847 · Top Ten Reasons You Need to Cruise on Disney Destiny - WDW Radio: Your Guide to the Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise and More Disney Magic!

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(00:38):
WDW Radio, you, informationstation the Disney Destiny may be
built around heroes andvillains, but its greatest superpower
is the storytelling,storytellers, experiences and encounters
that most guests might neverexpect. This week we're going to

(01:00):
share our top 10 reasons whyyou need to cruise on the Disney
Destiny and why she is themost immersive, surprising and story
driven evolution of DisneyCruise Line yet. From the grand hall
that transforms before youreyes to the intimate character moments
and unexpected encounters,this is a ship that rewrites what
a Disney cruise can be. Andthis ship's story might be paving

(01:22):
the way for for what the nextgeneration of Disney Cruise Line
experiences could be. Hello myfriend and welcome to WW Radio, your
guide to the Disney parks andexperiences from around the world.
I am Lou Mongello and this isshow number 847. Whether this is
your first time listening oryou've been with me for 20 years,
since the very beginning,thank you for being here and welcome

(01:43):
home. Don't forget to be partof the community and conversation
over in The Clubhouse atwww.comclub. join me every Wednesday
at 7:30pm Eastern for WWERadio Live on Facebook and YouTube
and get a weekly dose ofDisney delivered to your inbox every
week by subscribing to my freenewsletter@wwradio.com Newsletter
and when you do, I will sendyou a free gift. I am really excited

(02:05):
to share this week's episodeand discussion of the Disney Destiny
with you. There's a lot tocover, even as we boil it down to
just the top 10 reasons whyyou need to cruise on the Disney
Destiny. For that reason, I'mgoing to skip the trivia contest
this week. I'll bring it backnext week so you have an extra week
to answer. But stay tuned tomy Instagram this week@instagram.com
Lou Mangello as not only do Ihave a ton of videos and reels and

(02:28):
photos from the DisneyDestiny, but I'm also going to have
a very special Disney Destinygiveaway that you are not going to
want to miss. And as always,my friend, and you are my friend,
whether we have met yet ornot, all I ask is that if you enjoy
the show, please rate reviewand more importantly, share it with
a friend. And for now sitback, relax and enjoy this week's

(02:50):
episode of the WW Radio Show.In what was really a full circle
moment for me. Having seen theDestiny in the shipyard in Papenburg,
Germany just a few months ago,to watching her hit the water for

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the very first time, toboarding her just a few days ago
for a preview cruise beforeher maiden voyage on November 20,
I found that I learned andunderstood not just about the process
and execution of launching aship, but really just what makes
the Disney Destiny unique andspecial as she joins the Disney Cruise

(03:33):
Line fleet as the seventh shipand the third in the Wish class and
on a wonderfully packed andexcitedly exhausting two and a half
day preview sailing we have wehad to take it in and also take some
time to reflect after I amexcited to share a top 10 ish because
there are so many more reasonsto book your next cruise on the Disney

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Destiny, preferably throughour friends over@m MouseFanTravel.com
and speaking of which, joiningme this week, our two friends who
shared that Destiny experiencewith me, Becky Manken from the aforementioned
mousefantravel.com yeah, I'm still.
Exhausted, but my Fitbit wasreally happy about the adventure.
But yeah, it's great to be here.

(04:19):
Yeah, my fat bit was veryexcited too for all of the late night
chicken tenders that I had.And welcome back Serena Lynn from
Living by Disney.
Hello.
I think we've sort ofrecovered maybe a little bit enough
to talk about.
It at least covered is. I'mgoing to use air quotes because recovered
from the exhaustion andrecovered from missing the ship.

(04:41):
Oh no, never.
Yeah, more than I thought Idid. But speaking of full circle
moments, I think the last timewe were all together on the show
was for the recap of theTreasure. Yeah, reasons why I wanted
you guys to come back and joinme on the show this week. Plus the
fact that we shared most ofour time together on board. So it's

(05:01):
appropriate that we are alltogether again here. And you know
the reason why I want to talkabout sort of the top 10 reasons
is one. I'm really going totry and not make this show be four
hours long because therereally is a lot to cover. Stop laughing
at me. I know you listen likethe ship itself. What I love about

(05:25):
podcasting, it gives us anopportunity to do longer, richer,
deeper storytelling andconversation because I think there
is a lot to unpack. But it ispart of the reasons why I wanted
to look because the spaces andlayout 99.9% mirrors the wish and
the treasures The Wish and theTreasure. I thought we wouldn't cover

(05:45):
those spaces that exist oneither or both of those ships, including
things like World of Marvel,Haunted Mentioned Parlor, other than
maybe some of the newbeverages, etc. And the recovering
lawyer in me does want to sortof qualify this a little bit because
I think it's important to sayat the outset what we experienced
was very much a previewcruise. We were invited by Disney.

(06:07):
Thank you. To experience notjust the ship's sort of first voyage,
but we the christening eventfor a very abbreviated Cruise, 2
1/2 day experience. And it wasa lot to try and ingest and process
and sometimes publish on thefly while we're there, especially

(06:29):
alone, which each of us were.We don't go with large teams of people
that can divide and conquer.But there's also a couple other things
that I think are important tomention. I think this will probably
come up in our conversationsmore than once. One, not everything
was 100% complete. We saw someof the Kiss Good nights, I don't

(06:51):
think. I think they were stillsort of testing and adjusting a few
things. This was definitelynot a quote unquote regular cruise
for a variety of reasons. AndI think it's important to note, at
least from my perspective,there really were no kids on board.
So there was about 2,100people instead of the full complement
of around 4,000. So one, therewas a lot less guests too, other

(07:14):
than, save for a few peoplethat brought their families with
them, there weren't any kidson board. So I think the experience
that we had is definitelydifferent than what a quote unquote
regular cruise is going to beonce she launches officially with
her maiden voyage on November 20th.
Yeah, I totally agree. And Iwould say in many ways the experience
of a regular cruise issuperior because we throw the, we

(07:36):
throw the vibe off a littlebit with, you know, trying to capture
everything and try everything.We're not always immersed in the
moment. Whereas I feel like ona regular cruise you get a lot better
energy with the people thereand kids always bring a great energy,
which is why I love Disneycruises. Even though I don't have
little kids anymore, I likehaving them there. So I think it
actually means that it's justgoing to go get better on a. On a

(07:58):
real guest experience. Yeah.
I also think that the balanceof the number of adults on board
also impacts the experiencewhen you're like at nighttime when
you're trying to get into acouple of the venues and it might
be just a little bit Cramppacked. And obviously that's because
we had so many more adultsthan we normally would see.
Yeah, some of the dynamics arevery interesting because again, there's

(08:22):
2100 people trying to allcapture the exact same content potentially
is happening at the exact sametime. And you know, places like Deville's
don't seat 2100 semi adults.And then when you do go in there,
it's like watching thefireworks from Main street usa. All
you see are like the brightwhite and gray lights of phones and

(08:43):
cameras and everything elsebeing held up because we are all
trying to ingest it and thenturn around and then put it right
back again. So all those legaldisclaimers out of the way for the
most part. I'm sure there'llbe more later. I'm still a recovering
attorney. Let's get into thetop 10 ish list. And I'm using again
air quotes because my 10 mightbe a little bit longer or different

(09:08):
than sort of a regular top 10.And number one on my list almost
sort of surprised me in termsof when I just sort of brain dumped.
And that's exactly how I putthis list together. I just sort of
went with my mental, somewhatsleepy, caffeine infused mental flow.
My first entry, my first entryon the list surprised me because

(09:31):
the first thing on my list isthe Grand Hall. And when I first
walked on board, I didn'tthink that was going to be the case.
Let me explain why and let mesort of just explain my thought process.
You know, first impressionsmatter, right? It's why the first
thing you see when you walkinto Magic Kingdom is, is the castle.
It's the last thing you seesort of on your way out. When I first

(09:54):
boarded the Treasure, Matt, Ijust was like, I was blown away.
I was wowed. I loved thatdeep, rich color palette, the Aladdin
inspiration. I didn'tnecessarily get that same thing because
the color palette, the theminghere is very different. I'm a huge
Marvel fan, but Black Pantheris not my favorite movie. I wish

(10:16):
we had more time with ChadwickBoseman as I think the character
and the film sort of continueto evolve. But I love the character
and I love the actor. But myfeeling, my initial feeling about
the grand hall changedrelatively quickly when I realized
that this, I think, more sothan the Wish and even the Treasure

(10:40):
is more of a blank canvas thatgets painted throughout the cruise.
Like I had this sort ofepiphany moment at one point. I was
like, oh, like I get it. Andwhat I also felt was Like a theme
park experience. You havethese sort of bookend wow moments
when you first walk in andthere's this grand three story atrium.

(11:03):
And then when you leave,parenthetically leave when you have
sort of that finale the nightbefore, I think it is there. It this
space, this space specificallyon this ship really lends it to the
storytelling that is going tobe a lot of. I think what we are
going to talk about when weget here. When you step in like you

(11:27):
are. You are sort of. You'restepping into sort of like the heart
of the story. Like it's notjust an atrium. It ends up being
sort of this narrative hub ofthe ship, which I think the Destiny
does even more so than theTreasure, which I think does more
so than the Wish. And everysort of major story beat that happens

(11:48):
here and the charactermoments, they all sort of shift the
mood or it originates or itculminates here. And it really is
a space that is meant to feelalive. Right. It's inspired by Wakanda.
The chandelier is inspired bythe vibranium meteorite. Very different
than any of the otherchandeliers that you'll see on the

(12:09):
Magic class or the Dreamclass, even on the other Wish class
ships. But you'll see a lot ofpatterns and styles and trims that
are inspired by what you mightsee in Wakanda. And then I also felt
that. And I really. And Icertainly want to hear you guys thoughts
on this too. I felt this isthe most storytelling centric grand

(12:34):
hall. And I think there's. Isort of called it environmental storytelling,
like by design. Because Ithink there's like these architectural
staging moments. I really feltit on the finale night. Like that's
when sort of the light went.Light bulb went off. For me, the
curved staircase and the upperbalconies create these sort of theatrical

(12:56):
stages that are perfect forvillain interruptions or princess
introductions or somesurprising reveals. But I think more
so than any of the otherships, this space shifts by use of
the lighting and the sound andsome of the built in elements that
is in the architecture. And Iwas really trying to pay attention

