[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, DCL Duo fans, Before we get on to today's show, I've got to let you know about a new booking promotion from our travel agency show sponsor, WeDoTravel, right? As a special promotion for DCL Duo listeners only. When you book a future Disney cruise through our friends at WeDoTravel, right, you'll get a $50 onboard credit to be applied to each stateroom booked. This one's for bookings that are new to WeDoTravel. Right? And what I mean by that is it can be applied to a new booking, a transferred booking, or to a transferred placeholder booking. Redeeming this new promo is easy. Just mention the DCL Duo listener promotion when you book with WeDoTravel, right? Or fill out the quick
[email protected] DCLDUO. Your credit will get applied to your stateroom account after your sailings check in date and you'll get a confirmation once it's been applied. And here's the bonus. If you book something from DCL's new itinerary release between August 31 and September 8, that credit doubles to $100 on board credit per stateroom. That's a solid chunk towards a specialty dinner at Palo or a spa day on board. While that $100 promo is only good through September 8, the $50 promo is good through the end of the year. So if you're waiting for believe itineraries to drop, have no fear, you have some time. The link for the booking form is in the show notes. Go get that credit before it sails away. And now onto the show.
[00:01:21] Speaker B: Tokyo Disneysea.
I had never seen that level of detail. What they've done there, even the animatronics, a whole other level. The tech is a lot better.
I had never seen anything that impressive before. And their night show, I don't want to spoil it. I'm just going to say if you're there, don't miss it. There isn't anything like it anywhere else.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:01:57] Speaker C: Welcome back everybody to this week's live episode of the DCL Duo Podcast brought to you by. We do travel, right? Remember, life is short. Take the trip. Let the folks over at WeDoTravel, right, handle the. Handle the planning so you can focus on the relaxing. All right, Sam. Oh, we gotta dive right in. Should we. I think we should bring our guest in and then tackle news. So why don't you introduce our guest where I find the button to bring her into the show here. Yes.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: I am so excited to have our guest is also Sam. But I'm so excited to have Sam back on the show, joining us for the first time on a live show. I think our last show with you was a recorded show, but welcome back to the show, Sam. Welcome.
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Thank you guys for having me. It's good to be back.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's wonderful to have you back.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: We're going to talk about just a quick production note here.
The Sam that you know as your co host will be Samantha this evening. If I can remember to do it flue things, Samantha, so that we can disambiguate our guest and your co host. So welcome Sam to the show.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Yeah, and we, like I said, we're super excited. Today we're going to have, we're going to have an epic discussion about an amazing trip.
You went on the Disney Adventure out of Singapore. You went to Japan and did a talk tour. You also went to Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea. So we're going to like cover as much of that as we can in the one hour show we have today. But before we do that, we do have to talk.
[00:03:27] Speaker C: We're not truly live TV so we get an hour ish on our side.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Ish. Ish, yeah, of course, of course. Ish. Okay, we do have to talk news and obviously I'm wearing my Sherlock Hemlock Sesame street hat today. I'm also wearing my new Swedish Chef T shirt. Shout out to my friends Nick and Steve who got this and a few other items for me at D23 last weekend. But anyway, let's talk about the news because there's a few minor things going on that got announced, some of which today, but starting with Wonder. The Disney Wonder is currently in dry dock up in Canada, north of us in the Victoria. I think it's in Victoria in dry dock.
So she's going through just her normal dry dock. No predictions specifically about updates. I don't think we're going to see any retheming anything like that. I think it's just the standard dry dock.
[00:04:22] Speaker C: It's like taking your car in for an oil change and a tire rotation. That's what's happening to the Wonder right now.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Exactly. Okay, second piece of news. This is something we found out. Was it yesterday or the day before yesterday? Pelican Plunge. So that water slide area that's out in the water at Castaway Key, that is currently closed. It's actually been closed for a couple of weeks now it sounds like. But Disney made no announcement formally about it being closed. It's closed for refurbishment. And so guests who are traveling to Castaway Key are having to get an, you know, a message in their app just telling them that it's closed for refurbishment. There is no particular timeframe given by Disney other than several weeks. So we don't know what really that means. That could be a month, that could be two months. That could be two weeks.
But right now, Pelican Plunge at Castaway Key is currently closed. Okay, now onto the meat of today's announcements.
[00:05:18] Speaker C: Wait, before we do that. Wait before we do that, I forgot one thing up front which I need to complete here. So that is also thank you to our show sponsor, the DCL Magazine for sponsoring our live and bonus shows. If you have not already done so, please head over to dcl-magazine.com right now and subscribe. Well, maybe after the show, subscribe. If you use code all caps DCLDUO. That's all caps DCL Duo, you can take 10% off everything in their store over there. They are fantastic partners. We love having them as a show sponsor. They put out a fantastic product. So please head over and check them out@dcl magazine.com Now, Sam, for the big news.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: For the big news today. Okay, so Disney Cruise Line, of course, if you haven't been following, if you've been living under a rock or haven't had a chance to check your social media today, Disney Cruise Line announced both on Facebook, on Instagram, probably on other socials that I don't even use.
That basically was a picture of a ship with a bunch of coordinates and said something to the effect of looking forward to coordinating or something like that tomorrow. It was very clear what they were doing was teasing the announcement of itinerary drop tomorrow.
We don't know exactly what time, but if history repeats itself, we're talking populating onto the Disney Cruise Line website between 7 or 8am, 7 to 8am and sometimes if they have technical difficulties, things are not completely populated until closer to 10am and then at some point during the day, the TA folks, the TA community is usually sent a PDF that shows all of the itineraries that have been released. Usually that's what I wait for in order to do my deep dive. It's just too hard to try and look at individual sailings on the website.
So if that actually happens, we will be live tomorrow night as well at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. I have no doubt it's coming, but I just say if because I don't know something could happen and it doesn't happen. But what it listed there was a bunch of coordinates and Brian Using AI to assist, figured out that the first
[00:07:29] Speaker C: coordinate, but exercising zero trust in the output and verifying it, because when it initially returned, returned a thing that people have now taken off with on social media that I do not think is right. So, yeah.
[00:07:41] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. So. So the first coordinate listed was clearly New York. So New York, New York, Manhattan Cruise Terminal clearly announcing Disney Cruise Line will be sailing out of New York City in the new itinerary release.
[00:07:55] Speaker C: And, Sam, we have to point out, you've been saying, nope, nope, nope, not this year.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: I was wrong. I'm going to tell you, I was wrong. I thought we weren't going to see New York back until 2028. I was wrong on that.
[00:08:08] Speaker C: I did say, even Sherlock Holmes screws up sometimes.
[00:08:11] Speaker A: So there you go, you know, sleuthing, Sam can't be right 100% of the time. Okay, so New York is coming back in 2027. That means in the fall.
The next one it listed was San Juan, Puerto Rico, which, no surprise, the third one was Galveston, Texas. The fourth one, this is the one that was harder to figure out that some people said was Charleston, South Carolina, because it is very similar to San Diego, California, because they didn't say east or west. When they gave us the, like, longitude, latitude.
[00:08:45] Speaker C: They gave us a north south. So they gave us a latitude. And we had to infer off the latitude which ports were closest. So AI's first response was Charleston. I looked at that and was like, no way. Like, that's not. That's not right. And so then I. I did some sleuthing of my own. And so San Diego is on the same parallel. So I think it's San Diego. Yeah.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: And then the next two were easy, also Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral. So those two ports were clear. So those are obvious. Then there were some other clues kind of hidden in the picture that I had noticed. Some constellations.
The first one was pretty obvious. That was an apple. So the Big Apple, of course, New York City.
The second one was also fairly obvious, although a little bit harder to tell. That one's in sort of the top of the picture. That one was a palm tree. I think that just is kind of your clue of Bahamian Caribbean. Most of the itineraries that Disney Cruise Line does. And the third one, I will tell you, I was racking my brain. What is this thing? It kind of looked like a lizard. Some people were messaging me, like, maybe it's Pascal. I was like, I don't think it really is.
