[00:00:00] Speaker A: Why did I have one more tip for being a good husband on.
And this one's, this one's a little bit more pragmatic. But know where the closest public bathroom is to your stateroom? Oh, I'm just going to leave it at that.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:00:16] Speaker A: Then you won't use the one in the state room.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to another special live edition of the DCL Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and our good friends over at WDW magazine, DCL Magazine. If you haven't gotten your first issue of the magazine, head over there to dcl-magazine.com put your email address and give them all your details and you know, buy a copy today. You can buy a digital copy, you can buy a physical copy, you can buy a subscription. There's so many options. So yeah, if you are looking for some high quality, some more.
More high quality.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: More high quality Disney cruise line.
[00:01:02] Speaker C: Not more as in better, but more as in abundance of Disney cruise line content. Yes, head over at dcl-magazine.com and use code DCLDUO. That's DCL DUO. All caps to get 10 off everything in the WGW magazine online store. I never got Sam or calendar and it's too late, Sam. We're already halfway through the year, so.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: I know we're gonna have to get the, we're gonna have to get the, the 2026 calendar. I think that's, I think it becomes.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: Available as soon as.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: But of course you want all of your, all of your castaway key content.
I'm repping both islands today for tonight's show.
Speaking of tonight's show, before we get to our topic and our guests or one of our guests is here in, in the background. You can't see her yet. We're waiting.
[00:01:46] Speaker C: She's in the green room. She's enjoying the, the green M and.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: M's and all the refreshments in the green room. The topo Chico in the green room.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: It's a BYOB green room.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, her, her husband is actually putting, trying to put their youngest to bed. But we have some news, so we figured we'd start with that. And there's a couple pieces of news out there, one of which we heard from Scott Gustin on X. So we've had Scott Gustin on the show before.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: So, you know, not Scott Gustin. I think it came from Scott Sanders. Sam, just to be clear.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Oh, I could have sworn you sent me a Twitter from Scott.
[00:02:21] Speaker C: Scott Sanders at Blog Reporting. Yes, reporting.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Sorry yes. Sanders from DCL Blog reporting that all of the splash pads, meaning the little kid splash pads that are on all of the ships are now going to be for ages 4 and under. So the little splash pads we're talking about, it's like Dory's Reef, Nemo's Reef and then the Toy Story splash pad on the Wish and the Treasure. Those are going to be changed. They not all of them have been ages 4 and under. They have been, some of them were ages 6 and under but they're all being changed. I personally think this is, is not a great change. I mean it's probably good for people cruisers but it has a, it has an impact on some other cruisers who might be a little bit older but aren't quite potty trained yet or younger kids.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: I think, I think it's become a bit unmanageable for them to keep because the older kids play like older kids and the younger kids aren't. Yeah. And so I, I mean I've seen more than once lifeguards have to coach kids out of the play space.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: Well so like I think and I've seen them do it with like 8 year olds trying to get them out of there. So I, I understand it' understand it's become an issue but it's a bit of a bummer for those kids who might be like you know, five and not potty trained or have disabilities and not be potty trained yet. So that's a bummer. But we wanted to let you all know that because that we just saw that on socials today. There's another thing that happened again just today with Disney IT or DCL it. I don't know how broad this was, but we heard from folks both at Port Everglades and Port Canaveral who were embarking today, which would have been on the Dream and the Wish, that there was some issue with the their IT systems. And so everybody had to basically redo check in at the port. So it didn't matter that you'd uploaded your passport and all that, your information ahead of time. They had to redo everything at the port today which meant that people were way delayed with boarding. We heard from folks down in Port Everglades who are boarding on the dream who had a 1:15 port arrival time, that they didn't board the ship until 4:05. Remember the ship usually departs around 5pm and that they were then told they needed to go do a muster at 7:45pm in the Walt Disney Theater because that's how delayed they were. They missed the mustard drill basically. So I don't know if the ship was delayed leaving port.
I imagine it probably was but maybe not significantly and I don't know at Port Canaveral how much of a delay the wish had in leaving as well. But we have been hearing this so that just is a good reminder. Make sure you have all of your documents like with you on hand so that your check in process goes smoothly because if there's any issue with the it they're going to have to process everything all over again.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: To be fair. For those of you bracing for a Bryant Brian DCL technology rant, don't worry, I'm not going to do that. Mostly because I shot into the wind. But this is also like just one of those things that like you know an airline systems go down. It happens. So you know, if it was happening all the time I'd be more concerned about it. I agree with Sam. Have your documents printed out so you can board the ship if, if you need to because technology is an imperfect medium at this point in our lives. So.
So yeah. But Sam, I think actually before we bring our guests on I had one other thing I wanted to say which is I want to be send a big shout out. I'm not going to read everybody's names tonight. I will do that in the future. I want to send a big shout out to our patrons. We've actually had quite a few Patreons join our Patreon program.
Really appreciate it. We really really appreciate the support. So we will give you all a shout out here in an upcoming show very soon.
You can head over to patreon.com DCLDUO if you want to check out. That is a way to help support.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: The show and we should let you know we do have an exclusive Facebook group that is just for we have a regular Facebook group for those who haven't joined a regular Facebook group. DCL Duo Podcast and blog is the name of the Facebook group but we also have an exclusive Patreon only Facebook group so do a search for that. It will require of course approval for you get in. We'll check your name against your Patreon our Patreon list but you can get in our that group has been far.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Too far too quiet of late.
Patreons are usually pretty active crowd so.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah and sometimes you might get like an exclusive video of my studio or Brian's studio and sometimes you might get like a crazy video of me dancing silly at a game show on on one of the ships.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: So content Right there.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: I mean we don't, we don't give you special shows, but we do give you sometimes occasional special video.
So.
And, and we'll. And we'll answer your questions of course, as we always do. So anyway, with that, I think we. This, it's time. In fact, both of our guests are here now. We can tell in the green room. We gotta say welcome to the show. Alex and Audrey Smith. Welcome.
[00:07:18] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Hey, how are y' all?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: It's great to see you both. Okay, Alex, we're not seeing your whole face because your name is blocking your face. So maybe. Yeah, just sit up a little higher. Thank you. Perfect. See, we couldn't do some of this pre show stuff because Alex was putting, putting their one to bed. Which is a perfect way to kind of start today's topic. Well, first of all, I got it. Alex has been on the show before. Audrey has not been on the show. But for those of you who haven't seen Alex before, he is second dad to the right. He runs a blog all about all things Disney with a lot of focus on family travel. He has a great article about the history of Castaway Key. He's got some really great information about the how to use the nursery on board and about the kids clubs. He has some stuff about, you know, from the kids perspective as well because some of their kids like to contribute articles as well to the blog. So. So that's what.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: And we're. And we're affectionately calling Audrey tonight second.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Mom Tonight, second mom to the right.
[00:08:19] Speaker C: Although she's actually the mom to the left tonight.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: But, but Audrey also has an online presence because Audrey is tutoring with Aud and she tutors kids for ACT and sat. So if you like what you hear after this show, of course you can reach out to her. And you can also check out Alex's blog, seconddadtotheright.com but it's a lot of big words.
Exactly. Give us some SAT words as we're talking.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: But as the show is titled, we're here tonight for a celebration of all moms in honor of Mother's Day, but mostly DCL cruising moms. So there we go.
[00:09:01] Speaker D: That's.
[00:09:01] Speaker C: That's the show topic tonight is celebrating mothers in the DCL Cruise line or Disney Cruise Line.
[00:09:07] Speaker D: Speaking of motherhood, I told my kids I'd give them a shout out. So Della and Amelia are watching right now. So.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: We'Re gonna give a shout out to baby Asher. I mean, he's not a baby, he's a three year old, but they have.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: The monitor so they're in charge of him. If he gets it, we're in the basement.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. Hi, kids.
