Ep. 587 - Live Bonus Show - Llamas, Legends & Disney Magic: Karen’s Adventures by Disney Trip to Peru!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm gonna admit this. I tried alpaca. [00:00:04] Speaker B: No, no. [00:00:10] Speaker C: Kaylee's comments sums it up. Yikes. We're gonna have to skip our normal intro tonight because the video file is not found. I will see if I can f. We're on air so we at least have our outro. But you know what? Here we go. Welcome back, everybody, to this week's live episode of the DCL Duo Podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and our good friends over at the WDW magazine, the DCL magazine, I think Danny hopefully pointed out there will be another will now be a DCL specific magazine. No longer an issue of the WDW magazine. It will be its own subscription coming out. We will share details once we know where. Know more, but be sure to head over to wdw-magazine.com and you can order anything in their store with code DCLDUO, all caps DCL DUO for 10% off. And big thank you to Stephanie, Danny, the whole team over at WDW magazine for sponsoring our bonus and live episodes. But we're also welcoming Karen from My Path Unwinding Travel this evening. Welcome, Karen. [00:01:23] Speaker A: Thank you. I thought maybe I could sing the intro for you, but I could. [00:01:28] Speaker C: It puts me in the right. Puts me in the right frame of mind, you know? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I must have deleted a file somewhere and now I gotta go find it again. But you might see me disappear for a second so I can grab my laptop and find those files and send them over so that we have the outro music at least. But, Karen, excited to have you on. We're gonna be talking a little adventures by Disney. But before we dive in, Sam, Disney news of the week. Round it up. [00:01:55] Speaker B: Yeah. We've got some news that came out this week. One was an announcement by DC announcing officially that the Haunted Mansion Happy Hunt, which is a new game that's being offered on the Treasure, and the Destiny, has launched on the Treasure. It actually launched, I think about two weeks ago, but I think it was kind of a soft launch. They were doing some testing with the folks on board and now it has officially launched on the Treasure. My initial reaction was I thought maybe it was a replacement for the Uncharted Adventure, which of course, we know and have talked about in the past, has been plagued by lots of glitches. But my understanding is, no, it's not a replacement. It's in addition to. So you can play both games on board, of course, the Uncharted Adventure. You need a phone that has the DCL Navigator app downloaded on it. Whereas the Happy Hunt you need a Disney band or Magic Band plus. And so not a regular magic band or a regular Disney band, but the plus version of it, which is the one that has to be charged. And so you can play that on board the Treasure currently. And from what I'm hearing, it is likely to be ready for the Destiny Maiden voyage, although there's of course no guarantees there. But I'm excited for this new game. I've heard from a few listeners who happen to be on board at the time at launch who were like giving positive feedback about it. I don't know if you guys are excited about it. Karen, are you excited to play? Maybe we'll run around on the Destiny Maiden and play it. [00:03:32] Speaker A: We are going to run around. I am really excited. Those kind of games bring me back to my kids playing Magi Quest with the wands all around. Great Wolf Lodge. So I think it's really fun. Of course, Midship Detective Agency too, but I think it's going to be super fun. [00:03:51] Speaker B: Yeah, super exciting. All right, well, the other piece of news, I'm reporting this because the Cruise Globe has it and so. Brian, I can't hear you. [00:04:03] Speaker C: Now you can. I was gonna say something about the, the, the new Happy Haunts game on board. I know a couple people out there in the community who are saying, I can't believe they're making you buy a magic band to do this. [00:04:14] Speaker A: It. It. [00:04:15] Speaker C: I, I get it. I hear you. I'm not a fan of the MagicBand. But I will tell you, I think the MagicBand is a superior technology for what they're trying to do on board with this than the, the, the phone tech that they were running on the Uncharted Adventure, which is so glitchy. So you know, remember you can buy a MagicBand and still use it at the parks and all of that sort of stuff. So if you're a park goer, that'll, that'll help you out. But yeah, yeah, you only need one. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Magic band or Disney Band plus, like yeah, for you. Right? Like that you could use at the parks and you can use onboard DCL and you can even use at Aulani to like open your room door and pay for purchases. So it's one of those things where like yes, it's annoying. You have to spend another 35 to 50 plus dollars. But like, it's the one time I think it's worth it probably for the game. And I agree with Brian, it is probably likely to be less glitchy because it's operating off of RFID in the bands instead of having to operate through WI Fi. And so that's going to be hopefully less of an issue. Anyway, the other piece of news, you know, we mentioned we had on our show a couple weeks ago, we had Emma from Emma Cruises, as well as Matt from the Cruise Globe, talking to us about their new, you know, product, the Cruise Globe, the app and all the different products you can buy. You know, they have cards that you can buy, they have maps that you can purchase to hang on your wall, all that sort of stuff. But what's really cool is they will tell you anywhere in the world a ship is sailing, like where they're sailing and where they're headed and when they're supposed to dock. And right now they are saying that the Disney Destiny is going to arrive approximately at 1445 hours, which is 2:45pm on November 2nd in Port Canaveral. So that means she's headed to Port Canaveral before Fort Lauderdale, which is pretty cool. I don't think that Disney has announced that. I don't. At least I haven't heard any official announcements. [00:06:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm pretty confident they have not announced it, but it's out there. [00:06:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it's out there because they have to have a ship's manifest, right? They have to tell the port they're going to, hey, we're going to be there. And here's approximately when we're going to be there. And so that information is put into websites like the Cruise Globe and yeah, I don't know, it's pretty exciting. It's going to be here soon. And then of course, as we've told folks, we're going to be headed on November 9th. We're headed down to Fort Lauderdale to board on November 10th for a media preview cruise. We're super excited. Karen's going to be on a different preview. She was invited for the same one that we're on but was unable to make it. So she's going on a later one. Karen, what date are you going to be on the Destiny? [00:07:07] Speaker A: I will be on the Destiny November 16th to 19th before we join together on the Maiden. And that's because I'll be on the new Celebrity Excel Preview cruise the 14th to the 16th. So I'll have another, another new ship to report on. So lots of great stuff happening in November. [00:07:27] Speaker B: You're basically doing back to back to backs, like with like a day in between. [00:07:33] Speaker A: I'll actually. [00:07:35] Speaker C: Oh, go ahead, go ahead, Karen. [00:07:37] Speaker A: I say I'll actually be Getting off the Excel and going right onto the Destiny. I don't know if I'll. I don't know how the Ubers are going to work in between the port terminals, but at least they're all in Fort Lauderdale, so it worked out. [00:07:50] Speaker C: So, yeah, for everyone out there watching, expect just a ton of stuff to roll out from us starting November 10th about the ship. And so if you are not subscribed to our Instagram account, we tend to just post tons of stories. We're planning to maybe, maybe go live for a couple of things on board the ship over on Instagram. So if you're not subscribed over there, head over there. That's where we will post the majority of what we will have to say. Of course, if you're in our Facebook group, we will probably do some consolidated posting there as well over there. [00:08:26] Speaker B: And of course, we