(13:18):
not just what I saw, but whatI heard. And the space does transform
not just from day to night,but as different characters come
through even at sunset. Thereis sort of like this sunset moment
that you see and hear sort ofalmost conveying that there is this
switch that is happening. Andthen as you have these character
encounters, they really sortof become these storytelling events

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and beats that happenthroughout. And we'll talk about
Some of the specific ones,like the celebration of the King
and the Kiss Goodnight. But Ithink what I found on this one more
than the others is that thegrand hall really acted not just
as sort of a living,breathing, transforming narrative
engine, but it really becamethis sort of natural gathering place

(14:06):
to share stories and createcommunity, which I started to feel
even on a shorter. On ashorter voyage like this. Serena
and Becky, your thoughts onthe Grand Hall.
For me, I'm with you. When Ifirst walked in, that initial first
impression was honestly, it's.It's plain, the neutral colors. There

(14:31):
wasn't anything that reallystood out to me or, or came alive
that you saw in the other twoships. However, over time, you do
kind of get a nod to whatthey're trying to do. I will say
that the. The use of thisstage area and that upward balcony
is actually better on thisship than the other two. I just kind

(14:54):
of wish that what we see asthe days transform and the night,
the heroes during the day andthe villains at night, when the lighting
changes and the theatrics comethrough. I almost wish a lighting
setup for embarkation just soyou can get a little bit better taste
of what that grand hall can berather than when you first walk in

(15:17):
on that first impression.
Yeah, that would be a goodidea, actually. I think that you're
right. It's a theater. Likethe Grand Hall's really a theater.
And yes, there's a stage, andthat stage is on all these ships,
the other Wish class ships.But this is utilized in a way that
feels like you're just walkinginto a show. Like you're in this

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Shakespearean globe theater,multi level, multi tier, with balconies
and a mezzanine and a groundfloor. And when you walk in, you're
actually like almost on stage.You've entered the story. And I think
that after I sailed on it, Irealized that the whole theme of

(16:02):
the ship is really not thatyou're watching a story, but that
you've joined a story, you arepart of the story. And that's the
whole thread that I took awayfrom the Destiny is that you are
now part of the story. So inthat sense, the grand hall makes
sense and sets the tone forthe whole cruise because you've entered
the story and now you're partof it. You're on stage with everyone

(16:23):
else and you're gonna interactand even affect the way the story
goes in some cases. And Ithink that's really, really well
done. But I agree that whenthe lighting is going on and when
it transforms to differentcharact themes and storytelling moments,
that's when the grand hallreally shines.

(16:43):
Yeah. And Becky, I can argueagain, recovering. I can argue both
ways to your point. And Ithink the thought process is, you
know, I think we too, let's.Like, we, we've all taken a number
of cruises. We, we've. We'vehad those moments where we've stepped
into an atrium or grand hallfor the first time. Imagine this
is your first Disney cruise.You step on board, you're welcoming,

(17:04):
you know, the, the t' Challafamily, and you come in and there
is this grand three storystorytelling venue. Like that is
the wow moment itself. If yousort of give the whole lighting package,
like the second you walk onboard, you are depriving yourself
and guests of having those wowmoments. Later on. I thought the

(17:26):
same thing too. I was like,oh, this feels somewhat. It feels.
It felt like the Wish, which,which again, again, because of the
light colors, the blues andthe gold, I felt like it was somewhat
blankish, for lack of a betterword. But this one was different
because as the lightingpackages, as the sounds came to be,
and I watched different showsfrom both the ground floor, the middle

(17:48):
and the top. The experience isvery different, but it takes on a
whole different feel. Andthose deep, rich purples come in
and that Black Panther themesong comes in. Like, man, that is
super cool when it goes greenfor Loki. Like, you could hear the
gasps. I didn't see the Piratenight when it turns red. So I think
you're. I think the idea isthat, yes, it is a relatively blank

(18:11):
canvas, but it is one thatallows them to paint on and create
moments for as the, as thevoyage continues to go and depending
on the characters that are there.
Yeah, I totally agree withyour blank canvas scenario. I think
that that is, in a way, if Ispin it in my head, you can say,
yes, this is the. This is thepalette of which the heroes and villains

(18:34):
are going to come to life andpaint their stories. But I just like
a little bit more of a wowfactor. Just my personal preference.
It doesn't need to be thebright red or the things that you're
going to see later, so youdon't cannibalize the experience.
But I just want something alittle bit more visual when I boarded.
Just a personal.

(18:55):
Something more on the walls.And color, even just a little, little.
Color change of tone would begreat, rather than have that, that
completely blank piece of paper.
Yeah, this definitely feelsmore like Wish than it does Treasure.
And I think Maybe we'respoiled by the treasure because it
does have those very richblues and purples and golds and there's.
There's a. I keep using thesame word. There's. I think there's

(19:17):
a warmth when you walk on thetreasure that just. Different.
Yeah, it is different.
And I look what I love aboutthese ships, and this is going to
come full circle. Differentships are going to appeal to different
people. I heard some peoplesay, like, they love this. Like they
just walked in and they fellin love because they dig Black Panther.
They love the color schemethey love. So I get it. And that's

(19:38):
the beauty of having seven, 13different ships, is each one is going
to appeal to somebody else.All right, I'm going to keep moving
because we could spend 40minutes on this. And I'm really trying
to not make the show be sixhours long. The next thing. Again,
there's no sort of rhyme orreason to this list other than just
the way they popped into myhead. And this is. We talked about

(20:01):
not having kids on board. Theadult exclusive spaces and stories
I think is ushering in sort ofthis next era of adult storytelling
on Disney Cruise Line. I thinkthis. I think the Destiny leans very
heavily into narratives drivenadult spaces. More so than any before.
Rather than just simplelounges and bars. Each venue has

(20:24):
its own theme. It has its ownpoint of view. It has its own story
world and a reason why itexists in this larger heroes and
villains theme. And I thinkthat they're trying to create not
just passive lounges, butimmersive environments that have,
you know, history and lore andentertainment and atmospheres too,

(20:46):
that can change and evolve,especially going from day to night.
Right. Cask and cannon. I lovethat sort of old pirate hideout theme
that's sort of beingrepurposed for us. I love the weathered
planks and the lanterns andthe portholes and like they did on
the Treasure so well, the nodsto the attraction and Mark Davis

(21:09):
concept art and the labels onthe different drawers and the dozens
of Easter eggs that are foundthere. And you sort of feel like
when you walk in, other thanwhen there's like hockey playing
on the screens, that you'resort of walking into a real pirate
tavern. And even the drinksand the food sort of leans into that

(21:31):
deville's the same way. Likeyou sort of are meant to feel that
this isn't just a lounge. It'sCruella's after hour hotspot. And
there's the same thing.There's sketches on the walls. There
is Filigree in the carpet.That all goes back to original artists
and the original story and theoriginal original animation animated

(21:53):
film. And then there areexperiences layered on. On top of
that. We'll obviously talkabout that make it enhances this
storytelling elements there.And we sort of. They're not sort
of isolated events but arepart of the overall storytelling
in those places. Saga the samething. We'll talk more about some

(22:13):
of the things that are in thatmain sort of two story theater in
the round in the middle. But Ilove how all of these spaces like
the grand hall and I thinkthis is maybe why the connective
tissue for me put it here.They sort of switch modes at night,
providing more atmosphericstorytelling, I think for adults.

(22:35):
And they. The narrativeintensity sort of gets dialed up
to 11 when the storytellingbecomes a little bit or in some cases
a lot with great power. I'mlooking at you a lot edgier and I
think these, these are sort ofvery story driven entertainment offerings
geared for adults. And youknow, some people complained on the

(23:01):
Wish class ship that therewere not adult spaces in the back
of the ship. This is how. AndI think even more so here on the
Destiny. I feel these spacesreally do transform from places that
kids can come into during theday and just explore, but really
wonderfully themed storydriven entertainment and immersive

(23:21):
entertainment and interactiveentertainment venues at night.
Yeah, I totally agree. I thinkthat that's where it really shines.
More so than maybe the otherwishclass ships, which I think is
so interesting. More to yourpoint of like Disney is now, now
that they have more ships andthey're adding to the fleet, each
ship is giving you differentthings and different experiences

(23:44):
and that's what you want. Youwant to be incentivized to go on
different ships, but you alsowant to be able to tailor your ship
choice to your vacation styleand to your family's, you know, demographics.
And I think that's wonderfulto know that you have all of these
options with the Destiny.Every, in my opinion, every single

(24:06):
lounge is an upgrade from theprevious iterations of it. And I
think that's incredibly hardto do because each one is great.
I mean, you know, I thinkabout Nightingales on the Wish. I
thought it was stunning. Ithought it was the most beautifully
themed lounge. Little pianolounge, Cinderella themed. The bubble

(24:28):
chandel. Incredible. I waswowed. And then I saw. What is it?
Scat Cat. Yeah, Scat Cat onTreasure. And I thought, oh my gosh,
they made it even cuter. Andthis is adorable. And the piano and
the paw prints. Oh, this isamazing. And then they made it. Deville's
on the Destiny. It's evenbetter. It's even more amazing. And

(24:50):
there's a Dalmatian piano. Imean, a Dalmatian themed piano is
incredible. But the way theyutilize the space is even better.
Same with the Sanctum. Youknow, felt even like they plussed
it up even more over Skippersociety. So I feel like they just
took each space and said, thisis the footprint we've got, but how
can we take it? And even, youknow, plus it up even more. And sometimes

(25:13):
it's in the theming and thedecor, but sometimes it's in the
entertainment and theactivities and the way they're utilizing
the space, that just makes itfeel even better. And I love that.
That, to me, is what will makeme book this ship over other options.
That was one of the greatpoint, because the bones are the

(25:35):
same, the ships are exactlythe same when it comes to structure
and space and so forth. Butyou were so right that each of the
three has a completelydifferent story to tell. And each
one gets better and betterwith time. So, like you, I walked
into deville's and lookedaround and I knew exactly where I

(25:55):
was. I knew exactly the storythey were trying to tell. I thought
at first, because all of thedetails were so immersive, that I
was thinking, oh, well, thisis what they just, you know, put
in front of us to make ushappy with what we were seeing. But
no, the drink really does comewith lipstick and perfume, which
made you go, wait a minute,what? I thought it was just costuming,

(26:18):
detailing. But no, you get toactually eat the lipstick. So I think
that they've taken eachopportunity with that story and gone.
Okay, all right. That was atypical cruise ship type experience
with the First Wish Class orthe ships before it, even though
it was as Disney imagineeredas it could be. But they are really

