[00:00:00] Speaker A: Yeah. The problem is, is if they refresh it, even though we might be happy for them to refresh it, other people will be all mad because they'll have to salad.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Oh, my Lord. The world is over.
Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DC DL Duo podcast. Brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. And Sam, I got a little surprise for you. You don't have to sing a jingle this week. I've got a. I got a new jingle for you.
That is right. It is the Grand Funk Railroad, my friends, with a little Some Kind of Wonder roll. Cause we know these reviews are really about the hostess with the mostest Samantha. So here we go. This week review. This week's review comes from Elizabeth Baxter, who writes honest reviews and helpful tips. I've learned so much from this podcast. Brian's most recent review of Lookout Key was one of the best reviews I've heard. The DCL duo is always able to highlight things you can look forward to while helping you keep realistic expectations. Well, there's a clue to how old that review is, but. And how far behind we are. But thank you, Elizabeth. I put a lot of work into that show. I appreciate the recognition there for that particular review.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: So, yes, yeah, Brian. Brian jokes about people complimenting me, but you know, Brian, that compliment was all about you. So thank you.
[00:01:22] Speaker B: So rare. So rare. So rare.
So anyway, she's Some Kind of wonderful. Ladies and gentlemen, it's your hostess with the most as Samantha to introduce our guest and our topic for the evening. And thank you, Elizabeth, for that review.
As always, for all of you out there listening, if you want to help out the show, one of the easiest ways to do it, head over to Apple Podcasts. Leave us those five star reviews. Hit those five stars. Leave us a written review and we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. Now back to you, Sam. Some Kind of Wonderful.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: Don't forget to subscribe to us on YouTube and to like the episodes there as well as it helps to spread the DCL duo awareness in the community. All right, well, we are super excited.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Don't forget, when you're in the hot tub, tell everyone about the DCL duo.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: That's right. When you're at. When you're on the hot tub, you know, on the adult pool deck or wherever. Well, anyway, I'm super excited. We're having a. It's a three Pete guest, meaning he has been on the show twice before. He is now a Gold Castaway club member. Welcome to The Gold Castaway Club. And welcome back to the show, Scott. Hey Scott.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Hey guys.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Welcome back.
[00:02:25] Speaker C: And a big hello from Dallas, Texas to everybody out there in the DCL duo land. It's great to be back and see Brian and Sam again. Thanks for having me back on the show.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: We are so excited to have you back on. We were so happy when we saw you were scheduled on the calendar for this weekend. We were like, yes, we get to talk to Scott. It's been too long. And we're super excited to talk to you about your side to side or side by side. Different people are calling it different things Cruises on the Dream and the Wish. But before we do that, we of course got to touc on your Disney cruise background for those who haven't listened to actually we did a side by side episode with you previously but you had a day in between and this one's going to be actually like a back to back where you, where you do the same day. But why don't you tell folks your cruising background which you know which ships you've been on and what kind of itineraries you've been on previous to this one.
[00:03:18] Speaker C: Sure. I've done we're on number eight right now.
And with that I've done one Princess cruise I didn't count and the rest involved in Disney. I'm going for the grand slam of check off. So all we're missing now is the Wonder and the Treasure and those are hopefully in progress soon to check those off the list. But this was a great opportunity to cruise. I've also been to the parks for all my life as a kid, probably about 15 trips.
So I'm an avid Disney cruiser and in my, my humble opinion, no other cruise lines exist except Disney.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: They just don't exist. We just pretend like they don't pretend they don't exist.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: There's a lot of great cruise lines out there but I really get the most, you know, from the relaxation out of the Disney Cruise Line, their customer service. It's really amazing.
[00:04:04] Speaker A: Absolutely. We keep obviously we keep going back even though we've ventured over to other cruise lines as well. Well, let's start with why.
Why you booked these particular itineraries on the Dream and the Wish and and why you decided to book a side to side. Why not just book, I don't know, let's say like a seven night on the Treasure. Why book the Dream and the Wish and put them on the have it have to change ships and actually change ports as well.
[00:04:30] Speaker C: So we were working on checking off we had the dream to take care of and the Wish. We'd already been on last year on our cruise for our summer vacation.
But the wish was a three night cruise and by the time we really get on the ship, it was time to get off.
So it was one of those checked some opportunities and things lined up. But the biggest thing was I became a travel agent in March to offset some of our costs to help be able to books our family travel and things like that.
And the amount of deals that were out there, regardless of being a travel agent or not, I couldn't pass up. So the dream was a four night, I'm sorry, dream was a three night and the wish was a four night cruise and I couldn't pass up the price.
We, we did cheat.
I rolled the dice again and we did the Disney guaranteed stateroom.
We had an amazing room on the Disney Dream. We were at the back of the boat, deck six with an extended veranda and extended balcony on the back of the back of the boat. Amazing. However, the view on the Wish was great. View of the lifeboats, just to let you know, they do not change, they do not move. And the lifeboats are right there.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Yeah, the lifeboats, yeah. The lifeboats only move if they're doing one of those practice lifeboat missions. Right. Where they have to do like when. So that might be, that's generally done at port. Right. So if you're at a port occasionally they've got to do. Every so often they have to do these like safety drills. Right. And sometimes that means taking, it does mean taking out lifeboats. But the one that's in front of your window might not be the one that's taken out, but the guaranteed rooms are, I think, a great option if you're not particular about where your room is located on the ship. Meaning you don't care if it's forward, aft, midship, you're not really particular about what floor you're going to be on.
And of course you're picking a category of rooms. So if you can book a gty, you know, inside or veranda or you know, ocean view or whatever and you'll get, and you'll get that class or book better. So, you know, there is obviously like I said, a risk if you're particular about your room, but if you're not particular about your room, room location really or your view, then it's, it's a really great, great option.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: Well, you thought you had the time just to go in the room to sleep and rest and everything else. So we're we're really within the boat. So saving that extra money was great. It was a great investment for, for our family and I, I really enjoyed that. The process price savings I couldn't beat. I mean, yeah, cruises were almost half off.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: That's awesome. Now you guys are traveling from Texas and you were going to Port Everglades first, right? Now tell us. I. I'm imagining you arrive, what, the night before?
[00:07:18] Speaker C: Yes. So I looked at all the different airfare options and this time we ended up going from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to Fort Lauderdale. We flew in there and when we flew in there, we landed, or it was an early morning flight. I think we departed about 7 or 8 in the morning. And we were, we were in the hotel at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort by 12 noon.
And so it was a great flight in Fort Lauder. Lauderdale Airport was a very good airport.
We took a cab from the airport to the Marriott and was able to settle in there and enjoy the beaches, work for a day because that is a Disney Cruise Line preferred hotel vendor.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Nice. And then did. Were you able to take like Disney transportation to the port then because of that choice? Yeah. That's a really nice.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: We had Group seven originally in our boarding, and we went from Group seven to Group two from that hotel and it was great. There was only about 30 folks that were in that hotel that we went with and picked up and took off a key to what we learned.
The Disney price for the Marriott harbor side is very high.
