden voyage merchandise on board. Even though it's displayed like. So there's. There are.
[00:59:17] Speaker C: No, no, no, no, no. This is a. Correct, correct. You there, Sam, with the. The only stuff they're not selling on board is some haunted mansion stuff.
[00:59:23] Speaker A: No, they're not selling maiden voyage stuff either.
[00:59:26] Speaker C: No, that's not what I've heard from on board.
[00:59:28] Speaker A: Okay, well, anyway, there's, there's a lot for them to do, but one thing they can do is put up a darn Christmas tree. And they're going to do it.
[00:59:36] Speaker C: Although this will spark the all the additional debate. Now, is it going to be the white Christmas tree from the Wish or is it going to be a real Christmas tree? So I. Who know?
[00:59:44] Speaker A: I don't know that. I don't know that. Listen, I'm not prognosticating what color that tree is going to be. I'm not saying it's going to be a green tree. The one on the wish is gold, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly.
[00:59:55] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, whatever. It's a weird color. Yeah.
[00:59:57] Speaker A: I actually like Wesley's thing. I hope it's a palm tree. Christmas lights. It's actually brilliant. But there is going to be a tree.
[01:00:05] Speaker C: So I wanted to address one last comment before we let Benji go here, which is just, you know, did it seem completely finished or like it will be by the main. I want to say. And Benji, I'm curious. We have heard it's done. It was done before it ever got to New York. It was done before they even left, you know, Germany. The ship was like, they brought entertainment staff on board to start rehearsals. So compared to the Wish, where we saw some pictures of, like, just bare steel girders for some spaces, this ship was done ahead of schedule. And. And so, like, you know, aside from maybe some of the AR VR stuff, you're like. But 99% of what is supposed to happen on board is going to happen on board. So kudos to Disney. The challenges of the pandemic were real when they were building the Wish, but we heard, like, there's. There are no spaces left to be finished. They're not like, you know, hanging light fixtures, putting up signage, like, all that kind of stuff, like, this ship is ready to go. So is that what you saw?
[01:01:01] Speaker B: Not being ready on the Wish? Like, I remember, like, that's an interesting pattern. And I realized, oh, it's just massive tape.
So there were certain signs where, like, there'd be the Pole, but no sign. I mean, you know, I'm not trying to give them a hard time about it, but, like, I look for those things here. It's like, because we have to judge, like, is it fair for us to review it? Like, for the Wish, we decided we can't judge this ship because it's not.
[01:01:24] Speaker A: Done, it's not finished. Yeah.
[01:01:25] Speaker B: And, you know, and sure. I mean, you're right. Like, things like Uncharted adventure. And I'm sure, you know, like, maybe some of the stage shows still need to go through rehearsals and things like that. But. And you know, there's always gonna be those last minute whoops, you know, we didn't think that through bits which happens on every project.
[01:01:40] Speaker A: And something operationally that once they're going, they realize they need to. They need to switch it, they need to change it, they need to adjust it. Right. Like. And we understand that. Listen, we've got another sailing booked on the. On the Treasures five months later. We had a sailing in April, so we. We're going to get a chance to compare the maiden voyage to, you know, a sailing when the thing should be smooth, smooth sailing at that point. Right.
[01:02:05] Speaker B: And they're always tweaking it either. I mean, every time I did World of Marvel, it was different. You know, it was so.
Which is great that they listened to the feedback. So I'm not. There's. I don't begrudge them for changing anything. But that's. But I mean, we. Because we. This was the first question that we asked in our sort of like pre tour briefing was like, is it done? Like, because, you know, we don't want to show off something it's not done and say, here's it is. You know, we. Because that's not fair to them. And like, no, this ship is done. Like, this is. You know, we went to staterooms, there's been guests sailing on it. I. There it is. You cannot compare the experience where you're going to have on the Treasure to the one we had on the Wish by any stretch.
We're going to see full three shows. We didn't get that on the Wish. I mean, it's running seven night sailings for cast members right now and they're getting the full experience.
[01:02:58] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. And we saw she docked. It's interesting. She docked at Lookout Key this week. And I was immediately thinking, but there are no itineraries to take the Treasure to. Look out.
[01:03:07] Speaker A: I was so jealous when I saw you and I saw folks on Instagram posting that she was at Lookout Key. I was like, oh, the new ship at the New Island. Like, the best. Yeah.
[01:03:17] Speaker C: All right.
[01:03:18] Speaker B: I was on. I booked it before I had any idea when the ship was sailing. I booked a vacation cruise on the Dream right before. And so I was like, oh, I'm gonna. Like, I'm gonna miss the christening of this. But it turns out I didn't.
[01:03:30] Speaker C: Yeah, but I think it was in.
[01:03:31] Speaker B: Nassau when we were there. Oh, I was like. I was like, you know, it'd be just a lot easier for me just to get on that, go to New York Instead of running to the airport, flying and going to the christening and.
[01:03:44] Speaker C: You know, and I truly appreciate we.
[01:03:45] Speaker B: Were able to be there, but it was, it's, it's been neat to kind of see. And I'd walk, I would see crew members on the dream that I knew and I'd be like, oh, I didn't know you're on the dream. Like, oh, I'm not. I'm on the treasure. We just came over.
