[00:00:00] Speaker A: Preach, Kevin.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: I don't say this to every guest, Kevin, but if you've ever seen the Stepbrothers movie, I feel like we just hit the scene where it's like, did we just become best friends? Yeah.
Yeah. As I'm with you, I'm karate in the garage. Let's do it.
Welcome back everybody to an extra special live episode this week of the DCL Duo Podcast, brought to you by the good folks over at DCL magazine currently. But the calendar changes today and so does our sponsor. So stay tuned for some more. We're going to have some announcements on Monday, but Sam, I'm we don't have any pre show news. Any.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: I mean, I think the only thing that's been There's a rumor going around and I think it's true about the Disney adventure going to making stops in Malaysia at some point soon.
So that's the only thing I will say that's come up since our show the other day. And the witch.
[00:01:04] Speaker B: Well, the date, the date for the livestream for the Believe has been announced. They're doing some sort of livestream October 7th. So mark your calendars for the livestream reveal of the Believe.
We've already had requests for a Mystery Science Theater 3000 viewing episode of that, so we will have to see, I swear, that episode just like we put it out. It was in the hundreds, I think, or even earlier. And everyone just keeps coming back to it. So we got to find a way to make that happen.
[00:01:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we did that for the Wish.
Speaking of the wish, the Wish had like two medical emergencies this week. It was the Monday to Friday sailing. I think they had a medical emergency Monday night and Tuesday morning. It sounded like.
And of course, big shout out to the US Coast Guard who evacuated at least one person off of the ship. The other person might have been taken to Port Canaveral and taken off by land. But regardless, we've got that episode in our back catalog. I Believe it's episode 458 if you're interested in learning more about what Coast Guard rescue swimmers do. It's one of my favorite episodes.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Tracy's saying something about a Japan ship update. I didn't see anything come across our news this morning about that, but
[00:02:20] Speaker A: our friend and content creator Dustin is reporting that the OL sea ship is going to have two, three and four night sailings. Disney has not confirmed that, so there hasn't been any news from Disney Cruise Line. I've actually heard that as well that it's going to be. I've heard it's going to be three and four nights, but I don't know.
I don't know what's exactly right. So we're not really reporting on that until we hear any confirmation from Disney.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Put that in the rumor, Ben. All right, let's get on to our show because we've got a fun guest. We've been hoping to have him on for a while. So I'm going to invite Kevin in, also known as Dads Love Disney, over on Instagram.
Welcome, Kevin. It's great to have you on.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: Hi, Sam. Hi, Brian. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to chat all things Disney Cruise Line.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: We are, too.
[00:03:07] Speaker C: Yeah. And I love that you go over a little bit of news beforehand because I'm kind of catching up on some of the things because, you know, you see and hear little tidbits of, like, rumors of people saying, well, in the OLC earnings report, they had a report of, like, these new ships. And I was like, oh, boy. Like, what's, you know, what does that mean?
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's. It's always hard to know from, like, what's out on the Internet, like, what's actually real news, what's, like, rumors, what's maybe some fake news. Right. So we try to, like, be very. When we're, like, reporting on rumors, we try to be really clear that that's all a rumor, not confirmed versus what might be more credible or more confirmed.
Like the New York thing. Right. Everybody's been talking about is Disney Cruise Line going back to New York. I'm confident they're going back to New York, but I'm not confident it's happening in 2027. I think it could be further down the road, so we'll see. We haven't gotten that itinerary release, like,
[00:04:05] Speaker C: all of this at D23 or some
[00:04:08] Speaker B: of it, I think so. I think there's, there's. There's an itinerary announcement that should be coming. Although I was looking at my.
Our Share list earlier today and realizing Disney Cruise Line didn't release the itineraries until about late August last year. So. So I know all these people their fingers crossed are coming. You know, they didn't come last week when people thought they would. They didn't come this week. We're in that part of the cycle where everyone's like, next week. Next week's gonna be the day.
I suspect at D23, what we'll hear is some more, maybe a little bit more detail about the believe and her maiden voyage and when that will go on sale. And then they'll reserve all the news for the full news for the Believe to the preview that they're doing in October.
I'm kind of fingers crossed.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: Booking after that, I would guess, because it seems kind of late for booking, going to release. You know, the ship's going to launch in 2027. Late 2027 is all we've heard. But that could be Christmas, that could be, you know, Thanksgiving, who knows?
But it. So it will be late for booking. But I can't imagine them doing booking before that October 7 reveal event because they're going to really want to get, like, a lot of excitement.
[00:05:16] Speaker B: Oh, I think, I think they'll put that main. I think they'll put that main voyage on sale as soon as they possibly. I mean, that thing will sell out regardless of what they announced in October. So, yeah, yeah, they've got to sell
[00:05:27] Speaker A: out the other ships first. They've got to put the other ship, like the next itinerary release. Right. That includes the fall of 2027. That has to go on sale before the Believe goes on sale. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: All right, well, we, we, we. Let's give Kevin a chance to sort of introduce himself. I will just say to everyone out there, listening, watching, you know, if you have not checked out the content that Kevin puts out over on Instagram at. I'll give the handle again at dadslovedisney.
Just fantastic stuff. So head over there and just subscribe.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: It's hilarious stuff. Hilarious stuff.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Kevin, how'd you get into doing this, being a sort of a content creator around Disney? What drove you to do that? What's your background, how long you've been doing it? Give us all the details.
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Yeah, so it kind of goes back to my acquired love of Disney, and that came later for me. So maybe I'll do a little bit of an origin story because it's short.
I only ever went to the Disney parks once in my life before I was 30.
No, 20, 28, 29.
I went when I was 15.
It was the one trip my dad saved up all his airline miles and we went for a week with my extended family and we went in June and it was very hot. And it was one of those things where, you know, they didn't know what a fast pass was. We stayed off property. We, you know, and. But my, you know, my dad wanted to make sure we got all of our money. We had, like, all the memories and all the things, which, like, is hilarious because I was, like, making fun of him the entire trip. And now I see like now, now that's me. Like turn into your parents no matter what happens. And so, so anyway, so I swore after that trip I would never go back to Disney. It's like, I don't like it now. I love the Disney content. I love the movies I loved, but the parks, I was like, no, not for me, right? And so fast forward 12, 13 years, I meet my now wife.
She comes from a Disney family. They went every year or every other year and they drove down. But they take it easy. They like go to the parks, they stay on, they stay on a Disney resort, which I couldn't even imagine. They would go, like go do a ride, hang out at the resort all day. No pressure because they know they're always coming back.
And I said to myself, that's kind of cool. But no.
And so the way that they hooked me in, I blame my mother in law. She didn't ask me dating my wife, my now wife at the time, she didn't ask me. She just booked me on the Disney Magic in 2015. And my wife's like, you're coming. And I was like, okay, right?
And I loved it.
I absolutely loved it. And it felt so different to me. Now this is 2015 and I knew that the Disney Cruise Line was very special to my now wife's family.
And so my wife and I, or my girlfriend at the time, had been dating for a couple years. And so on the last day of that cruise, I proposed to her in the cabin.
