Ep. 681 - Would You Run 100 Miles the Day Before a Disney Cruise?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Oh, congratulations. [00:00:01] Speaker B: Thank you. The ceremony just happened to be the Saturday that I was running the keys 100 and we were already all in, so we said, why not let's, you know, let's burn the boats and we're going to book a cruise. And Josh, you have to finish or just not wind up in the hospital. [00:00:31] Speaker A: Welcome back. [00:00:31] Speaker C: Welcome back, everybody, to this week's episode of the DCL Duo podcast. And Sam, it's jingle time. [00:00:39] Speaker A: All right. Simply the best. Better than all the rest. [00:00:44] Speaker C: All right, this week's review comes from HGHG HD hdjb. There we go. That's a lot of. [00:00:52] Speaker B: There's a lot of letters. [00:00:53] Speaker A: A lot of letters there. A lot of content. [00:00:54] Speaker C: Pronounce the sequence. Yeah. All right. And it reads, great. DCL Duo pod. Look forward to all the great shows each week. Love all the great guests and Brian, Sam, Nathan, all rock. Keep up the great work and keeping it real. So there you go. Short, sweet, to the point. Love it. See, it doesn't take a lot. It doesn't take a lot to leave just a little love for the show. And so please, please, please remember, one of the easiest ways to help support the show, Head over to Apple Podcasts, hit those five stars. If you leave us a written review on your. With your five stars, we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. If you listen to us on Spotify, they've got star ratings. If you're listening to us on any of like, there are. There must be dozens and dozens of podcasting platforms that we are on. Give us the popcorn, the hearts, the thumbs up, the stars, the, I don't know, the, the confetti, you know, noisemaker thing sometimes people use, like just give, [00:01:50] Speaker A: just give us whatever love you can. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Yeah. And it's not just help support the show. Like we, we reiterate this occasionally. We don't make money off this show. We, we do turn a profit, but we take that profit, we donate it to charity. And so this is really a labor of love and community building for us and just wanting to share a passion with, with all of you out there. And so the real energy we get is from hearing from you, our listeners. We get notes, email, Instagram messages. We had a great one today to just really help us keep going here and to, to, to find the motivation each week to stack this on top of our lives as lawyers, parents of a special needs kiddo, all that sort of stuff. So just, we love it when we see some love from all of you out there. [00:02:32] Speaker A: Yeah, plus it helps other people find our show. And you know the DCL Duo wants to establish world domination for all podcasts. [00:02:39] Speaker C: So that is not a part of our mission statement. Samantha, even Patrick was so goal. [00:02:45] Speaker A: But yeah, I love it. [00:02:46] Speaker C: Why don't you introduce. We have a just a mind blowing topic today. So I can't wait to talk about it. [00:02:51] Speaker A: Yeah, we have a super cool guest, super cool show to talk about today. I'm super excited to welcome to the show. Not first time cruiser. He's actually very close to making platinum status on Disney Cruise Line. Welcome to the show, Josh. Welcome. [00:03:07] Speaker B: Thank you guys. [00:03:07] Speaker C: And just to just to disambiguate, this is not villain Josh of the past we have heard from recently. But for those of you listening to audio, just to make it really clear, Josh, we still love you, but this is a different Josh. [00:03:25] Speaker A: Josh, we're super excited to have you. The show topic we're going to talk about today is how you paired a ultra marathon with a Disney cruise and this is not your first time doing it. You have done this multiple times. You ran I believe the keys 100 recently and then got on the Disney destiny, is that right? [00:03:46] Speaker B: That is correct. The very next day. [00:03:50] Speaker A: So 100 miles of running is what you did over, over the course. How, how many days is that sort of thing done in? I don't even know. I can't like, I can't like fathom the concept of a hundred miles. [00:04:02] Speaker B: So it does have a 32 hour cutoff which is very common with most hundred mile runs. I finished in 26 hours and 11 minutes and 20 seconds. [00:04:14] Speaker A: Holy cow. Okay, so in a day and a half is your limit that are you, [00:04:21] Speaker C: are you moving the whole time here? Like, I mean I've run a marathon but I have never been able to wrap my head around these like ultra marathons. I've watched the, the documentary on like the Barclay marathons that I think a lot of people have. If you have not out there and you're listening and you're a runner, it's a fabulous. It's called the race that eats its young I think is the title of it. But yeah, like is there brakes in there for you or are you just moving the whole time? [00:04:43] Speaker B: So the race director, Bob Becker, fantastic guy, he always, he has a saying, beware of the chair. So it unsupported and that you have your, you supply your own crew and people do stop and take naps. But again you have a 32 hour cutoff and it's hot and you don't want to get too comfortable because again, you start losing drive at some point over a hundred miles and you have to dig deep. And those camping chairs look very, very beautiful at times. [00:05:15] Speaker A: And I'm going to tell you, I think camping chairs look quite uncomfortable. But I imagine if I'm running for miles and miles upon mil, I mean, I would probably like, like fall into a camping chair, like, and be happy after five miles. [00:05:29] Speaker C: After mile 99, the pavement's looking pretty comfortable. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:33] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:05:34] Speaker A: Well, I want to back up to your Disney Cruise Line, like, experience and how you got into Disney. And then I want to talk about how you got into this pattern of pairing of race and Disney Cruise Line. Because that's like, it's just kind of mind boggling. Not, I mean, not in a bad way. It's awesome. I can't imagine way to like celebrate running any kind of race, getting on a Disney cruise, but yeah. What, how, what got you into Disney cruising? Do you have like a love for Disney that goes way back to childhood? Tell us about that. [00:06:06] Speaker B: So both my parents were in the military and we went down to Walt Disney World when I was a kid one time. You know, I think our Disney family thing kind of started around TGIF and Boy Meets World and hanging with Mr. Cooper and all. It really, like, it was just a Friday. [00:06:24] Speaker A: I love all of those. [00:06:25] Speaker B: I just love that it was the Friday kind of the cap and we would all sit on the floor and watch together or the Disney movies. But really, I kind of catch a lot of people off guard with my Disney fandom, I guess. My wife got married, daughter was born, and in 2018, I'm in law enforcement and we didn't have a lot of money, but she had a cruise or, sorry, she had a conference in Orlando. So we kind of paired the two. And after that we were just hooked. And so we did the parks 2018 up to about 2022. And she could tell, my wife could tell that it was starting to get more stress for me than a vacation. And so she had cruised before. I had never really cruised. And she was like, let's just try a Disney cruise. And after that, the parks were only for the Halloween party one time and then I'm out. [00:07:14] Speaker A: I love that it's. I mean, we, while we still enjoy the parks and we still go occasionally, we, like you, Josh, do not find them to be a relaxing vacation. I mean, if we go to Disneyland, because we used at least have gone so often in the past, we haven't gone quite as often. The last like year or two, but we could do it a little bit more relaxing. Ish. But still we felt like the need to get going pretty early in the morning, hit a couple of big rides before we then would take a break. And I feel like at Walt Disney World, it's like whenever we're there, it's like, go, go, go, go, go. There's literally nothing relaxing about it. I mean, it's fun but not relaxing. [00:07:52] Speaker C: So, Josh, I gotta ask, have you ever done a rundisney event? [00:07:55] Speaker B: Then I have logged in and said, you know what I can offer the [00:08:02] Speaker C: fate of the lottery. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I can go outside and run 26 miles quicker than this thing that's going to let me sign up for. We've looked at a few different ones. Unfortunately, it's in January and there's a Louisiana marathon that's in January as well. And we do some stuff with Kingsley's Angels. With. That's where we push children who have disabilities or people who are unable to run. And we push them in marathons. And so that's. Those dates are kind of always conflicted. This year, the Houston Marathon conflicts. So I'm going to go over there and push one of my riders. And so that's what's kind of kept me out of the Run Disney. But not to say it won't happen eventually. [00:08:43] Speaker A: I love that you do. I love that you do. Ainsley's Angels, like we. So there's actually a guy who lives in our neighborhood who has an adult disabled son. And we see him training in our neighborhood all the time. And the way he trains as he's pushing, you know, it's an adaptive, you know, wheelchair. It looks kind of like a stroller. That's the only way I can describe it, but. But you know, like a three wheeler. And he's puts like a large weight in that, you know, thing that he's pushing and it's. And he's like an older guy. Like, he's probably in his, I don't know, 70s. Brian, you've seen him around too. And we're like always amazed because Brian and I are like, just struggling just to like, just run with our own body weight. So like, you know, running with your own body weight plus pushing another usually adult, but even like a large child. Right. Would. It's. I'm just like, wow, like, that's really cool. It's also really cool because you're giving this individual who has a disability the opportunity to run a marathon, you know, or, or a half marathon or whatever. The Length of race is, and that's just like a really special accomplishment. And I don't know, I just think that's really, really cool. So I, I, I love, I will say run Disney races are fun and you can do, you know, a charity bib and things like that and raise money for some great organizations, but they are not, if you like to run fast, they're not the best opportunity for running fast too. And you obviously, you must be fast because you run in, you know, a hundred miles in 26ish hours. So you obviously are like way faster than most people. [00:10:21] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean there's, there's people that are a lot faster than I am, but I think the persistence is what switched me over to ultras. Just not quitting and just continue to go and, but yeah, you, you spot on with the cruise as being far more relaxing and enjoyable than the parks. And after that my wife had me hooked. And like you said, we're at nine now and I know we'll talk about it later, but I'm sure they have a few more booked I don't even know about yet. [00:10:46] Speaker A: I love it. I love it. All right, well now you have sailed on most of the classic ships, I believe. And then you had sailed on the Wish previously. And then this sailing that you just came off of literally yesterday we're recording the day after you, you got off was on the Destiny. This was your, your only your second time on a Wish class ship, is that right? [00:11:06] Speaker B: Yeah, this was the second time we were on the Wish for, I want to say it was a four day, you know, pretty, pretty quick turnaround. But you know, the barbecue right down from my, my door was, was a selling point for me. So especially after 100 mile run. So yeah, we were, we were all excited about the Destiny. So. [00:11:25] Speaker A: Well, how did you first start pairing Ultra marathons with Disney Cruise Line how did, because you, you've been on nine sailings with dcl, the last several have been paired with, you know, an Ultra. How did that tradition, like, I mean how does one start that tradition? Like did, did you just like did it randomly one year, just work out timing wise and then it just became a thing like how, yeah, so I [00:11:49] Speaker B: had to New Orleans ultras and a couple other ultras and we looked, I tried to find a very, very hard ultra, you know, 100 miles plus. And a lot of them have very strict pre qualifiers to get into. And one of the things about the Keys 100 or the Daytona 100 is they do not have any pre qualifiers. So anybody can sign up, it results in a higher DNF or did not finish rate than some of those races. But also the cost. I mean, for a couple hundred bucks, you can sign up for a hundred mile race. Last year was special. I signed up for the 100 mile run. We had everything ready to go. My wife was on her last CPA test in December. We found out, I want to say January or February, that she had passed it and was going to be a cpa. [00:12:37] Speaker A: Oh, congratulations. [00:12:38] Speaker B: Thank you. The ceremony just happened to be the Saturday that I was running the keys 100 and we were already all in. So we said, why not let's, you know, let's burn the boats and we're going to book a cruise. And Josh, you have to finish or just not wind up in the hospital. [00:12:58] Speaker A: I mean, that's like something to think about and worry about, right? Like, it's. We're not talking about like a, you know, a race where you just might be kind of winded or you might pull a muscle. Like, these races come with some, you know, serious health risks because they're not the kind of thing that people can do on a daily basis. It's not. And not to say that like a regular marathon is anything to like, you know, poo poo, but it's not. I mean, this is almost four times a full marathon. So, yeah, I mean, you have to really think about what your sort of health status is going to be after the race, whether you finish or don't finish, right? [00:13:39] Speaker B: Yes. And I will tell you, last year I thought I was prepared. Last year I finished about 27 hours and 30 minutes, but I was a lot worse for the wear to the point that I had to have my wife go to CVS and get some crutches so we could get around Key West. I mean, I was completely wrecked having that experience and having, you know, that under my belt, Daytona 100, under my belt, several other training runs, I was much better this time. A lot more prepared. If you are considering this or you're considering something similar, I would advise you to know that there is a lot of risk. We struggled to find any cruise insurance or trip insurance that would cover the run portion and the cruise portion. And so ultimately you, you know, you have to roll the dice and hope that everything goes well. And I will tell you, there is no moment like when they finally check your last passport, your last little thing, and you're like, okay, we're here, like, safe. You know, like, at least at this point, if I get hurt, I'm on the ship, and we can, you know, put some, some ice on it and make it work. But it is, it is a lot of risk. But I would tell you there's also a lot of. A lot of joy, a lot of celebration in that moment as well. [00:14:54] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, well. And you can always, like, get a wheelchair to borrow from the cruise line in the worst case scenario, I guess, if your legs are that spent. I'm not saying that would be a good thing, but it's, It's, It's. It's something that, you know, I wouldn't be shocked if that's happened to. I mean, people need a wheelchair for even a couple days following an ultra. That's so interesting about the insurance issue that you, like, would get specific insurance for the race, but then you. If you, you know, if that takes care of your medical expenses or whatever from the race, but then it doesn't cover, like, oh, I've got to cancel or postpone my cruise. [00:15:33] Speaker B: A lot of it started around because it is considered a competition. There's some clauses in there that kind of pull out. And then you got to go to page lawyers. You got to pull the page 832 in the back where it's like, sorry, you're not. You're not covered for this or you're not covered for that. And so ultimately, I mean, we, we are pretty consistent with cruise insurance in some form or fashion, except for Keys 100 and whatever cruise we're going on. [00:15:59] Speaker A: What dictated the timing of this cruise? Was it the. The race like, you were set? Okay, I'm going to do the keys 100 again. And so let's just figure out what sailing or what ship will pair well with that, because you're in the Florida Keys, obviously, for the keys 100, so you're going to be sailing out of Florida. So that limits you just to, like, Fort Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, obviously. Yeah. Was the deciding factor just the date of that? You know, ultramarathon? [00:16:26] Speaker B: Primarily the date, but also, you know, living in Mississippi. Port Canaveral is a lot more convenient to go that little extra distance. And destiny being new, we had already been on the dream and the fantasy. And so, you know, the girls were excited about going on the new ship and seeing all the things, so it just timed out perfectly. My daughter did have to miss a couple days of the last day of school, but. But we all know what goes on the last couple days of school. [00:16:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:53] Speaker B: See, what was it? [00:16:54] Speaker A: That was nothing. [00:16:56] Speaker B: Pizza. [00:16:56] Speaker A: Pizza party. Maybe a field day, depending upon how old Your kid is that kind of stuff. Yeah. All right, so you went out of Port Everglades, but we got to back up to the race and I want to talk about. [00:17:08] Speaker C: Wait, hold on. I want to ask a question. I'm trying to ask a question. [00:17:11] Speaker A: Sorry, I just kept going, Brian, you know I can't stop. [00:17:14] Speaker C: I know. [00:17:14] Speaker D: So you have to pause. [00:17:15] Speaker A: Remember, like