[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I knew that I wanted to work for the Walt Disney Company from the time that I was 12 years old.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. And, Sam, I'm going to throw it right over to you. This is a special bonus episode. Really excited for our guest and our topic today. So why don't you introduce who we're going to be talking to and what we're going to be talking about?
[00:00:32] Speaker C: Yes. Well, first I gotta start with saying that the most magical thing I think about Disney Cruise Line is.
What do you think, Brian?
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Most magical thing? I don't know where this is going, Sam.
[00:00:46] Speaker C: The most magical thing about Disney Cruise Line is the cast members on Disney Cruise Line. By far.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Thousand percent. I totally agree with that statement. Yes. I just felt like you were prompting me for a very specific thing and I'm like, I don't. I.
We just had this conversation with CT a few weeks ago where he was saying, what keeps. I don't try to guess at what's in your head. That's what keeps me happy.
[00:01:07] Speaker C: Love it. Good.
That's a fair thing to say. But the most magical thing about Disney Cruise Line is the cast members. We know that. That's why we keep coming back year after year, sailing after sailing, itinerary release after itinerary release, even when the prices go up, even when we're not happy about the it or something that Disney's done that we might not like or the change menus or things like that. But we know that the magical things that happen on board are because of the cast members. And we are so lucky today because for this very special bonus show, we have a former not just Disney cast member, but a former Disney Cruise Line cast member joining us. She is an author.
She is an iron woman. She is a marathoner. She is a mom.
Welcome to the show. Teresa Seitz. Welcome, Teresa.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
[00:02:04] Speaker C: We are so excited to have you.
I cannot believe you wanted to come on our show. It's like such a huge honor.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: No, the honor is definitely all mine. All mine. Thank you so much.
[00:02:16] Speaker C: You're so sweet. Well, we want to talk. I mean, today we're going to talk about a lot of different things. We want to talk about your new book. We want to talk about your history as a cast member. I want to talk a little bit about running as well, because I know, you know, you're a big runner and obviously, you know, swimmer and a biker. All the things that you have to do for an ironman as well. But you've written this book about finishing things, about how to finish things, right? And I feel like that is, like, as a mom, as a professional woman, as a Disney enthusiast, I feel like this applies to all aspects of our lives, right? We have to start something, and we got to figure out how to finish it. And that's. I know all about what your book is about, but I gotta start where we all started, right? We gotta start where.
We gotta start with your Disney background, because that's where we always start when we talk to our guests. So, like, tell us your first job at Disney and how you first, like, got to work for the Walt Disney Company.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I knew that I wanted to work for the Walt Disney Company from the time that I was 12 years old. And I was actually sitting on Main street usa, waiting for the parade to start. I'm the oldest of four kids, and so I was the designated parade spot person. And I was just sitting there by myself and taking it all in. And there's people everywhere, and ice cream's falling and melting, and you know the drill. And I looked down and I just had almost this epiphany. And I looked at this brick, and it could not have been. I mean, it was a brick. It was tiny. And I thought to myself, that's. That's mine. That's my brick. I had just purchased Disney stock with some babysitting money. And like I said, I knew that I wanted to work for the company from the time I was 12 years old. And since that moment, sitting on Main street, it just kind of changed the entire trajectory. So I got a degree in tourism, did the Walt Disney World college program. I actually got promoted out of my college program. Very, very odd. I know usually not a time in people's lives where they're. Where they're networking and moving towards their career, but that was very Type A back then and ended up getting promoted. And so I started off managing hotels at Disney World for about eight.
Loved it.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: Now, what did you do when you were in the college program? Like, what was your assignment when you were there?
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Yes, so I worked at the Disney Institute, which, of course, has changed dramatically since. But I was at the front desk at the Disney Institute, and I started off working their programs, and then I would work their front desk, and it was. I was kind of the Jack of all trades. I would do the services. I would. I was kind of all over the place. And I loved it. It was. It was so much fun.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Now when you were, when you were 12 year old Teresa, was there like a specific job you wanted? Like, did you want to be like a Disney princess? Did you want to be like a ride operator? Like was there or were you like, I want to manage hotels.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Did you want to be CEO of Disney?
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. Did you want to be Josh tomorrow Now?
[00:05:19] Speaker A: I wanted to be Michael Eisner.
[00:05:20] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: I literally, I wanted to be Michael Eisner. And thank goodness, looking back on it now, thank goodness my boss's boss at the time, dejuan Rivers, who has since retired, hired from Disney, has his name on a, on a window on Main Street. Thank goodness that man had a sense of humor because I set up a one on one and I asked him, you know, tell me about your career. And he said, well, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to be your boss.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: That's ballsy. I love that.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Oh my gosh. And 49 year old me, looking back at that, I'm like, what?
[00:05:52] Speaker C: You said what?
[00:05:54] Speaker A: But it just came out. And I mean, dejuan and I have kept in touch. I would send him pictures of his name until finally my husband was like, do you know how many people probably send him his photo every time they're in the Magic Kingdom? But thank goodness the gentleman had a sense of humor and put me in contact and I mean. And that was it. The next thing I knew I was sitting and casting and I had to move out of my apartment and vist away and yeah, the rest is kind of a mystery, as they say.
[00:06:19] Speaker C: Tell us how you, how you ended up working for Disney Cruise Line in your career.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Yes.
So I knew that I wanted to either work for Disney Cruise Line or Disney Vacation Club when I was doing, when I was a front house manager at Caribbean beach in 20 or. And I'm sorry, 1998 was obviously when the Disney magic came out. And I had two friends who were offered at the time, they called them cross views, cross utilization opportunities. And so they went out to Port Canaveral, worked on the hotel operations side. And growing up in Indiana, I had never seen a cruise show.
So they invited me to come out the night before Michael Eisner was coming out to see the ship for the very first time.
And I stepped on board and I mean I was just in utter awe.
And so that was kind of one piece. And then I learned all about Disney Vacation Club and just what, wait, I can do what I can pay one time and then stay the rest of the time.
Stay for many years. And so I knew I wanted to work for one of those lines of business, dcl, very small at the time. So I ended up transferring to Disney's old Key west resort as a front office manager. And that's where I learned the Disney Vacation Club side of things. Knew that I wanted to become a vacation club guide. And then from there, I had the opportunity to sell DVC on board Disney Cruise Line. I mean, you want to talk about a dream come true?
[00:07:44] Speaker B: That was.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: That was just unbelievable.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Oh, amazing. Amazing that, like, such a great way. Because when you're on. I mean, from what I understand.
So from talking to some other retired guy, retired DVC guides who now actually work in the DVC resale market, which is. A lot of them have transitioned into that market. It sounds like that's a pretty good gig when you're selling DVC on board the cruise line. I mean, you're working real hard on certain days on your sea days, but on your port days, you pretty much have the day to kind of enjoy the port or enjoy the ship.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: You do. And I will tell you, I have had some of the most amazing experiences. I have met some of the most wonderful human beings, people that I keep in touch with to this day from working on board Disney Cruise Line. I mean, I've seen. I've been to six of seven continents. Now, granted, that's not all on Disney Cruise Line, but I mean, I went to Buenos Aires and stayed with a dear friend of mine who was one of the concierge managers on board. That never would have happened if it wasn't for Disney Cruise Line. So I've been all over Italy. I mean, my goodness, Italy just holds a special place in my heart. So, yes, it is phenomenal because to your point, you are working during the sea day, which is fantastic. Then you get to play when all of the guests are off the ship. I mean, I've been to Castaway Cay. Castaway Cay is one of my favorite places in the whole world to run, even in summer.