(26:38):
taking it to the next levelwhen it comes to what Disney's trying
to or how they're trying toset themselves apart in these spaces.
And it's really obvious, bothDevilles and the Sanctum. All I wish
is if they could be bigger. IfI had one thing that I could change,
I would say just make thembigger so that I could spend more

(26:59):
time in there and not feelguilty about taking a table for two
hours. But I really, reallyhave enjoyed the stepladder approach
they've taken to each of these ships.
Yeah. Because I think most ofthese spaces, deville's, I think,
is a great example we'll talkabout the specific show that we're
referencing, but they havethese show elements and interactive

(27:22):
events with characters thatdrive the overarching story. Like
we're gonna. We should, youknow, ring the bell every time we
say the word story. It drivessort of the overarching story of
the ship forward as you gothrough. And whether it is somebody
like Cruella or Zaya andGamble have, they sort of act as

(27:43):
almost narrative anchors andsort of help sort of guide you through.
But whether it is the namingof the drinks, the designing of the
drinks, the food, even thecrew members there, they're all sort
of immersed in that story andreally help sort of create this,
you know, all five senses, 365degree experience specifically for

(28:07):
adults. Right. Even though youmight walk out the door of one of
these venues and there mightbe kids, when you're in these spaces,
you feel like they are craftedspecifically for adults. And I think
that this is. And don'tmisunderstand, this is a ship for
families, without a doubt. ButI really do think, and I don't mean
this in a bad way, it's a moremature in every sense of the way

(28:31):
evolution mature as in termsof. And we'll talk about some of
the shows, but mature in termsof the spaces as well. I think from
an adult perspective, I thinkthe spaces are really, really, really
well done, which is why I sortof broke them out specifically as
one of the entries on my verylong list.
They're almost set designed asopposed to other. Other spaces that

(28:56):
have come before and on theother other ships. It's almost like
someone came in from a movieset designer perspective and said,
okay, speak Cruella, or thisreally needs to speak. Like you're
walking into the sanctum. Andmore so than any other of the ships
besides Haunted Mansion, whenthat first came out on Treasure,

(29:17):
this is accomplishing that task.
And there's custom. Oh, sorry.And there's customization to it,
which I really like. Like, ifyou are someone in your family is.
Is kind of introverted anddoes not want to feel part of a story
or in a spotlight at all, youcan enjoy these spaces to their ut
your way. And by. By justobserving and being, you know, just

(29:40):
immersed in the theming andhaving a drink there or snack or
whatever. But if you aresomeone who wants to really feel
part of the story and be morein it and be more interactive with
it, then you can do that too.And so there's like something for
everyone. It's verycustomizable, which I think is so
hard to do, but yet they didit really well.
And it doesn't matter whereyou come from. I don't mean geographically.

(30:03):
So I put out on Instagram thisweek, I said, hey, we're about to
record a show. What questionsdo you have? And a number of people
said the same thing. Hey, I'mnot a huge Marvel fan. Is this ship
not gonna be for me? I thinkthe Sanctum, Becky, is a great example
of you don't need tounderstand anything about Dr. Strange
or the Sanctum or Kamar Taj orSling rings or anything else like
that to go and enjoy thatspace and feel the storytelling that's

(30:26):
happening around you. If youare a Marvel fan and all those things
speak to you. Excuse me, likeme, you are going to go and look
at the cloak of levitation.You are going to go and look for
all the little Easter eggsthat are peppered throughout, because
those will speak to you. Thoseare, excuse me, these little gifts.
They're little presents thatare hiding in plain sight. So when

(30:47):
you see the books of Ashantiin the library, you're like, oh,
I get it. Like, it looks likeit was pulled right out of that space.
And I actually feel,especially at night, that the Sanctum,
I don't know what it is, and Iknow that there's some draperies
and things like that. Youknow, we talk about how on either
side, there's the entrance tothe Haunted Mansion parlor on one
side, there is one of the giftshops, and then there's the watch

(31:08):
shops on the other. This wasthe first time sitting in there that
I felt like I had blinders on.Like, I felt the space put blinders
on. And I didn't feel or seethose spaces. And I felt like this
was a very intimate, casual,like, adult experience. Not at. It
was like it was. It waspurpose built for adults in mind

(31:34):
as much as spaces are builtfor families as well.
I totally agree. I totally agree.
And I think one of the ones.And we could sort of put this in
here. I think one of the onesthat. That really does that well
is saga. That the. Theexperience that families will have
in saga during the day is verydifferent than the experience that

(31:55):
adults are going to have inthat at night. I'm probably going
to get ahead of myself when westart talking about the specific
show, but we will. We'll talkabout when we talk about some of
the live entertainment. Thewith great power, A Marvel comedy
show is not just awonderfully, you know, adult oriented,

(32:16):
not like in a really bad Waylove letter to Marvel fans. But you
really do. You sort of feellike this place, this space was built
for adults, even though duringthe day it has a very different feel
and very different experiencesthat happen within.
They did a really good jobwith that specific space to make
it so multitasking. You can doso many things. Yes, bingo. You can

(32:41):
do bingo in there, but yet youcan also have the experience that
you have with great power,which, again, to Serena's other point,
that you can go in theseplaces. I'm one of those people that
I don't want to be picked outin a crowd. I don't want to be picked
on. So you kind of back awayfrom some of the shows and some of
the comedy things, or you findthat, oh, yeah, I see a chair way

(33:03):
back in the corner over therethat I can go sit myself in, that
no one will notice me. But youdon't have that experience here.
And I felt very comfortable inthis show.
And.
And I laughed the hardest I'veever laughed at anything at any time,
besides maybe Lou.
At points, we'll talk moreabout the live entertainment because

(33:24):
I have that broken out as oneof the others, but I think. Excuse
me. And so next on my list isthe Heroes and villains theme, which
I think is a naturalprogression from where we're coming
from. But it's different herebecause the Disney Destiny is the
first ship in the DisneyCruise Line fleet, where every deck,
every corridor, every venue,every stateroom, every show, every

(33:48):
dining room, every attractionis tied to a single narrative. The
duality of heroes andvillains. And to the people who ask
me, like, well, I'm not a bigMarvel fan. It's not just Marvel
heroes and villains. It'sHercules, Lion King 101, Dalmatians,
Sorcerer Mickey, BlackPanther, Doctor Strange, Big Hero
6, Raya, and the Last Dragon.Like, the list goes on and on, and

(34:12):
you. You find it and you seeit everywhere you go. And the decor
on the ship is so, so welldone. It is cinematic and thematic
everywhere you go. And even,like, all the hallways were, like,
these little gifts because youdidn't know what image you were going

(34:33):
to find on a carpet, whatpiece of artwork would be on the
wall. It is the mostintentional environmental storytelling
I think Disney Cruise Line hasever done. Again, the bones of the
ship are the same. And Ilucked out, right? I lucked out because
I got a Big Hero six room. AndI. But the state rooms, and it is

(34:57):
so. They're so well curated toa number of specific stories. So
decks 26 and 7 are Hercules orMerlon. Decks 8 and 9 are Raya and
the Last Dragon or Brave.Decks 10 and 11 are Big Hero 6 and
the Incredible. And theConcierge suites, excuse me, include

(35:18):
Fantasia. And there'sobviously also the Incredisuites
and the Hero Suites and theTower Suites. And there's two other
things that if you are fans ofthese things, I think that Destiny
does so well, which is theintegration of Marvel. We've talked
about how we actually loveMarvel Day at sea. There is more
Marvel here than on any othership. And look, I'm smiling because

(35:40):
it makes me happy. Spider manis not just on the stern. He is.
You can find him in the kidsclub. You can find him walking on
in the grand hall in therestaurant. Let's set sail. We'll
talk about that too. Makes asurprise appearance. Black Panther,
Dr. Strange. Tell me if Iforget anybody. Loki, Deadpool, Rocket

(36:01):
Group. There are heroes andvillain. There's hero and villain
artwork across all of thedeck. And I think one of the other
big attractors too for thisship especially. What we, with what
we have coming to MagicKingdom is no other ship leans into
villains this hard or thisfrequently. And they again are integrated

(36:23):
not just into the decor but,but the lounges, the entertainment,
the pop up moments, the AquaMouse, the shows, the corridors,
the characters and the adultspaces. And I just love the fact
that it is designed to almostwhatever your side, like whatever
sort of your quote unquoteside is right. If you're a hero guy,
if you're a villain girl, ithelps to inspire you through the

(36:47):
story of these heroes andthese villains. And I think the theming,
the hero, villain theming isjust so well woven into every aspect
of this ship. I absolutelylove it.
Part of.
And if. Go ahead, go ahead.No, you go.
I was gonna say part of thefun was discovering the patterns
as you walked around and youwere going up one staircase and down

(37:09):
and you're like, wait, oh, allof those are our villains. Oh, okay,
I get where those are comingfrom. You go to the back and it's
like, wait a minute now thisis where the heroes are. Because
I was trying to figure outwhat, how it all unfolded and it
was really cool to discover.And the carpet. I've never been so
excited about getting out ofan elevator and looking at the ground

(37:29):
as I have on this ship. Butone of the things that we're finding
now that the word is gettingout how the different decks are,
are themed, we're gettingcalls going, my Daughter really wants
Brave or my son really, reallywants Big Hero 6. Is there anything
left on that deck? This is thefirst time in any of the Disney Cruise

(37:50):
Line ships that we've had thiswhere you could customize that experience.
But of course, that's alsogoing to make it very difficult to
get what you want if you don'tbook early. So I think it added just
a whole nother cool flavor andlayer to this storytelling idea.
And I was the artwork. I havenever been as enchanted with the

(38:14):
artwork as I have walkingaround the ship.
That's so good. And you'reright, my half. My camera rolls carpets,
which would sound really weirdto anyone else. Literally, it's carpets.
Because I was just obsessedwith that, that huge maleficent dragon.
Are you kidding me? It's thefirst. The decor, the interior design's

(38:36):
immaculate. It's incredible.Whoever worked on that, kudos. But
I think anybody that'slistening to this is like, oh, here
are some villains. I love thatas a theme book. It's. You don't
need to listen. Well, I hopeyou listen to the rest of the show,
but you really don't. It's allyou need to know. Because the classic
theme of that is so good. Ithink a lot of people that are attracted

(38:57):
to Disney, it's because welove a classic story, we love a hero
tale, we love a hero'sjourney, and we love a villain comeback
and an origin story, and allof that is celebrated here. And I'm
really impressed with how theywere able to merge those. So you've
got Marvel, which on previousships you have Marvel dhc, but that's

