[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm going to say for me, it is definitely a ship that I will sail on.
And I we were already booked on her four more times and so we're definitely going to be sailing on her again. And I am happy to be doing that. The only way that the Treasure edges this ship out for me is the fact that she does seven night sailings. And so welcome back everybody to a special live episode of the DCL Duo podcast brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel and our amazing friends over at the DCL Magazine. I'm going to stop calling them WDW Magazine. You can also visit them there. But our fabulous friends over at the DCL magazine, normally I do you like an ad pitch right now I am going to say head over there, subscribe.
And also, you know, you can use code DCL DUO for 10% off anything in their social store.
But I just want to say what a lovely group of people the WDW magazine are. So just a big shout out to Stephanie, Danny, Tim, Tatiana. We got to meet them on board the Destiny preview that we're going to talk about tonight and they're just lovely people and such supportive people. And so even if you don't like, you know, like the idea of a magazine, like show them some love because I can't imagine why you wouldn't like a magazine because it's pretty fantastic and we're going to have some articles coming up in that magazine. But they're just fabulous people. So big shout out to all of them over at WDW Magazine. Love you guys. And it was just an amazing trip with you all.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: So and we got to give a shout out to the folks at MyPath unwinding travel. Of course, this invite for us was our first official invite for the DCL Duo to come aboard a, well, a Disney Cruise Line preview cruise. But Karen Shelton with my Path Unwinding Travel gave us the opportunity twice to do preview cruises through Disney Cruise Line through her sales invite.
The first time was when Brian went to the Lookout Key preview and so he was among the first people to actually see Lookout Key. Brian, I can hear you typing, just FYI. But the other thing that I would say is that she then took me on the Treasure preview cruise as well. And so we just got to give her a big thanks. She was invited on the same preview that we were invited on but could not make it. So she's actually going to be on the preview that leaves on the 16th of November. And so she's also be on a maiden with us. So you'll hear more from her hopefully coming soon as well on the Disney Destiny, but just needed to give a big shout out to the folks at My Path Unwinding. We really appreciate your support throughout these last three years of our partnership. And with that, people are commenting on our shirts already, Brian.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: So they. They're also commenting that might be on the wrong microphone, but showing that I'm.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: You are echoey. So, yeah, you're. You're sounding echoey to me. I don't know if it's because your mic is far away from your face or if you're on the wrong microphone, but either way it's fine. I think it's going to be fine. It's just different. You just sound different than you normally do. Yeah.
[00:03:17] Speaker A: Anyway, yeah, I'm just going to see if I can't fix this real fast because it shouldn't be on this microphone.
Well, let's. Let's muddle through for a second.
Actually. Bear with us for one second the beauty of live television here.
I'm just going to make sure that I have the right input selected, showing that I do. So, yeah, I'm not sure what's going on there with the echoeyness of it all, but we're going to keep going. All right, so I wanted to start by framing this up a little bit. This was a very special cruise.
This is a media preview cruise. And so we were on board about 2,000 people on the ship, I think was the headcount that we heard.
And it was made up of various groups of content creators, print media, fan media, which is what we ran. Travel agents were also on board.
And the.
Because it's a media preview cruise, that means that we got a very special experience and a curated experience. And so I've been talking to folks about how this is going to be like our unboxing video. If you're a technology YouTube watcher, we're going to tell you what we got to see and what we got to experience. But by no means did we get to experience everything.
These were also curated experiences. So we had special access to media people. We had special setups to be able to film and get shots of drinks and props and other things throughout the ship. We didn't hit every restaurant. We, in fact, the only main dining restaurant we experienced was the Pride Lands. And so good for us because that's the new restaurant. So we're really going to touch on tonight are the new things. But I want you to keep in mind this was a curated experience. We were hosted by Disney Cruise Line.
And so it gives us special access and special understanding of the ship. But it also means it's not necessarily the regular guest experience you're going to find on board here in the next week or so when we're back for the maiden.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: So we're going to do the schedule is different. So if people, the schedule is brutal, but the schedule is different in terms of like how many times do they do the Cruella experience that we're going to talk about? I can't answer that because we didn't have a regular schedule. We had a three night cruise and they're going to have four and five night cruises. So there's a bunch of stuff that like only happened, for example, once or twice on the ship that might happen multip times on a regular sailing. So I can't answer those questions until we have that go on that maiden voyage cruise.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: With that. Let's like, let's dive in here a bit.
And so the first thing I wanted to do as well was to highlight some truly special people that we got to share this ship with this week. And some big shout outs. We already shouted out the WDW magazine folks, but I just want to give some special shout outs. And Sam may remember a few people that I miss here, but this is a photo of some just truly great creators that we got to meet throughout the week. So we've got Carly.
Go ahead, Sam.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: I was going to say don't forget we got the folks at Laughing Place who are not pictured here. They don't like to take pictures too much. But Benji Doobie and Jeremiah from Laughing Place who we got to spend quite a bit of time with as well. But yeah, we've got Carly Wiesel, we've got Mingling with Macon, we've got Adam Bankhurst, we've got Lou Mongello, we've got Emily Carlson, Scott Carlson and of course Adventures by Carly. So we've got all these folks that we had kind of gotten to know first through, I'd say mostly like Instagram, but also their platforms. Some of them are writers, some of them are travel agents, some of them are podcasters themselves or a combination thereof.
And we got to meet all these folks on board, a couple of whom we had sort of met virtually before.
But really a wonderful community of people that we got to know. This is not an exhaustive list. There are plenty of others that we got to meet as well. So yeah, just a really fantastic community.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: So Sam, do you want to, did you introduce everybody on this screen and.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: You cut on the screen.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: I went over.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: Yeah, all right.
[00:07:27] Speaker A: Sorry, I was just checking my. Checking my mic settings there. All right, so thanks. Big shout out to these folks. Just one thing. So Ashley saying yes, I'm worried. Yalls experience was wonderfully extra on us. No, Ashley, I want to say, like, the experiences we had were close to what the guest experiences will be. But like when we walked into the sanctum for the first time, they've got huge lights up, lighting all the food and beverage so that we can get videos. They've got the bartender there ready to take a mic and walk us through all the drinks. So it wasn't going to the bar, sit down, order off the menu and taste things. We. We had.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: We did some of that too.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah, we had a curated experience. But by no means do I think that the people, the crew were acting like much more differently than you're going to see them on board. It's just that our experience was curated and scheduled. And so it's just a bit of a different guest experience. We also had fewer people on board, which makes it a little bit different. But I would not worry in the slightest that the experience we have is going to be so far removed from the guest experience that you need to worry about that. So.
All right, so let's move to our next slide here.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: Oh, and somebody's asking, are we going to have Lou on on Monday? Right, Brian?
[00:08:38] Speaker A: Yes, Lou is confirmed for Monday evening. I cannot wait to talk to him. It's going to be great.
The other thing I wanted to highlight is because of this experience, we got special access to spokespeople from Disney. So on this slide, you'll see a bunch of folks that have the Disney name tags on who we had the opportunity to meet and interview about the experiences we're going to talk about.
And what that gives us is kind of a unique understanding of what Disney was trying to do in some of these moments, so that we can bring that to you.
And then when we're back on the Mead next week, we'll tell you how much it lives up to that experience. But you'll see here, we had access to the chef here from.
Is he in charge of.
[00:09:23] Speaker B: One of the head pastry chefs or maybe the head pastry chef on board?
[00:09:27] Speaker A: One of the entertainment cast there, Paul from Pride Lands, we've got Corey and Matt from the Hercules show. Matt is the Broadway visiting star on board. Corey, of course, plays Hercules. And then access to imagineers and creative directors and vice presidents of entertainment, like that kind of stuff.
