[00:00:00] Speaker A: We said, let's, let's try this cruise line thing. Let's just give it a shot. And we did. This was 2006. It was on the Magic, a seven day Western Caribbean cruise. And I'm like, what have I been doing with my life? It was literally the best time ever in my life. I still think so fondly on that first cruise, the whole family together. Gideon was my son. Gideon wasn't born yet. It was so fantastic. And from that moment on, I knew my only goal, the only reason I work is so I can figure out how to pay for the next cruise.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by My Path Unwinding Travel. And this week's episode is also brought to you by the good folks over at DCL Magazine. It has officially launched. We're super excited. We hope you all have gotten your subscription to the DCL Magazine. If you have not, make sure to go to their website, dcl-magazine.com and if you want to save 10%, you can put in code word DCL Duo, all caps, DCL Duo, everybody. Hello and welcome. As you can tell, I am here with Doobie right now instead of with Brian.
I got to say first, welcome to the show, Doobie. It's wonderful to have you.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I'm super excited to talk to you today. I'll just tell folks Brian is not feeling well today and so he is actually here in the background, but just like helping me with the production stuff because I don't know how to use this platform very well.
But I am going to be solo hosting tonight. But as I mentioned, I've got Dubi here with me. We're going to jump into some Disney Cruise Line news before we jump into our interview today. But Dubi's going to help me out. Dubi is an expert on all things Disney, including Disney Cruise Line.
Much more so than I am, I would say, in Disney in general.
So we're going to chat a little bit of news first and then we'll dive in and talk about Doobie's background and what he loves about Disney Cruise Line and of course, his most recent cruise on the Disney Wonder.
All right, so the news about Castaway Club Gifts we mentioned last week that there are new Castaway Club Gifts being introduced across the floor.
Well, I learned today that they have already launched on the Disney Wonder and that the new lanyards have been seen on the Disney Magic apparently in Silver Castaway Club status. Folks who are silver are getting the new lanyards, not the old lanyard. So they must have just run out of those older silver lanyards, but they must still have the rest of the Castaway Club gift. So we'll see these roll out over the next couple of weeks and months. With the exception of the Disney Adventure. You'll continue to see the inaugural gifts on the Disney Adventure until they run out of those, which I'm imagining is going to take a while because I were hearing lots of first time cruisers are sailing on the adventure. And so if you're a first time cruiser, you are not getting those Castaway Club gifts. Okay, two more pieces of news.
Season three of behind the Attraction is going to be on Disney, I believe at the end of June and it's going to have a two episode special about Disney Cruise Line. It's going to be basically the making of the Disney Destiny. I'm looking forward to that. What about you, Dubi?
[00:03:29] Speaker A: Yeah, of course, of course. It's the best part of Disney and Behind the Attractions. Such a good series. So I'm glad they did not forget about the cruise line in their series.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I love all of those behind the Attractions too. I think it's really fun to see like the imagineering or imagineering stories. Like it's wonderful to see how they created things we love in our family. We actually have watched even some other cruise lines where they've shown how they build a ship and put it together. It's just like a really fascinating thing to see how like the underbelly works. Right. Like how the operations go and how it all comes together to build a cruise ship. Nathan in particular really enjoys those kinds of behind the scenes building episodes. The other piece of news is we've got a new head of Disney Signature Experiences which is basically the head of overseeing Disney Cruise Line. They oversee adventures by Disney and they oversee Nat Geo and they are under the Parks and Signature Experiences umbrella. So Tom Maslem is at that level. And now Natasha Rafalski, who comes to us from Disneyland Paris, is that right? That's right. Dubi. Right. You're the one who told you that
[00:04:39] Speaker A: she's currently the head at Disneyland Paris.
I've never met her, but Jeremiah, who you've had on the show, has worked with her at some media events, had really, really nice stuff to say about her. So I'm excited to see her coming to the best part of Disney.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, and they also oversees DVC I think is under Signature Experience as well.
[00:04:57] Speaker A: I'm not 100%, but I believe you're right.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So that, I mean, she would know. Yeah. That's a big umbrella of stuff that falls in. And obviously for us on this show, that's sort of the main focus of what we cover. Right? We cover. We like to cover, of course, Disney Vacation Club, Cruise Line adjacent stuff, and of course, abd, Nat, Geo and Cruise Line, obviously. All right, well, I think that's it for the. The news today. We've got lots of people saying hi in the comments.
Hi, everyone.
And then. Oh, Evelyn, first time joining live. Love all your podcast episodes. Hi, Evelyn, thanks for joining us live. I love it when people get to join us live for the first time. All right, well, we're going to dive in and I got to start with Dubi. You are co founder. You and your wife founded the Laughing Place.
Laughing Place blog is like a place for all things Disney news.
And tell us, when did you found the Laughing Place and when did you come up with the idea for it?
[00:06:03] Speaker A: So my wife and I got married back in 1997. We'll be doing 30 years next year. And I actually met her at Disneyland because I was a Disneyland addict back then. I started going in 95 and just something clicked and I became an addict, got an ap, went almost every day. Met her at Co Corner at Disneyland. We got married a year later. We were both big Disneyland fanatics and it was taking so much time. And I've always been kind of an entrepreneur. I'm like, I gotta figure out a way to make this not just a time waster, but instead a way to make some money. And this was the early days of the Internet. And so we thought about it and I said, let's start.
Actually, the term blog didn't even exist back then. But let's start a website.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: A website.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: Let's start a website covering Disney.
And we did laughing place.com, we wanted a name that evoked Disney, but was free from copyright or trademark because it goes back obviously long before Disney. So that's where Laughing Place came from. And August 1, 1999, we launched laughingplace.com covering all of Disney.
[00:06:59] Speaker B: That's amazing. And now you have a whole bunch of employees. You cover all of the parks, including over international, but obviously with a focus on the US Parks.
Focus on lots of signature experiences. I feel like you guys focus on, but you even focus on some of, like the entertainment side of things. Movies, all Disney news.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: If Disney owns it, we cover it.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: So we cover Marvel, Star Wars, Hulu,
[00:07:25] Speaker A: literally If Disney owns it, we cover espn. My wife is actually the other co founder is actually kind of the head of our ESPN coverage. She gets to travel all over covering ESPN events. We're going to see, she's going to see the Savannah Bananas at Disney World at the end of next week.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Oh, that's awesome.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah. So we literally cover anything Disney. The parks are certainly an important part of it. But I mean, Shanghai, Hong Kong, you had Benji on when he took the Adventure by Disney around the world trip. We cover everything Disney and Benji is really, really, really good at being on top of the entire company. That's kind of his superpower. So he's done a great job. Like I said, we founded it, but we sold half of it to him about 10 years ago and he actually runs it now. I just get to do the parts that I like. And he's done such an incredible job growing it since then.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: That's awesome.