But it's just magical and it never gets old.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: It's interesting because obviously everyone who works sort of in the Disney family, we'll call it, in all of signature experiences, they all have to go through, like, Disney training. Right? You all have to go through.
You have to learn about the pillars. Right. You have to go through the whole. In the whole. What do they call it? University. Right, Disney University.
Right. And traditions and. And all of that. And so there's like, something in the sauce there, I think, like in. In the sense of like, I don't know what it is. I'm not sure it's in the interview process or it's in that university setting or where it sort of comes, but there's something special that seems to happen there in creating. Well, I don't know about creating or identifying these just magical people who find ways to make the magic happen. How. Where do you think that like sort of comes from? Like, I mean, I know obviously it's like passed down from Walt himself and through Riley, Walt and Roy and, and all of, and all of the, the leaders thereafter. But like, do you think it's that Disney is just finding the right people or do you think there's something that they're putting into people and then magic then happens?
[00:10:19] Speaker A: So that's a great question. And growing up through Disney, I always said that if you take care of your cast members, your cast members are going to take care of your guests, which is then going to take care of your business needs. So I think it's all about the people. I mean, business in general is all about people. And so when you hire the right people and when you put the right people in place, magic can happen. And I will tell you, I did not get hired from Disney for Disney because I was the most talented person in the room. That is certainly not the case.
But I had a goal. I made a decision. I got a degree in tourism. And I think people that are determined and people that want to make magic and want to be a part of even something that's bigger than themselves, I think that's a very special combination.
[00:11:03] Speaker C: Yeah. I wonder, like, you've probably interviewed a lot of people in your career with the Disney company. Like, was there something that you ever like, sort of looked for in new applicants if you were on like an interview panel, like, what am. What is like the, the spark I'm looking for in order to find like the person who is going to maybe take those lessons on board and really like. And that they're going to really change that person for the better or they're going to make an impact on, you know, either other cast members or on customers for the better? Sure.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: I think it's little things.
So you go to a restaurant and how someone treats a server, that to me it's huge. And I kind of still joke with my family and with my husband that I'm terrible with names. But I'll tell you what, I remember the server's name. And we're teaching. We have a five year old and so we are teaching Our five year old to look the server in the eye. I would please like an apple juice. May I have an apple juice, please? And so it's little details like that, that as a business owner now, that's what I'm looking for.
And I know that when my dad was in business, I know that that's what he was looking for. And you have to have a good foundation, I think. And once that foundation is set, I think you can really make anything happen. And like, like I said, it's all about people. And so once you get the right people in that right role, and I mean, I'll tell you, there were people that were miscast when I was at front desk. There were people that were miscast when I was at dvc.
And I always felt terrible because it's almost like you're being set up to fail, for lack of a better word, which is a terrible word. But you have to be in the right role, first of all. And once you get there, you're unstoppable.
[00:12:47] Speaker C: How many years were you on Disney cruise ships?
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Oh, gosh, 12.
[00:12:52] Speaker C: Oh, wow. And you would be on and off, Obviously you're not, like, doing a full contract. You're on for like a week or two and then you're off and back and forth, right? Yeah.
[00:13:00] Speaker A: Yes. Yes.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: How is that.
How does that work with life, Teresa? I'm so curious. Like, how does one. How does one make their life work when you've got, like a life at home? Right.
Now, I know you didn't have your. Your. Your at the time, so I know that you weren't a mom, so you weren't juggling that part of life, but, like, you still have, like, to have a home and you have to have, like, other stuff you're doing for at work and maybe relationships, all of the. All of the regular life stuff. Like, how does that work when you're away so much?
[00:13:30] Speaker A: Yes. So this is one of the things that I loved about your part or that I love about your podcast, is that you guys are very real. You kind of tell the good, bad and the ugly. And working on board was like, I said, it was incredible. I had experiences that I will never be able to have again. So that said, you kind of hit a point. And I don't know if this is just who I am as a person, but I called the guy that I was dating at the time, this was in 2019, I'm now married to him. He's now in the other room. And I said, I'm done.
And he said, okay, what are you gonna do for work? And I said, I have no idea.
He said, okay.
But it just.
It was. It was very difficult. It was. And we knew, I mean, gosh, at the time, while I'm 49, so this was in 2019. We knew, we knew where this relationship was going. We knew we wanted to have a family. And I joked, I said, I mean, I can get pregnant. Come in. I can get pregnant working on board the ships, but the kid's going to come out speaking Italian so pick your poison again. Again. Thankfully, my husband has a sense of humor as well. But it was. It was a lot. It was a lot to juggle. There were a lot of people with moms or there were a lot of moms that. It was hard. I mean, I remember being on the transatlantic crossing my very first year, and one of my co guides, who I still keep in touch with, she's still a friend, we sat in the office and she cried for an hour. And I said, what. What's going on? She said, I left my. You know, they just adopted a beautiful baby girl. I think she was three months old. She said, I just left my daughter at home for two weeks.
And so. And this was before. I mean, this was.
I'm not even sure what year this was, but this was before the Internet. So we were using the old calling cards and things like that.
[00:15:17] Speaker C: So you're not able to, like FaceTime. You're not able to video chat with people back home back then, if you're. If you're lucky, you can call when you're in port from a pay phone. Right. Like, it's not, you know, And. And with the time zone changes depending upon where you're located, you may or may not be able to talk to them very much. Yes.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:37] Speaker C: Well.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: And Chris even says, to this day, he'll say, I didn't think you were interested. I thought you were. I thought you were either ghosting me or friend zoning me because we met. We met at dinner in Orlando and I said, oh, so nice meeting you. Whatever it was that I said. And I said, I'm leaving on a business trip. I can. I'm home in six weeks.
Because it was. It was kind of one of those Europe and then Alaska, and it was. It was very chaotic. And we. I always tried to be home for two nights in between those, Those trips because I don't, ironically enough, I get really bad jet lag. And so I'm aware. At least I'm aware of it. I don't try to kind of Push through. But I thought, I don't want to meet this guy in a zombified state. That's just not good for anyone. So I said, I can see you again in six weeks. And yeah, he thought I was ghosting him.
[00:16:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, I totally get that. I would think that too. But, yeah, it's a hard life. I feel like ship life for whether you're like a full time cast member on dcl, whether you're a contractor, whether you're a DCL guide, right. Like, it's a ton of travel and it's a lot of being away from home.
Whether that home is in the Philippines or that home is in Orlando, it's still. You're not home. You're not in your own. Not in your own house. I. I'm curious, like, when you're on board DCL and you're kind of like a vendor, right? You're not. Because you're not a cast member with dcl specifically, like, how does that work in terms of, like, your interaction with, like, the full time cast? Because you're still kind of, you're all part of the cast in the sense that you all work for the Walt Disney Company, but you're kind of siloed in these different, like, parts of the business. Did you all get to, like, let's say, become friends with them? I mean, eat with them, you know, go out with them, hang out with them? Like, how does that kind of work on board?
