[00:00:00] Speaker A: I vividly remember on night three of that cruise, we were finishing dinner and she said, mom, am I allowed to go to the kids club when y' all aren't scheduled to do something? And I went, absolutely.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by My Path, Unwanted Unwinding Travel and Sam, Review time. Review time again. I'm happy to report we have returned to 4.9 on Apple Podcasts as of this morning that we are recording. We got our 474th review. We are so close to 500. We're getting so close.
These reviews, folks, really, really keep us going and are just so important to us because it lets us know you're out there listening and you care enough to let us know that you like the show. So this review this week comes from fallingleaves3941, which I. Sam, that's Linda. Yes, it's Ask Lindaeves who writes the podcast of all DCL podcasts. They were the first podcast I started listening to when I booked my first cruise. My friends went on their first cruise and said, you have to go on one. So we booked one on the wish. I binge listened to all 300 episodes available and was so sad when I ran out. Brian and Sam are amazing hosts. You feel like you're sitting at a table just listening to them talk about dcl, not through a podcast. They may be known as the DCL Duo, but they give the other cruise lines a fair shake as well. Anything you need to know about dcl Disney Parks Adventures by Disney, this is your Go to podcast. Well, wow, that's a great review. Thank you very much and love having you as a part of our community.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: I love that she also binged 300 episodes of US at once. That's crazy.
[00:01:50] Speaker B: She binged and I cringed.
And so, yeah, so which means she.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: Listened to, like episode one, which is like, please, friends who are listening, like, don't go back to episode one. Right.
[00:02:01] Speaker B: Like, God awful trailer that I did.
[00:02:03] Speaker C: Yeah, if you're gonna go back, like, maybe start it like in the one hundreds. Like, don't start, like, skip, like the first hundred.
No offense to the guests that were on the first episode. The first hundred episodes, you all were amazing, but we were not so amazing. We're much better now.
[00:02:19] Speaker B: I like, you know what, if you're out there and you were a guest in our first 100 episodes and you want to come back because you can be part of a better, better set of the DCL duo podcast, like Come back, come back. But anyway, thank you for that review, Linda, as always. Please, please, please head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars and if you leave us a five star written review, we will read it at the top of on air at the top of one of our shows. I will get that right one day on air at the top of one of our main episodes. But Sam, let's head over to you to introduce our fantastic guests and our fun topic for today. Our good topic for today.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm super excited. Well, first, Brian, you forgot to mention this is a bonus episod.
So we are not only sponsored by my path Unwinding travel for this episode, but also sponsored by the WDW magazine who is going to be bringing you. I'm saying it's going to happen the DCL magazine very, very soon.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: But well, wait, by the time this episode comes out, the float test issue will have been out. So we hope it continues.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: Yes, we hope it continues beyond just the float test edition. But anyway, super excited to welcome our first time guest, not first time cruiser, but first time guest to the show, Lindsay. Welcome to the show, Lindsay.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Hi Brian and Sam, longtime listener, excited to join the podcast finally in person.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: Oh well, we are so excited to have you. I gotta point out, for those not watching this on YouTube, Lindsay is wearing a very important shirt. It is the rapid fire definition of rapid fire DCL duo T shirt. You can purchase that on teepublic. We don't really like, you know, advertise a lot with our merchandise. We don't have a lot of merchandise out out there. But we, it's a huge favorite of mine obviously because I love doing rapid fire and it's hilarious. And when Brian created that shirt and put a picture of it in our, in our Facebook group, I think our, our audience, our core community went crazy over it. And it's a fantastic shirt.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Yeah, it was definitely a must purchase for me.
[00:04:23] Speaker C: I love it. I love it, Lindsay. Well, Lindsay, before we dive into talk, our topic today which is cruising with a 2E. And we'll talk about what that is in a second. A2E. Kiddo, why don't you tell folks your Disney background, your Disney cruising background.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Yeah. So I grew up in Florida. My parents moved to Florida from Georgia because they wanted to live near the beach. And so I went to the Disney parks as a child a few times. It wasn't super convenient for us, but we did go a few times. I also grew up watching Disney. My parents tell the story that when I was preschool Age I would get up at a really early time frame and do Mickey's Mousercise from the Disney Channel.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: Oh my God, I love that.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: And I grew up through the golden age of Disney movies, you know, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, all of that.
But I sort of refer to myself as a lukewarm Disney fan. As an adult I've only been to the parks maybe five times. It's just not a super interesting thing that I want to go do. And even as a parent it's not something that me and my husband have chosen to do much with our daughter.
We've taken our one time which happened to be in February of 2020 right before everything shut down.
And so that's a little bit about the Disney background cruising wise.
When I finished all of my higher education pursuits, I went on a cruise with a different cruise line, not Disney Cruise Line. And my now husband and one of our friends got sick on a cruise ship sponsored excursion. And I told my husband we would never cruise again until we had enough money to have a balcony room because it was miserable for everybody.
So fast forward we started talking about I have a really good friend who is like super platinum almost pearl Disney cruiser, like got married on castaway key, all this stuff. And so she has, she's you know, a huge proponent of everybody going on a Disney cruise. But my, we started talking about doing a cruise because we thought we were going to do an extended family Alaskan cruise on another cruise line. And we were like, we don't know how our daughter would even do on a cruise. So my husband's like how about we do a short Disney cruise just to see how she would do. I was like I'm taking you up on that offer. So a short Disney cruise actually turned into a seven night cruise on the Fantasy as our first cruise.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: That's hilarious. Funny enough, we had our, we had a seven night booked with Nathan for like his first cruise and Brian was like I feel like we need to introduce him on a shorter cruise. And so we actually hit his first cruise, ended up being a four night on the Wonder out of San Diego because of that very decision. But it's funny you made the same decision but then ended up on a seven night anyway.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah, well it ended up being that that was the wishes inaugural season and so it was the same price to basically go on a three or four night wish cruise as it was a seven night fantasy cruise. And my friend who's super platinum was like no, no, you'll love the fantasy, go on The Fantasy.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: Yeah, your friend was right. Yeah.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Yeah. So we went on the Fantasy. Yeah. So now we are.
We fell in love with Disney Cruise Line. And I'll talk a little bit more as episode goes on about our experiences. But now, you know, less than two years later, we have gone on five Disney cruises. Three on the Fantasy and two on the Wish. Port Canaveral is more convenient to us than Fort Lauderdale or Miami. So that's why we tend to sail those ships. And we've done a lot of different.
Gone with this. This friend and her family who's super platinum, and then also took my parents on their first Disney cruise in December.