(39:19):
like a standalone event whereit's like, it's not meant to be integrated
into the rest of the ship.It's like a pop up almost experience.
Whereas this is Marvel, butcompletely integrated into the rest
of your cruise. All of theheroes and villains within Marvel,
it all blends very seamlesslywith the Disney storytelling, which

(39:41):
I think is so interesting thatthey did that so well because I was
kind of wondering how thatwould flow. And it was really not
a thing at all. It wasbeautifully done.
For all those guests who'veever taken a Marvel Day at Sea cruise
like us and said, God, I wishit was not just a single day at sea.
I just wish it was Marvel likeall day, every day. It is. Here it

(40:01):
is. Heroes and villains allthe time. And spoiler alert, like,
if you don't want to bespoiled, fast forward like 10 seconds.
Because we don't just sort ofsee the Characters that we expect
to see. We know we're gonnasee Black Panther. We know we're
gonna see Cruella. We knowwe're gonna see Loki. We know we're
gonna see Spidey. We knowwe're gonna see some other Marvels.
But I love. And nobody untilthe very first time this show happened,

(40:24):
nobody expected to seeDeadpool. Deadpool being Deadpool.
Right. It's not sort of aDisney fi G rated version. No, it's
Deadpool being Deadpool inthat show. There's Taskmaster in
the Superhero Academy. I'm ahuge Spider man fan. Like, Electro
is present like more than oncein a couple of different ways. And

(40:46):
in very small ways. TheSinister 6 in Saga, like Lizard and
Doc Ock, etc. There's Rocketand Groot. There's the Young Avengers
in Worlds of Marvel, which forsome people it's like they saw fire
for the first. Like, did yousee the fact that the Young Avengers.
Because for them it's not justabout seeing them as sort of a bonus

(41:07):
Easter egg at the end ofdinner, but like, wait a minute,
this is setting up what weknow is coming to the movies. So
the Marvel fans were superexcited. Some other people, like,
well, who are these kids up ondeck 11, like eating pizza? There's
also really. And I think it'sso well done. And again, I'm thinking
back to the With Great Powershow in Saga, which if you are planning

(41:27):
a trip on the Destiny, whichyou should do not miss this show.
Captain America, Tony Stark,Star Lord Wolverine, to a certain
degree. Like, they all sort ofmake their own versions of appearances
in such smart, creative andfunny ways. And again I started to

(41:47):
get the questions. Well, likewait, I'm hearing about all these
heroes and villains. Like, areMickey and Minnie on board? Yes.
You're still going to find thesame. You'll find the Fab Five, you'll
find other Disney characters,but even the Fab Five, their own
character stories andsuperpowers and costumes on board.
Right. So. And it's. You sortof have to. Which I love. It's not

(42:09):
sort of just laying it out foryou have to explore and find out
and discover these. That thatlike Mickey has. Sorry. Minnie has
powers of telepathy. And she'ssort of the leader of the heroic
team. Donald controls theseven seas as Bluster. Goofy serves
as loop knot. Pluto has sonarabilities. I don't know what he does

(42:32):
with those.
And Mickey, he finds his bones.
But I love that they laid thathero and villain theme on top of
the other characters as well.And again, we'll talk more about
some of the other liveinteractions and some of the small,
intimate moments that you canhave with these characters. And I
just love that there is this.Not to sort of take from a different

(42:57):
part of the Disney, but itfeels like this story living type
overlay. And we're going totalk more about where I think some
of this inspiration andimmersion comes from. Because the
characters that you see,whether it's on the wall, on the
floor, in your food, on ascreen, or in person, they appear

(43:19):
in the context of the storyand not just for photos. They react
and act to the location andthe moment and the hero villain energy
that's happening on board.Again, places like the Grand Hall,
I am thinking about you. Andthose character interactions and
experiences are dramatic andthey are fun. So again, like Loki

(43:44):
in the grand hall and Black,the celebration of the king, Even
things like the Cruellafashion show, like the wretched Runway.
It's not a fashion show forfashion. So say it's so fitting in
the story and the fun,villainous, like, feel of Cruella.
Look, I am not a fashion icon.I don't watch like Fashion Week on

(44:06):
E. But I had so much funwatching not just Cruella be Cruella
in the. In her. In her lounge,but watch Cruella be Cruella in the
grand hall in this space,again, thanks to a backdrop in lighting
and music, felt like it wasCruella's Runway. And more importantly,

(44:27):
integrating guests into thatexperience. We keep talking about
immersion and interaction likethat is a perfect example of these
characters acting andinteracting and appearing contextually,
not just in the grand hall,but throughout the entire ship.
It's another place where theyhave plussed it up so much. Because

(44:48):
I think, Serena, you said itearlier. You're walking into the
story. You're not just apassive observer. You are expected
to kind of live around what'shappening around you. And it's kind
of a nod to what they do inDisneyland vs. Disney World, where
at Disneyland the charactersjust kind of run through Fantasyland

(45:09):
and Alice and the Mad Hatterjump on the teacups and you can ride
with them. And sure, you canhave a meet and greet and get your
picture taken and stand inline for a little bit. But this is
so much more than that becauseyou can just be standing there and
then something happens aroundyou which is that little piece of

(45:29):
magic that we're all lookingfor, that you're being integrated
into the story, that you'reactually part of it and not just
watching it. And I love thosecharacters, how they reach out to
you and you're having thoseinteractions. And it's so different
than any other Disney cruiseline experience. For the exception
of like the. The one dayMarvel at Sea or some of those other

(45:51):
more, more targetedexperiences. This is happening every
single day you're on board.And it's amazing.
And sorry, we sort of, we. Wesort of like seamlessly flowed right
in because I have characterinteractions. Really? That's number
four on my list because Ithink it is specific to this ship.
I mean, it happens everywhere.But again, I think it's sort of,

(46:11):
really sort of leveled up onthis ship. Serena.
Yeah, I totally agree. If wedidn't talk about character interactions,
that is to me, where the shipshines in the way that you feel like
you can interact in a muchdeeper way with the characters that
you love. Again, if you don'twant to do that, you can opt out

(46:33):
of. This is not something thatyou have to do by any means. But
if you are loved, interactingwith characters and having more moments,
just in general, if you likecharacters and meeting characters,
you should do cruise line overparks because you're going to meet
so many more. They'reeverywhere, all day long, all the
time. But this one really, inthe Destiny, it really brought it
to a whole nother level. And Ijust feel like as we get more, you

(46:57):
know, our society gets moredigital. We're on screens all the
time. Kids are on screens allday long. When we can pull that off
and get IRL experiences, youknow, in real life, actually interact
with people and in things thatdon't necessarily convey in a social
media post, like I can't, Ican't make a video and share with
you what these interactionsfeel like because it's something

(47:20):
that you have to experience inperson and that's what you want because
that's what really makes thisvacation experience so much more.
So much more powerful. Andit's going to stick with you so much
more than some of the other,you know, options you're going to
do as a family.
I've only seen this one othertime because I think the character

(47:42):
interactions feel that theyare on Star Cruiser level. Immersion.
Exactly.
Yeah.
The. Again, it's. They'recontextual. They are. There are story
beats and story elements. Whenyou have a chance to. I'll use, you
know, Black Panther, forexample. There are multiple sort
of story moments that mighthappen in the grand hall. And it's

(48:04):
not like, okay, please queueup and here's the line down the entire,
you know, deck three to meetBlack Panther. No, Black Panther
just says, okay, I'm gonna goand meet my subjects now. And he
sort of walks out into thecrowd and seeks people out. And I
love that because it doesn'tfeel like I have to get on. We have
to sort of schedule to getanother line to meet this character.

(48:24):
No, there's gonna be a swapout because Donald's gonna be swapped
out for Mickey. The, the waythat it's done here is so organic
and so natural. It just flowsfrom the end of a show or you might
just happen upon them. Yes,there are scheduled ones that you
can find on your navigator andyou can line up for. But I loved
how it just felt more natural.More importantly, I think that the

(48:49):
interactions themselvesincluded things like playful banter
and little competitions andsome like, yeah, like self aware
commentary on cruising andhumans and people and kids, like
tongue in cheek and. But, butvery playful and very fun because

(49:11):
they are part show, they'repart roaming encounters. They happen
on the balconies, they happenon the staircase, they happen in
the hallways. And sometimesyou just. And it's those surprise
and delight moments that youjust sort of happen upon. Yes, there
are moments that you should bepresent for, like seeing Loki in
the grand hall again, thelighting shifts to green, like it's

(49:33):
announcing he is there. Youknow, same thing happens for, what's
it called, Celebration of aKing with Black Panther. The grand
hall, it changes. It looksvery different than it does when
you walk on board. It looksvery different than when Loki is
there and you have this sortof moment. It's, you know, something

(49:54):
suddenly goes wrong. I'm notgoing to say who spoils it, but there's
this great hero and villaindynamic. So you've got this story,
you've got a characterpresence, you've got a photo spot.
You have a way to let you oryour kid go and meet King t' Challa
or meet Loki and have thatconversation with him. And I just
think it is so, so, so well done.

(50:16):
It does remind me of StarCruiser also in the fact that the
show elements are telling astory that continues throughout your
cruise, which I love that theydid that so well on Star Cruiser.
On Star Cruiser, you start andyou're welcomed in and there's things
that happen. And thenthroughout your cruise the story
is evolving and then by theend of your cruise there's a finale

(50:40):
to this storyline and they didthat same thing on the Destiny where
all of you collectively thatare sharing in this cruise experience
are involved in this story.And by the end, even to the extent
where they called outdifferent ones in the crowd, the
storytellers did aboutdifferent ones that they had spoken

(51:02):
to and had some part of thisstory. And I think that was just
so well done. It reallyreminded me of Star Cruiser because
you're so invested in what'shappening because you feel like,
oh, I saw the beginning ofthis story, I saw the middle of the
story, I was part of thestory, and now I get to see where
it's ending.
I loved that. The through linethat you guys just drew between Star

(51:24):
Cruiser and this makes totalsense, especially when there are
more intimate experiencesthat, that you get that you honestly
might miss if you aren't inthe right place at the right time.
Which is. Could be a littledisappointing to some. But to me
it's even more excitingbecause then you're, you're, you
know that there's somethingpossibly around the corner that you

(51:45):
might discover that isn't onthe agend or isn't on the navigator.
Yeah, there's a, there's arewritability aspect to being on
this, like Star Cruiserbecause every time is going to be
different because so many ofthese interactions and experiences
are unscripted, whether it's,you know, you meet Black Panther

(52:05):
Spider man and he helps youwith hero training or these sort
of little mini interactions.One that really stood out to me,
that I loved and I didn't knowwhat to expect. I just saw under
her spell, a Maleficentencounter which takes place in Saga.
Again, like the grand hall,depending on where you go, what time
of day, what show is going on.That space feels completely different.