Josh, Okay. [00:17:17] Speaker C: Remember the feedback and pause. Okay, so, so Josh, I to ask you, like, you finished the race. Walk us through. Race is finished and now I have to get to Fort Lauderdale for boarding. Like just talk us through that. Like 24 to 48 hours to get to, to get to boarding. [00:17:33] Speaker B: Yes. So the best part of an ultra marathon is when you are completely finished in the hotel room and your feet are elevated and there is nothing going on in your brain. You are just the most Zen chill person on planet Earth. And my, my wife loves it. So yeah, immediately upon crossing the finish line, there's some showers at Higgs beach. And so my wife had brought a bar of soap because she did not want to travel from key west to Fort Lauderdale with me after running for 26 hours. [00:18:03] Speaker A: He's smelly mess. I kind of love that. [00:18:07] Speaker B: I took a shower there in the beach and rinsed off, you know, best I could and then changed some clothes and we immediately hopped into the truck and did our best to, you know, play some music and stay awake and, and stop for a little breaks and until we made it up to the hotel in Fort Lauderdale. Wow. [00:18:27] Speaker C: So, so that like you, so you were pre packed, ready to go. I gotta imagine that truck ride was brutal though, because I, I, I, nothing compares to what you have done. But I remember the first time I ran a marathon and I went home and I laid down on the couch and then Sam wanted me to like go out, like drive her to get something and I was like, stairs, like getting up is tough. [00:18:45] Speaker B: So yeah, yeah, the, the packing is a whole, almost could be a podcast in and of itself because you're packing for an entire, you know, 100 mile race. From supplements to water bottles to shoes to what if, what if, what if. So yeah, the bed of the truck for race day was prepped for the race. The, the luggage was inside of the cab. My, my mother in law had flown my daughter into Miami, so she had her luggage and they were just kind of chilling there. But yeah, we are a very disciplined family, very regimented family. And so we had everything in its compartments and its spots. And so it was a pretty quick turnaround. But I don't know many people that have ran to Key west and were there for probably 20 minutes, and we're just like, you know, peace gone. It is a long ride back. And it's ironic that it's like, God, it's just taking forever. And it's like, well, you know, this is 100 miles to get out of here. And you ran it, so it's kind of a little ptsd, little deja vu. It's kind of to see the same things you just saw and be a little mind bending. [00:19:56] Speaker A: Yeah, well. And your wife has been up for like, the whole time because, as you mentioned, like, she's. She's your support person. Like, there. It's not like when you're at an organized, like, marathon or an organized rundisney event where you've got water stations and fuel stations, like, around, you know, at different locations. This is something where your wife has to, like, either put fuel and water for you in certain locations or she has to go meet you at those locations. So she has to be, like, awake the entire time. I mean, she might get some little rest breaks, but it's not like, I mean, it's not. She hasn't been running for. For 26 hours. But there's that, there's that. But like, she has been like, I don't know, tracking exactly where your location is at any given time and making sure she's there to make sure that you're, you know, fueled properly at all the different intervals. So it's, It's. This is not like a walk in the park for her either. I love that you're both regimented, by the way you, you know, you mentioned. She just. She's an accountant now. You're in law enforcement. So this is like, you're in the perfect professions for both of you. It's hilarious. [00:21:02] Speaker B: She. She. I cannot thank her enough. You know, last year was trying on both of us compared to this year, obviously getting that under your belt, but, I mean, she knew. Exactly. And they have certain spots you can stop because I don't know if you've ever been down that highway. You know, the keys is very tight, and they try not to impact traffic, but she did a phenomenal job. And I mean, we had our stops down to about 90 seconds where it's changing bottles. And, you know, here's some salt. Here's this, here's that. And then she's like, go. And you're like, yeah. And yeah, see you in five miles. And you're like, okay. And off you go. [00:21:41] Speaker A: Oh, my God, that's crazy. All right, so, well, your mother in law and your daughter meet you in Miami. So they fly in separately. Okay. So they have not done the whole race thing with you and then you're embarking the very next day essentially right out of Port Everglades. [00:22:00] Speaker B: Yes. And again, thank you to my mother in law. She kept her Sunday night because obviously we were tired. I think me and my wife did the math and it was like 34 hours that we had been awake, you know, total. And so it was a stop by Chipotle and destroying a large bowl of food. I couldn't even tell you what my wife ordered. And then immediately to sleep. And so she, she was the MVP for us. We actually took her up the following morning, or my wife did because I slept in and she took her to the airport and then they showed up at the hotel and they were ready to go. [00:22:37] Speaker A: Oh, wow. So your mother in law didn't even come on the sailing with you. She just was the, she was just the kid schlepper. [00:22:44] Speaker B: Originally. This was supposed to be mom and dad Disney Destiny. And I told my daughter, I was like, you got two grandparents, figure it out. And she figured it out and wore my mother in law down. I guess I got her to. She had talked to my mom, she talked to grandpas and she tried her best and got her to fly her in. So. So I gotta give it to her. [00:23:08] Speaker C: Sorry. I know you probably mentioned this, Josh. Was this your first time sailing out of Fort. I'm gonna assume not because you're probably. Or was it your first time? [00:23:16] Speaker B: No. Last year when I did the keys 100, we sailed out of there as well. And so that, that was the second. Second time there. [00:23:23] Speaker C: So not your first time in the new terminal down there, but your first time setting foot on the Destiny and whether you ran, walked or crawled there. I'm curious to know what your, like, what was your first impression after you set foot on board the Destiny? [00:23:38] Speaker B: So we are not Star wars or Marvel people or, you know, don't, don't boo me, don't. Yeah, so we had, I won't say tempered expectations, but we just didn't know. We just didn't know enough about the characters. We didn't know enough about the experience. You know, every time you walk through that breezeway and just the smell hits you and you know they call your name and it's the attention to detail is what is really come alive on all of these ships and things that one person may notice. And somebody spent hundreds of man hours and Working on that one detail. And it's just, those are just the moments. But yeah, I mean it's obviously it's a gorgeous ship and I probably missed things just by not being a Marvel fan that I didn't even notice. But just again, it was a beautiful experience just to walk on the ship. I should say slowly walk on the ship, practically crawl. [00:24:32] Speaker C: Your first stop was at the gym. I'm shocked. [00:24:35] Speaker A: You don't need to get like a shakeout or a shakeout run after. I don't know if. Is that a thing to even do? Probably not. Just, just walk a little bit. [00:24:44] Speaker C: This would, this would be. Sam, this would be the first time I might, I might say like, Josh, you should have hit the buffet as soon as you ordered. Like, like sit down, lunch. Avoid it. Just head for that buffet. [00:24:54] Speaker A: Just, yeah, crab. Just grab all the shrimp and crab legs. You can basically just fuel up on some, you know, protein to replenish your body. I'm curious about the alcohol outfits. Josh, one of the things you had mentioned to us when you reached out about coming on the show was that you all like pre plan outfits for like every day on the ship. And I'm curious, like, what are we talking here? Are we talking matching T shirts? Are we talking bounding, like, what is, what are, you know, what are we, what are we looking at? [00:25:23] Speaker B: So I truly, like, my daughter truly believes she is a Disney princess. So it is like full on ball gowns for her almost every night. My wife will wear some, some beautiful dresses and I'm in, you know, a blazer, button up slacks. You know, it's, it's everything but a tie essentially, which again makes packing sometimes logistically difficult. But the laundry rooms on the Wish class strips are phenomenal and they have, it doesn't take long to get some, some wrinkles out of those jackets and out of those pants. And so, so my daughter really enjoys the dressing up and being fancy is her word. And going to the show and then going to like one of the little lounges and then going to dinner. And it is very much part of our routine, our