However, if you book it yourself, you'll save that money and still tell Disney you're staying there. And you can still get the perk of riding the Disney Cruise Line transportation in and saving that money and getting the upgraded boarding group. The second time we've been at that hotel, it's the second time where they have upgraded our boarding groups from whatever group you're in to Group two. So just an FYI, it's a great experience.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: That's a great tip. I did not know that you could book it direct and then still get it sort of linked up with Disney. That's a fantastic option. If you get it at a lower.
[00:09:05] Speaker C: Level, call back to customer service and tell them that you booked it, you booked it yourself, and you are staying at theirs and you can prove it. They will give you all the same courtesies of that. It's about $150 cheaper booking it yourself.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Wow, that's crazy savings.
Yeah. Tell us who was in your sailing party for this trip?
[00:09:27] Speaker C: So this one was just my dad, myself and my 16 year old daughter and she is a Disney cruise fanatic just like me. We have the matching shirts, we have all things magical. And since school had just got out, this was kind of a congratulations gift of you've done really well. She's had a really good successful sophomore year. And so it was a nice little thank you of congratulations. And there's a lot of pixie dust that happened in this trip. So we'll get into that later on in our experience.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: I love that. I love that. All right, well, we don't need to talk much about the port experience at Fort Lauderdale, I feel like, because it's a really smooth sailing these days.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: It is a nice port though.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: It's a really nice port. I feel like it's actually, I think kind of in a lot of ways nicer than Port Canaveral because it's a new terminal and it's just, it's a well oiled machine.
One, it's a very, it's a very busy port. But especially the Disney terminal is just like a well run machine. You guys got on pretty early then because you said you were bumped from Group 7 to Group 2. About what time did you get onto the Disney Dream?
[00:10:29] Speaker C: So Sam, we took the first bus out from the Marriott. We loaded at about 9:30, 9:45.
We were sitting in the Disney Cruise Terminal at 10:30.
We were on the boat by 10:50. We literally walked through security and they would call group two and we were getting on the boat. We were on the boat by like 1050. It was amazing. I agree with Brian. I like Port Everglades better than I do Canaveral. It's just a nicer cruise port. It's so much smoother.
The security is less intrusive and easier to work with.
And I'll share that experience when you get on the Wish because that was an unpleasant experience that we had with some of the security folks. But overall I like Port Everglades better. Like it's, it's a safer and easier travel travel for us.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah, let's, let's jump to that. Actually, before we talk about the experience on the Dream, let's jump to the logistics of the transfer between Port Everglades and Port Canaveral and the contrast in that boarding experience at Port Canaveral.
Did you guys take the train this time? I think you had taken the train last time. Last time.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: So we did take the train last time. However, this time we were, we're on different dynamics. I did get a great boarding group and we were supposed to be there around 11, 11:30 for our boarding group for the Disney Wish and looked at multiple different options. But the winner today, and I'm going to brag about this company, was Limopedia www.limopedia.com.
they serviced that whole Florida area for cruisers.
Our driver was great. He brought a black car SUV.
We asked him to be there at 9. He was sitting at the port at 8:15 waiting on us. We had time to leisurely enjoy our breakfast. He picked us up right about 8:30, 8:40 and we were on our way to, from Port Everglades to Port Canaveral. Very smooth experience, very professional driver.
The experience is great. But the best part about it was they beat the cost of what it would cost to either rent a car, they beat mirrors and they beat the train.
So overall it was a great experience. They were on time, very professional. They communicated very well with their communication system, with texts and emails. Overall, super impressed. I wrote them a really great review on the Internet because of that. I was actually kind of sketchy with Limopedia but they actually was a really great company.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: So it's kind of a silly. Yeah, kind of a silly name. But I'm glad it, I'm glad it worked out so well. Tell us, tell us about the Port Experience at, For the Wish. Because you were going to Port Canaveral, but because you're on the Wish, you're on out of Terminal 10, not Terminal 8, which is, Terminal 8 is Disney's dedicated terminal at Port Canaveral. Terminal 10 is the, I'll call it the, the, the spillover. Right. So they, they are using, they are using Terminal 10, but it's not a dedicated Disney terminal. I think, I think it's Carnival that uses it some other day of the week. Or maybe it's, it's another, it's another cruise line that uses it. And so the terminal is completely nondescript. There's no Disney theming to it, which is fine. I mean a lot of the terminals like Galveston and you know, San Diego and a lot of the ports that Disney sails out of Vancouver, they don't, aren't, you know, Disney themed because they're not specific to Disney. But tell us, how did the Port Experience compare, you know, in Port Canaveral to Port Everglades?
[00:14:05] Speaker C: So Port Everglades is like what Brian said is a very, very smooth running machine in and out. You can get in and out of security there in less than five minutes. I mean, and that's even on a busy packed day. Cruise Terminal 10, this is the first time we ever showed up in a car not on Disney transportation. So we were put across the street, they grabbed our bags with the porters, they helped us assist the few things we had.
And we walked in and we were in our staging area for the lines. Well after we got through the lines and they did, they did move groups through the lines fairly fast and they were moving in the terminal sooner than your call time.
My biggest issue is we had a cruise approved non surge protector, a multi port that we got picked up on at there. And I said, look, we just had this on the magic. We just got off. And he goes, well, this captain won't allow any of this on.
And so what they don't know is I got the other four on. I just had to turn over one.
And if I would have thought fast enough, I would have switched it faster. But they don't have the same rules on all the ships. And what they, what they do allow in a room or what they don't allow varies from ship to ship, person to person.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I've heard that.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: So wait, I want to dig into this for a second to make sure that. Because this is, it's a frequently asked question, people post all the time like, can I take this and not this. Was this a plug that then created more outlets or was this one of the. Like.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: Okay, yes, created more outlets.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: So generally I would say our experiences, those are not allowed. So interesting. You got them on one of the ships.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: It depends. Is it. If it creates USB outlets, it's not.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Creating more electrical outlets.
[00:15:50] Speaker A: Electrical outlets.
[00:15:52] Speaker B: If it's a plug that creates more.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. If, if it's a plug that plugs into the wall and gives you more wall socket outlets, then generally they don't allow those on the ship. What they do allow is you plug in and then you've got a bunch of additional USB charging ports off of it. So yeah, it may have just sort of snuck past security on the other ship and not made it past security or some of them may not have made it past security on this ship.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: So yeah, I've always got them on.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: We've had those, we've had those confiscated before ourselves.
[00:16:22] Speaker C: So yeah, yeah, it was just. They're not, they weren't being the same. So that's my only negative. But like, like you guys said, Cruise Terminal 10 is a totally different experience.
The way you check in there and with Disney as an encounter, it's just not the same vibe.
Also, it's a different experience going through the main entrance of port Canaveral and Port 10 because there's no Mickey ears, there's no pre photography photos. And when you do the photos, you're trying to rush down the ramp to get on the boat. So you're missing things. So overall I'm a Port Everglades kind of guy.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I can understand that. Well, let's talk about the dream a little bit because I'd love to kind of do a little bit of a compare contrast here. You hadn't been on the Dream yet. This was your first time checking that box off. You mentioned you'd been on the Wish before, but of course that was, you know, a shorter cruise and so you wanted to get on her for a few more nights. So you got a three night on the Dream. Excuse me, A three night on the Dream and then a four night on the Wish. What did you think of the Dream? You'd been on the Fantasy before so I know you were. It wasn't like it was completely, you know, new but because she's so similar to the Fantasy. But what did you think of the Dream?