I think it's amazing that you had the forethought to come up with this because honestly, who would have thought, right? Who would have thought it would be as big as it is? You guys are, I think, the oldest one out there.
[00:08:29] Speaker A: Yeah, one of them. One of them.
[00:08:32] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. If not oldest. One of the. One of the oldest. You know, covering, covering all things Disney. And obviously cruise line has become a big part of your coverage and a big, I know, personal love. When did you start sailing with Disney Cruise Line?
[00:08:47] Speaker A: So we, like I said, we started in 1999, the year after the Magic launched. I can remember covering some stuff with the Wonder.
No interest whatsoever in going on a cruise. It just seemed like the most boring, useless trip in the world. We did not care at all. And then in 04, we moved to Florida and my wife's family moved there too. And we were wanting to do an October vacation. We said, let's try this cruise line thing. Let's just give it a shot. And we did. This was 2006. It was on the Magic, a seven day Western Caribbean cruise. And I'm like, what have I been doing with my life? It was literally the best time ever in my life. I still think so fondly on that first cruise, the whole family together. Gideon, my son Gideon wasn't born yet. It was so fantastic. And from that moment on, I knew
[00:09:32] Speaker C: my only goal, the only reason I
[00:09:34] Speaker A: work is so I can figure out how to pay for the next cruise. That is all I care about. And it's been a great, it's been a great incentive. And I've now been on 15 of them. Every ship except the treasure. I feel very deprived that I've not been on the treasure yet. I appreciate you feeling sorry for me, Dewey.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: That's crazy.
I feel like as an original Parks person, you have to. I feel like if you start with the Parks, it's a travesty that you haven't been on the treasure yet.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: It is a travesty. And I cry myself to sleep every night as a result.
[00:10:04] Speaker C: But.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: And I haven't been on the adventure, that one at least is booked. But the treasure, it may never happen.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: I don't.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: It's the seven day part that makes it hard.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: It just makes it hard.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: It makes it hard.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: Yeah. It's hard to get the schedules being what they are. Yeah. You're busy between work and Kiddo and all of that. It's. Yeah, it's hard to fit that in sometimes.
[00:10:23] Speaker A: But we've done 15 now.
Or I've done 15 now. My son has done 14, my wife has done 13 and. No, I'm sorry, he has because he
[00:10:34] Speaker C: missed the first two.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: So he's done 12.
[00:10:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: He took his first one when he was only about 7 months old and he's been. Well, anyway, I'll let you ask more questions, so I'll stop there.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: I love that. All right. Well, which of the ships have you been on the most, do you think? At this point
[00:10:52] Speaker A: it's pretty evenly split. I think I've done like three wonders, two magics, maybe three fantasies.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: It's pretty even, actually, except for the newer ones.
[00:11:04] Speaker C: I've only.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: I've done one wish and two destinies.
[00:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: So.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: But it's pretty all over the place.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Well. And you recently sailed on. Well, you were on, of course, preview with us back on the Destiny, and then you were on the Destiny more recently and then on the Wonder even more recently.
Let's dive into that wonder sailing a little bit. Like, what prompted you. I know it was you and your son Gideon. How old is Gideon? And what prompted you from. To be on that sailing in particular?
[00:11:32] Speaker A: So I can't forget to say this. We were hosted by Disney on this wonder trip Disney did.
I believe it was a fam. Familiarity. So there was nothing particular going on. It's just a chance to invite some media members to come and experience it out of San Diego.
So that was kind of the thing they were pushing was our first time sailing out of any place but Florida.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:51] Speaker C: We've never.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: We've done Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and of course Port Canaveral. But we've never done anyplace else until the San Diego cruise.
And was just my son and I, who's now 17. Gideon. Wonderful son. Wonderful son.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: I got to say that you're getting comments in the. In the chat. Magically. Vanessa, she said we met his son on Millennium Falcon at Disneyland. Very nice young man.
And we've got. Kylo is saying Doobie and Gideon. Gideon are awesome. So, like, you've. You've got fans, but Gideon also has
[00:12:24] Speaker A: fans in the chat, so Gideon deserves fans.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: He is the most.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: I know you have a child, so. But he is the most awesome kid in the world.
[00:12:31] Speaker C: I'm just saying he's the most awesome.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Okay, well, we're going to fight over that. Which was more awesome. No, I remember, you know, when we were chatting on the Destiny, I remember you saying how you wish you could have brought Gideon with you, but you had a full room from Laughing Place, folks. So it wasn't, like, really an option to bring Gideon with you on that sailing, but you got to do this recent one with him.
It's kind of nice when it's out of California. Being a West coast, best coast person, right? I mean, makes it easy.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: So I was really not looking forward to sailing out of San Diego because I've heard, I've seen. I love cruise vlogs and I've seen San Diego, and I've listened to you talk about San Diego. I kept looking for that park across the street. I just have that in my head for me, talking about San Diego. But I know that terminal is just not a special terminal, and that's all that was in my head. But that is the only thing wrong with sailing out of San Diego. It is now my favorite place to sail out of. I can't wait for Rebecca to be able to go with me. She didn't go on this one because she was covering an ESPN event.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Work call.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: Sometimes, you know, it's such a beautiful place. We got to go down the night before, the day before and just kind of hang out, walk around Seaport Village, which I used to go there as a child. So pretty. My son instantly said I could live here. So I think he knows where his goal is now.
And I love that everything is right there. The airport, I hear the train station, not that we use it, is right there. Our hotel was right there.
[00:13:58] Speaker C: The port is right there.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: It's all just so close and easy to get to. We could look out our window and see our ship come in overnight. If we were on the other side, we would have been able to see it in port.