So we've sailed in a lot of different combinations of people and groups and things like that. So it's, it's been. It's been a great experience for me, my husband and my daughter. And so we all would prefer to be on a Disney cruise ship compared to just about any other kind of vacation.
[00:08:14] Speaker C: Yeah, we feel the same way. I mean, it's funny. Although I will say there have been a couple of times where Nathan has said, well, it's really when we're in Aulani, then Nathan that becomes his favorite place of all. But then we get back on a ship and then it's the ship again. Right. So it's. So who knows with him? But for us, we would definitely say that being on a cruise ship is our. Is our preferred vacation. And, and of course, it's got to be a Disney cruise ship or we would be the RCCL duo. And I have vetoed that. We are, we are strictly the DCL duo.
But I want to talk about your kid. Tell us about your daughter.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're going to call her Elle. That's how she wants us to refer to her on the podcast. She is eight years old. She's almost nine.
She is start. We. When we started cruising, it was summer of 2023, so she was 7 years old. I think the perfect age for us to start cruising with her because there's a little bit of independence, but also still, you know, guided activities that we can do with her as a family.
Yeah. So she is a 2E kiddo, which means twice exceptional. And so she's autistic as well as gifted and that. And she is one of the most creative individuals I've ever met in my life.
Very imaginative, lots of just interesting takes on things that I've never met anybody else in my life that has that thinks of things that way, which is amazing to see.
And in some ways I think really plays into Disney and all the imagineering and all of that that she can experience on the cruise ships.
[00:09:52] Speaker C: I love that. I love that. Well, you know, we've mentioned, I think on the show previously, Nathan is also a Tui Kiddo.
He has autism and adhd, and he's also gifted. So in general, for folks who haven't heard the term 2e choice exceptional, it basically means there is giftedness in the child or adult. It can be an adult as well. And then there's also that same person has some kind of disability. It's very commonly autism. But occasionally you'll hear Tui used to talk about ADHD or other.
Or other disabilities, but I would say the most common you hear is giftedness and autism in one person, which is, you know, pretty common these days. And they can be challenging. They can be challenging kids and very amazing kids. Right? Of course, we. Nathan is amazing. It sounds like Elle is pretty amazing, too. And so. But they can be challenging with different experiences because a lot of these kids are very much about their routines. And I don't want to generalize any. You know, obviously, when you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.
Each autistic person is very different. Like, every person is different. But there are some things that are kind of fairly common among that. Among that population. Well, let's. Let's talk about. Let's talk about this in sort of categories of, like, activities, you guys, you know, planning for cruise with Elle.
We'll talk some onboard activities. We'll talk food and dining.
We'll talk sort of if there are, you know, any kind of, like, sensory accommodations. I want to kind of talk about this topically, but I think. And Kids club is, of course, a huge. A huge thing to talk about. But let's. Let's talk about planning with Elle. And I'm sure that the first cruise involved sort of more complex planning or more thinking about how you were going to introduce Elle into this new environment.
Tell us what that was like, whether, you know, do you use YouTube videos and things like that to introduce Elle to the cruise line before you got on, or did she want to be surprised? We find that Nathan often wants to be kind of surprised and doesn't want to prep for certain things and other things. We kind of do some prep. So. Yeah, tell us about that.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a mix. I think so.
Disney Cruise Line has that PDF that's downloadable and that they point you to for autistic people as well as you Know, it also works for really anybody of any age, but it walks you through sort of the things to expect on embarkation day, things to do around the ship, disembarkation day, and it sort of walks you through the whole process.
So we went through that with Elle beforehand. I asked her multiple times if she wanted to watch YouTube videos ahead of time, and she told me no.
She is certainly not the type of kiddo that we would just completely surprise her with a cruise.
I think that would.
I think that would not go well. I don't think it would go very well with me and certainly not my husband either. We kind of like to know what to expect, but it was also our first Disney cruise as, you know, even as adults. And so we only knew what we knew to prepare her for. And so, yeah, I talked to people as much as I could. I had not found your show before our first cruise. I wish I had because that would have been helpful to have some more details to prepare Ellefor. But overall, it was a lot of talking about sort of, you know, what. How we wanted our days to look. You know, we. We talked about what excursion we wanted to do.
First cruise we went on was an Easter Caribbean cruise. So we. We did an excursion, a port adventure in Tortola, but we decided not to in St. Thomas. And so thinking through, talking to her and planning for what that. What that port adventure might be, what it. From what we knew, what it looked like.
So just general conversations. We didn't do a lot of YouTube videos. I watched them, but she didn't want to watch them. And so I tried to relay as much of that information as possible, but it would get to the point she's like, okay, Mom, I got it.
[00:14:05] Speaker C: I got it.
Nathan does the same thing. I got it. Sometimes if I.
So I have. It's funny, I actually, we have a parent coach who, you know, we talk to about, you know, work through things with Nathan, you know, that we meet with, not Nathan doesn't meet with. And, you know, I tend to like, over prepare him for things, if that makes sense. Like, over, like, tell him what's going to happen. He's like, I got it, mom, it's fine. It's fine. Right? Like, and it's just out of habit because I do think when he was younger, I mean, he's 11 now, and so he's kind of has an easier time with new experiences and things like that than he did when he was like five or six. But it's kind of become ingrained in me and I Can't help. I have to sometimes, like, stop myself. Like, you don't want to, like, spoil everything, but I feel the same way. As far as, like, we would never do a fully surprise cruise. I'm always kind of jealous of the people who can, like, just surprise their kids with a vacation. Like, it's. Because it sounds like a really fun thing to do, but I know that, like, that would not, like, I mean, Nathan loves a cruise, so it wouldn't. He wouldn't be disappointed, but he. He just likes to know where we're going and, like, how many days we're going to be on. Like, he'll. He'll even, like, ask, you know, questions like, oh, how many days do we have left? Like, when do we get off? Right. Like, he want. He wants to know these things. And. And I feel like.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Drives me absolutely crazy sometimes because I'm like, we're on vacation. Stop asking me what time it is back home. Or when we're. We're not going to be on vacation anymore.
[00:15:34] Speaker A: I know, but the countdown in the Disney Cruise Line app, the, you know, how many more days till the cruise?
[00:15:40] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: So we check that quite often.
[00:15:43] Speaker C: Yes. He's very focused on, like, time, I think time. Whether that's.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: He's very focused on when he'll be able to be back home playing Roblox.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah, when.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: Yeah, when things start, when things end. Those are things. But even in, like, everyday life, he's like, what time does this? You know, if I'm taking him to, like, a math competition, he's like, how many hours is it? Like, when do I. When will I be home? Right. Like that sort of.