[00:09:46] Speaker B: The producer in the middle, top, middle picture, she's the producer or one of the producers for Hercules. In the bottom left hand corner, he's one of the creative directors for Hercules. And then of course, as BR in the middle bottom with me is Hercules. And then Matthew, Matthew Patrick Quinn on the bottom right hand side of your screen, that is Hades. He was actually Hades in Hadestown on Broadway. And now he is, or actually I think it's the national tour, but of Hadestown. And now he's Hades in Hercules, of course, a different version of Hades, but he's fantastic. Yeah.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: And Lindsay, to answer your question, where do we eat our other dinners? The first night we're gonna get into here in a second. We were off the ship for the christening and so we did not eat on board. We had some lovely bites and cocktails and things at a party for the christening. And on the last night we opted to go into Cask and Cannon to try some of the pub food and just have a lower key evening and use some of our free drink tickets that they had for the cruise. So we did not eat in 1923 or marvel on the sailing. I will say 1923. Exact same menu, exact same experience.
I will be checking out some of the tchotchkes in 1923. The decor of 1923. We're on for the the Maiden. And the second cruise, Marvel, of course, is the Night one menu that's available on the Treasure with the Night two show that's also available on the Treasure. So we've seen that before and reviewed that before. So no, no big surprises.
No big surprises there.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Except the fact that they paired the Night one menu with the Night two show. I was hoping for the Night two menu with the Night two show.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Oh, well, all right. First thing I want to do before we even step foot on the ship is I want to talk about the christening. So we were invited to participate in the christening. You can see here. This was our view of the ship. They pulled the ship, they let us off the ship. So we had boarded the ship, they let us off the ship, pulled her away from the dock for the show that was broadcast live. Sam was down in the crowd. I was actually up on a high rise with some other media folks kind of filming and watching the event and like, spectacular, I should say just an overlay to this entire discussion. I'm still processing, like everything that we got to experience on this on this cruise. So if we're a little discombobulated, it's because it's Such a mind blowing experience for us that we're still trying to like process it ourselves. But the drone show was unbelievable. And using the ship as a canvas for projection mapping, one of the first times that I've seen Disney ever do this. And it was amazing. I really encourage you to go off find that YouTube video that they put out. It was unbelievable. There was a little party going on inside the port building. They had some characters out circulating some food and beverage for everyone as we waited for the ship to pull away and get set up and for everything to be set up.
Of course we had.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: The ship was actually not in dock when this was happening, when the projection mapping and the drone show. So we were in the dock in the port building at the party and a lot of people, actually more of the crowd was still on the ship, but about maybe a quarter of the crowd was allowed to come off the ship for the christening. And then they streamed the christening christening onto the ship. So this big party, there was lots of characters. So there's a, there's a great video that we put on our Instagram of me with Edna mode and I'm wearing a cape and she had a reaction to it. It's a great video if you look on our Instagram.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Yeah. And so they obviously, we had some speeches.
Josh d', Amaro, I'm forgetting his first name now, shot Joe Schott. Joe Schott, thank you. Joe Schott, the head of Disney signature experiences.
Josh, tomorrow we had Mickey and Minnie come and of course Susan Egan, the godmother of the Disney godparent of the Disney destiny.
Amazing little show that happened there.
And then.
[00:13:41] Speaker B: So they did. There was a, you know, there was singing. There was basically a singing troupe that did a show with a band. It was great. And then of course, both Joe and Josh introduced Susan as the godmother. And it was, it was just a really kind of fun experience. Now after the show finished, we were all sent back into the port building and the party continued. And the theme of the party before we went out for the christening was heroes themed. And then when we got in, when we got back in, it had transformed into villains themed. So the characters even changed between the beginning and the. And sort of the first part of the party and the second part of the party. And it was at that part of the party that I got to interview Susan Egan. And kind of a. It was a surreal experience because this crowd kind of formed around us as I was doing the interview. And Brian, of course is filming and holding the recording device as well. So just a really fantastic, surreal experience. We were one of, I think, two fan media outlets that got to interview Susan. And I will say the way some of these experiences that we got to have, there were other folks in fan media that got different experiences, so we didn't all get the exact same. Although we did get a lot of overlap in what we got to do and sort of a lot of the folks we got to speak to on board. So I thought the. This meant we were off the ship for like three plus hours. So our first night on the ship, because the ship had to come back into port, we got back on.
We actually didn't have that much time that we got to spend that first night on the ship until, of course, after the christening was. Was completely over. So, yeah, so we didn't have dinner on board. They did have dinner on board for the folks who were on board, but it was kind of a. A mishmash menu, I'll call it, where they had a kind of a sampler menu rather than a regular main dining menu, from what I understand.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: And I want to do something a little bit different tonight. I'm just going to say that for folks who listen to this later, we're going to splice in here at this moment the interview that Sam did with Susan Egan.
You can also check that out over on our Instagram. We posted that as a reel over there. But I will splice in the actual audio recording that we did with her, which is much higher quality.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: I am here with the amazing, incredible Susan Egan, the godmother of the Disney destiny. I am, like, fangirling right now. You are one of my idols. I'm a huge Broadway manist, so a huge fan of Hercules, of course, as well. But I just want to ask you a few questions about what it means to be the godmother of the beautiful Disney destiny.
[00:16:27] Speaker C: Honestly, I'm really overwhelmed by it. I got a phone call from my friend Tony shepherd at Disney, and he let me know that I was going to be the godmother. And I literally became a puddle on my kitchen floor. We were both crying.
It is such an honor. And this ship is so spectacular. And I can't wait for people to come and live their adventures and to find their own destinies and enjoy it. And the fact that I get to be a small part of that is truly meaningful.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: That's amazing. Now, there is a maritime tradition of female individuals being the godparents of a ship or the sponsor of a ship. And it's to wish it, you know, good luck and safe journeys. What wish? If you could make a wish for the Disney Destiny, what wish would you make for it?
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Oh, I wish for the Disney Destiny to be a home for people to come multi generationally and create new memories together. I feel like Disney is a company that brings people together in common experiences and then they create experiences that are so extraordinary like nobody else. And so I just know that this is going to be a place where. Where people can live out their dreams in real life.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: I love that. Well, I've got to ask, of course. Are you Team Hero or Team Villain? You know, this is a heroes and villains themed ship.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: It is funny that you should ask. Team Hero or team Villain? You know, Meg is an interesting girl.
[00:17:46] Speaker A: She is.
[00:17:46] Speaker C: Because she's the only one who has been on both sides of that.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: I love that about Meg.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: But I think she does end up, you know, because of that cute hunk she goes with Team Hero. So I gotta go there. But I will say playing the villain.
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Is a lot more fun. It's a lot more fun. Okay, well, I gotta ask, who's your favorite hero or heroine from the Disney universe, let's say, aside from Meg? Okay.
[00:18:12] Speaker C: Okay. Well, definitely my favorite villain is Yzma.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: I love Yzma because we are the kid.
[00:18:18] Speaker A: Are you kidding?
[00:18:20] Speaker C: She's beyond. She's the best. And who do I love the most? I think maybe Quasimodo.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Love him.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: Fantastic. And if you could play a single role in a Disney film and it could be a male role, a female role, whatever, just iconic role that you have not gotten to play. So not Belle, not Megara. Who would you want to play?
[00:18:40] Speaker C: Well, it's not gonna happen, but in my inner dreams, I definitely would love to play Mother Gothel.
She's so epic.
[00:18:51] Speaker B: The best. Oh, my God. I love. Well, Susan, it's so lovely to meet you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being the godmother of the most beautiful ship now in the Disney fleet. My honor. We're so excited and we can't wait to see more of you on board.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you.
[00:19:05] Speaker C: Same. I appreciate it.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: Thanks so much.
[00:19:11] Speaker A: This was such a unique and special experience. Big thank you to Disney Cruise Line for letting us have this moment with Susan. It was really surreal.
But let's head on to the beautiful Disney Destiny. This is a photo of the Grand Hall. I'm gonna use primarily some photos that Disney Cruise Line provided out to media because they're very high quality.
You'll be Able to tell when we're not using our photo sets, how good they are. But this is the grand hall. And I wanna start here because, you know, you think, oh, it's the Grand Hall. It's just like the grand hall and the Treasure. It is not. It is so much more immersive than what they did on the Treasure. And the way they accomplished that was through lighting effects throughout the Grand Hall. The chandelier, you can kind of see peeking down up here. It is unlike any of the chandeliers that are on the other ships. It's like.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: That's because it's made of vibranium, Brian.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: It is. It kind of looks like kyber crystals kind of all put together.