And I'm a big airplane fan, so I love the fact that the airport is right there.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: Yeah, you could watch the airplanes.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I watch airplanes from my room. And then as you're sailing out, you've got the main airport on one side, and then the military airport on the other side, which was also very active. And it's just so beautiful with the coastline and everything, and the weather is perfect. And, oh, my goodness, now I only want to sail out of San Diego.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: I love sailing out of San Diego. I completely agree with you. There's nothing magical about that port terminal. But you're right. That area is magical because you've got so many things close by. If you want to, like, hop over and, you know, get to Old Town for some good Mexican food, or you want to go to the zoo or whatnot. None of that's far away. I mean, you can take an Uber Lyft or cab or whatnot. It's really easy to get around.
And. Yeah, it's beautiful. Like, who? Yeah, and I love that you've got, you know, if you want to go see the. The carrier. The air carrier that's right there as well, you can tour that.
So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to do right at that port.
[00:15:12] Speaker A: I love that the port is basically.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: It's like. It might as well be a car. Parallel parking.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: It is right on the sidewalk.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: You can walk.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: And the magic actually was in port
[00:15:20] Speaker C: the day we got there, because.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Oh. So you got to see both sisters.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: So we got to see the magic.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: Just.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: We flew in. The magic was just sitting there at port, and then it sailed out while we watched it from our room.
And it's just right there. There's something about the fact that you can be going for a walk or taking your dog for a walk, and it feels like you can just look up and see the bow just kind of tilted right over your head.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: That's so cool.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: No other port I've been to is anything like that.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I. I think maybe. Well, even in Puerto Rico, it's not that close to the sidewalk. Yeah, I think in San Diego is the only one that's that close to, like, an open sidewalk. You can just. Yeah, you can literally just walk by the. The ship. I love that, too. Well, how long was this sailing? Like, how many nights? And I'm. I take it you're headed to Ensenada? It's probably not like, a super, like, super exciting itinerary.
[00:16:06] Speaker A: It was a four. First of all, I Don't care what I, I've never sailed on. I' taken one Disney cruise for the itinerary so far. I'm sure the day will come, but it hasn't happened so far. It was a four night cruise. First night of day at sea. First day of day at sea. The second was a. Well, obviously the first day in your port. Second day of day at sea and then Catalina and then Ensenada Baja.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Oh, nice. Yeah. Well, at least you got the, the day in Catalina. We really enjoyed, you know, our sailing to cattle, our sailings to Catalina. It's a beautiful place to visit.
Um, it's not like a bustling metropolis, but it's, it's a night. It can be a nice, beautiful, beautiful day to kind of walk around and just see the little town of Avalon or rent a golf cart, that sort of a thing. Now did you.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Well, when you ask me about excursions,
[00:16:51] Speaker C: I can tell you more about our paddling the trip.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I am going to. Did you get to book anything like. Of course, you're hosted by Disney, so there's going to be some media events for you to participate in on the sailing. But were you able to like book anything in advance like Apollo or anything like that? Or is that just something you can't do when you're in invited on?
[00:17:10] Speaker A: No, you can. So it actually came together pretty quickly. So all the bookings were, you know, had already been taken care of, but they took care of Apollo for us. So I had Paolo dinner on them. Thank you, Disney. And then I went ahead when I got on the ship, asked about Paolo brunch and I was able to get a early palo brunch. So I did do palo brunch. Disney offered us a shore excursion for Catalina, which we took them up on. And I'll talk about when you're ready. And then they
[00:17:39] Speaker C: a choice of shore
[00:17:41] Speaker A: excursions at Ensenada, none of which sounded too good to me. So I passed on all of those and just stayed on the shore.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Nice.
So let's talk about the shore excursion to Catalina. Let's start there.
Oh, you are frozen to be technical difficulties, folks. This is why we are a live show.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: Are you able to hear me okay?
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Yes, I can hear you. Oh, I'm so glad you're here.
[00:18:13] Speaker C: I don't know what happened to my laptop. It's still rebooting. So I'm on my cell phone right now. I hope that's okay.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: No, you're fine, you're fine. I'm just happy to have you back like I said, we're live. We just, you know, I just vamped for the last, like, 10 minutes.
[00:18:25] Speaker C: So I'm so sorry. I have no idea.
Microsoft, that company, I tell you, I
[00:18:31] Speaker B: know, that terrible company, Microsoft.
Just kidding. We're just kidding. We live in the land of Microsoft. So there are overlord Microsoft. Overlords are listening.
Dubi. I was just actually telling the audience about how you are the reason that Benji came on our show to do that adventures by Disney, because we were looking for somebody to cover that, somebody who had been on that adventures by Disney around the world.
And we reached out to you all, we reached out to Benji and he didn't know who we were or anything about the podcast. And you were like, no, I listened to them. They're great. You have to do their show.
[00:19:10] Speaker C: They are great.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: And it began this wonderful relationship that now we have with you guys and just how much we appreciate it. Obviously, having Benji on, having Jeremiah on and now having you on, it's like coming full circle on that. All right, well, let's talk about Catalina. You were hosted for a excursion. What was the excursion?
[00:19:32] Speaker C: It was to be the Bison expedition.
[00:19:35] Speaker B: I was just talking about that one. What was it?
[00:19:38] Speaker C: So you get in. I don't know what it was. I know what it was supposed to be. Turns out we weren't able to do it.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: Oh, no.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: We had an afternoon one. And my son loves vibe, so I'm like, let's let him have all the time and vibe he can. And then when it's time for ours, we'll go an hour early. Like, this is jets, and we go there. We're waiting for the ship, the tender, because Catalina tenders, and it's just having the hardest time docking. We literally watched it, failed to dock eight times.
And so while it was doing that, they finally announced, you know, the seas have gotten rough. No more tendering to Catalina. All we can do is just get the people back who are already there. So we were not able to get off the ship. We were not able to do our expedition.
[00:20:16] Speaker B: Oh, that's such a bummer. That's a bummer. Well, you live in Catalina, so you. Or not Catalina, you live in California. So you're going to have to go down to San Diego and go to Catalina on a ferry boat. Maybe I will.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: I've been there as a child, barely remembered. Was really looking forward to taking Gideon there. But, you know, if the consolation prize is spending a few more hours on the ship, I think I'm okay.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Now, you mentioned that Disney had Offered excursions at Ensenada. But nothing kind of looked good to you, is that right?
[00:20:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So the couple of them, I remember, one was a lobster thing, and I don't eat lobster. And the other, I can't remember what it was, but it was another. That was useless for me. Like, literally, I would not have been able to do it.