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a great question. And it is always so interesting from the outside perspective, looking into the crew because it is just such a unique experience that so people are so curious and unfortunately, I don't have a lot of those answers. We were vendors, so we were crew.
And basically we were crew when they needed us to be and we were guests when they needed us to be.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: So.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: So back in the day, there wasn't any, what I call import manning, so we never had that duty. We were allowed to eat in the guest dining rooms. We were allowed to attend the shows, permitting, you know, on availability and attendance. We were allowed to drink in the crew bar, or I'm sorry, in the guest bar. We were not allowed in the crew bar, which, that was a little bit of a point of contention between, between crew and DVC cast because we did have privileges that they didn't.
And I mean, those, those crew, they all, they, they just, they worked so hard.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: They work.
[00:18:26] Speaker A: They worked so hard.
They were not allowed in our rooms. Which was really interesting because as I shared, my friend from Argentina he was the concierge manager and something maintenance wise had happened in my room. And so we got the housekeeper, my housekeeper that was assigned to my stateroom to stand there and kind of keep watch while he came in my room to look at whatever it was that was going on because neither one of us wanted to get in trouble. But I knew, I knew that I needed this fixed. I can't even remember what it was.
So there were definitely boundaries. Definitely, definitely boundaries.
[00:19:03] Speaker C: That's so interesting because you don't want to create like resentment between the different sort of, I'll call them classes of cast, but like different, you know, different categories of cast. But there are even within the DCL cast. We know that. I mean, we know because we've, we've talked to, you know, more recent folks who are DCL cast and they've explained to us that like entertainment casts have different privileges than let's say dining room staff or housekeeping staff. And sort of. So depending upon what you're. And the biggest difference seems to be between entertainment and everybody else is kind of the thing.
But, but even, you know, even up sort of among staff, there are, there are differences. But of course there's differences in privileges of going to like Paulo or something like that. You can only go if you're like invited by like a manager or something like that. I remember just those weird nuances we were invited to.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: It was a town hall and I happened to be sailing. It was just luck in the draw. And Carl Holtz was there and he was talking about expansion and we're looking at more sand in the Bahamas, I'll never forget that phrase. And I ended up running into him, gosh, two or three months ago, he's long since retired. And I ran into him at the Starbucks right across from the street from my son's school. And I said, thank you for having such an impact on my life. And I said, not only did you have an impact on my life, you single handedly had an impact on the cruise line industry.
Because I will tell you, I have sailed now that I've, now that I am out of Disney Cruise Line. I mean, I had never been on any other cruise line other than Disney. And that was, that was by design.
Now that I've been out of it for a few years, we've done a couple of other cruise lines and I will tell you, the housekeepers do not speak to the captain.
And that is, that is not the environment and the culture that Disney Cruise Line wanted.
Now there was one other captain, Captain Kate, who actually started on board Disney Cruise Line. Her crew adored her. I know she's no longer with the large company that she was with, but she worked very hard as well to kind of change that culture. But that was one of the big things with Disney Cruise Line was no matter where you were, you were able to have an opinion and to have a voice and to say hello to the hotel director and to say hello to the cruise director. And Carl.
[00:21:26] Speaker C: And I will say it even translates to the guest experience because, I mean, I know when I go into, let's say, a restroom on Disney Cruise Line and I'm. And I see an individual who is cleaning up in there, they'll smile at me, they'll say hello. I will chat with them, ask them how their day is going. I always thank them for keeping the space so, you know, beautiful and clean. Because, I mean, if not for them, it. The cruise ship would look like some other cruise lines that I won't name right now.
But I don't think that. And we've been on some other cruise lines and I haven't had the same experience. I'm not saying that there are always stars, right? There are stars on probably every cruise line out there, but it's not the norm on other cruise lines for everybody to be so friendly with maybe the exception of Virgin Voyages, because I think they have taken a lot of lessons from Disney Cruise Line and imported it over to that cruise line and crew as well. Yes, yes, we know they've stolen quite a few crew and corporate folks as well.
But yeah, I feel like with the exception of Virgin and obviously Disney, the other cruise lines, it's not the same culture in that way. It's not. And I'm not saying it's unfriendly. There are, like I said, there are plenty of people who are friendly, but they're not necessarily going out of their way to chat you up or to ask how your day is and then the guest response reflects the crew, I think. I mean, I feel like that's our.
We started sailing with Disney Cruise Line fairly recently. I mean, and people are always surprised. We started cruising with, with Disney in 2018 and now 30 mumble cruises later.
But, you know, it, it really. I think the guest experience is reflective of. Of how the crew acts and that friendliness translates and then back and forth. Right.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: So, yeah, well, and I think it goes back to your point earlier when you said, what are you looking for when you're hiring someone? And. And again, if you take care of your crew, your crew are going to take care of your guests. And that's going to Dr.
To where you need them to be.
[00:23:31] Speaker C: Yeah. Now you mentioned influential figures, right? Like I'm curious, like who from the cruise line, whether it's cast or corporate folks, like who do you think have been the biggest influences on you and your growth in your. Both your career with the Disney company. But now beyond, like, who have you learned the biggest lessons from?
[00:23:52] Speaker A: I would say Carl for sure.
Carl is, Carl is a very tall and intimidating looking man. And then when he opens his mouth, 99% of the time he's just a big teddy bear. He's just a big teddy bear. But he will drive results as well in a way that he, that he will need to do if, you know, if you're put in that situation. But Carl definitely I've known some of the cruise cruise directors.
Gosh, Darren McBurney is just a wonderful human being.
Ray Smal was actually my leader. They brought him over from Disney Cruise Line to Disney Vacation Club. And there was a situation where he needed me to stay on board for another cruise. And I think I had a wedding or something. And I said, I can't. I said, it's a three night dream. I would love to be able to help you out. I can't. And he called me 24 hours later and he said, teresa, I need you to stay. Can you please? And for him to say, I need you to do something. I knew it was Dire Straits.
And I said, I'll stay. I said, I don't have enough clean clothes. He said, no problem, put your clothes out, but you know, we'll pay for it.
And then I got a message from him that said, what's your personal email?
And I thought, well, that's a really odd question.
He sent me a Starbucks gift card just out of his own pocket. I mean, just those are people that truly care about their cast. And so I always tried to take the little tidbits of examples that I saw and kind of just file them away.
But Carl, Ray, one of my dearest, dearest friends in the whole world is the director of marketing. I'm probably messing up her title, but she has named every ship for the last however many years, to the point. We were at dinner right before we came up and something was said about Believe.
And she said, oh yeah, yeah, that one's been announced. We can talk about that.
And I was with another girlfriend who also used to be a Disney Vacation Club guide with me for several, several years. And she said, do you do that often?
Do you Find yourself kind of tripping over what you can say. And she said, oh, every day. Every day.
So I've had a lot of phenomenal examples from Disney Cruise Line.
[00:26:16] Speaker C: I love that. I love that. I think that's a hilarious example though. We have some friends who work for the company and they do the same with tripping over, like, what can I say? What can I not? Like they have to remember like what's been announced and what's not been announced yet. So I think that's always, especially with people like us who run a cruise line focused podcast, right. They want to be careful they don't give us public, non public knowledge that's not under embargo.