But the unique thing about the grand hall that we saw and experienced and then heard from Imagineering is is that when characters walk into the grand hall, especially a lot of the villains walk into the grand hall, they automatically trigger certain lighting effects that have them take over the Grand Hall. So if Maleficent comes into the grand hall, all of the lighting turns her fabulous green flame color, and it's signaling to you that she is there and she is taking over. Loki has a similar experience. There's a Spider man show that happens in. In here. But the intent is that the grand hall is a very living thing. And as people enter and exit, the lighting will reflect that. As part of the Loki show that we got to experience, he would do things with his staff and lighting would come down the staircase and then make its way over to the stage to symbolize kind of the power coming from his staff. It's a very immersive grand hall, and it's a very different kind of experience than what we saw in the Treasure. And by the way, the Treasures grand hall is fantastic. You can see here the. The Black Panther statue. You can see a little bit better here. The. The. The chandelier in the Grand Hall.
It's. It is a gorgeous grand hall. And it is really. One of the imagineers said all the spaces on board are like stages, and they are. And they're being used in that way, and the grand hall is being used in that way. So I don't know if you have any other thoughts about the Grand Hall.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I have to say. So this is the first time they've had a statue that is not that gold color. It is a black statue. So the. What we' t' Challa and the Panther, and it is a beautiful statue. So it's a beautiful atrium character or grand hall character, I would say.
I Like the Treasures grand hall better in terms of decor, But I think this one is really beautiful. It's just a lot more kind of simple.
But I think what makes it unique and special is what Brian said, which is all the lighting effects. I think that's really cool. There's actually like a lighting booth kind of. If you look up to the right on that balcony level, there's a lighting booth that you see and you walk right past it where Brian's circling right now with his. So it's just very unique. And they're really using the stage quite a lot. I mean, the Treasure does as well. And I really appreciate how much they're using the atrium and how much they're using the stage in particular.
[00:22:35] Speaker A: And Drew, I do want to comment on this and you'll hear this throughout, but just a spoiler alert.
One of the people in charge of creative was also in charge of creative over at the start Cruiser. And so a lot of the experiences we're going to talk about where I think when we came into this experience, we were sort of previewing. Geez, that sounds like something they pulled from the star cruiser. They did. They drew some inspiration from the starcruiser. It is not.
It is not the full Star Cruiser experience by any means, but they were pulling lessons learned from that experience to generate some of these things, including some of the entertainment on board. And so let's. Let's head over there to the entertainment. So we're going to talk a bit about the special entertainment on board. This is Dr. Gamble, who's holding the blue potion.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Just Doc.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Doc Gamble. Sorry. And then Zaya. They, of course, are the counterparts to Sage and Coriander aboard the Treasure, and they are the roving storytellers. And so they make their way into the Grand Hall. They make their way into deville's. We'll talk about that in a second. They do evening shows in Saga that are really, really great.
These were two fabulous performers. Sam had a fun interaction that we put over on our Instagram where she was talking to them. And I don't know how my name.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Came up for you.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: They were just shouting in the ground, Brian, Brian. You know, that kind of thing. So they rove around the ship and try to engage you in the story of the Destiny. And then they do some special shows throughout. And I would say, as great as Sage and Coriander are, these two are equal to the task. Equal and just fabulous.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: They do a retelling of Sleeping Beauty where they involve participants from the audience. And I gotta Say that that show is not to be missed. I know we're gonna talk about the With Great Power Marvel show, so I won't say anything about that at this point. But they do a bunch of different stuff and they're involved in the Cruella show at Devilles. Okay, so we're at that slide. So this is from the show.
So if anyone has seen it's an adult only show there. It's not because it's like super raunchy or anything, but it's just an adult only show. This takes place.
[00:24:47] Speaker A: Sam, just. I'm going to put a caution. Do not spoil the ending because it was a surprise.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm not going to spoil. I'm not going to spoil. I'm not. I'm going to keep this pretty spoiler free.
So this happens in Saga. This is going to be a very well attended event.
It is the, the counter to the Indiana Jones show, but it's not exactly the same and it's going to give some storytelling about some different Avengers heroes. And so this is a heroes focused show, I would say. And you're going to hear not the entire story of, you know, the Marvel universe or anything like that, but you're going to hear some curated kind of specific stories about specific characters. And it is Zaya and Doc Gamble who do this show. Not a real Doctor, by the way.
And they take on all the different characters. And of course similar, if you can see on the right hand side, there's one of those kind of pad looking things with a projection thing that happens exactly like you do in the Indiana Jones show. That's how the show is put on here in Saga. This is called With Great Power.
A Marvel something something. Anyway, fantastic show.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: Do not miss this show.
[00:25:59] Speaker B: Do not miss this show.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: If you're an adult, hands down, when we talk to people after the show. One of the single best adult entertainment experiences I've ever seen on Disney Cruise Line. And they really push the envelope with kind of the ending of it. And so just, just fantastic. Just fantastic.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: So it's just the parts where I was like crying, laughing. That's how good it was. I'd say as good, if not better than the Indiana Jones. I think it just has a different audience. If you love Indiana Jones, you probably would like the Treasure one better. If you're a big Marvel fan, you'll probably like this one better.
Really good.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: I want to talk about something, a new term that they're using on board. We've got a slide of Dr. Facilier up and you might notice that he's in kind of a decorated space here. So Disney has introduced this concept that they're calling meet and play or greet and play on board.
The rationale behind this, from interviewing some of the creatives, and I should say this week, we are going to be putting out, over the next course of the next week or so, we're going to be putting out all of the interviews that we did with the creative folks on board.
We're going to do a deep dive on Pride Lands, we're going to deep dive on Hercules and some of the other interviews that we did, a deep dive on the spoiler alert engine room tour that I got to do. We'll talk about the very end. But this greet and play experience is the way they described it, is, look, heroes and characters are huggable. You want to come up and you want to wrap your arms around them and give them a big hug and have a little fun with them. Villains are not huggable.
They're seductive. They draw you in. They are engaging. And so they wanted to find a way for you to have these moments with the villains on board, to engage with them. And so they have this unique experience with Dr. Facilier. I actually have two meet and play kind of opportunities with Dr. Facilier. One is more of a just a meet and greet kind of experience, but they're held in the Disney studio on board. So normally the photo session studio, you kind of line up for them.
[00:27:57] Speaker B: Don't be confused with shutters, by the way. It's actually a different space.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: Yes, but if you do a private photo session, this is typically where they would do it.
They set it up, and then what you do is you line up and they kind of bring you in in a little small group for these things. And you meet Dr. Facilier and have kind of a moment with him. But because you're pulled out of the grand hall now, you're kind of in his space and his world, and he's going to draw you in and interact with you. The second experience that you can do with Dr. Facilier is you come to this studio and he brings in, I think it was groups of about eight people. Sam got to experience this directly, and he does a little card trick with you there.
[00:28:35] Speaker B: I'm not going to give you any more other than to say it's card trick, but because you're in this, it's called Dr. Facilier's Parlor. So if you just see Dr. Facilier on the schedule, that's just A meet and greet where you go and you can take your picture with him. If you see Dr. Facilier's parlor, that is this experience where you cannot have any phones out, there's no recording, there's no photography. But it is an interactive event and it involves a card trick. And that's all I'll say because I don't want to spoil it. But let's just. I'm just going to tell you all that I have a gift. That's all I will say.
[00:29:10] Speaker A: Lindsay, let me answer your question here. How much will non Marvel fans like with great power?
It's funny, but it's really funny. If you have an understanding of kind of the high level Marvel Cinematic Universe, you don't need to have a deep dive on everything. But you got to know who Captain America is, you got to know who Ant man is in order to really get it.
But it is good. And if you have a surface level understanding of Marvel, it's pretty funny.
Holly, I wanted to answer your question. Do you make reservations for this or is it first come, first serve? All of this is just, it's like lining up for a regular character meet. You're just going to be kind of pulled into a separate space to do that. And it adds that air of kind of mystery and mystique around it.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: So this is this thing, Dr. Facilier's parlor and some of the other things we're going to talk about. People get there early, or at least they did on the preview. And I'm going to have an expectation that these are going to be rope droppable events. So, like people are going to be rope dropping these 30 minutes before.