All right, so the. Sounds very similar in the sort of the prep work that you did to what we tried to do with Nathan, although he was a little younger when we started, so we couldn't kind of couldn't do as much prep work because he wouldn't. He just didn't, you know, sort of get it as much. But let's talk about embarcation day. Do you have any. Like, you always sail out of Port Canaveral or thus far, just out of convenience? It's also nice you have a familiar place you're sort of sailing out of. But do you have any sort of routines or things that you guys like to do or that Elle expects to do on embarkation day? I know Nathan has some expectations for embarkation day. You know, some things that are annoying. Like the mustard drill he hates. Right. But like, but what kind. What kinds of Things for embarkation day.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean so to sort of back it up to the day before. So even though we live in Florida, we still drive to the port area the night before and stay in a hotel. And we try to stay in the same hotel, not necessarily the same room, but the same hotel. So we kind of know what to expect for breakfast the next morning and know the hours of breakfast so that if we want to grab a late morning snack, we can do that. We also know that there are are if I've got to run to CVS or Walgreens, there's one right down the road. We know where to park at the terminal, you know, because we drive our own car. So all of that is fairly routine for us. Now getting in the into the terminal is hit or miss.
We've never had to wait outside of the terminal. But once you get just inside the terminal, it's interesting. Depending upon, I guess depending upon the cruise and depending upon the time that you get there, the first time cruiser line might be shorter than the Castaway Club line.
And the last cruise we tried to go in the first time cruiser line and we had to explain, I know we're not first time cruisers but this line is shorter. So we're going to go through this line.
So having that explanation at the ready was helpful. And then sometimes we have to wait once you get up those escalators waiting for your boarding group to be called. And it just depends on how boarding is going.
I will say we generally go to cabanas for lunch.
Until our cruise in December we we never had a huge issue going to the buffet on the first day.
I don't know what happened on that departed December 18th. I don't know what happened on that cruise. I don't know if there were just a ton of people who stayed at Disney resorts and took Disney transport to the port. And so there were just so many people already on the ship compared to what we're used to. But there was no seating anywhere, anywhere inside cabanas, like almost none anywhere on the pool deck like it that it was chaos. And we've never experienced that. And so that was a big challenge.
We finally found a table on the pool deck and so I was like, okay Elle and my husband said here I will go get us some food to get us started and then we will continue. But so that's sort of our routine. But it I'm hoping that that was just a one off and now that we're gold and hopefully we'll never be lower than gold. Ever again. It won't be as much of an issue. But that, that was, that was challenging even for me. I was very overwhelmed just trying to find a tape, a table even that would seat two. And one of us would just stand.
We don't necessarily like the idea of a sit down lunch because it would just take so long. But it, but if we continue to run into issues, we might think about doing a sit down lunch. But it would, but.
So I'll probably say this multiple times and you've already said if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person. But you gotta know your kid and you gotta know your family dynamic because there were numerous children experiencing meltdowns on that December cruise around that lunch hour because it was so crazy.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: And this one was the fantasy, right? This was the fantasy.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: This was a four night on the fantasy. Yeah.
[00:20:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: And so it was.
I really don't know why that was different than previous ones, but it was just.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: I bet you're right though. I mean, so it's a Christmas time cruise, right? Even though you're sailing, right, Technically right before Christmas. So it's the one, the sailing right before the Christmas cruise on the Fantasy. The Treasure was sailing obviously at that time as well. So Treasure was brand new or sailing, you know, doing its preview cruises and then sailing the maiden voyage a couple days later that we were on. So we were in the same place at the same time basically.
But I wonder if it was like a combination of like you have a full ship and you're probably right, you're probably right that it was probably a lot of people taking Disney transportation which means a lot of people with those like earlier port arrival and boarding group times.
And so yeah, it makes for a more crowded cabanas. I will say I feel this, I feel that way about.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Can I ask, how was the weather outside?
[00:21:03] Speaker C: Oh yeah, it was beautiful.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Yeah, Fascinating. Usually people grab food then and head out on the pool deck. So yeah, yeah, it was, it was.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: A little overcast, but it was, it was nice.
It wasn't, you know, no extremes and it was, I think it was overcast but not bad weather.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: I will say I find cabanas to be very overwhelming on embarkation day for lunch. As a general matter, I know that it can be.
If you get there on the earlier side, it's not, you know, it can be fine. If you get there on the later side, it can be fine. It's sort of those core lunch hours between like 9 to or 9:12 to 1:30 that it's like, like kind of crazy. But I just find it. Yeah, I just find it a little bit overwhelming for me and having to, you know, shuttle, you know, shuttle back and forth for food as well. Well, let's. Let's talk about the mustard drill. Do you have, have. Have you. Are there any sort of strategies or. Or tips that you think have come out of your experience with the mustard drill and that experience going through the mustard. The in person must drill, of course, without.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Yeah. So the very first cruise we went on, our muster drill station was on the deck.
And that was in June or late May or June, early June in full sun and just hot and miserable. And it seemed like we had to stand there forever.
And I know there were a couple of parties that they were searching for.
So since then, when I've had the. When I do choose our rooms, because we have done a couple of guaranteed with restriction rooms, I try and get a mustard drill station that's indoors so that we don't have that. The weather contingent or weather conditions to deal with. And then we let Elle bring her tablet with her headphones. We'll let her watch her tablet while everybody's gathering, and then when they play the video, we will pause it and let her watch the emergency video so she knows the instructions of what to do in the case of an emergency. But then when they blow the whistle, we'll have her start the tablet again and put the headphones on. Just. And I don't think. I don't. It's not as loud as I expect it to be, especially indoors. And so I think she probably would be fine on deck. It was much louder and more of an issue. So if you're picking your room, I know there's a master Google spreadsheet out there in the ether that says where your muster drill station is.
If that. If you think that's going to be a concern for you, you might want to. And you're choosing your room, you might want to think about choosing a room that has a mustard drill station that's indoors as opposed to on deck.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: I. For an adult outdoors, it's painfully loud. So. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm curious. Did Elle have any, like, irrational fears around cruising or does the mustard drill even. I don't know if you remember the first time you did it raised questions like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: No, I. Because I think we had talked about it a few times before that.
I mean, she knew about the history of the Titanic, but that didn't seem to play into it. She doesn't generally have a lot of irrational fears about things. Unfortunately. Yeah. So we haven't had to deal with that.