I love that.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:06] Speaker C: And so it's a bit special for us. Like for me. Now here's the thing about my wife, she does not love cruising. She gets a little bit motion sickness, a little bit like it's, it's kind of that, that thing. And so, so I loved like the itinerary, like you know, used to get the paper Navigator and like, okay, I could go see Thor Dark World at this time and then I can go do the, you know, the tastings. And, and if my wife wasn't feeling well, well, now I'm on my own on the ship. Like I can just do whatever I want. No kids, higher adult section. I loved it. And then a couple years, you know, we get married. A couple of years later, we have our daughter.
And my daughter I think was six months old. Yeah. Because when we took her to Disney, the parks, the Disney World parks, she was only 18 months old. But my mother in law booked us rooms at Port Orleans.
And we went.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: And
[00:10:06] Speaker C: those memories, like you're Making with now your child. And again the way that they do. Disney is very laid back.
They're not charging around the parks getting absolutely everything, getting their money's worth. I don't think there is a way to get your money's worth at Disney. If you go in with that mindset, I think you're going to be a lot happier. I think you just set the right expectation for yourself and that's how they do it. And so I, after that trip I could not wait to book the next one.
And in that time frame we had gone on I think one or two more cruises.
We went on. Yeah, we went on, I'm looking at my notes here. We went on the fantasy in 2016 and, and yeah, and then we waited about, you know, there was that sort of COVID period and then we've just been on a bunch. But my mother in law is platinum. She's been on every ship I think except for the Destiny and the obviously the Adventure.
But she's, you know, they're big cruisers and so it's very easy for us to sort of say, you know, to say to my mother in law like
[00:11:13] Speaker A: hey, we'll come too.
[00:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so that was, that was sort of like the, the origin story of how I got into Disney. So I was like, I don't love the parks and the experiences. And then Disney acquired Lucasfilm.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: And they acquired Marvel.
[00:11:32] Speaker A: And then the love story really, really kicked in.
[00:11:35] Speaker C: Well, now they have my entire childhood and all the things I am so passionate about in my like, you know, geek them.
And so I was following a lot of content creators and I was spending an inordinate amount and I, I, my background is in marketing in digital marketing.
Everything from strategy to like pat earned and owned media and content creation. Content and assets and creative campaigns and some data too.
And so I, at about that time it was around Covid like a lot of people I was consuming a crazy amount of content per day. I was just doom scrolling and I got to like hate it. And so the one area of like social media that I really enjoyed because it felt super positive and there's a lot happening in the world world was this little corner of the interwebs that like Disney content creators were operating in. It felt super positive and like welcoming and engaging and just. And I loved it. But I still didn't love that I was consuming content.
So I said okay, well if I want to be involved in this community, what if I flipped it? What if I could engage by instead of consuming, creating content And I always loved making, you know, like my aunts in, in, in the backyard at the pool, like laugh, like telling jokes.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: You did like a little skit or
[00:13:05] Speaker C: like, yeah, like just, you know, trying, like, trying hard just to make them laugh. There was nothing better to, to me than like making my uncle laugh, like belly laugh. Like, that was just, it was the greatest. And so I was like, if, even if I could just do that for like 10 people, I'm gonna do it. And so it just so happened. We pushed back a couple of cruises because of COVID obviously.
And I also booked the Galactic Star Cruiser the, like the day that you were able to. And I, we went on a voyage in June and it opened in March, I believe.
And, and there were two trips like back to back, like a month apart. And I was like, okay, well if I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna be down there for two weeks. I'm not gonna have this. I'm never gonna be down there for two, you know, two, lo and behold, here I am.
But I said, I'm gonna just like, I'm gonna start this, I'm gonna create content. And so May 4, 2022, I posted my first video and I had no idea what I was doing. It was a horizontal video, it wasn't 9 by 16, but I, I, I didn't know what I was doing. I was just gonna do it and I was gonna learn by doing and I was going to download all the apps and platforms and learn how to edit my own videos and work the algorithm. I kind of knew some day job and I know kind of what works, engagement and that kind of thing. And, or at least I knew the theory and the strategy, but the content creation economy and what engages people in this world, I really didn't know. And it interested me. And so it was the only aspect of marketing I had not physically, like been hands on keyboard and had done myself at some point in my career. And so I thought, let's just go for it. And I, and so like, you know, I'm a goal person. So like, how many followers? What do you want to do? And I was like, listen, I think if I can get a thousand followers, this is going to be the greatest thing ever.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: And that's all I want.
[00:15:00] Speaker C: And so I, so yeah, so it took a while.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: 47,000 later.
Kevin.
[00:15:08] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, but I will tell you this. I think the thing that I was looking for, it wasn't followers, it wasn't brand deals, it wasn't monetization, right. Because I have a job, I do some things and I don't think I ever want content creation to be my only job. That seems very stressful to me because so many things change so often and I like a little bit more stability.
And I also love the fact that like I don't have to go chase followers or you know, I don't have to like be first or do, you know, do some things. I can just try and make people laugh. And so one of the things that I immediately recognized was going to be the benefit was the connection with people that I didn't anticipate. I thought I would just get some joy from creating content, making people laugh. If I could get one like, or one comment, lol or that would be great.
But it was the friendships and the connection that I made with some people that I still haven't met yet in person. Some people that I have and I consider them friends.
People like Scott, Emily, of course, who I create a lot of content with and others.
And so I think that's been like the best part of it. Yes, I get to create content, I get to make people laugh. That's fun. Yes. Like I've been able to do some things that I kind of like even this year I'm like, what am I doing here? How did this happen?
But it's about for I think the connection and making and meeting people with kind of shared, shared joy, if you will, share passion.
[00:16:46] Speaker A: That's. And that I gotta tell you, Kevin, that so shines through in your content. And it, it's one of the reasons, like I asked you to come on the show because we have like a very similar ethos for our show. Like we are both full time lawyers, we do not do this for money. We actually donate all of our proceeds to charity. When we, when we are in the black from this show, we donate our proceeds to charity. That's like we have, you know, sponsors to make sure to cover the cost for the show. That's the point. And Patreon's for the same reason.
But for us it's about the community. It's about the friendships and relationships we made. And we really started the show. I mean, Brian had this harebrained idea. We've got an episode on our origin story, but it was about actually spending time with one another.
That was the beginning of the show was really about that. And so it's been such a blessing, you know, meeting other creators in this community. And we're, you know, we, we are, I strive to be as good at content creation as you are, Kevin. I'm not there yet. I'm working. I'm working on it. But I.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: Don't cut yourself short. There's some gold in there. There's some gold. You just have to get the right moment, that's all.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But obviously we. We. We do the podcast and. And we, you know, we do multiple episodes a week, and. And we love doing that, and we love sharing with Community, who love Disney, who love Disney Cruise Line, who love the Galactic Star Cruiser, which we also went on and love.
[00:18:19] Speaker B: All right, so, yeah, Kevin, off air on this point, you mentioned, like, that you. You had learned a few things through this journey to, you know, be more successful. Anything that you would share. I mean, we've got other content creators that watch and listen to the show and budding content creators out there. Like, any tips that you would give people as they're embarking on this journey.
[00:18:39] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we were talking about it earlier.
Don't overthink it, shoot it, post it.
It's not perfect.
That's okay.
And what comes from that? I think the biggest. There was a year where I posted every day, I think, for a year, sometimes multiple times a day, but not.
That was rare.