[00:30:10] Speaker A: And Ashley, the characters, Dr. Facilier is not a Marvel character, so he's just a villain.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: You don't have to know really much about him except that he's a voodoo guy. That's all you really have to know about him.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
So this is deville's and we're going to talk about the bar space here in a minute. But what I want to highlight is they've now done this unique again, greet and play experience with Cruella inside of her bar. And so I don't want to give away the whole story. Again, we're trying to keep this a little bit spoiler free, but when you see this on the schedule, you're going to want to go early because deville's is not a huge space. They do allow people to just kind of stand around because they want everyone who wants to experience it to try and Experience.
But Cruella comes into the bar and has a little, you know, interaction with the crowd. She leaves the crowd, has to work on a problem together, I'll put it that way. And she comes back to see your solution to her problem. And so it's called treble making.
Yes. Troublemaking. And so it is a blast. It is an absolute blast. It is a great addition. It is like kind of an adult nighttime entertainment experience on board.
And it's just great because you can listen to the piano music, you can have fun.
This experience takes all of, I don't know, maybe 15 minutes in the bar.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: Maybe maximum for, like, 30 minutes. 30 minutes, yeah. Ziya and Doc Gamble are the kind of. Are the hosts for this experience.
And this one is adult, so with great power. And this troublemaking. Are adults adult only the Dr. Facilier one is all ages, and the maleficent one we're about to talk about is also all ages. So there are some things that are adult and there are some things that are.
That are all ages. This is Wretched Runway with Cruella. So this is actually a guest participating event where there's a Runway show and there's three groups of people walking the Runway. One group is the heroes group, one group is the villains group, and one group is the Cruella group. So if you decide on the night that this is occurring or the day that this is occurring, that you're going to dress up either as a hero, a villain, or as Cruella herself, you will get roped into participating in this event. This happens in the Grand Hall. I will say I didn't even know that this was happening, and I happened to stumble upon it. I was wearing a Marvel Bomb and carrying my superhero mini backpack and was roped into participating in the hero group.
And this was. It was really fun. I won't give you a spoiler about what group wins, except it's pretty.
You'll. You'll predict who wins when you find out who the judges.
[00:32:57] Speaker A: We've got a comment here. Sounds like there are more special events than the Treasure, but on a shorter cruise. And yes, they really. I mean, this is the way that they are differentiating this ship and this experience is. There is a lot more opportunity to interact, and especially with villains who are not really present in the way they are on the Destiny, on the other ships. And so this was really them kind of taking the entertainment up to another level. And I think it was. It was a hit. It was a hit in our book. Every one of these we did was just really impressive.
They also have a Maleficent. You want to talk about the Maleficent greet and play here?
[00:33:32] Speaker B: Yeah, I can't remember the name of this one.
I have it in my. Sorry. I have it in my photos. So it is a. Let's just call it something having to do with doing a spell. But basically she's looking for Prince Philip and Princess Aurora. And so she involves. She pulls up different people on stage to assist her and ask them questions. And this happens in Saga. But this is an all ages event, or at least there might be two versions of it. There might be one that's all ages and one that is adult. This is an event that brings people up on stage. I happen to be the last person to come up on stage. There's a. We have a video of it on our Instagram and I got to do a spell with her at the end of the show. And there were two other people who got called up on stage before I did. This is a really fun event.
It ends in a meet and greet where you can take a picture with Maleficent at the end of this event, as does, I think the Loki event that we're going to talk about next here.
So some of these events end in a sort of picture taking opportunity, but not all of them do. So there's a couple different events with Loki. One that happens at the beginning of the cruise where the storyteller Zaya and Gamble are telling the story of Loki and then Loki comes in to correct it. And so he comes in and kind of takes over and then it ends in a meet and greet. There's also another experience that happens in the grand hall that's called Celebration of a King.
Not get to attend this event towards the end of the cruise. And that one is a t' Challa event. But from what I understand, Loki comes and interrupts that event and kind of takes over as well. And so there are lots of different opportunities to see Loki. There are several opportunities to see t'. Challa.
They do some picture taking opportunities as well. I will say I noticed on this cruise, and this might be unique to the preview, I noticed more villain experiences and opportunities for pictures, including Maleficent Cruella in addition to these events that we've been talking about.
But there are also. There should be some more hero ones I'm expecting on the schedule.
And so there were some of them that were. Were that did happen. Like, oh, this is another one. This is called.
I forget what it's called. Hero. Like a hero training. But basically Spider man is teaching you hero poses at the beginning and then Electro comes and the group has to together figure out a way back.
Electro. And so this is a. This happens in the Grand Hall. This is also an all ages event. I would say this one is probably of the ones I've talked about, probably the most kid focused one because it kind of ends in a dance party and also meet and greet opportunity with Spider Man. This happened to have. It was kind of empty because this was our Castaway afternoon and so the grand hall was almost completely empty. We did not get off the ship at Castaway because we just didn't have time. There was just so much to do and so much to see.
[00:36:40] Speaker A: Yeah. So I want to answer Tracy's question here. So. So new characters, did you notice less. No, they still had. The grand hall was set up for magic shots in the evening just like it is on the Treasure. We got some great magic shots. We posted a few online, some new stuff, new backdrops that they had. So this is really not meant to replace. This is meant to amp up and augment the experience. So I. No, I think if anything this was plussed up. Not. Not down.
[00:37:06] Speaker B: There are some magic shots that are the same as from the other ships though. So. And there are some magic shots that are. And backdrops that are new. Like there is a Hercules that's new. There's some. There's a Loki backdrop and magic shot experience that's new. So yeah, there are some new ones and some that are repeatable from the other ships. Like Haunted Mansion is a good example.
[00:37:28] Speaker A: And then this is a great question by all ages. Would you say eight plus or little kids welcome and enjoy the experience too. We actually talked about this after we got off the ship and I do think that with the introduction of all the villains on board, I'm not like, I'm.
I'd be interested to hear the experience of those with little kids once they get a chance to sail. I think if your kids are into heroes and villains, if they've watched a Marvel movie or something like that, like this is going to be a fabulous experience for them.
But I'd love to hear if you're out there watching this or listening to this and you're sailing on the Destiny and you have little kids. We want to showcase some of those experiences because I'm really curious how this is going to work with little kids on board. I think it could work fantastic.
But it's not the same as meeting Mickey and Minnie when you're meeting a villain. For all the reasons that Disney Outlines.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: So yes. And the villains are as Brian referred to as like sort of seductive and like the Dr. Facilier experience. The Dr. Facilier parlor. He comes off kind of creepy. So I'm like, it's open to all ages. I'm just not sure that very little kids would.
[00:38:33] Speaker A: But that could also be because it was mostly adults on our cruise. And I'm sure that he can calibrate the experience to the age group in front of him. And so I don't want to come off as like, I don't think this is gon.
I'm just really curious to actually hear from people who got on board with little kids to hear their experiences. Like, of course we have Hero Mini, the centerpiece of the Disney Destiny.
Fabulous, fabulous character meet and greet. Sam loved it. Got tons of pictures with Hero Mini. There's her hero Minnie Plushie that we got on board. So.
So yeah, thank you. Hero Mini is a star of the show. And I don't, I, I want. I put this picture in in part for Hero Mini, but in part to save say the Fab Five is still there. Like they're still around the ship.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: And there's tons of character stuff that happens in the kids club as well. So obviously we didn't, we didn't get to. We didn't have Nathan with us. And he's of course an edge aged kid now also. So less character stuff that would happen there. But there I got. When we were doing an open house of the kids club, Belle was there, Chewie and Ray were there, t' Challa was there. So there were definitely lots of like very kid friendly character experiences that are happening and activities that are happening in the Oceaneers Club. It is the same layout as what we see on the Treasure and the Wish and the same design.
[00:39:48] Speaker A: We actually have slides coming up on that. So why don't we. Please, let's, let's get there when we get there. So yeah, all right. I want to dive into some of the bar spaces. We're only going to talk about kind of the unique bar spaces on board. So we've got Devilles, we've got the Sanctum and we've got Cast and Canon. We're not going to talk about the Rose, for example. So we're going to start with Devilles, which is obviously the replacement for Nightingale's on the Wish and Scat Cat Lounge on the Treasure.