Mom and dad are on the show. On the show live. I love it. Awesome.
Well, we're super excited to have you guys on the show. Alex to have you back on the show. Audrey to have you on for the first time. And we thought we would talk about some of our moms as Disney Cruise Line favorites in honor of Mother's Day, as Brian said, is a salute to all moms, but mostly Disney cruising moms. And so we're going to talk a little bit favorites. We're going to talk about also maybe some things you could think about in the future for the mom in your life, whether it's your mom, your spouse, maybe it's grandma. Right. Like, or the. Or the mom figure in your life, you know, and how you can celebrate them on a Disney cruise and maybe give them a little bit of a pampering. So that's what tonight's topic is.
I think we should start with, like, some of our favorites. Audrey. I think like a favorite way to be pampered on a cruise. And then we'll let Alex maybe give a.
A favorite thing or way to pamper or celebrate you on a Disney cruise.
So let's start there. Yeah.
[00:10:38] Speaker D: Well, this is not a way that, like, it's pampered. So this is a little bit like it's on topic, but not. But when we first get there, just kind of thinking chronologically through the trip. When we first get there, he usually will take the kids, like to the pool or something while I organize the room.
And that sets up the trip to be so much nicer because I know where everything is and I'm not stressed the whole time. And also when all three kids are asking me for things and I'm trying to organize, I don't do well. So him taking the kids off so I can organize the trip at the very beginning I think is a big deal.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: She knows where everything is, but it's all surprise for me.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: I love. That's a great one.
So I'm not the organizing one in the family. That's Brian.
But it actually, it always does work better if you divide and conquer. I think with those tasks. For me, I think I would start even before that. I would start with, like, who's the planner in our family? And that's actually Brian. Like, Brian's the one who says, oh, we're going to take this trip and I'm going to Plan out the flight and the hotel and the transportation and you just, you know, I still have to pack myself. And I pack for Nathan, but I just, like, show up and I am like the princess who gets taken on my vacation. So I have to say thank you to Brian for allowing me to not plan the trips, because that's not my strong suit. And so for some people, for some women, that might be your strong suit. And you might love to do the planning. I don't like that part.
[00:12:13] Speaker D: He does the planning like that. Like the flights and everything.
I just get the kids, like, everything they need and make sure that we are all prepared once we get there.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: I love that she does the packing. I do the itinerary.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Yeah, there you go.
Well, so, yeah, that's. So that's a perfect way to start for you, Alex. So you get all the planning. You get the planning side done. Do you have to then tell her what's on the itinerary so that she knows what to pack?
[00:12:44] Speaker A: Well, she knows what's on the cruise itinerary along ahead of time. But it's like the. This is what time we need to be here and what time we need to get to the airport. And if we get here early enough, we get to go to the airport lounge.
[00:12:56] Speaker D: The airport lounge has, like, saved us so many times because we're, like, running late and, like, we don't get to go to the lounge, but we're not late for our flight. So that the airport lounge helps.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:13:08] Speaker B: That's a great tip. I love that.
[00:13:10] Speaker D: I would also say, like, that when. That sometimes I do like to get a massage on a Disney cruise.
And I would prefer to do that kind of at the beginning because after flying and traveling with your kids and not being treated like a princess in the dining room and whatnot, it's good to de stress and be like, okay, now we're on vacation, so I prefer to do that as soon as possible.
[00:13:36] Speaker C: I like to do that with. I always like to get the shave and the facial and a friend of mine clued me in on. We'll just do it on the first day. Like, do it like after you board the ship. Just go get it done, you're relaxed, and then you're ready to go. Like, it's like starting vacation. So I try to book it on that first day. It's always.
And then it feels like it's like you're actually getting something done on the first day. Like you're getting something out on the first day.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Yeah, especially because that first day Is like so chaotic. Right. That first day with the check in and the muster and, and organizing all the stuff in the stateroom and unpacking because we are unpackers. We always unpack. I guess like even I'm an unpacker.
[00:14:08] Speaker C: And would probably live out of a suitcase if she could, but I'm.
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Well, not on maybe a seven night cruise. On the shorter cruise, I probably would live out of a suitcase, except Brian doesn't let me, so I just have to unpack. He's like, everything, no, everything's going to be put away in its place. And so I have to unpack.
Yeah. Tracy is jumping and saying, Audrey, same with the massage at the beginning. I don't have it on both ends at the end, but then at the beginning is better.
I want, I'll go one step further and say I'll take multiple spa appointments. I like, I actually like my massage on day two, but in the morning. So I don't like it on embarkation day because embarkation day is very crazy. And I do want to get the unpacking done and you know, kind of settle in and if there's a show, I want to see the show.
I'm probably going to go to the sail away party. So. Yeah, I feel like for me it's the, it's, it's day two. But Brian, you were talking about you and your shave. But whatever ways that you were, you pamper me. Not pampering yourself.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Well, I always, I always book your spa for you.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Like he has to get pretty for you.
And also I do want to say that it's good to probably get a shave while you're still in port. That way this ship's not rocking. But he's got a knife to your throat.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: I do, I do like that tip. That's a good one.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: I do what you said. I do. I take care of all of the planning. I mean, even for this, we're leaving on Friday to go to Vegas. Right. And I've. Everything is taken care of.
So all you have to do is. All you have to do is put your pretty little self in the car. We'll go to the, we'll go to the airport and the rest is taken care of.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: So that's right. Now I did book the dining reservations myself, Brian, for this trip this weekend.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Oh, so hard.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: I know. It was so hard on my, on.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: Open table, watching TV on the couch.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. True story. Yeah, I love, I think the other part that I would say is like the best gift for mom.
I mean Is a Disney cruise. Right? Like, I, I don't, I don't know.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: What better gift Santa's a size seven night Eastern Caribbean. Yes. Eleven night. Eleven nights. Seven plus.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Seven plus. Right.
[00:16:19] Speaker D: Yeah. And I, I think especially because like for me, I. So we just went on like a long trip, just the two of us. It was like 10 days in Switzerland, in Italy, and it was so fun. But there was a point during the trip that I was like, I really miss the kids, you know, and I had to just kind of like have a second and get over it and rally. But on a Disney cruise, it's really. You get the best of both worlds because you get that really good quality family time and you get, you know, some time by yourself and some time with your spouse and you're not like asking a grandparent to do it and like kind of using up those credits, you know, so it's like everything is just sort of included. So it's nice.
[00:16:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. Oh, the, the grandparent credit is, is real, Audrey, because so right now my mom is visiting. She been in for about a week. She'll be in for about another week. I was here for about two and a half weeks. So total.
And we're going away this weekend. And so we are bank. We are using cashing in those grandparent credits. But there are only so many grandparent credits we get every year. Right. And so, and some folks, I know we're lucky. Some folks don't have any grandparent credit. So we're very lucky we, we even have that.
But it's not like we can go, you know, for a long period of time that often, you know, without Nathan. Except when he's like in sleepaway camp. And so say now we have the sleep.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: The sleepaway camp credits is what we do have.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Sleepway. We have sleepaway camp credits. But that's, that's unique. Not everybody sends their kids to sleepaway camp. And he's old enough, of course. And we only have one child, so it's a little bit easier.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: I was actually anti sleepaway camp, but now I'm.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: Now he's very pro sleepaway camp, so. Yeah. But yeah, I think that's an excellent point. With, with a cruise you can get the best of both worlds. So let, let's talk about how do we, how do we do those things? Right? You guys have, you guys have three kids? No, four kids. Three kids.
[00:18:11] Speaker D: Three.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: Three. Three.