love that posts on Instagram automatically posts on Facebook as well. So posts, reels and stories, all automatically. If we post it on Instagram, it'll post on Facebook. So, yeah. [00:08:38] Speaker C: And plan for a live show, a special live show, live edition of the DCL duo, health permitting, travel delays permitting, Friday night after we disembark the cruise on Thursday. So we'll fly home Thursday the 13th. We will. We are planning for a live show on Friday the 14th to talk about the experience on board and to share some of our thoughts and so look out for that. And of course, we'll be on the maiden and the Thanksgiving cruise and probably have even more to say after that. So there you go. [00:09:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:09:07] Speaker A: Amazing. [00:09:08] Speaker B: Awesome. Well, with all of that, we need to talk about Adventures by Disney and your amazing trip to Peru. Karen, where do we even start? Like, why, why Peru? What made you decide to book this trip? And then Brian's gonna pull up the PowerPoint. [00:09:28] Speaker C: Sure. [00:09:29] Speaker A: So my family is. We are a huge fan of Adventures by Disney. I started traveling with ABD before I was even in this industry, before I was a travel advisor, owned my path on Winding Travel. And from our very first one, which was what, 11, 12 years ago, we have fallen in love with the style of travel and the quality of the people that we're traveling with. And our guide, just the whole thing. And you all have heard me rave about it before. But Peru is, you know, it's a bucket list destination. It's incredible. Nature, archaeology, food, art, all of it. And the timing just worked well for us empty nesters. The kids are, you know, grown and flown. And Harv, my husband's schedule, you know, has started certain Limitations. And that itinerary that week just happened to work. And it was also good timing for my birthday. So it worked out really, really well for us to join this adult exclusive. Adventures by Disney. [00:10:49] Speaker B: Awesome. Now, yeah, Karen and I are not quite birthday twins. We have our birthdays one day apart and we are both Libras and so we both just celebrated some birthdays. So I love that you got to do an ABD for birthday, Karen. That's a. What a fabulous idea, right? [00:11:06] Speaker A: It was so much fun. Honestly, like, I went into it. One of the great things about Adventures by Disney is you don't really have to plan a lot. And so I went into it. I honestly had read the itinerary three or four times. I'd reviewed the itinerary with harb. I tried to tell my kids about it and my team about it, but I kind of went in. Still not exactly sure what we would be doing. Except of course for Machu Picchu, which is sort of on everybody's bucket list. It was the most jam packed, fully immersive adventure yet. I've done seven now and there was just so much to it that, you know, it's hard to kind of say where to start without being here all night. But you know, one of the picture that I started out with here is our group and this is the first morning where we're all together as a group, having all arrived at some point the day or two before. The first official day is there's nothing on the itinerary, nothing included, except get to the hotel at some point during the day and check in with the guides and go to sleep because you're going to be waking up early to, to take a flight. And so this was our first group picture in the lobby of the Lima Hotel in Weston. And you know, it just speaks to, you know, that first day when you're on a group trip and you're like, I don't know any of these people yet because we did it. [00:12:45] Speaker B: Nobody's putting their arms around like the strangers yet because eventually they won't be strangers. But I'm sure that changes. [00:12:53] Speaker A: Exactly. And there were a few different people we met. Two couples from Charlotte, North Carolina, actually where I'm that were traveling together and a few couples from Canada that were traveling together. But you know, for the most part none of us knew each other. And it's that first day where everybody's like introducing themselves and trying to figure out how are we going to fit in. And the guides are trying to make sure that everybody's on time. And organized. And so this is kind of the pre picture of before the Disney magic is sprinkled all over the group. [00:13:25] Speaker B: I love that. All right, well Brian, let's take us to the next slide. Now for those watching, we're not going to be doing like day by day. We're going to kind of COVID this topically and so we're not going to hit like every excursion activity that Karen did or we would literally. I mean that would probably take like three shows rather than one, right? [00:13:45] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. So what I. [00:13:48] Speaker C: How long was the trip over? Was it a week or was it longer? [00:13:51] Speaker A: It was a week. It was a week seven night trip. Keeping in mind again, day one was really, you know, the arrival day had nothing. Some adventures by Disney have like a welcome dinner on arrival day. There's literally nothing but we, we used it well and we'll probably talk about that later. But we, we did arrive late on a pre night so like kind of T minus one and then it was seven full nights. So I started out with some photos of the hotels are not exactly in order. This is the hotel in Cusco. So it was the last hotel we stayed in. The hotel in Cusco was originally an Incan palace and really well situated, very comfortable rooms, beautiful lobby. We took the time to do a historical tour that wasn't part of the abd but during some of our free time there was an included tour of the hotel. I have the picture of the teas here because tea in Peru is very prevalent and important because there's teas for help you with elevation made of the coca leaf. And in Cusco you're at about 11,500 or higher in elevation above sea level. Feet above sea level and you can feel it. So it's nice that they always have the tea available. [00:15:22] Speaker C: Wow. [00:15:22] Speaker B: I love tea so that like I would be happy to drink tea all the time, especially tea that's going to help me with any kind of elevation sickness. That sounds amazing. Yes. [00:15:32] Speaker A: And there was another kind of tea called munia that was made of different herbs that also the hotels tended to have available and that was more like, you know, to settle your stomach or for digestion or just a good tea with you know, different mint and various herbs in it. So. So yeah, that was our Cusco hotel. If I, if I did this correctly, as I was throwing it together, the next slide will be. I don't know what. Brian. Yes, this is our hotel in the Sacred Valley. This is a Marriott luxury collection hotel. All three hotels actually happen to be Marriott. So you don't get points if you're a Marriott member because you're booked through the group, but you can give them your number for any charges or whatever to get points for additional spend. This hotel was phenomenal. It was a beautiful, beautiful hotel in the Sacred Valley. Great grounds, large room, sitting areas, a huge walk in closet, great bathroom, you know, beautiful pool that we never got to use because we just chose not to spend our time that way. And baby alpacas in the lobby. [00:16:48] Speaker C: I was gonna ask if I was. [00:16:48] Speaker B: A stuffed petting the alpaca in the lobby. [00:16:51] Speaker A: And that is a real alpaca. This is, you know, my little. One of my little stuffed ones, but that is a real baby alpaca. And they were the sweetest, softest, most wonderful animals. And you see alpacas and some llamas all over Peru. [00:17:15] Speaker B: Just. [00:17:17] Speaker A: I mean, it's. I was, you know, I was kind of joking. Daddy, I want another alpaca. [00:17:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm with Tracy here in the comments because when I saw that I was like, is that like a pillow or a stuffed animal? Like, that looks adorable. And of course, Beth just says it all with the emojis. So adorable. [00:17:39] Speaker A: And everywhere you go they have women that are in traditional Incan dress that are like carrying around different age alpacas to, you know, try to get you to take their picture and maybe earn the. The currency there is called the sol or, you know, multiples or solace. And. But we didn't have to, you know, do that because