September 16, 2024 • 27 mins
Welcome to this exciting and special episode of Merman Mondays! Today we're joined by the duo, Andrew Grau and Quinn Marshal, the band's drummer and new guest co-host. In this episode, the ultimate Disney tribute band, The Little Merman, takes you on a journey behind the scenes, sharing their love for Disney music, content, and culture.
Listen in as Andrew and Quinn reminisce about their recent trip to Disney World, including their attempt to drink around the world during Epcot's Food and Wine Festival. They also discuss more of their shared history as Grau have been making music since the middle of the pandemic, and now tour with the Ultimate Disney Tribute band!
From favorite rides and meals to dream Disney trips, this episode is packed with fun stories and laughter. Whether you're a longtime fan or new to the band, you'll enjoy this deep dive into the magical world of Disney with The Little Merman.
Don't miss out on the behind-the-scenes insights, and be sure to check out their Patreon for exclusive content and perks!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to Merman Monday's podcast, the podcast where the nation's number one
ultimate Disney tribute band takes you behind the magic. I'm your host, Andrew Grau today.
And we're adding a new voice to the Merman trio, as always, as the melodic mastermind
and I guess now big rhythm guy, Quinn Marshall.
Hey, thanks, Grau. It is always a blast to be here.
(00:32):
Whether you're a longtime fan or just discovering us, we're here to bring the
magic of Disney music to life. both on stage and in your ears.
I'm Quinn Marshall, and your guest co-host and the band's drummer.
And I'm beyond excited to be part of this journey where we celebrate Disney's
musical legacy, Disney content and culture, and dive into the stories and experiences
that make being in The Little Merman so special.
(00:54):
Our mission with this podcast is connect with our fans on a deeper level,
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring in the indie rock band,
and share in the joy that That is Disney content and culture.
Today is a bit of a different one as we continue to find ways to make content,
try out new intros, and offer a respite for our fearless leader, Alexis Babini.
Luckily, Quinn's been a quest. No, it has been a guest in the past.
(01:19):
Knows how to roll the punches.
And we're going to talk a bit more about Quinn's history and our most recent
trip to Disney World where we did attempt a drink around the world during the
Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Ooh.
That's all good and fine. But before we go the distance, we're still a touring
band with some shows coming up. So let's get down to business.
And here are some upcoming fall and winter shows. Saturday, September 28th,
(01:43):
Laura's Center for the Arts, Hanover, Massachusetts.
Sunday, October 13th, Hard Rock Cafe, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Thursday, October 24th, The Cutting Room, New York, New York.
And Sunday, December 22nd, Plymouth Memorial Hall, Plymouth,
Massachusetts. she says.
More information like ticket links or RSVP links can be found on our website
at thelittlemerman.com backslash tickets.
(02:06):
All right. So Quinn, great job reading on that copy.
That's the thing that you never think you have to prepare is reading a script
and then you're like, oh God, why do I sound like this? Oh boy, yeah.
But we did record an episode this week. So if you, this is now a dual episode
week, but you're definitely going to get to hear the top fives with Quinn Marshall. Super fun episode.
(02:29):
Really enjoyed it. We enjoyed making it as our first video episode.
How do you think it went? I think the video went well. We got a couple nice little angles there.
It was nice to be in a room with my buddies and doing a podcast,
you know, longtime listener of podcasts, first time recorder of podcasts.
So that was actually very fun.
Yeah. And I felt like my whole job was just trying to make you laugh the entire
(02:50):
time. And I feel like I'm more on when just like trying to make you laugh and stuff.
Oh my gosh, dude. When the three
of us get together, It's almost just like straight up laugh fest. Oh.
I mean, my favorite is The Who. Who? The Who? The Who? Oh, my God.
And he waited until I said, I also love The Who.
That's a great Alexis bit. Listen, it's great. But here's the thing.
(03:11):
Like, what I felt like, you know, we didn't really push on too fast.
I felt like we just, we learned so much about Quinn's history.
So, you know, we talked a little bit about musical influences and stuff like that.
But then how did you find your way to meeting me? Because that's how the connection started. Yeah.
I met, why did I meet Grau? I met Grau. It was in 2020, yeah.
(03:32):
2020, so yeah, we're going back in four years.
I met Grau in a band that I was in, and I believe at the time was still- Zootopia.
Oh, Zoo Cryptic, yes. Zoo Cryptic? Zoo Cryptic, yeah. We were in a little indie
band called Zoo Cryptic. Heck yeah. We were currently looking for a bass player. Yep.
Grau auditioned, got the job
on the spot. Yeah. We soon became renamed to Common Kicks. Which I loved.
(03:57):
Great, great band. Dude, we worked so hard on that band. It was fun.
Shout out to Nick and Alec. They're really good people. it was it said
it was it didn't work out but we played one of
my favorite gigs of all time was my birthday show at arlene's grocery
that was one of my favorite gigs yeah that was very
fun we were all dressed up so nice hey man it was like such a good vibe and
like i remember you said chad smith it was like yeah though i auditioned with
(04:19):
a red hot chili pepper song and quinn and me was like yo do you like flea i
was like yeah flea's one of my favorite oh yeah connected very quickly on like
Like the bass drummer duo.
So like Flea and Chad Smith or like Keith Moon and John. John was like, oh, yeah.
And we were both like, oh, my favorite band. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
And that was so that was such a fun time, too, because at the time,
(04:40):
Quinn was still living upstate.
So there were a bunch of nights that Quinn crashed with me at my apartment,
which was like super cool.
So I got to see Quinn a ton more. And we kind of became we kind of went out
to party on a lot. And that was like a bar that was like kind of fun for that time.
Adjacent. Yeah. Yeah, literally a Jason from the door from Irving.
Oh, yeah. Let's don't throw. So, yeah.
(05:01):
I moved in quite soon after, you know. Yeah, it was really fun.
Yeah. If you're listening to the other episode, I think that we mentioned that
we were roommates at one point. Yeah. But I don't know if we were just talking
about like how that actually happened.
So yeah, it's like for bandmates to roommates. Yeah. And then I remember.
And I remember December of that year that he like moved in with me.
I was like, no, it was even before that. It was like we had already played some
(05:23):
shows with Common Kicks. And I was thinking about getting out.
I was like, yo, there's this band, The Little Merman. Do you think this is cool? you're
like that sounds like the coolest thing i've ever done so i nearly put quinn's name
in and quinn became became you know first
first sub and then now has moved into more of like
a first chair role which has been great and like you know responsible responsible driver
bros we get to whenever quinn drives i get to drive which
(05:44):
is great because it's like you know you get the driver rate but then like it's
fun we get to grow up front and be absolutely silly good co-pilot bruh yeah
man that stuff was that stuff was so fun and i actually remember one of the
time one One of my favorite Quinn on tour moments was one of his first gigs
that he got to do with me and Winnow at the Lake Placid.
(06:04):
And it was a summer gig on a summer stage.
Oh, I didn't think I knew it. I think I know the story you're telling.
Yeah, and I'll tell you what, getting back was one of the most stressful experiences
of my life because I was three hours late to a rehearsal for Alaska.
The drag queen, who I ended up working with for two years in a row.
And that was like the biggest celebrity I'd ever worked with.
I was so embarrassed we were late coming back. but on the way up Quinn had The
(06:28):
Ox and we were doing like a Grateful Dead trip and we were having time of psychedelic
bands and like Quinn and I both really like Grateful Dead so that was always
fun but they played the Jerry Garcia band I was like bro this is like yeah.
This is almost like better Grateful Dead stuff it's just so good it's amazing
like Bluegrass has that kind of effect where like everything is just so technical
(06:49):
it's so fast but like the way people can just like get into a jam with these
like you know a banjo or a mingling or a fiddle.
It really, it's, I give a lot of respect for that.
