[00:00:00] Speaker A: And we were really lucky that we were still able to get Mickey bars.
I think it was during our cruise that they. That they disappeared. We had the last ones. We actually ordered room service about 10 minutes after we got an access into our room to make sure that we could get one.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the DCL Duo Duo podcast, brought to you by my Path Unwinding Travel. As you can tell from hearing my voice instead of Brian's, I am solo hosting today. Brian's got some stuff to take care of outside of the podcast and so I am solo. But I'm not really solo because I've got a great guest with me today. I'm super excited because I'm talking to somebody who is all the way across the Pacific Ocean from me right now. In fact, she's a day ahead. So I'm talking. She's talking to us from the future right now because it's Sunday in the great country of Australia. And I'm excited to welcome. And it's Sunday, it's Saturday here in the Seattle area. So I'm excited to welcome to the show for the first time. Kath. Welcome to the show, Kath.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: So nice to have you. Thank you for joining me. From down under. Where in Australia do you live?
[00:01:23] Speaker A: So I'm in Warwick. It's a country town of about 10,000 people in Queensland, about two and a half hours from the capital city, Brisbane, which is where we cruised from.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Awesome. Now tell me before we get into talking about your cruise from Brisbane on Disney Cruise Line, of course. Tell me, like, do you have a significant Disney background? Are you a Disney lover from, you know, for many years? Is Disney a new thing in your life? How has Disney played a role in your life?
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Well, I think growing up in Australia, we were peak in the Disney animated movie, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Face. But no one there was no dreams of doing anything Disney. Cause it was so far away, so expensive to get there. And it was never really on my radar. Except in 2019, my daughter's dance studio planned to do dance around the world at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. So we spent a year of saying no to absolutely everything that my daughters asked for. And I kept telling them if I say no to everything, we can say a really big yes at the end. So the girls trained for a year and we took around about 20 dancers from two little country Queensland towns to dance at Anaheim. They danced in California Adventure. We danced in Universal Studios. And they were part of the group that led the parade, the Christmas parade in 2019.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Oh my goodness. That's so cool.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Yeah, that was our first Disney experience. It was an incredibly jam packed five days.
We saw a few other things in the States at the same time. And then we came home and in January we were like going. We loved it so much and it was such a Disney bubble for our incredibly busy family. I have a 12 year old and a 19 year old now, so 7 and 14 at the time we realized it was the only time we actually really stopped and were involved as a family. So in January 2020 we booked another trip. 10 days in the US doing 10 days in the park. And the very next day they declared a worldwide pandemic.
So that didn't happen.
And that trip was on hold for quite a few years.
And then last year was going to be the, was the inaugural season of the Disney Wonder. Being in Australia, I had booked it, but two members of my family aren't keen on cruising. My husband is an ultra marathon runner and doesn't think he can run far enough on a ship. And my 19 year old, just not her thing. So we canceled it, knowing that my oldest would be going to uni the next year and went back to Disneyland. We did seven solid days in the park. We saw every minute detail that we could squeeze in. I did the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour. I think we did every ride that was open multiple times. So. And again, it's that Disney bubble for us. It's the fact that I'm a nurse, the phone doesn't ring, no one texts you and we are so isolated from everything. It's fabulous. But, and it's so. Yeah, it's just fantastic.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: Well, and seven days at Disneyland, that's a lot of days. So like people think you mentioned, you know, 10 days at Disney World, that's, I mean it's a long time. But like there's so much to do at Disney World because you've got the four regular parks, you've got the water parks, you've got, you know, there's just, you could probably take 10 days and still not see and do everything in Orlando. Right in. And California. On the other hand, right at Disneyland, you can really do everything. I mean we always do it for like a three day weekend because we're only a two and a half hour flight from Anaheim. And so we do everything we want to do. That's not to say we do everything because there are things we like to do twice and there's things we're happy to skip. But yeah, I mean, I think five Days you could do really everything at the parks, at Disneyland. That's amazing for us with such a.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Big age gap in the girls. So now I have a 19 year old and a 12 year old. It was fabulous because it allowed us to do things to suit each girl's interests. Like my youngest is not into rides, definitely not roller coasters. And the first day in California Adventure she really found we were probably still a bit jet lagged and she found very overwhelming. But then we discovered the animation studio and one day I swear we did about five classes. But that was her thing. And because we had so many days and it's a 15 hour trip to get there, so having a number of days because what we wanted this trip was really just to go. We have done Disneyland and seen all those things we missed when they were in classes and when they were preparing for the dances.
So it was really good that we got to, you know, it was Christmas time. The fireworks were canceled the first few nights, as they always seemed to be. But it wasn't a stress for us because we knew we had so many days. We did break it up and do Legoland in the middle because it's too much of a sensory overload to do that many days in the park without a break. So that was a great way of handling it. But yeah.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: Well, tell me what, how did you end up planning then this three night cruise out of Brisbane if your your family, it sounds like at least two members of your four person family were like completely not interested in cruising. So did you convince them? Did those two family members just bow out? How did you assemble upon doing the second season of the Wonder in Australia?
[00:06:47] Speaker A: I think we made the right choice not going the first year for a similar amount of money. We had just amazing family time being able to go together. But I still had a lot of FOMO friends had gone on the five night cruise the previous year and I really just wanted to see what it was like. And given that my oldest daughter went away to Brisbane for uni, I was actually concerned my 12 year old would miss her sister a lot. So I went, okay, so let's plan something really nice. That's mum and me. I got the others on board that they weren't upset about missing it and basically I booked it because I still wanted to go and she was my reason.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: She was your plus one?
[00:07:27] Speaker A: She was my plus one. And I highly recommend that now in hindsight, if you've got a preteen early teen girl that one on one time with no telephones, no data no, Internet was really just a really great way to get to know her again and discover you still like them amongst all the pre teen angst.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Right. And get her to spend some time with you too. Right. Because I feel like, you know, preteen teenage kids in general, they're not super interested in spending time with their folks anyway.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I think it was a fabulous reason to go. I spent all year thinking that it would be a great trip to make up for her missing her sister. But she hasn't missed her sister. She's found her own world and her own place and still misses her, but is also thriving in her own way. So. But no, it was. Yeah, that was my reasoning.
[00:08:20] Speaker B: Basically.
[00:08:20] Speaker A: I still wanted to go.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: You wanted to go. And you're like, well, now I can. The excuse can be I hold bond with my 12 year old.
[00:08:26] Speaker A: I love, I'm the biggest Disney lover in the family and they all tolerate me. Although after the last trip I still get, I get daily messages from someone going, we need to go back, we need to go back.