we had so many opportunities to interact with alpacas and llamas, including in the hotel lobby every night. [00:18:08] Speaker C: How many hotels did you, Karen, how many hotels did you stay at over the course of the week? [00:18:14] Speaker A: We just stayed in three. And the first one was in Lima just for the night. And then it was so wonderful to get to the Sacred Valley and to stay there for four nights. You know, you could really unpack and settle in. And then, you know, when we were at the Cusco Hotel, another couple nights. So that was just really, really a nice pace. Something to look at when you're planning an adventures bike Disney is or any guided vacation. How many hotel changes do they have? Because there's pluses and minuses to that. There's reasons for the hotel changes, but for this itinerary, it was wonderful to make this hotel our home base for a good while. [00:18:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Now for. You had one pre night because you arrived t minus one. Right. Did you stay at the same hotel that was, you know, that was your first hotel? [00:19:08] Speaker A: We did. So we Stayed at the west in Lima, which is the hotel that Adventures by Disney uses. We booked that independently from Adventures by Disney, but yet they still did pick us up from the airport, which is a wonderful perk because it was the same hotel. We got there pretty late on a Sunday night, which was the T minus one. Monday was technically day one of the adventure. And the guides. We had a welcome letter from our guides, and we got to see them in the lobby, and they gave us some tips and some maps, how to spend our day and reminding us what we needed to do for the next morning to get started. [00:19:51] Speaker C: I'm curious, Karen. I mean, like, these hotels probably have some amazing amenities. That pool, for instance, catches my attention. Did you find you actually had time to, like, on your own much, or was this really, like a go, go, go every day? [00:20:08] Speaker A: There definitely were times that we could have chosen to use the pool or the spa, for example, or there was some. Some times where we had a choice. Right. So there was one afternoon on the itinerary in the Sacred Valley. It was a pretty big day already. And they said, okay, if you'd like, you can come into town with us and visit a local market and a local famous pottery artist studio. Pottery studio. Or you can just enjoy the hotel. And, you know, I think it was probably a few more people decided to go into town, but I can imagine that on the family friendly one, more families would have chosen to stay at the hotel and swim. So it really, you know, there were some. A couple of chunks of time that we had free. But as I did say, there were, you know, this was one of the most inclusive, you know, active adventures that I've done. There was not a ton of time on your own, very few meals on our own, which was, you know, in a way, very nice. So. But if you had some time, you could, you know, take a quick dip. [00:21:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Brian, let's go to the next slide. Yeah. We've got a great question from Tracy. How many people were on your adventure? And then also, how many guides did you have? [00:21:42] Speaker A: Sure. So we had 30 adults on our adventure, and we had two guides, which is typical of adventures by Disneyland Vacations. We had had Mike from the US he happened to be our guide on our Costa Rica trip, which was over nine years ago. So it was really exciting to see him again. And then we had. Yeah, you know, you just. You don't forget your guides. You really don't. And they, you know, they may forget us. They have a lot more guests than we have guides. Right. But Mike is awesome. You know, we. We had definitely kept in touch. Harv and him had exchanged things about paddle boarding or kayaking over the years. Our local guide was Rudy from Peru, and you always have one local guide, and he was amazing. And then for a couple days, we had an additional local guide who sometimes guides for adventures by Disney or had in the past. And he kind of came on to be our guide, especially for Machu Picchu. [00:22:47] Speaker B: So. [00:22:48] Speaker A: But we had two adventure guides that traveled with us the entire time. So the next few slides that I put together are about food in Peru. And, you know, food is always a great topic. And I will say that the food in Peru blew me away. I mean, it was so great. [00:23:13] Speaker C: And. [00:23:14] Speaker A: And I want to know that Harvey has celiac and is really sensitive to gluten, oats, and soy. And there's a lot of things. There's a lot of things in Peruvian food that can be made with beer, can be made with soy sauce. Thankfully, there's a lot of things that are not real glutenous. But he ate. Ate very well the whole week. But the highlight, I have to say, was on our. On our first night, the. The first day that, you know, I said, it's arrival day. No meals are included. It's just a day to get there. We scored a reservation at a restaurant in Lima called Central that in 2023 was named the number one restaurant in the world. And there is, you know, lists that are put out there. If any of you have read Unreasonable Hospitality, I'm blanking on the name of the restaurant that that book is based on that they worked so hard to get that ranking of number one in the world, but this restaurant was named number one, so they're now in the hall of fame. They still deserve that spot. Lima has several restaurants that are in, like, the top 50 in the world. I was blown away by the food scene, and this was. Was the most unique, incredible meal. I could probably talk the whole show about it, but I will just say it was fantastic and beautiful and unique. [00:24:52] Speaker C: What kind of describe some of the Peruvian food that you had? What's it like? [00:24:57] Speaker B: Yeah, Brian, next slide. Because the next couple slides, there's some. [00:25:03] Speaker A: More food pics from different times during the week. So, of course, pisco is the national beverage of adult beverage of Peru. It's a fermented grape, and many of you will have had a pisco sour, and then there's fermented corn beverages, one of which has grape in it, which is the one in the purple carafe there. There's a lot of South American wines and coffee. We went to a coffee shop in Peru. Is top. I think it was 55 in the world. It was named this year. It was the. It was called Three Monkeys in Cusco. It's. I think it was 55 in the world. And I will tell you, it deserved it. It was fantastic. Food wise, really. I think the food is incredibly accessible. There's something for everyone because they have a lot of heritage that comes from around the. Around the world. So there's a lot of Asian influences. There's. There's a lot of seafood, meats, chicken, beef. There's, you know, Italian. Like, basically you could get pretty much everything. And the meals that we served were, you know, a combination of some local flavors, like Lomo Saltado, which is kind of a stew made, you know, typically with like. Like beef and peppers and like a stir fry kind of stew. That's. It looks like salmon, but it's more like a river trout, I think is what they called it. Really delicious. And of course, in the Sacred Valley, our guy told me the night before, he's like, hey, Karen, ask for the Mickey special at breakfast. And because it wasn't on the menu, but of course I did and I. So I got a Mickey pancake. I guess they called it a waffle, but it was really. Definitely felt more like a pancake. So it was maybe something in between, but super fun little taquitos at the hotel bar one night. Just because sometimes you just want a burger or something easy. And really you could get, you know, all that kind of food. But we had such fresh, great variety of food that was beautifully presented, beautifully served. And virtually all of our meals except two were included. And those were once we got to Cusco and, you know, all the meals during our time in the Sacred Valley were included. And they had such beautiful settings for us. Outdoor picnics that were catered with tents and flowers and entertainment. It was just really over the top from the very first, you know, welcome lunch to the farewell dinner. [00:28:09] Speaker B: Amazing that. [00:28:10] Speaker C: That fish. That fish dish, that salmon. I'm assuming that salmon, based on the color looks. [00:28:15] Speaker B: No, just the