[00:24:21] Speaker C: That is a lucky thing. We have dealt with some irrational fears. Thankfully not necessarily ship related, but it is something we have talked about the lifeboats and that if we ever had to be on one, it's going to be very crowded and things like that. So it's something definitely to talk about. I will give one tip from our experience of if you end up with a muster station out on deck, if you have a photosensitive kiddo like ours, meaning light sensitive sunglasses are key. So he is okay. We don't need to bring his headphones. We have, but he seems to be okay without them. He does plug his ears when the alarm is sounded and that's still, you know, you can still hear it even if you plug your ears. But it's so that everybody knows what that sound is for an emergency.
But yeah, if your kid is photosensitive or sound sensitive, then, you know, headphones, sunglasses, sorts of things are definitely helpful and something to think about. Let's. Let's talk about the kids clubs because now Elle is kids club age. Oceaneer Club, Oceaneer Lab age.
How does she do with the kids clubs? And I guess I would love to know how she did with the first time and sort of how she does now because I'm guessing that those are probably different as they were with Nathan. That that just maturity wise that can change over time. But yeah, curious to see, to know how that works.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: Yeah. So we, we were cautious with that first cruise like with tell. We told her ahead of time that there were like, we, I think we had a couple of drink tastings like on the first two sea days, like one on each of the first two sea days. We said, okay, we're going to drop you off at the kids club for like an hour and that's where you're going to be and we'll come get you as soon as we're done with our drink tasting.
And I vividly remember on night three of that cruise, we were finishing dinner and she said, mom, am I allowed to go to the kids club when y' all aren't scheduled to do something? And I went, absolutely. And so I dropped her off at the, I dropped her off at the kids club and I was wandering up.
Oh, what, what is that bar, like a deck up above?
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Signals.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: Signals. I was just wandering up there and a cast member came up to me. He said, can I help you? I no, my kid just decided to go to the kids club on her own. So I'm just wandering. He's like, well, enjoy.
But I will tell you, the check in process has changed over time when you get on the ship because we always register her during the online check in, but during the actual physical check in, the first day has changed. It's become more detailed. And so we cruised last summer and had the just general questions. And then when we sailed in October of last year, they had questions about what are her triggers, what are things that helps her to calm down and things like that. And I was not ready for those questions. But I think it's a good thing now I have better answers for them than I did in October because I just was not prepared for that. But there was one cast member on that first cruise in the kids club who was incredible because that first day we accidentally got in line for the nursery check in as opposed to the Oceaneer club check in because we didn't know what we were doing. And so by the time I figured out we were in the wrong line, Elle was getting frustrated and tired and all of that. And the cast member saw her like starting to get very, very frustrated and she just took her by the hand and walked her right into the kids club while I was doing the registration and showed her different things that were in the kids club.
So her name was Happy from South Africa.
[00:28:08] Speaker C: That's amazing. That's awesome.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: So, yeah, so she loves the kids club club. She now gets upset that when I have to come pick her up to go eat and things like that. So she has beaten the Marvel game on the wish every level that's on that game.
[00:28:25] Speaker C: Oh, sweet.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: Yes. So one of the cruises, she refused to get off the ship at Castaway so that she could beat every level of it.
So, yeah, so she loves the kids club and I'm very thankful for it. What we generally ask the kids club to do is if she asks for it, to give her headphones and then. But that tends to be a problem if there's lots and lots of loud noises going on. But knock on wood, she has not had any issues. We haven't had to be called by the kids club to come get her on any of our cruises. I think there are a lot of times where she does individual activities as opposed to the organized activities.
But I think that's the beauty of the kids club on Disney Cruise line ships is that they have the option of doing lots of different things in the kids club and it's not just one set activity like other cruise lines.
[00:29:12] Speaker C: Have definitely. I think that's a huge advantage. I will say I have heard from, you know, some parents where they are concerned because their kid can just sort of like be on their own. I mean within the kids club it's secure but. But that they're not sort of like forced to engage in activities. And so that may mean that your kid is on screens the entire time they're in the kids club. And so if that's a concern for a parent then and that's something to think about for us. I know for Brian and I, we don't have that concern in the sense of like, if that's what Nathan's preferred activity is in the kids club, it's his vacation too. And like we just will make sure that he's not in the kids club then, you know, 24 7, if we want him to have like some pool deck time then we would, you know, in this when he was younger because now he's so independent, he checks him, you know, he goes to the tween club but you know, we would check him out of the kids club and take him to the pool deck and put him in a swimsuit and all of that. And so I do think that that's something to sort of be aware of. If you are a parent who doesn't, who wants your kid to only do group activities in the kids club, that's not doable. Like they don't force the kids to do that.
With one exception which is the three to five year old cohort. They are in their own group and so they are doing probably more structured activities because they're kind of kept separate now from the older kids. And that's kind of a newer thing actually. I think it's the three and four year olds, not the five year olds. But anyway, so I'd love to talk about shows. I'd love to know if, I mean Nathan doesn't go see the shows.
He maybe would come to like a family game show. They used to have this one that was kind of like that minute to win it. And that was one he was, he would go to.
But mostly he's like not interested in those kinds of things. Curious if Ella is and if so how she does in those kinds of things.
[00:31:08] Speaker A: Yeah, so it, as far as the stage shows, it depends on the stage show. I haven't gotten her to go to Seize the Adventure with me. She loves the movie Hercules and she loves Greek mythology. So I don't know why she doesn't want to go to that because there's Hercules in it. But she also loves Elsa. So I don't know. I don't know why. Anyway. But we've seen in person. We've seen Frozen. We have seen Little Mermaid in person.
Aladdin we have only seen on TV in the stateroom our first cruise.
She only wants to sit in the balcony. She doesn't want to sit on the bottom level. And this is sort of one of the tips. I've heard you say that if you show up 15 minutes before the show, that's plenty of time to find a seat. That has not been our experience in the balcony. And I think it's just because there's fewer seats in the balcony compared to on the. On deck three.
And so we got there, I think 15, 20 minutes before the show and there were not any seats in the balcony.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Wow. It is a smaller. You're right. It's a smaller seating area.
[00:32:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: So I couldn't convince her to go down to deck three. And so we pivoted. And that's a tip that I think parents of two e kiddos have learned and are relearning is to pivot. And so we went back to the state room and ate our chocolates that were on the bed and watched Aladdin on the stateroom TV instead of going in person. But we have made it to several. We've made it to Frozen, We've made it to Little Mermaid on the Fantasy and the Wish.