[00:18:13] Speaker D: Four or five or six.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: Three. When any, when there's any more than two, I'm like, I don't know. They Have a lot of kids.
[00:18:19] Speaker D: I never, I know we have, we have our kids friends over all the time, like every day in the neighborhood. And so we're always like, how many kids are we supposed to be?
[00:18:30] Speaker B: And, and of course, you know, supervising and wrangling, you know, multiple kids is, is a full time job for any parents.
Yeah. So how, what, what kinds of things do we do on the cruise to, to alleviate that? I feel like that's the, that's the vacation part. Right. Like a parks trip. I always think of a parks trip is not a vacation for the parents. It is a trip, not a vacation.
But I think of a cruise as a vacation. I don't know what you guys think.
[00:18:59] Speaker D: I think so too. And actually, so Brene Brown, at one point I was reading one of her books and she said something about like expectations and how that can be like make or break in a relationship. And how she actually used the example of the Disney trip saying that she like, you know, when she was packing her bag she brought like three novels and her husband was like, why are you doing that? You know, and so it was like a good, like they were like, that's not the kind of trip where you read a novel, but at Disney cruise just can't be. This, this last time on our trip, it was, it was a little bit different just because our kids were all different ages, like they all went to different clubs and so it felt like we didn't have as much time.
[00:19:36] Speaker A: We only have one day at sea too.
[00:19:38] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Because it was the two islands, Nassau and one day at sea. And so we didn't really have a lot of sitting on a deck time.
[00:19:45] Speaker D: Yeah, but usually we do, you know, a lot of times, you know, especially if it's like a seven day cruise, then there'll be, you know, good time that we can carve out to read and things like that. Which is really nice.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: Yeah, I like, I like that story about Bernie Brown because as soon as she said she packed three novels, I'm like, this is not that type of vacation.
So.
[00:20:02] Speaker D: Yeah, but it's totally something I would do.
I always think like I'm going to be a different person on vacation, you know, like I'm going to wear things I don't usually wear.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: We're all going to, we're all going.
[00:20:12] Speaker D: To work out or poetry or something.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Journal. I'm going to, I'm going to journal on vacation. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: Finally going to knock out that novel I've always been wanting to write.
[00:20:23] Speaker D: Yeah, exactly.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: You know, some people do some People write novels on Sean.
[00:20:30] Speaker C: Yeah, our guest Sean. We've had him on many times. He writes. Yeah.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: No, no, not Sean. We have a. No, the other guest who is a writer. We actually had a writer who actually writes on.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: Yeah, but that was Sean.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: No, it's not Sean.
[00:20:42] Speaker C: All right. All right.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: You have to look it up. Yeah.
[00:20:45] Speaker C: All right. Keep going.
[00:20:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
But, yeah, I think there's definitely.
Well, how does that. So how did that work with the three kids being different ages and doing the kids club? Because that's obviously, the kids club, I think, is a huge parent benefit. Right. When you can get some individual time, you can get some couple time. If your kids are willing to go to the kids club, I know your little one is in. Well, it's still in the nursery. Right.
Did all three kids. Were they willing to go to the kids club? And if so, how did that. How did.
[00:21:17] Speaker D: How did they do less so this time? But in the past, it's worked, like, beautifully. Like, where Asher really wanted to go to the nursery, it was super fun because there was toys, and at that time, he was crawling and kind of just learning to walk. So it was like he could really kind of explore his surroundings more in a freeway, like, in the nursery.
So he. There was a time that he really liked the nursery. And then the girls, I think when they could go to kids club together, when they were, you know, both in the same group, they, like, you know, they could.
They felt more comfortable, I guess, just going and, like, being there for a longer period of time because they kind of had, like, each other.
But I felt like there was a lot more interruptions this time, and. And then. And Asher was. He's getting more vocal, and he's able to be like, I don't want to be in here with these people. I don't know. I want to be with you, you know?
So we. We did definitely get some time, but not like we had in the past, I guess.
[00:22:14] Speaker A: And we also experimented with Della having a phone and Millie being able to check herself out and then also letting them wander around the ship together.
And at one point, Millie, like, they were just watching funnel vision, and Millie went to get pizza and just could not find Della on the. And so she.
She started texting us. She's like, I don't know what happened to Millie.
And we. Eventually she had the presence of mind to go check herself into the kids club just so that it would notify us where she was.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: Because she couldn't find anybody.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Oh, poor thing.
[00:22:53] Speaker D: But that is the nice Thing about Disney Cruises is that, like, you really feel safe, you know, it's not. You know, the cruise ships aren't huge. It's not like there's. They're all families. And it's just, you know, it's. It's easy to find your kid if you lose them or if it's easy that, you know, cast members are super helpful. And, yeah, they know at this. At this age, they know where our room is, so they can at least go there and they have the key to get in, you know, so we kind of had a lot of things in play for if they did kind of get uncomfortable, since they're not used to it, you know?
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I love. Even on the pool deck, right? Like, I feel like the pool deck on Disney Cruise Line.
I feel like I can. Even if I'm on the family pool deck, I feel like I can kind of relax a bit. Right. Like, if I'm at a public pool. Cool. With Nathan, even though he's actually a good swimmer, I still feel like I gotta kind of keep eyes on him, you know, for fear that somebody might knock him over and hurt him. For fear that someone might, I don't know, snatch him. I don't like that. My mind goes to all kind of crazy places, but maybe that's because of what I do for a living. But setting that aside, you know, I always feel like I have to keep eyes on him and be a good and attentive parents and good parents. Right. I feel like on a Disney cruise, there are so many cast and particularly lifeguards right around the pools. I feel very comfortable, like, sitting back and relaxing a little bit and not necessarily always keeping eyes on. Like. Well, I feel like we have to find. You have to make the home base, right. So that your kid knows where you are to come back to if they're going on the slides or the pool or whatever.
[00:24:28] Speaker C: That's why I like to make my home base in the adult pool area.
[00:24:32] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:33] Speaker D: So that's one of the reasons we love Disney. Like, even at the resorts, like, we just feel like the lifeguards, they. They change shifts all the time. They're walking and they're looking. They're not like a bunch of teenagers on their phone. Like, it's. It feels very much like they take their job seriously. And the lifeguards are great, which makes you feel like you can relax a little bit more, which I think is huge. And they also sometimes will do, like, activities with the kids, too. Like, can kind of get them engaged and, you know, not like, I'm bored. Let's go back to the room.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: You know, my favorite lifeguard story was at Blizzard Beach.
The lifeguard blew the whistle and, like, just dove in with all of her clothes on. To rescue a flip flop.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: To rescue a flip flop.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: Yeah, because somebody lost it on, like, the zip line in the little kids area.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Oh, my God, that's hilarious.
[00:25:17] Speaker A: She's just really hot.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it's the dedication of these lifeguards.
[00:25:24] Speaker C: I saw that.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: That.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: I saw that on Disney Cruise last time. We were on. Not the flip flop, but they were. It was a port day and we stayed on the ship and we were by the pools and, like, somebody kind of walked over and got in the pool and then, like, was, like, flailing around and like. Or blew the whistle and dived in and, like, you know, and then they, you know, the person started swimming and it turned out to be, like, another lifeguard who was simulating, like, you know.
Yeah, like, I need help. And. And I felt as a guy to move in with everything. The fanny pack, all of it. And I was just like. Like, I was like, man, that's going to be miserable for the next two hours. Just smoking and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: But there. But definitely wonderful, you know, way.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: How about. How about pampering through adult dining?
[00:26:03] Speaker D: Yeah, we definitely did that this time.
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's your favorite?
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Like, read books. Because we spent three hours in Remy.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: I mean, read a book, spend three hours in Remy, and then return the pen. That's right. Alex almost stole. Well, he did steal a pen, not knowing it was like a Mont Blanc, like, thousand dollars pen. And so they promptly called him to return the pen back to Remy.