Well, you know, Teresa, I want to, I want to ask about some stuff a little, a little bit outside of, of the Disney universe. I want to ask you about running, when you got into running, how you feel like accomplishing marathons. Ironmans, like how, how has that shaped you as a person and shaped you as maybe a mom, an entrepreneur, all of the things.
[00:27:07] Speaker A: Oh goodness. So how did I get into running? I had been an athlete my whole life. Sports, softball, volleyball, all of that. And I started running in college and it was just kind of a way for me to clear my head. I was never the best student in college and I once I once I sett.
Once I got into my tourism classes, then it was, it was game on. But kind of my freshman sophomore year I was like, I don't want to take, you know, I don't do trigonometry. That's, that's just not my thing. And so I would run just to clear my head and, and that never really went away. So I ran my first marathon. I was actually thinking about this today. I ran my first marathon. I think it was 2002, 2003 maybe. And it was Disney marathon.
And the night before I ended up at urgent care with like bronchitis or something and it was like a seven and a half hour marathon. I mean I was out there so long, but that's one of the beauties of Disney races is that they are so back of the pack and mid pack friendly that all I did, all I did was cough and have a great time. You know, it was, that was just such a great day. And my family, oh my goodness, my, my parents and, or my dad and my brothers drove down from Indiana to come and watch me run a marathon. Which if you have ever spectated a marathon, you know, is actually harder than running a marathon.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: I keep trying to tell Brian this because I've never run a marathon, but I have spectated him running marathon, a couple of marathons and I zigzag. I swear to God, I zigzagged all over the city of Portland, I zigzagged all over city of Vancouver, I zigzagged all over Walt Disney World just to like see him at multiple points. And that coordination in itself, I feel like I deserve a medal for.
[00:29:00] Speaker B: You know what's funny though is I also zigzagged all over Portland, all over Vancouver and all over Walt Disney World. So I was part of it.
[00:29:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: My husband jokes he ran a half marathon with a three year old on his shoulders and a. And a ten pound, like baby, you know, baby bag, diaper bag on his back.
[00:29:20] Speaker C: So, yeah, I love it. It's so true though. It's. And the logistics of all of that are actually kind of. They're actually kind of difficult. I'm curious now. I know you had an injury like a major and you know, and then had to come back from that and, and run again.
I. You're back from it, right?
[00:29:41] Speaker A: I wouldn't say that I'm back from it. I would say that I am becoming. I'm coming back from it. I'm still kind of in the early stages. I'm walking at this point, which, which I'm okay with. I.
After I had my son, there was just a lot of very weird things that were happening. My skin hurt, my legs would shake, I was tripping.
I'll never forget. I ran.
Gosh, wine and dine. Was that in 2022 or 2023? Doesn't matter with my brother.
My brother said, what is that noise?
And I'm looking around and I'm like, what is he talking about? There's, you know, know 30,000 runners. Of course there's noise. And he's like, no, there is a noise. Do not hear that. Well, it was me not picking up my feet when I. When I was running. And so then that same year, I ran a turkey trot. Fell in downtown Orlando.
And then I. And then I ran. Gosh, I still have a scar. I ran on the West Orange Trail, which is where I did a lot of my training there in Winter Garden. Very close, very close to our house. And it was bad. I mean, I fell, I went down hard.
And doctors just kept saying, we don't know what's wrong. We don't know what's wrong. We don't know what's wrong. So four years later and 14 different doctors between 20 between November and December so, essentially, between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2024, I had four doctors tell me that they thought that I might have ALS.
And when you are 45 years old, that is unnerving, jarring. Every other word that you can think of. Well, it is. And the first. The first doctor that said it, I was like, this guy's crazy. And I went in, ironically enough, I went into my yearly exam, and my OB GYN is a friend of mine. And so I told him what happened, and his first question to me was, who's your cardiologist?
Because it was a cardiologist that said, I think you might have Alsace.
And so my OB said, oh, who's your new cardiologist? You know, kind of joking, thinking, oh, the guy's nuts. Well, then it happened again, and then it happened again, and then it happened a fourth time. So I do not remember one Christmas gift I got for anyone that year. I mean, Santa still. You know, Santa still came to the house. I don't remember Christmas morning.
It was.
Yeah, yeah, it was tough. And then in January, I went in for what they call an emg, which I had no idea what I was going in for. I had seen so many doctors and had been through so many things that I just didn't think anything of it. So I went by myself.
And I'm kind of putting two and two together as I'm laying on this table for 90 minutes, being poked and prodded and shocked and everything else. And your mind starts to go to really dark places because you realize, okay, they're testing you for als.
This could be the moment. This could be your death sentence.
And so I'm laying there, and I'm texting my mom, I'm texting my sister. I'm texting my husband.
And I said to the doctor, what does your gut tell you? And she said, I don't believe in my gut. I believe in science.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: Sorry. That's, like, actually really frustrating in the moment, right?
[00:33:02] Speaker B: What?
[00:33:03] Speaker A: It was.
[00:33:04] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:04] Speaker A: I mean, to use your word, it was terrifying. And so we finished up the test, she left, and she came back in, and she said, I think we need to get your husband on the phone.
[00:33:12] Speaker C: Phone.
[00:33:14] Speaker A: I mean, my heart just sank even saying that. And that was in January of 2025. My heart just sank even saying it as I'm sitting here 15, 18 months later.
And, oh, my gosh, I'm getting emotional. I'm so sorry. And I called Chris, and I was like, she wants you on the phone.
No one gives good news in this type of situation. No, One has them call their. Their spouse, their significant other for good news.
And she said, you do not have als, but you do have a severe spinal cord injury. And I said, wait a minute. I need a minute.
And I cry.
I cried so hard she had to hold me up.
And I looked at her and I said, okay, I'm so sorry. I missed everything after you said, I don't have als. And she said, you have a severe spinal cord injury. And I looked at her and I said, that's it.
[00:34:08] Speaker C: Sorry I'm laughing. That's crazy.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: Well, I think she thought I was like. I think she thought I was kidding, but als.
[00:34:15] Speaker C: But you're so relieved. Exactly. I mean, it's. It's. It's not that. That's not real serious, but you're so relieved about what you don't have.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: And so she said, you need surgery immediately. And I said, okay. Okay. So she got me into a neurosurgeon in Orlando. And. And you will love this because this has never been a part of my story until this moment.
So we went in and met with the surgeon, and he looked at everything, and I mean, it was so clear in everything that they had found that I didn't even ask for a second opinion. It was. My. My spine was just. It was a mess. It was very apparent as to what was going on.
And he said, you need surgery, like, tomorrow. And I said, I am so sorry. I'm leaving on a Disney cruise tomorrow.
Yeah, no, no, I have not. I have not shared that with anyone in this story. And he said, excuse me. And I said, I'm leaving on a Disney cruise. I said, look, it's my sister, her two kids, her husband, my parents, my three year old.
Can I have surgery next week?
And he said, it's a Disney cruise. And I said, yes, sir, it's a Disney cruise. And he said, okay. He said, you're not going to get crazy. It's not another cruise line kind of stigma?
And I said, no, no, not at all. And he said, okay. He said, just, you know, be careful. My. Meanwhile, my primary care is messaging me back and forth saying, I don't even want you driving in a car. Like, if you get into an accident, you know, you could be paralyzed.