cruise routine. [00:26:12] Speaker A: I love that. I love that. How old is your daughter, by the way? [00:26:15] Speaker B: She is 10. [00:26:16] Speaker A: Ah, perfect cruise age. And still in that princess era. If she wants to be, she doesn't have to be, but if she wants to be, I absolutely love that. Well, let's talk about some of those like, cruise traditions. What are you, where's your first, you know, place you go when you board, you know, the Destiny but. Or any Disney ship Are you buffet? Are you pool deck? I mean on the, of course, on the Wish class, the pool deck food is phenomenal. We talk about that all the time. But I'm curious, like, you obviously, you know, you'd fueled on Chipotle before, but did you need Chipotle at sea at Donald's Cantina? [00:26:51] Speaker B: No, we always do the sit down. It has seemed as of late though that that has kind of picked up and it tends to be a little more crowded than it was a few years ago. A few years ago it was like a couple families, but yeah, sit down meal. And then I talked them both into taking a nice two hour nap before the mustard drill because I knew that we still needed a little bit more sleep and we wanted to make sure we got the most out of this cruise. [00:27:21] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Well, that's actually a great, like a great thing to do if you, you feel like you know the layout of the ship already because you had been on the Wish, so the layout is the same as on the, you know, the Destiny and the Wish and the Treasure. So if you're not like needing to explore right away, there isn't really that much going on on the ship at the beginning because everybody's just doing exploring and eating really, and then they might be doing like kids club registration or booking spa appointments. So if you don't have any of those things that you want to do or need to do, I mean there really isn't like, not all of the activities are up and running and all that kind of stuff on day one. So a nap is I think a great idea. And then of course you have to get up for that mustard drill. I'm curious as to what are some of your favorite things to do on Disney Cruise Line and did you get to experience them on the Destiny? [00:28:14] Speaker B: Obviously taking naps. For us, it's a lot of the family time and it's. If I had one tip for people that I see them fail on over and over, it's be fluid. I see people get their phones out, they over heart things in the app. They overstructure what is supposed to be an experience, supposed to be a vacation. And so we will let it be very fluid. And it's, you know, walking through and seeing a game show taking place. And my daughter goes, dad, let's go. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Go. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Roger that. Let's go. Boom. And we hop in and you know, so we, we try to be as fluid as we can. I think a lot of people try to do everything, especially on this ship and you're, you're you're going to be disappointed. Then you're going to have promised things to your children that you may not be able to deliver on. So instead, be fluid. Enjoy. You're on vacation. It should not feel like work. And so, yeah, just the first couple days, it was very relaxed. The only thing we really pushed for was the doctor facilier when we did it at 9:45, and we knew we could beat up most of the, you know, people that were sleeping. So we got a very, very good spot in life. [00:29:28] Speaker A: Yeah, that's super smart. I think that's the best advice, especially for the destiny. Like, you've got to kind of don't over promise and under deliver to your kids. That's like a re. That's like just great advice in life, right? Like, if you promise something to your child, like, you need to make sure it's something that you can absolutely make happen. I know with our kid we have to do that. Like, so we are very careful to not promise something that is uncertain or that we're not sure we can deliver. Right. So, you know, but we will prioritize. If it's like he wants to do, let's say the Happy Hunt, right. The game with the magic bands across the ship and the screens, then that's what we're going to prioritize. If he wants to do the Aquamouse, then that's the thing we're going to prioritize. And I might heart 800 million things in the app because that's. I can't help myself, Josh. I really, to be perfectly transparent, I will heart everything in the app, but I'm not going to actually go to all of the things that I've heard. It's. It's more so that I get the little alert that tells me so that way, in case I decide in the moment, I'm not really, like, enjoying the thing I'm doing, I can pivot and go because it gives you an alert 15 minutes before the activity actually starts. So I do think it's okay to heart a million things in the app, but I agree with you. Be fluid. Be willing to, like, leave one activity, go to a different activity, Be willing to skip an activity. Just prioritize the things that are really important to you. What did you think of Dr. Facilier's parlor? You know, it's a very short experience and you do wait in line for it. So I think it's a great experience. But it's a lot of waiting for a short one. [00:31:04] Speaker B: So, yes, again, you Know, I don't want to give away all our secrets, but, you know, you can strategize. And so I put some clothes in the washer and my wife waited in line and then she went and put some clothes in the dryer and I waited in line and then she ran them to the room and boom, it worked out. So the experience was, was good. I mean, we go to New Orleans all the time. Like, it is our kind of one of our little mini getaways being just three hours from the house. So it was fun to see. I actually got picked, which was enjoyable. And again, I would encourage people to go, but I would not, like stand there for two hours. Like it was a 10 minute experience. You're probably going to have a more personable interaction with him. If you simply just do the character meet and greet and the performance, you're going to get the same kind of taste. So if you see the lines along pivot, just do the little character meet and greet. That would be my advice to others if they don't get to see the show. [00:32:03] Speaker A: I agree. I think it's. I think it's a cool experience, but I probably wouldn't wait two hours for it myself. So I'm curious, did you do the Maleficent show? Did you do the Cruella show or see the Cruella Runway? Like, I'm curious, what are the other character experiences you got to sort of see or get involved in on board? [00:32:25] Speaker B: Yes. So Cruella's fashion show, that was a fail on dad's part. Did not know it was a thing. And my daughter wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up and has been to Cruella several times and was quite upset that I did not know about that. So she is like, we're coming back. But I will tell you, deville's, that line was insane. It battled like, like some of the show lines. And I was like, the venue is entirely too small for the number of people who want to go in there. We simply didn't go like most things. It'll be around for a while, I'm sure, and we'll experience it when we experience it. But Maleficent, the Showtimes just didn't work with some of the other experiences we had going on. But, you know, we did the Mickey mouseketeers and a couple of those other things. And look, I'm girl dad, we got one kid. I'm trying to hold on to these moments as long as I can. So we did all the little game shows with her. And, you know, I enjoyed Just watching her, she. That kid gets picked every time we walk into it. She did Villains Gang show, got picked. She did Musketeers, got picked. She got. I mean, it is. I, I don't. When she can buy a lottery ticket, I guess I'll take her because it is unreal the amount of things she gets picked to do. [00:33:46] Speaker A: You know, I think that there are some kids who just like, emote that, like, excitement and. And then, of course, if they're dressed in a princess dress too, that can help. Right? So I think if, you know, the, the cast tends to try and pick kids that will be a little bit more outgoing, that will enjoy participating. Like the kid hiding in the corner, they probably aren't going to pick because they notice that kid probably doesn't want to be picked. Right. So they're pretty good at, like, sort of eyeing out, which is the kid that's going to really enjoy this experience and really kind of take ownership of it. And so that's, that's really fun that your daughter is one of those kids. I'm curious, does she do any of Kids Club time or is she like, nope, I want to hang out with mom and dad. [00:34:30] Speaker B: Yeah, this was the last Kids Club time, unless her and my wife find another one between now and in her birthday. So. So she soaked it up quite a bit and on the last, like, you know, trip there, she's like, this is the last time, man. This was so, you know, it's. But again, she's also. A couple of the friends she met on the ship were like 11 or 12, so she couldn't hang out with them. And so it. I. She's ready, as hard as it is for me to say as a dad, but at the same time, I mean, she, she enjoys going to