[00:26:34] Speaker C: Next time, Alex, can you get a Mont Blanc pen and bring it on the ship with you when the waiter hands you the pen? No, no, no, no. I've got my own penny.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: I'm taking sponsorships.
Get Cartier or a Mont Block.
[00:26:49] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:26:50] Speaker C: Audrey, we heard Alex's opinion of Remy. What was your opinion of Remy?
[00:26:56] Speaker D: So there's Remy and Paulo, and Remy's the one that was really nice.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: The fancy fancy.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that was the one that was the five courses, but not the permanente of Paolo. We also did.
[00:27:06] Speaker D: We also did lots of five courses.
Yeah, I mean, it was amazing. I don't.
Yeah, I mean, it was as good as it could be. I mean, there was nothing that I was like, oh, this wasn't really worth it. Like, not everything was wonderful. Like, close your eyes and eat it kind of thing.
I don't know that I would do it again because of the price point. But it was fun to do once.
Alex will probably disagree. I want to do it next time.
[00:27:30] Speaker A: It really depends on how much money's in the bank.
[00:27:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true.
[00:27:35] Speaker D: Absolutely.
But. But yeah, it was. It was very nice. And I don't remember a lot of specific mix, but it was. We felt very, like, pampered and, you know, taken care of.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: And we got the wine package. So it was just nice because they would come over and explain the wine, explain the food, how it pairs and why they picked it. So that was nice. And like, what region of France? Just like the. The Prima Natty.
[00:27:59] Speaker C: So I. I find those wine pairings just. I can't do it anymore. Like, I used to. We used to get so much wine. Yeah.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: I mean, it's delicious. It's just delicious. It's just a matter of, like, how much do I want to be, like. Like, you know, feeling badly the next day. I know.
[00:28:13] Speaker D: And the older you get, like, I'm definitely feeling like I have to have my toms ready.
[00:28:17] Speaker B: And I know it's worth it.
[00:28:19] Speaker C: It's more the walk back to the cabin for me. I'm walking down the hallway and I'm like, man, this ship's really moving. And then somebody just walks by, totally normal. You're like, oh, this ship is not. It's me. It's not the ship.
[00:28:28] Speaker A: Well, I told you. I think I told you guys. I had to cancel a whiskey tasting.
[00:28:32] Speaker B: Oh, that's right. You have one after. Yeah, don't do that, folks.
Don't. Don't plan a whiskey tasting for after a wine fl. Light at.
[00:28:43] Speaker C: Or Priminote Fair.
[00:28:45] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:46] Speaker A: I felt like. I felt like we got more at Remy than we did Prima Note.
[00:28:49] Speaker D: But that wasn't.
[00:28:50] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:28:51] Speaker D: To be expected. Like, it was.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Yes. It's more courses.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. Was obviously more food at Remy, but I felt like we got more wine with the five fours. Like, it was the same number of glasses, but a lot more wine.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Because. Because Prima Note is really a tasting. Right. Primino is a food and wine tasting scenario. Even though they might give you a decent sized pour, at Prima Note, it's really supposed to be a tasting pour, whereas at Remy it is a wine pairing. And so even if you're getting only a five course meal.
[00:29:21] Speaker D: Well, one.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: First of all, they often give you more courses than what actually shows on the menu. Right. Because they give you multiple dessert courses. If you do the wine pairing, they often are. You know, they might give you six wines or five wines, but they're giving you. So it's still a, it's not a full, you know, well, what people now pour days is like, you know, five ounce pores, but it's still like, it's usually a pretty big, you know, three ounce pour. So. Yeah. And Tracy's saying don't do a mixology class before any of those. I have to agree with you there.
[00:29:56] Speaker E: 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 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. 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 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 DCLDUO mypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks my Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:30:55] Speaker B: Well, let's talk about some, some other ways to, to be pampered or get time on your own. I mean, one thing I like to do, and I know Brian always thinks I'm crazy when I do pixie dusting, right? But part of my, my doing pixie dusting is it gives me an opportunity to walk the ship by myself.
I really enjoy alone time just walking around the ship. Now that can be on the promenade deck, just, you know, walking outside. If I'm on more of the older ships, rather the Wish or the Treasure that don't have a real walking track. Or it could just be walking the hallways when I'm delivering magnets. And it's like, and it's not about like getting, you know, I actually saw a great comment from Linda about you can get 20 steps, 20,000 steps a day. So cruises is a nice way to, you know, sort of instead of working out, just walking. I totally Agree. It's not necessarily about getting steps in, but it's like, I'm, like, killing two birds with one stone. I'm getting some, like, alone me time, and then I'm also, like, getting some physical activity and without going to the gym and doing, like, what is all.
[00:32:03] Speaker C: This alone alone time? What am I, like, a stage five clinger over here? Like, I'm usually by myself. So I'm in the. I'm in the Rainforest Room or the concierge lounge or sitting on the pool deck. So you get plenty of alone time.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: You know what the difference is?
[00:32:19] Speaker C: And Nathan's always in the kids club.
[00:32:21] Speaker B: Well, you know what one of the differences is, I think, between moms and dads, and I don't know if this is the same with you guys, with your family, but, like, whenever Nathan needs something.
[00:32:31] Speaker C: Oh, no, that tide has shifted. That tide is shifted.
It's coming to dad now. He's, like, you know, wants to show me the. He wants to play the clarinet recital for me. Wants to show me the thing he's doing on the computer.
[00:32:42] Speaker B: He's finally, finally starting to shift now that he's 11 years old. But let me tell you, for the past last 11 years and nine months, the person that has been poked and prodded and. Mom. Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. Like. Like the dog Brian in Family Guy. That's. That's me.
[00:33:05] Speaker C: Like, I wasn't Brian and Family Guy. That was Stewie.
Stewie, Mom, Mom.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: Yes, you're right. Sorry. Stewie and Family Guy. Yeah.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: Get your references.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: Right, Sorry. Thank you. I'm the. I'm the one who's like, like, mom, I need a snack. I like, when's dinner going to be ready? I need.
You know, I need a ruler for school tomorrow. Right? Like, all of those things.
Most. Well, he's starting to now go shift to Brian, but have been for me. And so that alone time. I don't know. That's how I feel about it. I don't know how it works in your household.
[00:33:41] Speaker D: It's kind of curious what he's going to say.
[00:33:43] Speaker A: Well, obviously, Asher. Asher is hardcore meeting her. And then if there's any sleep involved, like, they want to sleep with her, but since she works from home, like, they know she's here but unavailable, so they come to me with a lot of stuff other than that. And then if. Obviously, if it's like, hey, we do trivia.
Like, they. By virtue of the fact that I'm the one who's super hardcore Disney, that they're gonna drag me along to whatever event they found on the schedule.
[00:34:13] Speaker D: And I do also think that, like. Like, Alex enjoys that stuff so much that a lot of times, I will kind of take a backseat and do whatever Asher wants to do.
And again, the age gap just makes things really different.
So a lot of times, I end up with Asher, which I really enjoy. Like, I enjoy watching him in the splash pad, and, you know, I take a million videos of him just, like, smiling and doing the same thing over and over again.
But. So, yeah, and that way, it's having. Having three. It's like we're all. We're always needed, both of us, all the time.
[00:34:49] Speaker B: Fair.
Fair point. Well, listen, Asher's so cute. I can understand wanting to watch him in this flashpad.
[00:34:56] Speaker D: Yeah, he's very animated, very expressive, and he'll be like, thank you, Mommy. This is so fun. And actually, when we were at the splash pad at.
Sorry, I'm not in the language as much as you are every day. Look, it was Lookout Key. Lookout King, the new one.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: Lookout Key.