And after talking to some of the other media people who did go, and the fact that it's like how we're just to get to these places and such, I think it was definitely worked out well that we were able to do that. To drag Gideon away from Vibe for that long been very, very awesome.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: I love that he's a Vibe kid. I love that he just like. He just like, ditches you. He's like, see you, dad. Right. Like, I'm all.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: So I like, in my mind, this was my first solo cruise because even though Gideon was there, he came to two dinners, which I'm shocked.
And then there's a couple of immediate experiences. I said, please come with me to those experiences, Gideon. But basically this was a solo cruise for me. I was really looking forward to having tablemates so I could meet some people and we had a table to ourselves.
So I did a lot of solo time on this show.
[00:21:47] Speaker B: You did a lot of dining alone? Well, you know, dining alone can be empowering and fun.
[00:21:53] Speaker C: I don't mind it at all. I don't mind one day.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I want to talk about some of the experiences you had on board. Now, I know you got a sort of a special meet and greet with Bluey and Bingo. And I know that they weren't doing public appearances yet on the Wonder, but they've now since introduced those public. I mean, they did them for like the Wonder down under, you know, stuff in Australia, New Zealand, but they've now introduced it into the US Sailings. Tell us, like, what were you able to experience and what did DCL tell you about what the. What guests will be able to experience on the Wonder?
[00:22:30] Speaker C: So honestly, I did not know that it wasn't a regular thing yet. I knew that this was something they set up just for us, but I didn't know that it wasn't available for everyone else because I've paid enough attention to know Bluey was on the ships, not enough attention to know what ships he was on and wasn't on. So I just thought, oh, how nice they're going to let us go see her with our own little private thing. And I came back and I posted to the Facebook group some Pictures. And I. And a couple of people were like, I didn't get to see Bluey. I didn't know Bluey was on the schedule. And that's when I realized this was not a public thing yet. So they didn't tell us anything about the fact that he was. She wasn't on yet. They didn't tell us how it was going to work when she did start. To us, it was just a normal chance to meet Louie and Bingo.
And so I don't have any answers. Oh, my God. Really nice to meet them. And. And they call it now not Studio C anymore, but D Lounge.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: D Lounge, Yeah. Well, I mean, from what we've seen on the dream they have had, all the events have been in D Lounge, and there's like a meet and greet event, and then there's, you know, where you just take a picture with Bluey and Bingo in front of a backdrop. I think they've been very specific about the pictures needing to be in front of those backdrops, which makes sense. Cause they. Yeah. Cause they don't own the characters. Right. It's a licensing deal with the. I don't know, it's Australian Broadcasting Company or something like that. It's whatever, you know, whatever their public television that owns, I think, Bluey and Bluey and Friends.
But. So, yeah, it seems like they've been very specific. It's got to be in front of the backdrop. And then they do have, like, these two events. And one is an morning. Like, it's wakey, wakey in the morning. And then one is.
It's like Bluey's pajama party, but they spell pajama with a Y, Pete. Like the way that they spell it in Australia.
So. Okay, yeah, so that's the. Those are the events on the Dream. So I'm imagining that that's what they've launched on the Wonder, too, just because it would make sense for them to kind of do it on in multiple places in the same way.
But it'll be interesting to see as that sort of grows across the fleet and how much they do that and whether it, you know, whether it spreads to, like, the newest ships. Right. I haven't seen any news on it coming to the Destiny or the Treasure, for example, or heading over to Singapore. So I don't know what, you know, what that licensing looks like.
[00:24:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know. But it was great to meet them.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Yeah, it was cool. It was cool to get. What were some of the other things you did on the Wonder? Now you hadn't Been on the Wonder in a number. You hadn't been on a classic ship in a number of years.
[00:25:04] Speaker C: I did The Magic in 2018 and then prior to that it was the wonder in 2011 the last time. Lots of, lots of the other. But yeah, and so, you know, we tend to be kind of trivia people.
And since this was something different, just me and I'm kind of getting a little burnt out on trivia. It's got a little too competitive for me.
So people take it very, very seriously and I do not.
So it's not quite as.
[00:25:30] Speaker B: Yeah, they do take it seriously, but I feel like you would be a whiz at like Disney.
[00:25:36] Speaker C: We have our share of medals, but it's just, I don't know, it's. For me, people do whatever they want. For me, it's just not as much fun when people are so invested in it. People are arguing about the answers and all that stuff. It's okay, let those people have their fun. There's enough other stuff to do.
[00:25:50] Speaker A: So I'm kind of on a trivia break.
[00:25:51] Speaker C: So I said, let's do some different stuff. So I did as many of the, like the game shows and all the kind of stuff they do in D Lounge as I could.
There was one. There was one in the French Quarter. I hate that. I didn't get a picture of the name, but it had the word spirit in the name. And it was just. They just asked question. That's just the most awesome question. And you stand on the yes side or the no side and if you're wrong, you sit down and they just keep doing that until there's one person left and they just do several rounds of that. And I just had the most fun. I didn't even play, but I had the most fun just watching.
I did it twice and I did a game, Frozen Phrases, which is basically $25,000 pyramids. I played in that and I don't know, I just. I tried to do. I remember the game show so well. I played my first career back in 2006. I played who Wants to be a Mouseketeer? I can remember I have pictures of me in the hot seat for that. I guess I just kind of wanted to go back to that era of just the game shows that only Disney can do. And I had a great time doing that.
[00:26:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I think those are such a great experience.
And they seem to refresh them every couple of years. Right. Because now you've got an inside out version of it. You've got just a bunch of different themed ones across the fleet. And they always encourage family participation, individual participation, group participation. It's really. Yeah. And, and they're, they're quite wholesome. Unless you go to the ones that are in the adult only spaces.
[00:27:15] Speaker C: But they're still okay. Wholesome is not the word for it. But one of the things I'm always saying this one thing I love about the Disney Cruise Line is even the adult events are my level of adult.
[00:27:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:27:25] Speaker C: So you're not going to go there. It's not going to be too raunchy, you're not going to hear profanity. It's grown up, it's not for kids. Tons of innuendo. But it's not just over the top. You're not watching the Kevin Hart roast or something like that. So I, I love the Disney Cruise Line adult events. I have a feeling I would not feel the same way about the Carnival Cruise Line.
[00:27:45] Speaker B: Now do you, do you find like this, this sailing. You were, I mean you were kind of solo, right? At the, at the adult events and at some of the other like game show events. Did you like partner up with other folks? I mean, I, I, the one thing I always love is like making new cruise friends. Right. Like, and people on Disney Cruise Line, we tend to have at least one thing in common. Right. We all love Disney in some way.