Yeah, not to mention, man, it's like, you know.
It's that that type of music not vibes to everybody and
you even kind of mentioned that you're like yeah it doesn't really vibe with everybody but
(07:11):
i was like man i totally like get this and it's so right so
musical yeah i almost had just like the straight up respect you're like okay
like yeah might not be for me but i i enjoy what they're doing so queen you've
been in the mermen for some time now just want to ask like one of your favorite
mermen stories also your favorite bit because that's what we always ask our
guests and since you're moving into you know.
(07:33):
Co-host region i want to make sure that people just kind
of know who you are you know a little bit more than than than yeah
absolutely let's see i know on the wednesday podcast
or the wednesday let's say i know
on the other episode i mentioned
the super salad story which is like from
my first day as a merriman favorite memories
(07:56):
oh boy you know what i would probably have to say our
day at disney world yeah disney world
was probably top that's got
to be top 10 top 10 moments dude in my mermaid history
yeah literally you know what
i think it was like going on space with you oh and
like seeing our faces in the picture after dude yeah
(08:18):
so good i still have that somewhere oh i
think i have that picture somewhere saved yeah that was
a really good one I can't remember I thought
I I thought there was somebody who didn't know
that it was in the dark did Cody not yeah I
think Cody didn't know it was in the dark yeah that ride was in the dark and
when we finished he was like what what the what the heck dude oh yeah well this
(08:42):
is so funny that Quinn transitions perfectly into our discussion topic I did
want to talk about our most recent trip to Disney World which was actually a
year ago this past summer that was my famous summer Summer of screm,
as I like to say, because I literally I was unemployed.
A summer of screm. Yeah, I was unemployed. I was just a touring musician.
I was also moving. I literally moved the same day that I the same day that we were in Disney World.
(09:06):
I was literally having my stuff packed up and moved here to this current apartment.
We're now in the Shea Grow, the Grow Cave.
Yeah, that was like one of my favorite trips to Disney World.
It was like a beautiful, horrible mess, but it was just our mess and it felt so fun.
Long it just rains all the time like yeah i feel i honestly feel like a decent
(09:28):
amount of our time was like tracking down like these rain ponchos that they
sell through the bar yeah and there was like oh you can get the like the cheapo
like five bucks or you can spend the extra like 13.
It'll give you like a thicker one that was good yeah dude that was it was a,
Yeah, I love how he started with Pirates of the Caribbean. That was such a move.
(09:49):
You were like, it was so right. It was like the park just opened.
Yeah. You just got to go hit Pirates because there's always a line for it.
Because when you sit down, it just kind of got everyone in.
And I haven't been on Small World since I was like, I feel like there's nine.
Like Disneyland and World are like the innovators of those like sit down boat
rides, you know, where you're going through like scenes in a book or like,
(10:12):
oh, yeah. Yeah, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, just easily one of the best.
I wish I had gone down to Disney when Johnny Depp was like doing that stuff.
Yeah, they were doing a lot of stuff for pirates.
That would have been really cool. But I feel like I read an article somewhere
where most people didn't realize it was actually him.
And he acted so much like an animatronic that people were like, oh, we had no clue.
(10:36):
That's some goofy Tim Burton stuff, which I kind of love. Yeah,
man, I will say the thing about that trip was it was it was very much like started
off with anyone kind of do their own thing.
And then it kind of became we all have to move. But this is amorphous blob.
We keep picking up people as we go. And we have like, really random people meet us places.
But it was kind of fun because as someone who when I've invited in substances, I get kind of munchy.
(11:00):
And no one was a food finisher in that group. But I was like,
Yeah, sure. And I did pay for food. Yeah.
But the beginning of the day, the weather was actually perfect.
We went on like Thunder Mountain. We did Space Mountain.
We kind of were swayed off on some other rides. I really wanted to do Tron.
It was just, there was no good reservation system.
And we figured out a thing with like a crazy, I have anxiety so I can jump in
(11:21):
front of the line. We figured out some stuff with that.
I don't like the app experience, but it's still just fun being in the parks.
I was bummed we didn't get to go to Star Wars Land, but I don't think I would
have been able to go on the ride that I've been on. Right, yeah.
Star Wars Land probably would have been very long.
One of my other favorite rides that we rode was Expedition. Did we,
yeah, did we all do Expedition Everest?
(11:43):
Yeah, Expedition Everest is so fun. That's one of my favorites.
You get to the top and then you end up going backwards.
Yeah, that's like, that's the, I mean, I love the loop-de-loops.
I used to not as a kid, but I'm a bit of a thrill seeker when it comes to roller coasters.
Shout out to my friend Jeff Mano who took me to Great Adventure last year when
I was unemployed and I kind of had my last week of summer.
Oh, really? I got like a concussion after the freaking Green Lantern ride.
(12:05):
Jeez, but I love Disney rides I've been to Disneyland Tokyo twice and I just it's how is that man?
It's you've been why you've been to Disney Tokyo twice Yeah,
because there's Disney Tokyo see which is like a little more for adults and
there's Magic Kingdom's two different parks So yeah They did because it was
basically like okay either you spend all day out one or all day at the other
(12:27):
and it's really cheap Just go for one day So I was in college and I went during
the summer and then I went and and then I also went in.
New year's which was awful that was actually my least favorite time i went but
it was still really fun that's going like busy yeah and japanese people
love waiting on lines i can cut that out but like you know there's just
like a lot of long queues and no one's gonna be bothered i was like can we just like
move this along but it ended up being really fun i
(12:48):
had one of my favorite uh mickey mouse fried chicken
bows oh the food was so good the food a mickey
mouse french that's like my favorite thing about disney i
didn't know i didn't mean to run that's my favorite thing about disney I
feel like the food it's expensive yes but I've
never been like that wasn't enough I was always like yeah I
always feel like the meals are really worth it like getting the fried chicken in the
(13:09):
French Quarter yeah dude oh man the churros always
slap I'm like yeah this was a six dollar churro but
like I don't know man it's great so what when I
was there I think I was able to go to the park I was
just like down in Orlando so I went to the park the
day before and ended up going to woody's roundup yo
how was that so have you been no so woody's
(13:30):
roundup is a restaurant that you go in and
pretty much they convert you into like
a toy like how would you
say it it's like toyification sure yeah
i guess so it's like you don't actually become a toy but like
you yeah everything is just much bigger so you sit
down at your table and and you know it's like barbecue this
(13:50):
and barbecue that yeah but then there's a loudspeaker and
you hear the soldiers like whoever the
top soldier is and he's like you know red alert.
Red alert yeah he's on his way and he's on his way and then
you have to sit still whoa everybody sits still the whole restaurant so like
if people are in the middle of a bite if people are like in the middle of a
(14:12):
sip if waiters are serving food if people are going through doors people stop
and like just stay in And they're silent. Yeah.
For like 30 seconds. That's so wild. And then you get it.
All right, the coast is clear. And then everybody goes back and it's like,
good job. Good job, boys.
Like, you know, it's like one of those. Very, very fun. Cool.
(14:32):
It was really, really a good time. Man. So shout out to Woody's Roundup.
Yeah. And I've always liked I mean, I've been to I've been to Disneyland and
Disney World both many times now.
And I've really enjoyed every time I've gone. and I will say that I like Disney
World more because there's just more stuff.
But, you know, I think the next time I go to Disney World, I really want to
(14:54):
do it where we go for four days, have one day to be kind of like,
I don't feel like doing this and just like chill and do whatever,
but like really do a day at a park and really get all up in it and just kind of do everything.
I think the more days you buy in the park.
Like, it's overall. I mean, I'm really sad I haven't gone back to the water
park since I was in high school. I love Blizzard Beach.
(15:17):
Oh, that's what that's called? Dude, Blizzard Beach is so good.
They got one of the biggest, scariest water slides in the world.