[00:17:34] Speaker C: The Dream was great ship. You know, it is a lot like the fantasy. It does give the fantasy vibes.
I really enjoyed it. Normally we are a family that goes to cabana after we get on the ship. However, this time we kind of changed the course direction and we went to a sit down restaurant and it was animators. Like normally we don't do the whole sit down thing but we end up going to animators and here we are. It was, I hate to say it, it was a lot better and a lot more refreshing than trying to cram at cabanas.
So I, I did give in but it was a more relaxing experience and I actually think I got a better bang for the buck because we weren't rushed, we had the time, the food was better.
Yeah, normally I would, you know.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean I think unless people like, for people who really want like the, the seafood. Right. Because there's like the crab legs and the peel and eat shrimp at the buffet at Cabanas or at Marceline Market and they don't have that at the sit down lunch. And there, there aren't like as the sit down lunch. But I think especially if you're a family either with no kids or with older kids, I think that the sit down lunch is better. I also think it's, it's a good option for people with like really little kids because then they're, they're schlepping lots of stuff and the holding the kids and whatnot. And so it's hard to do the trays and. Or hard to do plates at. At any kind of buffet when you're dealing with a really little kid.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: No, it's always like people wasn't.
[00:19:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:06] Speaker C: And they were able to service people in and service people out.
Yeah, there was no rush whatsoever. I mean, we'd already seen most of the ship, so we didn't have to go rushing to guest services or anything else or get the little things. Everything was just kind of a smooth sail, like.
[00:19:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I think, I think it's the more relaxing way I, I understand for people who are like, we need to have a really quick lunch and then get a bunch of stuff done. So I totally get that. That's not. Then the sit down is not going to be a good option. Or for those kids who don't want to, you know, sort of sit and wait a little bit for the food.
Or like I said, if you really want the seafood, you're gon have to go to the buffet. But like, I think it's a much more pleasant experience in general to do. It does take longer. I always warn people, and it sometimes is a little bit on the slower side.
[00:19:53] Speaker C: It was actually really fast. They were pushing them through. So credit where credit was due. They. They did a great job.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: Well, Scott, let's talk about some of the highlights from your. Your dream cruise in particular.
Tell us, like, I mean, this is a short cruise, three nights.
What kind of stuff did. Did you guys get up to? You, your dad and your 16 year old? I can't believe she's 16 already. I'm like thinking it's kind of crazy.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: This is gonna be the plot twist for you, the surprise of the day.
So, as you know, my daughter is very big into theater. She's been doing theater now for the past several years.
They went to a lot of state competitions this year and regional competitions with their theater team. And so she's super big.
So here it is, our first Disney dream. We have our introduction, we have our first show and we get done. I pulled the cruise director aside and get Rylan ahead because she was already infiltrating the gift shop looking for her pins. And I said, I need a favor. I need to see if you can help me with some pixie dust. He looked at me and goes, let me see what I can do.
And so I asked. My daughter's dream is to go to Juilliard and be a professional actress and. Or be on the Disney Cruise line.
So I said my daughter would Love to meet one of the Disney cruise line actresses and that way she can participate with them and ask some questions and furthermore be able to, you know, just be able to. To find out about what it is to be a Disney cruise line.
They arranged for her to meet a one on one time with the head actress. Her name was Grace. She played Belle in Beauty and the Beast and several other things.
And then the head stage manager, jp, shout out to both of them. Your impact was amazing. To my daughter. We met an hour before the show closed theater and Grace sat with my daughter for 30 minutes and asked questions. It was the most amazing thing in the show.
Well, we wanted to be respectful at the time.
And what was actually funny was Grace said, nope, I'm good, I'm going to continue this interview. And stayed an extra 20 minutes with Ryland. It was literally 10 minutes before show doors would open and almost a full hour. Like it was amazing. But the things behind the scenes of that show was amazing and I'm so thankful for what they did because it gave her the opportunity to learn more about Disney.
We watched the getting ready for Beauty and the Beast being put on that night.
All those things that happened.
It was amazing experience. It really just hyped her up. She cried. She was so happy. So shout out to the Disney Magic crew. Shout out to jp I'm sorry, Disney Dream. Excuse me.
And shout out to Grace and JP for making that happen. You really made a huge impression with my daughter.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Oh, I love hearing stories like this. Scott. This is like, this is incredible. I mean, it is. I think it's such a wonderful experience for a young actress to get an opportunity to talk with a. Someone she looks up to. A young actress who is, you know, a few years older, obviously she's probably in her 20s and you know, and the, and you mentioned the stage manager and to really understand what it's like and what it might take to get, you know, what steps she might take in order to get there someday to be on the Walt Disney stage. I mean, I always say, and I really mean it, like if I can pick right now, if I could transport myself anywhere in the world, I'm transporting myself into the Walt Disney Theater and there's, you know, a show being performed in there, right on any of the ships. I don't really care which of the ships, although I shouldn't say that I don't really care. I would, I'd probably transport myself on the Treasure if I could pick them from all the ships because currently sailing but you know, soon probably It'll be the Destiny.
But, yeah, I mean, they're just. The Beauty and the Beast is such an incredible show that those. The cast is just incredible. Disney does such a good job of. Of recruiting and hiring for the. I mean, for all their cast, but especially entertainment, because it's such an important part of their brand. It's such an important part of the ship experience.
I love that. I love that. What were. What were some of the other stuff you guys got up to? I mean, I don't know that there's anything in going to sort of beat that. So don't, you know, don't feel like you need to try to beat that. But, like, what were some of the other fun things that you guys did? Did you could do, you know, some trivia? Did you spend some time on the pool deck? What kind of stuff did you guys get up to?
[00:24:36] Speaker C: One more thing about the. How they delivered that message. Rylan had no idea I did this.
And so they notified her through the Disney Cruise Line app and sent her a message to our stateroom. You've been cordially invited by the theater production team to meet here. Do this, this, and this.
And there was a loud scream when she got the message that was in our room that I'm pretty sure someone probably thought I murdered her on the ship of just excitement and glee. So, again, that Disney pixie dust magic is something that we can't give and can't give away. You know that. Now, to answer some of your other parts, I have a severe problem with Disney right now. It's called Bingo.
It has created a severe, severe, severe problem.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: An addiction.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: We're talking like five and six tablets. Addiction.
[00:25:28] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: Yes. It's surrounded by, you know, the. The tablets.
I actually enjoy that. That is a really fun program to do and really enjoyed it.
The other thing is.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Wait, but did you win? Did you just spend money or did you win any money?
[00:25:46] Speaker C: I made some small wins. I made two. One on the Wish and one on the. The Dream.
I was one member away from the big jackpot of $5,500 on the wish. It was so close. The lady in front of me got it.
[00:26:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:00] Speaker C: Then everyone. Twice on the Dream. They're both small pots, but enough to pay for the habit.