[00:28:08] Speaker C: I did it as much as I wanted to. I am an extrovert. I have no problem talking to people, going up to people. I don't know why it just didn't work out this time. I did a little bit in one of the game shows, the frozen phrases. But for the most part I just kind of sat there by myself, which is weird. Maybe I just wanted a break. I needed a break.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: You needed some me time. Some quality me time.
Now you know, one of the things we talked about pre show was about the service levels across Disney Cruise Line. And of course Disney is known for its service. But of course we have seen ourselves some dips in that service with the expansion of the fleet. Just so, so fast. Right. And that's, I think to be expected.
[00:28:48] Speaker D: 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. Mypath Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner. Which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park, vacation or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, my Path Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDUOYpathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. Thanks MyPath Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:29:47] Speaker B: I'm curious like you had just been on the desk Destiny a couple months before and then you were on the Wonder. Did you see any sort of differences in the culture, the service, that sort of thing between the new versus the old?
[00:30:01] Speaker C: Absolutely. So first of all, everything is relative.
You're not going to get bad service.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: So right.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: We're just talking relative to each other.
The Wonder service was just spectacular. Spectacular in my mind and my son's mind, noticeably more Disney than on the Destiny, which was the last ship we were on back in February or March.
And I think the newest ship probably has a lot of new people, a lot of first timers, and you can just tell there's something about those classic ships and even the dream and fantasy when we did those not so very long ago that I think the service is better. I'm guessing it's the cast members have been around longer and there's probably a kind of a cultural self selection there in terms of what ships people want to be on to where. I don't know that I've ever had better service than we did our server. I've got to mention, in case you don't ask, Ms. Spicy. Ms. Spicy was our server. Ms.
Spicy at one time I asked what her name was and she said no. No, everyone call because I was trying to pronounce it. So no, everyone calls me miss Spicy. So from then on she was miss Spicy and I could hear everyone else was calling her Spicy. So that's her name.
She's from Thailand and she was so much fun. I love she may be the best, the most fun server, the most I've enjoyed a server ever on a Disney cruise.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:31:18] Speaker C: I think the service differences are noticeable on the Wonder in my opinion.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're right There is some self selecting, right? So people who staff who have been on or with Disney Cruise Line for a long period of time, they do have some ability to sort of preference what ship they want to be on. Now, it's not unlimited ability. Disney will sometimes move people even if they don't really want to be moved, just because their need might be someplace else. But I think they do try and honor preferences where they can. And so I think you're right. I think there are people who request to be on the older ships or request to be on the smaller ships in particular, which are the two oldest as well.
I feel like there's something different about the culture on those ships that they're like more like tight knit maybe because they see the same people, they know each other. I don't know what it is, but that's how it feels to me.
Do you feel the same way?
[00:32:13] Speaker C: I do. You know, in a sense it kind of reminds me of Disneyland vs. Disney World, where Disneyland is just this little town, especially when I was born there, before there was even a dca. It's just this little town and everyone knows everyone. It's just a much more familiar feeling than you're going to. And believe me, it has its advantages. When I stepped on the Wonder and turned the corner and looked at the atrium, I'm like, this is what people feel when they go to Disneyland after going to Disney World forever.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: They see the castle.
[00:32:42] Speaker C: It was just so tiny.
So every ship has its advantages. But I do think that tiny, small community feel does come through on the Wonder and I'm sure on the Magic as well, more so than on the newer ships. So pick what you want.
[00:32:57] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, it's funny, I probably view though, the Wonder the same way I view Disneyland. I don't care that it's smaller. I just love it so much. Right. Like I actually like I walk down Main street at Disneyland and I'm happy to see that tiny castle. Like I would rather see that tiny castle than see the beautiful spires at Disney World. And maybe I feel that way about the Wonder too because there's just something like, it's like that nostalgia that you have for the company, for the cruise line, for the theming.
There's something warm about it there that I love.
[00:33:33] Speaker C: And I did love it too. But I was wondering how would I feel when I feel like there's just not as much to do on this ship? And I did, I did. I mean, it's very. It was obvious to me there were times when I'm just kind of what do I do now? And obviously that's okay because I can go and sit on deck four all day long.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Right.
[00:33:50] Speaker C: So I'm not really complaining, but there's clearly less to do. I miss the golf course, you know, the mini golf and you know, things like that. So they both have their ups and downs. I still probably would say the Dream and Fantasy is the sweet spot for me. But I would not hesitate to go on the one hand and magic.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, you mentioned, you know, hesitating for something to do and I feel like what we were on the Destiny together and then you were on the Destiny more recently in March and I feel like you never like stopped and had nothing to do on the Destiny. I, I don't, I don't know how you feel. Like how would you guide someone on let's say a first time cruiser? They love Disney. They love all things Disney.
They've been to the parks maybe before, but they're all on going on their first cruise. Like what would you tell them to go on? Like there's so much great stuff on the new ships, but the old ships are so great.
[00:34:45] Speaker C: Ah, honestly, I would ask them the question, are you looking for a relaxing vacation or are you looking for.
You want to, you want to have stuff to do if you want a relaxing vacation, there is nothing better than the Wonder and magic just isn't. It's beautiful. I was very relaxed. I spent so much time on Dish, it's not even funny. But if you want to make sure you're always busy, you're going to run out of stuff. So the Dream, the Fantasy, the Destiny. The Destiny has so many activities.
You can haunt a mansion parlor. You can spend forever in.
You can spend. You know, we did facilitate parlor again. I got to do that with my son on this cruise and it was just so spectacular. The Cruella Lounge, there are so many different, not just locations but planned activities so highly themed that if you're a Disney park fan and you're just trying to go to the cruise line for a different type of Disney experiences, definitely the Dream class ships are fantastic and you'll probably love the Wonder. I'm sorry, the Fantasy and Dream as well. But if you are just looking for a different type of vacation where relaxation is very important to you, then magic and wonder are fine. If you're just kind of both of them, I think the Dream and Fantasy is probably a great combination of the two.
[00:35:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Now with, with the Destiny you had obviously been on preview, we dealt with, you know, some of the stuff that we were invited to were media only. We didn't really have to wait in line. But then there were things that you could see. There were lines for that. We saw a lot of the travel agents having to wait in line for things. And then when we were on, on the maiden voyage and the voyage after, lots of lines. I'm curious now, going on in March, like had the lines died down like, or are we seeing like the transfer of rope drop culture onto Disney Cruise Line? Please tell me it ain't so.