(52:29):
Great use of technology withthe video wall. But this is. It's
maybe 15 minutes. It's a.Maybe 15. It's a one woman, one dragon,
whatever show featuringMaleficent. That again, it's. It's
very atmospheric. It uses alot of dramatic effects and sounds
and fire and rain and fog andI mean, not real fire, but all these

(52:52):
things. And it's part show,it's part interactive experience
because she will call peopleup out of the audience to join her
on stage, have these littleinteractions. Again, it concludes
it. First of all, she's not,she's not performing as if there's
nobody there. She is engagingwith the audience directly. She is

(53:15):
aware that the audience isthere as opposed to you go to a stage
show and they're just sort ofputting on a show. She's very much.
She's aware that you're there.She's interacting with you, she's
challenging guests and whenyou're done, she says if you, if
you're, you know, if you wantto leave, you're welcome to leave.
However, if you want to stayand speak with me, you can. And they
will call people up one byone. Do you have this opportunity,

(53:39):
which I think is the operativeword for all the things we're talking
about. You have theopportunity for continued interaction
depending on you, what youwant to do. You don't have to be
aware of all these thingsgoing on. You don't have to understand
all these things. Like theStarcruiser, you can be as immersed
as you want to be. If you wantto seek out these experiences and

(53:59):
go to all these things andtrain with Spidey and try and defeat
or challenge Loki. Like youcan do all these things or if you
just happen upon them, theyare these great themed like again
very carefully andstrategically woven story beats throughout
the ship that have, you know,it's like a three act play. There
is a beginning and a middleand an end and I love how it is tied

(54:23):
all together. Did you guys getto do. Did you guys get to see Serena?
I know you and I, we met Dr.Facilier again in a very, very, very
intimate. I don't mean it waslike intimate. A very small.
We know what you meant.
A very sort of smallinteractive meet and greet inside

(54:44):
a space that I've been on theships. I didn't even know that there
was a little photo studiothere. But it's completely rethemed
to Dr. Facilier's parlor wherethere's sort of two different ways.
There's one where you can justgo and meet Dr. Facilier and take
photos. There also is thissort of semi secret, almost very
limited access experiencewhich is a very sort of. It's a,

(55:09):
it's a blessing and a cursethat it's small. Right? It's a rare
character, very smallexperience on a ship that's hidden
inside a space. It's usuallyused for a photography studio that
is somehow transformed intothis like lush, dark New Orleans
inspired Victorian parlor thatfits maybe 10 people where he does

(55:31):
close up magic and intuitiontrust. Like there's no photography.
So you're not going to findany photos or videos other than what
Disney parks put out, which Ilove. So you have to be present,
you have to go in there and itis, it feels special when you are
able to do that. I think eventhe same thing when you do. And this
is one of my Favorite thingsthat I did on board was in deville's

(55:54):
the Treble Making with again,it's, it's exactly like to a certain
degree what you saw on StarCruiser when you had Sandro where
you go in and you help tocreate these stories and songs again.
You can do as much or aslittle as you like. But I love that
it is so well layered and likefrom morning to night throughout

(56:17):
the entire ship.
Yeah, that was troublemaking,was so good.
I missed that. I missed Dr.Solye as well. And that's why I was
kind of alluding to beforewhere it is kind of a bummer if you
hear about it and you miss it.But then that rideability factor
comes back. It's like I've gotto go back and then I'm just going
to stand there and stalk theguy until I get in there to see this

(56:38):
experience. Which by the waythis, this secret type element is
something that is happening alot throughout the cruise industry
right now, not just Disney,which is really interesting to see
that. I think Disney set atone for it and then we're seeing
it other, other cruise lineskind of doing things like speakeasies
and other interesting behindthe velvet rope experiences. So I,

(57:02):
I love the fact that it'sthere. I hate the fact that I missed
it. Which means I love thefact that I have to rebook the ship
again so that we can go orwhen we go on our group trip. Lou,
I know one of the things I'mgoing to try to be able to see again
but then again at that pointis there going to be something different?
Who knows?

(57:22):
Yeah. I have a feeling this isalways going to be continuously evolving.
Yeah.
And again, you know, you cansort of, if you're a planner, you
can get, you can look at yournavigator every day and sort of heart
and favorite the things youwant to do and get notifications
in the app so you can try notto miss these things. But I also
really love the spontaneoussort of meet and play pop ups. These

(57:45):
unscheduled story drivenalmost like micro moments right.
Where a villain will come inand interrupt trivia. A hero's gonna
pop in and join, you know,kids games that are going on. Surprise
characters appear in thelounges and the corridors and the
deck parties. Again, it feelsvery much like the Best of Star Cruisers

(58:08):
Live storyline energy becauseyou're meeting, you're not just sort
of lining up to meet thecharacter where they might sort of
be standing for photos, butyou're meeting characters I think
inside the story. Like, Ididn't see it, but somebody was like,
oh, yeah, I was in Cask andCanon and Jack Sparrow came in. I'm
like, yeah, who knew? That'sright. That's like, oh, I have, like,
who knew? But I dig that.Like, and I think those we talked

(58:32):
about, specifically placeslike Cask and Canon, like, how can
you even sort of furtherimmerse yourself in that story? Because
it's, it's part pirate bar,it's part sports bar, but the next
thing you know, you know, JackSparrow and the storytellers come
in and it takes on a whole newlife and a whole new flavor. And
I, and I also dig the surpriseand delight moments like that too.

(58:52):
I want more of that. I likethat. I, as a type a planner who's
constantly very like the worstand constantly trying to check every
box. I like when it's out ofmy control. I like when it's like,
you know what? You just, justvibe. Just chill, Serena, and just
enjoy your time and you'll seewhat you see and you'll experience

(59:14):
what you experience. Andyou're probably gonna experience
more than you thought youwould. And if you're not running
all over the ship like aheadless chicken, you might actually
enjoy your cruise a lot betterby the end of the day. So I prefer
that I want more thingsunscheduled and I want more things
with no photography and video,personally, because I think both

(59:36):
of those things make you enjoyit more, make you be in the moment
more. I'm not so busy tryingto capture my kid and take those
photos that I actually get towatch my child interact and enjoy
this moment or myself orwhatever. I prefer that. And I think
that more likely as time goeson, we're gonna see more of that

(59:58):
happen because for the inguest experience, that actually improves
the cruise.
For you because it's still asurprise and delight. And you're
not. You have seen 42 videosof it on YouTube to give it away,
but to be able to talk aboutit and say, this is a must see experience.
This is something that you'llget to immerse yourself in, but you're

(01:00:21):
not, you're still a littleclueless as to what it is you're
going to experience. So, yeah,I, I'm leaning in, in with that all
day long. I, I like my socialmedia. I like taking pictures of
things, but I also like havingthis little element of mystery.
Yeah, listen, one of myfavorite moments, like, and I just

(01:00:42):
happened to be walking to theelevator and there was Donald Going
wherever Donald was going. Andone of the. Listen, God bless you.
I saw the video. It was so good.
Starts like she's likefreestyle rapping like her own Little
Donald song. He's dancing. Andit's just me and Donald and Dominique
and one of the crew member.And it was just such a fun moment

(01:01:05):
because nobody planned thatDominique scripted. That was not
something that was coordinatedwith Dominique, but it was one of
my favorite little moments.And it's again, this is not about.
But you can see how much itresonates with people.
Yes.
You can see people just lovethat. It's just like this simple
moment of pure joy. And I'mlike, this is it.

(01:01:25):
That is it.
I come on a Disney cruise.
Yes. Because that's the funwhy you love.
The brand, because it givesyou those memories, those one off
memories that I always thinkabout the little girl that sees Cinderella
for the very first time andthe mom watching that. And I think
that those are the reasons,one of the main reasons why we love

(01:01:46):
Disney so much and to see thatit comes out of the movies, out of
the theme parks and onto thecruise line is so exciting and it's
real.
How, how close to a Disneycruise like day can you actually
book? Like today's Wednesday.If there's a ship leaving this weekend,
is it. I'm so jonesing to getback on.

(01:02:08):
I think we have like 72 hours.So you would, you'd have to at least
give that, that little bit oftime so you can clear customs.
It starts the inaugural, theinaugurals tomorrow right on the
20th.
I probably can't make thatone, but any ship, any port at all.
But you know, it's funnybecause all of these, you know, the,
the, the way through my brainprocesses I realized, you know, the

(01:02:31):
first thing we talked aboutwas the Grand Hall. The second was
the adult exclusive spaces andstories. Third was the hero and villain
theme. Fourth was thecharacter interactions. But they
all sort of wrap up together.And what I put separately as number
five, which is storytelling,because I really do believe this
is a new evolution ofimmersive storytelling. It happens

(01:02:54):
to be at sea, but I think thisis something we might see elsewhere.
The Destiny feels like. Andobviously different ships, you know,
have different themes. Right.The treasure is about the parks and
nostalgia, but the Destinyfeels like a ship designed around
a narrative rather than showsthat just happen to tell stories.

(01:03:16):
Story is, is presenteverywhere. I really just felt that
everything was so intentionalfrom how and where characters appear,
how the spaces transform, howguests are invited and welcomed into
These moments, it mimics thefeeling of stepping inside of a story
as opposed to watching onehappen around you. And that's what

(01:03:36):
I feel like. It's got thisstar cruiser like DNA brought into
it, but applied to sort of amuch broader Disney World. Not Walt
Disney World, but a kind.
Of more organic and random.Yeah, I think. Which I like.
Yeah. And look. And maybe thestar cruiser, you know, for all the
things that happen, we knowthe story. I think the star cruiser

(01:03:58):
was a very bold, probably veryexpensive experiment. But the Destiny
feels like the next generationrefinement of those ideas. They learned
a lot from the Starcruiser.What worked, what didn't. And I think
feel that that handprint ofthe star cruiser. Here again we some
of the specific parallels,right. The collective songwriting

(01:04:19):
and performance moments likeSandro, the fashion show. I was like,
oh, this is like the outer rimregalia, but themed to villains like
Cruella. Again, intimategatherings with characters inside
the story, like meetingChewbacca in the engine room, meeting
the stormtroopers in the thebrig or the hole. This, this is a

(01:04:41):
story led entertainment wherewe as guests get to not just influence
the story, but the energy andthe direction of the moments. And
I think what I like is how theDestiny does this without requiring
sort of this two day locked instoryline that is very scripted to

(01:05:01):
having a beginning, middle andend. So it makes it very accessible.
There's a rewritability, areplayability aspect to the Destiny
because you know, every timeyou go, it's going to be different.
Right. And you know, yes, Lokiis always going to be mischievous.
Mischievous. He's always goingto interrupt stuff. Cruella is always
going to, you know, judge yourfashion choices. If you're going,

(01:05:25):
you know, sandals and socks,Cruella's gonna let you know. But
you're gonna get those samethings from Facilier and Melesa Maleficent,
but they are going to bedifferent. And I think one of the
things that it does, that'swhy I sort of referenced this at
the beginning, especially inplaces like the Grand Hall. It helps
almost community buildingthrough these shared story moments.