And I've gone on it four times.
It's really great. Is it, like, very tall? Yeah. And you kind of go, oh, bro.
He's, like, straight down one side where you clutch your arms in. Yeah, man.
I, like, met a former really good friend for the rest of high school, Stefan, out there.
Because he was in the choir stuff. stuff we became really good friends
(15:39):
and it became a little weird he won't listen it's fine but uh
anyways so yeah dude disney world means a ton in our
hearts i just want to you know i want to ask you
some kind of very specific disney park questions what's your
what's your favorite ride and you can qualify it
you can also have like favorite park ride or whatever so i i know this immediately
yeah is i believe it's the avatar ride so on flight of passage you ride a banshee
(16:06):
You are assigned a banshee and you're put into these queues and then you get put onto this like,
Yeah, pretty much onto your Banshee. And then all of a sudden this like screen
opens up and you're in this like 3D world that's like it's insane. Yeah, it's probably.
Yeah, it's it's my favorite ride there. Like, I think I wrote it two or three
(16:29):
times. Dude, that's so cool.
Yeah, I think that mine's a little basic and I kind of hate it. But the Aerosmith ride.
Oh, rock and roll roller coaster. The Rock and Roll Roller Coaster was always,
no matter when I went, I had to go to the Hollywood Studios because that's always my favorite.
(16:49):
I've had so many great pictures on it. I've ridden it like five times.
You want to hear a wild story about that ride? Yeah.
So when I first went to Disney World, I'd never ridden a ride with a loop-de-loop in it.
Bro. And I got tricked into going on that ride.
That'll get you. Not knowing that there wasn't a hill, not knowing any of this.
Yeah. So like when the ride just shoots you out and there's like all the camera
(17:11):
flashes to take your picture.
Yeah. There's a straight up. And I was like, oh, and we did a full.
Oh my goodness gracious. So like when the ride ended, I was like so excited
and just like, I couldn't believe that I'd ridden a roller coaster with a loop-de-loop.
Yeah, dude, that's insane. Dude, I love that.
It's also where I got my first pair of drumsticks. Hell yeah. Yeah.
(17:32):
Man, so that's always my favorite. I want to say like.
Shout out to Space Mountain it's like that's the one i've.
Ridden the most it's like that's always my runner-up classic coaster
ride honorable mention to the you're all
you like get in the nautilus on lost lost city
of atlantis movie in disney tokyo that
is by far the coolest because you like dive down beneath the
(17:54):
water and you like do like a loop and it's like you're in a tube and bro
it's that that was so ahead of its
time and i went in like 2011 bro that
was one of my favorite experiences and like i
had panic attacks every time i went to any place with a lot of people
like like that back then because i didn't have my anxiety under control
but man that was so fun but yeah so we're
(18:15):
our favorite rides now here's one that
you may not that that may throw you off but what's your favorite
meal or like food item and then also
you can do like a dessert because i've got a very special place in my heart for
a dessert you know what so i did the breakfast
with a character oh that must have
been the coolest the day i met you we did
(18:37):
yeah i did breakfast with the character i saw you were like chook yeah
that was great it was great like big buffet
you know you get to go into the park an hour
before anybody else oh it's great no it was fantastic took so many pictures
with so many characters that's amazing yeah it was fantastic if i basically
i think it's pretty much like winnie the pooh characters but it's still yeah
(18:59):
dude i know if i knew you get ever get to meet tigger or dude if who came up
to have to lose it if pig yeah with the man himself the woman.
Winnie? Winnie the Pooh. Oh, boy.
But my favorite meal always is the, you get the fried chicken dinner.
Ooh, that's a good one. I've gotten it every time after I was turned on to it.
(19:21):
And I was like, this is the best thing.
And it might be like $25, but it's a full freaking meal.
I don't feel like you can get drinks there.
It's just good food. And then my honorable mention is the Dole Whip every time
I've gone to LA and about the Dole Whip.
The Dole Whip is just, it's an elite dessert.
(19:42):
I have made a fake version of it. It's so good. Oh.
So in the Star Wars land. Oh yeah, not the blue milk. At the cantina. Oh yeah?
They do, I think it's on top of the blue or the green milk or whatever the heck it is.
Yeah. They do this, oh my gosh, what is it? It's like a numbing foam.
Oh. So when you eat it, your whole mouth goes numb,
(20:05):
but there's very tingling sensations, it's very citrusy yeah
and i sat there and i was like blown
away i had to try to figure out what it was
made of because the only other thing i know that has done that to my mouth is
like szechuan peppercorns dude but it didn't give the spice of a szechuan peppercorn
interesting so you know what it was but it's the it's like the flower like the
(20:27):
inside of the flower on the szechuan peppercorn and playing.
Dude, wild. I love that. See, I know that the next time I go to Disney,
I really want to spend a lot more time in Star Wars Land and do like the VIP experience.
It's a good one. Because I'm the Star Wars guy in the podcast.
I'm a huge, one of these times it's probably going to be a me and Quinn episode
where we just talk Star Wars stuff.
(20:48):
But like, I am such a huge Star Wars guy. But here's the thing though.
Do I do New Orleans or Disney World for a bachelor party?
I would probably say New Orleans. Yeah. offense to
disney no that's that's yeah that's where
my head's at too i also like i've also had a thought of doing like
a way like an open one for people that want to
(21:09):
party you can do it like i think i think if
you went to orlando and went to do like epcot
and do the drink around the world yeah that'd be fun
that would probably that would probably be very fun see
i like i like how how i did my best friend shout out to tyler
my best friend i know he listens to the podcast and i'm gonna see him in
alaska probably the week this comes out is the alaska week oh i'm so excited
(21:30):
anyways for tyler's bachelor party we just
got an airbnb that was a place where
like three of us dudes could just hang out we put all
the tvs all in one room and just played like old-fashioned land parties watched
movies on one like just like chilled did some mushrooms we're gonna add this
out smoking some pot and just like had a really lovely time and we had like
(21:50):
really wonderful conversations and we went for a nice dinner at a really cool
like old-fashioned steakhouse in Portland.
It was wild and it was so low key. We did daily soaks in the hot tub.
I was like, having that sort of just like three or four people. Oh, so great.
But yeah next time i go to disney world i know for sure i'm gonna spend a
ton of money getting a lightsaber i literally do a
(22:13):
shout out to max bronstein oh my gosh they do they do
that whole thing where you have to go and get the kyber crystal i want it to
be orange i want to be orange dude max bronstein shout out to max bronstein
great drummer good friend good dude he i was like man i think i'm just like
man if i move in with my girlfriend like i don't she's not gonna want this around
like i should but he goes no you should buy that that is an honor sir I was
(22:33):
like, oh, I like this guy. And like, yeah.
So, yeah, the next time I'm definitely going to try to do the ultimate like
experience, which kind of like brings me to my next question.
If you could plan out a perfect Disney trip, what would it be?
And like, what would you kind of put on the itinerary? Like,
what's a must do? And like, whatever. Yeah.
So my only real reference to one of the parts, I went to Disneyland when I was very young.
(22:57):
Like the one in California. The one in California. I was really young.
And I had that experience because I decided to not wear socks. Oh, bro.
And I got huge blisters. Bro, you just do it to yourself. I ran away from my
dad to go ride the Peter Pan ride by myself.
Bro, that's traumatic. It was like, it was a big deal. Why were you not wearing socks?
(23:17):
What are you doing? I just thought that, you know, today was the day I didn't want to wear socks.
Brother. Me and my sister used to wear wool socks a whole lot.
So, you know, you didn't want to be the kid in the park with the wool socks.