[00:08:39] Speaker B: Nice, nice. Now, had you done a lot of, you know, planning as far as the cruise, like watching, you know, videos on YouTube, listening to our podcast or other podcasts? Like, did you do a ton of research before either booking or decide or after booking this cruise?
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I listen to your podcasts when I'm walking often because it's just like chatting to a friend and listening to and it's really easy to listen to. And so that was great.
And was involved in quite a few Facebook groups and also friends had previously gone on it. So I think I did watch some YouTubes last year when I thought we were going initially, but not so much this year.
More specific planning. Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Now, did you have to, did you find that you needed to do research about tipping? I know this is a big, this is a big thing, like a big difference, cultural difference. Right. Between us, tips, tipping culture and Australia and in Europe, I mean, it's just not part of the culture. Right. Was that a thing was talked about in the Facebook groups?
[00:09:44] Speaker A: So in Australia we don't tip at all. It's not even a matter of you tip for excellent service. We very rarely tip. You might have someone randomly who says keep the change, but it's not really a thing in Australia and that's something we've struggled with a little bit in the US when we do travel. I think I'm an over tipper because I'm scared of offending people. And unfortunately, I think with last year's season Particularly because it was so new to Australians. I do fear that a lot of people did buck up about it. Not. Not understanding that really, even though you're on a boat in Australian waters, really you are taking a trip to the US that you're following the similar cultures and now the people, the staff are being paid the same way. I actually posted on your Facebook group asking specific information about tipping and got really good advice. It is something that's very different and foreign to us. One good thing is they have included the tips in the cost of drinks and those sorts of things that you purchase on the Australian prices. Because Australians just wouldn't even think, I don't think, when they buy a cocktail to leave a tip. So we did tip for room service is the one that you still do tip for, primarily. And obviously our gratuities to our staff, we did do the prepaid gratuities, but then a couple of our staff were just so amazing. We left a little bit extra for them too. So, yeah, it definitely is a foreign thing.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I remember now. I. You've jogged my memory. I remember when you asked and actually you did get some great responses. People explaining like, where. When you tip, when you don't need to tip, that sort of a thing. In particular room services. Because people always ask in groups like, where, when. Where do I need cash? Is there any place that I sort of need cash? And the answer is, you. You don't really need cash because I believe you can. I'm trying to think. I think there's a way you can tip on like a receipt for room service, but it's easier to. It's easier to tip in cash because typically what you're ordering from room service is free of charge. There's only a few items that you can order from room service that they would charge you for. Of course, alcohol. But there's a few sort of special items. Most of the items are included. Right. So. But that's one area where you tip. And you're right. Drinks are something. We're very common in the US we always tip for a drink. Even if we go to get a coffee at a coffee shop, you tip, you know, on top of that, that the cost of your coffee and it's for the baristas. But it's. Yeah. This is an completely an American thing that's not done in other places. So it's super helpful, I think, for people to. To ask those questions and have those conversations. So I applaud you, Kath, for doing your research. Of course, you. You've come to the US before. So you had a leg up probably on, on your fellow Aussies.
Tell me, how was the sort of booking process for you all for booking any sort of onboard activities? You didn't have a stop, right. This was just a.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: So we did three days at sea which actually worked out beautifully because my 12 year old tends to a little bit of seasickness and we actually ended up anchored both our full days up, up north where the weather was beautiful because biosecurity actually wanted to clean the hull of the boat. So we got to stand on our veranda and wave at the little divers as they were diving and cleaning the hull. Australia has really strict biosecurity laws so there must have been something they were concerned about. So that was great. We had beautiful still days, but no, we were at sea every day. It was first time cruising so we were last dibs with all of the bookings. But there wasn't a lot that we wanted to pre book. We did get the Royal Gathering which was great for my daughter because the queues for characters again are ridiculous on Australian cruises we have no access to characters like they do in the parks in the us so that's what a lot of Aussies wanted to do. Luckily we've done the parks and the autograph so many times. We actually spoke beforehand and went, we're not going to waste time queuing. If we come across a character we'll get a signature and a photo but if we don't we'll wave and smile.
And we did book Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique which would have been my daughter's last chance. But then we got to 24 hours before our appointment and she just went, no, she did it when she was 7. And she was like, I don't think it's going to be a special. However, she did take her friends she met at Kids Club to be pixie dusted every day. So she still got so.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: I love that, I love that. So I. Yeah, 12 year olds are kind of, I mean 12 year old is the oldest you can take to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. But it's also, they're on that edge of being like, you know, the kid versus a teen. They're right in the middle of that. You know, they're those, they're tweens and so I feel like some of them will feel like it's a little too babyish and others will be perfectly happy. And however, you know, however your kid shakes out on that, I think is, is, is funny. And adorable. Well, let's talk about, let's talk about boarding. Let's. You said you're only a couple of hours away from, from Brisbane, so did you, did you drive there that morning or what? We drove.
[00:14:49] Speaker A: I think I had an 11:45 port arrival time so we just drove straight there. Brisbane has a new international cruise terminal so the facilities are beautiful and our car park wouldn't have been more than two minutes away from walking distance. Really important to pre book parking there. It does book out. Yeah. Unfortunately Disney isn't cruising out of Brisbane next year, next season so they're only going to do Melbourne and Sydney. Yeah, we think it's to do with the expense of the, the docking at the new port, but we're not 100% sure. So that was fabulous. We got there, we literally had, the boat was right, the ship was right in front of us so we could walk, have photos beforehand and it was really, really smooth to get online.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: Awesome to get online. Is Brisbane then a big cruising port for other cruise lines like who else sort of sails out of it?
[00:15:44] Speaker A: They've just built a new terminal so. So it is. But it is also perhaps the timing this year of where they've put the Brisbane cruises given that it's right in the middle of our school semester. It hasn't been as popular a cruise as the other ones. So they have had to discount quite a few of those cruises. So there are some, there were some last minute deals.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: I wonder if that also plays into them deciding not to go back to Brisbane. And it's not, not the fault of folks who live there. Just a matter of the timing, you know, that's why we haven't traveled to, to, you know, to sail the Wonder out of Australia or New Zealand because it goes, you know, it goes there in October and comes back in February. And so yes, we have our Christmas break but that's the only sort of extended break we have because obviously it's not our summertime, it's our winter time here.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: It works really well for Australia that our school holidays we have six weeks off between December and January for the majority of the time they are on school holidays. The Brisbane season this year was earlier, so last year it was December. So I think that made a massive difference.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Made it harder. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, it's your summer so you've got, you've got your good weather, you've got your barbecues for Christmas. I know. Absolutely. Love it, Love it. Well, okay, so you get to the port, you've reserved your parking.