That consistency, in terms of. At least at that point in the algorithm, that consistency is helpful for these platforms who make money by showing content to people, give them content to show people, and they will figure out the people that you need to be in front of. They will.
They're great at it. Right.
It's also scary, Right. In some aspects. But in our space, in our little corner of the positive corner of the web, being consistent, I think is most important. And it also, I think, is an opportunity. You hear about the 10,000 hours, and I'm a big believer in working hard at things and failing and failing and failing and trying again and just smiling and saying, okay, what's next? What's next?
Keep doing that. Don't get discouraged.
Even if you are shown to one person that you weren't shown to, that they had no idea you existed yesterday and they liked your content, that's a win.
So do it. Just do it. Just do it.
And look. Yeah. Like, some of the. Some of the stuff I do is, like, really cringy. Am I like, oh, I don't know if I really want that out there. Maybe I'll delete that? Early on, there was a lot of that. Like, I would delete stuff. I was like, yeah, I don't really like that. Or maybe I was trying too hard occasionally. And I'd be like, no, I don't want. I don't want that to be out there. And so. But being consistent is how I think you learn to master, like, your voice. And it also, I think, helps with these platforms that, you know, are trying to figure out who to put you in front of.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Well, that's the best piece of advice when we started our show was somebody said the first hundred episodes are throwaway. Like, they're. They're just you learning the craft, figuring it out, finding your voice, getting your rhythm, you know, all that sort of stuff. Like, I like what you're saying, too, about the content creation side of things, because a lot of it's just getting comfortable being the guy who has a camera pointed at their face and talking into it while everyone else is just milling about their day.
Ed asked a really good question in the chat.
I'd be curious to know your answer, and I'm happy to give mine, too. Did the pandemic create a golden age of content creators?
[00:21:22] Speaker C: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. And, I mean, I think we talked a little bit about this, and I even referred to, you know, referenced it earlier.
I was consuming. It was all you could do.
And so anyone who had anything to say and was, you know, really engaging, which there are a ton that popped up, especially in the park space, they had to get really creative because they couldn't go to the parks for, like, what, six months in some cases? You know, I think Florida was closed for six months and Disneyland was closed for a year. The cruises were shut down. Like, yeah, you have to get creative in your house. And I think that's also. That was like, in a strange.
Please don't take this the wrong way. Like, it was a strange gift where people like, ooh, I've got a. You know, some of your best ideas come when you are pushed out of your comfort zone and out of the box. And I think you see some creators that just blew up because they took that challenge and ran with it. And so it definitely created a golden age for content creators. Did I.
I sort of, like, sometimes in dark moments, I'd be like, you know, finally started a year earlier. I'd be like, much bigger. And I'm like, I wouldn't have been able to do it a year earlier because I didn't have. I didn't.
I kind of didn't put together what I wanted to do. Like, it didn't occur to me yet that I was consuming way more content than I wanted to, and I wanted to flip that equation.
So it happened for me right when it had to happen. But when people are stuck in their homes, they are starving for content. And you saw that, you know, and, you know, movies and TV shows shut down for a while.
[00:22:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:55] Speaker C: And so I believe social media is a broadcast channel. I don't. I think. I think that very clearly. I think, yes, there's connection there, but it's a broadcast channel, it's a broadcast medium. And so they turned to social media and then, you know, obviously TikTok, I think, exploded during that time frame, too.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yeah, it's. It's funny. Everyone always laughs when you tell them. We started our podcast In March of 2000 or 2020, when the whole world shut down, including Cruising. But it turned out to be kind
[00:23:26] Speaker A: of a, you know, it before, to be fair. Like, our. Our first episode came out, like, right before the shutdown or right as the world was shutting down. So it wasn't intentional, but it was. Yeah, it was. It was a blessing in that way.
[00:23:41] Speaker B: I've got one more question for you on this content creat creation aspect of things, Kevin, before we dive into the cruise line.
You know, a lot of concern out there right now about AI and what it's going to do to content creation and, you know, those sorts of folks. Have you. Have you seen it changing how you, you know, apply your craft here in content creation or, you know, where do
[00:24:02] Speaker C: you see it headed?
I. For. For me, No. I think I got some really good advice from another content creator, Paula, who runs the handle Practically Perfect Family.
You guys probably know her. I don't know if she does Disney cruises too, but obviously she's been really helpful to me. I consider her a bit of a mentor.
She did it all herself, too. She just figured it out.
And so whenever I have thoughts or questions, one piece of advice that she gave me, and I've seen this from other content creators because I started to go down the path of creating memes.
They're very easy, you know, technically, right. Like, if you have some kind of a sense of humor, you could typically find things. And you'll see a period in my content. I haven't taken them down because some of them, like, still crack me up. But, like, there is.
There's a period where, like, I was cranking out meme videos and some of them were exploding, but I was getting away from what I originally started to do, which was, like, make people laugh, but, like, have it be me.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Right?
[00:25:20] Speaker C: And I think that portion of content creation is never going to go away. Right? The personality, the engagement of, like, looking in someone's eyes.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: You're seeing the authenticity of you going into the hallway 12 times to check if your luggage is there when you're on the wish. Right. Like that. Like, I know that, like, it's. It seems simple, but it's so funny because that's exactly what happens on the cruise on embarkation day, you go out 12 times to check, is my luggage there? Right.
[00:25:55] Speaker C: It's. And like, at some point, maybe not today, because I use. I use AI a lot in my job. Right. Like in my day job.
[00:26:06] Speaker D: But
[00:26:08] Speaker C: maybe someday AI will come up with, like, really engaging creative ideas. I haven't seen one yet. Yeah, I haven't. I haven't. And I work with some of the best creative directors in the world, and I haven't seen anything that comes close to maybe even their. Some of the.
[00:26:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: Some of the creative directors, like, mediocre ideas. Like. And so now can you technically do some things in AI that are like, you know, with the compute power and assembly of things and, you know, sharpen things and. Sure, of course. It's what it is. It's just. It's insane. Compute power.
I don't think you can ever replace, like, what's going on in the human brain and the human heart and the connection of those two things. And so. So I. I don't know where it's going, but I. And I will just say this because I operate in, like, the marketing industry across. Well, in marketing across a bunch of different industries, and I pay close attention to what's happening in the media space.
And at the Cannes Film Festival this year, there's a big change.
Content creators were sort of looked at for a while, like, I mean, like, massive YouTubers as, like, okay, we've got to keep these people. They're here because they've got something with, like, the younger generation. So we'll invite them, but, like, we're going to keep them to the side. They're not part of, like, what we do.
And over the last couple years, you've seen it shift a little bit more. A little bit more. This year, the content creators were hosting the panels. They were hosting the parties. They were the draw to come and learn about a new movie, new TV show, a new media platform, a new campaign, whatever it was at the largest sort of marketing festival event in the world.
And they were the draw.
Yeah, that's. That is telling to me that this is a broadcast medium and AI could never do that. And they're plucking the most engaging, really personable, really, like, creators that you can't take your eyes off of. And rightfully so. They deserve it because they worked really hard at their craft. Like again, posting every day, multiple times a day, filming, you know, like you guys with the podcast a couple times a week. It's an, it's an insane amount of time. I actually don't know how you guys do it. And these folks are doing it for years and years and years and they, they love it. And so I don't think you can ever replace that.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: It is so interesting to see. I mean, Blake Silva is a great example Disney content creator who is now being invited to do hosting type gigs and interview on red carpets and whatnot for, you know, for like, I mean, he was invited to. I forget it's the Avatar, whatever the Avatar movie was. Like, he was on the red carpet interviewing the stars of the movie. Right. And like, I don't know, eight years ago. Right. That wouldn't have been a thing.