trout. She said it was a tragic trout. [00:28:18] Speaker A: It looks. It look. It's kind of like a local trout, but so, so good. Of course, it came presented like in the foil, and they open it up and it's perfectly cooked. I think there might be one more food pick after this. Here you go. So at some of these welcome lunches that they served, you know, the meals kind of family style on board. So that was sort of like a deconstructed chicken salad, Chicken Caesar on the left and then on the right are some of the vegetables that they served, including, I don't know if you how well you can see it, but the local corn in Peru is unbelievable. I've never seen corn kernels that big. At first I thought it was like fake or something else, but the kernels are huge, huge. And apparently there's so many varieties of corn, let alone potatoes. I think they said there's, you know, depending on who you ask, some will say 3,000, some will say 5,000 varieties of potatoes in Peru. [00:29:18] Speaker B: Now we've got a great question from our very own Kaylee. In the chat, she's asking what was the average age of the other adventures on this trip. Remember, guys, this is an adult only, an adult exclusive, they call them on Adventures by Disney. So not a family version, but I'm guessing their family version is similar activities and whatnot. But, Karen, what was the age? [00:29:43] Speaker A: I would say that Harv and I, who are in our mid-50s, fell right in. There was, I think the youngest was the young adult daughter of a mom and her young adult daughter who never found out exactly how old she is, but I would say probably 25 was the youngest. Youngest a couple people in their 30s and maybe one or two that were late 60s to early 70 here and there. But most were probably in the 40 to 50 range. Some of it, again, it's an adult only, and it was October. So, you know, if you did an adult only in May, as I've done before, you might get more college students, families, you know, with young adults. But it being October, I think it changed the mix a little bit. [00:30:32] Speaker C: And so before we move on from food, Tracy wanted to know how many of the meals ended up being included versus sort of on your own, if you remember. [00:30:40] Speaker B: She already answered that, Brian. [00:30:42] Speaker A: All but two, of course. Of course. Breakfast every day and then the arrival day, besides breakfast, had no meals. Everything was on our own. That's when we got that great reservation. From there, we didn't have to do a meal out of pocket until we got to Cusco for the last days, where we had one dinner and one lunch on our own. Everything else was included. And they did a couple of meals where we could eat at the hotel restaurants, but not as a group. So it was after, like after Machu Picchu day, they had a menu at the hotel restaurant, the main restaurant, and also at the bar restaurant, which is more casual. And you could go to either at any time. And you know, you didn't have to eat as a group and that was also included, which was really, really a nice touc. [00:31:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds really nice. You know, one of the things Tracy's mentioning in the comments is that the age range, she did the Italy adult exclusive abd and that the age range is fairly similar to yours. So I think that, I think that's a pretty. I think you're right. Depending upon what time of year you might get some additional young adults on some of the cruises, usually in that multi generational category where you've got the adult children with the adult parents. But I think in general these, these adult exclusives are, you know, lot of 50 year olds and probably some 60 year olds and then some, maybe some active, you know, 70 year olds. [00:32:12] Speaker A: But yeah, and I will say this is a very active adventure. Probably the most intensive walking wise that I have done, you know, with a lot of elevation, being, you know, at elevation, a lot of the time there's adjustment, all of that. One more food pick. This was the first night, this was kind of our welcome dinner. The first two pictures at the hotel where they did this traditional meal where they put layers of hot stone and different kinds of vegetables and beef and meats into, you know, this, this oven, seal it up and let it cook for a while. And of course there was all kinds of other things that we were served. But I do want to note that in Peru one of the specialties is guinea pig. And that picture on the right is a town that's kind of famous for their guinea pigs. And every shop has like a picture of a smiling guinea pig or a big statue of a guinea pig and people come and eat the guinea pig. We did, we were served some. So yes, I did actually. We went to an Incan bar which was kind of fun and next to the kind of main room of the Incan bar was a little like pen full of really cute little guinea pigs all scurrying around. But you know, they were being, they were being fattened up. So if you look closely, that is guinea pig in the picture. I did try it. [00:34:04] Speaker B: I was asking. Doesn't taste like chicken, I think. [00:34:08] Speaker A: I feel like I don't know what it tasted like. It was kind of chewy. I just had one bite. It didn't make me ill or anything, but it didn't appeal. I'm going to also admit because I was there, I did, I'm going to admit this. I tried Alpac. [00:34:33] Speaker C: Kaylee's comment sums it up. Yikes. [00:34:38] Speaker B: And, and did that Taste like chicken or more like. I don't know, like. [00:34:43] Speaker A: I think it tasted more like. Like a lamb. A lamb or a deer, like. Or a venison or something like that. But really, I just had one bite of it. It wasn't something that appealed to me, but I decided, you know, I'm here, I'm gonna try it. [00:34:57] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, went in. Went in. In Peru, I guess. Yeah. Kaylee? Yeah. [00:35:05] Speaker A: There were a surprising amount of adult beverages included at virtually, like, every meal, which was crazy. There were welcome beverages, there were wine, there was cocktails. At some of the meals, they said, okay, you could get, like, one glass of wine, but then, you know, the next one was on your own. But pretty much at everything, there was always, you know, wine or pisco sour. We had pisco sour demonstrations. One tip when I arrived, we. You know, you arrive in Cusco from the Lima airport on the first day, and they do a welcome lunch in Cusco before you descend into the sacred valley. So you're at elevation, and you're having this great lunch, and then this demonstration of weaving of alpaca wool. So the first thing they do is they give you a welcome beverage. And I took the one with pisco. There was some without, and then I showed you the pic. They also had wine. So I had a lovely lunch with beverages. And then I sat and watched the weaving demonstration. And I started seeing black spots. The altitude was getting to me. And, you know, I had read alcohol and altitude don't mix. You know, they recommended avoiding alcohol. And of course, I ignored that. And I really did think I was gonna pass out for a minute. I stood up and walked to the guide and said, I'm feeling really off. And he offered to get oxygen. They do have oxygen available. The hotels have it. But I think just walking around and cooling off a little bit, even though it was a little chilly, but I had that wool poncho on, helped clear it, and I never needed anything. And I did take the coca tea, which they said should help. And I think that kind of kicked in. But, yeah, lots of great beverages during the week. [00:37:01] Speaker B: Week. [00:37:01] Speaker A: Great wine. [00:37:02] Speaker B: Be careful with the altitude. I'm just gonna say asking, would I try it? I think the answer to the guinea pig is no. I. I have. There's a question mark on the alpaca. [00:37:16] Speaker C: I'd try both. I've tried all kinds of things. [00:37:18] Speaker B: Yeah, you definitely would try both. I know that. [00:37:20] Speaker C: I'm just gonna tell you. [00:37:22] Speaker A: I also brought home a little guinea pig. [00:37:26] Speaker B: I don't think I could try guinea Pig. Especially in front of Nathan. I think he would be horrified. I think he would. Yeah. [00:37:31] Speaker C: I'll tell you right now, would bring home. Are these two llamas here? [00:37:36] Speaker B: Baby alpacas. [00:37:38] Speaker C: Sorry, I can't remember. [00:37:39] Speaker