Anyway, I was chatting with friend of the Show Allison, who is @tripsbyhix on Instagram. I know she's watching live and her sister actually sleuthed this. So we've got sleuthing Carly, sleuthing Allison and sleuthing Samantha. So it's a joint effort, but it's the outline of the country of Panama. So that tells us Disney Cruise Line is going back to the Panama Canal. So that, I mean, likely the magic, I guess it could be the wonder is going to come back through the Panama Canal. I don't think we yet know what Josh, tomorrow's announcement exactly means in terms of two ships sailing on the West Coast. We don't.
[00:10:42] Speaker C: Wait, no, no, no, no, no. He did not say two ships sailing. What he said is we are doubling our presence on the west coast, which could mean one ship sailing more often.
So.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Yeah, well.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: But right now we've got one ship full time or for longer.
[00:10:56] Speaker C: For long.
[00:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah. I think it probably means like we're going to have, we're going to have the magic on the west coast more than we've had it on the West Coast, I think before. Right. So I think we'll have, we'll still have sort of like, let's say one and a half ships instead of just one ship.
But yeah. So it is sort of doubling the capacity from like when we're doing, you know, the New Zealand Australia sailings. So super exciting stuff. Sam, what do you think about. I know you, you weren't, you weren't on social media today. So I told you this right before we started the.
What are you thinking? Are you excited about this?
[00:11:30] Speaker B: Yeah. I had no idea this is coming. I'm super excited about the New York sailing. I've been dreaming about that coming back and finding a way of doing it because correct me if I'm wrong, I think when this was happening before, it was never during school vacation.
It was always school time. So I couldn't take a break with the kids. But I'm going to find a way. I don't know yet how, but I'll find a way.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, and it will be in the fall, but it might fall on some breaks because.
So if we look at what the Dream did in 2023, because that's the last time a ship was did that New York season, it did nine different sailings out of New York on five different itineraries. And it was a mix of those like New England Canada sailings as well as some Bermuda sailings. So we absolutely could see, see either or more likely both options on the New York itinerary release. So that'll be super exciting to see. I know lots of people have been, you know, who live especially on the northeastern seaboard, really excited to sail out of New York City. I'll be honest. I would love to sail out of New York City. I'm not sure we'll be able to get over to the east coast during that time frame, especially with the believe coming out at some point.
[00:12:47] Speaker C: So.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Hold on.
[00:12:48] Speaker C: We've got a question in the chat. So Vanessa's asking, New York City might be spring 2028. Won't that be part of the drop tomorrow? No, no. Like it's, it's. It's going to be fall, winter of 2027. Well, I. DCL might surprise us.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: We don't know.
[00:13:05] Speaker C: They've been talking about changing up their itinerary release cycle and going for longer, but they generally don't have more than 18 months of itineraries.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Like New Year's Eve sailings. But I don't know that we'll see like far into.
[00:13:19] Speaker C: We won't see spring. We won't see spring.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: Yeah. I don't think spring we could see into winter potentially, I guess. But yeah, it'll be interest. The other thing that folks have been, I told people online, because people asked me online and I told them, watch the show and I'll give you my prediction. Everybody's been asking, what ship do you think is going to New York City?
And I'm going to tell you my prediction. I'm going to tell you why I think we're going to see the Disney wish going to New York City. And that's because if history repeats itself, in previous years when we had a New York City season or itineraries, it was the ship that came back from Europe that then did the. The itineraries out of New York City. So we could see the Wish do a transatlantic that ends in New York rather than ending down in Florida. Or we could see her do you know, a transatlantic to Florida and then come up the eastern seaboard to reposition for New York season. So I think both of those options are on the table, but I'm putting it out there.
I think the wish is coming.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: Yeah. I just want to say one last thing on this, and then I really want to start talking about our guest's experience here. She's been so patient. Thank you.
I do not think we will see the believe itineraries released. With the release, I am floored, by the way, that Disney has not announced the maiden date for the believe because all indications are she is on or otherwise ahead of schedule.
And so I don't know the thinking here, but I feel like last time around we had the.
Didn't we have the maiden voyage date for the. The Destiny ahead of the itinerary release? So, I mean, it's possible. It's possible they bundle it, but I think that that's like a wasted PR exercise then because they can't keep building momentum for the new ship if it's just lumped in with all the others.
But generally I feel like they wanted people locked in on a maiden voyage and some cruises on the Destiny before they release the itineraries because then you get a bunch of people booking. I feel like that. I feel like the itinerary. I feel like we knew the maiden voyage date before the itinerary release last year in August.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: I don't remember, but I think they like to draw. I. I think it might have been this way to.
[00:15:32] Speaker C: You think it was October, September, October when they released it. All right, I'm gonna look. I'm gonna go look. Let's get the show started. And I'm gonna go look and correct myself if I was wrong.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: I think, yeah, I think it's that they wait to announce the. The new ship because they want people to be locked in on ADD on a cruise rather than decide, you know, only on one cruise.
[00:15:53] Speaker B: And by the way, so you don't expect any announcements on a potential port for the adventure.
There was one crew member when we were there that said, oh, we might go to a port in Malaysia next year. But it was like literally one guy and nobody else knew anything. So I'm not sure how much we can bank on that.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: I think we are going to see the Adventure go to Malaysia soon. But I'm just. I honestly really unsure of the timing because I've been hearing the same. The same chatter. Sam. I think, yeah, so I think we're going to hear an answer for Malaysia, but I don't know if it's going to. I don't know if it's going to be in this itinerary realm.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: I can confirm. So the. I believe that Disney announced the maiden voyage date for the Treasure on September 25th of 2023. And for the Destiny it was August 2nd of 2024.
Now the difference was the Treasures. Maiden was in December and the Destiny was in November. So it. It's possible. We gotta wait.
It just seems weird to me. They drop itineraries this week and then announce the maiden voyage date like a Couple of weeks later. That just feels weird to me. But that, that could be what happens here.
I know itineraries last year were released about the same time. I think it was August 26th that they dropped last time around. So anyway, yeah, let's move on. Let's get going. We got, we got a fabulous show. We got an adventure cruise. We've got a land based talk which does not talk. T A L K. That is talk. I can't, I don't know if I pronounce it correctly. Tau ck which is sort of like an adventures by Disney product doing land based tours. We've talked about it on the show before, but Sam starts where you started. Like why did you book the adventure? And this epic trip.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: So everything started with Japan. We had wanted to go to Japan for many years. In fact, we had spent about a year planning Japan adventures by Disney coupled with the Olympics for 2020. Then of course that didn't happen.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: Covid happened.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: We tried again in 21, but in 21 Japan said no foreigners still not allowed. So I gave up for a little while and decided to pick it up again this time. And then I thought, wow, the time zone difference is just so extreme. Maybe we break it up along the way. And because like for my work we have offices around the world, I thought what if I worked from London a little bit and Paris a little bit and Singapore a little bit. And by the time we're in Singapore, I almost the same time zone as Japan. And then by the time I get to Japan I'm all adjusted. So we decided to do this.
My husband works for himself, so his schedule is flexible. The kids were on school break so everybody was having a fabulous time. For the first three weeks I was working, I was super happy to be there with them because I'm usually traveling for work without them, so it's not really fun.
And to do it with them had a whole other flavor. And then I thought, well, if I'm going to work from Singapore, I have to go on the adventure. And if I'm going to Japan, that's, that's very foreign to me. Maybe I should do a tour. And initially we had booked an ABD for Japan. Not a talk tour, but ABD canceled our departure date because they didn't have enough people. And I knew when I booked, I knew this was a possibility. I just, just didn't expect it. By the time they canceled our dates, I had already booked everything because it's so many moving parts. And I had done my research. If you book flights in advance? Well, in advance. You can save a lot of money.
So changing all of our flights to accommodate a different ABD departure date was going to be too expensive.
And then I remembered your show talking about Talc as an alternative. And when I went and looked it up, it really seemed like a comparable product and the dates worked. So that was it. And we decided to do both and do the adventure cruise and do the Talc tour in Japan.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: That's awesome. I will say, from what we've heard from others, from our friend Karen who's done Talc that they are, it is a very comparable product.