And we went on a Disney cruise. We on the Disney dream. I believe it was.
I think it was the dream. And my. My husband is walking with me kind of arm in arm everywhere. I mean, especially on the pool deck.
You know how slick those decks can get. And people must have thought I was either intoxicated the entire time or had, you know, some sort of severe impairment because I'm being physically walked along the entire cruise because we were so worried something was going to happen.
[00:36:21] Speaker B: So you have sailed Disney both as a crew member and you have paid to go on the cruise line. If PS If I had been your doctor, I've been like, well, how close are you to Pearl? If this is going to get you there, do it.
Otherwise why don't you post.
But how many times have you sailed Disney Cruise Line as, as a passenger, As a paying passenger, then I am not Pearl yet.
[00:36:50] Speaker A: So I have probably sell and I made the mistake of not keeping all of my room keys. I do that for my son now I've got all of his room keys, but I am not quite Pearl.
So. But I will tell you, we sale, we sell quite often. It's in our backyard. I mean we get the Florida resident deals.
[00:37:08] Speaker C: It's.
[00:37:08] Speaker A: It's in our backyard. So we've done, we did one for my son's first birthday, his second birthday and then he's been on. I think he's gold now.
So we've done a few. But I, I am such a believer in the product that and Adventures by Disney are in my opinion the two best products that Disney has going for him.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: You will hear no argument from the hosts of this podcast about that for sure. If it makes you feel any better, our son's Pearl.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: So that does. You said 31?
[00:37:40] Speaker C: 31, 35. 35 for 30, 36 for Brian. I think 35 for me and then
[00:37:47] Speaker B: I think I'm at 35. But one of them doesn't count because it was a non revenue.
[00:37:51] Speaker C: Maybe I. We're. Yeah. So we're both around 35 and then our son is at 28 actually.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So have you seen your name on 50? That's 50. I forgot. I forgot. Well, I told my husband that's our. That's my goal to. Which of course he just was like, whatever.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: If I have to bring my.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Imagine if your sailings from being a guide actually counted, you'd be high. You'd be well above.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: I actually think they should give you. I mean, I guess they give you abd credit, but not a lot comes from that. I'm like, you should, you should. I actually said they should have given us credit for sailing on the Star Cruiser because it was technically a Disney cruise ship, just, you know, was in space. I'm curious.
Theresa, shift over for a second to the book that you wrote. So tell us a little bit about the Inspiration behind that book. And you know what you were hoping to accomplish with it.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Sure. So the book really was driven out of therapy and processing everything that happened. And I'm still processing everything that happened. The focus this summer. So I read something on Instagram the other day that someone said, summer hard.
And I said, I'm stealing that. I am stealing that.
We are summering hard. And so this summer is just all about kind of reconnecting with my husband, with my son, with the rest of my family. But the book was really.
I knew that I had wanted to share my story, and I knew that I had a story in working for Disney, and I knew that I had value and I could add value to people's lives. But I really didn't think, which is so crazy looking back on it, because it's such a silly, silly thought to have that until something kind of negative or wild that happened, that I really didn't have a story to tell.
And then I met with a therapist, and she said, have you ever thought about writing? And my husband said, you're a great writer. My mom has said, you're a great writer. And I just sat down at my computer one morning and it just all kind of came spilling out. And what was funny was I wrote chapter one, not even really knowing where it was going. And I'll never forget, it was early in the morning, and I had my coffee, and I'm sitting there typing, and this. The sound of a marathon. The morning of a marathon has a very specific sound, and it just went from there.
And I think my.
Not. I think I know. My entire goal was to tell people, women especially, that you can do hard things.
We live in such a society of suck it up, cup, suck it up, buttercup. But no one actually gives you the tools on how to do that, on how to suck it up. And so through kind of everything that I have been through with the medical and just. It all impacts everything. Your mental health, your physical health. I've really kind of learned. Okay, breathe in for four, out for six.
And my mom fell at our pool a couple of days ago, and it was. It was not a great situation. I panicked. I will be the first to admit I panicked. And I just look at my eyes and I kind of like. I said, I'm going to put my hand on your chest. And I just kind of like, started tapping. And I said, just breathe with me. Breathe with me. And it's things like that that when you get into fight or flight mode, these are things we know, but they go out they're gone. You know, they go out the window when you're in that fight or flight mode. So the book really was driven to give the tools to do hard things and to finish hard things, whether that's getting a job you want. Becoming a mom at 44, raising a child, raising, I mean, my son is the hardest thing I've ever done and the most and the most rewarding. And he was worth every shot, every doctor's appointment. I will tell you, being a mom is difficult. You know, whether it's in the boardroom, whatever it is. I thought, I'm just going to share people with people what I have learned about doing hard things and finishing hard things.
[00:41:52] Speaker C: Things. It's so important, especially for women, because in this day and age, just funny, my mom and I talk about this all the time. My mom always says that her generation didn't really do our generation any favors in sort of the women's liberation movement. And I, and I, I, I hope people understand what I'm saying here. It's not that we didn't get more rights. It's not that we didn't get better opportunities, but she says they didn't do us any favors because we get to have it all. But we still have to do it all.
[00:42:26] Speaker A: Yes. And it's so difficult because now, as business owners and as moms, I don't know that I would say that I necessarily believe that women can have it all. I also don't know that I would say that women can't have it all. I would say that there is a tipping point where things, things can either go, go either way. One of the things that I am focusing on again with this summer is just being very present. And so I've started saying to my son, like, I'll, I'll pick up my phone, or I'll be holding my phone and I'll be texting someone, and he'll, he'll come up and say, you know, mommy, I want to show you the, the new Pokemon or whatever it is. And I, I've started saying to him, I really want to hear what you have to say.
Give me one minute to finish this work, text, work thing. And then, you know, and then I put my phone down and I'm 100% present.
It's all a work in. It's all work in progress.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: I feel like that the chat, the challenge, and I'm not going to speak to it from the women's perspective, for obvious reasons, but, like, the challenge, I find, is the always on culture work never Stops. You're always connected. Did I talk to Sam about this too? With like the way that technology, you know, originally it was like, well, we're going to give you text messaging. That's so you can message somebody and they can respond when they're available. And it's turned into I texted you question mark, question. You know, it's like, respond. Now.
Like all of that stuff is just. And now with AI, you know, it's like I'm, I'm running four projects at once and babysitting that and doing my work and you know, so it's, it's just constant now. There is no. The intensity of day to day life has increased so much.
[00:44:07] Speaker A: From that perspective, technology has done us no favors whatsoever. None.
Because we are, we're in a constant society of work, work, work, work, work, work, work. And I feel like a lot of people, I don't want to say thrive on that, but they almost feel like it's.
What is the word that I'm looking for? It's, it's almost like they're proud of it, kind of. Oh my goodness, look what I'm sacrificing. And I'm of the age now where, I mean, I had a 24 year career with my dream company, I worked my tail off to get where I wanted to be and now I'm playing with my son, I'm playing Dinos.
And to me there's nowhere else I would rather be.
I no longer want to be Michael Eisner.
[00:44:51] Speaker C: Well, isn't that funny how your dreams change?