Like all these other kids are probably wearing like sandals or something and
you know me with my wool socks biggie smooth
yeah i said no to that and decided to
(23:39):
put my shoes on with no socks it was great i got scolded later oh man yeah no
there's there's gonna be like so my only real reference is probably disney world
because that's where i think i've been to disney world three or four it could
also be like a perspective one where you're like i want to go to the one in
paris and i want to do this like that's your it's just like you can plan your
dream trip i would probably go
back to Florida but it would probably be during their like whatever season there's
(24:03):
not a whole lot of rain if there is one yeah like February March or like where
it feels super comfortable.
The humidity's not February March yeah yeah I've been to St. Lucia
which is a little further south like February and like I know
it's I know Floridians are gonna come after us be like it was fine
there was one day it was like 90 and it was February and but it wasn't humid
that's right so like whatever yeah so I would probably go down and I would want
(24:27):
to spend one day at each park yeah totally yeah and that's and it wouldn't cost
a zillion dollars but But yeah,
I'd probably go down there and I want to just, I would want to ride everything.
I want unlimited access to every single ride. Yeah. Like if there was a perk
to get into the park before everybody else, I would want that.
(24:49):
If there were after hours I had to pay for, I'd probably do that. Yeah.
I think if there were any like special meet a character activities. Yeah.
I would want to do something like that as well.
And I've never seen the Fantasia show. So. Bro. Bro, that's what's up.
I've never seen it, and I want to go. Yeah. I want to see that. That's what's up. Yeah.
(25:11):
Yeah, I very much want to have a very similar experience, but I think I want
to spend, like, a whole day just doing Star Wars stuff,
whole day at the water park, whole day at Animal Kingdom, and,
like, really taking in the shows, like, really kind of getting catered to and
carted around so it's like I can kind of hit everything I want to,
and I really still want, like, a day that's completely off where it's like just go to downtown Disney,
(25:31):
get, like, go see a show, go just like go dancing just like have a night off
go like chill go to the beach that's where that's where my best the best food
I had at Disney yeah was at the
tapas restaurant in downtown Disney oh I imagine that was over my dude Orlando's
a food spot man yeah really was just
like yeah I could not believe that a restaurant of that caliber yeah was.
(25:56):
Like man and i and i want to have like a night where i
want to have a day like where it's all magic kingdom where it's
all whatever but then like the day off where it's just like we
could just like sleep and do whatever but the rest of the time i can only be like go go
go and kind of do everything and like have enough time in
the day where i we can do everything that we want to do
once and then hit the ones we want to do again like i would go on
space mountain four times see if i could get different ways right yeah exactly i
(26:19):
would like just pick certain seats like i love riding certain rides
and being like oh i want to be front seat yeah i want to be all
the way in the the back oh i'll pick somewhere in the middle so well and do
you know what's really crazy about it is i actually have had
two experiences almost identical to what
i just described in high school i was just in high
school so i couldn't do as much downtown disney stuff but like we
literally played for a competition got in
(26:42):
and then played at disney two years like
my sophomore year my senior year and so i got to play i and i
would fundraise with pies and my mom would sell them at her
school because they had way better it was like way better pies than what what they would
get so i would literally have money left over my parents like hey just take
the money to disney i'd spend like hundreds of dollars on stuff oh my gosh and
i'm a kid so i can't like get drink or anything but i at the time you get like
(27:03):
ears i can get ears i could do anything i wanted oh it was so fun and we had
to play one concert we just did disney met these and it was awesome i got to
play electric bass because like i'm not bringing my upright down.
Dude and it was the most lit and it's just like yeah i had one experience it
wasn't great there but like the rest of it was just so good and it was mid-march
and no one was there so like Like, we would get to go home, and then they basically were like,
(27:25):
hey, just tell a chaperone we're going to go. We'd go to the parks at night after we played.
Oh, wow. And my senior year, shout out to Karen Reverga, Dr.
Reverga. Did you go to your senior year down to Disney? Yeah,
of course. Did you really? Dude. That's where I spent my senior year trip.
Dude, it was so good. I couldn't believe it. And Karen Reverga promised myself.
She didn't remember saying this, but she promised myself and my friend Brad.
(27:46):
Shout out to Brad Steiner. I think he has two kids now. out viola player that
if we got all perfects at nism at nisma that uh
she would take us both out to dinner because we like because we're like we're gonna work really
hard as leaders of the section and we did and she did and we like dressed
up in suits and we went out to this really fancy dinner at this hotel and shout
out to dr reverca and then we went into the park afterwards she's like hey you
guys can just say you're with me or whatever and like they was all pretty chaperoned
(28:10):
i mean people were getting higienic but you know it was pretty chaperoned and
we got to go to the parks late night and we would wear sunglasses.
Oh, it was such a fun trip. We got the whole park to us like late night.
Yeah, I forget that. It was so wild.
I remember sitting in the bus for so long. But it was so worth it.
Oh i could care i could care less and that was like but it was even like
(28:32):
before was still a thing yeah splash man was still
a thing there was splash mountain like yeah yeah it was incredible and every
day and they were basically you could just go to any park you want there's
always going to one so every day would like the last day
before we took the basically left the morning after we would
always do it at the at blizzard beach and
blizzard beach was so fun so like yeah shout out
(28:52):
to dr ververka and all the musical teachers that kind of
got me to where i am and not talking about it but i do think
the one of the things i want to do next time i go to disney world and then we can
kind of transition but do drink around the world but
correctly because we did it in the worst most horrible way possible where do
you think where do you think you're supposed to start i think you're supposed
to start you're supposed to start in canada and you just drink beer and you
(29:13):
just make your way around that's what i was told i told by an expert but we
were like we i was like no because we're on tour we just were partying we're
doing all this It was the food and wine tour,
so we're going to do all the special places. And also riding rides.
We did three, what was it, three caballeros? Yeah, three caballeros, brother.
I didn't even know that Epcot had rides. That was the thing that blew my mind.
I would always go to Epcot just to go to the Chinese restaurant and see the
(29:37):
Chinese restaurant because it was really good.
But yeah, I mean, we ate a ton, too. We tried to eat around the world.
I think we kept getting with drink. We kept getting food.
Bro, brother, we were high off the hog.
It was one of the my most favorite experiences even though
it was a mess yeah and like gosh and
i it was like the only thing that bonding it was also
(29:59):
one of the only things that kept me from like having a panic attack
because ali was here just like taking care of stuff and i was like i can't
believe i have a girlfriend who's this amazing who would just like do that because
you offered help anyway shout out to ali but yeah that's kind of that's kind
of you know my last my kind of thing i want to do next what's like kind of the
next thing you think feasibly you could do you're not gonna do the vip experience
again man i i do not think i'm gonna do vip yeah yeah.
(30:25):
It was a lot. Yeah. There's a year like arm with always both.
He's like, I don't know what's going on. I'm trying to get over there.
Yeah, exactly. I if I do go back or I.
Yeah. At some point, I'll end up going back. But yeah, the one ride that we
didn't get to ride because we went over to Epcot was the Tron.
I wanted that so badly. The Tron ride, dude.
Like I would have gone back the way that it comes out of the building.
(30:48):
And you're like, oh, meet the atrium or whatever. It was so cool.
That looks absolutely incredible. Oh, I was so bummed that I was like shut down
because of the rain. Yeah, exactly.
But it was a rainy season. Yeah. Join us on Patreon for exclusive content,
bonus episodes, behind the scenes insights, and more.
Visit www.patreon.com slash thelittlemerman to become part of our Mer fam and
(31:14):
enjoy all the extra perks we have to offer.
Please follow the Merman Mondays podcast at Merman Monday pod.
That's Merman Mondays pod.
Yes. Please follow the Little Merman Band at thelittlemerman on IG.
You can find Alexis at alexisbabini on IG.
And you can also find Grout at grout underscore music on IG.
(31:37):
And you can find me, the old Quinn Marshall.
You can find me on Instagram at mightyquinn.the.