We do try to bring a sticker by number book or something to keep her occupied before the show starts, but she does pretty well once the show actually starts. I generally have a set of just not necessarily noise canceling headphones, but just regular headphones to muffle sound a little bit if she needs them.
Depends on the show whether or not she needs them.
Yeah, so. So we've been able to do a lot of shows.
And as far as the family activities, she isn't super interested in doing the family activities.
She would rather go to the kids club or be on the pool deck. One of the cool things we did last summer was we rode the Aqueduct at night, have all the lights and everything that was really cool to do after we had early dinner.
But she.
This last summer, she and another girl did do karaoke to Taylor Swift one afternoon and it was the cutest thing I've ever seen.
And now she's. She's talking about wanting to karaoke with me on our next cruise this coming summer. So. So we'll see. But as far as the family game shows, she. She would much Rather be at the club after dinner.
[00:33:48] Speaker C: Yeah, same our kiddo saying he would rather.
I would love to get him to do karaok. That would be super fun because he actually has kind of a nice little singing voice there.
[00:34:02] Speaker B: 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. 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 or email DCLDuoypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:35:01] Speaker C: Well, let's, let's talk about food.
Some kiddos on the spectrum have some food particularities, some do not. Very, you know, obviously varies a lot but curious how Elle does in, you know, what with both food and you know, cabanas but also in the dining rooms and then also how she does with the dining room sort of theater ish experiences. Obviously the wish has a. Has two significant ones. The fantasy only has the one and so there's. I would imagine that maybe some are more difficult than others, but obviously she's an Elsa fan. So I don't know, Arendelle might be a great place for her. So. Yeah, why don't you tell us about. Let's start with food in particular.
[00:35:46] Speaker A: Yeah. So we had a time period where we were trying to be close to Dairy Free with her on our first cruise. That I'll tell you that was a challenge because we could find at home. We know what we can do. Dairy Free.
One thing to note, if you call the special services phone number, they are helpful but helpful to a point.
When I after the first, before the first cruise when I called them and I said, you know, this is our situation, they Said, said, well, what is it that you need? And I was like, I don't know what you have. Like, I don't know what to ask for, both from food and general accommodations.
And so that. So I've had mixed feelings and experiences with the special services number. So if you're going to call them, I highly recommend you, you know what you're looking for and needing.
I was also a little frustrated before that first cruise because I told them, you know, we are trying to limit dairy for her.
And they said, oh, no problem, I'm gonna put a note in her, in her file and they'll have dairy free chocolate ice cream and all this other stuff we got on the ship and I asked the server the first night, I'm like, we were told that there would be dairy free chocolate ice cream. And he said, well, let me check into it. There was not chocolate, there was only raspberry. And I'm like, my 7 year old's not gonna eat raspberry sorbet or whatever it is you have. So that was a little bit challenging. We made it work. The servers after the first night were fantastic.
They made her pizzas with dairy free cheese and we said, can you like one night we said, can you put bacon on it tomorrow? And they brought her a whole bowl of bacon crumpled up.
So they were incredible.
We've been able to loosen that restriction. And so she has preferred foods which tends to be like Mac and cheese and pizza and chicken nuggets.
So we haven't had too, too many issues. And she has been a little bit adventurous trying some things. She's a big fan of the chilled shrimp, the peel and eat shrimp that's on Cabana's buffet. And so she will eat that for lunch just about every day on the cruise when we're on the ship.
So. So yeah, I mean it's.
If you have a particular dietary need or preference, definitely let them know ahead of time. But then also tell your service first night.
But I haven't run into a situation where they won't find something for a child to eat.
I mean, and if you just mention, you know, can you put a bowl of grapes. Can we have a bowl of grapes every night? It's there waiting for you or whatever it is that your kiddo prefers and wants to have.
[00:38:31] Speaker C: Yeah, and I think that's a great point though about special services. We have heard time and time again that the right hand and the left hand are just not communicating with each other. And what I mean by that is that things that are Discussed with special services are not then getting transferred to the onboard ship staff. And I will say the onboard ship staff is amazing and will do, as you said, their best to accommodate once they know. But sometimes that means that that hasn't happened before your first night of dinner. And so then it can create those hiccups.
[00:39:07] Speaker B: I feel the frustration of, what do you want?
[00:39:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:39:10] Speaker C: That. Well, it's hard. That's the other part.
[00:39:12] Speaker B: What do you have? Right.
[00:39:12] Speaker A: You.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: So, yeah, I mean, I think there are probably people where that works, where it's just like, I know my person needs this, this, and this, but.
[00:39:20] Speaker C: Right. Or like, they need distilled water for their CPAP machine or something like that. Right. Like, they're very good with those kinds of things. They're less good with the kinds of things that we're talking about, which is, are there specific. I mean, I've even heard of issues where people have asked for accommodations for the mustard drill to be able to do, like, sort of a private muster drill. And we had heard about those being done in the past, and then I've heard that they'll have made that request. Special services has said sure thing. And then on board, the staff is like, I don't know what you're talking about, and makes them go to the regular mustard drill. So that's like something that I try to warn people about. The. Because the mustard drill can be something that is a more difficult experience for certain people. And so, you know, unfortunately, there's, like, inconsistencies between the folks on shoreside and the folks on the ship, and that can be super frustrating. But I think you're right. Dietarily, they will do as best they can to accommodate you. And I have heard of people who all their kid will eat is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And literally, the dining staff will bring your kid peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner every single night. So if you have a kid that has that, it doesn't matter that it's not on the menu. You just need to tell them.
And pro tip might be to find your dining host manager person before your first night of dinner. Like, go to where you can do dining request when you first enter the ship, and you can talk to one of the dining managers and they can pass that information on so that it is ready for you even at your first dinner seating. So pro tip on that. Well, what about the dining shows? Right? Dining, they can be loud and overwhelming, and tables can be crowded. And what I mean by that is they're kind of close together, particularly in Arendelle on the Wish or even in Marvel on the Wish.
I find them to be less of an issue on ships like the Fantasy. But yeah, how does Elle do with that sort of show experience and the crowded nature of those dining experiences?
[00:41:27] Speaker A: Overall, I'll say we generally have not had an issue on the Fantasy.
It's really only animator's palette that has shows. She's done fine with Crush. One of the last summer, we actually were right next to a screen so she got to interact with Crush and she loved that. And she loves while we're eating, you know, creating a game that if we see Bruce the Shark, we have to do something. I don't even. She. She changes it every time we we're in there.
Animation magic is fine too because she's looking for our drawings on the Wish. We didn't have an issue in Marvel.
Arendelle.