How did the check in process go? Was it, you know, smooth? Was. Were there any sort of hiccups in the, in the way? You know, the staff obviously are all contracted. They're not Disney staff. So I'm curious to know, you know, how that sort of played out.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: It was so smooth. The staff were so happy to see us. They were amazing. They all had interestingly similar shaped name badges to the cast badges, but without the Disney on them. You just walked up. Our bag tags had arrived thankfully beforehand, which was really smooth. Dropped our bags off, joined the queue and probably they might have been running 10 minutes behind.
And so it was pretty much a walk on. It was very, very smooth, very easy, lots of friendly faces. So it was like that Disney experience started early. Interestingly, even though she is 12, my 12 year old was keen for us to Disney bound this trip. So we were both themed outfits.
That was a real win compared to traveling because when we travel overseas we're limited by our luggage and weight. But going on the cruise we didn't have weight limits. So she could pack anything she wanted. So she Disneybound for every meal. And so walking on in two Minnie Mouse type theme skirts. The crew, the staff at the arrivals terminal were just delighted. It was fabulous. So, yeah, our Disney experience definitely started from the moment we turned up.
[00:18:37] Speaker B: Yeah. Now were a lot of passengers dressed up, you know, wearing ears, Disney bounding, that sort of a thing.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: Absolutely. I had thought that maybe there would be less ears than in the parks, but there were. I think Ozzy's very much embraced it. There was one lady we kept seeing who dressed as Ariel every single day in different outfits. Obviously the kids were involved. One poor child, I think her mother changed her into a princess outfit for every princess she met. So she matched. She had a bag tucked under her arm. But I saw an entire family of snow whites one night. Like from grandma down to the little.
Yeah, no, there was a lot of disneybounding and costumes on board. It was really fun.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: That's awesome. That actually sounds like even more than what we have here in the States. I mean, you have a lot of people who do Disney bounding, who dress up, who sort of go pick a theme. Right. A lot of people with matching T shirts. That's very common. And of course everybody's wearing Mickey Minnie ears all the time as you are, as we're talking, which I love your wonder ears that you're wearing. But it's, it's just very. Yeah, it's very common. But I wonder if because you're in Australia and Because you don't have parks anywhere near you. I mean, the closest being in Asia, really. I wonder if people sort of were like, well, I've got all these things that I can only wear like this one time and went sort of full on.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Ozzy's love of Disney before COVID we had a 10 day pass that we could purchase for Disneyland Anaheim. So that shows the extent that they do love Disney.
The rumor is that Hong Kong got our park instead of us. And about every couple of years or not even that, you know, a new article jumps up on Facebook going, park coming to Australia. You know, the constant rumor that it might. Because I think Aussies love it so much.
So yeah, they really very much seem to have embraced having this touch of Disney.
[00:20:41] Speaker B: Now when you, you board the ship, you're in the beautiful atrium of the Disney Wonder. Your family name is announced. What's that moment like for you all? You, you knew that was coming probably from listening to our show or watching YouTube videos. But you know, what is it like for the first time having that, that happen?
[00:21:00] Speaker A: It goes so fast. That's my advice, is be prepared. It's over in a heartbeat. Like it's just like. So I'm glad we knew it was coming because if we didn't, you wouldn't have had time to absorb the moment before it was over. We were so lucky that Captain Mickey was there waiting for us. So the character obviously changes, but it was Captain Mickey. So when you saw the two Minnie Mouses, we got some really great interactions from up on the stairs too, which was fabulous.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: Yeah, I love that they have now I want to tell people it's not every sailing that they have a character in the atrium, but it's very common. It's not all the time, but it's common, but it rotates through. It might be, you might have Captain Mickey, you might have Captain Minnie, you might have Donald, Daisy, Pluto. Pluto. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You might have one of those. Them in the atrium and they'll be standing, as you mentioned, up on the stairs and just kind of waving as people come in and. But I imagine, yeah, great, great character interaction. What, what did you guys decide to do as your sort of first thing on board? You, you walked into the atrium. Are you going around to explore the ship? Are you headed to go eat in cabanas? Like, what was your sort of plan of action?
[00:22:10] Speaker A: We walked straight in and Tiana's was the restaurant that was open for lunch. And so we walked straight in Tiana's and had lunch which we traveled two and a half hours. We were ready for lunch and I think also I had heard it was good to get ahead of the crowds when it came to lunches at the time we were arriving. So that worked out beautifully. And Tiana is one of my daughter's favorite princesses. So it was a really nice way to start.
[00:22:34] Speaker B: Love that. I feel like when you have a three night cruise in particular, you have like sort of a, you have a short period of time. You're only going to get to eat at Tiana's once for dinner. So it's kind of, it's a great opportunity if, particularly if you're there on the early side because you're right as you get there later or get on the ship later, lunch will take longer and lunch does it. Sit down lunch is, is leisurely. It is not a fast lunch to begin with. All the sit down meals are leisurely. So if you go later, it's probably going to take you even more time. And so yeah, it's good. I think a good tip if you're there early, but the same can be said for cabanas. If you want to eat at the buffet, it will be less crowded earlier in the day. It'll be more crowded if you're there a little bit later. But okay, so you have a nice lunch at Tiana's. I want to talk about like sail away party. I assume you had a sail away party. What did you, what did you all think of that?
[00:23:26] Speaker A: Our sail away was pretty much straight after the safety briefing, so about 4:30 in the afternoon. It was fun. It was great because it was an experience to see all the characters together. I think we might have done trivia with one of the dancers just before it was on. And to see him in the dancing was, he was really fun. I think his name might have been Zach. And yeah, the entire cruise he was great kids.
So yeah, it was just great to be in that moment to hear that horn go for the first time that we'd been waiting for. It was a lot of fun.
[00:24:01] Speaker B: I love that. I love the horn for the first. Yeah, the first time you hear the horns, the horns have gotten better and better too. I mean the, the magic and the wonder have amazing horns. The Fantasy and the Dream have even better because you have a couple more songs and now of course, the Wish and the Treasure you get even more.
[00:24:19] Speaker A: I think it's the moment that you realize that you're on board and it's going to start. Yeah.
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Yes, yes, exactly. The fun is about to start. Well, let's talk about onboard activities. This is nice that you had a, you know, a three days at sea. I mean it's a. The nice thing about one of these kind of, I'm going to call them staycations in the sense that you're not going to. You're not going to different ports so you don't have to, you know, debark the ship and do excursions off the ship. I'm curious what kinds of things you got up to on the ship. What things interested you in particular and what things interested your 12 year old daughter?