the kids club. [00:35:05] Speaker A: That transition's an interesting one, right, because there are some kids who at, you know, age 11, really are probably more Kids Club kids, but there are some kids who are 11 who really only belong in Edge. And so Disney, of course, has to make that cutoff as they see fit. And, you know, it's worked out with us with Nathan now that he's, you know, he's 12 now and he transitioned really, really nicely, actually. He actually started going to Edge when he was 10. We signed a waiver to, to let him go there, and he has not looked back. He has been perfectly happy at Edge. He does enjoy when Edge invades the kids club, which they always have that. But it's, but it's only like late in the evening and so they'll get to invade either a portion of the kids club. But it's like a late night, so that's the one. My one criticism is it means like, we have to let him stay up until midnight pretty much every night on a sailing. So that's in order for him to get the full experience that he wants to get, which is kind of rough for us because we, of course, then have to stay up until he comes back to make sure that, you know, as, as dutiful parents, we have to make sure he actually returns and before we can fall asleep ourselves. Now, you mentioned you guys have not done adult dining on any of your sailings. So across nine sailings. And I, I'm curious about that. I'm. I'm. I'm not. No criticism. I. I don't think you can go wrong. I think to each his own. But I'm curious why not? [00:36:33] Speaker B: I think at first it was, we spent all this money for this cruise and we already paid. You know, the accountant and my wife was like, this is some cost. We're going to consume this food we have paid for. And then I think now, as it's kind of progressed is we see that window closing with our daughter. And we realized that very, very shortly, even within the next year, she's not going to, to care to go to some of these, these dining experiences. And that will be opportunity for me and my wife. And, you know, I've seen a lot of families not capitalizing the time, and so we want to make sure we did. And then, you know, I still kind of have something that me and my wife can do that we haven't experienced as we continue to go on. And these cruises will evolve as she gets older, and it'll be more dating with my wife and more and some of those experiences. So that's kind of why we've held out. And now she's like, hey, the next one, I think you get one free or something. So she's. She's all in until eventually try them. But it's just enjoying those family meals. [00:37:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it's on cruise 11. So starting on cruise 11, because you, once you're platinum, once you finish your 10th cruise. So when you're on your 10th cruise, you're not platinum yet. You're still, you're still gold. So on cruise number 11, you get one free. It actually on the website says one free dinner at Paulo. And it's up to 55 doll per person. So it's a cap. So if you do the price fixed meal, it Covers your. All of your food, not gratuities. But if you do the a la carte option, it's up to, you know, the same cost of the. Of that, of the price, fixed menu. So it's a great option. But they let you even use it on brunch. So that's one thing. Josh, I will say to you that, like, at least if you do brunch, you're not missing out on that dinner time in main dining. I think main dining, it's also really wonderful. You mentioned in your message to us that you get that sort of experience of getting to know your servers and all of that, and then, you know, so skipping out on that for one night means you. You skip out on that opportunity as well. Now, I'm curious, how did you feel about your dining team? Most of your sailings have been on the older ships. Have you noticed any difference either in service or food quality, either for the good or for the bad in terms of mean dining? [00:38:53] Speaker B: Yeah, I say food quality has always been excellent. I will say that the first, you know, 2022 through, like 24. 20. Yeah, 24. It seemed like they did a lot more stuff at our table. Like it may just be the older ships. Right. And that was one of the things I noticed on this ship that if I had a critique for Disney, they are asking that service team to do so much from the show experience to serving to. And it took away from the silly little crown or colors magic trick or the origami or the little like just talking to them for like three minutes. I noticed a lot of that has seemed to gone away over the years. So getting back to some of that would, you know, again, we like the magic and some of that smaller feel, you know. [00:39:48] Speaker A: And I think you're right. I think the show actually experience impacts that. Right. Because they don't have as much time to interact with you and they're trying to work the serving everybody in between those show elements. So that really interferes with their ability to sort of have those moments with you. So it is different, I think, on the newer ships because of that, you know, because of that show experience. Speaking of the show experience, I gotta ask what you thought of the show experience? You've got, you know, you've got the Pridelands Lion King themed restaurant. You've got Worlds of Marvel in 1923. And I know you'd experienced Worlds of Marvel in 1923 previously on the Wish. But you have a different show, of course, in Worlds of Marvel. And then you've got the Lion King experience. That's completely new. [00:40:33] Speaker B: We really enjoyed Worlds of Marvel. Not being Marvel fans, this show was just a bunch of awesome 80s rock and different music, and we got to talk as a family and we got a little more time to talk with our server. Pride Land. Food was excellent. And I'm. I may not be popular opinion, but it just. It felt like I was at a food court from the 90s with just like a band playing behind me, and I was just like, crammed in here, and it was just. It was so loud and so many things going on, and I couldn't. I have a hard time hearing as it is. And so it was just. The show was good, you know, it just. It was so. There's so many people in that dining room, and the way it's designed, it seems like the sound just kind of carries throughout the whole place. So one time experience, I, you know, recommend everybody go, but it just wasn't us. But the food was outstanding. [00:41:23] Speaker A: All right, fair enough. I think especially if you have your back to the stage, that also can, I think, would really impact your ability to, like, engage with it because it is so much storytelling. And yeah, you're right. The. It is packed like sardines in those dining rooms. I mean, whether you're in the Arendelle One on the Wish, you're on Plaza de Coco on the Treasure, or you're in Pride Lands on the Destiny, it is. It's tight. It's very tight in those spaces. All right, well, speaking of shows and show elements, we've got a transition to talk about the Walt Disney Theater. You mentioned your daughter loves to go to all the shows. You have, like, your tradition of you've got your dinner, you've got some time in one of the lounges, you go to the show. What did you all think of the shows on the Disney Destination? [00:42:12] Speaker B: So first, I got a full confession last year on the Dream. I fell asleep during Beauty and the Beast. [00:42:21] Speaker A: Josh, you're hurting. [00:42:22] Speaker C: Well, you had just run an ultra marathon. [00:42:25] Speaker B: We have to forgive you. It was after my first 100 mile, but I immediately, like, in preparing for this was like, oh, man. I think that's like her favorite show. She's gonna be upset. Much better this time. Absolutely loved the shows. Can, you know, recommend Hercules enough? We did do the 130 showing, though, because there was a little drawing event. So my wife and daughter stayed there in the sanctum. I went and got in line at about 12:30, and then they just walked right up. We went in. Pro tip. If you're on the right. Go all the way to the right and go down the furthest stairwell and you can get any seat you want if you're on the left. [00:43:09] Speaker A: Left. [00:43:09] Speaker B: Go to the far left. Everybody tries to funnel down those main entryways and there's much easier ways to do it. But no, we enjoyed Hercules. We enjoyed. I don't remember the name of the first show, but it was Seize the Adventure. Yeah. [00:43:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:43:23] Speaker B: Again, those are enjoyable. And again, it's just. I know that window with her is closing and just to watch her face and the special effects are unreal that come out of every single show. And I don't want to spoil it for anybody. But the highly recommend. But again, some people needed to take naps. They were kind of cranky. But yeah, take some naps and enjoy the shows. They're worth it. [00:43:44] Speaker A: I love it. Now you. This sailing you got to go to. Which of the islands did you get to go to for your ports? [00:43:51] Speaker B: Lookout. Like the lighthouse. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Nice. Awesome. And did you also go to Nassau or did you just go to Lookout? [00:43:59] Speaker B: We did Nassau. We stayed on board. Brian. I did go to the gym with my wife. We did a stretching class, which those are free, if anyone, but it was fun. Even the teacher laughed at my inability to stretch. They had no idea what I had just done. Most of the muscle groups weren't working, but I did my best. So we did that on the Nassau day and just kind of hung around the ship, rode to Aquamouse. I couldn't even tell you how many times my daughter made me ride that thing. So, yeah, that was day on the ship. [00:44:32] Speaker A: I love that. What about lookout? What'd you guys do there? [00:44:35] Speaker B: That is by far my favorite spot. And I will tell people, you know, don't let that walk. A lot of people I hear, I've heard more about. So there's a stretch of the 100 mile run called the Seven Mile Bridge in the Keys. And look it up. That's what a lot of people think that walk from the ship is. It's not a seven mile, it's a quarter of a mile top. So just. It's enjoyable. Yeah, we love going and we always go, I guess down to the right of the ship to the True True. And the beach is not very crowded and we, we swim almost the whole day and just relax and enjoy. The island is, like I said, it's by far the. The best experience. I could never go back to the castaway and I'd be perfectly fine. Wow. [00:45:19] Speaker A: That's. I mean, them's Fighting words to some people. I mean, not to me. I think Lookout is incredible. So I, I actually, I like them both, but I, I prefer the beach at Lookout, if I'm being completely honest. I do like that everything is closer together at Castaway. So there's, you know, there are some drawbacks to look at, just that it's all very spread out, but I think the beach is a nicer beach. I'm curious what you thought of, like, the food experience on Lookout. I, I think the food is generally quite good, although obviously it's, you know, your barbecue fare. But then there's those additional dishes that they've sort of added in to kind of to up level the experience a little. [00:46:00] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it's hard being in Mississippi where you can get good barbecue and you can get spicy food whenever you want. So, like, they're, they're. Jambalaya wasn't quite spicy enough. I will say the. [00:46:13] Speaker A: I can't eat real, real jambalaya. I'm going to be perfectly honest. My, my, like, northern palate can't handle, like the real stuff. [00:46:20] Speaker B: So we normally bring our own hot sauces on Disney cruises because, because the food is not very spicy and my wife has like a, A go bag full of hot sauces. [00:46:34] Speaker A: A go bag full of hot sauces. I love that. [00:46:37] Speaker C: Yes. [00:46:38] Speaker B: She is known for it to bust it out anywhere and everywhere. So, yeah, we, we enjoy the food again. I think the ribs on board were better. I just, just think they have a little bit more time to prepare them. But yeah, we, I, I could not tell you how many ribs I ate throughout the week, but, but I just kept telling myself, you know, I already burned this. I already burned this. I already, [00:47:00] Speaker A: I love that. And you know, you're going to have training runs later, so, you know, obviously you'll, you'll burn it all off again. I, I have to ask, what are, what are the hot sauces that are in the go bag? I'm, I'm curious. [00:47:12] Speaker B: She likes the. Oh, man, she's gonna kill mango. Habanero is one. And then the Alvin, if you've ever had, I would not recommend it. If you have a northern palate, Alvin's will have you reconsidering some life choices. But it's the bonnet pepper. That's it. [00:47:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. There's no way, Josh. That's not. [00:47:39] Speaker B: And if you go to the Donald's Cantina, there's a habanero, like on the back row. There's actually habaneros in the box bottom. So if you're a hot person, stir it up and there's some big peppers at the bottom and you can make your meal what you want it. [00:47:54] Speaker A: I love it. I love it. That's. [00:47:57] Speaker C: While we're talking about food, I know you noted you've never done Palo across your nine sailings. Anything that would change your mind there? Anything that would get you into a Palo brunch or a Palo dinner or are you just like fully committed to rotational dining? I'm just curious. [00:48:14] Speaker B: Guess first would be the ability to book it. I'm. I'm going to be honest with you. Like, I open the app now. I'm not getting up at like 1am and hitting refresh 35 times a day to try to see like, I book it. We, if we do a short excursion, we book it and I'm out. Like, I don't hop back in the app until, like, it's time to get onto the ship. You know, my wife and daughter may check the timer, but I will tell you the last couple times, I mean, like the day it was available for us, I opened it. Unavailable, unavailable, unavailable, unavailable, like instantly. And I'm like, I don't know what these people are doing. So I guess for me it would just be the availability. I know a lot of people are cast away members now and some of the metrics have changed and it. The competition is real. If somebody wants it that bad, they can have it. I'm going to have a great cruise either way. I'm not going to be disappointed and we'll get to experience it eventually. [00:49:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:49:08] Speaker C: Have you ever thought about asking on board, like, you know, getting on a list or, you know, anything like that? [00:49:12] Speaker B: We've talked about it, but again, I don't. I always feel like if there's somebody who wants it that bad, like, that is like their dream is to eat there and like, that's their. This is their only cruise. Like, I, I know we've been blessed and we've been able to go on a lot of sailings and we've worked very hard for that. But at the same time, I mean, it's not. Again, I think as my daughter ages out and, and tends to spend less time with us, mom and dad may shift a little bit more into those experiences. But for now it just, it wasn't anything against those, Those restaurants, they sound amazing and I know when we finally get in there, it's going to be a great experience. [00:49:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and like you said, once you, you're going to hit platinum pretty soon. It'll become included for you to have a meal at pala. Your daughter may want to spend less time with you. Right. So that balance, like maybe, which, I mean, we always tell first time cruisers, like, don't try and book Paulo. I mean, I know it's very hard for a first time cruiser to get it anyway, but it is, it does take up a big chunk of time. It's going to take longer than like your main dining meal. And so if you want to prioritize other experiences on the ship, especially family experiences, that's going to be something that I think you sort of save for later. Maybe not your first or second or third or maybe not maybe your 11th cruise. Josh, I, I think, yeah, I think. Josh, is there anything that we've missed about this experience? Anything good, bad, weird, you know, that happened on this cruise that we just haven't talked about? [00:50:41] Speaker B: I think probably the weirdest was waking up day five. That was supposed to be a sea day and seeing Nassau and there had been a medical emergency and so they had dropped into port. But other than that, I mean, everything was phenomenal. We spent a lot more time in Haunted Mansion than I thought we would like. It was, oh, I told you guys, don't be mad. Not Star wars people. So they played that on the ship Thursday night and everyone was in the theater, so we pretty much had free reign. Hung out. Bartender John was his name and he played the character like almost to the point that you may have wanted to ask if he needed some assistance. [00:51:21] Speaker A: I love it. [00:51:22] Speaker B: But he did a phenomenal. But yeah, day five, waking up there was kind of interesting, but for the most part, I mean, it was exactly what you expected what you, what you think a Disney cruise is going to be. I mean, everything was on point and just the crew is amazing. Cannot give enough to them. I mean, I saw a lady cleaning in between the washers and dryers, like in between. And I'm like, who's going to see that? No one. But they know that. So they're still going to clean it anyway. From the attendants cleaning the restrooms to the stateroom host, I mean, it's just, just amazing. The attitudes and the demeanors and just their attention to detail. [00:51:59] Speaker A: I love that. I always find, especially when I'm in the restroom, like one of the communal restrooms on the ship and I see the attendant cleaning up and I always make sure to thank them because it's like those are the things that actually make your cruise. I know that sounds weird, but a clean bathroom makes my experience more enjoyable. It really does. And, like, they are, like, working really, really hard. And a lot of people just, like, maybe don't notice what they're doing or don't notice how hard, like, how many hours they are working to and usually to send, you know, their money home to their