A: There's alpacas. And somewhere. Somewhere they taught us the difference between a llama. I think the llamas have the longer noses. Yeah, I. Those are so sweet. [00:37:52] Speaker C: Amos and Isabelle in our house are in trouble because those. Those. Those look very cute. [00:37:57] Speaker B: I know. Our dogs are. Yeah, yeah. [00:37:59] Speaker A: And this slide was an homage to llamas and alpacas. One day, actually, as we were heading back into Cusco from our time in the Sacred Valley, we stopped at a llama farm, and we were welcomed by a shaman and musicians doing, like, a whole ritual and dance. And I'm gonna tell you, that's a Disney difference because as we were leaving, we saw another tour group come in, and they did not have that inner entertainment greeting them. And the other Disney difference is the fun, and that is that, you know, they gave us, you know, stacks of these grasses to go around and feed them. You know, there was a whole, like, stall. You know, they were wandering around and super friendly, and they told us that, you know, to do us. We were going to have a selfie contest. And so I don't know how clear it is. And the way the middle picture rendered I was trying to do. I was calling it the Llama and the Tramp. [00:39:03] Speaker B: Oh, it's spaghetti. It's the spaghetti between. [00:39:08] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So I thought that should be the winning selfie for the contest. That's amazing. [00:39:19] Speaker B: The Llama and the Tramp. You're the tramp. Apparently. [00:39:23] Speaker A: Apparently this slide is an ode to planes, trains and automobiles because literally, this trip was planes, trains and automobiles. As I told you the very first full morning, they took us back to the airport. They make it so easy to. Your luggage is picked up from your room, put on the coach, taken off the bus at the airport, you have to check in with your luggage because of security, but they hand you your boarding passes, they ask, escort you through security. They just make it super easy. And then, so, you know, there's a picture of our guide, Mike, on the coach. Most of the time on our trip in the Sacred Valley, we were divided into two smaller coaches. And, you know, in order to navigate, you know, the tighter streets and the curvy roads. And then the picture on the left is the amazing train that we took. Took into Machu Picchu. So we really did get planes, trains, and automobiles. And, you know, There is a lot of logistics and transportation on this trip to see everything you want to see in Peru. And another reason to do it with Adventures by Disney is they just, you know, handle it all for you. You just show up when they tell you. [00:40:51] Speaker B: Jeffrey Rice R. I love that. I mean, that's like. That's the difference, right? Like, that's. People are always like, oh, well, Adventures by Disney is so expensive, right? But what you're paying is this white glove, concierge level service, right? Like, where everything's planned for you. They've taken care of all of the details, whether it's transportation or the tickets to get into a museum or the tour guide that's at Machu Picchu or like, whatever the reservation is that you need, that's all done. You don't have to worry about any of it. You literally just show up with your passport and that's. And then everything. [00:41:24] Speaker A: Exactly right, exactly right. And, like, you know, you need a recommendation for, you know, for dinner if you have your. On your own time or, you know, you want to make sure that your dietary needs are met. I mean, our. Our guides worked really hard to make sure that Harv was taken care of. And at every turn, he was not. And not with an afterthought, with, like, meaningful choices. You know, I'm. I really like food kinds of things. I don't know how well you can see this picture. These were salt ponds. You all saw the salt caves in Austria, right? In Austri, these are salt ponds. And it's hard to get the perspective, maybe from this photo of how many thousands of individual salt ponds and how long they just go on and on and on for. They're still working. They are fed with spring water, and they all kind of are designed to flow into each other, and then when they evaporate, somebody comes and scrapes it all. And then you can buy lots of salt in the market. Market are really just another one of these things. Like, you wouldn't know to go visit on your own. You know, it's there. It is a tourist attraction, but not necessarily one that you think, oh, I'm going to Peru to see salt ponds. But it turned out to be one of the most fascinating places. And then from there, we hiked kind of back down into the town that day. So it was also just a really cool hike to see the salt mines, you know, from different angles and, you know, just the nature of the landscape as we went down towards the river. But there was a few people that had some mobility issues and they Popped them in the van and drove them down into town instead. [00:43:23] Speaker C: I was gonna say, I remember to go back to the point you made earlier about, you know, Disney vetting all of this stuff. I remember we had a guest who had done an adventures by Disney to Costa Rica, and then she went back to Costa Rica on her own and she was messing with, messaging us going, I really miss the adventure guys for this. So, I mean, they do make things so seamless. And Sam, this reminds me of the salt ponds you saw. I forget which stop it was on our Virgin Boy. Yeah. In the Caribbean. [00:43:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So there are some salt ponds in certain parts of the Caribbean. I think it was on. Was it on Grand Cayman, Brian, where we had, where we had the Jeep tour? Yeah, I think it was where when we were in Grand Cayman, they actually have salt ponds. And so they do. They sort of have it marked out like, whose salt pond is what? And then they go and scrape it when they, when the water evaporates. But it's, it's. It is like one of these things where in, you know, in, in Latin America, in the Caribbean, like, that was such a big industry and in certain places still. Still is. [00:44:20] Speaker C: There's an entire book written. It's called salt because it's so important to human history and life. So there you go. [00:44:29] Speaker A: You know, food preservation. And, you know, it was the. It was the. For a while, right? You know, the currency of the world. Now it's worth pennies. And apparently they make more on admission fees to visit the salt mines than they do on the actual salt. But, you know, the next few slides just highlight some of the various activities and places we went. Everybody knows Machu Picchu, but, you know, there's these. All these other sites throughout the Sacred Valley and Cusco that we visited that are Incan and pre Incan civilizations. Really cool archaeological sites, beautiful views, beautiful hiking. We were really lucky. You know, the rainy season technically starts November. Apparently there had been some rain earlier. We had fantastic. You can see, you know, blue skies everywhere. We walked a ton before we even got to Machu Picchu. Like the first. I don't know if I have a picture of it in one of the other slides. The first day of activities after the travel day, we went to this site that, you know, they said, okay, we're going to go up there. It's 250 steps to the top. Now we were still. We weren't at the full altitude of Cusco, but you're still kind of high up in the Sabre Valley. And, you know, they Said, you don't have to go all the way up. There's, you know, plenty to see. You can go up partially, and there's terraces. And the guides take breaks. Breaks and tell you as you're going so you can catch your breath. I did it all. Came home with such a sense of accomplishment because I did all the walks, all the stairs, all the options. I did it all on my two feet. My thighs were absolutely burning before I ever got to Machu Picchu, but I did it. And so it was really a great sense of accomplishment. So, you know, again, here just, you know, doing some hikes after seeing, you know, seeing some sites, and it's like, okay, you could hike back or we can drive you back. We did do a great whitewater rafting trip. Disney provides your wetsuits, your aqua socks, helmet. They have. They include all the photos that. Not just the photos that the guides take, but on the white water, on the. On the river rafting trip, there's guide station, and in other rafts and on the riverbanks taking photos. And all of those are uploaded into the shared site. We got, you know, great photos from them. Harp got great video with his new meta glasses. Super, super fun. I. I was nervous. I get nervous at these things. I'm not a thrill seeker, but I would. [00:47:27] Speaker B: I would be nervous about this, but I would do it. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I was nervous, but I would do it. And they do have. You know, each raft has a, um. And one of our adventure guides was in our boat, so there was four of us, plus Mike, our adventure guide. And then we were supposed to have, you know, a raft. A river raft guy, you know, that really knows what he's doing. And they were just playing around, and they just pushed us off without anybody. And I was kind of the Harv. Kind of knows what he's doing. And I think adventure guide might kind of knew what he's doing, but I was kind of to freak it out. It was all fine. [00:48:09] Speaker B: And they. [00:48:10] Speaker A: He caught up to us and got in and steered us through all the, you know, crazy, crazy stuff. [00:48:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:15] Speaker A: But, you know, just terrific. And you get out of the chilly water and you change. They have towels for you, and then they have a spread of, you know, food and hot tea and, you know, all the great things. And then, you know, one of the things that people say is, you know, am I going to have enough time, you know, to really feel the sense of place? And on this trip, you do. There were plenty of opportunities to roam and wander on your own or just Explore. As we were, you know, okay, we were heading down from the one site and going down into town to meet up with those that had driven down to the music workshop. So you kind of get to explore. Or the afternoon market tour that was optional. They actually gave a US 10 soles each in the market and encouraged us. It kind of made a little competition to see who could bargain and, you know, for the most amount of food. So that was really fun. Having some Spanish helped. And there was, you know, all kinds of interesting, fun things in the market. And then if you want to find out, I'm not going to say here what we did with at the end of that activity, but if you want to find out the spoiler, I'm going to say, you need to message me. And I will tell you what we actually did with the food because I don't want to ruin the surprise for other people. [00:49:52] Speaker D: Nice. [00:49:53] Speaker A: That might just want to be surprised. And then we also. Go ahead. [00:49:57] Speaker C: I was gonna say, hey, Karen, Tracy was asking what were the. What were the. What was the blue skies and stuff, but what were the temps like for you? [00:50:04] Speaker A: Yeah, it was. I would say that day was a little chilly. I mean, it was the kind of weather that week where you would start off in the morning with, you know, either, you know, many people had shorts and like, you know, a sweatshirt or a light coat on, and then you start peeling your layers off as the day goes on. We were rafting in the morning, and the water was a chilly. And it did sprinkle a little bit on the river, but we were already wet. So, you know. [00:50:36] Speaker B: It'S like when it rains, it cast away. You're already in the water. Like, you're like, I don't care. I'm already wet. [00:50:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I would say that, you know, there were some days that it got up to, like, mid-70s at times. So it was. It was really pleasant. But, you know, in the morning, you could wake up and feel a chill. And then there was another day where we went into another town that has a lot of local markets and artisans, and they just said, hey, you know, we're going to, you know, dropping you off here. We'll meet back up in like an hour and a half. And everybody just had time to explore and do what they wanted. And that day they gave us each 20 soles, so that's about six or seven dollars. And we each bought a white elephant gift and that we exchanged in the white elephant game at our farewell dinner. And so that was really fun. Fun, too. [00:51:27] Speaker B: Yeah. We. We did do that. It wasn't a white elephant, but it was on our river cruise. So I think this is kind of an abd thing. They don't do it on necessarily every trip. But on our river cruise, because ours was Christmas, we had a gift exchange as well. And it wasn't. When I say when I think of white elephants, I think of gag gifts. When I think of versus a gift exchange, which is just, you know, a nice gift. But it's still a small, right? Like a small gift. So something that doesn't cost a lot of money. [00:51:56] Speaker A: Yes. They asked us to keep everything Disney rated because in some of these shops there's some Incan traditions that are adult oriented, I'd say. But there was a range of things that were kind of funny and fun and some, you know, and it was, it was really fun. We did the whole swapping thing and part of the competition was how you wrapped it. Because every. They said it had to come wrapped and everybody just had to be creative in what you could find to wrap. So we were proud of ours. We wrapped ours in a Kleenex box from the hotel and used. I happened to have some fashion tape. So we were able to seal it as though and put tissues on top so it really looked like a tissue box. [00:52:43] Speaker C: I just grabbed my shaver and head out and find an alpaca and roll it up in some fur. There we go. [00:52:48] Speaker A: There you go. There you go. So this is the money shot of Machu Picchu, right? I mean, you know, just such a beautiful sh. And you go up to this one, you know, there's all different everywhere you turn, view after view, and you go up and at one landing, there's literally llamas and alpacas just roaming. You know, I'm like, I don't know where they came from. They're not caged. They're just hanging out with you. But you know Machu Picchu, there's two ways to get there. You could hike the Inca Trail, which is typically a three day hike. You can make it longer, but hard to make it shorter. Or you take the train on the single gauge track that goes in. And of course we took the train. We were in a great car with dome, dome windows. I had that in other slides. So we had so much beautiful scenery. You could walk to the very back car, which was right next to us, and take photos. There was entertainment, musicians and all kinds of things getting there. They paid for the back car. [00:53:54] Speaker B: How long is that train ride? [00:53:57] Speaker A: I'm wanting to say it was. That's a really basic question. I think it was an hour and a half, maybe, maybe two hours on the way back, because at one point we just stopped. And I'm not. So don't really know why, but it might have been to let another train by. But it was. We had a really fun time on the train between the entertainment on the way there and all the scenery. And then some people in our group, they do include in the car kind of like snacks, you know, like chips and cookies or whatever. But some people, you know, in our group purchased, you know, kind of make your own mimosas and Bellinis. And then on the way back, there was actually a fashion show that the train people put on to sell their alpaca. You know, some beautiful alpaca coats and sweaters. And pro tip, you think it's expensive. You're going to be like, it's beautiful. And you're like, it's so beautiful. And then you look at the price tag and it's pricey. But when we went to the alpaca farm the next day, I think it was, they had some of the same items and they were up to 50% more expensive than the train. So, you know, that was kind of shocking. A couple people had regret. So, um, I would say now that I saw it, go ahead and buy it on the train if you like something. But, you know, this was, you know, we had a guide, we had a really. You have to have tickets to Machu Picchu. It's timed entry, and you have to have a specific circuit that you're traveling on. And so we had a really great circuit that we were able to do. You have to bring your passports to Machu Picchu. Picchu. That's how controlled it is. But the guides just made sure that we were really well prepared and, you know, shepherded us all in. Found the best Photoshop spots for us, really shared a lot of great information, had a great pin moment in Machu Picchu. Just, you know, really, really informative