You'll see the space is really themed out to Cruella de Vil. Spotted piano, deep red carpets, the pillars here that you can see in the background behind the piano are meant to emulate the shape and design of the unique car that she drives. So the, so the whole space just kind of evokes that villainous Cruella de Vil, her seductive nature again, kind of here. And they have a set of drinks meant to complement this experience. Now we don't have photos of all the drinks and we didn't get a chance to try all of the drinks. We will have to try some more when we're on the Maiden. A couple of things I just, I like, I want to highlight here. So in this photo you'll see this drink that's like, like a smoking pipe and you actually drink it out of the end of the pipe. You see the smoke, the dry ice effect coming out of it. On the right you'll see this. It's actually a drink set up for two. There's a cocktail shaker there that's covered in spots. There's two villain style glasses. There's some popcorn that comes with the drink. There's another drink that we don't have a photo of that that basically like comes in like almost like a martini glass if I'm remembering correctly. But it's served on a tray.
It comes with a champagne, like a perfume bottle filled with champagne for you to spritz on the drink. It comes with an edible lipstick and it comes with edible glitter and like a powder puff case. And it's this whole experience. I will say overall Disney really amped up what I would call the Instagramability of the cocktails on board, especially in deville's and the Sanctum, which we'll talk about in a second. Now we tried a few of the drinks.
I would agree that a lot of them trend toward that sweet palate that Disney likes to do with some of its mixed drinks. But there were some options for some specialty rums and some other things that we'll talk about in a second.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: This pipe is actually, this pipe one is actually a non alcoholic drink. It's like an old fashioned but it's a non alcoholic version. And so a lot of people were trying that. And yeah, there, there were. Oh we do have actually great video and pictures on our Instagram and more that will be coming of more of the items in deville's. But we just wanted to give you sort of a showcase of a couple of, of items. There is not an uncrustable that we know of by the way. Somebody just asked in the comments on, in, in deville. But it's really, I think a Fabulously. And this is probably Deville's favorite of the but Nightingales, Scat Cat and Deville's. I'd say DeVille's is the winner in my heart. I think it's really like perfectly themed.
The drinks really fit with the theming super well and it's a cool space and they're utilizing it really well. Not just for piano players, but also for that the treble making experience that we mentioned a little bit earlier.
[00:43:14] Speaker A: 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 My Path 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. My Path 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 Alani, 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 beyond the mouse, My Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOMYPATHunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding, for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
All right, next we want to talk about the Sanctum. I was a little like nervous about how this would work because it is such like an open bar space on board. But it's, it's fabulous. And I will tell you that the booth spaces inside, much like the ones on the treasure in the Skipper theme, the Skipper society have all these little touches. The cloak, Doctor Strange's cloak is hanging on the side of the wall near the bar.
You know, everything kind of evokes that sanctum feel. You can kind of see here in the background the books, kind of the floating books of like Kamar Taj back there. And so it's, it's really well themed. But I will say the place where the sanctum really stands out, here's the bar space with kind of the, you know, the sanctum eye here in the background, the oculus in the background. But where it really stands out are the drinks. The presentation of these drinks is incredible. Is incredible. So like you can see here, there's like a tea based drink there that's sitting in a circle and they actually pour the pot through the circle. There's a non alcoholic drink down there on the left that's in kind of a beaker glass almost.
I think that there, I don't know if we have a picture of it, but there's a drink that I'm trying to remember the name of, but it has the Tesla coil kind of effect.
They have a base that charges and they set it on it. When you run your hands up and down, the lightning effect runs through the drink. Drink. They've got an eye of agamotto sipper there if you want the collectible. And then I wanted to highlight this other drink they have. So you'll see here on the left.
[00:45:44] Speaker B: The distortion effect is the one you were talking about.
[00:45:47] Speaker A: You'll see here on the left there's like kind of a drink sitting on what looks to be a big wooden coaster. If you watch our video over on Instagram, you'll see the bartender slide a pair of scissors underneath. So the drink is actually floating on top of that coaster. Now, now they don't bring this to your table. It kind of sits at the bar and it's meant to be kind of a place for them to like make a, make a drink in a fun way. They don't serve it with the coaster because you know, obviously if the cruise ships rock, drink could fall off pretty easily. But it's just, it is really cool presentations of drinks. They have a trolley experience that they showed us where they use a nitrogen canister to like refresh the, the glass. And then they've got a whole, you know, drink built around it. It. And so there are lots of drinks. Of course it's also a coffee bar so they, they showcase some of the coffee and the filled waffles that they have.
There is kind of a. I think that is a. I wouldn't say it wasn't a uncrustable, but I think that is a jelly filled waffle.
[00:46:44] Speaker B: It's a jelly filled waffle and a custard filled waffle they have. It's like a. I can't remember if it's BlackBerry or raspberry, but they have a berry filled one and a custard filled waffle that we got to or Brian got to sample. I'm not a filled waffle person so I, I declined.
[00:46:58] Speaker A: But the sanctum was a great space too. It was Packed every night. People were having a great time in there. Of course they use it also for like trivia and drawing and things like that. And so it was a great space. I was really impressed by the space. And of course we have to, we have to, you know, kind of round the bend here and talk about Cask and cannon, which is the Pirates of the Caribbean themed bar on board. It has just a lot of special touches.
You can see in this photo up top there is a map that is over the ceiling. It is based on original drawings of the maps from. I think it was the movies. The ride. I can't remember if it was ride or the movies.
[00:47:35] Speaker B: Yeah, from the ride. It's the scenes from the ride.
[00:47:37] Speaker A: I believe you'll see on the floor there a compass that's meant to be Jack's compass. And of course it's pointing to the thing he wants most, the bar and the liquor and so that sits on the floor. The decor just evokes that Pirates of the Caribbean theme everywhere. And I would say this is the one place, this is the one bar where the drinks I think really trend toward that more like traditional, like a cocktail that's really, that's really forward. So lots of rums.
On the left here you'll see a treasure chest that's, that's filled with chocolate coins. The dead man's chest. It's a drink for two people. It's a rum based drink with some lime. We did try that one. It did. It was very sweet. But I like this one.
[00:48:18] Speaker B: I, I really liked that one.
[00:48:20] Speaker A: Yeah, they have a smoked rum drink here in the second photo that's sitting in kind of a barrel.
They do a smoking of the. I think it's a special rum from the Bacardi family. Yeah, it's the only, the only place you can find the rum they use in that drink is either at the Bacardi Distillery or on the Disney Destiny right now. And so it's a special rum from Bacardi that the family likes to have on the right there. They're actually taking rum and aging it on the shelf ship for about four or five days in a smoked barrel stave bottle there. And they serve that rum on the rocks or neat. And then on the far right you'll see they have these bottles of rum that are meant to evoke the different cannons that were in use, you know, in the days of piracy in the Caribbean. And so they've got all of these special rums throughout the, the bar, which makes total sense because pirates, they like Rum.
[00:49:13] Speaker B: So it's also really cool with the ingredients from these drinks and the theming of these drinks. They really tried to like, like go all around the Caribbean. Right. So like there's one that's like very much like Puerto Rico rum. One that's very much like Dominican Republic rum. And so like they did. They really like leaned into the Caribbean drink menu. And I really liked the drinks here. I actually really like the theming. I would say this theming also, I think is better than Keg Encompass on the Wish or Periscope Pub on the Treasure.
[00:49:48] Speaker A: So someone comments. So we have some videos up of all of this stuff along with some interviews with the creative folks behind it, the bartenders who mix the drinks. You can check all of that out on our Instagram. And again, we will be releasing some of that audio that the. The audio with the bartenders we probably won't release because it won't resonate if you can't actually see the thing. But if you head over to our Instagram, you can watch the reels that we've done of the interviews with the folks who are there from Food and Beverage talking through this stuff. We did get someone commenting on it like, well, you didn't showcase the food. The food is the pub grub, like what they have on the Treasure. So like it. I just to be very upfront about that. So we did put some pictures here of the. The. What is it called? Potato. Potato barrels or something.