Another one is the last night we did a adults theme with trivia and everything else. And one thing I want to give credit to Disney Cruise Line staff was how they're able to really engage adults to do these games and trivia questions. Like, I was just going down there and just have a drink and chill out. Next thing you know, we're playing memory and looking for these clues as a team, and we're getting involved. Then they changed another game to make. Make your team dance and get all these points. Well, I ended up being a team captain, and we're just having a great time. It was the last night on the.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: Cruise, and they just rope you in, Scott. I mean, they do rope you in. Yeah, they're very. They're very engaging. I think that's the other thing is they look for, I think when they pick their entertainment cast, right? These folks who run the game shows, not just the stage actors and actresses, they're looking for people who are extroverted, engaging, really draw people in with their, you know, with their personalities and like, these people. Next thing you know, Scott's, you know, dancing in the middle of the stage 35.
[00:27:12] Speaker C: In order to get us points, I had to make them dance, and they actually got involved.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: And it was.
[00:27:17] Speaker C: It was truly fun. On. On the last night. I want to do one other thing and hit a highlight here is, you know, we talked about your shows, about the Facebook groups, and they're all privately run by. By different folks, but you can really engage your Facebook groups, too, to leverage. If you're traveling alone as a single adult, you can travel and rope those groups. Your leverage of finding friends to meet on board. I met a great family that was from Ohio, and we were able to connect before, and we had a great time just laughing and joking, and the kids had fun, but we were able to still enjoy the company and just meet new people on the ship. So I will say this. Even if you're a Disney single dad, you can still have a blast on the boat and you can still connect and still find the magic of Disney anywhere you go within the ships. And so that's. That's another magical thing. And last but not least, when we talk about entertainment, you cannot forget the wonderful spa staff.
I did investigate, like I do every other ship, the med spa, to make sure they were up to appropriate Disney standards. And they did pass.
So shout out to shout out to the crew there.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: I love it. I love it. Now, I've gotta ask, did you, for this other family, did you guys, like, arrange to eat together and stuff or, like, linked up ahead of time to eat? No. You just met up on board.
[00:28:42] Speaker C: Just met. And what was funny is we were doing our mustard drill and we ended up accidentally being right by each other. We didn't know it until we found it.
And so we were literally right next to each other because we were texting and then next thing you know, we turned around, there we were. So no, and it was a great opportunity to have some fun and to, to meet some fellow, some fellow people. They pixie dusted us with some gifts from the fish extender group they were in and so shout out to that family, that special family.
[00:29:15] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. I always think it's great, like, especially if you're, you know, a smaller family like you guys are like, we are.
It's kind of nice to, you know, make, make those connections ahead of time to meet up on board, maybe even arrange to, you know, link up for dining, which you can do by just calling Disney Cruise Line or if you have a travel agent, you can have your travel agent call Disney Cruise Line to arrange that. But it's, it's that way if, you know, you'll get linked up for dining, meaning you'll get seated together at the same table in the same dining rotation, the same time, and then you have all sort of already made friends kind of built in. And it's, I think it's really helpful, particularly when you have a kid that maybe is a little bit shy and maybe not going to go to the kids club, the Tween club, the teen club on their own. And if you find them, you know, a friend that is of similar age, it kind of helps break the ice and, and might actually encourage them to experience the, the teen club or the Tween club or the kids. Speaking of that.
[00:30:16] Speaker B: Wait, can I, can I, sorry, can I say one thing here? Like, I, Scott, love this idea.
We've also had really good luck getting seated with fun families on the cruise line. So I know everyone seems to gravitate towards like, I want to dine by myself, I don't want to dine with other people. But I have found that overall we have definitely heard of some Mrs. And we've had a couple ourselves. But overall, I think Disney does a really nice job pairing up families that will seem to meld together nicely at dinner. So if you're traveling as a family and you're interested in making some friends, I think that's also a good way to do it. It's just let Disney pair up with some people for dinner.
[00:30:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I wanted to ask, does Rylan, does she go to the teen club?
[00:30:59] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, we can't get her out of there. We see her at dinner time, she'll leave and whenever she wakes up and then she will come back for dinner. Yeah, oftentimes we don't even see her for lunch. She'll come back for dinner.
And because that is our only requirement. The show and dinner. We do the show together as a family and dinner and then she leaves dinner right after dessert and rushes down and we won't see her until midnight at 1 or 2.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:27] Speaker C: I will have to embarrass my daughter a little bit because she'll hear this down the road, but she actually met her boyfriend on the Disney cruise ship this year from the vibe.
[00:31:37] Speaker A: Oh my God. Wow.
[00:31:39] Speaker C: It's a long distance saying, but kudos to them. She kept it hot shots until we get back because she did not want me to throw the boyfriend overboard or arrest him and put him to the jail. But.
[00:31:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:50] Speaker C: She didn't want a really nice, sweet young man and great, great opportunity.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: When your dad's a law enforcement officer. I might hold off as well.
[00:32:00] Speaker A: Cleaning the shotgun. Right.
[00:32:02] Speaker B: I always joked with Sam, the only I would buy the gun, not the ammo and then just be constantly polishing the gu if we had a daughter. So yeah.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Just to freak people out. Not this is just not, not that Brian's actually going to do anything with it. He's just making a joke. All right.
[00:32:16] Speaker B: But the first, the, the very first girlfriend I had when I show up to her house, her dad was in the army reserves and he was heading out for his his weekend and his fatigues with his sidearm. And so you know, that set a tone for.
[00:32:32] Speaker D: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation.
[00:32:35] Speaker B: Great news.
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[00:33:14] Speaker B: Ready to talk to the experts?
[00:33:15] Speaker D: Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com so they know we sent you Their way. Thanks my path unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: I want to, I want to swap over to the Wish because obviously you had the four night cruise on the Wish right after. Tell us some of the highlights from your Wish cruise. You did bingo again.
Obviously you mentioned that, but did you find like you got to really experience the Wish a little bit more now that you were on one for the second time but also for four nights instead of three nights?
[00:33:55] Speaker C: Yeah. So I want to start off with the, a really dynamic rescue that Disney did not talk about. And really kudos to the United States Coast Guard and Miami Florida Rescue. Miami Dade Rescue.
Man, those guys are some amazing heroes.
So it is, we leave, we leave Port Canaveral, we head out, we're in the middle of the ocean. It is day two. It's a sea day.
It's about three o' clock in the afternoon and the boat starts to slow down. And I was on the treadmill and next thing you know we're starting to spin and I'm like, what's going on? That's kind of weird. And the captain gets on and says, hey guys, we've had a medical emergency, we need to turn back around. And we are heading back to Miami immediately. And they were full, guns ablaze and he goes, look, this won't affect anything.
We gotta go back.
I thought it was kind of weird. So we, we haul tail and you could feel the boat moving. I mean we were, we were rocking. We see port in sight and the ship starts to slow down. I'm on the treadmill and I see the port, the Coast Guard boat start coming around. So I was like, oh, this would be kind of cool to watch. My line of work ended up going on and watching it and they're right below us where they're getting the kid out. It was unfortunately an unconscious kid. But where I really want to highlight the crew and the Coast Guard and the paramedics for the work they were doing.