[00:29:03] Speaker B: Right.
[00:29:03] Speaker A: It would have been just like the, the person from E.T. right. Whoever the normal, like, host was would be doing those red carpet interviews. So it is interesting to see that. That transformation. All right, well, we got to jump in and talk about Disney Cruise Line a bit here since that's, since that's, of course the focus of now. Kevin, your most recent cruise was on the Disney Wish.
Which of the ships have you been on now? Across the fleet.
[00:29:30] Speaker C: Okay, so I, like I said to you earlier, I had to go back to my work.
[00:29:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:35] Speaker C: And be like, okay, get in the app. Like, scroll down. What's the first one?
So the Magic was the first ship, then the fantasy about a year later, and then like a huge jump of time and I went on the Dream and then I kind of did the Wish class ships almost in like a weird reverse order.
And I'm kind of glad I did. So I've been on the Treasure, the Destiny and the Wish.
The Destiny and the Wish were both this year. And then I put a deposit down on my next one for 2027, and I don't know which one that's going to be, but my wish list is obviously the believe the Adventure and I, I want to go back on the magic, so. So, yeah, so those are the ships that I've been on.
[00:30:22] Speaker A: Wait, so you haven't been on the Wonder then? So the Wonder and the Adventure are the only two that you're missing. You have to go on the wonder.
Oh, you're so magical about the wonder.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: And for a long time I thought that the magic. And it still might be the magic was my favorite chip. You know, it was my first one, but I also loved it. Never felt crowded. It never felt maybe as crowded as some of the Wish class ships did.
And I, Yeah, I don't know, it was just. And, you know, we got engaged on the Magic, and so, so, yeah, so I, I, the Magic is one that I want to go back on, but, yeah, I kind of want to, like, just check the box for the Wonder. And so if I don't know where the Wonder is right now, is that Alaska?
[00:31:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:10] Speaker C: My wife was like, I want to go on Alaskan cruise. I was like, the only way. I'm a warm weather guy. Like, I, I do not like the winter. The only way he will get me to Alaska is on a Disney cruise ship. So that's gonna have to be it.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Well, and honestly. So I'm gonna give you a recommendation. My recommendation is to go to Alaska on the Wonder in August because it's gonna be warmer at that time. I mean, I'm not saying you won't have like a, you know, all the seasons through the course of seven days, you may still have a day of winter, especially when you're at, you know, Glacier Day.
But it's the most magical cruise of all.
I mean, maybe.
Setting aside, we went to Norway also on the Magic, and that was amazing too. But, yeah, Alaska is just unbelievable.
And the Wonder is the warmest of the ships. So we've got many people in the chat saying if you like the Magic, you'll love the Wonder. You must go on the. But yeah, there's something really special and warm about the Wonder and sort of the culture of the crew. And of course, you have Tiana's, which is amazing.
Yeah, it's just fabulous.
[00:32:20] Speaker C: All right, well, then that's it. That's next. The Wonder.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, and the. No shade to the magic, but the Wonder beats the magic every time.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: So, Kevin, I wanted to ask, since your handle is adslovedisney, what has been your favorite moment on the cruise line as a dad, I'm sure you have several, but what's one of your favorite moments?
[00:32:50] Speaker C: There's been a couple.
There's one that stands out to me.
Where.
We went on the Fantasy. Or, sorry, the dream in 2020.
And we're walking through the main. The Grand. It's not called the grand hall on the Fantasy. What is it called?
[00:33:13] Speaker A: Atrium.
[00:33:14] Speaker C: Atrium, yeah, the Atrium. So we're walking through the atrium and. Oh. Oh, my God, this is bad. What's the, what's the main restaurant there off the atrium. Is it Triton's or is it.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: On the fantasy it is the royal court or royal palace.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: Yeah. Walking by and all we hear is someone yell my daughter's name and.
And could have been someone else. And we were just like looking around, I didn't know who it was. And I look over and they're standing in line to go into or get their picture taken with Rapunzel or somebody was her best friend from preschool.
And her parents, who we hadn't seen, we never, we never like, you know, high like drop off kind of thing, like.
And so they were. Sorry, daycare and preschool. Right. So from the. They've known each other the longest from them when they were three months old to when they graduated preschool, you know, during COVID and we hadn't seen them since and we, and we live less than a mile from each other.
We just reconnected.
And she reconnected with like a best friend that she saw every day her entire life in the very beginning, like early stages of her life. And they went to the kids club together and they were in the pool together.
And I know it's not like a Disney moment, but like in. And then we found out that their, like our friends Mike and Jeff, they are very like much into Disney as well. And we didn't know it until we met on the ship. We're like, let's drop the kids off and go to the adult section and get a drink and that kind of thing. And so that was such a cool moment.
And then I, you know, I think the, the next, the next one was the fact that we went this last trip on the Wish. They came with us and, and, and that the girls were old enough now where they're walking around the ship by themselves or hanging out in, in what is it? Vibe. They're in the Vibe club.
[00:35:14] Speaker A: Edges, Edges.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: Between.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Vibe is the teen one. We only know because our son is 12 and so he's in Edge as well.
[00:35:20] Speaker C: He's an Edge.
[00:35:21] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:35:21] Speaker C: So they're going to Edge and you know, we give her like an old phone that only has, you know, the WI fi, so we can just message her when she's, you know. So. Yeah, so it was, it was very, it was very cool to see them now as like tweens dancing at the pirate party and doing all those things. And, and we've become very close with, with them again. And so that's been, it's been my favorite moment as a dad other than just like, I think she, you know, I think Disney creates content and will sit there and be watching a show.
And she.
We're reconnecting again.
In fact, we were just walking through Epcot on our last trip to Disney World.
She kind of was holding my hand as we were walking through.
And I don't know what it's like with your son, but, like, at this age, they're sort of, like, trying to figure out how to get away from you and, like, what's, like, weird and not. And it was during, like, Luminous and, you know, the, the Tarzan song is playing and that kind of thing, and I was like, oh, this is amazing. So there's those kind of moments all over the Disney Cruise Line. I feel like there are even, there's even more of them.
So, yeah, those are, those are the best. It's like you hear a song, you're walking through the atrium, there's a song being played, and, you know, you just grab her hand, or she, you know, she'll grab your arm or something and walk through and, and that's kind of cool.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: I, I, I feel like the, the. You're so right. There are so many opportunities for those moments on the cruise line, and I, I totally agree with you. I think that there's, there's even more opportunity than. I feel like the cruise line invites this sort of more relaxed atmosphere, or at least traditionally has.
I see some of that changing with the Wish class of ships as they've gotten more and more involved and more lines and more things to do. Like, it's taken a little bit of that, but, but still, just those impromptu character interactions, those moments as a family that you, you didn't expect, the people you meet on board the ship, like, there's just, it's so ripe for that because everyone's just kind of, I feel like they're just, they're in a relaxed state that you don't always get at the parks unless you adopt the philosophy. You talked about the beginning of the show, which we adopt, too, which is, I'm not here to do everything. I'm here to do some things that I want and, you know, enjoy myself. But, yeah, I, I think you're so dead on there. Kevin.