families. And so I always feel like if you can acknowledge, like, how hard somebody else is working and thank them for that, that that's like a really important thing to do. [00:52:43] Speaker C: What was your favorite moment on the cruise, Josh? So I was probably taking a nap on the pool deck after all that [00:52:47] Speaker B: rainbow favorite moment probably would be just sitting with my wife and daughter at dinner. At 1923. We had kind of a lull. Our server team was able to. And our head server, even everyone was able to kind of come over and we just talked for a few minutes. And it's just again, it kind of is those little moments that put it on. Put the cherry on top for you. But it's. To Sam's point, it's just the amount of work that that crew goes through to make sure and. And just how fast you. When you get off, especially if you walk off and you see them already doing all the things for the next and the turnaround. And you know what I deal with every day at work, what my wife deals with at work, what you guys deal with at work. And you're like, you know, why can't I get people. Why can't. Why can't we get people to do this all the time? You know, just. But it's just. Yeah, the. The magic is real one, I guess, side note are I just want let you guys know, I don't know. Gemini AI works on board. [00:53:51] Speaker C: Yeah. I was using Claude. I was using Claude throughout our last sailing. Yeah. Oh, do you mean without. Do you mean without an Internet package? [00:53:57] Speaker B: Without Internet package. And so I asked it, why do you work? And it said, because I run on the internal servers and I don't hit the firewall and yada, yada. And it was telling me all the stuff. But apparently a couple other people were using it in trivia, which we try to stay out of that because that is not my game. Those people spend way too much time and energy. But don't cheat on trivia. Like. [00:54:18] Speaker A: Yeah, don't cheat on trivia. Don't cheat on any trivia. Whether you're at a park or Disney cruise or you're at pub trivia. Don't cheat. [00:54:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:54:26] Speaker A: But if you can win. [00:54:27] Speaker B: Yeah. But I would tell you it did work out for us on the cruise. Because we were able to like ask a couple questions about weather or ask questions about like some of the drinks. And it, you know, was able to like, hey, how do I make this at home? Or how do I do. You know, so just a little side tip if you need that or if you have any questions. It helped us out tremendously. [00:54:44] Speaker C: One other question I have. Did you get a massage on board, Josh? [00:54:48] Speaker B: So we had talked about it, but I was honestly afraid of so much. Like I have a lot of blisters and I had a really gnarly sunburn tan thing going on from being outside in the Keys for so long. Long. And I was just worried that it would have put me in a state of immobility rather than mobility. But yeah, so we decided to pass on this one by the. By about Wednesday. We'll taking the stairs again and, and trying to bypass the elevator. And that's, you know, again, to. To Sam's point. Your point. Like if you see somebody who is mobility assisted, like let them use the elevator, hold the door like little. Like I saw people pushing the closed button door and you're like, come on guys, like, just be. Let's. Let's be nice. [00:55:32] Speaker A: Just be kind. Just like just have a. Just have a kinder world. Let's just be kinder to our fellow man and woman. Right? Like just be. You know, just treat people. Use the golden rule. Treat people as you would like them to treat you. Right. It's not that hard. [00:55:47] Speaker B: I do wish that the. I guess, wish the Wish class ships had more of that traditional bar. The casting cannon is just where it's positioned and the size just doesn't really hold well compared to some of those older ships. We love going to the Soul Cat Lounge and some of those other ones where you can kind of get it in that little venue there. But overall, I mean, these ships are never going to please everybody, but they do a fantastic job. [00:56:15] Speaker C: Nice. Yeah, same. We're going to have to. We're going to have to plan this. I've been thinking about this for a while. The. The top 10 pet peeves show or most controversial things. And one of them I want to talk about is elevator etiquette. [00:56:27] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:56:27] Speaker C: Yeah, it's the same. I have the same. I mean the mobility challenge thing is an issue, but I also have problem. Like when we're on deck one after a shore excursion and there's clearly a line and then someone kind of wanders up and gets closer to an elevator and then they just all pile on ahead of everybody else who's been waiting there for a while. Drives me insane. [00:56:43] Speaker A: But how come Americans don't know how to queue? The British know how to queue? How come we don't know how to queue? I mean, I know how to queue, but I feel like in general, I [00:56:52] Speaker B: think some of why we 1776 decided we didn't want, you know, I mean, [00:56:57] Speaker A: like, some of that is. [00:56:59] Speaker B: Some of that is in. Yeah, yeah. [00:57:02] Speaker C: Take your tea and your lines. We're done with you. [00:57:04] Speaker A: We're done with your cues. [00:57:06] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:57:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:07] Speaker C: I would not say you don't want [00:57:07] Speaker A: your king anymore and we don't want your cues. [00:57:10] Speaker C: I would not say all Americans are bad at lines. There are definitely, like, many places where there is much worse line etiquette than you. [00:57:16] Speaker A: I know. I just. Yeah. I just feel like. Yeah. Anyway, we could talk about that for hours, but we know what time. We know what time it is, Brian. [00:57:24] Speaker C: We have reached that point in the show, Josh, where I need to hand you back over to Sam for some arbitrary questions, some arbitrary rules, and more than a dash of judgment are the round we know as rapid fire. So, Sam, take it away. You should have done like a hundred question rapid fire. [00:57:37] Speaker A: To me, it's an ultra rapid fire, Ultra marathon rapid fire. No, I'm not going to do that. We're going to start with some Disney favorites and then we'll switch over to Disney Cruise Line favorites. And we have to start where we always start, which is who is your favorite Disney character? And I know it's not Darth Vader hot take. [00:57:56] Speaker B: It's Gaston. And he's not available going, I love it. He was trying to get Belle's dad some mental health, and he was trying to get rid of this evil monster that was trying to get Belle. So. [00:58:09] Speaker A: Right. He was a crisis responder. I love it. Okay. Boom. All right, what's your favorite Disney movie? [00:58:16] Speaker B: It would have to be Princess and the Frog. And we watch it on every cruise as one of the little family traditions. My daughter, as soon as she hears the music and is like, oh, dad. But being so close to New Orleans and seeing a lot of those things and just experiencing it. We love that movie. [00:58:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, going down the bayou. Right. All right, well, what's your favorite Disney song? [00:58:37] Speaker B: Disney song, man, that's a tough one. It would probably have to be almost there. [00:58:44] Speaker A: Yeah. I love it. I love it. There's such good music in Princess and the Frog. I actually think some of the best in recent Disney history are from the Princess and the frog. [00:58:55] Speaker B: Yeah. And I'm Sure. You thought it was going to be like going the distance or something run related. But the hard work, the hard work message drives home within our household. So that song is there. [00:59:07] Speaker A: I love it. All right, we're going to shift over to Disney Cruise Line. What is your favorite Disney Cruise Line stage show? [00:59:12] Speaker B: Twice Charmed. I love the evil fairy God Father, I guess is. I enjoy it. It's fun. We go into magic quite a bit and so I know it's not everybody's favorite, but I just, I love the. Was it Franco? [00:59:26] Speaker A: Yeah. What is his name? I can't, I don't honestly can't remember his name. But yeah, he is the fairy godfather, but he's. Yeah, but he's, he's a bad guy. And it's for those who haven't seen Twice Charmed. It's a, it's a twist on the Cinderella tale and it's only available on the Disney magic. It's been on Disney Cruise Line for quite a long time. And, and you sometimes don't get it on like a three night sailing. You'll get it on any longer. Sailing on the Magic, you'll get that show. But sometimes they don't do all three shows on those three night sailings. So you might miss it. But I enjoy it too. It's an original for Disney Cruise Line. All right, well, we're going to shift over to activities on board. What's your favorite onboard activity, Josh? [01:00:09] Speaker B: It would probably have to be the nightcap at whatever lounge we enjoyed Tiana's on, On the Wish. Obviously we have not been on the Wonder yet, but yeah, just having a little