There was a Disney cruise line member who was carrying the baby and, or this young kid. And unfortunately the guy wasn't able to wear a life vest because it could carry the kid. A life vest. But the paramedics and the Coast Guard people worked so hard to get that boat to stay steady.
They were able to cross them over together with no life vest and the Disney worker with no life vest get them on, provide the life saving care they needed. And the Disney doctor got on the boat and they, they took good care of that patient. But shout out to the United States Coast Guard for what they do. Shout out to Miami Dade Fire Rescue for what they're doing to save those lives. And the captain make the split decision to make it back.
So I really want to give a huge shout out to those, those rescue workers. It was so nice that everybody that was watching this happen as soon as they crossed and they got the kid there, they were clapping and cheering him on. I mean that's the true Disney spirit of when these people are on the boat. So shout out to all those folks that made that happen.
That was, that was a magic. That was some really amazing things for the fam for all of us and to watch that. So I want to give credit where credit is due when we talk about things on the good.
[00:36:40] Speaker A: Yeah, we don't, we don't hear about a lot of these rescues. I mean you hear about some of them, right? You, this particularly the ones involving helicopters because everybody sees them and so people take pictures and they, they end up all over the Internet. You don't hear about every story, but it is amazing when you think about not just the US Coast Guard but Coast Guard agencies or you know, in other countries too. Like over in Europe it was like the, the Greek, the, the Hellenic Air Force was involved in, in a, you know, in a medical evacuation.
It's it. These rescue folks, these first responders, the, whether they are rescue swimmers, fire and rescue, Coast Guard, whatever. I mean they're just incredible heroes and it's amazing to see, you know that so that we can travel on our vacation safely. They are risking their lives to, to help people and it's how they maneuvered.
[00:37:33] Speaker C: That boat and kept it steady with the ship was amazing. So I mean like I said, kudos to loads people on two moving boats, two different speeds trying to make that. They did have some difficulties at first but man, they nailed it. So I just want to give credit where credit is due as we talk about the Wish though. The Wish is a very unique ship that you know, if you have that three night cruise, you really miss a lot.
And so being able to explore all the things I missed on the first trip was well worth every bit of it. I do like Marshall Lee Market, but I like the Deck 10 restaurants there too. On the pool deck. The pool deck food is great. I am a pool deck person.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Yes. The pool deck food on Wish class is bar none the best in the fleet. Whether you know, so Wish Treasure soon to be destiny. That pool deck food, it beats all. I mean I'm not saying the pool deck food Is bad on the other ships, but that stuff just beats it because you've got all the. More choices. Yeah, exactly. More choices.
[00:38:33] Speaker C: And really good quality. Amazing job.
[00:38:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:36] Speaker C: And so kudos to that.
We had a lot of great things. Also on the wish, we also.
We skipped Marceline market and we ended up at Arendelle for lunch. And that was a good experience too. Slowed down and did all that.
I did enjoy a couple meals at Marceline market. We didn't do too much on the trip.
We stayed. We mainly made the ship the destination except for Lookout. We went to lookout and we went to castaway to complete our family traditions for that. But even on Castaway, we ate lunch back on the boat. So we got in and got out and we were back on the boat before lunch at castaway Cay, like normal.
[00:39:19] Speaker A: Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I can't remember. Is this. This is. This wasn't the first time you'd been to Lookout. You'd been. Had to look out on the magic. Right.
[00:39:28] Speaker C: So we went to the Magic. We didn't make it to lighthouse on the magic. And that was my first time there. I have mixed emotions about Lookout. Beautiful island.
I just don't think it's quite ready yet. It's missing all the excursions and things like that.
But overall, beautiful island, beautiful culture. We saw the joking parade like everybody was talking about.
That was an experience.
I really enjoyed that.
The island has pretty beach, pretty areas, But I just don't think it's put together.
It's not smooth put together.
And I think that's one thing I didn't like. There's so many islands and stops and everything else.
And I'll be. I'll be honest with you. I was not a fan of true. True barbecue.
Just not a fan of that. We ate it, but I had. I wanted to try and get the experience, But I would rather ate back on the boat.
Just not a fan of that one. I did like it better than castaway food, but still not a. Not a big fan of that one.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: Yeah, interesting. I mean, I. I agree overall that I think the food on the ship is generally better than the food at either lookout or castaway. But I think lookout is an improvement over Castaway as well. And I don't think the food is bad either place, But I think. I think the quality of the food on the ship generally is. Is better. But I found that at other places, Private island experiences on other cruise lines as well. Like, I think on, you know, Coco Key is also. I think the food is generally better on the ship than at Coco Key. I think the same for Virgin's Bimini Beach Club, which I think the food. The beach club was actually, like, not even edible. Like, really bad. But although the food on the ship was good.
Very good. So, like. Yeah. I don't know what it is about these private islands. Food experience. I haven't found them to be that great. I know there are people who love royals.
The food at Coco Key, I thought it was fine.
[00:41:33] Speaker B: They have a lot more offerings at Coco Key. Right. So, like, it's. It's different. Like, Disney is just straight up hamburgers, hot dogs, like, sometimes chicken.
You know, maybe steak at the. The adult side of the barbecue. That kind of stuff. They added the rice dishes on. On Lookout and the chicken sandwich. Yeah, chicken sandwich. Yeah, that kind of stuff. So it, you know, it's pretty plain, Jane, you know, and it needs to be. It's family friendly or catering to a broad audience. Like, the stuff on Virgin Voyages was, like, trying to be too fancy and not really hitting the mark. And so. Yeah, it's inconsistent, I guess is the way I would say it. I. I've gotten grown a bit.
Okay. Hate me all for this board of the barbecue on Castaway Key. I just say it's the same thing every time. And it's like, it's good, it's fine. It's fine for the day that we're there. It's great. Like, whatever. I will eat it. I'm not like, it's not bad food. It's just.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: Yeah. The.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: Some difference.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: I know.
[00:42:25] Speaker C: Yeah. They need to refresh it.
[00:42:27] Speaker A: Yeah. The problem is, is if they refresh it, even though we might be happy for them to refresh it, other people will be all mad because they'll have to.
[00:42:34] Speaker B: Where the pasta salad go. Oh, my Lord. The world is over.
[00:42:38] Speaker A: That's. That's the problem with refreshing. I will say. I still. I really like the ribs at Castaway.
I think they're still quite good, but.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: What did what your grandmother say to Dwyer? Too dry.
[00:42:51] Speaker A: Too dry.
But anyway, yeah, I really like the ribs of Castaway, but other than that, I can eat on. I'm happy to eat on the ship.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: The other weird thing that I don't think anybody's talking about yet, maybe you guys noticed it too, but they give you the smallest cups at True True Barbecue for a soda or water, whatever else. And then the picnic benches are at least five blocks away, so by the time you drink your soda, it's empty before you get to your table. Then you have to Walk all the way back to get another one.
Now I will say this. I will come in and receive the hate mail. Like Brian, I did not think the walk was as bad as what it could have been. It was a fast walk.