[00:50:29] Speaker B: Loaded potato barrels. I think it's called Potato puffs.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: They have a shrimp appetizer. Of course. They have a great burger. They have the chicken wings, which are fantastic. They've got a fish and chips and then they've got kind of a fruit and cheese and Fruit, cheese and meat kind of tray that they're. They're serving. And so pub grub, it does cost extra. For those who don't know, this is where we had dinner on the last night of the cruise and we enjoyed our wings and potato puffs greatly. So the pub grub is still there.
[00:50:59] Speaker B: Giant pretzel.
[00:51:01] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:02] Speaker A: One other unique experience on board is obviously the re. Theming of the sweet shop to Edna a la mode. And so we did get a chance to go in there. We did get a chance to interview the. The chef who has created all of these fabulous gelatos and cupcakes and. And all of that stuff. And I'll just throw up a picture here of some of the cupcake designs that they did.
Is a beautiful space. Edna's there. Jack. Jack's There.
[00:51:28] Speaker B: Not like meet and greets. He just means like the characters.
[00:51:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Kind of like they have Nick Wilde and Officer Hopps in the one on the treasure. They've got on the. On the. One of the. Really take the time on this show ship to check out the decor, the artwork and the stairwells. The artwork in the spaces. There's lots of little touches. They've got the, of course, the nom nom cookie in Edna a la mode. And then on the wall they have a recipe card that is the actual recipe for the nom nom cookie. So.
So just be sure to really check out these spaces. They're really, really fun. Otherwise it's the same kind of bigger.
[00:52:05] Speaker B: Than they are at California Adventure. Just heads up.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: They're. They're gigantic cookies. But. But this is a great space if you're into sweets. They've got all kinds of stuff in here that looks. That just. It. The presentation looks gorgeous. And I'm sure it's even more delicious once you take a bite of it. So.
All right.
This the part of the show you've probably all been waiting for. We'll get to Pridelands right after this. But Sam, talk about Hercules. You've got a photo up here of Matt as Hades.
We've got pain and panic on the screen. Yeah. And I'm gonna swap over here to Hercules fighting these massive puppets, the Hydra on stage.
Talk folks through what you thought about Hercules, but don't spoil the whole show. The whole show.
[00:52:47] Speaker B: Well, this, by the way, this Hydra is I think like a seven headed Hydra. I think you see five heads on stage at one time, but it's I believe, a seven headed Hydra.
Or maybe it's a six headed Hydra. Anyway, this is a fantastic show, you guys. Like this is just such a. A wonderful iteration of Hercules.
I got to say. Destiny cast number one is like incredible. Of course, like the opening cast of every. On every ship is probably, you know, just of the highest caliber, highest quality they've had in a significant time to of course like workshop and, and rehearse the show. But these, these, these voices, these dancers, some of the most talented people any single, any of them could be plucked and put onto a Broadway show and they would fit in. I loved this production. There was maybe one lull kind of in the middle.
I would say Tale of Moana had maybe one lull in the. In the middle as well. In fact, in Moana it's actually a song that's a lull in. In Hercules there's sort of one scene I would Call it a lull, but other than that, this is a phenomenal show. I loved A Star Is Born. It's done with a very gospel feel, even more than the original movie. So there's more gospel and more R B, I'd say, infused into this version of Hercules in such an amazing and wonderful way.
And then I would also add that there's a song called Shooting Star that was originally written for the movie that got cut from the movie. It was supposed to be a Hercules solo song, and they reworked it into a duet between Hercules and Megara. And it's kind of them falling in love.
And it is so good. And both Corey and Elaine, who are Hercules and Meg are just phenomenal in this. And of course, Matthew is phenomenal as Hades.
This cast is incredible.
I don't want to spoil what they did with Pegasus. I'm not sure if Pegasus. If you see Pegasus in some of the clips that were released by Disney, I can't remember Walt Disney Live Entertainment put out a clip, but it was surprising. There was a little bit of a surprise to us how they decided to do Pegasus. It completely works. But it took me a second because it wasn't what I was expecting.
I was expecting something. I'll just say I was expecting something similar to Maximus in.
In Tangled, and it's not at all. And so I'm.
[00:55:25] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm. So. Sam, just answer the question that people have, which is, where does this show rank for you amongst the. The shows? I. I will say to the comments in the chat about Moana, I do think this is better than Moana, especially the. There are. I do not want to spoil it. There are effects in this show, both with costuming and the puppetry that don't even approach what they did in Moana and are really stepping up the entertainment side of this.
And I will say, when we interviewed the creative again, we'll release that review. The producer released that review here in about a week or so or within the week.
You know, she did say they were trying to do some, like, modern takes on Hercules, and so there's definitely some of that in the show. But, Sam, where does it rank for you?
[00:56:09] Speaker B: I gotta say, I think this is now the number one show on Disney Cruise Line. I. I gotta say that I think the puppetry is better in Moana. I actually like Te Fiti. Like, still, I think.
[00:56:22] Speaker A: I think you're. There are things I don't like in this show, but there. You're 100 wrong. The puppetry.
[00:56:28] Speaker B: I'm not saying. I think the Puppetry in this is unreal. I'm not saying that. I just think Te Fiti was, like, just a revelation. And so I'm not sure that any of this beat Te Fiti. Although the Hydra. Hydra is amazing. I think that. I think the Hydra are better than the Titans, But I absolutely loved this show. These Muses, Brian just put a picture of the Muses are phenomenal. They diversified, the Muses. You've got two male appearing Muses and three female appearing Muses, and this is just. They are phenomenal. I mean, this is such a great show.
All of the music hits so well. It's just millennials are going to love this show. I'm going to say that I love this show, and I'm not a millennial. And I'll give the.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: We're going to give you a chance to give your full review after the Maiden, Sam. So, like, we got to move forward.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: I'm going to see this multiple times. I'm going to just tell you I would skip dinner for this. Maybe not Pride Lands, but I would skip dinner, any other dinner for that show.
[00:57:24] Speaker A: All right. Of course, the unique dining space on board is Pridelands Feast of the Lion King, and it is where the Frozen restaurant would be on the Wish and where Coco on the Treasure.
A couple things to note. So the space is very similar. You walk down a long hallway, you enter the restaurant, and you're supposed to be transported into kind of the African savannah.
The stage for this show is smaller than what they used for Coco, and so it's a little bit more compact stage, I think, to afford a bit more room for the seating.
I will say for those who think that the seating is, you know, crowded on the Wish and the Treasure in these spaces, it's marginally improved. But I could tell the waiters were still struggling a bit to make it through the tables.
The stage production is in four acts, and it tells the story of the Lion King. Although, as we, I think, said already online, do not expect to see Simba, Timon, or Pumbaa in the show. They did not do Olaf, like, the Olaf, like thing that they did for Frozen.
This is really meant to be about storytellers telling the story, celebrating the story, celebrating the music of the show. And so it is not. You're not going to see these characters kind of coming in to do the show.
I wanted to, Sam, give your thoughts on the show really fast, and then we're going to talk about the food.
[00:58:51] Speaker B: Okay. So I would say it's storytelling through song. There's Not a lot of dialogue. So if you're wanting storytelling through dialogue that you're not going to have a lot of that. They did take music. Music, they said from Lion King. Lion King One and a half and Lion King two, which were both straight to video movies. So the song Shadowlands, for example, is in it. It's fantastic. The. My. I think this is an amazing performers, amazing music. I loved the show. The one thing I would say is I kind of think it should be three parts instead of four parts. I kind of thought we were maybe. It was maybe done after the third part, although there wasn't really a finale.
[00:59:28] Speaker A: You and many others, because the restaurant started to empty out.
[00:59:30] Speaker B: There were some people who had left. Yeah. So it was a little bit long and a little bit like, I need to cut it down a little bit.
Everything is phenomenal. I just think it's. It's. It does interrupt dinner as. As all the shows in. In this, you know, Arendale and Coco. It does really. It makes it hard to. To even talk to your wait staff and for them to serve the food because the show is going on the whole time. And of course you. You can talk, but it. It's quite loud. And that's been a complaint in all of the iterations of this restaurant. It's quite loud.