[01:03:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:03:57] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Hi.
[01:04:00] Speaker C: Well, Benji, we, it's, it's late. We're. Well, actually. You on the west coast or the east coast right now? I don't even know where the west Coast.
[01:04:06] Speaker A: Oh, all right.
[01:04:07] Speaker C: Okay. We can go all night. No, I'm kidding. It's.
We won't keep you much any longer. We really appreciate you taking time. A couple of quick announcements here at the end of the show for folks. One is that our giveaway with WDW magazine closes tonight at midnight, midnight Pacific.
[01:04:22] Speaker A: By the way, you have until, until midnight Pacific to email us your screenshots of your five star Apple podcast. Written review of us. A donation of at least $5 to tunnel to Towers charity. We have, as Brian announced yesterday, we have met our goal, our match goal. So Tunnels to Towers is getting $3,000.
[01:04:47] Speaker C: They have it.
[01:04:48] Speaker A: They have $3,000 now, regardless. So anything that you donate on top of that is just gravy for a fantastic charity. So please donate there. And even if you don't do it for the giveaway feel, you know, they're a great organization. Yesterday was giving Tuesday and of course it's the end of the year and so it's a giving time of year. And if you haven't made your charitable donations, consider giving to them. It's a great charity. This supports veterans, veteran families, first responder families and gold star families. So a fantastic charity.
[01:05:21] Speaker C: And really quickly, we will be back on Monday back to our regular time slot. Sam, do you want to let folks know who our guest will be for Monday and what we'll be talking about?
[01:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah, so we'll be on at our regular time, which unless I'm remembering incorrectly, is normally 5:30 Pacific, 8:30 Eastern. And we will have Carolyn. She is a travel agent with my Path Unwinding Travel, our show sponsor. And she's going to come on and talk about maritime sailing cruising. So this is the perfect time of year to talk about maritime sailings. What they tend to include, what are the offerings? Like, what are the, you know, the deck, what does the deck party look like? What kinds of Character interactions. You can have all the good stuff about maritime sailing. So come and watch us live. Or of course you can watch us recorded after the fact. 5:30 Pacific, 8:30 Eastern. Next Monday, December 9th, we will be live right here at our normal spot.
[01:06:16] Speaker C: And with that, Benji, once again, thank you so, so much. You've been such a great friend to our show. Love having you on. Love just trading messages with you about what you're seeing out in the world. So thank you. Thank you so much for taking the time to. To come on and remind and remind folks where I can find you. Yeah, yeah.
[01:06:31] Speaker B: Well, I mean, first of all, thank you so much for having me. It's fun to just talk Disney with fellow Disney fans. But yeah, we're at laughing place, laughingplace.com. we are getting ready to. To cover the Disney Treasure starting next week. And then right after that, we got Island Tower and not to mention Mufasa and theme productions and all sorts of things going on.
[01:06:53] Speaker A: So such good stuff coming out of Disney. I'm super excited to see all of it. Obviously, we're going to be big covering Treasure, but we don't cover all the other stuff that you guys cover. And I will be definitely following along with all of that.
[01:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah, you guys have got a lot of work coming up for you too, though.
When we saw Josh at the christening, he's like, he's like, we're gonna be doing a lot of these. And I was like, yes, you are.
I'm done remembering every detail about these ships. You know, as much as I can, like, pull out Morty the Magnificent out of my hat.
[01:07:28] Speaker A: Listen, that was an answer in 25, 25th anniversary trivia that Morty the Magnificent was an answer to one of the trivia questions. Yeah, yeah.
[01:07:37] Speaker C: It's gonna get much, much harder to keep these ships straight. We're getting up to 13, so. But exciting times.
[01:07:44] Speaker B: I'm gonna make, like a little cheat sheet that I can pull out and be like, oh, yeah, the dream with the what year?
[01:07:50] Speaker A: And yeah, one of those cuffs on.
[01:07:53] Speaker C: Your arm like a quarterback has you.
[01:07:54] Speaker A: Be like, okay, I'll just write notes on my arm. Right? Like the cheat notes. I'm like, in the test. Anyway. Anyway, Benji, thank you so much again for coming on our show. Enjoy the media cruise. We'll be following along. We're very excited to see everything you're. You guys are going to be posting on the socials and on site, but please, of course, join us again for all those listening, watching, make sure to give Laughing Place a follow Check them out. Such a great site. Such great socials as well. And don't forget to like and subscribe to this show on YouTube if you haven't yet. We of course hit our 1000 subscribers. Super excited about that. But of course we'd love to hit 2000. Let's, let's do it. Come on.
[01:08:36] Speaker C: Next year.
[01:08:37] Speaker D: Next year.
[01:08:37] Speaker C: All right, thanks everybody. Have a good night.
[01:08:43] Speaker D: Well, thanks 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 alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want 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 episodes. 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 mypath unwinding.com DCLDUO or email them at DCLDUOMYPATH unwinding.com 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 it's got links to all of our things.
[01:09:41] Speaker C: Full catalog of the podcast episodes including.
[01:09:43] Speaker D: 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.
[01:09:53] Speaker C: And every month, just head over to.
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