Thanks for joining us on this episode of Merman Mondays. We hope you enjoyed
our stories and discussions. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on all
of our platforms we just named.
We especially, this early on, on a very fun podcast, are still learning the craft and what works.
(32:02):
So please, let us know what works. Do we want more interviews?
Do we want more tour stories? Do we need more segments?
Which intros do you like? Do you hate me?
We'd love to hear your feedback on Patreon. And until next time,
remember, dream, believe, achieve, and see you next Monday.
Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to Merman Monday's podcast, the podcast where the nation's number one
ultimate Disney tribute band takes you behind the magic. I'm your host, Andrew Grau today.
And we're adding a new voice to the Merman trio, as always, as the melodic mastermind
and I guess now big rhythm guy, Quinn Marshall.
Hey, thanks, Grau. It is always a blast to be here.
(00:32):
Whether you're a longtime fan or just discovering us, we're here to bring the
magic of Disney music to life. both on stage and in your ears.
I'm Quinn Marshall, and your guest co-host and the band's drummer.
And I'm beyond excited to be part of this journey where we celebrate Disney's
musical legacy, Disney content and culture, and dive into the stories and experiences
that make being in The Little Merman so special.
(00:54):
Our mission with this podcast is connect with our fans on a deeper level,
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring in the indie rock band,
and share in the joy that That is Disney content and culture.
Today is a bit of a different one as we continue to find ways to make content,
try out new intros, and offer a respite for our fearless leader, Alexis Babini.
Luckily, Quinn's been a quest. No, it has been a guest in the past.
(01:19):
Knows how to roll the punches.
And we're going to talk a bit more about Quinn's history and our most recent
trip to Disney World where we did attempt a drink around the world during the
Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. Ooh.
That's all good and fine. But before we go the distance, we're still a touring
band with some shows coming up. So let's get down to business.
And here are some upcoming fall and winter shows. Saturday, September 28th,
(01:43):
Laura's Center for the Arts, Hanover, Massachusetts.
Sunday, October 13th, Hard Rock Cafe, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Thursday, October 24th, The Cutting Room, New York, New York.
And Sunday, December 22nd, Plymouth Memorial Hall, Plymouth,
Massachusetts. she says.
More information like ticket links or RSVP links can be found on our website
at thelittlemerman.com backslash tickets.
(02:06):
All right. So Quinn, great job reading on that copy.
That's the thing that you never think you have to prepare is reading a script
and then you're like, oh God, why do I sound like this? Oh boy, yeah.
But we did record an episode this week. So if you, this is now a dual episode
week, but you're definitely going to get to hear the top fives with Quinn Marshall. Super fun episode.
(02:29):
Really enjoyed it. We enjoyed making it as our first video episode.
How do you think it went? I think the video went well. We got a couple nice little angles there.
It was nice to be in a room with my buddies and doing a podcast,
you know, longtime listener of podcasts, first time recorder of podcasts.
So that was actually very fun.
Yeah. And I felt like my whole job was just trying to make you laugh the entire
(02:50):
time. And I feel like I'm more on when just like trying to make you laugh and stuff.
Oh my gosh, dude. When the three
of us get together, It's almost just like straight up laugh fest. Oh.
I mean, my favorite is The Who. Who? The Who? The Who? Oh, my God.
And he waited until I said, I also love The Who.
That's a great Alexis bit. Listen, it's great. But here's the thing.
(03:11):
Like, what I felt like, you know, we didn't really push on too fast.
I felt like we just, we learned so much about Quinn's history.
So, you know, we talked a little bit about musical influences and stuff like that.
But then how did you find your way to meeting me? Because that's how the connection started. Yeah.
I met, why did I meet Grau? I met Grau. It was in 2020, yeah.
(03:32):
2020, so yeah, we're going back in four years.
I met Grau in a band that I was in, and I believe at the time was still- Zootopia.
Oh, Zoo Cryptic, yes. Zoo Cryptic? Zoo Cryptic, yeah. We were in a little indie
band called Zoo Cryptic. Heck yeah. We were currently looking for a bass player. Yep.
Grau auditioned, got the job
on the spot. Yeah. We soon became renamed to Common Kicks. Which I loved.
(03:57):
Great, great band. Dude, we worked so hard on that band. It was fun.
Shout out to Nick and Alec. They're really good people. it was it said
it was it didn't work out but we played one of
my favorite gigs of all time was my birthday show at arlene's grocery
that was one of my favorite gigs yeah that was very
fun we were all dressed up so nice hey man it was like such a good vibe and
like i remember you said chad smith it was like yeah though i auditioned with
(04:19):
a red hot chili pepper song and quinn and me was like yo do you like flea i
was like yeah flea's one of my favorite oh yeah connected very quickly on like
Like the bass drummer duo.
So like Flea and Chad Smith or like Keith Moon and John. John was like, oh, yeah.
And we were both like, oh, my favorite band. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
And that was so that was such a fun time, too, because at the time,
(04:40):
Quinn was still living upstate.
So there were a bunch of nights that Quinn crashed with me at my apartment,
which was like super cool.
So I got to see Quinn a ton more. And we kind of became we kind of went out
to party on a lot. And that was like a bar that was like kind of fun for that time.
Adjacent. Yeah. Yeah, literally a Jason from the door from Irving.
Oh, yeah. Let's don't throw. So, yeah.
(05:01):
I moved in quite soon after, you know. Yeah, it was really fun.
Yeah. If you're listening to the other episode, I think that we mentioned that
we were roommates at one point. Yeah. But I don't know if we were just talking
about like how that actually happened.
So yeah, it's like for bandmates to roommates. Yeah. And then I remember.
And I remember December of that year that he like moved in with me.
I was like, no, it was even before that. It was like we had already played some
(05:23):
shows with Common Kicks. And I was thinking about getting out.
I was like, yo, there's this band, The Little Merman. Do you think this is cool? you're
like that sounds like the coolest thing i've ever done so i nearly put quinn's name
in and quinn became became you know first
first sub and then now has moved into more of like
a first chair role which has been great and like you know responsible responsible driver
bros we get to whenever quinn drives i get to drive which
(05:44):
is great because it's like you know you get the driver rate but then like it's
fun we get to grow up front and be absolutely silly good co-pilot bruh yeah
man that stuff was that stuff was so fun and i actually remember one of the
time one One of my favorite Quinn on tour moments was one of his first gigs
that he got to do with me and Winnow at the Lake Placid.
(06:04):
And it was a summer gig on a summer stage.
Oh, I didn't think I knew it. I think I know the story you're telling.
Yeah, and I'll tell you what, getting back was one of the most stressful experiences
of my life because I was three hours late to a rehearsal for Alaska.
The drag queen, who I ended up working with for two years in a row.
And that was like the biggest celebrity I'd ever worked with.
I was so embarrassed we were late coming back. but on the way up Quinn had The
(06:28):
Ox and we were doing like a Grateful Dead trip and we were having time of psychedelic
bands and like Quinn and I both really like Grateful Dead so that was always
fun but they played the Jerry Garcia band I was like bro this is like yeah.
This is almost like better Grateful Dead stuff it's just so good it's amazing
like Bluegrass has that kind of effect where like everything is just so technical
(06:49):
it's so fast but like the way people can just like get into a jam with these
like you know a banjo or a mingling or a fiddle.
It really, it's, I give a lot of respect for that.
Yeah, not to mention, man, it's like, you know.
It's that that type of music not vibes to everybody and
you even kind of mentioned that you're like yeah it doesn't really vibe with everybody but
(07:11):
i was like man i totally like get this and it's so right so
musical yeah i almost had just like the straight up respect you're like okay
like yeah might not be for me but i i enjoy what they're doing so queen you've
been in the mermen for some time now just want to ask like one of your favorite
mermen stories also your favorite bit because that's what we always ask our
guests and since you're moving into you know.