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Yeah, we did a lot of things like we did trivia. I thought we would do a lot of the drawing but a lot of those were 18 plus so that did make it tricky. The silent disco. She enjoyed a great thing and I didn't think I would like being sat with strangers at meal times and I wasn't sure how that would go. But of course Disney's magic, they set us up with three mums. So myself and two other mums all traveling with 12 year old daughters.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Oh, I love that.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Yeah, we had eleven twelve year old daughters. So Mila and Bella became Elena's best friends for the next three days.
So a lot of what I thought I had planned actually became her going wild and running around the cruise ship with those two, which was great. It gave us a time to. A lot of time to rest and just enjoy the ship. I was really glad we were three days at sea for the amount of money we paid for it because it's US dollars and the conversions not great. And because the stops would have been places that I've been into in Australia or could easily get to in Australia. I wanted to be on the boat. I don't think I would have gotten off if we had stopped unless it was somewhere really spectacular.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and with only doing a three night, it's. They can't go that far. So you're right. It would be some place that you would have probably if you hadn't been to it. So. Yeah, it would have been someplace you could drive to or take a ferry boat to or something like that. It wouldn't be someplace particularly, you know, distant. Yeah.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: And three days isn't a lot to do activities on board, so.
[00:26:25] Speaker B: Absolutely. It's, it's, it's kind of a whirlwind. I'd love to know what did your, what did your daughter think of the. Well, she was in the Edge club, which is the tween club on board for those who don't know. There is a nursery that goes up to age 3, including age 3. Then for kids ages 3 to 10, meaning inclusive of 3 and inclusive of 10 is Oceaneers Club and Lab. And then the edge is ages 11 to 14 and then the vibe is ages 14 to 17. And so 14 year olds have a choice of where to go. They, they used to have a, a different age grouping for the 11 to 12 year olds used to have a choice. Now they are strictly an edge which is the Tween club. So your daughter would have been in the Tween club at age 12. What did she, what did she think of that? And, and what did you think of it? Because I imagine it meant you didn't see her too much at times.
[00:27:21] Speaker A: She didn't go a lot.
She probably went for an hour or two on the second day and a couple of times with her friends, but didn't go a great deal. I think they had more fun running around the ship eating the damn ice cream. So much ice cream.
And I just asked her just before we got on the call what she thought of it and she said it was good but the people looking after them were loud. They yelled a lot probably because it was a very small space with teenagers tween ages in it and it is a tiny space when you go into it. So she went a little bit but didn't go a great deal.
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Now the ice cream on deck. We got to talk about the ice cream on deck. How many? So there's for people who don't know, who haven't sailed before. Every one of the Disney ships has soft serve ice cream on deck. You can have as much of it as you want and it's, there's no charge, it's included. They always have chocolate and vanilla and then they will usually have some rotating flavors like they might have like a pineapple or a mango or banana or strawberry. There's probably other ones that I'm missing, but the main ones that are your standards are always going to be their chocolate and vanilla and get it on a cone.
I feel like people have contests about how much ice cream they eat. How much ice cream do you think your daughter had across the three nights of the cruise?
[00:28:49] Speaker A: So much.
[00:28:51] Speaker B: So much.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: There is a photo of her and one of her little friends with an ice cream cone with a mound of ice cream and two other cones on top.
A really cute fish extender gift someone had given us was an ice cream sundae pack and it was a cup with the Disney Wonder logo on it and a spoon and then it came with Milo, which is like a chocolate drink mix that we like to eat on ice cream and sprinkles and things so that you could go up and make an ice cream sundae. So that was a really cute, cute fish extender gift. But they ate so much ice cream and so much pizza. Apparently the pizza was phenomenal.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: The beef is very good.
[00:29:30] Speaker A: Yeah. To the extent that one day we went to have cabanas for lunch and she was like, can I just go on deck? Buffet didn't appeal as much yet.
[00:29:39] Speaker B: That's hilarious. Now you did fish extenders. Tell me. You know, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of controversy out there. I think as a. On your first cruise, do you do fish extenders? Do you not do fish extenders? When people ask me for my advice, I will be honest and tell you. I usually tell them not to do fish extenders because I feel like there's so much to learn for your first Disney cruise and there's so much to do and it's just, it can get overwhelming. Right? It's, it's not that it's a bad thing. I think it's a great experience if you go into it sort of understanding what you're getting into and you like the idea of, you know, sort of gifting and receiving from strangers, which is a totally weird experience I think for a lot of people. But it can be really fun. But it is kind of overwhelming. What, what made you decide you wanted to participate in fish extenders on your first cruise? And, and what were, what were the parameters, if any of your fish extender exchange that you participated in?
[00:30:34] Speaker A: I think because I only had Elena with me, I wanted to make it as magic as I could and because she was on that 12 year old cusp, so that it was fun. We had everything planned, organized and ziplocked beforehand. And it worked out really well that she and those two girls she met actually went and did all the deliveries for me. So it really wasn't overwhelming for me. They ran around the ship and had a ball of a time. I was shocked at how much the fish extenders and the pixie dusting went off on that cruise. I've come home with two massive bags full of things that she's received that we're still sorting through. As I said, I'm a nurse. A lot of it's going to end up at work to give to kids because we just got so much stuff. So, yeah, it really was huge on our cruise. The pixie dusting Was amazing. One thing I did learn and I loved was I took some things with me in my bag everywhere. So when we sat in the theaters for a show and I was next to little kids and I could see they were squirmy, we gave them a stream of stickers or something like that. And that really did help.
So it was nice to be able to do those random things. I enjoyed the random act of kindnesses more because you can see the reactions. Yeah.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. Yeah.
I think that's an amazing way to do pixie dust. Right. So it's. Yeah. As you mentioned, random acts of kindness. I'd call it random acts of pixie dust. I mean. Right. Because it's just on board Disney. Right. But for. For people who've never been on a cruise before, pixie dusting is random gifting. Right. So it's similar to fish extender, except you haven't actually planned to exchange with anybody and so you can do both. A lot of people do both. Right. They plan and become a part of a fish extender exchange, but then they bring extra stuff to pixie dust where. Where they just gift it to randomly or they might put it in someone. If someone has a fish extender hanging from their door. Or they might, you know, just randomly hand something to. To a child, particularly one who's being fussy. Yeah, I love that. I think it's a. I think it's a fantastic thing to do and it does make the cruise even more magical. I want to talk about the another deck party you might have had, but I'm not sure. Did you guys have fireworks? Did you have a pirate night or did you. Oh, no.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: So we were meant to have heroes unite and the fireworks, but two cruises in a row and we were. The second one had them cancelled because of winds. And I was actually up on deck 10 and I had guessed it was going to happen. It was so windy, it was really difficult to sit there. So it wasn't till we went to dinner and someone came down wearing the pirate bandana that I went, oh, we're not getting our fireworks. But it was fun. We got to see the pirate deck show. I think a lot of the other theming that's typically with pirate night we didn't have because obviously the menu was the same and those sorts of things because we only got to do each restaurant once. But still. Yeah, it was a shame not to have the fireworks. We'll just have to go again.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Just have to.