[00:35:14] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
Rush out, gush out. At Lookout Key at Lighthouse Point. Yes. There we go.
[00:35:21] Speaker D: He wanted to say the splash pad the entire day.
[00:35:23] Speaker A: That was a castaway.
[00:35:24] Speaker D: It was a castaway.
[00:35:25] Speaker A: Yeah. We didn't take him to look out.
[00:35:27] Speaker D: Oh, that's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
At castaway. And he just spent the entire time, like, saying, I can fly and, like, pretend to be Peter Pan and running around. And he was making everybody laugh, like, even just other people that were there, but so enthusiastic. So he's easy. He's easy to hang out with, for sure.
[00:35:47] Speaker C: Oh, you know, Audrey, that raises a question for me, which. We talk about pampering mom, but, like, Disney cruises, Disney in general is, like, you know, supposed to be the place where you make family memories. It lasts forever.
And Disney Cruise Line, I think, no exception. Do you have any favorite memories with the kids from. From onboard the cruise line?
[00:36:05] Speaker D: I mean, definitely. And it's funny because I kind of think about it in, like, two sections. Like, we had, like, our two girls, like, being, like, 4 and 6 and 5 and 7, you know, before we had Asher.
And there were, like, such magical, like, princess moments where they just felt like a princess, and they got to meet the princesses, and they got to, you know, wear big dresses and, like, stand on a staircase where they felt like they were, like, in a movie, you know, and then going to see all the plays. My girls were super, super into the musicals, especially.
And I feel like with the girls, it was just, like, one big, like, we're all playing pretend together, and it's so fun on the Disney cruise. And so there was that. And then, like, with Asher, probably a favorite memory, and I'm sure you've talked about this, but is the baby race.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: We have to bring it up every time. He won the Jack Jacks.
[00:37:00] Speaker C: That needs to go on his resume when he's older. Win diaper sash. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
[00:37:07] Speaker D: And he was so cute like that when he did it. He was like. He just wanted me so bad, and he was, like, flailing his arms and, like, clapping and just so cute.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: And as I lowered him down to the mat, he was, like, spazzing out, and everybody.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: Right. He was all excited. The noise, the. The. The crowd was going wild. And, like, he's in your arms, Alex, and all he wants is Audrey.
[00:37:27] Speaker A: Everybody else. Everybody else. The moms released their kids.
[00:37:30] Speaker C: It was.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: Oh, that's a. Yeah, no, that's. That's. That's. That's like amateur hour, right? You know, like, you're supposed to put the. Whoever is, like, the most desired parent or it could be even a sibling. Right. Like, or. Or whoever's holding the most desired toy right at the end of that, by the finish line, I thought it was.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: Just put a piece of bacon in your pocket.
[00:37:52] Speaker B: Well, yeah, I mean, that's. That works with dogs, but not with humans so much. Well, it depends on the human. It might work.
Yeah.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: That's how you fight over a stray.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:02] Speaker C: Alex, do you have any favorite memories? Not of the kids, but of Audrey with the kids on board?
[00:38:08] Speaker A: Audrey with the kids on board. I mean, definitely. A lot of our character interactions have been so fun. I have this one memory of just us being around and Belle sitting down on the stairs with our oldest daughter when she was probably 6, 7, and, like, reading her book with her.
[00:38:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: And, like, you didn't get. You don't get that kind of attention anywhere else. So that was a really special memory.
You know, we. We try to always.
Last time was not as much fun because everybody was crying, but. Yeah, not everybody.
[00:38:42] Speaker D: Mostly Ashley.
Oh.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: So that's really fun because the kids want to dance with her. They want to dance with me. They want to dance with each other, and so that's usually really fun. It was not.
It was. I think we tried to do it, like, on the first night, and it just. Everyone was exhausted, and everything went wrong.
[00:39:00] Speaker D: And we were like, this was really fun one time, but it just didn't work out.
[00:39:05] Speaker B: Well. I mean, you bring up a good point with the character interactions. I. One of the things I love and I constantly have to, like, beg my family to do was. Is pictures, right? So, like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
[00:39:19] Speaker C: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You have gotten better.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: You've gotten better.
[00:39:23] Speaker C: I. Especially on the treasure, because I love those.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: Brian likes the magic. He won't wait in line for all of them lightsabers, but he does really enjoy the magic shots. But so. But, like, I always want to get family pictures, right? And Nathan. Nathan's really not into taking pictures, and so he will not wait in those.
[00:39:41] Speaker C: Lines noticeably absent from every picture we have on the treasure except at main dining.
[00:39:45] Speaker B: Well, so that's. That's. But I want to, like, this is one way of, like. Like, mom or dad or whoever, like, loves those family pictures, right? Or, I mean, frankly, they're. They're wonderful to have. We. You don't. I know on land, we don't like schedule family pictures. We have done it before, but it was many years ago, and so it's not something we do on a regular basis. But the pictures that we do have are all from Cruising on Disney, and they are all. Pretty much all of them are in the dining room pictures because that's the ones. Those are the ones that I can wrangle Nathan into. And Brian, pretty much every time looks at me, and it rolls his eyes, like, really? We're gonna do pictures? And I'm like, yes, because the pictures we got out in the atrium only are of either me or you and me together. And I want the pictures of all three of us.
[00:40:32] Speaker C: Pictures and dining are the ones that kill me because I just finished photographing my food, and now I have to photograph myself, and I just want to eat my dinner.
[00:40:40] Speaker D: But, yeah, so I actually pass on the ones in the dining room, mostly because I just am really overwhelmed.
Like, I think I liked it first, like, with. Yeah, it was really chaotic, like, and I think I liked it when it was just the girls, but now with all three of them, I'm like, let's just skip dinner and let them have pizza on the deck, and then we'll go eat something that we really want to eat and enjoy it. Because it's just a lot like, with the shows and everything. And I know it's so entertaining for the kids, but, you know, once you've done it, you're like, okay, that was a fun show. Now I want to just enjoy my food.
[00:41:14] Speaker C: It's a really good. It's a really good point. You're making Audrey, which is. I think that that the. We all Think the family memories are going to come in the big moments. Right. But they don't always. Like, the thing you remember is a quiet moment together, like eating pizza in the state room and watching a TV show or watching a movie on the. On the. You know, or, Or. Or just sitting on the pool deck having ice cream under the stars and watching Funnel Vision. Like, I. Yeah, I'd be curious. I don't know if you've ever asked your. Your older kids, but, like, I. I would be curious to ask Nathan even, like, what do you remember? Like, what's. What's your favorite memory from a Disney cruise? And I. I'm. I'm guessing it is not going to have anything to do with anything that I think of. This is one of my favorite memories. It is.
At this point, I'm a little nervous. It might actually not even involve us.
Yeah, but. Yeah, yeah, but that's a good point. Those, like, quiet moments as a family, I think are just super important and, you know, something that. Something to seek out and especially if it's not your first time cruising Disney, you don't have to see the show.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: Girls to see what they.
[00:42:12] Speaker C: Real time.
[00:42:14] Speaker B: But even then, like, like so. But you got. You have gotten them to take character wait in line for character photos.
[00:42:20] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:42:21] Speaker A: They will do that more than just pose.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: So the backdrop is not great, but for a pose with a character is a better one for you all.
[00:42:29] Speaker A: And I think just for me, I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this, but, like, with the character photos, they end.
[00:42:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: And like, the cast members will tell you to leave. But if we're taking family pictures and Audrey wants the right faces, then we might be there a long time and angrier.
And I have to be the mediator. I have to be like, no, you do what she says, and I have to be like, please, can we stop? And like, I have to be the go between.
[00:42:55] Speaker D: But I get really good pictures of our family.