adult beverage with my wife and just sitting, you know, with my daughter while she's coloring or something. And just that little family moment between the show where you kind of come off that hive, enjoying the live Broadway entertainment before dinner and just, just sitting as a family and just kind of. There's always a band or something playing and just enjoying enjoying that moment and being present, present in that moment. There's no cell service. Nobody's texting, nobody's calling. There's no emergency. It's just family time. [01:00:52] Speaker A: Yeah. I can't believe you haven't been on the Wonder yet. I feel like you're gonna love the Wonder because you're gonna love Tiana's the restaurant and you're gonna love the French Quarter Lounge right outside of Tiana's. It's fabulous. So I, I can't, I can't wait. You'll have to come back if you sell. Well, I Mean, of course you can come back anytime, Josh, but especially if you sail on the Wonder. I. I would love to hear your review of that. All right, well, let's shift over to food. I want to know what's your favorite rotational dining restaurant? [01:01:19] Speaker B: Probably 1923, mainly because we do dress up and I. You can sit there for hours and just look at history and enjoy history. And I. Walt Disney is such a fascinating person and different things. And the imagineers have created and how they get from A to Z and then back, back to make them functional. And then just the menu is enjoyable. And that would probably be the one. If I had to pick one. That'd be it. [01:01:48] Speaker A: I love it. All right, we're going to talk food now. Specifically, a favorite sweet item and then a favorite savory item on Disney Cruise Line. We start with the sweets because the savories are my favorite. So we save the best for last. [01:02:01] Speaker B: Favorite sweet item, not a sweet span. So it's going to have to be the probably the Carolina barbecue rib sauce, which is sweet on the ribs. [01:02:13] Speaker A: I love it. [01:02:14] Speaker B: I love it. [01:02:16] Speaker A: Listen, you're. You're speaking my language. I love that. [01:02:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Not on big sweets. My daughter will get a couple of things of ice cream. The key lime pie, I guess at Marvel's, if you made me order dessert, I enjoy that one week. But again, we're just not a big sweets guy. [01:02:31] Speaker A: Yeah. All right. Favorite savory item on board. [01:02:34] Speaker B: I enjoy the lamb. I think that's delicious. But if I could. Again, the ribs, hands down. Just gonna order em every. Every time, all day, every day. [01:02:44] Speaker A: Mickey Smokestack barbecue. [01:02:45] Speaker B: Yep. They already. They knew my order. It was like taste salad greens, double stack of ribs, piece of chicken, cornbread. And she was like, here you go, baby. Here you go, baby. Every time. Yeah. [01:02:55] Speaker A: I love it. I love that. That's awesome. All right, I'm gonna ask you the water slide question because you have actually been on, you know, not everybody that comes on the show has been on the Aqua Dawn Dunk, but you've sailed on the magic a whole bunch. So I've got to ask you, Aqua Dunk, Aqua Duck versus Aqua Mouse, which one is the best dunk all the way. I had a feeling. I had a feeling you're going to be a thrill. You're a thrill seeker. So. [01:03:20] Speaker B: Yes. And took my daughter on entirely too young. She was tall enough. So, like, for the next two cruises, she was like, that thing is dangerous. I'm not doing it now. She is full on. Could not have done that. One, though, after 100 miles, that was a lot of stairs to climb. So the Aquamouse was a lot more enjoyable to get in and out of those little rafts. [01:03:42] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a good point. You don't really have to do stairs. I mean, you usually will do that one sort of flight of stairs to get up to it. But there actually is a way to get to the Aqua Mouse without, I think, any stairs, actually. So that's a great option for those who have just run 100 miles. All right, the last two questions of rapid Fire. This one's the most important. Which one is your favorite ship, Josh? [01:04:09] Speaker B: So nostalgic reasons. I'm gonna have to go with the Magic. I tell a lot of people because they. They know we've been on all three classes. And I tell them like, the Magic is like your 67 Corvette, you know, or this is like your modern car has all the bells and whistles. The shape that that ship is in at this age, every time we book it, we try to go one more time because it's eventually going to be retired. That's kind of what we tell ourselves. But, yeah, the Magic. And I'm interested and excited to see what this new smaller class ship does and how Disney carries that magic forward. [01:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they really lean into the classic style that the Magic and the Wonder have or if they sort of more lean into the way that they've handled these newer ships, which is more like IP more theming throughout the ship. So we'll. Yeah, we'll wait and see. I'm sure the ships from the outside will all have that beautiful nautical look like the Queen Elizabeth, which they're all really kind of modeled after. But we'll see what the interior looks like. I think will be kind of is kind of a big question mark. All right, the last question, of course, of Rapid Fire is your bucket list cruise job. Gosh, anywhere in the world you want to go and it's going to be on a Disney ship. It could be someplace Disney Cruise Line doesn't sail. So it could just be someplace that you can reach by water. And it has to be someplace that you have not sailed before. So where would you go not sailed before. [01:05:36] Speaker B: So I thought about this one a lot. Every time I listen to you guys podcasts and I hear the different. What I would like to see, and I think this is doable, is I would like to see a Disney Institute create cruise. I would like to see, like, for me, selfishly, out of New Orleans but that's not going to happen ever again. But I'll take a Disney Institute cruise out of Port Canaveral where, like, you do seven days, and they have, like, full days at sea where you can, you know, partake on the ship. And then when it stops in port, you do some Disney Institute things, and you're able to learn and glean some of the magic to take back to your employer. I'm not trying to get my employer to pay for. For it, but it would be interesting to have the Institute on the ship, and me and my wife have looked at it ourselves to pay for it to go, and that would be the dream cruise. I really don't think the destination would be as important. It would be that experience is what I would really want. [01:06:32] Speaker A: That's so cool. What a cool idea. Yeah. For those who don't know, the Disney Institute is someplace that employers can send their employees to learn sort of some of the Walt Disney Corporation philosophy about leadership or about just, like, different skills that relate to your employment. And so oftentimes, employers will, you know, sponsor an employee going to the Disney Institute, and it's in Orlando, and it. It's. I don't know, it's like a. Essentially a conference that you do for a couple of days. I think that would be a really cool experience as well. I'd never thought of that. That's the first time I've ever heard anybody answer that, Josh. But I love it. So you. You win. You win rapid fire. Congratulations. There's nothing. You don't get any prize except for you get no criticism from. From me. So that. [01:07:23] Speaker C: Well, Josh, I always like to round out the show with what's next. Are we signing up for another hundred miler next year in a cruise following it, or are you gonna, you know, try to get on a cruise different this time? [01:07:34] Speaker B: Yep. So we do have the fantasy booked in October, and so we're trying to get my mom and dad head down with that to see if they can come along. I brought my niece on a cruise out of Galveston a few years ago, so he is now like, hey, what about me? So we're gonna try to bring him along as well. The next hundred miler is the Daytona 100 in December, and that one is difficult to get a cruise right after because it's like the last week and a half of school. So the scheduling with my wife or daughter is difficult, but there's nothing to say. I couldn't maybe just do one myself. [01:08:12] Speaker A: I love it. I love it. But you know what? You might have a little bit of trouble getting there and all of that. That's going to be the hard part, Josh. [01:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be difficult for sure. [01:08:24] Speaker C: Well, Josh, we really appreciate you taking the time so close to when you got home to your cruise. This has got to be certified fresh, given how you're just a day off the ship to join us and to share your your experience, your love of Disney cruise on, your love of running with all of our audience out there. We just super appreciate it. [01:08:42] Speaker B: Thank you both and I appreciate it. [01:08:48] 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. 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