[00:33:37] Speaker B: Well, and on three night cruises, whether you're in Australia or you're in the United States or the Bahamas or wherever. You are only getting the regular menus because as you mentioned, there's three rotational restaurants. You have the sort of night one menu or, or rotation one menu at each restaurant. And so you get those three standard menus and you don't get the pirate menu. I will. I tell people all the time you're not missing anything of, of those four menus, the pirate night menu is the worst of the four. It's not bad. It's just not as good. I think the original rotational menus are, are better than the pirate night menu. Well, I gotta talk, we gotta talk a little bit about food. In particular, I want to talk about main dining because obviously rotational dining is unique to Disney cruise line. Lots of people, lots of Aussies sail on other cruise lines and go to main dining restaurants on whatever cruise line they're on. Disney is obviously unique. What did you think of rotational dining? And in particular what did you think of the shows in main dining? Of course you had the Mardi Gras night in Tiana's and you had animator's palette. So you would have had probably Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey, I'm guessing.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: No, we had the one where you draw the characters and they put them on the screen.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: You had animation magic. Oh, fantastic. Even better. Okay, even better.
[00:35:00] Speaker A: So I was really excited about our rotation. We started at Tritons, then went to animators palette and ended at Tiana's. So I was really happy with that. And we had late dining. Definitely recommend that with an older one. The dining room was a lot more settled and honestly we were full probably because of all her ice cream until at 8:50 dining anyhow.
So I had worried about that. But I'm so glad we hate like had late dining. Definitely enjoyed the food at Triton's the best. I think that was superior.
And we did have an agreement because you can choose as much food as you like as as many alternates that we would try something different and order a safe meal each meal. And Triton's was where she had escargot and tried snails. By the way, she says they taste like garlic bread.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: They do. If she's not wrong, they have. I mean the texture is not like garlic bread, but the flavor is like garlic bread.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Absolutely. And from that very first meal, our server was Didi and he was spectacular. I remember asking, oh Dede, what do you recommend? And I think it was the shrimp, which by the way are called prawns. Thank you. The Shrimp and lobster or the baked brie was what I was tossing up and he's like, just leave it with me. And suddenly every appetizer is out on the table.
So he was spectacular with that group, especially with that group of tween age girls.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: So yeah, I love that Alina decided to have Escar Go. I mean that's like really adventurous.
[00:36:37] Speaker A: She did. She had that.
She struggled most with Animator's palette as a menu, especially the appetizers. And I think a lot of those girls did. Trying to find something to choose. We all tended to skip the soup and salad course. I don't think that's a very Australian thing to have the four courses. And we were so very full. And we'd often have two appetizers instead. On the first night it was one of the girls birthdays and as our server was sorting out to bring a little surprise and a song out for her, all the girls decided it was their birthday. So we ended up having three birthday cakes and three birthday songs to celebrate, even though they were back in March and August. But I guess it's their annual Disney birthday.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:37:24] Speaker A: You're on the cruise.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: That's so fun. We're on a cruise. Exactly. You're always celebrating something on a cruise. You're celebrating being on on vacation.
[00:37:32] Speaker C: Are you listening to our show because you want to make the most out of your next vacation? Great news. The fabulous team over at My Path Unwinding Travel can help guide you so you don't miss a thing. Their team of professional travel advisors are caring, knowledgeable and experienced. It's why we use them to book our own travel. My Path Unwinding Travel is an authorized Disney vacation planner, which means they are recognized by Disney for their expertise and service. They have sailed on all the Disney ships, including in concierge, visited the theme parks, adventured with Disney, relaxed at Aulani, and so much more. Whether it's a Disney cruise, a theme park vacation, or adventures by Disney, or if you are looking to expand beyond the mouse, MyPath Unwinding Travel will elevate your next vacation planning experience. Even if you have already booked, reach out for a complimentary consultation to make your vacation even more magical. Ready to talk to the experts? Head over to mypathunwinding.com DCLDUO or email DCLDU
[email protected] so they know we sent you their way. Thanks My Path Unwinding for sponsoring today's show. Now back to the episode.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: I'm curious overall what you thought of the food quality Obviously, the quantity is big. I think that's everybody. I mean, cruises are like that in general. It's not. Disney's, not unique in that way. In general, like, food is abundant on whatever cruise you go on. And on lots of cruise lines, they, you know, you can have three, four courses. You don't have to, but you absolutely can. And that's sort of what the menu is set out to be. And all of them are decent size. But what did you think of the food quality overall?
[00:38:59] Speaker A: Look, I think I had heard mixed messages about the food quality, but what we ordered was fantastic.
I had steak one night and it was cooked beautifully. We ended up with multiple desserts every night, and they were all fantastic.
And I. It was really great with younger kids to watch them experiment and try different things. No. And they never even brought it out for them. So I don't know whether he just assumed and then would have brought it out if we would have asked, but we never did. So. And the girls were together, I think, really quite adventurous. One of the girls was quite. Had quite mature tastes and really was trying different things. So I think it encouraged the other ones, too, to. So, yeah, they. It was really fun to see what they ordered, having that autonomy to.
[00:39:53] Speaker B: Yeah. And I will tell you that you absolutely. Even as an adult, you can ask to see the kids menu and you can order off the kids menu. The portions are smaller, so you might have to order two of whatever from the kids menu, but you absolutely can, and older kids can. Younger kids can order off the adult or regular menu. There's nothing, you know, there's. There's no rules. I'm just going to put it out there. There's no rules. I know, you know, our son Nathan, who will be 11 very, very shortly in just a couple weeks as we're recording this episode. By the time this episode comes out, he'll already be 11. But he just wants Mickey's Mac and cheese. And so I have a hard time getting him to eat off the adult menu because he really just likes the Mac and cheese so much. But. So how was animation magic and how was the. The show, the Mardi Gras sort of celebration in Tiana' did you think? I mean, some people think it's, you know, too loud in particular in Tiana's, but I think it's. It's quite a lot of fun.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: I think it's fun. It's what you go for being part of that. We were very centered in the dining room for both shows, but we could still see the screens for animators, I think there was a little bit of confusion as to what you could draw on the paper. We need to follow instructions better.