We did two different sailings on the Wish. The first time it was actually just her and me and we were at a table with two other mother daughter pairs. So it was all seven year old girls and moms. So a table of six, which I thought was pretty cool.
And so those servers did a really good job of, of getting the girls involved with all that was going on with that show.
Our second sailing on the Wish, we were actually right on a walkway, so we kind of weren't right next to another table. And we were right in line with the stage.
But I don't know what was going on that evening, but she just was not super into it. So I put her headphones on.
We actually also had an issue where our server was doing a very loud whistle as part of the show and right next to our table.
And I pulled him aside after I said, hey, I know that that's probably part of the show, but you probably need to at least tell the table that you're going to be doing it so they can let you know if there are any issues.
I mean, it got to the point where my husband had to take L and drop her at the kids club like right as the show was ending because she was, she was done, which was fine. She's already seen the show. She was there for most of it. She got to eat her whole dinner.
But it was a little bit frustrating.
But on the whole, we have not had an issue with any shows with it feeling crowded or anything like that. And I think part of that is that we do bring. We don't bring her tablet with us to dinner.
We usually have paint by sticker books or something, some other little Activity for her to do to help with time and to help keep her engaged.
[00:43:53] Speaker C: Yeah. We have brought Nathan's tablet in the past. Now it's just his phone, but we let him have that at dinner so that he can kind of center himself by watching whatever he prefers to watch. If he doesn't, we don't let him have the sound up, obviously, if there's a show going on or he needs to have headphones in order to do that.
But I. I do think the tip of, like, getting the kid out, though, when they're done with their meal is very key for us. For Nathan, when he is done, he's done. He cannot sit there any longer and wait for, like, the rest of the party, especially if we're, like, a bigger group, and that means everybody's food takes longer.
So we don't make him sit through our dinner. Like, once he finishes his entree, he gets to decide if he wants dessert. He doesn't want dessert. He usually opts for pool deck ice cream over whatever the dessert on the dessert menu. And so he's like, okay, can I go to the kids club or to edge now? And we say, sure. Now he goes himself. When, you know, when he was younger, we would. One of us would go take him, check him into the kids club, and come back to have our dessert, typically. So I think that that's a really great pro tip, though, if you have a kid who has a hard time. I mean, those dinners can be long, whether your kid is on the spectrum or just a regular kid. Right. Like, neurotypical kids can't always sit through those long dinners either. So if your kid is done, it's okay for them to be done and for you all to stick around.
I'm gonna let Brian jump in. I know he has some questions, but I really feel like I've been talking too much. Brian, I'll let you talk.
[00:45:36] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm curious how Elle does with characters on board.
[00:45:41] Speaker A: Yeah, good question.
We're big fans of the royal gathering.
We sign up for the royal gathering every time.
And I will always buy the Cinderella picture because when we took her to Disney World when she was not quite four, we waited a long time to see Cinderella. And then in that moment, she turned away and would not even look at Cinderella. So I have a picture of me holding her with her head turned away and Cinderella pouting like, oh, so now I will always buy the Cinderella picture that Lena will or Elle will.
You know, this last cruise, she did a spin picture, like, where they were twirling in their dresses. It was cute.
We don't do other characters where the faces can't be seen. She's just not interested and I'm not gonna push it.
So that's just something we don't have to worry about and spend our time doing. But we do the royal gathering and she actually was okay meeting Black when it was when Black Panther was in the kids club on the Wish.
But generally, if we can't see a face, we don't.
We're not gonna wait.
[00:46:49] Speaker C: What about Bibbidi bobbidi on that. On that note is, does she like. Nathan's not interested, but he. We have lots of friends who, you know, usually have girls. Not to say that boys can't do it. I've seen boys do Bibbidi bobbidi, but it's more. More often you see girls coming out of Bibbidi Bobby than boys. Let's just be real about it. But yeah, does she. Is to do that. Willing to do that?
[00:47:14] Speaker A: I offered it to her before the first cruise and I showed her pictures and, and all of that, and she wasn't interested. We do bring different dresses, nightgowns, all kinds of different character stuff. She, you know, she's old enough now that she picks out what she wants to bring when we're on the cruise, clothing wise.
But we, we, we don't do Bibbidi bobbidi, which is fine by me.
[00:47:43] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, saving you a bunch of pennies. Right.
For sure.
[00:47:46] Speaker A: Things we could. Other things we could do now, zip lining and parasailing, all that. She's into all of that kind of port adventures, but not Bibbidi bobbidi.
[00:47:56] Speaker B: What about shore excursions? How do. How do you think about doing shore excursions with Elle?
[00:48:01] Speaker A: Yeah. So that has evolved over time. Part of it is as she's gotten older and gotten more used to doing different things.
So the first cruise we went on, we only did like a beach excursion.
And then.
And we kind of hung out at Castaway Cay.
And then when we.
Last summer when she had turned 8, she qualified for some other types of port adventures.
So we went ziplining in Tortola. And I had this thought of, oh my gosh, she's not going to step off the platform.
And so we had my husband go first. So she saw somebody go before her. And then I was like, I'm going to go behind her in case I kind of need to gently push to get her to go. Because I knew once she went the first time she'd be fine. But doing that first step can sometimes be a challenge. But she loved it.
And on that same cruise we went parasailing at Castaway and now she insists that we do parasailing every time we go to Castaway. Sometimes it has gotten canceled the last one or two cruises. Cruises.
But she's a parasailing fan. So we're more, I don't think we're full day kind of port adventure people.
We're more half day. We really like to do stuff in the morning and then get back on the ship and then if it's still like, if lunch is still going on that we could do lunch on the ship.
So we like those, we generally like those kinds of port adventures.
But I have shown her videos of different port adventure options and she's intimately involved in the, the planning process of which ones we're going to pick.
I sort of make a short list and we read descriptions and find what videos we can find and make the decision as a family.
[00:49:50] Speaker C: Yeah, that's super, super smart. You know, I think we have definitely realized that the half day portaventures are or sort of a more relaxing portaventure is a decent one to do with Nathan.
If it's a full day one, it's got to have some like built in relaxing time in it because he can't just like go, go, go the entire time or he'll be sort of miserable by the end of it and begging to get back on this ship.
But curious if you have learned any sort of lessons from, you know, your time now cruising with Elle and sort of what, you know, if you have any tips of things that have become easier or you've learned something so now it's easier because you know how to do it better than maybe when you started did.
[00:50:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
I mean a lot of them I've shared as we've gone through this stuff.
My friend who's the super platinum sailor, even with her neurotypical children, one of the tips she gave me was have everybody pick one thing every day that they want to do on the, on the cruise.