Brian will die if that happens.
[00:36:34] Speaker C: I'll sometimes listen to your show and hear people taking other cruise lines and I envy them where they say there is no rope drop culture on the other cruise line.
No. So we, we were very smart. We noticed Faciliates Parlor was doing a showing at like 1:30 on embarkation day. So we went straight there. We're able to do that no problem. That was nice.
But sorry. Now my phone is telling me it needs to cool down, but I think we'll be okay.
But yeah, like, the first time I wanted to see Cruella, I waited for about a half hour, wasn't able to get in. So then I waited even longer and I was able to barely get a seat for that. I think the rope drop culture is definitely there. And I mean, they're kind of creating us with all these great activities. When the activity is great, people want to see it. I mean, it's a good thing, but it's the reality. So, yeah, I did a fair amount of waiting. I wouldn't say it's going anywhere. It was packed for all the cool stuff.
[00:37:24] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And do you think we're gonna see that on the Believe? I mean, we've been talking about like, how could they do any better? Right? Like, so that started with the Wish and then the Treasure, like up leveled the themed spaces and themed experiences and then the Destiny up leveled that a whole nother level in terms of not as much in spaces. They're equally wonderfully themed spaces to like the Treasure, but they leveled up the entertainment experiences.
I'm curious what you think we're going to see on the Believe. I mean, you follow cruise line for years and have seen sort of these different phases across the different classes of ships.
[00:38:03] Speaker C: I mean, if you had told me that they could go from what they did on the Wish to the treasure, I'd be like, good.
They're doing some really good stuff now. They've peaked it with the Treasure. I never would have guessed they could then go from the Treasure to the Destiny and make just the meet and greet with Maleficent, an event like they do in Saga or whatever it's called on that ship.
So can they go even to the next level? I can't imagine where they could possibly go, but somehow I'm guessing they will. I don't know. I don't know what they can do better, but the upping of just the events from the Treasure to the Destiny of Spectacular.
[00:38:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting.
[00:38:46] Speaker C: I lost you again.
[00:38:47] Speaker B: Oh, I still see you. I still see you. Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? Doobie? You're still there.
[00:38:54] Speaker C: Yeah, I can hear you. Sorry.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: Okay. No, you're fine. You're fine. We can still hear you. No, I am.
[00:38:58] Speaker C: I am here.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: I absolutely think we're going to see, like, similar to the Destiny on the Believe, of course, different theming, but I think we're going to see these enhanced experiences continue across the fleet. I'm really curious about your thoughts on the next class of ship, Dubi, which we're going to see with the Meridian class. A smaller ship, 3,000 passengers.
What do you. What do you think Disney Cruise Line is or Disney is kind of thinking with that.
And I don't mean that in like a pejorative way. I mean, like, like, are we going to see really 13 ships in the fleet at once? Like, I'm a little bit doubt.
[00:39:44] Speaker C: I hope so. First of all, I was disappointed when they said these ships were not going to be yet bigger. I mean, I must admit, I've never been on a cruise ship other than Disney. I am jealous of Royal Caribbean, Icon of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas and all of that. So I was really hoping Disney would go to that level. And I'm a little disappointed. I don't know what they have in mind. I'm anxious to see, but I'm still getting over my Disney.
[00:40:09] Speaker B: Yeah, just shock. It is. Well, I mean, the adventure maybe fills that space, but of course, the adventure's only over in Singapore.
[00:40:19] Speaker C: Right. And that's not a Disney ship. It just has her name on the side.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: Now you're booked on the adventure, so I'm curious. You say it's not. Yeah, it isn't really.
It's a Disney Frankenstein ship. And that's not a bad thing. It's just a different thing. But I'm curious as to your, you know, hopes for.
For the adventure, like what. What you're looking forward to doing and seeing on the adventure. Because it is really we, you know, we Try to put it in this different category.
[00:40:50] Speaker C: So I am happy. It's a huge ship. I'm looking forward to being on a huge ship. I, I've always dreamt of having being on a ship with like the boardwalk or whatever they call it on that ship. But I think in the Royal Caribbean with the central area and the rural interior facing interior exterior rooms which I have one of those. So I'm excited about that.
I've heard enough that my expectations are now a little bit lower so it's going to be easier to surpass them. But I have no doubt I'm going to love the ship. It's got some beautiful looking spaces, tons of food options. I'm looking forward to the entertainment I think everyone agrees is spectacular. Even people who aren't too high on the ship. So I'm really excited about the adventure. I don't expect now that I've heard enough about it, I do not expect to be disappointed at all. It's going to be different. I ready for different and I'm happy when I get to do a big Disney ship. It's not one of their own. Original.
[00:41:41] Speaker B: Yeah. Now are you doing a back to back on that or are you just doing one sailing?
[00:41:48] Speaker C: It's just one. It's a four day sailing as of right now.
I know they just announced Singapore D23 and we don't know when that is. So you know, if it turns out that is a couple of weeks away from our cruise maybe we will change to make that work out. But as of right now it's a four day cruise in the middle of March.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Awesome. I didn't know they announced a Singapore D23. That's going to be cool. Obviously they're trying to like, it's like they did one in Brazil a few years ago. Right. And so. Or maybe last year.
[00:42:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:19] Speaker B: And so yeah, they're trying to sort of like drum up the excitement in these different markets.
I'm curious if you think, you know, we're obviously going to see another ship, an OLC ship in sailing out of Japan. I'm curious if you think that, you know, the, will the adventure stay in Asia? Will we see her go someplace else? Like what do you think the future is for that? I mean for that ship in that market?
[00:42:46] Speaker C: I mean, you know, I have no real insights but everyone has been saying that it's booked to be there for several years. So I imagine that's the case.
And if it's not, I don't know how well it would do in a Place that has had other Disney ships, based on what I've heard.
So I would not be surprised if they figure out a way to keep it in asia.
But this OLC ship, have you been to DisneySea?
[00:43:14] Speaker B: We have not. In fact, we keep talking about it, and we're going to plan a trip to Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.