Yeah. What's been your, your favorite cruise that you've done thus far?
[00:37:54] Speaker C: That one was pretty. The, the. When we went on the Dream and we reconnected with our friends, that was pretty great. But it was only four days.
I, I need seven days.
Yeah, I need, I need seven days on a cruise.
So in that sense, we, My, I think my favorite was we went in 2025, last year, spring break, we surprised my mother and father in law for their 50th anniversary. They went on the Disney Treasure for their 50th and they didn't know we all their kids had booked as well.
And so we turned, there's a great, there's a great video up. Basically we turned the corner and they were like, and it was us and all the grandkids and they were, they lose it.
Yeah, well like my mother in law first because you know she's like a, like a serious cruiser. She said, is that why my dinner reservations all messed up? You know, because we, I was trying to get them hooked in with us but without them knowing. And I was like yeah, I think so. Like it was our fault. Like what, you know. And so.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:39:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Seven days with like, you know, my daughter and her cousins and her aunts and uncles and her, my and my in laws and the Treasure was so great for many, many reasons. I, you know, I love, I love that class of ship for a couple reasons. There's some things I think, you know, it's just the way it is and I'm sure we'll talk about it but like it was great. There was just so much to do and I am someone who loves to have a lot to do.
[00:39:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:32] Speaker C: Because I can't sit still.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: I have FOMO and I want to do, do, do. And so that's what I love about the Wish class as well. Especially the Treasure and the Destiny in particular. I think there's just, there's so many different activities to go to and, and things to see and really I just
[00:39:49] Speaker C: realized the Destiny, I thought they were only ever going to do four day itineraries because you know the way that the story, the story and the Destiny is just so meticulously told through those days of different events. I was like, oh, they're probably never going to do a seven day because like what are they going to do? Fill the rest of the days with other content that seems really arduous. I guess. I don't know what they're doing. There are seven day itineraries now.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: Yeah, we just interviewed our friends and we've actually interviewed two separate sets of folks. The episodes should be coming, coming out probably next month. But about those seven night itineraries on the Destiny and there is so much to do and they just kind of spread out the storyline throughout the cruise a little bit better and it's I think better because the four and five night cruises on the Destiny it's So compact, and there's so much to do, and you can't possibly do everything if you are a person like me and Kevin, who wants to do everything. It's really, really hard, and it's been not really possible to do it all.
[00:40:54] Speaker C: I need to be scheduled to relax on the. On Funnel Vision, you know, like. And I. I went on the Destiny with my friend who's also a dad, and it was kind of like a bit of a. Like, a dad's getaway. And, like, I use it to, like, create a ton of content because I had a ton of ideas for the cruise, and we did all the things, and I was like, oh, my. There was only maybe one day where I spent a couple hours in the infinity pool or on Funnel Vision, like, just relaxing, watching a movie. And I like to schedule that in, too, you know, where, like, I'm like, okay, this period of time, there's not really anything going on that I want. I'm gonna go sit Funnel Vision and watch, you know, Aladdin and eat some pizza.
[00:41:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, that's. Brian is the one who kind of forces me to do some of that, because it'll be, like, day three or four.
[00:41:39] Speaker C: We need you in our lives. My wife is the same way.
[00:41:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Everyone needs. Everyone needs a Brian who just wants to sit at the pool with a drink in hand, maybe a book or some puz, and just kind of relax. And so I'll, like. He'll let me run around with my, you know, like a chicken with my head cut off the first several days. And then, like, by day four, he's like, please, can you just come sit with me at the pool? And I'll be like, okay, I'll come sit with you at the pool.
[00:42:06] Speaker C: Shaking, like, yeah.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: I'm like. I start twitching.
[00:42:12] Speaker C: Yeah, you gotta tie us down with a towel.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: Exactly, Exactly.
[00:42:16] Speaker B: Well, Kevin, since you mentioned it, you know, some of the idiosyncrasies you've experienced on the ship, like, what do you think is, you know, Disney's bringing a lot of ships online here in a very short period of time.
So a lot happening in the cruise line. Like, what are some of the things that you see that you wish they maybe did a little bit differently, but also, like, what are you hoping for? Like, you know, cruising seems to be something you've caught the bug, like many of us have once we experience the cruise line. So, like, what are you hoping to see out of, you know, an expanded fleet? Where are you hoping they go? What are you hoping they do?
[00:42:48] Speaker C: I love What I'm seeing in terms of the immersiveness of the storytelling on the latest two ships, I mean, it's star cruiser, right?
Especially the Destiny.
[00:42:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: The parallels between, like, Dr. Facilier's parlor and what you saw. I don't know, you guys. Did you do the star cruiser a couple of times?
[00:43:11] Speaker B: We did it once.
[00:43:12] Speaker A: We only did it once.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:15] Speaker C: Really did it once, too. And did you get the Jedi pass? Like, did you make it to the end of the Jedi pass where you went.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I did not. I saw a video of it, but I. I made it. I went through kind of the. The engineer path.
[00:43:28] Speaker C: I posted a video of it after it, like, closed, because I was like, look, I don't want to ruin this for people who haven't seen it. Like, it. It was so special to me. And that the Facili Parlor feels just like that. Like, you don't have to do anything to. You know, you just.
[00:43:41] Speaker B: Just.
[00:43:42] Speaker C: Well, you have to stand in line for, like, an hour and a half earlier to make sure you get in.
But the performance and the. The cast members, I don't. Yeah, it's special. That's a special thing.
And so I love that. I would love to see them do more of that. I don't know if they were able to do that on the adventure just because they. It was a ship that.
[00:44:04] Speaker B: Right.
[00:44:04] Speaker C: That they bought and, like.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:06] Speaker B: They didn't see too many people. Like, just way too many people.
[00:44:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:44:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And a different. Yeah, a different market. I mean, that market is very focused on character meet and greets, but they are. It's for the picture and maybe the signature. It's not the. Especially with a lot of different languages on board, it doesn't really work as well, I think, and with the number of passenger count. But I'm totally with you. I think the best thing they did both on the Treasure and the Destiny is the storytellers. Because the storytellers then, you know, with all. They kind of string together all these different stories, and then you've got, you know, the troublemaking with Cruella in Devilles, and then you've got, like, you know, the storytelling of Loki and of. And of t', Challa, right? You have all of these, like. And you can. You can span different worlds, right? You can span the world that Cruella lives in, but you can also span the Marvel Cinematic Universe, right? So that, I think, is a really cool thing.
[00:45:03] Speaker C: It's so simple because that's how we experience it.
We experience being a Star wars fan and A Marvel fan and loving Frozen 2 is one of my favorite Disney movies of all time.
[00:45:18] Speaker A: Lost in the Woods. Is that not the best 80s hair band ballad you've ever heard?