I tried not to take the stairs. I tried to take the stairs on all the ships and do the no elevator challenge. So I didn't mind the walk. I thought the walk was actually pretty nice. It was smooth concrete, you could get some great pictures.
My apple watch thanked me for hiking and getting my, my movement points in. So the, the walk wasn't as bad as what it could have been.
So I, I think that was a nice shoe. They did have some shade. They had everything else there. So I guess overall the other, the other thing too is they have everybody club up at the, the little guest house while you're waiting for reservations and stuff. And people can get lost into those excursions. So I think that's not well prepared yet. But we went on the banana boat at Castaway, I'm sorry, at Lookout, just like we did at Castaway and explored the island a little bit. It was a great experience.
Remember if you have got to bring goggles on that, but also put smaller kids up front that make great windshield wipers for us adults as we're going on the banana boat. That way you can see and let the kids take all the water for you. That's your expert tip. But I did, I did enjoy Lighthouse. Just not, I just don't think it's 100% fully there yet. It's not, it's not as ready as it used to be.
[00:44:53] Speaker B: Scott, I gotta ask a question here. Is your daughter now going to be like completely hooked on back to back cruising? Basically.
Is she prepared for just a single cruise now? Because this is this twice in a row, right, that you kind of. I think you, you surprised her the last time around. I think you surprised her this time around as I understand it. So like she knew this was here.
[00:45:12] Speaker C: This was a reward. It was a last minute cruise just because of the prices in the summer.
I will say this, the reason why we did the back to back was to check the different boats off our, our list.
And the magic was hanging around there and it was a great opportunity. Now all we have left is the treasure of the Destiny. And you know, I'm hoping and wonder, right?
[00:45:35] Speaker B: Yeah, I just said they're not there. Another side to side opportunity. Because he could do seven nights on the Treasure, head down to Fort Lauderdale and get on the Destiny for a four nighter. Maybe a five nighter.
[00:45:45] Speaker C: I don't know, Brian, I'll tell you this much. We spent less on the seven nights we were on the boat.
[00:45:52] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:45:52] Speaker C: Going side to side than we would have on the Treasure. On a seven nights.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: For seven nights. Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely true.
[00:45:59] Speaker C: Under five grand total with airfare and the hotel room.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:46:04] Speaker C: Three of us on a seven night cruise on two boats. I mean, I, I couldn't pass it up.
[00:46:10] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's a really, that, that's a very, that's an excellent deal. And, and because the Treasure is still the newest ship in the fleet and because she's doing a seven night itinerary, she's going to be more expensive. I mean, that's between eight and nine.
[00:46:25] Speaker C: Grand and it's just super expensive. I mean, These cruises were 1500-2000 and for three of us and we weren't. I mean, we're in a veranda, a 4A category. I mean, we weren't anything spectacular on it. With a guaranteed stateroom. That knocked it down even further.
It was worth the risk of getting the room. And like I said on the Magic, we were on the back of the boat with extended veranda. That was one of the best fees I've ever had. I'll be honest with you, Scott.
[00:46:52] Speaker A: One question, you know, I didn't ask when we were talking about the transfer between ships and I'm imagining the answer to this is no. But correct me if I'm wrong. Did Disney do any knowing that you were side to side transferring from, you know, Fort Lauderdale to Port Canaveral? Did Disney do anything to facilitate any kind of anything, whether that's luggage transfer or anything like that? No. Okay. I didn't think so.
[00:47:19] Speaker B: They do it at Port Canaveral. That's.
[00:47:21] Speaker A: Yeah. If you're switching from one ship to another side now.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: Yeah. If you're doing side to side off the ship, on the ship, same day, you know, between the Treasure and the Wish, I think is the only way you could maybe do that right now. Although the magic.
[00:47:33] Speaker A: No, it's the fan. It's the fantasy and the wish, Brian. Fantasy and the wish, they're both there on Friday. So Friday is the only day that you could at Port Canaveral. Friday is the only day where you could switch from one ship to the other. And it would be either the fantasy to the wish or the wish to the fantasy because of the way that they. That's why they have two ports. That's why they have the Fantasy and the Treasure are at Terminal 8 and the wishes at Terminal 10. And so on Fridays, every other Friday actually is an opportunity for somebody to do a.
A side to side. But staying at Port Canaveral that you do have to switch terminals.
[00:48:08] Speaker B: But where I was trying to get with my comment was when, when they do that I have heard that they like gather the side to side cruisers similar to back to back and there's like a bus transfer, a little like shuttle transfer potentially over to the other port with your luggage. So like it sounds like if you're at Port Canaveral moving between the two ships, they do something to facilitate. So. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:48:29] Speaker C: One thing I am kind of surprised about is Disney Transport didn't offer anything from Everglades to Canaveral to try to. Because we weren't the only customers doing that. So I'm surprised they didn't have an option for that on DCL Transport.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's the problem is that they just don't have enough necessarily consistently, you know. And so if they knew they could fill a bus of 40 people every time I think they would do that. But I don't know that they have that kind of consistency. And they do have people going one direction, they might have people going the other direction. So they can't put those folks together on the same transportation. So. Yeah. So I think it's just a matter of efficiencies. They haven't. I don't think they're having enough people do it to make it efficient to offer something like that. All right, well, I don't. Is it that time, Brian, or have we.
[00:49:19] Speaker B: Before we head over to Scott, is there anything we missed talking about that you want to be sure to share?
[00:49:22] Speaker C: You know, I got to see the Golden Mickeys this year. I haven't seen that yet. That was interesting. I've heard that in the show but have not experienced the Golden Mickeys.
[00:49:33] Speaker B: Interesting. Interesting is never a good adjective.
Yes.
[00:49:38] Speaker C: You know, there's nothing like sitting in the Walt Disney World Theater and they're doing their promo commercials outside and they're getting all the guests hyped up and you see a certain 16 year old female that may be your daughter with a loud screaming voice on the projection theme and you're just not ready for that yet that happened. So she was very excited for that one. But also I'm going to give kudos here to Beauty and the Beast.
I have not seen Beauty and the Beast on the Disney Cruise Line.
I'm really impressed how they make the different props work and how they can take a prop and just whiz it in, whiz it out with magnets or whatever else they use.
I mean, I hate to say it, but, man, Beauty and the Beast was spot on.
That was definitely.
[00:50:27] Speaker A: I mean, it's one awards. It was introduced on the Dream, it's of course, now on the Treasure as well. But its introduction on the Dream, it won awards for because it's such a wonderful. It's. It's not just a wonderful show because of the music and the acting, but the way that they've staged it, the use of puppetry, the use of props, the use of set design, all of that, and the use of, you know, screens and technology in that as well.
It's such. It is a fantastic theatrical marvel.
[00:51:01] Speaker C: I am super impressed with how they do all that.
I will also say that one thing that I'm super impressed, too, is just all the shows, like, I do like Aladdin. I've seen Aladdin several times. But like the Little Mermaid, you believe the puppets are real? Like, I hate to say it, but they are just. It's. It's the Disney magic itself.
You know, shout out to the serving team that we had on the Wish. They were a really amazing team.