and stunning. And, you know, this is, you know, one of the modern wonders of the world. And it was really great to be able to see. [00:56:20] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:56:20] Speaker B: And for those who don't, you can't just show up. Like, you have to have, as Karen said, like, that's one of the things that even if you're not going with Adventures by Disney, you've got to, like, have this booked with the correct guides and they've got specific, you know, as you mentioned, specific circuits that you have to be booked on and all of that. [00:56:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And once you get to the train, you still have to get up. And so, you know, some people that would be a big, big hike to hike up from the train and like, the little base town that has, like, kind of arisen since the discovery of machu Picchu over 100 years ago. But again, ABD had, you know, the buses waiting for us and, you know, to take us up the mountain, all the switchbacks to get to the base, you know, the base entry from Machu Picchu. Then there's still more stairs just to get in. And then, of course, the whole way is, you know, know, steps and a lot of un. You know, not going to sugarcoat it. [00:57:17] Speaker B: I. [00:57:18] Speaker A: It was, you know, I was tentative. It was a lot of uneven rocks, some loose gravel, some handrails, but, you know, an amazing experience. [00:57:31] Speaker C: Hey, Karen, can I just say one thing for folks out there who may not know, you'll see in the middle of the screen here the pin. So when. When Karen said there was a pin moment at machine, the ABD gives you, like, a pin for each, like, stop along the way. And so, yes, Karen's displaying her. Her lanyard with all of her pins. So that's a little special added touch that ABD does. But before you go into this slide, Karen, I want to ask, like, how crowded were some of the places that you went? Did it feel touristy or did it feel like you were mingling with the locals? Like, how was the crowd situation? [00:58:08] Speaker A: You know, I think definitely the day that felt, you know, kind of the busiest and the most chaotic was Machu Picchu day. We took a very early train, so it was less busy getting to, you know, into the train station and onto the train. But when we came off the train at the end of the evening was really jam packed full of people. You know, that's just, you know, the way station for everybody, you know, all the hikers and the tourists and everything and, you know, and a lot of locals. And I think it, you know, it was. It may have been a Friday night too, which also, you know, made it very vibrant. But otherwise, you know, as we were going through Machu Picchu, there were other people there, and there were times where we had to wait a moment to get the prime spot for a photo. But, you know, we were a pretty big, you know, we were 30 people, and so we were probably the whole lot more than anybody else. So we're really not other big groups like that going through. You know, there were definitely some. Some people that were spending an inordinate amount of time getting that perfect instagram shot. Like, you know, we, we tried to be respectful, get your shot, move on, but there, you know, but then we realized, realized too, there's a million places to take a photo. You know, especially once we got up to the area that I showed with the llama. And then this picture on the left with the guides, like, we spent quite a bit of time there and, you know, you could kind of really walk around and take lots of photos. And then as we were heading back down, there were just a lot, a lot of opportunity. [00:59:54] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. It strikes me maybe the reason your train stopped, because we learned this in Alaska, is they stopped occasionally to pick up up hikers along the route and then take them down. So they might have had to wait for somebody who had scheduled a pickup of some sort. So that could also help. [01:00:08] Speaker B: Or train passing too, because that's what she said. Yeah, because they can't be both passing because they pass so closely. You can't have them both moving because they might actually bang into each other with the movement. [01:00:22] Speaker C: People always ask us about Disney touches on abd. So I see this clearly. A local chef taking his arm out. [01:00:30] Speaker B: So there's Mickey hands, there's a Mickey pan, and then there's a little Remy under a chef's hat. Yeah, yeah. [01:00:37] Speaker A: I put this slide together to answer the question how Disney is adventures by Disney in Peru. And the answer is, it's basically what you see on this slide, that was it. The guides brought the Mickey hands up to Machu Picchu, which was really fun. The pins are all Disney themed. You know, we've got, you know, Donald on the Andean Majesty and, you know, Machu Picchu has Goofy on it and, you know, so the pins are Disney themed. And at the hotel in the Sacred Valley, our chef that was demonstrating some, you know, ceviche and the Lomo Saltado, at the end of his demonstration, you know, whipped off his chef's hat and there was Remy underneath. And then he had a box that looked like a box that you would present tea in, but had all the pins in it. So that was really it. You know, now I'm going to say mostly everybody on the trip had some kind of Disney affinity. You know, had done a Disney Cruise or DVC or had done other AVDs, but there were a few that had not and were really just on it because it was a great itinerary and they heard good things. I think there was one day on one of the buses that, you know, there was. We did some Disney music trivia, but it was more often on the bus that, you know, we had like Fleetwood Mac playing or something or some Peruvian music. So really very, very minimal Disney theming. And then you saw the Mickey pancake that you have to kind of ask and know about. [01:02:19] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think that that's, I think with Adventures by Disney, it's a light touch of Disney. You know, this sort of Disney's magic sprinkled in, but it's not like a lot of in your face. Now, of course, the ones that are more, that are family friendly are going to have just a little bit more of a sprinkle probably than the adult exclusive ones. And then you know it. And that doesn't really, I don't think, change whether you're on a river cruise versus a land based one. It's still, it's a little sprinkle with a little bit more with kids, a little bit less with the adult exclusive. [01:02:56] Speaker A: Exactly, exactly. [01:02:58] Speaker C: Nice. [01:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Do we have another slide? Oh, look at that. That's a great, beautiful group. [01:03:04] Speaker C: That's a great group photo. [01:03:07] Speaker A: The guides are amazing. [01:03:09] Speaker B: Right. [01:03:09] Speaker A: So they set us all up. They went up kind of a level, took it going down and you know, again, this was still, we still had a few more days left of the trip. But this was, you know, remember that first picture where I said we first met and then here we are in Machu Picchu together and you know, we were literally. There was one guy who sadly had ruptured his Achilles. I don't know exactly how long before this trip, but you know, he was in a boot and like an immobilizer with his knee at an angle and had like kind of like a peg holding it up and walking sticks. I mean, we were cheering him on. You know, there was somebody else that had like a cane. Like we, I mean, we were all just rooting for each other and you know, just. It was such a sense of accomplishment. Here we are and just having so much fun together. And so I think that's just the magical picture that sums it up. [01:04:06] Speaker C: Nice. What was the biggest highlight for you, Karen? The thing that just stands out as being kind of the best experience that you had. [01:04:15] Speaker A: I'm going to have to say Machu Picchu day. And that's because there's so many pieces. I would never have wanted to do that without the adventure guides. You know, even after all the hiking we did in Machu Picchu then we had a great lunch available to us and then we have to get back. Right. So, you know, just having all of that, that process, you know, with that high touch service. But also having our guides, our Peruvian guides told the story of Machu Picchu and of, you know, the Incan culture