[00:45:24] Speaker C: Yeah, and it actually was even better in person than Arendelle. Right on the wish for me. But anyway, anyways, I. That's how we experience it and so you don't have to worry about, like, well, you have timelines crossing over and like IP crossing. I was like, yeah, but that's how we experience it as, you know, people that are immersing themselves in this. And so I love that they're, I love that they're just trying some different things and they're pushing the envelope. I hope they do it even more with the believe. Right. Like, Star Cruiser was such a massive jump and so aggressive in trying to like, figure out where to take storytelling. And so I think they just need, maybe it was too big of a jump for, you know, and so I think they're, I hope, I hope they just keep trying to do that.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Yeah, maybe if they had you marketing it, Kevin. Because I think to us, like, one of the failings of the starcruiser was just being able to explain to people what it was. Right. And that market, we felt like that was kind of a marketing failure and that it maybe, I mean, it was also very expensive to run. But I think one of the issues, whereas the ships are maybe easier to market and then you put on some immersive experiences that people can opt in or opt out of. I'm curious if you think that will continue, as you mentioned, with the Believe, but even beyond for the next class of ship?
[00:46:45] Speaker C: I think so. And I don't know much about the next class of ship that's coming, but I think, think Will, I think optionality is important for people. I know that I dragged my wife on the Star Cruiser and like by the end of the first day, she was like, what the heck?
Yeah. Like, so where I, where's the pool
[00:47:12] Speaker B: in the spa and why can't I get there? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:47:16] Speaker C: So I knew and I was, you know, I was gatekeeping a little bit of like, well, you might have to learn, you know, but, but the, but, yeah, I think, I think the marketing was a failure. I think I, I, I don't know. I don't, I don't know.
It was, it was an odd time too, when you consider winded open. Like, I was wondering up until like we went on, I was like, am I gonna have to wear a mask? You know what I mean? So, like, I think there's some of that that was happening as well and everyone was trying to get their bearings straight. But I'm, I'm so thankful that they did that and I'm very thankful for the cast members that I can't even imagine how they showed up every day and did and didn't just drain their life force and their battery completely because they, I mean, you know, talking to the captain, my daughter talking to the captain, she was in character. She was like. And my daughter believed it and just was in it. And I was like, this is incredible. You know.
[00:48:25] Speaker B: So since you were on the starcruiser, Kevin, I gotta ask you about one of the more controversial ships and venues in the fleet. The Hyperspace Lounge on the Wish.
What did you think as a Star wars fan and someone who experienced the starcruiser? Like, what'd you think of that venue?
[00:48:42] Speaker A: You
[00:48:45] Speaker C: after night one?
[00:48:47] Speaker A: Be true and honest here, Kevin.
[00:48:50] Speaker C: Yeah, I was hoping you weren't going to ask me about it after night one. Look, I think first things first. More Star wars everywhere.
[00:49:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:49:01] Speaker C: More Star Wars. More Star Wars. More Star Wars.
[00:49:03] Speaker B: That's a really good point. It's a huge franchise and they have one bar and they eliminated the day at sea they used to do around it.
[00:49:10] Speaker C: So they love the movies. Hate the movies, love the shows, hate the shows. I don't care. I want more Star Wars.
I will decide what I love and what I don't. But I want them to tell stories and take risks and do the things.
But we went in after dinner the first night on the Wish and I was really excited to go in. I probably shouldn't have been in the Haunted Mansion Parlor, which is the same space first.
[00:49:40] Speaker A: No big mistake as, as, as Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman. Huge mistake.
[00:49:48] Speaker C: My expectations were low compared to that. I knew it wasn't going to be as immersive as Haunted Mansion Parlor. Haunted Mansion Parlor is like the greatest thing maybe imagineering's ever done. I don't know.
So here's a couple things that I just think. I don't know when it goes into dry dock or they're doing refurb. I, you know, probably, I don't know know. But I'm wondering what happens with the believe and I.
The seats are not comfortable, so I don't understand that at all.
I, I can't to bite. Like you're telling a story. You're sort of in this like, you know, a little bit more Star Cruisy, like lounge. Okay. That's part of Star Wars. Not everything has to look like ogas or like, you know, like the mosh, the mos espa Canteen or whatever. I.
The cocktails were not good.
Like, every single person got a different cocktail in our party and we all tried and none of us liked any of them.
[00:50:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:50:45] Speaker C: And we left after 20 minutes. And literally the next time we went in was as we were disembarking. My daughter, you know, you walk sort of around and you walk by it. My daughter's like, I never went in the Star wars lounge. And I was like, oh my God, we never went back. Come on, let's go look. And we went snuck in real quick and looked and she looked around. She was like, oh, okay. Then we left.
So it's, you know, it was a bummer for me, but I think again, they're learning, like what works, what doesn't. And they set a new bar.
And look, I can't even imagine what went into Haunted Mitch. Probably how many years of development they needed to do to do something as immersive as that. And I think, like, the timing probably didn't work out right and there was a lot with the fish and that kind of thing. So there's. There's lots of things. But I think they, I believe they will improve upon it and do something else with it. Maybe when it goes in to dry dock for refurbishment or something. I don't know. You guys probably know more about that kind of scheduling than I do.
[00:51:47] Speaker A: So it is going for dry dock next summer in France because it's going to do that European season, but it's only scheduled for less than two week dry dock, so that tells me it will not. Not get a re. Theming.
[00:52:04] Speaker C: Maybe some new cushions in two weeks. If they could get some new cushions.
[00:52:08] Speaker A: New cushions are definitely, like, that is a possibility. New cushions is a possibility for sure.
You know, fix. They fix lighting, they fix all that kind of stuff during dry docks. But do I see them really plussing up the theming in a less than two week dry dock? I'm leaning towards no. I know that there are others in the community that are like, like. But they have to. No, they don't have to. They absolutely don't have to. They.
Without that space being plussed up.
[00:52:39] Speaker B: Oh, you, bro, you broke up on us there for a second. Sam. I think we get the gist.
Hey, Sam, I think what we ought to do maybe is, you know, can
[00:52:47] Speaker A: we do my game folks, like, new
[00:52:49] Speaker B: stuff out of us and, you know, Sam's worked up a little game and I think, I think we could use that instead of a rapid fire round with.
With Kevin and give it a shot.
So. Yeah, take it away, Sam.
[00:53:02] Speaker A: All right, I. I decided on a game that is called Sail it, skip it, sink it. So sail it means like you're giving it two thumbs up. Skip it means. Eh, it's okay, but I probably wouldn't choose it as my first choice. And sink it means we're getting rid of it. Okay. So sail it, skip it, sink it.
[00:53:23] Speaker B: And let me say this before we dive into your specific question.
If you're watching this live and you're in the chat, you can throw your answers in too. So go for it. All right, Sam.
[00:53:33] Speaker A: All right, round one is ship classes. So the magic class, the dream class, and the wish class.
Which one do you sail it? Which one do you skip it? Which one do you sink it? Let's start with sink it.
Start the bottom first.
[00:53:53] Speaker C: Oh, no.
[00:53:54] Speaker A: This is tough.
And I gotta answer Nathan in the chat. Yes. You know this game by a very different name, and I will not say the name on the air.
[00:54:02] Speaker B: Family friendly.
[00:54:03] Speaker C: Please don't. Family friendly.
[00:54:05] Speaker A: This is a family friendly show.
[00:54:07] Speaker C: Family show.
This is tough.
I am going to.
Yeah, sorry, I'm writing these down.
I'm going to sail the dream class, skip the magic class, and sink the wish class.
It pains me to do that.
Those are the only three classes, right? We weren't considering it.