I actually love that, sort of. Oh, I want to take it from there, Teresa. Like your dreams change, you know, when you become a mom, your dreams change. When you've had that career with the Walt Disney Company, what are the dreams that you have now that you'd say to that 12 year old girl, like, hey, you had those amazing dreams and you fulfilled them, but now you have a new dream and here's what your new dream is going to be.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Oh my goodness. I would say we did it. Now I'm getting emotional again.
Oh my gosh, Sam, what are you doing to me?
I would, I would say we did it. I would say we did it. Look, look what, look what this 12 year old girl from Indiana was able to accomplish in her life.
And I would wish I would tell that girl just to keep moving forward. And that's what I would say to my son is just keep moving forward. We have instilled in you the values that you need to accomplish amazing things and just keep Moving forward. And I'm so sorry, you have me so emotional. I do not remember the second part of that question.
[00:45:53] Speaker C: What would you say the dream is now? What would you tell her the next dream is? Right, Because. Because you fulfill. You fulfill that first dream. But that doesn't mean the dreams end, right? You have that next dream is the dream. Your son is the dream. The next book is it. I mean, I'm sure it's many things, right? We don't all have just one dream. But what are. What are the dreams now look like?
[00:46:13] Speaker A: Yes. So it is mainly centered around my son. I will tell you from a very superficial perspective. We were at Costco today and he said, mommy. And I have no idea where he got this. Have you ever flown on a private jet?
[00:46:24] Speaker C: Jet?
[00:46:26] Speaker B: Jet?
[00:46:27] Speaker C: Where?
[00:46:28] Speaker A: Who. Who are you? You were five years old.
[00:46:30] Speaker C: What.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Where is this coming from?
[00:46:31] Speaker C: Who are you talking to, kid?
[00:46:33] Speaker A: I'm like, what are you. What are you talking about?
And I looked at him and I said, no, I've never flown on a private jet.
However, one of mommy's goals is to book the adventures by Disney Nat Geo Trip around the world. And my husband looked at me like I had had two heads. So superficially that is a goal.
But. But in all seriousness, my goal is just to raise a healthy, happy, purpose driven, well adjusted, kind young man.
And then, you know, people ask me if I'm going to write another book. And out of Built to Finish have come a lot of other ideas.
One that's kind of been in my head for a little while about the lies that we as women tell ourselves, because there's a lot.
So that may be a direction. I think for now I'm just kind of in a calm place.
I've been able to book some speaking engagements, which has been just incredible, A dream come true.
I will most likely be at some of the rundisney race expos, just there to meet runners. And if I sell a book or two, that's even better. But my goal right now is just to focus on being present and really. And heal from everything. I mean, like I said, I just started walking again.
I would love to be able to run a spring marathon. And I was in the middle of. Well, it was the big six, of course, the Abbott World Majors, which is now the big eight.
So we'll see where we land with that. But it will be a slow. A slow comeback. And I'm in no hurry. I mean, I'm just. I'm showing my body the grace that it needs to be shown.
[00:48:13] Speaker B: I'm curious with the book. Book, if you had to say, like, what you took from your experience at Disney that then made its way into the book, like, anything or I'm sure it influenced it, but what would you say? What were the things that you learned through the experience at Disney that then sort of informed that?
[00:48:32] Speaker A: Sure. Being in the different positions that I was in, I mean, I was a front desk manager, which you can get beat up a lot as a front desk manager, and you don't necessarily get beat up too much as a Disney Vacation Club guide. But I think being tested and being challenged professionally really is kind of what led me to the knowledge, if you will, that is in the book. Because there were definitely situations where I thought, what is happening?
I got yelled at over. Someone wanted me to move their tree because it was blocking their view. When I was a front desk manager,
[00:49:11] Speaker C: it's like the lady who said, says, I don't understand. I paid for an ocean view. I'm staring at the parking garage, ma'.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Am.
[00:49:18] Speaker C: The ship hasn't left the dock yet. Right.
[00:49:20] Speaker A: You know, the sad thing is, Sam, is that that happens.
[00:49:23] Speaker C: I know.
[00:49:24] Speaker A: I mean, crazy. I mean, probably weekly. The other. The other thing that I will never Forget. It was 11 o' clock at night. We had left Castaway Key earlier in the day, and I was walking by Guest Services. I mean, this was. Was years and years ago. This was on either the Magic or the Wonder. I can't recall which one. And there was someone that was yelling at a Guest Services cast member because the clouds on Castaway Key were not shaped like Mickey heads as advertised.
[00:49:53] Speaker C: Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Well, and. But these are things I feel like, you know, if you're at a front desk or you're dealing with a customer in your everyday life, in your job, right.
And somebody's being really rude, or you are. You're unable to fix the problem that they seem to have. Maybe the problem doesn't really even exist, but they think there's a problem. Right? Like learning to not run away and cry is like a huge, huge, like, accomplishment. Because there are situ. I think we've all had situations in our professional careers, whether that starts with me working behind the counter at McDonald's or babysitting the kids down the street or in my job as a lawyer now, like, where those skills are really important to apply. Teresa, I love that. I love that you're sharing them. I can't wait to read the book. I'll confess, I haven't read it yet, but I can't Wait, I'm going to order it. Tell us, where can we order the book? How can we get the book Built to finish by Teresa Seitz?
[00:50:58] Speaker A: Yes. Thank you so much. The website is builttofinishbook.com. there is a link on the website. It is also available on Amazon.
So. And ironically enough, as I had shared earlier, we are traveling, and I did not bring a copy of the book with me. So I called my mom, and I said, oh, my goodness. Do you have a copy of my book?
So it is a gold.
It is a gold. Mom came through. Mom and dad came through. It is a gold and navy cover. And here's what is ironic, is that when the publisher and I were working on the COVID we did not get give any direction to the artist. None whatsoever. And so we actually were traveling. I was sitting in an airport when the book covers came through. And, I mean, there had to have been 250 different covers. And I looked at. It was a variation. It was a variation of this one. And I said to my husband, it's the turtle. And he said, well, what do you mean?
My running girlfriends and I, who have run marathons on several different continents, we called ourselves the Turtles. Turtles, because none of us are fast. I mean, none of us are Boston qualifying.
And we just thought it was such a. You know, it's turtles. They're cute, right? They're cute and they're slow.
And when this cover came up, I thought, that's it. That's it. And I'm from South Bend, Indiana, so my dad is an alumni of Notre Dame. So the Notre Dame cover colors kind of. Kind of worked as well.
[00:52:23] Speaker C: You know, I think when I talk to people about rundisney races or other races that I've participated in, I always tell them, because they're like, oh, you're a runner. I'm always like, yeah, but I'm running to finish. I'm not running to, like, get any kind of record. I'm not. I'm like, if any, maybe I'll set a record for myself, like my own, you know, pr.
But, like, I'm not gonna ever finish in the top five in my age group and women and overall, whatever. Like, that's not my goal. It's not a realistic goal for me.
Um, and I'm not willing to work as hard as I. Even if I. Even if it was a realistic goal, I'm not willing to put in the hours that it would take to get me there. But, yeah, it's about finishing.
[00:53:07] Speaker B: I'm gonna turn about what you did to me at the beginning of the show, Sam, and ask you a question I know you've heard from me before, which is, you know, what do they call the last person whose foot touches the finish line in a marathon?