When the OLC ship comes out, like, it might. It might not be a maiden voyage. It may. Like, we're going to coordinate a trip to Tokyo, though, with that. So if it comes out in the summer, then maybe we'll make a maiden voyage, but if it comes out some other time, then it might be the next summer. Right. So I know it's supposed to come out in 2029, but. So a trip is in the cards, I think, to Tokyo in either 2029 or 2030 for us. Because Nathan definitely wants to go to Tokyo. We definitely want to go to Tokyo. We have not been to any of the Asian parks. Yeah. Yeah. So I think there's. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. I think there's a lot to look forward to there.
[00:44:05] Speaker C: I had. I watched Disney feed get built via my website. We had someone actually out there who was taking pictures regularly way back then. And I heard how it's just the greatest theme park you can possibly imagine. And my expectations were as high as they possibly could have been when we finally got to go and I walked into that park and I'm like, this is even better than I heard it was going to be. Even better.
So if they can take that same attitude to this ship, do it, do it, do it, Olsey. Do it again. Put America to shame, please.
I will tell you, it would be a lot of fun.
[00:44:41] Speaker B: I will tell you. I've heard from other hardcore Disney fans like yourself, Dubi. I've heard that exact same thing. That when they've built it up in their minds and then they're like, you know, and they're expecting it to be amazing, and then it's like, blows their mind. It's even more amazing. The only thing is, there's, like, a bit of an adjustment to figuring out, like, even better. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a bit of an adjustment to figuring out how, like, ride reservations and things like that work. But other than that, like they said, it's not bad. It's just figuring it out.
Yeah. You're gonna have to give us tutoring. It's weird.
[00:45:11] Speaker C: And it's so crowded.
It was the first park I've been to. I. I'm an Extrovert. I love crowds. It's the first park I've been to where the crowds actually deterred from the experience, where I'm like, you know what? This is actually too much.
[00:45:24] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:24] Speaker C: That you got to be ready for.
[00:45:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to try and figure out when. When to go then. Because unfortunately, you know, school vacation is what dictates our vacation. I want to answer a question. In the chat Ed was asking, didn't they show a graphic with 13 ships on the seas at once? Yes, that is true. They did show a graphic that had a picture of 13 ships. That doesn't mean anything. Disney can change its mind at any.
To be fair. Like, I think it will. Like, I think we will see 13 ships at once. I just don't think we'll see 13 ships at once for very long.
Let me put it that way. So, like, I think we'll see, you know, when the Meridian chips come out, like, we'll see a very soon after retirement of the magic and then eventually the wonder. But I don't know. I have no inside information on that.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: It's going to be.
[00:46:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it's going to be. I just think it's got to be.
[00:46:20] Speaker A: Imagine,
[00:46:23] Speaker C: you know, often a cruise ship will get sold to another company and get used as a, you know, lesser cruise line. But those ships are so recognizable. Can you imagine, you know, Joe Blow Cruise Line sailing the Disney Magic? That's just such a weird.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: No. They've got. They have to beach these. They have to rip all the IP off and then beach them. There's no way that these ships. I'm with you. No way. These ships get sold down market like other cruise ships.
I also got to call out that Gideon is in the chat and he mentioned that he loved your serving team. So I love that he's watching. Hi, Gideon. I hear you're the number one son now. So you're in a competition with Nathan.
[00:47:04] Speaker C: Can I say since Gideon's there, can I say one thing regarding him? Do you mind?
[00:47:09] Speaker B: No, of course.
[00:47:10] Speaker C: So Gideon has been going to kid club since nursery. He's about seven months old. On that first cruise he's going to the nursery he's gone to was his back then Ocean Club, Lab, Edge and Vibe. It is his favorite thing in the world. He will spend opening to closing there. I see him when he comes home now. It's like one in the morning when he comes into the room. He is literally in that club all day long. He has kept in touch with people on group text and Stuff and made some great friends and it's just. It is his favorite thing in the world. So I know I'm always seeing on Reddit and stuff, people talking about will my kids, like the kids club and all that stuff. Let them. Encourage them to give it a try and then just let them have at it. Because it's the safest place in the world. It's the best place in the world for them to learn a little bit of independence. Literally the best place to look for that they can't go anywhere.
[00:47:58] Speaker A: And.
[00:47:59] Speaker C: And when it works out, it's just the best thing.
[00:48:02] Speaker B: I totally agree with you.
And Ed is also saying that you both think that you have the number one son and you're both correct. So I gotta appreciate that.
Yeah, I love that.
So true. Now you. You mentioned you. You don't have the treasure booked. I. I've got to ask, like. Like, are you going to book that doobie? I know it's hard to get seven nights, like in. I know your schedule is difficult. I know that. I know Gideon's schedule is difficult, but I feel like as a Parks person, you have to get on the Treasure because it is the. I mean, it's the Parks fans ship with the theming that it has, like, it's theming spaces. I know what destiny in the experience side is very much Parks fans ship, but I think on the spaces side, the Treasure is more. So I. I'm kind of. Yeah, I'm flabbergasted. Are you getting on this ship ever?
[00:49:00] Speaker C: You're just. You just want to hurt me, don't you?
I'm sure I will. I'm sure I will get on it ever, but I would not expect it to be within the next.
But you never know. You know, Benji. Benji is my boss, not only for Laughing Place, because like I said, he runs it now, but he's also my boss in my real job. I'm a computer programmer and he owns the company that I work for. So if he's in a good mood, he may say, you know what? You deserve a bonus. Go take a cruise on the Treasure and then I'm out of here. You never know.
[00:49:29] Speaker B: I love it. I love that Toopie.
That's hilarious. That he's your boss in two different places. That's kind of. Yeah, that's kind of fun.
Yeah, I guess. Don't piss him off or it'll be really bad.
[00:49:44] Speaker C: And my best friend. It has been for 20 years.
[00:49:46] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that. I love that. Isn't it great when you get these
[00:49:49] Speaker C: are my best friends. And dcao.
[00:49:53] Speaker B: Isn't it great when you get to, like, work with your friends and you have this, like, this thing in common that you all love? I mean, I feel like one of the things I love about the cruise line is we've made, like, so many wonderful friends through this community and that we share this common interest with each other. It must be incredible to have this best friend of years and years who you get to run Laughing Place with and share in all of your love for Disney.
[00:50:23] Speaker C: It's pretty cool. Mickey's a really good guy. He's a really kind guy. He's the only person that we allow who's not actually related to us that we allow Gideon to call uncle. So he and my son are really, really close.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: And.