It's going to be a very big sensory experience. So for sensory sensitive folks, it's probably not the best restaurant. But I loved it. I loved the show. I thought the performers were incredible. I just think that they could condense it a little bit more.
Yes. Shadowlands is phenomenal, Drew.
[01:00:20] Speaker A: So let's shift over and talk about the food for a second. I do want to say that in terms of menu experience here, for me, Tiana's has always been kind of a number one because Disney Cruise Line was really pushing the boundary in terms of what they could bring on board, in terms of, like, fleet flavors and spice and that kind of thing. I. Pride Lands beats it. I. I still love Tiana's, but Pride Lands really beats it. I will say we've got to try a few more dishes before I land on my final assessment of the restaurant. So when we ate there, we tried some chicken skewers that were recommended to us. Fabulous. Really good.
We tried a vegetable tagine dish. I will say, just a quick side note, for vegetarians, the vegetarian offerings in this restaurant. Restaurant look phenomenal.
We tried a vegetable tagine that I really enjoyed. It was very flavorful. It was a mix of vegetables and a kind of a. Not a curry. Sauce, but a red sauce with some green olives served over rice. It was delicious. We tried a.
A shrimp dish that I think curry.
Shrimp curry.
[01:01:21] Speaker B: That was my favorite dish.
[01:01:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Now I will say the two dishes that we had, there was a shrimp curry and then we tried. What was the dish that you.
[01:01:27] Speaker B: The corvina. It was a white fish.
That was a fabulous dish. The. The f, unfortunately, was overcooked, but the, The. But the flavors and the sides and all of that were there. It just, you know, of course we had late dinner and, you know, just with the show and all of that food probably sits a little longer than it should. So that was my only hesitation. We heard that this Berber chicken, which was the picture we're showing, we've heard that was a knockout. And we heard that there's a lamb dish that was also a knockout. So we really got to try those dishes when we're on board for the maiden. But I. I would order that shrimp. Shrimp every day and twice on Sunday. The shrimp curry we had. We also had a peri. Peri shrimp appetizer, which was very, very good. But it gave me, like shrimp and grits feel. So it didn't. It wasn't quite unique, I would say, for this restaurant. But everything we had here was good. We tried it.
[01:02:18] Speaker A: Here's a picture of the shrimp. I will say, if you've ever ordered the Indian food in the rest main dining, you know, these dishes kind of trended toward that kind of curry flavor of Indian food. Very good. A little bit more heat in some of these dishes than I would have expected.
I need to try the chicken because the chef said that the chicken is the fan favorite. It's a Berber spice chicken, which is, you know, spice they use frequently in African cuisine. I also want to call out Pride Lands has two menus.
If you're on a four night sailing, you will only have menu one because your other night will be a pirate night. If you're on a five night, six night, or seven night sailing, it will depend on where you fall in the rotation, whether you get the second night menu menu. But there were some fabulous looking dishes out that they showcased. A falafel dish.
There was a lamb shank dish I think is on the night one menu that. That people were raving about as well. But there are some dishes that you won't get on the night one menu that there's some. There were some standouts, at least at the showcase that looked really, really good on the night two menu. So if you're on a Longer sailing. You'll get the Night two menu. There is no night two show.
So there's only one show. It's just a different menu. You.
[01:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And. And to answer the question, it. Yes, it does give us, like, Sanaa flavors and feel from Animal Kingdom Lodge. Very, very similar. And the decor, of course, is very similar to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Really, really beautiful space.
[01:03:41] Speaker A: They had a. They had this dish that they showcased us. I think it was a black bean paste that was an appetizer that was served with toasted banana bread. And I was like, I re. We couldn't try it. It was just on display. And I was like, that is blowing my mind. And I really want to try that. We won' to on our next two cruises because they're shorter, but next year.
[01:03:59] Speaker B: Hopefully we did get to try a drink there called Slimy yet satisfying, which is basically jello with a gummy worm in it. It is. I'm going to say that one's a. Do not recommend. It really is like Jell O in a glass. So it's not really. It's beautiful to look at, but it's not really great for drinking. So. But all the food we had was really fantastic.
[01:04:22] Speaker A: Just going to quickly touch on the kids club spaces. Nathan was not with us, so expect a fuller review when we're back after the maiden and our second trip over Thanksgiving. But just to show you some of the art here. So this is obviously Wreck It Ralph is the entry to the kids club. You'll see the slide there with Vanellope to come down into the kids club. Wanted to show off. This is the Star wars themed space and the Oceaneers Club. And then this is a photo of the Oceaneers lab side of the house.
Of course, they also have the Hideaway here, which is the Edge.
[01:04:56] Speaker B: Oh, this is not Hideaway. This is Edge Hideaway.
No, you're. You're mixing it up. There's three spaces. There's Edge, Vibe and Hideaway.
[01:05:05] Speaker A: Okay. This may be a photo of actually the Hideaway, because I think it was labeled that by Disney.
And then this is the Vibe on board. And so all the kids clubs are there. They're set up in a very similar way as to what's on the treasure and the width.
They look fantastic. And we will know more about them when we sail with kids.
So expect a more full review once we have that chance. We did not get a chance to fully tour all of these spaces, although Sam did go to the Oceaneers Club for an open house.
[01:05:35] Speaker B: I did tour the Oceaneers Club. And like I said, it is the same layout and theming as its counterparts but lots of of course character experiences and lots of activities going on in there.
[01:05:47] Speaker A: Here's a dabble of the merchandise available. You'll see us wearing these sweatshirts that are pictured here in the bottom left. Sam was show showing off the gold water bottle that they have on board.
Of course the Spirit jerseys. Sam I think owns that lounge fly backpack ears like the standard kind of complement of merchandise. I do want to call out for those folks who are fans of Nike. They had no Nike merchandise on board. No hats, no shirts, nothing like that. That we do expect a refresh of merchandise for the maiden voyage, meaning there will be some maiden specific merch. So this is just the Treasure or sorry the Destiny like first compliment of merch and then they have some inaugural sailings merchandise, polos pullovers, all of that kind of stuff.
[01:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah, this is an inaugural sailings hat here but.
[01:06:39] Speaker A: But we did not get a chance to preview the maiden voyage merch. They do have some very unique, unique pieces for the Pirates themed bar, some bar tool sets, just some new offerings there. I think we have a full video of the merchandise someplace that we'll probably try to post up on our Instagram again as a reel.
But you know, some really interesting merch, some fun merch we didn't get, you know, we didn't get a ton of it. Some of it was gifted to us. I just want to be perfectly honest. Some of it was gifted to us. These were not. We bought these shirts because we just thought they were fun.
But. But yeah, it's, it's. They've got a full complement of merch on board. Pins, ornaments, everything.
[01:07:16] Speaker B: Everything I just showed you on the video other than the sweatshirts we're wearing were actually gifted to us by some.
One thing was gifted to. A couple of things were gifted to us before the sailing and then the rest were gifted to us on the sailing. So yeah, there's definitely a ton of. Of new specific destiny merch. The answer your question. The answer is no. There are no maritime sailings on the Destiny this year. That doesn't mean that they won't have holiday decorations put up at some point because we know from the Treasure last year they did in fact put holiday decorations up for the maiden because it was over Christmas.
But there were no holiday decorations up for our preview sailing. I would not expect any holiday decorations up for the maiden voyage because it's about a week before Thanksgiving. But I would expect that at some point in December holiday decorations May go up on the Destiny, but no, they will not have official maritime sailings. If you're sailing over Christmas though, I would say I would likely expect appearances from Santa and some, but not all holiday experiences on the ship. So I would not expect the holiday deck party, but I would expect some holiday themed things. So just that they won't do maritime sailings until next year.
[01:08:42] Speaker A: Linda, to your question in the chat. Do you collect the. I do collect the atrium statues and it does look massive.
[01:08:47] Speaker B: They are all kind of big.
[01:08:49] Speaker A: Yeah, but it is t' Challa and the panther and so yeah, it does, it does look massive. They also had, instead of the Aladdin.
[01:08:55] Speaker B: One was really big on the carpet, don't you think?