[00:53:16] Speaker C: A finisher. A marathon.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: So it doesn't matter when you finish as long as you finish. So.
[00:53:22] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, exactly. What do they call the guy who finished last in his class from medical school?
Doctor. Right. Like so.
[00:53:29] Speaker A: Yep. Well, I have a saying. I race to complete, not to compete.
And I heard that years ago. And I heard that years ago and I can't take credit for it, but I thought, wow, that's.
Yes, that's me.
That's me. I mean, I'm the one who. Yes, I want to have a good, you know, I want to have a good time, but I also want to have a good time. You know, I want to be able to stop and get a margarita at Epcot on day four of the Dopey Challenge at whatever time it is, because it is certainly after, during the time that World Showcase has opened.
I just, I want to have fun and I want to make the most. I'm the firm believer that the person that runs a six hour marathon or a seven hour marathon gets way more out of their money and it is so much more fun to sightsee. Like you said, you ran Toronto or I'm sorry, Vancouver, one of my favorite cities in the whole world. What a great way to tour the city of. And it's just amazing.
[00:54:26] Speaker B: I've got one last question for you before I do want to make sure we do Sam's rapid fire on this show. So I'm going to make sure we get over there.
I have one last question for you, which is, you've sailed Disney. You've been a crew member on Disney Cruise Line.
What are the three tips you would tell someone stepping on a Disney cruise the first time?
[00:54:47] Speaker A: Oh, I love that.
Okay.
I assume they have children because it is a Disney cruise cruise. So I would say do not plan every moment of every day. You know, you see these spreadsheets and these with. We chatted about AI. Now I'm seeing people make these schedules and they're beautiful, but I look at them and I'm like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen when the child has a meltdown about ice cream? My child never had a meltdown about ice cream. Just for the record, you know, he had 12.
So I, I would say don't plan everything. Expect the unexpected. Allow time just to sit up at Vanellope's. And enjoy the ice cream that you just paid $12 for. I would also say. So that was number one. I guess so. Number two, and this goes more from the operational side of things, I would not book a cruise if I'm, if I'm talking a cruise from Canaveral, if I'm talking a cruise from Lauderdale, I would say do not book a cruise based on the destination nation because things can change. So if you book an Eastern and it's September or October, hurricane season, the itinerary could change. So don't book something based on an itinerary unless it's a Mediterranean, unless it's Alaska. That, that kind of is, is a given.
And third, I would say just make as many, as many memories as you can. Buy the photo package. And step, step in front of, of every camera that is there.
[00:56:20] Speaker C: And especially you moms out there, like take. Because we don't get in front of the camera. We're usually behind the camera. And so we've got like so many pictures.
[00:56:29] Speaker B: Not this mom.
[00:56:30] Speaker C: No, no. I step in front of the camera on Disney Cruise Line. But I'm, but when I'm taking personal pictures, it's more pictures of Brian and our son and I'm less in the picture. So the way I get in the picture is exactly what you said, Teresa. You step in front of the camera when with the foot, with the photographers. Buy that photo package. I think that's excellent advice.
[00:56:50] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I'm horrible because I drive my family crazy. My brother just had a Disney wedding last week and so we were in the parks and my entire family was there and I'm still stopping and offering to take photos of families because who's the one behind the camera? It's mom. It's mom. And I'll never forget, I mean, when I went through traditions in 1998, you know, they said, they said the number one memory that, that you will give people is taking their photo.
And for some reason that resonated with me, I must have, in my 21 year old brain, I must have thought, wow, I wonder if there's any pictures of my mom, you know, when, when we were at Disney and just looking back on it and, and recently I've been going through photos and they're not, I mean, my mom's always the one behind the camera. So. So I would say don't schedule everything.
Don't book a cruise based on an itinerary. You know, Eastern, Western, Bahamian, what like, and step in front of every camera that you can.
[00:57:46] Speaker B: Sam we have reached that point in the show where we need to subject Teresa to some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and more than a dash of judgment of the round we call rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away. And Teresa, I'm sorry, I just got nervous.
[00:58:03] Speaker C: Okay, so this is where I ask you some Disney favorites and then some Disney Cruise Line favorites. These are just, just. Teresa, these are your favorites. Not like your son, your husband, your brother, whatever. No, your personal favorites. We're going to start with who is your favorite Disney character? And Disney means anything and everything that Disney owns, which is basically the whole universe.
[00:58:26] Speaker A: So I have two. My number one when I was growing up was Goofy, far and away Goofy. And I've actually, in my career have been able to meet Bill Farmer, which was unbelievable. And then as I got older, of course, I'm not even sure what year the Little mermaid came out. 89, maybe. Ariel. Ariel. I love her sense of adventure and I love her sense of self. And she knew what she wanted and she made it happen.
[00:58:51] Speaker C: Favorite Disney movie. Same rule applies to the word Disney.
[00:58:54] Speaker A: Love a mermaid.
[00:58:55] Speaker C: Love it. Favorite Disney song.
[00:58:58] Speaker A: I don't know.
It would probably be. This is so cheesy. I'm so sorry. It would probably be the soundtrack that is played during the Alaska cruises.
[00:59:09] Speaker C: I love that. That's a great answer.
[00:59:12] Speaker A: It just takes me back. I, I, Alaska is one of my favorite itineraries. And when you step on that ship and you hear that music, it's just, it transports you.
[00:59:21] Speaker C: That's such a, that is a great answer. That, that's like an award winning answer. Teresa. I love it. I love it. All right, we're going to shift over to the cruise line. Favorite show to sit and watch in the Walt Disney Theater. Theater on any of the Disney Cruise Line ships.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: I want to say Toy Story, but that it's so long ago.
It's so long. I mean, my gosh, Toy Story. We tried to sit through Hercules and we didn't really last very long. It was beautiful what we saw of it. But Toy Story.
[00:59:53] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Awesome.
[00:59:55] Speaker B: All right, I'm going to pause Sam for one second here and just ask a question.
Which ships have you not been on with the Question Cruise Line?
[01:00:02] Speaker A: Oh, goodness. The adventure would be the only one now. I only worked on the on Magic 1 original. Yeah, the four.
[01:00:12] Speaker C: All right, we gotta talk. We gotta talk. Activity. What's your, As a guest on board, what is your favorite activity to do on a Disney cruise?
[01:00:22] Speaker A: Favorite trivia. Any sort of trivia. Disney trivia. Disney Cruise Line. Trivia. I love trivia.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: Based on your background, I got to believe you have a wall of medals hanging.
[01:00:33] Speaker A: No, No, I don't. We went. My brother is the ringer. He is. He is the ringer. We went, we sailed on Destiny a couple months ago and we did not do well. For.
I don't even know what the questions were. I mean, they were so obscure. We did not do well.
[01:00:51] Speaker B: I avoid anything with Disney in the title for trivia when I'm on these ships because I know there are people in that room who are going to to get full credit for everything and probably argue over the right answer for a couple. Whereas I'm like, let's just do knowledge trivia or what's the one we like to do?
[01:01:07] Speaker C: We like to do general knowledge brain teasers. And then we'll do. Sometimes we'll do Disney Cruise Line trivia because that's one that we might be able to. And I say might even like we are the DCL Duo podcast. We do not always like win Disney Cruise Line trivia because that's how they go to really obscure facts and, and sometimes about, you know, things that were on the ships at the inception of Disney Cruise Line when we were not sailing. So. All right, we gotta switch over to dining.