[00:51:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:51:03] Speaker A: And make that a priority so long as it doesn't clash.
And so we try and do that, you know, know we.
And, and, and so if it's. She wants to spend time in the, on the pool deck watching Funnel Vision or she wants to make sure that she goes to the kids club after dinner or she wants to make sure she gets to karaoke that one time.
That's what we'll try and prioritize. But also knowing that we have things we want to do as well.
So trying to fit that in.
And so we, you know, we're, my husband and I are big fans of Palo brunch. And so we explained to her at a time that that's our thing for that day. You're going to be in the kids club during Palo brunch.
We'll feed you before you go, but then you can decide what your other activity, what your preferred activity is for that day, so long as it isn't during Palo brunch.
[00:52:00] Speaker C: That's a great idea and that's a great tip in general. I think you're right. For neurodiverse, neurotypical people, we always make sure that, like, though if we've promised that we're gonna do something or like that Nathan wants to do, like, we've got to follow through with that. Like, so it's like, this is why we don't. You don't promise the world, right? Like, you can't promise, like, things you don't have control over. Like, parasailing is a good example. Like, we promise we'll sign up for it. We can't promise it's gonna happen because it might get canceled or we might not get even, get to dock it because of wind. Right. But like, if, you know, we promised you you're gonna be able to go to kids club after dinner. Dinner.
You're going to be able to go to kids club after dinner. Right. Like, we got to follow through on those things. So it's super good tip. But also not trying to do everything right.
[00:52:42] Speaker A: Yeah. And, and I've mentioned before just being real willing to pivot. I thought that we would, you know, be super into the, like, deck shows and like the sail away party. I'll tell you, the first cruise she was in, is it the Mickey pool that's in the back part of the main deck.
On the Fantasy, she was in the Mickey pool during the sail away party. So I at least got to see the sail away party.
Now we've pivoted where we make our own sail away party in our room where we get one of the all hands on deck cheese platters. We've got Disney cartoons going on the tv. This past cruise, we actually got to see the pilot boat come up against the cruise ship, which is something I had never seen before.
So, you know, making your own sort of experiences. Oh, and tying into that, the adults will have a beverage during that. During that sail away party. And if you're on the Wish, I'm assuming it's the same on the Treasure. But those small cafes, I think it's enchanted sword and wishing wand. I don't know what those small.
[00:53:43] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:53:44] Speaker A: They free pour the drinks of the day, and so it's not just in a vat of mixed. And so if you're a drink of the day person and you want it to potentially be a little bit stronger or at least fresher, go to one of those cafes and order it as opposed to, like, on the pool deck.
So, yeah, so that's. That's a little bit of a tangent, but.
[00:54:02] Speaker C: No, but I love that tip, and I think that's a great tip for sail Away as well, because not everybody likes to be. Be out in the sun in particular, if it's a sunny day. Right. Out in the heat, watching sail Away, having your own traditions. I mean, we have our traditions of, like, certain movies we like to watch when we're in our stateroom before bed or when we're just kind of relaxing. Right. So, yeah, I think traditions are very key, and it's kind of a nice thing to create on vacation as well.
[00:54:33] Speaker B: Well, Sam, I think that. That we've reached that point in the show. Right?
[00:54:38] Speaker C: Yeah. I think we should bring L on for a little. A little fun time now. What do you think?
[00:54:44] Speaker B: Well, let's. Let's get l.
Let's get L on the show, and then I will throw it over to you.
[00:54:51] Speaker C: Hello.
[00:54:52] Speaker B: Hi, El.
[00:54:53] Speaker C: Can she hear us? Ah, all right. Can you hear us?
Yes. Awesome. Hi, Elle. Nice to meet you. I'm Sam and that's Brian, and we're the DCL duo. Your mom listens to our show about Disney cruise line a lot, and we wanted to ask you some of your favorite Disney things and favorite Disney cruise line things. How do you feel about that?
[00:55:18] Speaker A: I feel pretty good about it.
[00:55:20] Speaker C: All right. I love it.
[00:55:22] Speaker B: Let me redo the throw to you, Sam. All right.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: All right. I love it.
[00:55:25] Speaker B: All right, Sam. Well, I think we have reached that point in the show where we need to subject Lindsay and now, Elle, special guest link. Well, to some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment, or the round we know is rapid fire, which Lindsay knows well because she's wearing the definition of it on her shirt today, so. That's right, Sam, take it away.
[00:55:45] Speaker C: Okay, you guys, I'm going to ask you first your favorite Disney character. And, El, I'm going to start with you.
[00:55:52] Speaker A: I'll have to go with Elsa.
[00:55:55] Speaker C: Elsa. I love that. All right, Lindsay, who is your favorite Disney character?
[00:55:59] Speaker A: I'm a big fan of sidekicks, so I got to go. Movie Mushu.
[00:56:02] Speaker C: Oh, yes, Mushu. We're gonna. We're gonna make Mushu's. Mushu's restaurant happen. You know, we want. We want all of. All of the Chinese food on whatever the next Disney ship is going to be. We don't know what the name of it. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. Okay.
All right. What is your favorite Disney movie, Elle?
[00:56:24] Speaker A: I have to go with Hercules. It's so funny.
[00:56:27] Speaker C: It is so funny. And it has one of my favorite songs, but I'm not going to tell you what that. That is because. Well, I'm going to ask you song in the next question, but, mom, tell us, what's your favorite Disney movie right now.
[00:56:39] Speaker A: I'm going to go Moana.
[00:56:41] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's great. I can't wait for you to get on the treasure then. All right, favorite Disney song.
Elle, let's start with you.
[00:56:51] Speaker A: I can go first if you need me to.
[00:56:52] Speaker C: Yeah. Could it be something from Frozen or Hercules, maybe?
Let's let mom go first while you think about it. Actually, my favorite favorite Disney Disney song is We're.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: Is we're back from Moana.
[00:57:13] Speaker C: Oh, we're back from Moana 2. You know, I don't even know that song because I haven't been embarrassed to say this. I have not yet.
As of this recording, which is happening March 23, I have not yet watched Moana 2.
Isn't that crazy?
[00:57:29] Speaker A: We saw it in the theater, and then it's on Disney now, so I.
[00:57:34] Speaker C: Know, and I'm gonna. I definitely. Okay, this is. I'm gonna commit to you. I am. Within the next week, I am gonna watch Moana 2 on Disney. Okay.
Okay. All right, Lindsay, what's your favorite Disney song?
[00:57:46] Speaker A: It's Hakuna Matata.