But it was, it was. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I'm glad we got that version of animators palette being able to do that.
Although Sorcerer Mickey would have been fun to see. I'm really glad we got to do that.
[00:41:27] Speaker B: Yeah. I actually was, I was talking to somebody online. Yes. Just yesterday via Instagram. And. And this is actually perfect segue for me to bring this up.
Animation magic, the show you got is usually, and I'm saying usually meaning not including the Australia, New Zealand sailings. It's usually only done on longer sailings where you're going to animators palette twice. Yeah. And so now that the fantasy will be switching off of its seven night itinerary, so animation magic is only on the four original ship because animator's palette is only on the four original ships. So once the fantasy switches off of her seven night itinerary, I'm not sure anybody's going to be getting animation magic outside of really the wonderful in Australia, New Zealand and when the wonders in Alaska, because it does mostly seven night sailings in Alaska and maybe when the fantasy is over in Europe because then it's doing its, you know, seven night sailing. So it's, it's going to be interesting. I'm. I'm hopeful. I'm going to put this out into the universe. I'm going to put these positive thoughts into the universe that what they're going to do is as much as I love Sorcerer Apprentice Mickey, I think the default show, meaning the regular show in, in Animator's palette on all of those ships should be animation magic because it's the most interactive, it's the most involved. I know it's a little bit harder for the staff, the serving staff, just because they have to get their timing of dinner service right in order so that they're not serving you food in the middle of that show. It's kind of, it makes it a little bit. The pacing of dinner has to be a little bit different.
But anyway, I'm just, I'm really hopeful that that will become the default show. I think that most people would walk away from a Disney cruise that had animation magic thinking wow. Right. Whereas seeing Sorcerer Mickey is fun, but it's not that same level of wow. Yeah. Well, let's talk about shows because we can't, you know, I can't have an episode, especially one that I'm hosting and not talk about the shows. In the Walt Disney Theater. Did you get. Did you get shows each night or did you just get two? Well, you either had two or three shows.
[00:43:44] Speaker A: I'm not sure we had three shows. We started with Dreams, then Frozen, then the Golden Mickeys. On the first day we had the one show that we could go to before dinner. But on the second and third day they brought in a lunchtime or a 3pm show. So there were actually three showings of each show.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Yeah.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: I'm not sure why. I think maybe because of the late at night parties that were on the deck. But that was fabulous. So we actually chose to go to that earlier show the second and third time so that we would have more time before dinner in those early evening hours to do things when other people were at dinner or at a show. Just when the crash was less crowded. It did mean we had a lot more younger people in the show. But it actually worked out really well and it was nice to have that sitting and stopping time sort of when you were starting to get tired in the early afternoon.
[00:44:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's great when they add in. So I've been on sailings where they've added in on a C day, a matinee showing, just one. So it'll be like a 2 or a 3 o'clock showing in addition to the two evening shows. But I've never seen them do a lunchtime. I wonder if they also did it because they knew that those shows would be very heavily subscribed. Yeah, because you've got Frozen.
[00:44:59] Speaker A: That was the lunchtime one. So there was frozen 6:30 and then the late show. So there were three. And I guess because those kids that had had the early dinner often couldn't sit up for Frozen. So it gave them a chance to see it at a better time too.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: Oh yeah, that makes total sense. And that's the one. Frozen is of the three, of course, on, on the Wonder. The two shows, Dreams and Golden Mickey's are sort of variety shows, meaning that they've, they've created a plot but they are strung together. Different musical, you know, songs from different movies and Disney movies. Whereas Frozen is Frozen the Musical. Of course, it's a shortened version of Frozen the musical. It's fantastic. And so that's going to be the one that's the most subscribed. And of course you've got, as you mentioned, you know, probably the vast majority of the cruisers are first time cruisers, maybe some second time cruisers who had sailed the season before. But it's not like in the States where you've got a lot of people who've seen the shows multiple times, so they're probably, you know, they might skip a show. Nobody's going to skip the show. I'm imagining.
[00:46:05] Speaker A: I think most people went to the shows. Absolutely.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: We actually enjoyed Dreams most.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, wow.
[00:46:12] Speaker A: I don't know. I don't know if that's because we saw Frozen when it was in the Hyperion Theater in Disneyland back in the day and then we saw Frozen, the Broadway musical when it was in Australia touring. So it was like a third time of seeing a fairly similar. And it was still very, very, very good. But we really enjoyed the storyline and the characters in dreams. So that was probably our favorite, both of us.
[00:46:38] Speaker B: Well, and Dreams is. Is fun because it's the girl going, you know, she's about to go into middle school and it's probably like hits home. Very relatable. Yeah, relatable for you and your daughter in particular. It's sort of the perfect, perfect timing to, you know, the story of Anne Marie who's growing up.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:46:57] Speaker B: So, yeah, very relatable to you and your daughter now. Okay, so you mentioned, we talked a little bit about you had a pirate night sort of deck party. Did you ever have the Heroes Unite deck party or. No, because of the way they did.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: Do it in the atrium.
[00:47:12] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:47:14] Speaker A: So.
[00:47:14] Speaker B: Which is probably not the same whole.
[00:47:17] Speaker A: And we didn't realize it was happening, so we only caught part of it when we sort of walked in on it. Gotcha. Yeah, so.
[00:47:24] Speaker B: And that's the one I still haven't seen. And I keep hearing that it's the best one, but I haven't seen it. I. I have heard, though, the version that they do in the atrium is. It's not exactly the same because obviously they don't have the pyrotechnics and stuff that they can do out on the deck and they can't do. They can't have fire and explosions and things like that in the atrium, unfortunately. Well, I know you mentioned you didn't prioritize doing any character meet and greets, but were there any character interactions that you had were particularly memorable, notable or any, you know, different outfits or anything that you saw that you were like, oh, I've never seen that before. Right.
[00:48:01] Speaker A: I had a really fun one. My daughter was off with the other two girls somewhere and I was walking deck four. Just because you can walk deck four with the walking path, although you could only get most of the way around because of the biosecurity. They'd shut off the front of the boat. But I found Pluto on a walk, and it was just Pluto and his handler and they were just going on a walk and there was literally no one around. So that was really cute and fun. So I got to walk Pluto for a little bit. So that was. Yeah, that was a lot of fun.
[00:48:31] Speaker B: Well, you know, you know, he was probably going to the. The dog relief area because it's on the promenade deck, the little dog release area for the service dog. So he probably had to do his business. So he is probably going for a walk.