What is your favorite rotational dining restaurant? It could be for any reason. It could be because of the theming, the food, the show, or lack thereof. But which is your favorite rotational dining?
[01:01:46] Speaker A: So right now it is marvel because I have a. Because I have a five year old boy and Spider man was epic on our last curse was epic. He spent so much time with us. Spider man was amazing. Frozen arendelle is high on the list as well.
[01:02:04] Speaker C: Love it. Awesome. All right, I want to hear a favorite sweet item on a Disney cruise and a favorite savory item on a Disney cruise. So things you eat, we start with the sweets because the savories are my favorite. So I save the savories for like last.
It doesn't matter that dessert comes at the end of the meal. It shouldn't. I think we should end the meal with a soft pretzel. So let's start with favorite sweet. I mean we could be ice cream and Penelope's. It could be soft serve. Could be something in main dining. Anything across the cruise line.
[01:02:35] Speaker A: So I do love a good ice cream and Vanellope's. But I will tell you what I think about every time I'm in Castaway Key back in the day and I don't even know how long ago it was.
They Used to have chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. And I'll never forget the day they replaced the machines. I was talking to, it must have been a food and beverage officer. And I said, what's going on? He said, oh, they keep getting stuck.
It keeps clogging the machines.
So that's when they changed it out. And hence no more chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on the island.
Yes.
It was a very emotional day for me.
Okay. So that was sweet.
The pasta presets.
[01:03:20] Speaker C: Yes,
[01:03:23] Speaker A: the pasta. The. The truffle pasta presets.
[01:03:26] Speaker C: Yeah. Those are great. I love them. All right, you. You've already won, Teresa. All of these answers are golden.
All right, we have a couple more questions. Aquaduck, Aqua Duck. Sorry. Aquadunk. Aqua Duck.
Aqua Mouse.
[01:03:42] Speaker A: The Dunk. Oh my gosh. I will never forget that first cruise. After I was on the first cruise. After.
[01:03:47] Speaker C: After they put it on after the dry dock. Yeah.
[01:03:50] Speaker A: Oh my goodness.
I felt like I was being waterboarded.
That is a. Not that I've any experience what that feels like, but thank. Thank goodness. But that was not an experience I would do again. I love the Aqua Duck.
[01:04:03] Speaker C: All right. Yeah. So Dream Fantasy. See.
All right, the most important. This is the second to last question in Rapid Fire. But this is the most important question of Rapid Fire, which is which one is your favorite ship?
[01:04:18] Speaker A: I knew you were going to ask me this, so Walt, don't strike me down.
I think the Treasure.
[01:04:25] Speaker C: Yeah. Such a. Such a great ship. The Wish class is phenomenal. The Treasure is the Parks fans like Dream Ship. And of course the seven night itinerary is hard to beat. So.
Totally understand. All right, the last question I ask in Rapid Fire is what is your bucket list cruise? If you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise Line ship and it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney Cruise Line currently goes. Like this could be like a made up cruise itinerary.
But it has to be someplace actually real and accessible by water.
Where would you go?
[01:05:01] Speaker A: So I was so hoping that you're going to ask me this question because it is hands down and Art.
[01:05:06] Speaker D: Yes.
[01:05:07] Speaker A: Hand down. Antarctica.
[01:05:09] Speaker C: Yeah. I wish there was like. I mean, I know. I think Nat Geo maybe. Are they still doing it? I know that ABD doesn't do it, but I think Nat Geo has those expedition style cruises that you can do that.
Those look amazing. I have to say they do well.
[01:05:26] Speaker A: And I know that the hull can. I'm sure there's no way that they could send a ship that large. But I remember Being on board when one of the contractors slipped and oh, I'm here to enforce the hole for when the Disney Wonder goes to Alaska.
And it was kind of like a cartoon, you know, like the, and like I looked and the girlfriend that I was talking to, she looked. What did he just say? So you know, holes can be reinforced. I mean, who knows? We'll see.
[01:05:57] Speaker C: Who knows? We'll see. Teresa, thank you for playing no judgment.
I love all of your answers.
I wish I had been there to try the cookie dough ice cream. That sounds fabulous. I'm kind of jealous that I never got to experience that. But it's been so amazing having you on. We gotta ask you.
Brian always likes to ask, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut in on, on him and ask you what's next in terms of sailing on board Disney Cruise Line or Adventures by Disney trips. Like do you have anything fun planned?
[01:06:28] Speaker A: So I have a trip with my entire family but, well, almost my entire family on the Destiny, I believe in January we're staying concierge. It's only our second concierge but my sister and her husband, they take one vacation a year. So when they go, they go big and they invited us to come with us again and so we're doing that. I'm trying to get Halloween on the high seas booked, but our son is starting kindergarten in the fall so that's kind of going to put a damper on our travel schedule. So we'll see. Adventures by Disney is always on my radar with their new Thailand trip, the river cruises. I mean the only, the only river cruise that I would even contemplate doing with a child is obviously Adventures by Disney. And like I said, their product is just, it's just incredible. So I will take as many Disney cruises and as many, many Adventures by Disney Cruises or as many Adventures by Disney as really as I can, as I can, as we can afford. I mean I'm, I'm all about it.
[01:07:30] Speaker C: I love that. I'm going to give you one piece of advice as a parent of a now tween and say pull him out of school for those cruises when you can. You can't do it. Once they're in middle school, it becomes really, really hard. But elementary school, kindergarten especially like kindergarten through third grade especially like of course don't take them out for months at a time, but take him out for a week, take him out for a four night cruise, whatever, when it works for you all because those experiences, they learn just as much and they learn frankly more about independence on those ships than they do in their elementary school.
[01:08:10] Speaker B: And they can always just count on fingers and toes if they fall apart.
[01:08:13] Speaker C: Right, Exactly. We have calculators. Right?
[01:08:16] Speaker A: You're never gonna just walk around with a calculator.
[01:08:19] Speaker C: Exactly.
[01:08:19] Speaker A: I mean, that's what we were, you know, that's what we were told.
[01:08:21] Speaker B: Right, Exactly. We're all carrying tricorders in our pockets. That's what I like to say. Star Trek has become real. But, but Teresa, it has been just fabulous chatting with you. And what we should actually plan to do is if you, if next time you go on a Disney Cruise, Line reach out, we'd love to have you on to just hear about your family's experience on board the cruise, the cruise line. So should reach out and come back. For everyone out there listening watching this episode, I will make sure to link to Teresa's website and the book in the show notes. So you have that. And I actually read recently one of the biggest pet books peeves of podcast listeners is when we say we're going to do that, we don't. I always do it. So it's going to be in there for you.
But Teresa, I just want to thank you for taking time out of your, you know, your, your day, your evening there really to sit and chat with us for a little bit and yeah, we just really appreciate it.
[01:09:12] Speaker A: Thank you so much. The pleasure has been mine. This has been so much fun.
[01:09:20] Speaker D: Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us alive, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Pieces podcast. 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. 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 direct weekly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website 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, 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 402413 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 reflective. Use the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or a Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at MyPath 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. Good night.