(01:05:47):
Because like Star Cruiser, westart sharing stories with each other
about things that weexperienced during the voyage. Oh,
hey, did you see Loki do this?Oh, did you Google Meet Dr. Facilier?
It does a little bit of FOMO,but it's like, I love that like at
dinner we sort of cametogether and we're swapping stories
about what we saw and what wedidn't. And I think it builds excitement

(01:06:08):
and curiosity about whathappens next? And we all feel like
we're part of the shared story ecosystem.
Yeah, I love that. And I alsothink that that's great because you're
not going to get toeverything. There's so much to do
on this ship. We obviously, weleft kind of frustrated. We're like,
oh, there's so much we didn'tget to see and do. But that's the

(01:06:30):
point. That's the want morethan you got to do. I mean, you're
going to feel that way whenyou go to the parks, too. Like you're
not going to do everything atDisney World. I don't care how long
you're here. But when you'redoing something like this, it's great
because not only can eachperson in your group customize their
experience and choose thethings they want to do, but you could,
you know, cruise one time thistime and then cruise another time

(01:06:53):
and choose a different path,so to speak. This time I want to
do more shows and moreentertainment, and I'm not going
to get off the ship as much.I'm not going to go to the ports
as much because, you know, Iwant to spend my time here, or I
want to focus on the foodexperiences and I'm going to have
the special meals and whateveryour thing is that it's here. But
also you get to sort of chooseyour own path, and I love that.

(01:07:16):
And if you're still justlooking for a relaxing cruise experience,
you can hang out on yourbalcony. You. You do have a choose
your own adventure adventureon this ship. So you can be as interactive
or seek out these experiences,or just hang in your favorite lounge
and go through these amazingcocktails, which, by the way, they

(01:07:37):
went ballistic on creativitywith these presentations. Almost
every element of Deville's andof Sanctum has some sort of magical
theatrical experience behindit which is, you know, so wonderful,
draws you in and yes, I admit,yes, I loved my cocktails. I'm gonna.

(01:07:59):
We'll just say that I was veryenamored by that and need to go back
and we need to do. There wego, Lou. We need to go back and do
a lounge review of everysingle cocktail on all the lounges
on board in Girl, I'll fly.Maybe I'll finally get my lounge
review that we've been talkingabout. But yeah, I. I'm just, I'm.

(01:08:22):
I'm kind of bummed thatthey're only four and five day, because
we had two days and I feltlike I only saw so much. I don't
know about you guys, but Ididn't sleep that much because we
were staying out way late atnight and getting up early in the
morning to do all the daytimethings. So I have this feeling that
anyone doing that four, eventhe five night are going to walk

(01:08:42):
away with that same feelingthat we have right now that you missed
out on a bunch and you need togo back.
Yeah. But if you are choosingdo the five like those that are listening,
you're going to want to do thefive. You're. You're gonna have a
better experience at the endbecause there's just gonna be a lot
to do.
Yeah. And I think I agree witheverything that you guys said. And

(01:09:03):
Becky, to your point aboutthe. The cocktails and even some
of the snacks in the lounges.
Yeah.
They don't feel like they'renovelty for novelty's sake. Like,
they feel like they're meantto be woven into the story. There's
a little bit of a storyelement that attaches to that.
And for those of you, myfriends, who laughed at me hysterically
when I was looking at the. Theglass that that's hovering over the

(01:09:23):
thing, and I'm going, how didthey do that? And you guys looked
at me like, science. I don'tcare. You're, like, making fun of
me. It's like, it's dudescience. No, it's magic.
I. I love being 11 cocktailsin by that.
Yeah, that. That kind ofhappens too. But still, every single
piece of those. Thosediscoveries that you do and the theatrical

(01:09:45):
presentations and the storiesbehind each of the cocktails and
the elements, it all weaves inand draws you in and makes you want
to keep participating and keepgoing because there's not an end
to the story.
And I felt. And again, wewere, you know, our situation was

(01:10:06):
a little bit different becausewe were like, literally running from
place to place, trying toingest and cover it all in a very,
very short period of time. Andwe could not divide and conquer.
We couldn't be in two placesat once. But I felt something that
I felt on starcruiser was thissense of wonder and anticipation
around every corner. AndSerena, I think you and I were actually.

(01:10:27):
We were walking somewhere.We're like, wait a minute, like,
the grand hall is green. Like,we need to. Like, it almost was like,
acted like this visual over toit. And I think the unpredictable
nature of the characterexperiences and the room transformations
reinforces this idea that theship is alive with stories. We almost
start to anticipate, well,what is going to be around the next

(01:10:47):
corner, who am I going to seethat's going to be there? And I think
that there is this sort ofemotional pattern that sort of mirrors
the dramaturgy of the StarCruiser, but is instead applied to
not just a two night cruise inspace, but this four or five night
environment. And it's likeStar Cruiser without Star Wars. You

(01:11:09):
don't have to be a Star warsfan, you don't have to be a Marvel
fan if you're a Disney fan. Ifyou're just an entered live entertainment
fan, like you are going toenjoy this and how the storytelling
sort of exists across spaces.And look, we know that a lot of these
things are very carefullyplanned and orchestrated, but they

(01:11:29):
still feel like spontaneous.So you can plan your day around them
if you want. But I think bydesign it sort of felt like, like
it's a hybrid. You can plan,but you can't plan everything and
open yourself up to theopportunity that there might be something
or someone around every cornerwhen you least expect it. And I dig

(01:11:49):
that. And I think thisrepresents what we might see for
the next steps. And we'll talkabout this at the end for the future
of Disney Cruise Line andsomething like Star Cruiser, but
in a much more sustainable,scalable type way.
So my question right nowthough is we're hungry.

(01:12:12):
And I did not, I was gonna.
Say we've been talking for anhour and we haven't even spoken about
any of the food on board. Ithink you said chicken tenders like
within the first 10 seconds,but that's pretty predictable for
you. But everything else,we've kind of missed a whole element
here.
We're getting there. We'regetting there. There's, there's a.
We gotta talk about the show, I.
Think the method to mymadness. So we talk about storytelling.

(01:12:34):
Yeah, but I really want totalk about this. For number six on
the list, I want to talk aboutthe storytellers because we had Coriander
and Sage on the treasure,which was this something we had never
seen before. But here, theconnective tissue throughout that
connects the dots frombeginning to end are these two roaming

(01:12:57):
ship exclusive performers whoreally do shape the narrative. And
they are Zaya and Gamble. Andthe more you talk to them, the more
you see them. You realize thatZaya is sort of this fortune teller
that carries this like magicalglowing book and Gamble is more of
like this conjurer and turnsthings into quests. And they both

(01:13:19):
sort of help, excuse me, framecontextually what they're doing and
also sort of leading theseInteractive sort of micro adventures,
like Zion Narrates and GambleEngages, and they create these incredible
improvisational theatricalmoments wherever they go. And we

(01:13:42):
talked about these sort of,what is Meet and Play going to look
like? I think these are sortof the driving forces for that. They
complement each other, theycontrast each other. And I think
the way they sort of startthe. And I don't want to spoil too
much, but the way they startyour voyage and then conclude it.

(01:14:04):
With Destiny Discovered, I waslike. I was like, oh, I get it. Like,
you've connected all the dotsfor me of everything that's happened
with all the experiences andthe why behind it. And I'm like,
oh, these have all beenchapters in this story that's not
just being told to you, butbeing created by and with you on

(01:14:29):
the ship. And I think this isjust such a brilliant example of
the way Disney uses theseinternal characters. We've never
heard of these charactersanywhere before. You cannot, at least
right now, buy a Ziya andGamble action figure, although I
would put them on my shelfbehind me. Drive the guest engagement
and narrative from beginningto end.

(01:14:49):
They're so good. Theperformers are incredible. First
of all, I think probably asfar as talent goes, it's probably
the highest level of talentthere is because there's so much
improv that's involved inthis. They're interacting with people
in real time. So every timethey engage in some sort of show
where the audience is involvedor the guests are involved is different.

(01:15:10):
Every single time, it'sdifferent. You never know what somebody's
gonna say, somebody's gonnado, you know, what children are gonna
do. It'. Unpredictable. So thefact that they're just so good at
that, it's really incredible.I think that they are the hosts of
the ship is how it feels likeif you're invited to a party, they're
the hosts. They're the onesgreeting you, welcoming you in, telling

(01:15:31):
you what's going to happen,setting the tone for the experience
that you're about to have. Andyou're going to reconnect with them
throughout the voyage, andthey're going to tell you another
story or they're going to havea little laugh for you or whatever.
And then through the end, bythe end, with this final moment in
the grand hall called DestinyDiscovered, where there's a little

(01:15:56):
bit of each of thestorytelling elements that they've
had brought up as sort of ahighlight reel of everything that
you've experienced. It'semotional, it's powerful. It really
brings the entire Experiencefull circle. It's an experience that
you should not miss if yousail on the Destiny. But they're.

(01:16:17):
They're incredible at whatthey do, and I hope it's an element
they bring to the other ships,because now that I've had it, I feel
like this is such an integralpart of the cruise experience for
me.
Right. So I think they createa continuity of storytelling from
embarkation to that farewellon that final night. And you know,
something that reallyimpressed me, and maybe it's magic.

(01:16:39):
Maybe they're just reallygood. Maybe they've got some sort
of little magical earpiece.But in Destiny discovered at the
end. Did you catch how thatthey were calling out guests who
were by name?
That's what reminded me ofStar Cruiser a little bit. Yeah.
Because I remember onstarcruiser when I was on the bridge
and, God, I forgot who theengineer was and he called me by

(01:17:00):
name. I was like a little kid.Like, he knows my name.
He knows me.
And I was like, think aboutwhen they do that, that for kids
and adults, like, that samething. Like, it's such. It's. It
doesn't. It costs nothing.
Right.
But it's so meaningful, notjust for that guest, but for those
who are like, wow, that'simpressive. That's really important
that you remembered thatperson's by name.