[00:57:48] Speaker C: What a wonderful phrase. Well, I will tell you.
[00:57:50] Speaker A: I'll tell you a quick story.
[00:57:51] Speaker C: Story. Yes, of course.
[00:57:54] Speaker A: When we were on that cruise, when it was just the two of us, she was in. On the pool, in a pool on the pool deck. And it was time for us to eat lunch, and Lion King was playing, and I kept trying to get her to go, let's go to lunch. Let's go to lunch. Go to lunch. She delayed, delayed, delayed, until Hakuna Matata started. And so I erupt into full performance on the pool deck, and.
And she got a little annoyed, and the cast member was. Was next to me, was dying, laughing at the faces she was making.
[00:58:24] Speaker C: I love that. I love that. I will tell you that one of my favorite Disney songs is in the movie Hercules. Elle, I love that song. I can't say I'm in love with that. Megara sings. Yeah. Or I won't say I'm in love.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: We like that one too.
[00:58:38] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, let's move on to the Disney cruise line. And I want to ask you what your favorite Disney cruise line stage show.
So I know you've seen Frozen. I know you've seen the Little Mermaid show is Ariel.
Ariel, the Little Mermaid. Little Mermaid. Nice. All right. Good choice. What about you, Lindsay?
[00:58:58] Speaker A: Frozen.
[00:58:59] Speaker C: Yeah. It's so good. That is such a good show. All right, what's your favorite thing to do on a Disney cruise line ship? Favorite activity, Elle.
Favorite activity I'm going to have.
[00:59:14] Speaker A: After.
[00:59:14] Speaker C: You give that to Midship Detective agency. Yes. That is such a great activity. That's fantastic. All right, Lindsay, what about you?
Sometimes I subject my mother and father other to running around the ship with me. Yeah, I do that with our son Nathan. I go and do midship Detective agency with him. And I love to do the Muppet one. That's my favorite favorite one.
Yeah, I like that one.
[00:59:42] Speaker A: It's really complicated.
[00:59:43] Speaker C: Yes, that's why I like it too.
[00:59:46] Speaker A: My favorite onboard activity.
I'll probably go. Bingo. I don't always do it, but when I do it, it's entertaining and fun.
[00:59:56] Speaker C: Yeah. All right, what's your favorite rotational dining restaurant? So which is your favorite of the restaurants you have been to? I know, Elle, that you've been on two different so you have been to Animator's Palette, Royal Court, and Enchanted Garden on the fantasy and on the wish. You have been to Arendelle, Worlds of Marvel and 1923. So you have six different restaurants to choose from. Which one is your favorite? I prefer Worlds of Marvel.
Oh, nice. A Marvel kid. I like it. Lindsay, what about you?
[01:00:28] Speaker A: I think I like Animator's palette.
[01:00:30] Speaker C: Yeah, that's my favorite.
[01:00:31] Speaker A: Animation Magic night. I prefer the first menu, but animation magic for the entire entertainment.
[01:00:37] Speaker C: Same. Absolutely. All right, I gotta ask you about water slides. Now. I.
Oops, sorry, I couldn't hear you there.
[01:00:44] Speaker A: Sorry. She asked if I. I didn't prefer Nemo and I'm like, oh, well, I'd like to see our drawings come to life rather than talking with Crush. But talking to Crush is fun too, right?
[01:00:55] Speaker C: Yeah, they're both pretty good, I would say. Yeah, let's talk water slides. Now, you've been, I'm guessing on the Aqua Duck and on the Aqua Mouse, and they're different. Right. The Aqua Duck doesn't have any screens, so the water slides a little bit longer. The Aqua Mouse has a little bit of a shorter water slide, but you've got the screens with the story at the beginning. Which one do you like better, Elle?
I like the Aqua Mouse.
Nice. What about you, Mom?
[01:01:22] Speaker A: I like the duck.
[01:01:23] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, to each his own. They're both pretty great, I would say.
All right, I've got to ask you the most important question, which is which one is your favorite ship? Do you prefer the fantasy or do you prefer the Wish?
The fantasy. Yeah, that's probably the right decision between those two and Midship Detective Agency. Uncharted Adventure. I'm sorry, is just. No, Midship Detective Agency. It's just easy. What about you, Lindsay?
[01:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I like fantasy. I mean, the bar spaces are just amazing.
And it was our first ship, so.
Our first love.
[01:02:03] Speaker C: Yes, absolutely. Well, what's next, you guys? I feel like you all. Obviously, we've raved about the Treasure.
It's an amazing ship. There's great shows, of course, Beauty and the Beast and Tale of Moana. But, you know, I hate to break it to you guys, but Hercules is coming out on the Destiny, so I feel like the Destiny might be in your destiny.
What do you have planned next?
[01:02:28] Speaker A: You want to tell them what we have planned next?
[01:02:30] Speaker C: Of course. We have a Greek Isles.
[01:02:34] Speaker A: That's not next. What's next?
[01:02:35] Speaker C: Oh, that sounds amazing.
[01:02:38] Speaker A: We're going on the Treasure this summer. You're going on the Treasure this summer.
[01:02:41] Speaker C: And after, we're doing a Greek dance cruise.
[01:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So. And. And the Greek Isles cruise. The deposit we have put down is on a different cruise line, not Disney.
[01:02:51] Speaker C: Oh. So we're going to try that out. All right.
[01:02:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:55] Speaker C: I love it. Awesome.
[01:02:57] Speaker A: Well, we do currently have a deposit on the Destiny, so. So we'll. We'll see.
[01:03:02] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I mean, it's.
All the shows on the Treasure are fantastic, so it definitely. And all of the spaces are definitely amazing. And it has the same kids club as the Wish, so I'm sure that you're going to love it, Elle. But I also know that being the Hercules fan that you are, it seems like the Destiny has to be. Has. Like I said, it's part of. It's your destiny to be on the Destiny at some point. Yeah.
Well, thanks for playing, you guys. This was super fun. You both get A plus pluses for your answers on my Rapid Fire. So congratulations. You have one Rapid fire.
[01:03:38] Speaker A: Yay. Yay.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: Well, Lindsay L. We just so appreciate you taking your time to spend with our audience and discuss some. You know great strategies I think Lindsay for sailing with kids and just really appreciate you taking the time out of your day. So thanks so much for coming on.
[01:04:00] Speaker A: Thanks so much for having me and us. We've had a great time.
[01:04:08] Speaker B: Well thanks to everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us 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 mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email them at DCLDUO 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 sport searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog, a link to our Etsy store. 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 of course email us at
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