Their Japan itinerary is very, I think, close to adventurous by Disney itinerary. And generally speaking, the price tag is a little bit lower as well. I mean, it's not like half the price or anything like that, but it is a usually slightly lower price point. So if you save a couple thousand dollars, that can be a big difference.
[00:20:49] Speaker C: Sim, did you have.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: That's exactly right. Just on that point.
So the Talk tour is one day longer. We included an extra night because we were going to get there one day earlier.
And even including all that, it ended up about 15% cheaper than the ABD.
[00:21:09] Speaker C: I was just going to say on the point about you. So ABD has been canceling lots of trips. They canceled a few sailings of the sailing we were on. Did you happen to have travel insurance when they canceled your trip?
[00:21:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we always have the insurance.
[00:21:30] Speaker C: I wonder if it would have, I don't know if you explored this. I wonder if it would have covered the difference. Difference in your airfare because the trip had been canceled and you had to rebook it later.
[00:21:38] Speaker B: You know, I was wondering the same thing, but also the amount of time I would have to spend on the phone trying to change everything, trying to re. Coordinate.
And the other thing, this sounds silly, but I was on the fence. Like, do I do it? Do I not do it? Do I change the date? And it just so happens that ABD customer service does not work on the weekend.
And I wanted to get that done. I was like itching to book something, have something set.
And Talc does work on the weekend. So Talc got my money.
[00:22:15] Speaker A: Honestly, that's like. I mean, it's, it's brilliant and it's honest. Like we, you know, when we have booked an ABD and we've decided. There have been times where we've decided what we want to do on a weekend and we can't book it till Monday. And I completely understand, especially when you've got so many moving parts of this 35 day trip that you're planning and part of it that you're working during. Like, it completely makes sense to me, Sam, that you would want to have it all locked down pretty quickly and that that can make a difference. I also think that while travel insurance would have covered, like, changing the dates of your flights, I'm not sure that they would have covered the change of like, let's say the cruise. And, you know, if all of those things cost different amounts like that, it's kind of hard to figure out what would they cover.
[00:23:01] Speaker C: Look, we got to be careful here, Sam. We cannot advise on travel insurance. So, like, yeah, you'd have to.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: It's a really complicated issue. Right? Like, it's really. I don't. Who knows? That's what I'm saying.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: Yeah, but okay, very interesting. And also, I feel like Disney's revenue model in a nutshell of like, let's charge exorbitant amounts of money for stuff and not grab the low hanging fruit by not having a call center staffed on Saturday and Sunday. Because we had that experience too. I wanted spoken abd where we were on our abd, our last abd, and they weren't open to. To do it. And so we had to wait until Monday and there was only one room left on the, on the sailing, and we ended up getting it. But I was like, man, if I lose out on a room just because you don't have a call center staffed on Saturday and Sunday, that's crazy to me. So.
All right, what are we looking at here? We're looking at the full gamut. Europe to Disneyland, Paris, Japan. That's clearly Mickey in the imagination garden on the Disney adventure. Before we dive into the specific components of the trip, Sam, let me ask this. What was your favorite? What was your favorite destination that you got to experience? You saw so much. What was your favorite?
[00:24:01] Speaker B: Yeah, for me and for my husband, it was Japan, hands down. For the kids, it was the adventure.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Wow.
All right, cool. All right, let's dive in.
Look at this.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: This was the centerpiece on our door. It's huge.
The magnet is huge. And the design is kind of funny because you don't see Africa or Europe. We got it on Etsy and this is the map they had, but essentially goes New York to London to Paris. And when we went to Disneyland Paris, we got that little magnet with stitch and then goes to Singapore. That's where the hand is pointing. You're here. And then a Mickey shape to go to Japan just to represent our trip in this occasion.
[00:24:53] Speaker C: Cute I love it. I love it.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: This is our room.
We did concierge, by the way. If you go all the way, if you do the adventure, do concierge, you will not regret it.
And booking in advance because I looked at the price for a similar room to ours closer to the date, it was a lot more expensive than what we paid. We booked way in advance.
Because I'm a planner, I tried to book everything in advance and it wasn't an expensive concierge room compared to what we pay in the Caribbean.
So it was totally worth it. And my gosh, this was the best concierge area. And it's not lounge, it's an area, it's gigantic that I've ever seen on any Disney ship. So highly recommended. The room was fantastic.
It was like a veranda room with a separate room to the living space together with an interior room. So you can see the interior room on the far right in the picture. That's where my 16 year old slept. My 12 year old slept on the couch as it opened out. And my husband and me, we had our separate bedroom there and the veranda in the living room connected with the veranda in our bedroom. And Luke didn't have a veranda in his room. It was really an interior room, but he had his own bathroom.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
It's like a two bedroom. Yeah, it's like a two bedroom, two bath.
[00:26:31] Speaker C: This is the room I had booked Sam for the. For the moon and voyage. This is the exact room and that little room off to the right in the photo here again, PSA for everyone listening to this after the fact and head over to YouTube and see all of these great photos that. That Sam is sharing with us that is affectionately dubbed the nanny room.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: But it's perfect for a teenager. Right. And then you've got the couch bed for. For your other child. Right. If you're a.
[00:26:58] Speaker C: What was the bathroom situation here, Sam?
Was this just one split bath like you experience on a normal ship, or
[00:27:05] Speaker B: did you have more so on our side, it was one big bathroom with two doors in it. So you had a door to the toilet space and a door to the shower space. And the bathroom itself had a door to the living room and a door to our bedroom.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: Okay, fascinating.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: So like a Jack and Jill. Yeah.
And the other bathroom that. The interior room where your. Where your son slept, did that have. Was that broken up or was that just one sort of single room bathroom?
[00:27:38] Speaker B: It was one full bathroom by itself. It wasn't broken up.
[00:27:42] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: How'd you find the room overall, comfortable. I mean, did it feel like a Disney Cruise Line stateroom?
Yeah. How'd you feel about that?
[00:27:51] Speaker B: It did. So I was a little bit.
A little bit afraid of, in fact, the whole ship. I was afraid of getting on board and not feeling like this was a Disney ship or not feeling like this was a Disney cruise. And I think the best thing about the whole experience for me was that, yes, it absolutely felt like a Disney ship, and it felt like a Disney cruise. And the rooms and the hallways, even though people said that, oh, they aren't decorated, but. But I don't know, it felt pretty normal. It felt familiar.
The moment you step on the ship, it does feel very familiar. And I have to say, I think when I say it felt like a Disney cruise, I really have to give credit to the crew members because I think it was them.
They were fantastic. They were so warm and attention to detail and just always with a smile on their faces. And I'm not just talking about the concierge team, which, by the way, was excellent. And they all knew our names, because sometimes people say, oh, when the concierge area is too big, it doesn't get very personal. No, it felt very warm. It felt family, like, we got to know a lot of them. But it wasn't just the concierge team that was warm. I felt like everybody we ran into during the cruise, they were well trained. They were Disney crew members.
[00:29:22] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: I love that. Now, did you feel like, obviously, the concierge spaces are amazing.
You have its own pool deck, it's got its own spa, it's got its own gym, it's got its own shop. Did you feel like you needed the other benefits in terms of booking activities? Because obviously it's a little bit different. You don't have any excursions to book, so there's no rush for cabanas or something like that, because there aren't any ports.
But did you feel like it was helpful in terms of booking any of, like, the dining experiences or spa or. I don't know if you. If any of you decided to get dressed like a Marvel superhero and get that whole Marvel makeover or anything like that?
[00:30:00] Speaker B: We didn't do that.
And we booked Palo brunch for the whole family in advance using the email.
We did book a massage in the concierge spa when we boarded, so that was very easy. But honestly, we.
We didn't book much. We're not big drinkers, so we didn't do any tastings, and we just wanted to explore the ship. In fact, I had told the whole family, guys, just go with low expectations because I don't know how crowded it'll be. I don't know how much of it we'll be able to see. Let's just go with the flow and see what we get.