I think the food was great this time. We didn't really have any bad meals. We didn't do any upgrades or anything like that. But I'll tell everybody this. You know, each ship has its own flavor and its own distinct touches.
Take the time to make the ship your destination, to really enjoy the most of the ship. And I think that's one of the things that I like the most about traveling on all the Disney ships is seeing it. We missed so much on the Disney Wish the first time.
I'm glad we got to see it the second time. And the one thing, too, when we went on the Disney Wish the first time last year, there was so much hate. It's either they like the Wish or they hate the Wish. There's not a lot of in between.
I'm a firm believer now. I like the Wish class. I think the way they have it set up, the way it operates, it's a lot smoother than the fantasy because it takes out that third stairwell, that third bank. It actually runs really, really smooth, and you can get more people flow. So the people that were doubters of the Wish Class ship, I mean, I. I'm. I'm a fan of it.
[00:52:33] Speaker B: Well, Scott, I do think it is that time in the show, and I'm sorry I don't have a jingle for this one. But you know, two copyright strikes in a single show might be a problem. So we have reached that point in the show, Scott, where I need to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and a dash of judgment of the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away.
[00:52:52] Speaker A: All right, we're gonna do a versus. Now we're gonna do the Disney Dream versus the Disney Wish. Because we've done Rapid Fire before, Scott, so I can't just ask you your favorites. I gotta ask you which is better, the Disney Dream or the Disney Wish. I'm gonna ask you in specific categories. Okay.
[00:53:08] Speaker B: I think, Sam, you need to add a question into your rapid fire going forward for repeat guests about what is your favorite live action Disney movie?
[00:53:14] Speaker A: Brian, this is my show.
This is my round. All right. She doesn't take creative direction, I don't take suggestions. All right.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: All right, Scott, DJ request over there.
[00:53:26] Speaker A: Let's start with decor, like overall theming and decor of the ship. Which one did you like better, the Dream or the Wish?
[00:53:34] Speaker C: The Wish. You know, the Wish class is really making that grand entrance. But how they do certain things like Grand Hall, I mean, it's just magic the way the great hall lobby is and how they transform it into 1923 with all the pictures and stuff outside and how they built the ship, how they built Dizzy, but also there's so much activity. They built that grand hall between pictures. Everything else, it really just makes it feel that home session, that homebound session. So definitely the Wish on that one.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I gotta agree with you. I actually, I think they've done such a good job with the grand hall on all the Wish class ships. It really makes it a theater space, a meeting space. It's a multi purpose space that while they use the atriums of the other ships for a lot of those similar purposes, it just works better on, on the Wish class. All right, let's talk shows. Which ship? I mean, which. They're both really great. So. But which ship do you overall would you say, you know, wins in. In theater shows? We're talking Walt Disney Theater. And I. I don't know that the Dream has. I kind of feel like the Dream has to win because of Beauty and the Beast. But I don't, I don't want to. I don't want to tell you what to answer, but there's maybe. I don't know, there's.
[00:54:48] Speaker B: Good.
[00:54:48] Speaker A: Both are good. Scott, you tell me your answer. I'm not, I'm not going to actually.
[00:54:51] Speaker C: Judge on this one, to avoid a guilty verdict on the DCL duo, we will go with Beauty the Beast because I know that is the right answer. Otherwise I will get the dash of judgment and probably get my mic muted.
So we'll go with Beauty of the Beast, followed by Little Mermaid, followed by Aladdin. And you can't forget, you know, Disney's special one on the Wish with the father and the daughter. The.
[00:55:18] Speaker A: Oh, you mean on the Dream?
Yeah, yeah, the. The Believe on the. On the dream.
[00:55:24] Speaker B: That's it.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, I hate to say it as a, As a dad with a daughter that is one of my favorite. Makes me tear up every time.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Yeah, you got Believe, Golden Mickey's and Beauty and the Beast on the drink. That's a great. It's a good lineup. But like, you got Sees the Adventure and Little Mermaid and Aladdin on the Wish, which is also a great lineup, but ye. Yeah, I, I honestly, I wasn't going to give you judgment.
[00:55:45] Speaker C: It just wasn't the golden b. Was. Okay, yeah, it's not my favorite. I mean, it's good, but it's just not one of my, My, my favorites.
I think the reason why Believe gets me every time is watching your daughter grow up. In all the adventures that can happen, that one just sticks to you. But I will say Beauty the Beast, Little Mermaid. I mean, the way they do Little Mermaid is those, Those puppets just come to life. You just can'.
They. They really make you involved in that. That feeling like you're in the. The water, like it's. It's amazing.
[00:56:22] Speaker B: I do. I do need to interject just to let Scott know Sam doesn't control the mute button. I do.
[00:56:27] Speaker A: And so true. This is. This is actually.
[00:56:31] Speaker B: Speak Truth to Power, Scott. Speak truth to power.
[00:56:35] Speaker A: All right, that is true. Brian on. On this platform. Brian does control the mute button. Um, all right, I want to ask Pool deck food. We already. You already said the Wish obvious.
What about rotational dining? Like, which.
Obviously you've got more. A little bit more theming and more shows on the Wish for Dining than you do on the Dream class. But do you like that better or do you like a quieter dining experience? So which would you pick between the Dream and the Wish? And it's overall, you know, I'm not asking you to pick an individual restaurant, but which one has sort of better rotational dining, would you say?
[00:57:09] Speaker C: So I am going to say the Wish on this one. However, if I could take out Marvel, I would take out Marvel and replace it with, like, animators or something else. I Am not a Marvel fan in anything. And I think the Marvel show really distracts from the dining experience.
Yeah, they're trying to make it interactive and all this other stuff, but it's just not. It's just not my cup of tea. And I haven't. You know, the first time was bad, but the second time was the same. It just didn't grab your attention.
I spend more time trying to tune it out. So now I will say this. I like 1923 with all the artifacts.
I even like Arendelle. Like the way they. They. They grow arendelle and the way they involve the kids in arendelle. Trying to get that kudos to Disney. I mean, that to make the whole room dance with the kids and everything else and you get your servers and waiters in. I mean, that takes a lot. So kudos to Disney on the. The Airdale.
[00:58:07] Speaker A: Nice.
All right, I am going to ask my next question is going to be about the water slides because we've got the Aqua Mouse on the Disney Wish. You've got the AquaDuck, which I'll call that the OG it's not quite the OG, but it's close to OG on.
[00:58:26] Speaker B: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,. The OG is the Aqua Dunk. Sam first water slide. But you said Aqua Duck. Yes, it is the Aqua Dunk.
[00:58:37] Speaker A: No, it's not Aqua. It's. So there were yellow slides on the Magic. Did not when she first came out. Brian, the Aqua Dunk was not on the magic that was put in. In a dry dock. That's actually not. The Aqua Duck is actually the OG on the.
[00:58:52] Speaker B: Sorry, but the water slide that sits on the original ship is the OG.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: But it's not the original.
It's not actually from a technical.
[00:59:01] Speaker B: Dying on this hill. Dying on this hill.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: Okay. From a technical stand standpoint, it's not the OG but they're. Yeah, I believe actually probably those, like, yellow Mickey slides are probably the OGs. But anyway, AquaDuck versus Aqua Mouse. So we're talking dream class as Aqua Duck, wish class as Aqua Mouse. Scott, what's your verdict?