(07:33):
Co-host region i want to make sure that people just kind
of know who you are you know a little bit more than than than yeah
absolutely let's see i know on the wednesday podcast
or the wednesday let's say i know
on the other episode i mentioned
the super salad story which is like from
my first day as a merriman favorite memories
(07:56):
oh boy you know what i would probably have to say our
day at disney world yeah disney world
was probably top that's got
to be top 10 top 10 moments dude in my mermaid history
yeah literally you know what
i think it was like going on space with you oh and
like seeing our faces in the picture after dude yeah
(08:18):
so good i still have that somewhere oh i
think i have that picture somewhere saved yeah that was
a really good one I can't remember I thought
I I thought there was somebody who didn't know
that it was in the dark did Cody not yeah I
think Cody didn't know it was in the dark yeah that ride was in the dark and
when we finished he was like what what the what the heck dude oh yeah well this
(08:42):
is so funny that Quinn transitions perfectly into our discussion topic I did
want to talk about our most recent trip to Disney World which was actually a
year ago this past summer that was my famous summer Summer of screm,
as I like to say, because I literally I was unemployed.
A summer of screm. Yeah, I was unemployed. I was just a touring musician.
I was also moving. I literally moved the same day that I the same day that we were in Disney World.
(09:06):
I was literally having my stuff packed up and moved here to this current apartment.
We're now in the Shea Grow, the Grow Cave.
Yeah, that was like one of my favorite trips to Disney World.
It was like a beautiful, horrible mess, but it was just our mess and it felt so fun.
Long it just rains all the time like yeah i feel i honestly feel like a decent
(09:28):
amount of our time was like tracking down like these rain ponchos that they
sell through the bar yeah and there was like oh you can get the like the cheapo
like five bucks or you can spend the extra like 13.
It'll give you like a thicker one that was good yeah dude that was it was a,
Yeah, I love how he started with Pirates of the Caribbean. That was such a move.
(09:49):
You were like, it was so right. It was like the park just opened.
Yeah. You just got to go hit Pirates because there's always a line for it.
Because when you sit down, it just kind of got everyone in.
And I haven't been on Small World since I was like, I feel like there's nine.
Like Disneyland and World are like the innovators of those like sit down boat
rides, you know, where you're going through like scenes in a book or like,
(10:12):
oh, yeah. Yeah, the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, just easily one of the best.
I wish I had gone down to Disney when Johnny Depp was like doing that stuff.
Yeah, they were doing a lot of stuff for pirates.
That would have been really cool. But I feel like I read an article somewhere
where most people didn't realize it was actually him.
And he acted so much like an animatronic that people were like, oh, we had no clue.
(10:36):
That's some goofy Tim Burton stuff, which I kind of love. Yeah,
man, I will say the thing about that trip was it was it was very much like started
off with anyone kind of do their own thing.
And then it kind of became we all have to move. But this is amorphous blob.
We keep picking up people as we go. And we have like, really random people meet us places.
But it was kind of fun because as someone who when I've invited in substances, I get kind of munchy.
(11:00):
And no one was a food finisher in that group. But I was like,
Yeah, sure. And I did pay for food. Yeah.
But the beginning of the day, the weather was actually perfect.
We went on like Thunder Mountain. We did Space Mountain.
We kind of were swayed off on some other rides. I really wanted to do Tron.
It was just, there was no good reservation system.
And we figured out a thing with like a crazy, I have anxiety so I can jump in
(11:21):
front of the line. We figured out some stuff with that.
I don't like the app experience, but it's still just fun being in the parks.
I was bummed we didn't get to go to Star Wars Land, but I don't think I would
have been able to go on the ride that I've been on. Right, yeah.
Star Wars Land probably would have been very long.
One of my other favorite rides that we rode was Expedition. Did we,
yeah, did we all do Expedition Everest?
(11:43):
Yeah, Expedition Everest is so fun. That's one of my favorites.
You get to the top and then you end up going backwards.
Yeah, that's like, that's the, I mean, I love the loop-de-loops.
I used to not as a kid, but I'm a bit of a thrill seeker when it comes to roller coasters.
Shout out to my friend Jeff Mano who took me to Great Adventure last year when
I was unemployed and I kind of had my last week of summer.
Oh, really? I got like a concussion after the freaking Green Lantern ride.
(12:05):
Jeez, but I love Disney rides I've been to Disneyland Tokyo twice and I just it's how is that man?
It's you've been why you've been to Disney Tokyo twice Yeah,
because there's Disney Tokyo see which is like a little more for adults and
there's Magic Kingdom's two different parks So yeah They did because it was
basically like okay either you spend all day out one or all day at the other
(12:27):
and it's really cheap Just go for one day So I was in college and I went during
the summer and then I went and and then I also went in.
New year's which was awful that was actually my least favorite time i went but
it was still really fun that's going like busy yeah and japanese people
love waiting on lines i can cut that out but like you know there's just
like a lot of long queues and no one's gonna be bothered i was like can we just like
move this along but it ended up being really fun i
(12:48):
had one of my favorite uh mickey mouse fried chicken
bows oh the food was so good the food a mickey
mouse french that's like my favorite thing about disney i
didn't know i didn't mean to run that's my favorite thing about disney I
feel like the food it's expensive yes but I've
never been like that wasn't enough I was always like yeah I
always feel like the meals are really worth it like getting the fried chicken in the
(13:09):
French Quarter yeah dude oh man the churros always
slap I'm like yeah this was a six dollar churro but
like I don't know man it's great so what when I
was there I think I was able to go to the park I was
just like down in Orlando so I went to the park the
day before and ended up going to woody's roundup yo
how was that so have you been no so woody's
(13:30):
roundup is a restaurant that you go in and
pretty much they convert you into like
a toy like how would you
say it it's like toyification sure yeah
i guess so it's like you don't actually become a toy but like
you yeah everything is just much bigger so you sit
down at your table and and you know it's like barbecue this
(13:50):
and barbecue that yeah but then there's a loudspeaker and
you hear the soldiers like whoever the
top soldier is and he's like you know red alert.
Red alert yeah he's on his way and he's on his way and then
you have to sit still whoa everybody sits still the whole restaurant so like
if people are in the middle of a bite if people are like in the middle of a
(14:12):
sip if waiters are serving food if people are going through doors people stop
and like just stay in And they're silent. Yeah.
For like 30 seconds. That's so wild. And then you get it.
All right, the coast is clear. And then everybody goes back and it's like,
good job. Good job, boys.
Like, you know, it's like one of those. Very, very fun. Cool.
(14:32):
It was really, really a good time. Man. So shout out to Woody's Roundup.
Yeah. And I've always liked I mean, I've been to I've been to Disneyland and
Disney World both many times now.
And I've really enjoyed every time I've gone. and I will say that I like Disney
World more because there's just more stuff.
But, you know, I think the next time I go to Disney World, I really want to
(14:54):
do it where we go for four days, have one day to be kind of like,
I don't feel like doing this and just like chill and do whatever,
but like really do a day at a park and really get all up in it and just kind of do everything.
I think the more days you buy in the park.
Like, it's overall. I mean, I'm really sad I haven't gone back to the water
park since I was in high school. I love Blizzard Beach.
(15:17):
Oh, that's what that's called? Dude, Blizzard Beach is so good.
They got one of the biggest, scariest water slides in the world.
And I've gone on it four times.
It's really great. Is it, like, very tall? Yeah. And you kind of go, oh, bro.
He's, like, straight down one side where you clutch your arms in. Yeah, man.
I, like, met a former really good friend for the rest of high school, Stefan, out there.