[00:50:35] Speaker C: And, yeah, I mean, you put it well. It is. It is wonderful. I got to work the first half of my working life working at home on Laughing Place with my wife by my side all the time. And then we moved to California, and now I go to work every day, but I work with my best friend. So I've. I've lived a pretty lucky life.
[00:50:51] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. Well, Doobie, I've gotta get you to tell folks where they can find Laughing Place. I mean, it's. I don't know if you're living under a rock, if you haven't heard of and been to and read articles on Laughing Place before, but tell folks, like, where they can. Where they can find Laughing Place, where they can follow along on social media. And what you guys are. What are you guys covering, like, right now? Like, what's the. What's the big. What's the hot news in the Disney community right now?
[00:51:19] Speaker C: So you can find us. Our original location is LaughingPlace.com. that'll never change. Of course. We're also on YouTube at Laughing Place, Twitter X at Laughing Place, Instagram, LaughingPlace. TikTok is Laughing Place.
We actually do a lot on YouTube.
We did a live parks talk just before I did this with a computer that behaved much better than it did with you.
And then every Tuesday and Saturday, please give us a shot. Every Tuesday and Saturday at 7:30pm Pacific, Gideon and I do a live trivia show called Disney Trivia Live. And that's a lot of fun. We'll ask the questions and you guys play along right at home. And we have a lot of regulars that come in there. It's a lot of fun. Check it out on YouTube. 7 3pm Pacific. Right now, I believe everyone is preparing for the big openings we have Soren over America opening up. The Muppets are opening up. The movie. Of course, Mandalorian Grogu comes out this weekend and we cover more than parts covering all of that. And then the Millennium Falcon change that goes along with that.
That too of course at Disneyland just had all its changes and such now being allowed to go there. So I'm sure there's stuff going on with Hulu and Fox and everything else that I don't even keep my tabs on. We cover it all.
[00:52:30] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:52:31] Speaker C: Over Atlassianplace.com tell you we have a staff meeting every day just to try to keep it all in track. We have a paid full time staff of about six maybe as well as a bunch of part timers as well. It's a big job but somebody's got
[00:52:46] Speaker B: to do it well. And there's just so much to cover with between. I mean we didn't. When we started covering cruise line, there were four ships and now of course there are eight ships. So our work doubled. But you guys cover the entire company essentially. And so there's always, you know, Dubi, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you two of our rapid fire questions. I don't normally do rapid fire on the live show, but I feel like I've got to do it with you. I've got to ask you. I've got to ask you which one is your favorite ship.
[00:53:19] Speaker C: I go back and forth. That's so hard. So when I got off the Destiny from the media cruise, I said this is now my favorite ship.
I probably wouldn't say that anymore.
Our last destiny was hard. The Hercules show, which I love so much. On the Maiden on the preview voyage.
I don't know if it was because the ship was rocking or something, but there was no life titans for that and the backup for that is really disappointing. And then the Lion King show which I love so much on our preview voyage had once you were cast member again. I don't know if it was a change or just something that day. So the dancer that I love, my favorite part of the show wasn't a part of the show. So I was so let down by my destiny trip.
I think I'm back to my first favorite which is the Dream. The Dream is just the best combination of big and small. I love the decor of the dream more than the fantasy.
So yeah, I'm going to say the dream today, but ask me tomorrow. I may give you a different answer.
[00:54:12] Speaker B: All right. I love it. Okay.
My Last question of Rapid Fire before I ask you what's next. I'll ask Brian's last question is what is your bucket list cruise? Like if you could sail anywhere in the world on a Disney cruise on the Dream, let's say where would you want to sail? Like what destination have you not been to that you would love to go to? And it has to be accessible by water, but doesn't actually have to be a real cruise right now.
[00:54:37] Speaker C: So I don't know if this is the answer you want because like I said, I've yet to take a cruise where the destination was. Any factor in where I go? Obviously I would love to do Alaska, I would love to do Europe. But if I could snap my finger and do any cruise tomorrow, it would be a 14 day transatlantic.
[00:54:52] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. The more days at sea the better. I think. That's exactly. Yeah. Plus you don't have less than you can like tour around Europe with only having to do flight one way. I think that that's a fantastic option. All right, what's next in terms of an actual vacation for you, Doobie? Do you have a cruise or parks trip or something booked that's not work related? Like where you're gonna just like enjoy family time, relaxation, anything like that?
[00:55:19] Speaker C: Part of the reason we started Laughing Place was so that we could indulge in our Disney love. And it always be work related, which means at least we get to write it off. So there is no such thing as a Disney trip that's not work related. But we are going to Florida. We leave on Monday. We'll be there for about a week. My wife is covering the Savannah Bananas at Walt Disney World. She covers all things ESPN for us.
I will actually be doing a lot of just normal non laughing Place work while I'm there. But I will be at Disney, so I'll be happy. I will make sure to get plenty of rides on my favorite attraction, the Disney Skyliner. Eat some good food. And just being away from home, even though I'm working all day, I tend to go to a hotel, a Disney hotel in New York all day. I feel like I'm on vacation. So I'm going to count that.
[00:56:02] Speaker B: I love that. Absolutely. Well, Doobie, thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate you being here so that I just wouldn't be me talking into a mic because Brian is unfortunately not feeling well. As I mentioned at the top of the show, I want to tell folks what we've got on tap for them in two weeks and I don't Remember what that is. So I'm trying to look at my calendar because. Because we are not here next week. Well, we are around but we don't have a show for you next week. We're going to take that off for Memorial Day weekend.
We are back in two weeks actually with guest June who will be back from her South Africa Adventures by Disney Adventure. So that's going to be a great show. We're going to have hopefully some visuals for you to see, obviously. Hopefully she's seeing, I think she's there like right now, she's seeing all of the animals in South Africa. That's a fantastic Adventures by Disney. We covered it like very early in the podcast. We had a show about that abd, but we haven't had anyone go on that that we know of in years. And this summer we're actually gonna have two different shows on that South Africa abd. We have another friend, Ashley, who's gonna be going on it later in the summer as well. So join us in two weeks everyone. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Thanks again Dubi for joining me. And with that I will say good night.
[00:57:29] 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 live, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube. YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor My Path Unwinding Travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email them the end 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 where we sell some fun fan inspired magnets. Link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or or patreon.com DCLDUO also as a way for you to sign up for our Substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here, at least on a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney Family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflect the views of the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about 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.
[00:59:31] Speaker C: Good night.
Sam.