[00:54:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, the adventure is its own class, but we keep that out of.
[00:54:34] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, because I do like the wish class more than a lot of people, but yeah, tough choices have to be made, folks.
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Exactly. These are tough choices. Okay, Disney Cruise Line Sweets. So you get a Mickey Bar, Mickey Churro waffles, or a Dole Whip smoothie that can have rum or without rum, however you choose. But which one do you sail? Which one do you skip? Which one do you sink?
[00:55:02] Speaker C: I sail the Dole Whip for my daughter without the rum.
[00:55:07] Speaker A: All right.
[00:55:09] Speaker C: And I sink the churro and I skip the Mickey bar because I can't sink the Mickey bar because my wife and I love Mickey bars.
[00:55:19] Speaker A: All right, fair enough.
[00:55:20] Speaker C: Just.
[00:55:23] Speaker A: Kevin, have you been on Royal Caribbean before?
[00:55:26] Speaker C: I have never sailed another cruise line other than Disney.
[00:55:30] Speaker B: Okay, so we'll skip that question.
[00:55:32] Speaker A: I skip my question. No, I have a different. Yeah, I have a different question. Okay. Castaway Key, Lookout Key, or the World Showcase? Which one do you sail, which one do you skip and which one do you sink?
[00:55:46] Speaker C: Okay.
Oh, boy.
[00:55:52] Speaker A: I know this is hard.
[00:55:54] Speaker C: This is tough. Okay, I am going to sail the World Showcase I am going to skip castaway key. Even though I love it. Yeah. I'm going to sink Lookout key.
Only because of the. The walk.
The walk was actually. And I was like, that's not that far. And I wore flip flops, and the.
The flip flops, like, cut into my foot because I hadn't walked that far. And flip flops on concrete. And so, yeah, so I'm sinking lookout, skipping castaway, and I'm sailing the world showcase. I love the world showcase.
[00:56:29] Speaker A: I mean, listen, everybody loves the world showcase. All right, dining, main dining. Palo. Dinner. Room service. Which one do you sail? Which one do you skip? Which one do you sink?
[00:56:42] Speaker C: I skip room service. I think I've only got room service once.
I will sail Paulo and skip main dining.
We. I've actually skipped main dining more especially in the wish class, which I could tell stories. Maybe I'll come out some other time and tell you some stories about, like, we just went to, like.
Oh, what's the. Oh, the pub.
The pub.
[00:57:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:57:08] Speaker C: Bar food. It's so good.
[00:57:09] Speaker B: So good.
[00:57:10] Speaker A: We love the bar food. It.
[00:57:12] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, go up there. Like, the pretzels and the loaded tater tots and the chicken wings. You know how hard it is to get chicken wings, like, good chicken wings anywhere on earth? And they've got them on all the. In all the. All the wish class ships. They're amazing.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Preach, Kevin.
[00:57:27] Speaker B: I don't say this to every guest, Kevin, but if you've ever seen the Step Brothers movie, I feel like we just hit the scene where it's like, did we just become best friends? Yeah, yeah, yeah. As I'm with you.
[00:57:38] Speaker C: Karate in the garage.
[00:57:39] Speaker B: Let's do it. Let's do it.
[00:57:41] Speaker A: I love it. All right, cabin types.
Concierge, Veranda, stateroom, or inside stateroom with a virtual porthole.
[00:57:52] Speaker C: I mean, come on.
[00:57:56] Speaker A: Like, I know.
[00:57:58] Speaker C: Okay, concierge. I'm gonna sail.
Veranda and sink would be the inside. I've never. But I've never stayed in it. I almost did on the Destiny and the. The. My friend I was traveling with was like, sorry, I just can't do it. And he upgraded us without telling me.
[00:58:16] Speaker B: I love that we have people come on the show who are die hard inside cabin sailors. Like, I never sleep better in my life. And so, like, Sam keeps wanting to try one, but I'm with you. I'm like, no, I need sunlight if you want me to get out of bed.
[00:58:30] Speaker C: I mean, yeah, I need daylight. But, like, I love waking up and, like, opening up that curtain, seeing the Ocean. It's just for sure.
[00:58:36] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I would. I would only do it with the old school virtual porthole, so only on the older ships. I'm not doing it on newer ships.
All right, onboard activities.
Hang out on the pool deck. Go to trivia bingo.
[00:58:51] Speaker C: Oh, my wife is gonna kill me. I'm gonna sink bingo. She loves it.
[00:58:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm gonna sing bingo with you, Kevin.
[00:58:58] Speaker C: She's never missed bingo. Her whole side of the family, they love bingo. So it was pool or trivia.
[00:59:05] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:59:05] Speaker C: I'm gonna skip the pool and go to trivia. I'm a big trivia guy. And especially, like, the Star wars, the Marvel.
I've got, like, some of the old school. I've got some of the old school medals. Oh, yeah, yeah.
This was. This was probably on the dream.
[00:59:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:25] Speaker C: From trivia. It's just the best. I love trivia, and I even. I don't even. I want to win. I'm competitive, but, like, even when I don't win, I just walk away, and I'm, like, smiling. It's great.
[00:59:34] Speaker A: I love it. All right, Money pit is our next round.
Disney Cruise Line merch. The Disney Cruise Line photo package or popcorn buckets at the movie theater.
[00:59:52] Speaker C: Okay, so it's the photo package, the movie popcorn. What was the first one?
[00:59:58] Speaker A: The Disney Cruise Line merchant.
[01:00:00] Speaker C: The merch. I'm gonna sink the merch.
I don't.
[01:00:04] Speaker B: I don't.
[01:00:05] Speaker C: I don't love. I don't love the merch. They actually have improved it. I mean, all of Disney merchandise has improved since Bobby Hundred has taken over as creative director for apparel. I think, like, I was just in the parks last week, and I was like, oh, my. There's so much good stuff here. Like, some of those jackets are amazing and shirts.
So it's getting much, much better, and I think it's just gonna cycle through. Disney Cruise Line.
I'm gonna look. I'm gonna cheat a photo package. Yeah, I'm gonna.
I'm gonna skip the popcorn bucket. Even though I've become a popcorn bucket person.
And I'm gonna sail the photo package. I was devastated when I realized I forgot to buy the photo package coming off the treasure.
And I, you know, so many cool moments.
So, you know, you can.
[01:00:53] Speaker A: Within 45 days now, you can buy it even after the fact. As long as only US passengers can do that. But for within 45 days.
Yeah, it's new.
[01:01:05] Speaker C: Well, I'll never get on it without having purchased it anyway.
I've been traumatized.
[01:01:10] Speaker A: All right, fellow passengers, by the way,
[01:01:13] Speaker C: this is great, Sam. This is great. So if this is a new game, keep it because I'm loving this.
[01:01:18] Speaker A: Awesome.
[01:01:18] Speaker B: I love it.
[01:01:19] Speaker A: Thank you. All right, fellow passengers.
One, the family that saves 10 pool chairs at 6am Two, the couple that brings a Bluetooth speaker to the adult pool. And three, the group that's already drunk by 10am
[01:01:35] Speaker C: here's the problem with this question.
There is someone in that party in every group.
It is all of us.
[01:01:45] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:01:48] Speaker C: And it's not. Well, it's not me. Okay? So I'm gonna sink the Bluetooth music person. Get like.