[00:48:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
So that's just really cute.
I think Elena ran into. Oh, she looked Ariel and got to see her. But I think because we had prioritized the princesses and all the meet and greets so much in Disneyland, and because Disneyland is so good for meet and greets and the wandering characters, we really didn't prioritize it at all. The queues were very long. At one stage, we hopped in one. It was like a half hour to 45 minutes. And that's a long time in a queue to stands for that.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: Since you did the Royal gathering, though, right. Which for people who don't know you can. The Royal gathering is just a princess meet and greet. You can take pictures. It is a ticketed event, meaning you sign up for it on the app. It's free, but it's. But you have to sign up for it in advance. And it's usually you sign up for it when you're doing your check in, which is, you know, in advance of. Of your cruise, when you're uploading your passport and that sort of thing.
[00:49:44] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:49:45] Speaker B: Sorry I interrupted. You started to write something.
[00:49:47] Speaker A: No, we did. And so we had Cinderella, Ariel, Tiana, I think, and Belle. So that was really nice for love, as you get to see those. Yeah.
[00:49:59] Speaker B: And she got pixie dusted, you said, with the actual glitter.
[00:50:02] Speaker A: Bibbidi Bobbity. Yes, absolutely.
[00:50:05] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:50:05] Speaker A: She's Disney trained. She knows all about that. So she went and sort that out. On our own, it took us to find where Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was. It's quite hidden up there, but it is.
[00:50:16] Speaker B: So it's on. On the. On the Wish class ships, it's not hidden at all. It's very obvious. On the. On the Magic class and the Dream class ships, it's very hidden. Yeah. You have to sort of know where to go. It's kind of off the beaten path.
[00:50:29] Speaker A: I think we walked around it about three times before we found it.
[00:50:34] Speaker B: I love that. That's hilarious. But it's true. It's really not. It's that where the entrance is is not, you know, it's not obvious and it's not, you know, not near anything else. All right, well, I'm trying to think if there's anything that we've missed that we haven't covered. Before I subject you to, you know, the rapid fire round, I want to know, is there anything that we've missed that we haven't talked about in terms of experiences you had on board that you thought would be helpful for other folks to know?
[00:51:00] Speaker A: One thing that was really nice to see was Disney's off. Obviously listen to feedback from the first sailing and some things were much better prepared and better stocked last year. Merchandise went in the heartbeat and after the first couple of cruisings, it was really hard to get merchandise in the stores.
And so far the only thing we couldn't get that we wanted was a little stuffed Captain Mini, but everything else we wanted was there. Like last time, you couldn't get the animator palette Knights quite knives quite early on in the season, so much sold out and we were really lucky that we were still able to get Mickey bars.
I think it was during our cruise that they. That they disappeared. We had the last ones. We actually ordered room service about 10 minutes after we got an access into our room to make sure that we could get one.
So the feedback has been that they've definitely listened. We still have Australian experience, exclusive merchandise that seems to still be in pretty good supplies. But they've also opened the store down on, I think Deck 3 as exclusively Australian merchandise too. That little store.
[00:52:13] Speaker B: So right by the. Yeah, right by the.
[00:52:15] Speaker A: Near the adult area?
[00:52:16] Speaker B: Yeah, near the adult area right next to the pub. Interesting.
[00:52:18] Speaker A: That's very pretty much exclusive Australian.
The shops did open at 10 o'clock on our first night, whereas last year they opened the next day and there was quite a queue waiting there to get in. But so far the merch seems to be holding. So that was really nice to see that Disney's listened to that feedback.
[00:52:37] Speaker B: Yeah, well. And that store is actually usually just princess dresses and like pirate costumes for little kids at that store. So during. During US sailings or, you know, sailings out of the US or Canada, it's. That store is not. Not Australian merchandise. It's little princess dresses. It's basically what you would buy at, you know, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique if they had a. I don't think you can.
[00:53:01] Speaker A: Buy that anywhere on the Australian sailings. So there's Nothing. No princess dresses in the stores themselves. And you can't buy them from Bibbidi Bobbidi unless you have a reservation. So that is a difference. Yeah.
[00:53:14] Speaker B: Interesting. Yeah. Well, and they are different dresses than what you can buy in Bibbidi Bobbidi. But that's. Yeah, that's interesting. But a lot of people I know, if they're not making an appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi or they might buy something off, at least here in the US Buy a dress off of Amazon and bring it for their child because they want to make sure they've got the right one in the right. The right character in the right size. And also because it's exorbitantly expensive to buy at Bibbidi Bobbidi. From what I answered, I've always been a little relieved that we have a boy who's not really interested in dress up.
[00:53:47] Speaker A: I've completely blocked out how much our first time at Bibbidi Bobbidi cost us.
[00:53:54] Speaker B: Well, Kath, I feel like I've got to subject you to a little bit of rapid fire, a little bit of judgment. Okay, not too much judgment. But I want to ask you your Disney favorites. I want to ask you some cruise favorites from this cruise. Of course. The Disney Wonder is clearly your favorite Disney cruise line ship, so we'll just put that one away.
[00:54:17] Speaker A: Correct. But we are hoping to book Singapore, so we'll see.
[00:54:21] Speaker B: Oh, so it might not forever be your favorite Disney ship. All right, well, let's start with who is your favorite Disney character? And Disney can be anything that Disney owns.
[00:54:30] Speaker A: I'm a Mickey girl. Mickey Mouse. Although the first time we went to Disneyland, when I saw Minnie, I burst into tears because it was the moment I realized we made it. So, yeah, Mickey and Minnie.
[00:54:42] Speaker B: I have to say, between Mickey and Minnie. I'm a mini girl myself, and I love my favorite Minnie. Well, I have a new favorite Minnie, but my favorite Minnie for many, many years has been Captain Minnie in her pants. I want to be very clear. I like her in the white pants with the red jacket. But now my new favorite Minnie is hero Minnie, who's going to be on the Destiny. She's like a superhero with the cape and everything. I. I can't even. It's. It's. It's just incredible. All right, well, what is your favorite Disney movie?
[00:55:12] Speaker A: Up. There's so many themes in up that relate. Yeah, definitely Up.
[00:55:17] Speaker B: So good. I can't help but cry, though, every time that movie stars.
Every time. All right, what's your favorite Disney song?
[00:55:24] Speaker A: Then I think the theme from Fantasia.
[00:55:28] Speaker B: Oh, that's a great one. Yeah. Love that. Okay. We already actually talked what your favorite Disney cruise line stage show was, which was Disney Dreams. I love that for you. That's a great.