[01:08:59] Speaker A: Kind of. I think this one is probably just slightly bigger. They do not have the oversized version of the. They have the oversized version of the ship, but it's all gold. So it was kind of an interesting choice. And then of course they have the standard size ship model. I just want to talk real briefly here for a second. We're going to have an entire show dedicated. So I had the very unique opportunity to be invited on. I think it was about a dozen of the media who were invited to go take a tour of the. The engine room. The focus of the tour was really around Disney's sustainability efforts. And so we saw more than just the engines. We saw kind of the, the water filtration systems and recycling operations and then a showcase of all of the ways that they've reduced single use plastics on board. And so we will go into a deep dive on that. There's a whole fact sheet that I need to have in front of me to get all of the numbers right. But the engine room room, it was unbelievable.
The crew, or, sorry, the PR people were like, we couldn't remember the last time that we've invited anyone to come behind the scenes like this and especially into the engine room space. And so we'll be bringing that to you as a separate show. As I said, our tour guide was Johan. He is the chief engineer of the Disney Destiny.
And it was a sight to behold to see the inner workings of this ship and so more to come there. But what mind blowing, unique experience to go behind the scenes with with Disney on this one. So just wanted to flag. It was such a cool experience and.
[01:10:33] Speaker B: This invite was for one of us so that I was not on this, you know, there, there was. We got a, we got a private experience in deville's with that I mentioned that troublemaking event and only one of Us got to go to that event because it was just for our media group. And so I went to that event. Brian went to this. There's, you know, one person from 12 different outlets. And so there were some things that we had to sort of divide and conquer because of just limited space, of course, in certain places. But it's, yeah, super cool opportunity. I'm really glad Brian got to do it.
[01:11:06] Speaker A: And I just, I just want to wrap up by saying, like, we just look, these media preview cruises are, are. They are not vacations. They are a lot of work. We of course had our moments of, of fun and levity.
And the last night, yeah, and the last night we spent a few hours kind of having some drinks with friends and some of the other creators and folks on board, but we did have like just the glimpse of the fun around the ship and these moments.
It's an unbelievable ship. I think someone asked us earlier, does it beat the Treasure in our book? I'm going to say for me, it is definitely a ship that I will sail on.
And I. We were already booked on her four more times and so we're definitely going to be sailing on her again. And I am happy to be doing that. The only way that the Treasure edges this ship out for me is the fact that she does seven night sailings. And so, so I'm very much looking forward to our, you know, eight nights total on board with stops only at the private islands, which is going to be amazing.
I will say the one thing I love about the Treasures that she does seven night sailings. The thing that will bring me back to this ship is I cannot, I just cannot stress this enough is that they somehow took the treasure and made it just not just slightly better, but like the entertainment offerings are just amped up and, and, and they're, they're repeatable, they're fun, they're the humor interactive. Like, the whole thing is just trying to take that immersion level to the next stage here. And I think to Drew's point, earlier in the chat about starcruiser, they're clearly, and as I said, they had someone on the creative team who'd worked on the Star Cruiser. They're clearly trying to draw some lessons from that experience and bring them to sea. Now, they didn't fully do like, oh, go meet this character. And I thought the Dr. Facilier thing was gonna be like, oh, let me slide you a little note of a place to go meet.
That's not what they did.
[01:13:09] Speaker B: Not. That's not that lining up in a Queue.
[01:13:12] Speaker A: So yeah, it's so, so it is, it is. But that will make me come back to this ship. I will be curious as we go here with this ship, how much non Marvel fans really like this experience or not. And so we'll be waiting to hear what, you know, folks who aren't super into Marvel if they sail on the ship, like what they think about it. But as we close out here, what are your final, final thoughts?
[01:13:38] Speaker B: I mean, there are some experiences and spaces on the Treasure that I like more than the Destiny. I gotta be honest, there. There's a few things I just really love about the Treasure. Skipper Society. I gotta say, I still like Skipper Society better than the Sanctum.
I of course like Beauty and the Beast more than Frozen. Right. So there are some things that I like better on the Treasure and I like. The grand hall is a good example also I like that better on the Treasure.
But this is now my number one ship because there are so many amazing immersive entertainment experiences that I love.
And I just, and I loved Hercules just so much and I loved Pride Land so much. Like this now tops as my number one ship. So I can't say that the Treasure is far behind because there is so much to love on that ship. And I do think that that's the Parks Lovers ship. So I think if you're a real like hardcore Parks person and not a Marvel fan, the Treasure is still going to be my recommendation for you. I'm not going to say don't try the Destiny, but I think that's going to still be your favorite.
But if you like villains, if you're really into villains, or you're really into Marvel, or you're really into immersive experiences and you're willing to wait in 30 minute cues for them because that's what it's going to take. I'll be honest, this is your ship. And so yeah, I wish that this was doing seven night sailings because there's so much to do packed into four and five nights. And I do think this is going to be one where if you're looking for a back to back opportunity, this is a great back to back opportunity and certainly a better back to back opportunity than the Wish. So yeah, this is an amazing ship and she's got my favorite mini on board. So like bar none. And I don't know, if you're not in our Facebook group, then you didn't hear me talk. Tell this story, which is that as a young child I was a huge Superman and Supergirl fan. And my favorite beloved Halloween costume is one my mom made for me when I was a child was a Supergirl costume, because of the stores only carried Superman and Wonder Woman costumes. And I would put on that costume. My cousin, who was an amazing pianist, would come over. He'd sit at our.
Our piano. We had an upright piano. He'd sit at our upright piano. He would play the Superman theme song. My dad would pick me up and fly me around the living room. And so to me, I love Hero Minnie because she gives me that Supergirl vibe and she makes me reminisce and relive that childhood memory. And so the fact that she's on the ship is a great video of me and her kind of being twinsies and twirling around. And I just love her so much. And I thought I could wouldn't love a Mini more than Voyager Mini. But yeah, I mean, how could you not love Hero Minnie? She's literally the best hero ever. So I don't care. Supergirl's got nothing on Hero Mini now.
[01:16:40] Speaker A: All right, well, we. We need to wrap up because we actually have to go get our son.
[01:16:43] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:16:43] Speaker A: But I wanted to say just two last things.
One is Drew in the chat saying, I wish they hadn't recycled the Haunted Mansion bar. Preach. Like, I think there was probably an opportunity missed there, to be perfectly honest.
There are some new drinks, but. But the theming was a little. It's a little odd in my opinion, and I think I've talked about it on the show before.
And then Sarah is saying it seems like they could bring more immersive experiences to the other ships. I think this could be a test bed for that. Don't get us wrong. Like, you may see some of this stuff migrate into the other ships, but for now, if you want those immersive experiences is the Destiny is the only game in town for it. So with that, yeah, there are some.
[01:17:22] Speaker B: On the Treasure, but not at the same level. Yeah.
[01:17:24] Speaker A: With that, we will be back Monday night, 5:30 at a regular time, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern, with the incomparable Mr. Lou Mangello to hopefully talk about his thoughts, not just about the Destiny, but also just about the cruise line in general.
As a longtime pundit of Disney, we can't wait to talk to Lou. And he's just a fabulous person, so can't wait to have him on the show.
[01:17:47] Speaker B: Yeah, he's with WDW News Radio for those who don't know.
[01:17:50] Speaker A: Yes. And so we'll have him on the show on Monday night. Please stay tuned. We've got several shows that we're going to push out with the recordings from this show and of course we will then be dark as we head into Thanksgiving week. We leave Wednesday for the maiden voyage of the Disney destiny on the 20th and then we are on the Thanksgiving cruise. We'll be headed to Epic Universe after that for a day. So we got a lot more great content coming, coming and some fabulous shows coming out as well. But what a day. Sorry, what a week we have had. And just a big I just want to wrap up saying big thank you to Disney Cruise Line and Disney Parks for inviting us on such a special opportunity. As I said throughout the cruise to Sam, if we never get invited to one of these again, I will never forget this experience and it but it will also not stop me from putting out our show. So anyway, fabulous experience. Thank you Disney Parks. Thank you Disney Cruise Line. What a great ship you have built and we cannot wait to experience her on the main voyage. And with that we will say have a good night everybody and we'll see you real soon.
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