[00:42:56] Speaker A: You do.
[00:42:57] Speaker D: We have five of us, so it's hard to do.
[00:42:59] Speaker B: Yeah, right. Well, that's a. You know, you got. You have a lot of different opportunities to do it on board, is my point. And at home, you don't have as many opportunities. Like, like, you might take a picture of the kids. Right. Or while you're even walking around on the cruise ship, you might take a, you know, cute videos of Asher and the splash pad, but you don't get then a picture of you and Asher together. Right. Or you with all three kids. Right. Or. Or the two of you with all Three kids. Right. And so that. I love that that's, like, the one place where I can get them. And for me, it ends up being the dining room. I would love it if I could get Nathan to show up for some of the backdrops or even some characters.
But even just the opportunity to get pictures is where we're in the picture. I feel like that's a thing. Getting a mom in a picture can be a struggle, depending upon the family. Sometimes it's the dad. It depends who's, you know, more behind the camera person.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: We take a lot of good balcony pictures, too.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:51] Speaker D: Like at sunset.
[00:43:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:53] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:54] Speaker A: Some of our best. Yeah. Best pictures, like the one we used for Della's fifth grade graduation yearbook thing was from a balcony.
[00:44:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:02] Speaker B: There you go. Oh, there you go.
[00:44:03] Speaker A: She's all dressed up for dining.
[00:44:05] Speaker C: And.
[00:44:07] Speaker D: And I am really big into pictures. Like, I like. Like, I really like to keep the peace. And I'm always, like, trying to make sure everybody's not arguing and stuff like that. But when it comes to pictures, I will put my foot down and I'll be like, we're doing this. And the faster you get in line, the faster we can.
[00:44:21] Speaker B: The faster this will be over.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: For parents that want good pictures is pay attention to blood sugar levels.
If you're getting dressed up for dinner and then you want to take pictures and then you want to eat, like, you're setting yourself up for a lot of tantrums because everyone's, like, so hungry.
[00:44:40] Speaker B: And ill.
That's a good point. Get the. Get some pizza in the kids, then take them to the photos, then go to the dining room. Right. I mean, if. If they're not gonna eat whatever's in the dining room anyway, might as well get a pizza ahead of time.
Unless they're Mac and cheese eater. Like Nathan, who's gonna just stuff his face with Mac and cheese and. And then leave as soon as that's done.
Yeah. I love it. Now, will do you guys go to the shows still on cruises. And is that something that. I mean, that you find one enjoyable? 2. I don't know if it's really relaxing. It kind of depends on the person. But, like, for me, that's a big thing. Right. Like, but I'm happy to go. I'll go by myself. Because Nathan's not into it. Brian's maybe even less into it. Well, it depends on the show. He's. He'll go to some, but not most of them. But, like, for me, I'm, like, perfectly happy to go by myself. I actually think that's a way that I, you know, get pampered is by, you know, doing the thing I want to do on my schedule. I don't know how you guys handle it.
[00:45:47] Speaker A: We do most of the shows. We're a pretty big musical family and theater family and the girls are super into especially the, you know, the big Broadway style musicals.
We might skip some of the magic shows and.
[00:46:02] Speaker D: Oh yeah, we don't usually do those.
The magic shows and comedy and stuff like that. It's usually just like the big music production stuff that we do.
[00:46:09] Speaker A: Yeah. But yeah, I like, I mean, I love them because, I mean, I love movies too. I like going to watch theaters in the, in the bu. Vista Theater, let's say watching theater, Watching.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: Theaters, Watching theaters, watching theaters, watching movies, watching movies.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: Just getting like, I've got my, you know, my DCL beer mug and get it filled up and just sitting there and watching. And we just, I know we're gonna stay there for a long time and just hang out.
[00:46:34] Speaker D: And so, yeah, this last time we took Asher to a show, we took him to the Beauty and the Beast and he really liked it. And it was, he was talking, but so were a lot of other kids. And it, you know, it was just like that's just kind of the environment you're in. And so it was, it felt good that he could enjoy that.
[00:46:52] Speaker B: That.
[00:46:53] Speaker A: And he was dressed like Beast, too.
[00:46:54] Speaker D: And he was dressed like the Beast. Yeah.
And so it was fun that he could enjoy that without us having to worry so much about, you know, as he being, you know, we couldn't take him to the Fox and do that, you know, in Atlanta. Like it would have, you know, but it's a Disney cruise, so you kind of expect kids to, you know, participate a little bit.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and it's not a two and a half hour show that it would be. Right. If you went to see the Broadway, you know, travel national tour.
Right. It would be a two or two plus hour show with an intermission when you're going to see it on a Disney cruise line ship. It is intended for families. And I'm with you, Audrey. Like, it's. I expect children to be talking, you know, during those, you know, not shouting, but talking because they're little.
It is also why I like to choose late dining because there are less children at the early show because they're usually at early dining. And so I, I don't, you know, I, I understand there's going to be kids at all of the shows, but I, you Know, I'm. I'm a little bit of a theater snob and so I'd rather a little less noise than more noise, and that's okay. I can.
A little less noise. It's fine.
But yeah, but I, I think that's, That's a. Another. Another fun to thing for from us moms to do on Disney cruises. Do you guys have any, like, traditions of like what you do in the, like in the morning for like, let's say breakfast? Like are, you know, it's Audrey, do you get up and go get breakfast for yourself for the kids? Or Alex, you go get up and get breakfast for, for the kid, or do you all get up together and head to cabanas for breakfast? We have a very. I think the way we do it is completely unique and different to what most people do because most of our family doesn't really eat breakfast.
[00:48:42] Speaker D: We usually like went all together, but sometimes. Well, yeah, and I think there was a couple mornings this time that I like just went and got food for everybody from cabanas and brought it back to the room.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: Order room service. Especially if we're trying to get out on an excursion. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we also. One of us will take Asher and then the other one will take the two girls and that way almost stagger by like 15 minutes. Yeah.
But.
[00:49:12] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:49:13] Speaker A: It's hard to do a buffet with a three year old.
[00:49:15] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, yeah. That. Well, that's why I was thinking, like, does. What is it easier for one of you to like, sort of wrangle and get the kids ready for the day while the other one's running to cabanas to get food and bring back? And I'm. I'm really thinking of what Tracy's talking, which is Mickey, churro waffles.
[00:49:31] Speaker D: Because that's the day I went and got some for everybody.
[00:49:34] Speaker B: Right. That is, that's. That's what, that's the right way to do it. Audrey. Which is one of you to go when it's gonna. Because it's gonna be crazy in cabanas. And you get a full. A plate or two plates full of churro waffles. Your family's bigger, so you might need two plates. Although your kids are.
Well, you got the little one. He's. He probably doesn't eat that much. But anyway, you get a couple of plates full of churro waffles, you bring them back to the room and then everybody just, you know, chows down. It's. Yeah.
[00:50:00] Speaker D: I also do like the, the sit down option and sometimes we'll do that just because like, like you said, just.
[00:50:06] Speaker A: With a three year old it brings stuff to you. You don't have to worry about him like falling with you or you know, you can get like. Because with a buffet, the way it works with the kid is one of us has to go get a plate for him.
[00:50:18] Speaker B: Right.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: Bring it to him while the other one feeds him. Then you get to get your own plate and then the second parent.
[00:50:25] Speaker B: And it's a very long process. Eating. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's funny you say that because. Yeah, it may, it may make a buffet actually slower than a breakfast in that scenario when you have to. Yeah. When one of you has to sit and supervise because he can't really. It's kind of too big to carry around the buffet, but too small to walk around the buffet. Really.