And that's what we tried to do. And there wasn't much to book. I wish we could book with the concierge some type of short queue for the Iron Cycle. But in the end, even that there were times in the day where it wasn't that crowded. And on that point, the WhatsApp group was super helpful because that's what got us initially. People said, oh, if you go when the early dinner crowd is having dinner, it's going to be a short line. No, it was 90 minutes and I wasn't going to sit there and wait 90 minutes just to go on Iron Cycle. So I didn't do that. But the next day, somebody in the, in the WhatsApp group said, and this was 2:30 in the afternoon. They said, oh, it's 30 minutes long the queue right now. So like, okay, I'm willing to wait 30 minutes. And there was shade and everything, so it was okay. And it was like 29 minutes for us. I marked on the watch, timed it.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Around 2:33pm for some reason it worked out and that thing is pretty fun. It was totally worth it.
[00:31:48] Speaker A: Oh, I love that. I'm glad it was open and available. You know, it is standby queues now for those listening watching. It was at the beginning. It was reservations through an app and it was kind of a lottery system. It was kind of hard to do, but now it is standby queue only. And so you kind of have to monitor.
And it's a great tip to use the WhatsApp group in that way.
You know, WhatsApp groups have become more and more popular, I think, think across Disney Cruise Line. All right, so let's talk about the. We have the Imagination Garden and the whatever it's called, that Nemo Reef.
Tell us about these spaces, what you thought of them.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: Yeah, so they're supposed to replace the atrium on the ship. And our family, I think prefers the atrium over this, the Imagination Garden. It is beautiful, but. But I don't think enough happens there during the day. It's empty most of the time, which is kind of nice to stroll around, but you feel like there should be more happening when you have the atrium. There's a lot of people watching. You can easily go to other places on the ship. This feels More like its own destination, so you're not close to anything else.
The Discovery Reef, I think that's the name. I don't know. So the back part of the ship, the photo on the left, that is less pleasant than the Imagination Garden because it's in the very back of the ship. It doesn't get any airflow, so it's really stuffed up. It's just not a good feeling. And you have to cross that whole thing and go way in the back of, like, the very back of the ship for something that looks like funnel vision. So we don't have funnel vision as we know it. It's really that smaller screen in the very back, and the seats are almost together with stateroom balconies. So it's a bit weird. I didn't like that part of it.
[00:33:49] Speaker C: It's curious for the Imagination Garden, they didn't borrow a page from Royal's playbook because, like, I'm looking at this, I'm just realizing they've got staterooms all the way down to the bottom. So you've got people with, like, patios looking right on. Right, right. Like they could walk out their patio and be in the Imagination Garden. And Royal filled that space with, like, bars, restaurants and shops. And so, like, you go through. Stroll through Central park and you can stop into places or grab a glass of wine and sit there and drink it. So this is. This is interesting to me that they didn't actually put restaurants off of this.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: On the Discovery side, you have them. You have a couple of shops and a couple of small restaurants that we didn't have. Well, we didn't have enough meals to go and try those, to be honest.
But they did have a couple of shops on the other side.
[00:34:39] Speaker A: Yeah, that's where I think Mowglis and Grandma Tala are off of that. The Discovery Reef area. You know, I'm curious. You do have. In the Imagination Garden, of course, you got the stage.
I will confess, I haven't had a chance to look through the slide deck before the show. But tell us, did you get to go see any of the shows that occur, you know, in the Imagination Garden?
[00:35:02] Speaker B: The only one that we saw. I mean, we stumbled upon the beginning of a dance party, but we were really just chatting with cast members. And then the dance party started. So we caught the beginning of it.
But we watched Avengers Assemble, just me and my husband, because the kids were off in kids clubs and not interested. And that was a lot of fun.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Yeah, that's the one that I am definitely most interested in. That's the one, to me, that looks the best. And then I would say, of course, because I, like, love Duffy and Friends. I kind of want to see the friendship with Duffy and Friends. All right, so tell us what we're looking at. This is the one on the picture. On the right is the one with the screen. That's where the Moana show happens. And you were mentioning it's kind of like a funnel vision, but not really like funnel vision. Right?
[00:35:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Because it's smaller. The space is not the same. The funnel vision we're used to is, I think, much better.
But the Moana show was very cute. It was worth it. Again, the kids didn't want to joined. They were busy doing other things. But both my husband and I were glad that we were there.
It was a lot of fun. It's very short. It's only, like half an hour, so it doesn't take much of your day.
And it was great. And they play with the water because there is a pool right there in front of the screen. They play with the water. They throw water on people. So it helps when it's really hot, like it is in Singapore.
And that was a lot of fun. One of our favorite moments was this picture in the middle because we won a trivia, which we had never won a trivia before. So for us, this was a huge moment.
But the thing is.
And then I started noticing this in other events on the ship, because when we won, I was so shocked. I'm like, no, this is not right. We never win. Something is wrong here.
What the trivia was was one of those activities where you have to match the song to a movie. You have to say which movie the song belongs to. And it's not just Disney movies. It's a lot of. But it turns out the movies that they used were all Western movies, like American, not Asian movies, like Hollywood movies. And a lot of them from the 80s. And I'm like, I know this, and my husband knows this. So this was right up our alley. And then we looked around, and all the other teams were Asian. And I'm like, that's why we won. Because this is not.
This is not talking about things that most people know because it's completely different demographics. Right.
And I know.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Right. So even if it. If you have. If you have, like, maybe some. Even if you have, like, a younger Asian crowd. Right. They're for sure not going to know 80s movies, even if they might know some Hollywood movies today.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah, I think that's fair, too. But what I Noticed, Yeah. As. As the, the cruise went on, a lot of. A lot of activities that had so 80s music, 90s music, they were empty.
Live music, shows playing, you know, Western types of music, they were empty.
Other trivias, nobody was showing up up because.
So I, I suspect Disney is going to have to adjust their entertainment for. For the crowd there, because looking around. Okay, this is no scientific measure, but it felt like 90% of the guests on the ship were. Were Asian.
[00:38:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, interesting. That's. Yeah. I think they've had such a mix of demographics from what I've heard. Like, the cruises will swing wildly in terms of when they are.
Like when it comes to nationality. Like, you might have, you know, a lot of Aussies on a particular cruise, a lot of Kiwis on a particular cruise, and then you may have a ton of Malaysians or a ton of Filipinos. Right. Like, it seems like the. It swings with a lot of variation. Sorry, Brian, I think I cut you off.
[00:39:17] Speaker C: No, I was just going to ask what's the. What was the primary language spoken on board? Was it English? Like.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Yeah, it was English. But what I heard from crew members is that they have had to. They are still in the process of hiring more Mandarin speakers because the biggest crowd on the ship are Chinese.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I think that's going to be. Continue to be a thing for them. They're going to have to have more bilingual cast members, at least speaking Mandarin. And then, of course, we'll see the OLC ship that launches in, you know, 2029. I think the primary language on that ship will, of course be Japanese, but I do think there'll be a secondary language, again of English, but I think they'll have. A lot of folks from China will also go on that ship. I mean, it'll be the two closest options for them to sail on Disney Cruise Line. So that'll be super interesting to see.
[00:40:12] Speaker C: Vanessa's asking in the chat, what did you make reservations for? What did you have to make reservations for versus what could you just walk into?
[00:40:20] Speaker B: You didn't have to make reservations for pretty much anything anymore. All the shops are open. What they did, though, at times when the shops were very crowded, they would just have people queue outside so that as people left the shop, more people would be allowed in.
But you didn't have to do reservations for that or any of the restaurants outside, of course, of the usual adult dining that we need to make reservations for. So I think they are pretty much done with reservations.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: What about characters? Were characters walk up as well. Or were there any?
[00:40:57] Speaker B: Yeah, because we didn't experience that because we weren't looking for characters. But yes, I think you're right for characters, you have to select something on the app. And by the way, when you were asking about advantages of concierge, the concierge area has characters coming in every day, several times a day. So you don't have to deal with any reservations, anything at all. But still, we weren't focused on it, so it's not something that I was thinking about. But it is another advantage for sure.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Because if they're coming into the lounge and they're coming in at specific times, or you can ask the managers when they're coming in, then you would just go there without a reservation.