(01:17:23):
Yeah. So good.
Yeah. All right. I want to tryand keep going because I know we
still have a bunch more tocover. We talked a little bit about
how the spaces that change andevolve, but I think more importantly,
talking about Zion Gamble is.Is the perfect transition to talk
about live entertainment.
Yeah.
Which I think is so strong.Matt, we keep. Where are they going

(01:17:47):
to go next? They are sending anew benchmark for Disney Cruise Line
live entertainment. And look,from the moment you board, you know
that entertainment is woveninto the ship's identity. I think
that there is, like, this nextlevel of acting and improv and physical
performance and theatricalconfidence and presence that I have

(01:18:11):
not felt anywhere else. Fromdrama to comedy to improv and music
and dance and characters.Everything else. Like, we just talked
about Zion Gamble. Like, theyneed to be strong because they are
the narrative anchors of thatship. They need to be, like, at 11,
all day, every day. And theyare. And they were. Because, again,

(01:18:34):
talking about how just callingout somebody name, they make. Especially
they. They make you feel seenand included in the story. Same thing.
Even with. And I know itreally was Loki and it really was
Dr. Facilier and it really wasMaleficent. It really was Black Panther,
but, man, they're straw. Like,like super strong. Like, I bought

(01:18:54):
into Maleficent be. I know shewas Maleficent, man. She was a really
good Maleficent.
She was intimidating.
Yeah. I was afraid to go up toher, like.
Like, in a good way. Yeah,yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, just amazing in theexecution of it. Cruella was like,
you want to talk about thecomedy and improv talent and that

(01:19:17):
sort of comedic, like, roast,I'm thinking about in troublemaking
that comedic roast, highcharisma type way again, she always
has to sort of be up here andeven like the supporting cast around
her, whether it is the pianoplayer, whether it is the cast and

(01:19:39):
crew inside the spaces, theytoo are super strong. We'll talk
about Pride Lands, right? Thismusical and. And theatrical show
where they're. It's differentbecause there are no sort of quote
unquote characters. But youwant to talk about super strong performers,
we'll talk about those too.But the production show, like Hercules

(01:20:03):
and the cast and every part ofit, like, was so, I think next level
and I feel was like the bestof. I don't even want to, like, sort
of it's like the best of thebest of the best. Like, from stem
to stern.
Yeah. Hercules. Hercules wasan incredible production. It was

(01:20:24):
so strong, such a strong,unique version of Hercules. Like,
I've heard mixed things about,because they just brought Hercules
back, you know, in the WestEnd in London. And it's kind of gotten
mixed reviews. And a lot ofpeople who saw that, saw even just
clips of the one at sea andsaid, that's light years beyond.

(01:20:49):
Like, why is this so good? Whyis it so good on a cruise production?
It's incredible the amount oftalent that they have, but the way
they sort of leaned into thenostalgia of the live entertainment
with Hercules and Lion King,which are two things that so many
people, so many of us havegrown up on a big part of our childhood.

(01:21:11):
The fact that we got to sortof relive these classics in a new
way and, you know, forbringing kids on board now they're
going, how many kids are goingto leave this cruise and go home
and watch Hercules? I've neverprobably seen it. Lou raises his
hand. No, but I love that. Ilove the fact that it's bringing
these stories back into thelimelight. And the cast, again, incredible.

(01:21:34):
The sort of 90s R&B inspiredtake of Hercules and the soundtrack,
the way it sort of, you know,it sort of takes you to church a
little bit. The star is bornand oh, my Gosh, it was just. It
was phenomenal. And so muchfun to watch and such. Again, talk
about each ship having itsdifferent vibe. You had Tale of Moana

(01:21:58):
on Treasure, which is atreasure in of itself. It was one
of the best stage projectionsI've ever seen. It left me sobbing
a mess. I was just so enamoredwith it. And then you have this one,
which isn't going to make youcry. It's going to make you want
to stand up and clap and, youknow, bounce in your seat. So it's
like, now you've got acompletely different vibe to this
sort of key production on theship, which is. I love that.

(01:22:22):
I will say that Herculesstarted a little slow for me. And
the reason I want to say thatis because I want to encourage people.
Don't give up on it, right?Stay through the buildup as they
introduce and establish thosecharacters and establish those relationships,
because the last 20 minuteswill make you feel like you have

(01:22:44):
been reborn in a theater. Themuses, the talent with those five
muses, which was reallyinteresting because I'm so used to
the three from the originalshow that we saw and from the movie,
of course, Earth 3. But thesemuses are the pinnacle of talent

(01:23:05):
on board the ship. And, ofcourse, Hercules was great as well.
But these guys were amazing.And by the end, they have this moment
on the staircase at the endwhere there's this vocal run that
I couldn't tell if it was livebecause. Or it had been professionally
recorded and then bumped up to11 because it was so amazing how

(01:23:28):
that hits you. But you'reright. Standing up, clapping, cheering,
by the end of it. So at thevery beginning, just hold on. Don't
leave. I actually talked tosome people who said, yeah, it was
too slow. And they left. AndI'm like, you totally missed out.
Don't do it. Go. Stay for thewhole thing. And you will be rewarded.
Okay, so a couple things. One,I. And I think you, to a certain

(01:23:52):
degree, Beck. I think you'reright. I think. But it's the story
of Hercules. Like, if youwatch the Hercules movie, it, too,
is that same. Like, there's alittle bit more of a slower burn
to it. Like the ship itself,it built up for me over time. It
got bigger and better the moretime I spent with it. Man. You can
take those five muses, which,like, in the film. In the. In the

(01:24:16):
animated film, there's fivefemale muses. Here, there were three
females and two males, whichthey are so strong, you can take
them and put them In Saga. AndI would sit there and watch and listen
to them all night long. Ithink it is. It's also different
than Moana, which I, for meand Mon is not my favorite movie,

(01:24:37):
but it's. I think it's my. Iknow it's my favorite show at sea.
Although I need to seeHercules again. I've said this before
to illustrate the point. It'sthe only time. And I've been on a
bunch of Disney cruises. Theonly time I've ever left Castaway
early to see the matinee andthen go back and see it again at
night. It's that good. It'sdifferent, though. Moana tells a

(01:24:59):
different story. Moana hits meemotionally different than Hercules
does. Like. Like Hercules is.It's. It. There's a hero's journey,
but it's a love story, andit's different than Moana. So the
feels that I got with Moanaare different than here. But, man,
you talking about going tochurch. I wanted to get up and, like,

(01:25:19):
shake my tambourine and justlike. And that. I keep calling it
the fourth act. That curtaincall alone. Like, I was choked up
with emotion. Adjust how goodit was. Like, how much I was like,
God, this is amazing. And youforget the fact that you are not
sitting in a Broadway or aWest End theater, but you're watching

(01:25:40):
this on stage. That cast. Ikeep saying the same thing. Is remarkably
strong. Like, across theboard. One of the biggest standing
ovation rounds of applausecame from Pegasus, who doesn't say
a word. He is purely a. Aphysical actor. Again, you. And you

(01:26:01):
might see these guys, like,performing elsewhere. You will see
them performing elsewhere onstage. One of the muses did the opening
for the. With Great Power show.
Yeah.
Which I think is the otheramazing. She was like, ah, good Lord,
woman. Like, just stand thereand sing in front of that old forties
microphone all night long.And. And I'm in.

(01:26:22):
Yep. She was vocallyexquisite. Every note that came out
of her, whether the powernotes or the understated ones. And
the looks on her face. Sheemotes so beautifully. I could watch
her all day, all night. She isa powerhouse. And so, again, speaks

(01:26:45):
to the talent that they'rebringing on board these ships. It's
stunning to me.
Me and the Pride Lands, too.We have talked about.
Yeah, Yeah. I actually havePride Lands next. I have it as a
separate ent. As.
We keep trying to get ahead ofourselves. I know.
I know.
Entree.
It is like an entree.

(01:27:05):
The other thing I want to talkabout Hercules, too is. I think it
appeals to those of us whosort of grew up or had kids who grew
up on the animated film. Thosewho. People who are fans of the theater.
The puppetry is spectacular.This show. I don't think there's
really other than projections,there's no digital effects like Beauty
and the Beast has the digitalset screens. This is all like traditional,

(01:27:30):
like real world puppetry andclassic Disney stage magic. That
multi headed Hydra is one ofthe most impressive effects I've
seen on stage. Not just on aship, but anywhere. Yeah, we're fortunate
we had the opportunity to goand speak to some of the performers
and some of the cast and someof the crew. And I'll share some

(01:27:52):
of those conversations aswell. But I loved seeing those practical
stage effects. And I said thisto. I think I said this when I saw
Moana and I had the. I waschatting with. I did a little interview,
stand up with the executivecreative director of Disney Live
Entertainment. And because Ihave a daughter who is studying production

(01:28:14):
design and stage management, Iattribute, I think, a lot of her
love of theater to what shehas seen at Disney and on Disney
Cruise Line ships. And I gotvery choked up and I'm gonna try
not to do it again now. I gotvery choked up when I was talking
to her at the end because Isaid, I think one of the effects

(01:28:35):
of this that you may notrealize is the impact you're gonna
have on a kid who's sitting intheater watching a live theater production,
possibly for the very firsttime, with those wide eyes, tears
in the eyes, smile on theirface like mouth agape, and is potentially
going to impact them and theirlove of the theater and wanting to

(01:28:55):
be more part of the theater orwanting to step on that stage or
go backstage. And I thinkthat's one of the most beautiful
and powerful effects of justhow good these shows really are.
Yeah, that's really powerful.It really is. Because going to see
a Broadway show, even yourlocal Broadway shows, is so expensive.