It hits the feels, as we said. I think it relates well. What was your favorite onboard activity on the Disney Wonder?
[00:55:49] Speaker A: Seeing the kids in the silent disco. They weren't very silent. They were yelling their heads off. But it was fun. Yeah.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: Yes. I will tell you, Nathan loves the silent disco. We. We. Anytime we can find the family friendly silent disco, we're going to it. Because he just dances his little butt off. It's the cutest thing. I love it. All right, what was your favorite rotational dining?
[00:56:13] Speaker A: Menu wise, was definitely Triton's.
Experience wise, I think animator's palette.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Both great. And I agree with you. Menu wise, the chateaubriand, the escargot, that menu in Tritons, which is the same as in Lumiere's and Royal Court and Royal Palace. That is actually, I think, probably the best, at least on the four original ships. It's the best menu across the fleet. All right, well, let's talk your favorite space to relax on the ship.
[00:56:46] Speaker A: I got to go into Cove Cafe a few times when the kids were running wild and sitting the adults in the area. That was nice because we had a full. Pretty full sailing, and there were a lot of children, so it was nice to get away.
[00:57:00] Speaker B: Awesome. All right, we're going to move back over to food. I want a favorite sweet item, and then I'll ask a favorite savory item. So we'll start. What was a favorite sweet item? It could be pool deck ice cream. No judgment there.
[00:57:13] Speaker A: But a favorite sweet pool deck ice cream.
[00:57:16] Speaker B: Well, there you go.
[00:57:17] Speaker A: No, look, the Mickey waffles were just something really sentimental that we couldn't wait to get back to.
Just because you can't get them here anywhere. And because we've done character dining every time we've been to the U.S. i think that was just such a sentimental thing that we both wanted.
[00:57:36] Speaker B: I love that. I love that. All right, what was a favorite savory item?
[00:57:40] Speaker A: Oh, the all hands on deck cheese platter. Yeah, I had one every day.
[00:57:47] Speaker B: That is like. I will tell you, you are not alone. There are so many people who love that cheese platter.
[00:57:54] Speaker A: I would take the girls off, I'd go sit on my balcony because since it was just two of us, we decided to splurge on the balcony room. And the girl math. I decided it was cheaper Because I was paying for two, not four, so it was fine.
So every afternoon I would get one and go sit outside, and it was just beautiful. Yeah, definitely a favorite.
[00:58:15] Speaker B: Awesome. I love your. I love your dog. Decided that he wanted to. Or she wanted to talk during. She wanted to talk during. When we're talking about cheese. I mean, dogs like cheese, too, you know, she's excited. I love it.
Exactly. All right, we mentioned your favorite ship is the Disney Wonder, so I'm going to jump and ask. Ask you what is your bucket list cruise. If you could go anywhere in the world on a Disney Cruise Line ship, and it doesn't even have to be someplace that Disney currently goes, where would you go?
[00:58:44] Speaker A: Oh, Alaska is so in my sights. Absolutely. I really want to do that.
[00:58:49] Speaker B: Oh, love that. Now, you mentioned Singapore. So obviously the adventure is going to be sailing out of Singapore starting in December of 2025. So about a year from now. I think bookings are opening up in the next couple of weeks, actually. I think a couple. Maybe one or two weeks from the time that we're recording, obviously, because I know this episode will probably come out. It will already have been booked. But are you. Are you looking at booking something out of Singapore?
[00:59:17] Speaker A: I'm hoping to. Singapore and the Asian parks are obviously the most accessible to us from here, and given it's something new, we did buy a placeholder in case.
So, yeah, I'm hoping to, because the Wonder is coming back, I believe, again next season. So it would be nice to do a different experience. Yeah, I think that's a lot of the feedback that's been given is that people would love to have a different ship come.
[00:59:45] Speaker B: Yeah. And it'll be interesting to see as the, you know, as the fleet. We've sort of speculated a lot about this, like, what will happen as the fleet expands. You know, there's, of course, some limitations of which ships can go through the Panama Canal and. Yeah.
[01:00:00] Speaker A: And if they want to take it under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it's got to be one of the smaller ships. But there's another terminal. But it's just that experience, I think, of going under the Harbor Bridge is iconic. So. Yeah.
[01:00:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think. Yeah. So I think that definitely plays into it. And then, of course, where they've made port commitments plays into that as well. And then I'm sure that, you know, as we know, Disney is, you know, Mickey's all about putting his hand in your pocket. So they're trying to figure out where they. Where their markets are as far as making the most money for their investments. And, and obviously they, they seem to be investing heavily in the Asian market in the sense that they're not just going to have the Singapore ship, but they've now committed to do the Tokyo with olc. So that should be really interesting. Well, Kath, we'd, I'd love to have you, you know, join me again, especially if you end up going on the adventure out of Singapore. I think that'll be such a unique experience. That ship is very, very unique and it's got IP coming out the wazoo. I mean, it is, it is like an explosion of Disney IP and, and taking from bits and pieces from the other ships, in fact.
But yeah, on a very, very different ship. So super interesting. But I just want to say thank you so much for joining me. It's been lovely chatting with you today and I hope that, as I said, I hope you'll come back and join me again.
[01:01:23] Speaker A: Thank you so much.
[01:01:30] Speaker C: Well, thanks to 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 sure to hit the subscribe button to get all of those great episodes. And if you want to watch us live, we have a live show now every week, Monday nights, 5:30pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern over on YouTube.com DCLDUO so be sure to head over and check that out. If you want help support the show, be sure to hit those five stars on Apple podcasts. And if you leave us a written review, a five star written review, we will read it at the top of one of our main episodes. So please head over there and hit those five stars. Of course you can also help support support the show by supporting our fabulous show sponsor My Path Unwinding travel. You want to book your next Disney vacation? Head over to mypathunwinding.com forward/dclduo or email them at dclduomypathunwinding.com so they know we sent you their way. If you've got questions or you'd like to connect with us, the best way to do that is to head over to DCLDuo.com it's got links to all of our things, full catalog of the podcast episodes including a searchable catalog for 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 us@infoCLdu duo.com or reach out to us on our voicemail line at 402-413-5590. That's 402-413-5590. The DCL Duo podcast is not affiliated with Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Company or the Disney family of theme parks. The views expressed on the show are solely those of the individuals on the podcast and in no way reflective. Use the Disney Company or Disney Cruise Line. If you have questions about a Disney Cruise or Disney Vacation, please contact the great folks over at MyPath unwinding travel or Disney directly or your own travel agent. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time for another fabulous adventure with the DCL Duo.