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[00:42:53] Speaker A: Now. I noticed you got some great pictures of the fireworks. I've got to ask what you thought of the fireworks display on the adventure. It's. It's the longest one in the fleet by far. I mean, it's over 11 minutes long. It's Lion King themed.
[00:43:08] Speaker B: It was lovely. And we did, we did make. So talking about booking, we did make the special booking for the the area. They have a special sitting area and they prioritize concierge for that booking. So initially it was allowed to be done on the app. But what started to happen is that everybody booked and then the concierge guests could not find a spot and they changed that to prioritize concierge guests first. So everybody's asked, would you like a booking? And after that they, I think allow other guests to book as well. So we booked it.
I thought it was worth it because then we didn't have to think about fighting for space and fighting for a view, a special view.
And it was beautiful. I was super happy with it. It. They say that they serve dessert and drinks. It's very limited what they serve. They give you like one drink and like one piece of whatever dessert they have. So it's not for the dessert, but just not having to deal with the hassle. To me, that's worth a lot.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the convenience cost. It's not like a dessert party at the Disney parks where you're getting like a full plate of desserts. So tell us what we're looking at here. We've got got picture with a cast member. We've got. It looks like Thor's Hammer. And I think that's the Baymax games in San Fransokyo.
[00:44:37] Speaker D: So.
[00:44:37] Speaker A: Yeah, tell us what we're looking at here.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. So some of the ways that we were having fun on the ship. So that's my son with a picture with a crew member. And this was one of the challenges that they had on Vibe. They had a list of to dos and they have to have photographic evidence of each of them. So they went running around the ship. And my son loved it. He loved the friends that he made and they are still talking on WhatsApp.
And I asked him, did it feel different? Did it feel like a different cruise from what you're used to? And he said no. It felt just as great as any other great Disney cruise.
We used the pool deck in the concierge area a lot.
It was not crowded at all. First of all, it's huge. But second, I don't think people come up to it until 10ish. And I usually like to go earlier the the hammer. It was there for pictures pretty much the whole day. We tried to lift it, but I guess we're not worthy in the end.
We really tried in San Fransokyo.
I think my was one of my daughter's favorite places. She loved it. I'm not really into video games, so I wasn't really into it. But she played there all the time. She. She really enjoyed it.
[00:45:58] Speaker A: I love that that's where I would be.
[00:46:00] Speaker C: I am Sold on the adventure. If people don't go to the pools until 10 o' clock. Because that is.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: Well, this is the concierge pool, bro.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: Well, I was already booking concierge. Sorry for the adventure because it is affordably priced as compared to what they're charging for concierge here.
[00:46:14] Speaker A: But yeah, that is the. That is the one thing that. So we have not booked the adventure for those in the audience. We have not booked the adventure yet. We had it booked and then it canceled and whatnot.
We would only probably book in concierge on the adventure, even though we typically book regular on the American based ships. The price is pretty, pretty decent, I think, on the adventure. All right, Palo brunch, all four of you. This is the fun thing. So if you are age, I believe, 12 and older, on only the Disney adventure, you can go to Palo Brunch, which means you can bring your tween and teenage kids to Palo Brunch. And we think that's because the demand just isn't there for adults.
[00:46:58] Speaker C: Your daughter looks like me after Palo brunch,
[00:47:04] Speaker A: by the way. She's only at her main in this picture.
[00:47:06] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, she. So she did what I did in my first Palo brunch. She wanted to order everything, to try everything. It was good that this time around there were four of us so we could share more and not leave so much behind, which, you know, we feel terrible about. The only thing is, is I had imagined, you know, this two hour experience with my whole family, but my son had other plans. He allowed one hour. He gave us one hour of his time. And then he's like, okay, mom, I gotta go, gotta meet my friends. So he was there for an hour.
He loved everything he ate, by the way. The food was, you know, just as good as what we're used to at Palo. It was excellent and it was the best food that we tried on the ship. I have to say, food. Food at regular dining rotation was not great.
It was the. The worst I've ever had on a Disney ship. It's not that the food was terrible, it's just that it was meh the whole time.
And even at lunch, trying different buffets, different places, just, it wasn't great. But Palo, it was perfect as usual.
[00:48:17] Speaker A: All right, what about the entertainment in the dining rooms?
Did you enjoy. I know the is either the Navigators Club or the Hollywood Spotlight Lounge, depending upon which rotation you get in. Did you enjoy the rotational dining in terms of the entertainment side of things?
[00:48:35] Speaker B: Yeah, we certainly did. You had the Feb 4, I think. I don't think it was 5. I think it was the 4. And after the little show that they do on stage, they go table by table by table by table.
And we sat on table number one. So when Donald came, I told him that and he was over the moon and he came back after, gave us a kiss.
So they were very interactive. Even though they were going table by table relatively fast, just for a quick photo, I felt like it was enough time for us to enjoy the interaction.
[00:49:09] Speaker C: So Vanessa was asking in the chat or. No, Beth was asking in the chat. Are the meals the same length? My daughter would be whining after 30 minutes, LOL. So did you find the meal pacing to be fairly similar to what you've experienced on the cruise line before?
[00:49:25] Speaker B: I think so. I would say our server was particularly efficient, so maybe a bit faster. But I think it was him rather than, you know, all meals, because I've had that happen in other cruises as well. I think it depends on your team. It was a 20, 21 year old guy. He was. Was excellent. He was just on it and super genuine, you know, just he wasn't trying too hard. And I love it when the person comes across, you know, that natural and they are just not trying for anything artificial. And it just made it for wonderful and very efficient meals, which I kind of like.
[00:50:07] Speaker A: Yes, love that. By the way, shout out to Ed in the comments for noting about my interaction. So this Sam's interactions with Donald Duck. And then I could learn a lesson or two from our guest Sam today on how to interact with Donald Duck.
[00:50:25] Speaker C: I got all the lessons you need for how to interact with Donald. You compliment the guy, you wear his, you remind him he's the only one of the character Fab Five with any sailing experience on board. And so why is he relegated to not being a captain? I don't know.
[00:50:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, we've got top crew members you mentioned kind of at the top of the show, you had Fab 5 crew interactions. Of course, your son found one as a part of a scavenger hunt for the club.
But yeah.
Tell us who this character, this crew member is. I imagine she's part of the entertainment cast.
[00:51:02] Speaker B: That's exactly right. That's Luisa. She's also Brazilian. And it was just a funny thing. We were walking through Imagination Garden, we ran into a different crew member, Cash, and we were talking to him and, oh, where are you guys from? Live in the US Originally from Brazil. When he hears the word Brazil, he shouts to across the garden. Louisa, she comes like, what's happening? They're from Brazil. So she comes and she hugs. And then we started chatting. And by the way, that's how we Portuguese, right?
And that's how we caught the dance party, because we were chatting for so long that by the time we finished, the dance party was already going. And we ran into her a few other times and a few other games because she was in entertainment and her energy level is just so great.
And in the end, she had. So you see the picture on the right. She had, like, goodie bags delivered to our room, which was just so sweet of her and unnecessary, but just so very, very sweet.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: Yeah, those are awesome. I have to say, those are the kind of items that they sometimes give out for trivia wins when they don't do the med.
But those are really nice ones. What a nice gift. And that kind of pixie dust from crew members is, I think, often what sets Disney apart. I don't mean gifts, but in general pixie dust of making sure your family's having an extra special time on board and taking the time to chat with you or to connect with you, which I love.
[00:52:40] Speaker C: Sam, I'm curious.
Since we're winding down the adventure portion of this trip, I've got of three quick questions.
[00:52:47] Speaker A: One is, can I also ask about shows?
[00:52:49] Speaker C: Yeah, one second. Three quick questions. Which is one.
Would you do it again?
Do you see any reason to go sail the adventure again?
And what's one thing you. Or what's one sort of pro tip you have? And what's one lesson you learned or one thing you wish you'd known? Going into the adventure,
[00:53:10] Speaker B: it felt like a one and done for me because it's so far away and because our ships here are so wonderful. So I don't really have a reason to do it again, but I wish I knew maybe about the times for the Iron Cycle and how wild that thing is.