[00:50:48] Speaker D: Yeah. And even like navigating lines and stuff like that, sometimes the sit down option is really best for, for families with young kids.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a really good point. All right, let's round this out with a couple of just favorites. We're going to do a little like a, a rapid fire of favorites.
[00:51:06] Speaker C: Which do we ever get? The, the. Do we ever get back from the. We hear back from the girls.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:51:11] Speaker C: I wonder what their favorite memory was.
[00:51:12] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:13] Speaker D: If they were, they didn't answer.
[00:51:14] Speaker A: Hang on, girls on her iPad, not on her watch. Let me try.
[00:51:19] Speaker D: Well, that's where she had messaged me before.
[00:51:20] Speaker A: Oh, okay.
[00:51:21] Speaker D: But I think, you know, I think that they would say like unlimited ice cream on the pool kind of to your point earlier.
[00:51:28] Speaker B: That's a great one. Yeah.
[00:51:30] Speaker D: And Funnel Vision, like watching movies all day while swimming.
[00:51:34] Speaker B: I love that. I love to just sit on the pool deck and watch Funnel Vision. Like, who doesn't need to watch like, I don't know, Finding Nemo or Muppets Treasure island or you know.
[00:51:46] Speaker D: Well, and there's so much to do on the ship and they just love being on the ship so much that I think he mentioned it earlier, but like they did not want to go with us to the new island.
It was back to back with Castaway. Like so we had just done that day and so then it was like wake up and do it all again, you know?
[00:52:02] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:52:02] Speaker D: But they were like, we just will miss the ship if we go, you know. And we were like, okay, well if you guys don't want to go, Daddy and I can go and explore and like hike and do things that we wouldn't normally do, you know.
[00:52:13] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:52:14] Speaker D: So.
So you know it worked out, but we both felt weird, like we couldn't enjoy it as much because we were like, the kids are supposed to be here with us enjoying this new island.
[00:52:23] Speaker A: Now they're just responding in real time to what we're talking. Well, to be fair, I was sunburned.
[00:52:29] Speaker D: Oh, that's right. She got really sunburned. Yeah.
[00:52:33] Speaker A: You're supposed to answer the question that we texted you, which is one of.
[00:52:36] Speaker D: Your favorite Disney memories.
[00:52:37] Speaker B: Yeah, favorite memories from, from a Disney cruise. Yeah, we've got a, a good one from a 22 year old. Her favorite memory from Cruising is the ice cream and funnel vision.
[00:52:46] Speaker D: Yeah, that's what she's saying right now.
[00:52:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Amelia said the saucer. A nine year old says the ice cream.
[00:52:53] Speaker C: There you go, There you go. So, so really you just needed to take them to a froyo place with unlimited money, down 100 bucks and say, have as much as you can eat?
[00:53:05] Speaker B: They do. Really.
[00:53:06] Speaker D: We, in the past, we've really enjoyed karaoke as a family.
[00:53:08] Speaker B: Oh, that's fun.
[00:53:09] Speaker A: That's. Yeah, that's actually one, one thing I don't like about Disney is that their karaoke is almost always at like 11:00 clock at night.
[00:53:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:53:18] Speaker A: Or during one of the shows. And I'm like, is that not something people like, would be super excited about it, like 4 o'cl the afternoon? Like I feel like I would show up for that. I don't know why it's.
[00:53:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Some of the longer itineraries will have a few more options. But you're right, they don't have, they don't have as much as some, some of the other. I mean, on Royal they literally have a dedicated karaoke bar on most of the ships. It seems like that you can do karaoke like all day long basically. And it would be. Disney's not going to, to make a dedicated space. I think like that. But yeah, I think to your point, like, they do have some family karaoke that are a little bit earlier and that, that's always fun.
[00:53:58] Speaker A: I think it makes more sense for them to have a dedicated one than the other cruise lines because, I mean, so much of their IP is music.
[00:54:05] Speaker B: True, true. And they do.
[00:54:07] Speaker A: Everybody wants to sing all the songs.
[00:54:09] Speaker B: Yeah, they do have, they do have some. The family karaoke that I have been to tends to skew highly Disney and highly Taylor Swift.
So.
[00:54:23] Speaker A: A lot of Broadway too.
Yeah, a lot of, A lot of Gen Xers singing Broadway songs.
[00:54:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will have to say I don't, I, I don't love attending some of those karaoke sessions.
[00:54:39] Speaker D: So Amelia says that Kids the Kids Club is one of her favorite songs.
[00:54:43] Speaker A: Not anything to do with the family, just ice cream and kids club.
[00:54:45] Speaker B: Right. Nothing to do. Nothing to do with mom and dad. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Okay, so let's hit a couple of. A couple of favorites, which I gotta start with. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna focus this on Audrey. Sorry, Alex, You've already been on the show before, so this is gonna be Alex or there's gonna be Audrey's favorite. So.
Okay, Audrey, we gotta start with your favorite place to relax on a Disney cruise.
[00:55:12] Speaker D: I mean, really, the spa, But I guess that's kind of like a pampered answer option.
[00:55:18] Speaker B: That's a Freeman. Or.
[00:55:19] Speaker D: I do like to. I do like to work out. And then, you know, usually there's like a.
Isn't there like a steam room in the locker room or something like that?
[00:55:28] Speaker B: Like, to kind of either a sauna or steam room. I can't remember. Some of them have both. I can't. But I think some of them just have a sauna. I can't remember. Yeah, yeah.
[00:55:36] Speaker D: So I like to do that.
In theory. I'd like to, like, maybe sit at the adult pool and read on my waterproof Kindle, but it doesn't really happen.
Maybe when my kids are a little older, you know, when the youngest one. One is.
[00:55:48] Speaker A: You know, I feel like the last one, we didn't do much of that, but the previous ones, we've spent a good, like, just like an hour and a half, two hours sitting there reading. We did do it on the front of the boat for a while that one time. Because, remember, the groups were all talking about all the Brandon Sanderson books.
[00:56:04] Speaker D: Oh, yeah.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: Or the Wheel of Time books. The Route Jordan Books.
[00:56:06] Speaker D: They're having book club on the book club.
[00:56:09] Speaker B: Yeah. There you go. Book club. We've got a question from the audience. Have you ever done the Rainforest Room, Audrey?
[00:56:16] Speaker A: We haven't. I think so now talked about it this time, because y' all talk about it so much, but we just.
We've. We've like, slowly gone into spending more and more money.
Like, we're first there. We're like, well, we're just gonna take all the free stuff because we already spend all this. And we're like, what if we tried Paolo now? We're like, what if we tried Paolo and Remy? What if we tried a. A tasting? And, like, so we just keep trying more and more stuff. And she's done a couple Massages.
Oh, quick tip about the massages. A lot of times on excursion days, port days, they'll like, randomly drop discounts.
[00:56:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: So.
[00:56:51] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:56:52] Speaker A: Nobody's staying on the boat.
And so I don't think you've ever actually planned a massage. Every time it's. We've got it last minute.
[00:56:58] Speaker D: Yeah, well, and they got me last time because it was like, if you book more than one service, you get.
[00:57:03] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:57:04] Speaker D: Like 30% off.
[00:57:05] Speaker B: 10%. 20%. 30%. Yes, exactly. Yeah.
[00:57:09] Speaker D: So I'm saving money by spending more money, right?
[00:57:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's like. Like it's free. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, I gotta ask you, favorite show on board Disney Cruise Line?
[00:57:21] Speaker D: You know, I like the, like, variety shows, like, where they do, like the. I can't remember what they're called.
[00:57:27] Speaker B: Dreams or. Or Golden Mickey's or CZ Adventure.
[00:57:33] Speaker D: Yeah. Because even though they're like, you know, cheesy and everything, my. My girls, I don't know if they still love them, but they. They loved them when they were younger and it was just. You got kind of like a taste of everything. And so it was so nostalgic, like, to hear from different movies and everything. So I think those are my favorite.