Because he was in the choir stuff. stuff we became really good friends
(15:39):
and it became a little weird he won't listen it's fine but uh
anyways so yeah dude disney world means a ton in our
hearts i just want to you know i want to ask you
some kind of very specific disney park questions what's your
what's your favorite ride and you can qualify it
you can also have like favorite park ride or whatever so i i know this immediately
yeah is i believe it's the avatar ride so on flight of passage you ride a banshee
(16:06):
You are assigned a banshee and you're put into these queues and then you get put onto this like,
Yeah, pretty much onto your Banshee. And then all of a sudden this like screen
opens up and you're in this like 3D world that's like it's insane. Yeah, it's probably.
Yeah, it's it's my favorite ride there. Like, I think I wrote it two or three
(16:29):
times. Dude, that's so cool.
Yeah, I think that mine's a little basic and I kind of hate it. But the Aerosmith ride.
Oh, rock and roll roller coaster. The Rock and Roll Roller Coaster was always,
no matter when I went, I had to go to the Hollywood Studios because that's always my favorite.
(16:49):
I've had so many great pictures on it. I've ridden it like five times.
You want to hear a wild story about that ride? Yeah.
So when I first went to Disney World, I'd never ridden a ride with a loop-de-loop in it.
Bro. And I got tricked into going on that ride.
That'll get you. Not knowing that there wasn't a hill, not knowing any of this.
Yeah. So like when the ride just shoots you out and there's like all the camera
(17:11):
flashes to take your picture.
Yeah. There's a straight up. And I was like, oh, and we did a full.
Oh my goodness gracious. So like when the ride ended, I was like so excited
and just like, I couldn't believe that I'd ridden a roller coaster with a loop-de-loop.
Yeah, dude, that's insane. Dude, I love that.
It's also where I got my first pair of drumsticks. Hell yeah. Yeah.
(17:32):
Man, so that's always my favorite. I want to say like.
Shout out to Space Mountain it's like that's the one i've.
Ridden the most it's like that's always my runner-up classic coaster
ride honorable mention to the you're all
you like get in the nautilus on lost lost city
of atlantis movie in disney tokyo that
is by far the coolest because you like dive down beneath the
(17:54):
water and you like do like a loop and it's like you're in a tube and bro
it's that that was so ahead of its
time and i went in like 2011 bro that
was one of my favorite experiences and like i
had panic attacks every time i went to any place with a lot of people
like like that back then because i didn't have my anxiety under control
but man that was so fun but yeah so we're
(18:15):
our favorite rides now here's one that
you may not that that may throw you off but what's your favorite
meal or like food item and then also
you can do like a dessert because i've got a very special place in my heart for
a dessert you know what so i did the breakfast
with a character oh that must have
been the coolest the day i met you we did
(18:37):
yeah i did breakfast with the character i saw you were like chook yeah
that was great it was great like big buffet
you know you get to go into the park an hour
before anybody else oh it's great no it was fantastic took so many pictures
with so many characters that's amazing yeah it was fantastic if i basically
i think it's pretty much like winnie the pooh characters but it's still yeah
(18:59):
dude i know if i knew you get ever get to meet tigger or dude if who came up
to have to lose it if pig yeah with the man himself the woman.
Winnie? Winnie the Pooh. Oh, boy.
But my favorite meal always is the, you get the fried chicken dinner.
Ooh, that's a good one. I've gotten it every time after I was turned on to it.
(19:21):
And I was like, this is the best thing.
And it might be like $25, but it's a full freaking meal.
I don't feel like you can get drinks there.
It's just good food. And then my honorable mention is the Dole Whip every time
I've gone to LA and about the Dole Whip.
The Dole Whip is just, it's an elite dessert.
(19:42):
I have made a fake version of it. It's so good. Oh.
So in the Star Wars land. Oh yeah, not the blue milk. At the cantina. Oh yeah?
They do, I think it's on top of the blue or the green milk or whatever the heck it is.
Yeah. They do this, oh my gosh, what is it? It's like a numbing foam.
Oh. So when you eat it, your whole mouth goes numb,
(20:05):
but there's very tingling sensations, it's very citrusy yeah
and i sat there and i was like blown
away i had to try to figure out what it was
made of because the only other thing i know that has done that to my mouth is
like szechuan peppercorns dude but it didn't give the spice of a szechuan peppercorn
interesting so you know what it was but it's the it's like the flower like the
(20:27):
inside of the flower on the szechuan peppercorn and playing.
Dude, wild. I love that. See, I know that the next time I go to Disney,
I really want to spend a lot more time in Star Wars Land and do like the VIP experience.
It's a good one. Because I'm the Star Wars guy in the podcast.
I'm a huge, one of these times it's probably going to be a me and Quinn episode
where we just talk Star Wars stuff.
(20:48):
But like, I am such a huge Star Wars guy. But here's the thing though.
Do I do New Orleans or Disney World for a bachelor party?
I would probably say New Orleans. Yeah. offense to
disney no that's that's yeah that's where
my head's at too i also like i've also had a thought of doing like
a way like an open one for people that want to
(21:09):
party you can do it like i think i think if
you went to orlando and went to do like epcot
and do the drink around the world yeah that'd be fun
that would probably that would probably be very fun see
i like i like how how i did my best friend shout out to tyler
my best friend i know he listens to the podcast and i'm gonna see him in
alaska probably the week this comes out is the alaska week oh i'm so excited
(21:30):
anyways for tyler's bachelor party we just
got an airbnb that was a place where
like three of us dudes could just hang out we put all
the tvs all in one room and just played like old-fashioned land parties watched
movies on one like just like chilled did some mushrooms we're gonna add this
out smoking some pot and just like had a really lovely time and we had like
(21:50):
really wonderful conversations and we went for a nice dinner at a really cool
like old-fashioned steakhouse in Portland.
It was wild and it was so low key. We did daily soaks in the hot tub.
I was like, having that sort of just like three or four people. Oh, so great.
But yeah next time i go to disney world i know for sure i'm gonna spend a
ton of money getting a lightsaber i literally do a
(22:13):
shout out to max bronstein oh my gosh they do they do
that whole thing where you have to go and get the kyber crystal i want it to
be orange i want to be orange dude max bronstein shout out to max bronstein
great drummer good friend good dude he i was like man i think i'm just like
man if i move in with my girlfriend like i don't she's not gonna want this around
like i should but he goes no you should buy that that is an honor sir I was
(22:33):
like, oh, I like this guy. And like, yeah.
So, yeah, the next time I'm definitely going to try to do the ultimate like
experience, which kind of like brings me to my next question.
If you could plan out a perfect Disney trip, what would it be?
And like, what would you kind of put on the itinerary? Like,
what's a must do? And like, whatever. Yeah.
So my only real reference to one of the parts, I went to Disneyland when I was very young.
(22:57):
Like the one in California. The one in California. I was really young.
And I had that experience because I decided to not wear socks. Oh, bro.
And I got huge blisters. Bro, you just do it to yourself. I ran away from my
dad to go ride the Peter Pan ride by myself.
Bro, that's traumatic. It was like, it was a big deal. Why were you not wearing socks?
(23:17):
What are you doing? I just thought that, you know, today was the day I didn't want to wear socks.
Brother. Me and my sister used to wear wool socks a whole lot.
So, you know, you didn't want to be the kid in the park with the wool socks.
Like all these other kids are probably wearing like sandals or something and
you know me with my wool socks biggie smooth
yeah i said no to that and decided to
(23:39):
put my shoes on with no socks it was great i got scolded later oh man yeah no
there's there's gonna be like so my only real reference is probably disney world
because that's where i think i've been to disney world three or four it could
also be like a perspective one where you're like i want to go to the one in
paris and i want to do this like that's your it's just like you can plan your
dream trip i would probably go
back to Florida but it would probably be during their like whatever season there's
(24:03):
not a whole lot of rain if there is one yeah like February March or like where
it feels super comfortable.