It was really fun. I totally recommend it. But checking different.
It took us a while to understand and the better times for it to work. Other than that, you know, just if you go concierge, you have everything you need and you're gonna have a wonderful time.
It's really nice.
[00:53:58] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:53:59] Speaker A: Awesome. Well, okay. They have two shows in the main stage theater on this ship, of course. Seize the Adventure and Remember Me. I'm curious, did you go to Seize the Adventure?
From what I understand, there's only one difference from what's on the wish class. And then I've got to ask what you thought of Remember Me. Assuming you Went to see it.
[00:54:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So we didn't go to Seize the Adventure because we had seen at Christmas and I didn't know there was a difference, but still we just felt, oh, I've seen that. Let's just enjoy the ship. We did go to see, remember, because it.
Well, first of all, it's new, but second, it seems to be extremely popular there to the point where a few crew members told us this.
Another advantage of concierge, when they open the doors to the general public.
What was happening is that people started to run towards the seating area and it's unsafe, especially when you have people who need assistance and so on.
So it's been so popular that now they have more people trying to organize the queue. So I was curious to see and since we had good seating. No, I'm definitely going to see it. I don't want to miss it. Our whole family went. It was very cute.
I think the technology they use is pretty amazing.
I wasn't just blown away. Like I've heard a lot of people, but I thought it was worth it.
What the whole ship was talking about about at the time was actually the launching of the Spider man movie which happened on the ship as well.
So that's what the buzz was about. Everybody was talking about that and when that was going to start showing and what showings you were going to. And all the crew had their own special showing which was really late at night and that was a lot of fun. So the whole ship was buzzing about that.
[00:56:03] Speaker A: Nice. Love that. Awesome.
[00:56:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Let's transition into the Talk Bridges portion of this, which is the land based tour you did of Japan.
Before we get into the specifics here, I just wanted to ask one question of front sandwiches.
Have you done an Adventures by Disney before? Did you have a comparator over to ABD or was this your first time doing something like this?
[00:56:25] Speaker B: Yeah, we did ABD to Alaska a couple summers ago.
[00:56:30] Speaker C: Okay, so you have a reference point of what ABD does and how it offers things. So I'm going to put a pin in that and I'll come back to it at the end. So let's dive into to talk.
What was it like to take this experience? Where did it go? How long were you.
How long was the trip?
[00:56:49] Speaker B: Yeah, the Talk tour were 10 days and after that we took another four days on our own. We went to Disneyland for a couple of days and a couple more days in Tokyo.
And the tour starts in Tokyo. We spent a few nights there.
Tokyo has a lot to offer. As I was putting together the Photos. For the slideshow, I found myself only putting photos of Tokyo. I didn't mean to, but it was like, Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo. But it was the high point in Japan. It went to Tokyo a few days from there to Hakone, which is known for hot springs.
Then we went to the Hiroshima area and visited Miyajima, I think it's called Miyajima island, which was lovely. Just a lovely, lovely place with a lot of deer. It's not the same as Nara, which is the famous one with deer all over, but it's similar.
And then it ends in Kyoto. So Those are the four key places that it goes to over those 10 days. But Tokyo really is where most of the stuff is. But it was all beautiful. We loved learning more about the culture. The guides were great. They taught us a lot of key phrases because we're so used to, oh, thank you is arigato. That's okay. But they teach you that there is a polite way to say thank you, which is arigatougos aimasu. And when we said that to people, they were so surprised and happy. So they had those little tips that made a difference in those interactions and it was a lot of fun. So what you see in this picture on the left is the taiko drums. We had a lesson. The instructor was so much fun. This was one of the best parts of the trip.
Everybody enjoyed themselves. On the right, my daughter was working with the cook on just preparing and tasting the miso soup. We had the sushi making lesson and the kids were helping with the miso soup preparation.
[00:58:54] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:58:54] Speaker A: That's awesome. Now the guides that you have with talc, are they typically American, are they Japanese, or is it a mix similar to abd?
[00:59:05] Speaker B: You usually have an American and you have a local guide. So that's what we had with talca as well.
[00:59:11] Speaker C: Nice.
[00:59:12] Speaker A: Awesome. What are we looking at here?
[00:59:15] Speaker C: Let me just ask, how are the accommodations throughout the trip? Did you find the them sort of, you know, comfortable? Like, you know, how was it with a family of four, like that sort of thing?
[00:59:24] Speaker B: They were nice. They were fabulous.
Same level as what ABD usually books because it's Japan, though they, they rarely have rooms for a family of four. So the standard would be that they book you two rooms and you have to stay. It has to be one adult with a child child. So it can't be the adult room and the kids room even after booking. Because I asked them, oh, can we just, you know, change and, and put the kids in one room? And they said, no, no, no, they're Very strict about this.
So we had two rooms pretty much the whole time.
[01:00:01] Speaker C: Okay.
[01:00:03] Speaker A: I'm curious, how big was your group of, you know, the group of travelers you were with on this talc bridges tour?
[01:00:11] Speaker B: 34. 34 travelers plus two guides who were with us the whole way.
Similar size as what you see with abd. It's essentially a full bus load of people.
[01:00:23] Speaker A: And what were the demographics in terms of like ages? Were they, you know, mostly families, including kids? And also, were they mostly American travelers? I mean, Talc is an American company, from what I understand.
[01:00:38] Speaker B: Yeah, this was a Bridges tour, so it is designed for families. So you had different generations. You had a few pairs of grandparents with a grandson or granddaughter, no parents in the middle.
And you had a really large family that had, I don't know, I think 13 people in total because they had cousins and uncles and aunts and grandparents. So was a whole family there with us and a couple of smaller units like our own and. And some others.
And yes, most. Most people were American. There was one British couple with their grandson, but all the rest were American.
[01:01:21] Speaker A: Interesting.
[01:01:21] Speaker C: Yeah. And so for folks at home, just so you know, Talk is owned by Wyndham Destination, so they're. They're an outgrowth of the Wyndham brand.
Right.
[01:01:31] Speaker A: And their Bridges, and their Bridges product is fan is really their family f focused product. And they also have sort of non family focused ones that are adult, some that are adult only, and some that even cater to specific kind of age demographics as well.
[01:01:49] Speaker B: Just one thing to mention, the photo at the bottom with those guys waving.
I didn't know this. We learned that Japanese people, they love to wave. So if you're on the bus and the bus tour that the tour bus is leaving, the staff from the hotel will come out just to wave. Even as we were leaving Japan on the plane, the voice from the flight attendant came on saying, for the people on the right, if you look out, people on the ground are waving to you.
They love to wave. If two ships cross, everybody's waving. So it's just the cutest thing. So we love doing that with them and interacting. That was really seat.
[01:02:33] Speaker A: That's awesome.
Tell us what else we're seeing here in this slide of Tokyo.
[01:02:39] Speaker B: Yeah, a couple of temples with the two pictures on the left. These are in Tokyo. The one on the very left, I think, is one of the oldest temples in Tokyo. And it's within a big park, so it's a lovely area. Very green area to walk around.
And on the very right, it's the Rickshaw a tour that we did in the area. And those guys, I felt bad for the guys because it was so hot.
And then at the end, they give you a sticker that shows a guy, like, sweating, sweating, just carrying people around. I'm like, oh, gosh. But they were super happy. They were waving American flags, welcoming us.
[01:03:22] Speaker A: It was.
[01:03:22] Speaker B: It was really funny. But everybody was in such a good mood and so happy. Happy.
[01:03:27] Speaker A: Speaking of the heat, did you find. I mean, obviously Singapore was hot, Japan was hot. Was. I mean, would. It's hard to find another time to do a trip like this because, you know, you gotta wait for the kids to be out of school. But, like, is this doable in. You know, you did this in early late July, early August.
[01:03:48] Speaker B: Listen, nobody ever advises anyone to do this in August like we did, but this is the time we had as you described. So we went prepared for it. So what you do is you use all the technology you have. So sunscreen and hats and the sunbrellas that they have, they help immensely. Much more than one would imagine. So the sunbrellas, light clothing can make a big difference.