[00:57:48] Speaker B: All right.
[00:57:49] Speaker D: Like, the big, like, headliner. Those are always really well done.
[00:57:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:57:53] Speaker D: Yeah, yeah.
[00:57:54] Speaker B: Like Aladdin or Frozen or one of those. Yeah, yeah, they. Those.
I personally am not big into the variety shows, even though the variety ones have wonderful musical numbers. But I don't like the cheesy stories. I can't get. I can't get over some of these.
[00:58:11] Speaker C: Stories all the way.
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Although she still does like them.
[00:58:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I have to.
Yeah. I mean, I still. I have to give a nod to seize the adventure because I think that's the best of that style. But I'm. I'm still. I'm still a no on most of those.
All right, well, favorite rotational dining. Audrey.
[00:58:32] Speaker D: Like, what time?
[00:58:33] Speaker B: No, no, no. Which one? Which room? Which, like. Do you like Animators palette? Do you like animators palette? Yeah. Do you like.
[00:58:41] Speaker D: I think I thought that was really cool to be that.
[00:58:44] Speaker B: It's in there.
[00:58:44] Speaker D: It's too bunch for me.
[00:58:45] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Okay. So you're probably more of a. Either a royal court, royal palace or enchanted garden, perhaps.
[00:58:52] Speaker D: Yes, I get most excited when we do like, the, like, whatever. The royal dining room of that. That cruise is like the Cinderella or whatever.
[00:58:58] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Quiet princess themed with chateaubriand on the menu. I don't. I don't blame you. I totally understand.
Okay, okay.
I'm trying to think where would I hit because I don't have my. I don't have my notes in front of me. Of me.
Remy and Paulo, you would. You have now been to both.
Now, Paulo, of course, is Italian themed. It's a really, you know, quality restaurant. But fine dining is all the way at. At Remy. So Paulo or Remy?
[00:59:30] Speaker D: Paulo.
[00:59:31] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:59:32] Speaker D: I. I just. I feel like I've. I remember some of their dishes more, and it's something that I would like, maybe order regularly, you know, like Remy, they would bring out, like, you know, some sort of, like, fish I've never heard of with like a foam, you know, and that's cool. You know, and it was really cool for that time. But it's not something I would like, eat every night for dinner.
[00:59:50] Speaker A: That's a good tip, though. Always eat the bubbles if there's bubbles.
[00:59:53] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:59:54] Speaker A: Or something. Yeah, they're good.
[00:59:56] Speaker D: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:59:58] Speaker B: Okay. Now perhaps the most important question. Which one is your favorite ship?
[01:00:05] Speaker D: I like the smaller ships, I think I probably like to wonder the Wonder the most.
[01:00:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And that. Yeah.
[01:00:15] Speaker D: And it seems like there was either there were beignets on one of the ships or there were going to be beignets.
[01:00:20] Speaker B: Yes, that's on the Wonder. Well, there. There are on the. On the Wish as well, but there are beignets started.
Zeppelies are on the magic, Brian. So.
[01:00:31] Speaker D: Yeah, well, and I'm. I'm thinking, like, they had them in like, a lounge, like, where you get them any time of day.
[01:00:35] Speaker B: The French. The French Quarter lounge on the Wonder has beignets. And then they also have them for dessert one night in Tiana's, and then they have them in the Bayou on the Wish all the time as well. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, what's not to love about a beignet? It's just a delicious donut with powdered sugar. I mean, that's. Yeah, that's always the right.
[01:00:56] Speaker A: Probably the main. We're going to Port Orleans French Quarter in two weeks.
[01:01:01] Speaker B: Oh, fantastic.
[01:01:02] Speaker A: Just be covered in powdered sugar on a Way to the Point. Parks sugar all the way to do a drywall job. And now we're.
[01:01:10] Speaker B: I love it. I love it. Well, you guys, thanks so much for playing my. My abbreviated version of rapid fire.
Thanks for my. Thanks so much for celebrating moms with us on tonight's show.
We want to celebrate all the moms out there watching all the moms of the past, the present, the future, all and especially DCL moms.
[01:01:34] Speaker C: And we want to give Alex and Audrey one More chance to let folks where they can, they can find them. And we've got to talk about next week's show.
[01:01:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:01:42] Speaker D: Okay. So, yeah, tutoring with Audrey is how you can find me online.
And I. Everything I do is virtual. So even though I'm located in Georgia, I've had kids in Germany and Oregon and Tennessee, like just anywhere, which sometimes even works out better because of time zone differences. So.
So yeah, I've gotten the opportunity to teach a lot of different kids. And I was a teacher before that, and then I had like a team of tutors that were also. That used to be teachers. And we're all UGA grads, so go dogs.
And yeah, we really enjoy it. It's. It's a lot of fun. And I've been doing it, I think, for 10 years now.
[01:02:22] Speaker B: Wow.
[01:02:23] Speaker D: Yeah. So tutoring with Audrey and then.
[01:02:27] Speaker A: Why'D you have one more tip for being a good husband on this one's. This one's a little bit more pragmatic, but know where the closest public bathroom is to your stateroom? Oh, I'm just gonna leave it at that.
[01:02:42] Speaker B: I love that.
[01:02:43] Speaker A: Then you won't use the one in the stateroom.
[01:02:46] Speaker B: I love that tip. Alex. I am all in favor of using public bathrooms as much as possible possible.
[01:02:55] Speaker A: But you can find
[email protected] or second dad to the right on Facebook and I talk about DCL and Disney Parks.
[01:03:06] Speaker B: Awesome.
[01:03:07] Speaker C: Great. Well, next week, everybody out there, we will be back at our regularly scheduled time, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern Time, right here on our YouTube channel. And we'll be talking. Talking with Sam. You want to.
[01:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll be talking with. With AJ And Erica Parker. So we're going to have another wonderful couple join us. We're going to talk about their most recent cruise on the Disney Fantasy. It was an adults only and they were with like three other couples, all from their church. And it's a kind of a variety of folks who had been on do sale before and not. And so we're going to talk about some. Some ways in. Well, we'll talk about their cruise in general, but. But some ways in which they are perhaps help steer some of their friends from doing the wrong thing and making mistakes on Disney Cruise Line, because that can actually happen. So we're going to chat with them next Monday night. It will be our normal time. As Alex pointed out to me, our promo had the wrong times for this week's show. But all of you watching figured it out anyway.
[01:04:12] Speaker C: Times in the wrong time zones. There's no way that those two things could have existed, right?
[01:04:19] Speaker B: If so so we normally were on at 5:30pm Pacific Time, 8:30pm Eastern Time.
[01:04:26] Speaker A: I definitely did the math in my head several times to make sure it.
[01:04:29] Speaker E: Wasn'T supposed to be.
[01:04:30] Speaker B: No, it was definitely no way.
[01:04:32] Speaker A: There's no way.
[01:04:33] Speaker B: Yes. No, it was definitely backwards. But we had it right in other places and we knew that that would not deter our our viewers who watch us here.
[01:04:42] Speaker C: Ever our lawyer. Our loyal viewers.
[01:04:44] Speaker B: Our loyal viewers. So thank you all for watching so much. We will see you next week. Thank you to Alex and Audrey again for joining us and everyone. Have a lovely evening and I hope all your Splash pads have 4 year olds and under.
[01:05:02] Speaker E: 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 20 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, 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 DCLD Duo or email them at DCLD Duo mypathunwinding.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, 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. And a few blog articles that we've written, so DCLDuo.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also click Course Email
[email protected] 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 reflective. Use 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 we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
[01:07:19] Speaker B: La.