[00:59:19] Speaker C: So I am going to have to go old school and go with the Aqua Duck.
I do like the Aqua Dunk, but I'm sorry, the Aqua Mouse, but I'm going to go old school on that one.
Sometimes there's too many technical difficulties on the Dream on the Wish clash that can prohibit that show. So the other one is just the real OG and you probably aren't going to fall out of a slide like you did on a recent Lately.
[00:59:46] Speaker B: Royal Caribbean. Yeah.
All right, Sam, I will give you credit where credit is due. The AquaDunk was installed in 2013. The Disney Dream first sailed in 2010. So, fine, but it's still the OG AquaDunk is the OG the Aqua Dunk.
[00:59:56] Speaker A: Is the OG because it's on the OG ship. Okay, fair enough.
[01:00:00] Speaker C: I'm going to withdraw your request to argue you your argument, so that way it will be hidden.
[01:00:06] Speaker B: I don't know, Scott, you're getting dangerously close to the mute button now. Okay.
[01:00:09] Speaker A: All right, keep going.
Okay, I've got just. Just one more question.
Well, actually two more questions because I got to ask the overall. But the first. But the second to ask the penultimate question is, which do you think. Which Vibe would you think your daughter would choose? Does she have a favorite between the Wish and.
And the Dream? Because I feel like we don't talk a lot about.
[01:00:34] Speaker C: Definitely given some very specific instructions about the Vibe category.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:00:39] Speaker C: Hands down. She said it was, quote, unquote, the best group of counselors was on the Wish, and that even trumped the fantasy. So kudos to the crew. The Wish, that was her best Vibe experience.
[01:00:52] Speaker A: Wow. And it's a beautiful space. I have to say. The. The space. The Vibes is really. Yeah, it's really beautiful. And they also use that space next door that's called the Hideaway. That's kind of a fle space they use sometimes for 18, 20, sometimes for vibe.
That's. It's a really. Yeah, it's a really beautiful space. Okay, now before you ask that last.
[01:01:10] Speaker C: Question, just a shout out to those people that work in the Vibe and all that, what they do for the kids and how they build that community across the ship. Thank you for taking our kids out of our hair for, you know, three and four days is. I really don't see my daughter. But what they do to build that and what they do to build that camaraderie and everything else. So shout out to those group of people.
[01:01:30] Speaker A: Love that. Okay, so the last question is which one? I'm going to just open this up to. Which one is your favorite ship? I'm going to let you pick from the entire fleet, at least only the ones you've been on, of course. So obviously not the wonder or the treasure, but. Yeah. Which is your favorite now?
[01:01:46] Speaker C: So me and my daughter have had this heated discussion, and it's not pretty at home. So just for the record, I would like to go with.
[01:01:52] Speaker A: I'm going with the Wish family.
[01:01:55] Speaker C: We are a split family on this one. So My one is the wish and then the fantasy and then the dream of the magic. They're, they're about the same. So I'll, I'll let those be third and fourth. She is a die hard fantasy.
First ship, best ship.
[01:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:02:11] Speaker C: And then she goes with the magic and then the wish and down to the dream. So, you know, she felt the vibes from the fancy on the dream.
[01:02:22] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I think a lot of that does though. There is that bias of the first ship that you've been on or you had just a really fantastic experience on a particular ship. And so some of that is that and not necessarily the ship. I think we get some of that as well.
But all the ships are fantastic. Listen, Scott, we of course love having you on the show. We're of course going to have you back.
Do you have anything booked like what's, what's next on, on the Disney cruise agenda for you and, and for the family?
[01:02:56] Speaker C: So I'm on Operation Santa Claus right now.
I just joined being a travel agent in March just to get some of the perks and be able to book that. But I'm looking at either doing the Destiny around Christmas time this year or possibly sailing out of Galveston for the dream or Magic. I can't remember which one it is that's gonna be coming out. They have some incredible deals on, on the platform right now. And so that is something great.
As someone from Dallas, Texas, you know, we're really excited getting a Disney ship down in Galveston full time here in 2027. So that's gonna be a great experience for us. We can cruise even more and even closer.
I'm not, I don't even care what, what ship they send us.
It'll be just nice to have that dizzy here. So when we, we need it, it's just a quick hop, skip and a jump down to the port. You know, it's only about five or six hours and then that's worth the Dr.
So we're pretty excited. So my goal is to make Christmas at Disney this year and really make it special and really have a great relaxing year.
[01:03:56] Speaker B: Well, we cannot fault you there because we will be spending Disney Christmas with Disney this year to sit at Aulani. So I think Disney is always, they always do the holidays, right? Like, I have yet to have a bad holiday experience. Well, geez, I shouldn't say that. All of our holiday experiences thus far have been fantastic. I hope that that way we had.
[01:04:16] Speaker A: One bad Thanksgiving experience, but it wasn't. Yeah, we were sick. It wasn't Disney didn't do anything wrong. We were on the fantasy. We just all happened to get sick. And so it was not a great cruise. But that was not Disney's fault. That was just us getting sick.
[01:04:34] Speaker C: Two or three years ago we had a Disney cruise at Christmas time and it was truly the most amazing thing and how it pulls your family together. And the way I look at it is instead of having gifts that are just going to last a week or two, this is a family memory and you can put there, you know, in your family core memories and just have that opportunity to spend it with your family and really make the most of it.
[01:04:55] Speaker B: We too are looking forward to see what the fleet has in store for new ports. We're hoping for a permanent west coast based ship here coming up soon. And as we're recording this, we're all holding our breath for itinerary releases and maybe hoping that will come. This is mid August, so we're all hoping it comes next week. Perhaps the itineraries are getting a little thin for Disney at this point, so we'd love to see those. But yes, Scott, excited to have you back in the future. Be sure to reach out. We'd love to have you back and hear all about your future Disney Cruise Line adventures. But for now we'll just say thank you so much for coming on the show, spending some time with us and our audience. We really, really appreciate it.
[01:05:31] Speaker C: Sam and Brian, it's always an honor to be here and thanks to the DCL duo nation that's out there supporting y' all and can't wait to make it a fourth time and spend there. My biggest goal is to hopefully we connect on one of our Disney ships together to spend our time together. But thank you again for having me. And a big howdy to all the folks out there from Dallas, Texas.
[01:05:52] Speaker B: Yes, we want to meet up on a ship for sure, Scott, when they start sailing out of Galveston permanently. I think we're going to finally find our way down there to do that.
[01:05:59] Speaker C: So yes, I still get the title of Executive Security for the DCL duo. I haven't lost that totally.
[01:06:05] Speaker B: I think you're much more qualified than our current security crew. Sorry, Tracy.
[01:06:09] Speaker A: That's right.
[01:06:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:06:11] Speaker B: Thanks Scott.
[01:06:12] Speaker A: That.
[01:06:17] 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 on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts and if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com forward/dclduo or even email them at dclduomypathunwinding.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, and a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Dual Podcast podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at 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.
[01:08:20] Speaker A: Sam.