The humidity's not February March yeah yeah I've been to St. Lucia
which is a little further south like February and like I know
it's I know Floridians are gonna come after us be like it was fine
there was one day it was like 90 and it was February and but it wasn't humid
that's right so like whatever yeah so I would probably go down and I would want
(24:27):
to spend one day at each park yeah totally yeah and that's and it wouldn't cost
a zillion dollars but But yeah,
I'd probably go down there and I want to just, I would want to ride everything.
I want unlimited access to every single ride. Yeah. Like if there was a perk
to get into the park before everybody else, I would want that.
(24:49):
If there were after hours I had to pay for, I'd probably do that. Yeah.
I think if there were any like special meet a character activities. Yeah.
I would want to do something like that as well.
And I've never seen the Fantasia show. So. Bro. Bro, that's what's up.
I've never seen it, and I want to go. Yeah. I want to see that. That's what's up. Yeah.
(25:11):
Yeah, I very much want to have a very similar experience, but I think I want
to spend, like, a whole day just doing Star Wars stuff,
whole day at the water park, whole day at Animal Kingdom, and,
like, really taking in the shows, like, really kind of getting catered to and
carted around so it's like I can kind of hit everything I want to,
and I really still want, like, a day that's completely off where it's like just go to downtown Disney,
(25:31):
get, like, go see a show, go just like go dancing just like have a night off
go like chill go to the beach that's where that's where my best the best food
I had at Disney yeah was at the
tapas restaurant in downtown Disney oh I imagine that was over my dude Orlando's
a food spot man yeah really was just
like yeah I could not believe that a restaurant of that caliber yeah was.
(25:56):
Like man and i and i want to have like a night where i
want to have a day like where it's all magic kingdom where it's
all whatever but then like the day off where it's just like we
could just like sleep and do whatever but the rest of the time i can only be like go go
go and kind of do everything and like have enough time in
the day where i we can do everything that we want to do
once and then hit the ones we want to do again like i would go on
space mountain four times see if i could get different ways right yeah exactly i
(26:19):
would like just pick certain seats like i love riding certain rides
and being like oh i want to be front seat yeah i want to be all
the way in the the back oh i'll pick somewhere in the middle so well and do
you know what's really crazy about it is i actually have had
two experiences almost identical to what
i just described in high school i was just in high
school so i couldn't do as much downtown disney stuff but like we
literally played for a competition got in
(26:42):
and then played at disney two years like
my sophomore year my senior year and so i got to play i and i
would fundraise with pies and my mom would sell them at her
school because they had way better it was like way better pies than what what they would
get so i would literally have money left over my parents like hey just take
the money to disney i'd spend like hundreds of dollars on stuff oh my gosh and
i'm a kid so i can't like get drink or anything but i at the time you get like
(27:03):
ears i can get ears i could do anything i wanted oh it was so fun and we had
to play one concert we just did disney met these and it was awesome i got to
play electric bass because like i'm not bringing my upright down.
Dude and it was the most lit and it's just like yeah i had one experience it
wasn't great there but like the rest of it was just so good and it was mid-march
and no one was there so like Like, we would get to go home, and then they basically were like,
(27:25):
hey, just tell a chaperone we're going to go. We'd go to the parks at night after we played.
Oh, wow. And my senior year, shout out to Karen Reverga, Dr.
Reverga. Did you go to your senior year down to Disney? Yeah,
of course. Did you really? Dude. That's where I spent my senior year trip.
Dude, it was so good. I couldn't believe it. And Karen Reverga promised myself.
She didn't remember saying this, but she promised myself and my friend Brad.
(27:46):
Shout out to Brad Steiner. I think he has two kids now. out viola player that
if we got all perfects at nism at nisma that uh
she would take us both out to dinner because we like because we're like we're gonna work really
hard as leaders of the section and we did and she did and we like dressed
up in suits and we went out to this really fancy dinner at this hotel and shout
out to dr reverca and then we went into the park afterwards she's like hey you
guys can just say you're with me or whatever and like they was all pretty chaperoned
(28:10):
i mean people were getting higienic but you know it was pretty chaperoned and
we got to go to the parks late night and we would wear sunglasses.
Oh, it was such a fun trip. We got the whole park to us like late night.
Yeah, I forget that. It was so wild.
I remember sitting in the bus for so long. But it was so worth it.
Oh i could care i could care less and that was like but it was even like
(28:32):
before was still a thing yeah splash man was still
a thing there was splash mountain like yeah yeah it was incredible and every
day and they were basically you could just go to any park you want there's
always going to one so every day would like the last day
before we took the basically left the morning after we would
always do it at the at blizzard beach and
blizzard beach was so fun so like yeah shout out
(28:52):
to dr ververka and all the musical teachers that kind of
got me to where i am and not talking about it but i do think
the one of the things i want to do next time i go to disney world and then we can
kind of transition but do drink around the world but
correctly because we did it in the worst most horrible way possible where do
you think where do you think you're supposed to start i think you're supposed
to start you're supposed to start in canada and you just drink beer and you
(29:13):
just make your way around that's what i was told i told by an expert but we
were like we i was like no because we're on tour we just were partying we're
doing all this It was the food and wine tour,
so we're going to do all the special places. And also riding rides.
We did three, what was it, three caballeros? Yeah, three caballeros, brother.
I didn't even know that Epcot had rides. That was the thing that blew my mind.
I would always go to Epcot just to go to the Chinese restaurant and see the
(29:37):
Chinese restaurant because it was really good.
But yeah, I mean, we ate a ton, too. We tried to eat around the world.
I think we kept getting with drink. We kept getting food.
Bro, brother, we were high off the hog.
It was one of the my most favorite experiences even though
it was a mess yeah and like gosh and
i it was like the only thing that bonding it was also
(29:59):
one of the only things that kept me from like having a panic attack
because ali was here just like taking care of stuff and i was like i can't
believe i have a girlfriend who's this amazing who would just like do that because
you offered help anyway shout out to ali but yeah that's kind of that's kind
of you know my last my kind of thing i want to do next what's like kind of the
next thing you think feasibly you could do you're not gonna do the vip experience
again man i i do not think i'm gonna do vip yeah yeah.
(30:25):
It was a lot. Yeah. There's a year like arm with always both.
He's like, I don't know what's going on. I'm trying to get over there.
Yeah, exactly. I if I do go back or I.
Yeah. At some point, I'll end up going back. But yeah, the one ride that we
didn't get to ride because we went over to Epcot was the Tron.
I wanted that so badly. The Tron ride, dude.
Like I would have gone back the way that it comes out of the building.
(30:48):
And you're like, oh, meet the atrium or whatever. It was so cool.
That looks absolutely incredible. Oh, I was so bummed that I was like shut down
because of the rain. Yeah, exactly.
But it was a rainy season. Yeah. Join us on Patreon for exclusive content,
bonus episodes, behind the scenes insights, and more.
Visit www.patreon.com slash thelittlemerman to become part of our Mer fam and
(31:14):
enjoy all the extra perks we have to offer.
Please follow the Merman Mondays podcast at Merman Monday pod.
That's Merman Mondays pod.
Yes. Please follow the Little Merman Band at thelittlemerman on IG.
You can find Alexis at alexisbabini on IG.
And you can also find Grout at grout underscore music on IG.
(31:37):
And you can find me, the old Quinn Marshall.
You can find me on Instagram at mightyquinn.the.
Thanks for joining us on this episode of Merman Mondays. We hope you enjoyed
our stories and discussions. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on all
of our platforms we just named.
We especially, this early on, on a very fun podcast, are still learning the craft and what works.
(32:02):
So please, let us know what works. Do we want more interviews?
Do we want more tour stories? Do we need more segments?
Which intros do you like? Do you hate me?
We'd love to hear your feedback on Patreon. And until next time,
remember, dream, believe, achieve, and see you next Monday.
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