and the Spanish conquest and even how all of that ties into modern day Peru and their own families. You know, if you don't go, you're not going to just get that from anybody, you know. You know that Disney really vets their guides well. And you know, having a multi day experience with the guides is different than being with a guide for, you know, oh, can I see this guide for this, this site and you know, this guide for mouth they weave information in so it becomes like, oh yeah, you mentioned that. Like I remembered that my guide had grown up in a town called Lake Tikitaka in Peru. And then when I was in the market there were these wheels of cheese with like this green reed wrapped around it and she said, oh, it's from Lago Tikitaka. And I was like, I know that place now. [01:05:56] Speaker B: You know, oh, I love that. [01:05:59] Speaker A: And I said, Rudy, the cheese is from your town. And he's like, what? You know, so it's just these really little moments that are hard to describe. But yeah, love that sounds like an. [01:06:13] Speaker C: Amazing, amazing, amazing trip. [01:06:18] Speaker B: I'm so jealous. Karen, do you think that an itinerary like this, this like would be family friendly? Of course. This is the adult exclusive version. But do you think that this is one that obviously not a family with very little kids. And I tend to try to remind people that Adventures by Disney is not for the families with toddlers. It's the families with like older kids. Older elementary is okay, but probably middle school and older is kind of probably a better target for those. Um, but it's, it is still family friendly. I'm just wondering if you think this itinerary would be a good one for a family. [01:06:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. And you know, we have set families with. Actually one of our first abds was to Peru that we sold as a travel agency was to a family heading to Peru with a five year old. And apparently they did great. You know, I guess sometimes these little kids, kids, you know, they, their center of gravity is different than ours. So you know them running up and down the stairs and the hillside and all that and you know, no telling about how altitude is going to hit, but I do think it's really family friendly. I mean what child would not love those alpacas? Really, really approachable food, very active. So the kids, you know, are, you know, to next never having to sit still through boring lectures. You know, there's fresh air There's a lot of good activities, a lot of fun things, really great hotels with pools. So I think it can be a good fit. You just as always have to know your family. But you know, one of the great things is Peru is on central time zone. So even though it's a big trip to get there, the time change is minimal. So you know, in some ways it could be easier than going to Europe. So, you know, it's something to keep in mind. [01:08:13] Speaker B: Great point. Yeah. And it's not museums and, and stuff like you might museums and churches like you might do in Europe. So. [01:08:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I did take a quick look at the Adventures by Disney website and for this trip they minimum age is six. According to their website they recommend eight, which is not surprising, but that makes sense. [01:08:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:08:32] Speaker C: So there, so there you go. I mean they're, they're saying kids as young as six. [01:08:37] Speaker B: Yeah. A lot of their itineraries have minimum. And then the recommended, I tend to find everyone I've looked at the recommended is always 8 and up, even if the minimum age is lower than, than that. But. [01:08:51] Speaker A: Right. And you know, they've, they've sometimes they tweak it, you know, like river cruise used to be. I think originally it was seven and then they moved it down to four or five. And you know, sometimes year to year, based on customer guest feedback, they tweak. You know, I think the most important thing is of course, you know, you have to meet the minimum. If you're in between that minimum and recommended, then it's just really important to think about who are you traveling with, what's the temperament of your child, where are you going, all those kinds of great things. [01:09:24] Speaker B: Right. And not even if the recommended is 8. Not every 8 year old probably a fit for this trip either. So you got to kind of know your family. Okay, I want to ask one last question, Karen, before we wrap up and tell folks what, what's coming next week. But my, my last question is what's the next ABD that you're headed on? We know you're headed on a pre. You know, we know you're headed voyage of the Destiny with us, but what's the next ABD you're headed on? [01:09:55] Speaker A: Well, I actually, I mean, I feel like that's a trick question, Sam. I don't have actually have an ABD planned right now, personally. Very. [01:10:06] Speaker B: All of them. [01:10:06] Speaker A: Yeah, very sadly I don't have one planned at the moment. What I have my eye on is the new Greece itinerary. What I also have my eye on is the Holland and Belgium DCL duo podcast Cruise 2.0 in July of 2026. But you know, there's, there's just so many amazing, amazing ABDs and you know, we just keep hearing great client feedback from all of them. So I don't have one planned yet, but I will soon. [01:10:45] Speaker C: It's a great reminder and a great plug that, you know, if you want to try Adventures by Disney but you're a little nervous about it. You know, we've got a nice little group cruise planned, easy end to the concept of ebd, a nice little river cruise. So it's a good, good way. Come, come with us and experience our second Adventures by Disney and we'll, we'll help you along the way. So reach out to Reach out to Karen and My Path Unwinding Travel if you're interested there. I'm not sure what the availability is like on that cruise any longer having kept pace. But if there's rooms available, I'm sure Karen would be more than happy to book you into one. [01:11:18] Speaker A: So absolutely reach out. We're going to have a lot more coverage from My Path Unwinding this week like kind of with more day by day of what we did in Peru. We also have the Adventures by Disney National Geographic Facebook group that you can join. So you know, lots of opportunities to get connected with us about abd. [01:11:42] Speaker B: Awesome. And if folks want to book something or reach out directly to Karen, you can of course reach [email protected] or you can go to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO all right, well we will be back next week. We are going to be joined joined by our friend Tinfoil Mouse Ears, also known as ct and also our friend Wes the DCL dude. So we are going to be doing of course another podcast crossover. We know you guys out there listening and watching love when we have Wes and when we have CT on. So we're going to be doing a crossover episode. We're going to be talking all about what we're going to expect and what we're excited for on the Disney Destiny. So we'll be back at our Regular time that's 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern next Monday. And for everybody out there, have a wonderful, safe happy Halloween this Friday. Don't forget to check your candy and. [01:12:49] Speaker C: And and let's all keep the folks in Jamaica in our thoughts as the hurricane rolls through. It will thankfully looks to be missing FL entirely but they're going to take a brunt of a Category 5 hurricane out there. So. [01:13:04] Speaker B: And they've been having just a rough go of it with all kinds of stuff. Yeah, absolutely. [01:13:08] Speaker C: Yeah. Well with that, take care buddy. [01:13:11] Speaker B: Thanks everyone. Have a wonderful week and have a happy Halloween. [01:13:15] Speaker A: Bye everybody. [01:13:21] Speaker D: Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of the 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 DCLD Duo 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 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 on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is is the best way to connect with us. You can also of 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 reflect the views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about it, Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at my Path 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.