And I've got people I care about, and I love that. Do it, and maybe they'll see this.
Stop it.
So the Bluetooth. The Bluetooth. You're. You're just.
You're the person on the airplane watching social media.
I mean, it's the same thing. I don't understand how it's any different.
And if, you know. And I've seen that on even castawayke.
So then there was the chair. The chair person.
[01:02:26] Speaker A: 10 chairs. 10 pool chairs.
[01:02:27] Speaker C: Yeah, 10's a lot. But I've gotten up because I'm an early riser because I, you know, can't sit still. I've gotten up and gone and secured chairs. Never 10.
And then what was the other one?
[01:02:39] Speaker A: The other one? Drunk by 10am by 10am oh, drunk
[01:02:43] Speaker C: by 10am I don't think that's good because it's a family cruise. So I'm gonna Skip Drunk by 10:00am I like a nice cocktail, but I don't know if I could do that at 10am and then I'm gonna sail the pool chair thing because I. I am kind of that person. I've never done 10. That's a lot. But I've done two or three. Usually I do two because my daughter, you know, if she wants to sit in the chair, I'll go hang in the pool. Like, we'll take the minimum amount of chairs, but see, that's.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: That I can support. That is the right way to do it. I got a family of three. I'm going to grab two chairs like that I would allow people. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:03:20] Speaker C: I see people grabbing chairs for, like, all their kids who never use them.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
[01:03:26] Speaker A: All right, my last one. These are some controversial hot takes.
Are you rope dropping castaway key?
Are you skipping character meet and greets, or are you skipping the sail away party and taking a nap?
[01:03:43] Speaker C: So all three of those were skips.
[01:03:46] Speaker B: Oh, Sam's saying, are you skipping the sail away party? Which one of these would you do? Would you skip the sail away party to take a nap? Would you rope drop castaway key or would you skip. I forgot what the other one was.
[01:03:59] Speaker A: Character meet and grease.
[01:04:00] Speaker B: Skip character meet and greets.
[01:04:02] Speaker C: I would. I would not rope drop castaway key.
[01:04:05] Speaker B: So he's thinking that.
[01:04:07] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm skipping that. I've. I've. We've never done that, and I've never regret it. Yeah, we, like, wake up, take a nice breakfast, and just get out there when we get out there. Yeah.
I've never.
There's been times I haven't gone to the sail away party, but it's never been because I'm napping.
How could you nap when you first get on the ship?
[01:04:32] Speaker A: It's like, I don't know.
You're in line for Dr. Facilier.
[01:04:36] Speaker C: Looking around.
[01:04:37] Speaker B: Like, I would say the question should be, Sam, skipping the sail away party for any reason, because there's the Die Hards out there. So it sounds like Kevin is. Is. Has at least skipped the sail away party before.
[01:04:49] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I. I will skip the sail away party. And then what was the other one?
[01:04:54] Speaker A: Would you skip character meet and greets or would. Are you like, I'm going to all the character meet and greets.
[01:05:00] Speaker C: Not all of them, but I'm selective.
I've waited in line to meet stitch for like 20 minutes, which is a
[01:05:10] Speaker B: lot,
[01:05:13] Speaker C: but I won't. Yeah, I'll be very, very selective.
Yeah.
[01:05:20] Speaker B: Since we didn't do rapid fire with you, Kevin Gardner, who's your favorite Disney character?
[01:05:24] Speaker C: Oh, Jiminy Cricket.
[01:05:26] Speaker B: Nice.
[01:05:27] Speaker A: Always let your content be your guide. I love that.
[01:05:30] Speaker B: That's a great one. Yeah. Yeah.
[01:05:31] Speaker C: Jimmy Cr.
[01:05:31] Speaker D: Kid.
[01:05:32] Speaker C: He's the avatar in my, like, Disney, you know, my Disney experience thing.
Yeah, he's. And what's so odd is, like, Pinocchio was the first Disney movie ever had, like, the big DHS case thing.
I don't love that movie at all. I used to watch it a lot. And I went back and my daughter was like, this is creepy.
[01:05:52] Speaker A: Why were you.
[01:05:53] Speaker B: The ride. The ride is super creepy. Like, when we go through the ride, I'm like, this is really creepy.
[01:05:58] Speaker A: I gotta tell you, my second grade class, we did a play version. We did Pinocchio. Yeah. I was the dumb cat, the one who goes like, huh? What? That literally was me.
I'm not joking. In my second grade play. So I have very fond thoughts about Pinocchio. But I went to watch it as an adult also, Kevin. And I was like, oh, my God. What is this horror? And then.
[01:06:23] Speaker C: Yeah, but the bright spot of the movie, beginning, middle and end is Jiminy Cricket and the Blue Fairy. So those characters being in the Starlight Parade is like, beautiful, beautiful. It's almost like they're the stars. And Pinocchio and Geppetto are just sort of like, you know, dressing for, like, whatever. And I actually like that, so.
[01:06:48] Speaker B: Well, Kevin, we'll wind things down here and get you back to your Friday evening and our listeners back to their Friday evenings. But I can't let you go without giving you a chance. Tell people one more time where they can find you and follow along with you.
[01:07:01] Speaker C: Yeah. So you can find me Dadslove Disney on Instagram Facebook, which is new. I've connected Facebook and so all my content goes to both. I'm going to be doing some interesting things on Facebook. I think a little bit more engagement, maybe a live here or there live event. But yeah, you can find me on Facebook and then also TikTok. I don't post on TikTok as much.
I'm a bad tiktoker.
[01:07:25] Speaker B: You and me both. You and me both.
[01:07:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Mostly Instagram and Facebook.
And you can find me on TikTok. And then if you ever just, like, you know, have something you need, like, email me dadslovedisneygmail.com but you can also DM me on Instagram. I'm on there quite a bit.
[01:07:44] Speaker B: Nice. Well, Kevin, thank you so much for taking some time every day to spend. Thank you.
[01:07:50] Speaker C: This is great.
[01:07:51] Speaker B: Yep. And for everyone out there watching and listening, this will go up right away. So we will be back regular time on Monday evening, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern. And Sam, it's the getting together episode. Is that right? So we're gonna be talking about a vow renewal on Disney Cruise Line and big announcement for our new show sponsor. So be sure to tune in with that. But for now, we'll see. Say thank you, everyone out there for watching and listening, for hanging out with us. And Kevin, thanks once again for joining us and we'll see you all next time.
[01:08:24] Speaker C: See you, Brian. See you, Sam.
[01:08:29] Speaker D: Well, thanks everyone out there for listening this week. We really, really appreciate it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. You can keep getting great content from us every week. In fact, twice a week we publish shows. So be sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us 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 wanna help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple Podcasts and if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for the podcast links off to our vlog a link to our Etsy store we sell some fun fan inspired magnets link to our Patreon if you'd like to help directly support the show each and every month, just head over to the website or patreon.com DCLDUO also has a way for you to sign up for our substack newsletter that we're hoping to start really pumping out monthly here at least, and a few blog articles that we've written. So DCLDUO.com is the best way to connect with us. You can also of course email
[email protected] or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Dual Podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective views. The Disney Co. Disney Cruise Line if you have questions about a Disney cruise or a Disney vacation, please contact the great folks over at My Path Unwinding Travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo. Good night.