Drink lots of water. They have salt, candy to help the body retain. Drain some water during the day. The. The fans that they use, the Japanese fans, so use everything because you need it. For us, this was the time to go. We were still lucky because we didn't catch a heat wave. So it was just normal summer heat, which on its own can be brutal, but it is what it is. No, it's not recommended to do it in August, but that's the reality for us, what you see here on the screen. We saw a sumo demonstration. This is my son trying to move the immovable.
And it was really fun. They had lots of folks. Kids and adults were free to challenge the sumo wrestlers. And in some cases, they were made to wear this sumo suit and a hairpiece, which is really funny.
And if the sumo wrestler liked you, or if you're a little kid or an older person, they let you win. They let you push them around having you over. But if you're coming too hard, some of the guys were like, I'm gonna do it.
No pity, and would push you out. Yeah. Which is great.
[01:05:38] Speaker C: I just love the sumo wrestlers being like. For those at home, I'll try to describe this, but as being like, you know, just, just. It looks like your son has got all of his energy into this sumo wrestler, and he's just kind of standing there grinning as he's just kind of like using one hand to hold him off.
[01:05:53] Speaker A: This sumo wrestler could literally flick your son off of him if he wanted.
[01:05:59] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds right.
[01:06:02] Speaker C: Interest in the chat. On this last slide, your son was holding something over his head. Do you know what that was on the last slide? Yeah, I'll see if I can go back here. There it is.
[01:06:15] Speaker A: Oh.
[01:06:15] Speaker B: Oh, it's optical illusion. This is one of the lanterns at the top of. On the ceiling. And he was placing his hands just right to look like he was holding it.
[01:06:28] Speaker C: Yes. All right. Okay.
[01:06:30] Speaker B: Very cool. And we were there standing in the heat for a long time until we got it just right, because they were satisfied with. Almost there.
[01:06:39] Speaker C: What's your daughter up to here?
[01:06:41] Speaker B: Yeah. So this is at Team Labs Tokyo. It's one of those art, science, interactive museums. Lots of color, lots of movement, lots of interactive opportunities.
And this is.
It's like a jumping pad, and you go across, and every time you jump, all the lights change. So it looks like you're creating a big light wave as you go along. And it's really pretty.
[01:07:09] Speaker A: Oh, awesome. Now, the photo on the right looks kind of like a street market or something like that.
[01:07:14] Speaker C: That.
[01:07:15] Speaker B: That's right. That's memory lane. Memory Lane is this narrow, narrow street. It used to be a place where they did contraband right after World War II.
And over time, it evolved into just a place with lots of restaurants. But they are really tiny. Essentially, they all sell pretty much the same thing, which is just different kinds of meat being grilled and. And the sitting space is super small. But it's just a very traditional place to visit, and it looks very Japan, like. So we want to go and explore.
[01:07:51] Speaker A: That looks awesome.
[01:07:53] Speaker C: Nice.
[01:07:53] Speaker A: All right, let's go to the next slide.
[01:07:56] Speaker D: Okay.
[01:07:56] Speaker C: Wait, I gotta ask. What is your daughter petting on this slide all the way down?
[01:07:59] Speaker A: Is it capybara?
[01:08:00] Speaker B: It is capybara.
[01:08:02] Speaker A: Of course.
[01:08:03] Speaker B: We went to Capybara cafe.
[01:08:06] Speaker A: They're big in Japan. Yeah, they're like, everywhere. It's like. It's like they have cat cafes, too, but this is what people want to go to.
[01:08:14] Speaker B: Yeah, they have all sorts of animal cafes you can imagine, with pigs or. Or dogs and cats and capybaras, as you can see. And essentially, I mean, there is no food being served here, but they still call it a cafe.
They tell you what to do, how to do it in a safe way, how to feed them. You. You watch them, you know, go out in the water and bathe them, and they were very gentle. It was really cute.
So we wanted to check this one out. This was the one Pet cafe that we went to.
[01:08:51] Speaker C: All right. It looks like we've got a statue of the Iron Giant in the center there.
[01:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah, this is from the Ghibli Museum.
Studio Ghibli, that did the Totoro.
So these are the movies by Miyazaki, just this amazing Japanese director. We love those. It was my husband's dream to visit the museum, and it's really hard to get tickets. You have to. There's a specific date when they are released. They are gone in a matter of couple minutes, and you have to enter a virtual queue. You know, any Disney people know what that's like, right?
So we got tickets, and he realized he fulfilled his dream. So it was a lot of fun. It was beautiful. Beautiful. And we are glad that we went. It's just outside Tokyo, an easy train ride.
[01:09:40] Speaker C: Nice.
[01:09:40] Speaker A: Oh, that's awesome. Now, for. For folks who don't know, there's a great film, it's from the 1980s called My Neighbor Totoro. And that's the. The artist who created Totoro. That's what. That's what Sam is talking about. I highly recommend. I mean, we haven't been to. I haven't been to Japan yet, but I highly recommend watching the film if you're. If you're. Especially if you're going to Japan. Japan.
[01:10:03] Speaker B: And after two weeks, I have to say, we came back with at least my husband and I itching to go back to Japan. I feel like we've only scratched the surface, and there is a lot more to discover, and we absolutely loved it and recommend it.
[01:10:20] Speaker A: So look at all this food.
[01:10:21] Speaker C: Looking at some amazing food. For those of you listening from home, I am curious. How did your kids do with this, the food over there?
[01:10:30] Speaker B: Mostly, Well, I would say they are not big salad eaters, but they did vent. So, for example, the picture on the top, right, it's what they call shabu shabu, which comes from the sound that it makes when you're wishing. The meat in this pool of hot water with vegetables.
So they had some of those vegetables. Not proper salad, but there is a lot of meat and noodles in the cuisine.
So they did well with that. What I found out that I didn't know, I had no idea, is that Japanese people don't usually eat sushi. It's not nearly as common as what we think, because I always associated Japanese food with sushi. It's what we love.
And we went to sushi restaurants. But what we heard from. From the Japanese we talk to is that we like ramen better we like other things better sometimes. Yes, we have sushi, but it's not this huge thing that we're made to think.
[01:11:34] Speaker D: Nice.
[01:11:35] Speaker A: Yeah. They eat more hot food than cold food, just like we do. Yeah.
[01:11:40] Speaker C: Any standout dishes that you tried, Sam?
[01:11:45] Speaker B: So this was a bit controversial. The one on the top left, this was actually part of a cooking class that we did that mixes a lot of different food. I loved that thing.
It has slices of pork and noodles and eggs and like a crepe type of base. But the kids didn't like it as much. What we all loved were the grilled meats. Do you see that picture with the woman with the torch on the meat? So she grilled it right there in front of us. They have these meat focused restaurants with wagyu and other kinds of meat. Meat. Oh, my Lord. That was just melt in your mouth meat. And some of those specialized restaurants, they are a bit more expensive than your regular restaurant. But was it worth it? Man, it was so, so good.
[01:12:39] Speaker A: That would be right up my alley and right up Nathan's alley. I mean, Brian would like that too, but Brian likes everything. Like, he's really the least picky eater in our family by a long shot and like, the least picky eater. Eater of, like, most people I know.
And so, yeah, I feel. But Nathan and I, I'm sure, would love all of the. The grilled meats.
[01:13:00] Speaker C: I would say I'm not, like, I'm decidedly not picky, but I am discerning. So, like, I will try almost anything, but it doesn't mean. Yeah, my trying it. Liked it. The. The herring in Norway was. Was.
[01:13:13] Speaker A: Yeah, there's.
[01:13:14] Speaker D: Sorry.
[01:13:14] Speaker C: The herring in the Netherlands was just not my favorite, but I tried.
Tried it. Yeah.
[01:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Brian will try pretty much anything, food wise. All right.
[01:13:24] Speaker C: Oh, is that the end? That's the end. Oh, I thought we had.
So let me ask a couple questions then, Sam, because there's one question in the chat that I wanted to make sure to get to, which was from Tracy, and she was asking, comparing your experience with ABD and Talk, was there anything that, you know, ABD did better or that talk did better from your experience, or were they really just kind of almost equipped equivalent products?
[01:13:49] Speaker B: So the products are very comparable.
ABD still has a bit of an edge.
And this is not just us. There were other families in the tour that have them both. We talked about this as well, because abd, it is a couple of things. One, ABD makes sure that there isn't a dull moment for the kids in particular.
So Even the long bus rides, they come up with bingo or whatever it is or a movie or a game that keeps the kids entertained.
Whereas in Talc, you know, the long bus rides, they talked about history. So all the adults were listening, the kids not as much and they were a bit bored.
And this happened like during the tour as well. Well, what I heard from other families that had done lots of talk tours because they have a loyal base. People love their tours and they are right because it was amazing.
What they said is that this might be a little guide dependent. Some guides, they might gel with the kids a little bit more.
But I get a sense that with abd, this is part of the product. It's designed for families, so. So it's made so that kids are not bored and are having a fabulous time. So that's one difference, that you may get lucky with a TAO guide that does that, you may not.
The second difference is this is harder to explain, but it's about the magic.
With abd, I felt there were a few more surprises along the way. Unexpected moments that are not in the itinerary but that they make happen happen.
And there aren't that many surprises with the talk tour. What's in the itinerary, it's what's going to happen. And that's pretty much it. It's still fabulous. It was an amazing trip. And like I said, the quality of the hotels, the quality of the programming, it was excellent.
But it's those two things, especially if you have kids on the younger side.
ABD might be a more suitable product, but it's so similar that, that, you know, the way that this other guest put it I think is perfect. She said to me that the quality of the product is so similar that now I always look at both itineraries for a specific destination that I'm interested in. Because if an itinerary is more suitable for me, for whatever reason, it might be worth it. And of course there is the difference in price that we talked about earlier.
Talc seems to be a little bit cheaper than a ABD.
[01:16:31] Speaker A: And 15% when you're talking about, you know, across four people, again, that is thousands of dollars. So hundreds, you know, hundreds of dollars you might opt for the abd, thousands of dollars you might opt. Because it doesn't sound like 15% less of an experience necessarily. It sounds like maybe.
[01:16:52] Speaker B: No, not at all.
[01:16:53] Speaker A: You know, a much smaller difference in terms of the experiences.
You know, I would. I'm curious, Sam, doing another talc now that you've done abd, Alaska, you've done talc. In Japan. Like if you're booking your next trip, are you looking at both and comparing the two?
Yeah. Okay, so you're not automatically going to book the ABD if there's a. If both are available, you're going to look and do exactly what this other guest kind of recommended.
[01:17:24] Speaker B: Yes, yes, it is that good. It is that good. It's just the ABD has a slight edge for those points that we described. But. But it's an excellent product.
[01:17:35] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[01:17:36] Speaker D: Well.
[01:17:36] Speaker A: And you know, I think, you know, for us, we've been talking about doing Japan in hopefully 2029 when that OLC ship comes out. Although I will say the fact that the OLC ship is only going to be doing like two, three and four night sailings is making me less interested in doing that. But we're still really interested in going to Japan. And so it's definitely something on our radar.
And we've been debating would we do, you know, an ABD or other land based tour.
And it's definitely something, you know, if the price is right and if the dates are right, it's certainly something I would consider at least looking into talc versus looking into ABD or looking at both to kind of figure out which is the right option for our family. Now you did travel a little bit on your own after your. Your Talc Bridges itinerary.
I'm curious, did you find it easy to get around once you had had sort of that introduction with the guides and traveling around Tokyo in particular, did you find it. It was, you know, easier. Easier to get around on your own for the portion of the trip where you were on your own?
[01:18:46] Speaker B: Yes. The guides essentially demystified the whole thing. They made it a lot easier so that by the time we were on our own, we felt pretty comfortable. Also, I should say, to be fair, in Japan, I think people are speaking a lot more English than they did 15 years ago. Because I've gone for work a couple times before, including many, many years ago.
And it used to be the case that even the taxi drivers wouldn't speak a word. And now you hear it everywhere. A lot of train stations have announcements in English also, so it felt more accessible.
And definitely the tour, because the tour explained a lot of the customs to us as well. So we kind of knew what to do, what not to do, and we felt really comfortable.
[01:19:34] Speaker A: Yeah, that's awesome. Well, Sam, I can't thank you enough for coming on the show. We're obviously not going to cover Disneyland Paris or Tokyo Disneyland. But I want to ask the one question.
Is Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disneysea, as good as everybody says it is. Everybody says it's literally the best park in the entire world. Better than Disneyland, better than Disney World, better than Paris, better than Shanghai, Hong Kong.
Was it better than the ones you've been to?
[01:20:07] Speaker B: So not for the attractions themselves. So if you're looking for, oh, this is the best coaster.
No, but the park itself, Tokyo Disneysea, I had never seen that level of detail, what they've done there, even the animatronics, a whole other level. The tech is a lot better.
I had never seen anything that impressive before. And their night show, I don't want to spoil it. I'm just going to say if you're there, don't miss it. There isn't anything like it anywhere else.
[01:20:40] Speaker A: Oh, incredible. Incredible. Awesome. Okay. Well, thank you, Sam, for joining us.
For those listening and watching live or after, we will be back if itineraries drop tomorrow morning as expected, we'll be back tomorrow.
[01:20:55] Speaker C: So that Tuesday, if they don't drop tomorrow, I'm flying to Orlando. Like, that's enough already.
[01:21:03] Speaker A: It wouldn't make sense. But if, if they, if they drop Tomorrow, that's Tuesday, August 25th. We'll be live at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern tomorrow. We also will be returning next week, but we are moving to Tuesday night. So our live show is typically, typically on Monday nights, but because of Nathan's activity schedule, Monday nights are going to be very difficult for us. And so starting with school, starting which is next week, and so we're switching to Tuesday nights. We are going to be back next Tuesday at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. That's going to be our regular live show going forward, at least for the foreseeable future.
And we will be. We have Beth Gillen joining us to talk about the her med cruise on Disney Cruise Line that she recently went on. So it'll be on the Disney Dream, of course, because that's the ship that's been sailing in Europe. So tune in next week, tune in tomorrow. And with for everybody watching, I will just say thank you so much for watching. Thank you again to Sam for joining us tonight and everyone. We will see you real soon.
[01:22:18] Speaker D: All right, that's our show for tonight, but thank you so much for listening. If you're not subscribed yet, please fix that right now. Head over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hit that subscribe button. We're dropping at least two episodes a week. Plus we're live each and every week over on our YouTube channel. YouTube.com DCLDuo Come hang out with us for a live. It's a blast. You can ask your questions in the chat and really, really join the conversation with us and our guests. If you're enjoying our show, one of the easiest ways to support the show Head over to Apple Podcast. Hit those five stars and while you're at it, leave us a written review with your 5 star review and we will read it on the air at the top of one of our main episodes. If you're listening to us on another platform, Spotify, YouTube, Castos, there's so many third party podcast apps and players out there. Whatever form of reviewer rating they have, give it all to us. Show the show some love. It keeps us going, keeps us putting out great content week to week. Are you ready to set sail? Book your next Disney Cruise Line vacation with our show sponsor WEDOTravel right the crew that handles the planning so you can focus on relaxing. Head to wedotravelright.com DCLDUO today to get started. Or you can reach out to them directly. Just let them know the DCL Duo duo sent you. Subscribe today to DCL Magazine. They put out a great product head over there. It's your go to guide for DCL tips and tricks. Just browse to dcl-magazine.com that's dcl-magazine.com and use code DCLDUO all caps DCLDUO today for 10 off everything in the WDW Magazine store. And if you want to directly support the show, join us on
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[01:24:32] Speaker C: The views expressed in this podcast are
[01:24:34] Speaker D: our own and do not reflect the views of the Walt Disney Company, Disney Cruise Line or any other travel provider discussed or mentioned. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
[01:24:44] Speaker C: Good night.
[01:24:51] Speaker A: Sam.