(01:29:18):
It's not something a lot offamilies can do, certainly not very
often, especially to go to NewYork, but to be able to go on a cruise
ship and it's just a part ofjust one teensy part of the whole
cruise experience that you'regetting. But it is a very powerful
one. And I think it'ssomething that Disney does better
than any other cruise line,that there is something you do not

(01:29:41):
ever miss. If something is inthe Walt Disney Theater, don't miss
it on your cruise because it'salways Going to be good. It's always
gonna be worth your time. Butthe two latest ships, Treasure and
Destiny, have taken thattheater experience to another level
in terms of just theproduction value that they're bringing.
I want to be like, girl, goodluck. Because I don't know where

(01:30:03):
you're going next. I don'tknow what you're going to put on
the next ship.
Where do you go?
Yeah, how do you sort of. Theyare finding a way to do it and again
it goes to the crew and thetalent that they have brought on
board that ship. Like thereare moments when creativity, like
Hercules is singing and Iwould got my little, like little

(01:30:25):
choked up just because I'mlike, my God, you're good. You're
an Adonis as well. But my God,you're super talented.
They are.
Well, I think we, I think wecan agree too that just across the
board, Disney Cruise Line hasthe right people in the right positions.
Clearly, like it's the onething you can tell as a guest, even
just experiencing the endproduct is that you can tell when

(01:30:46):
the right people are in theright positions. They're doing their
thing and they're, they've gotthe talent is where it's needed.
Because the out the endproduct across the board, from food
and beverage to culinary teamto service team to the hotel experience,
to the entertainment to thecharacters to the theming to the

(01:31:07):
decor. There's not one boxthat they haven't checked on this
ship.
And all of those things thatyou just mentioned. And look, I'm
not really a big food guy, butI think it's important.
Oh, oh, right, right. Okay,okay. I don't know who you're trying
to convince.
I think this, I think talkingabout Hercules and Alive entertainment
is the perfect transition tonumber nine on my list, which I did

(01:31:30):
put separately on purpose,which is Pridelands. This cinematic
multi sensory, Lion Kingthemed dining experience with incredible
African inspired flavors andspices and textures. Don't let that
scare you. Let's start withthe food first. I think again, this
is a space that is occupied byArendelle on the Wish. It is Plaza

(01:31:56):
de Coco on the Treasure. Sothis sits in the aft of the ship.
This is sort of the bigdining, sort of theater in the round
type space. Let's sweat themenu item because I think this is,
this is possibly the strongestmenu in restaurants that occupy that
space. Second night cocoa onthe Treasure. Like they're fighting

(01:32:19):
it out for, for one and two.Do not again, don't let like African,
African inspired and spiceslike that throw you off because there's
short ribs and harissa rubchicken and seafood curry, which
was incredible. Let's talkfirst about the food, and then we'll
talk about the environment andentertainment in Pride Land.

(01:32:40):
I think it was the best meal Ihad, for sure. The shrimp curry,
I could go for some of thatright now. Yeah. So this is something
that you'll have potentiallytwice on your cruise. Your first
night will be the showexperience. The second night, you
won't have the show piece ofit, but you will have a separate
menu. The menu for that secondnight is the one that we got to experience.

(01:33:04):
And the preview in April,which had these short ribs and a
couple of different menu itemsthat were incredible that I was expecting
to get to try. And I was like,wait, this is a different menu? But
then when I saw it, I waslike, oh, it's still really good.
I'm good. But I think both ofthose meals are gonna be standouts.
You definitely wanna make sureyou don't miss them. If you plan

(01:33:27):
something at, like, you know,enchante or something, make sure
it doesn't. You don't miss aPride Lands, because I think you're
gonna definitely want to makesure you met. You don't miss this
dining experience. But I willsay, the food, it was almost, like,
secondary to. I was so intothis, into the show, that I was like,
I had to keep reminding myselfto eat, which never happens.

(01:33:52):
And I'm probably the pickyeater here on this panel. As Lou
said, don't let the Africanspices, that type of thing, take
you away from showing up forthis experience. Because I'm not
a curry. I. I don't likespice. I don't really enjoy that.

(01:34:12):
And I usually go, kids, menu,please. It's some of the ones.
I sit near Becky all the timeso I can get the stuff that she doesn't
like.
Exactly.
That's. And that happens quiteoften. But I did find several things
on this menu that were reallygood, that even though it says spice,
it's not overly spicy. Itreally is just flavorful. Rather

(01:34:34):
than adding anything thatmight go against somebody who's a
picky eater. Give it a try.There's always the kids menu to fall
back on, but don't not go,because the. The menu looks a little
intimidating. It was reallygood. And then the entertainment
itself, obviously, it's aretelling of the Lion King story
in a different way withouthaving characters. But again, going

(01:34:56):
to that talent, that strongvocal talent in the music, bringing
some of the the Broadwaypieces into. I was able to enjoy
some new music that I had notheard before myself. So it was really
cool the way they put ittogether. A little dancing, a lot

(01:35:16):
of singing, a lot of drumming.I like the way that they had it set
up. My only criticism of thisvenue would be that it is so big.
And that stage in the round isif you're not in the very front,
it's not that you're going tomiss out because you're going to
hear it. But I would reallylove if they could put some element,
even of people walking throughwith, you know, something on a string

(01:35:40):
to make you feel in the backcorners that you're. You're brought
into the story. I think thatis the only thing about the venue
that I could criticize. Ifthey could figure out a way to make
those in the outer edges feela little bit more involved. But other
than that, the decor I loved.Again, just like they did with Coco,
they elevated it and makes youreally feel the theming that they're

(01:36:04):
trying to emote.
Yeah, it's sort of meant tofeel like the designs were sort of
meant to feel like an Africasavannah, like a boma, like a gathering
place. And if you payattention to the. The rear windows
and some of the other sort ofpicture windows they cycle through,
like sunrise and sunset. Andso the. Again, like all the other
spaces, this space evolvesthroughout your meal, using some

(01:36:26):
lightings and special effects.And obviously, Becky, to your point,
you're going to hear all thefamiliar musical numbers you might
not recognize. One from theLion King Broadway show or Lion King
2, like he lives in youn orShadowland, which came from Broadway.
And this is different. Andthis is where I want to discuss sort
of the comparing and thecontrasting. This is. There are six

(01:36:49):
live performers on stage inthe center of the room that have.
I think they said there's like23 different instruments that they
are handling. So again,talking about talented and gifted
performers, but from acreative perspective, rather than
using animal costumes orpuppets, the show is all about human

(01:37:13):
storytellers and musicians inAfrican inspired. I don't even want
to use the word costume, butAfrican inspired, like clothing.
So it's really on the voiceand the rhythm and the narrative
as opposed to the visuals.Right. So, yes, it's a typical sort
of meal and a show format, butit's not about necessarily what you

(01:37:37):
see, but it's about what youhear. One could argue that. Well,
was this done intentionally?And I'm not saying one way, like,
was this unintentionally topotentially obviate some of the,
some of the issues with, hey,I'm sitting really far away. We really
can't see what's going on onstage that much because there are

(01:37:57):
no characters here like atall. There's no puppets, there's
no characters. You're notgoing to see Simba, you're not going
to see Nala, you're not goingto see Mufasa. You don't have that
sort of reliance on the visualelement. I think that's potentially
a double edged sword. And Iwant to go back again and watch this
with kids. I want to see. Iwant to sort of see and hear the

(01:38:19):
reaction of young kids who mayprobably be familiar with the music.
But will the visuals be enoughsort of hold their attention the
same way again? I think it's.There's sort of two sides of the
coin because if you are not ina place in Arendelle that you can
see wandering Oaken and Annaand Elsa and Olaf, you might be disappointed

(01:38:41):
by where your, your table is.I wonder if here will it not necessarily
matter as much because youstill sort of get the audio experience
and you can see, you know,they're on obviously high Rogers
in, in the middle, you can seethem. But you don't necessarily need
to see all the detail becauseit really is about what you hear
as opposed to what you see.

(01:39:02):
Yeah, that's a good point. Ithink it is. Definitely. It's much
more Festival of the Lion Kingthan the Lion King movie. So if you
like the show at AnimalKingdom, I think this is going to
be your cup of tea. It's muchmore a performance of musicians and
singers. There is a dancer.
It really just feels like theone in Disney Paris.

(01:39:23):
Yeah, it's really, really welldone. I agree, Becky, that some roving
element would be good. If youthink about even some of the things
that they have at festival theLion King, that they have the dancers
and performers and the stiltwalkers or something, they could
have something sort ofbringing you in. But to some degree

(01:39:44):
there's some limitations justwith the way that that space was
crafted. And I don't thinkit's the best way to have an experience
like that. Maybe it's justcompared to like say Rapunzel's Royal
Table, where you have a showelement there, but the space is not
so large to where you can'tkind of see the stage. And you also

(01:40:07):
have the characters that sortof roam and visit the tables, which
I think is really nice. Andyou just this, the space is just
too large to have that. Sothey're somewhat limited by that.
And where you sit can changeyour experience, unfortunately.
Yeah. I think Disney had tosay, look, you need to design for
our potential constraints. Andlook, there are poles, right? There

(01:40:28):
are. There is distancedepending on where you are. How can
we design for those? Look,this is not an ideal theater environment,
so how can we design aroundthat best that we can?
And of course, they had threechances at it, and hopefully maybe
at the next one they willreimagine that type of space so it
doesn't become a negative element.

(01:40:50):
That seafood curry was so good.
It was.
And the perform look, again,same thing. I know we sort of keep
going back to it.
Like the chicken. I love.
So, like, I. I love Lion King.I mean, not. I think this is. I think
this theater, this show, thismenu, this whole environment, like
the ship itself is definitelygoing to be a lot of people's favorite
because Lion King means a lotto them, that music means a lot to

(01:41:14):
them. I loved. I reallyappreciated the quality of the performance,
not just by the singers, butby the musicians and the dancer as
well. There were. There waslike a bit of like, interpretive
dance, like she was notwearing a Nala costume, but you sort
of understood that theyrepresented different characters
in the story. So, again, ifyou are a theater person, if you're

(01:41:37):
a Lion King person, I thinkyou will very much appreciate this
story. And hopefully, like Isaid, where you sit becomes a little
bit less important becauseit's more almost of a concert with
dinner as opposed to watchinga theater show.
Yeah.
And. And like some of theother things we've been talking about,

(01:41:59):
I think Pridelands is a. Idon't know if this is the right word.
It's a more mature experience.I don't know how else to describe
it. I just felt like it was alittle bit more of a mature experience,
maybe because it was notnecessarily reliant on those characters.
It's why I want to go back andsee it again with a full complement
of guests with kids, withfriends, who have kids, so I can

(01:42:20):
sort of understand what theirfeelings and reactions to it is.
Are as well. And last on my.And this is relatively all encompassing,
this is sort of the catch all,because it's all about the details.
And it is for anything atDisney, whether it's a Disney park
with a Disney movie, DisneyCruise Line, show ship. Again, this
is a ship that is designedwith storytelling in every single

(01:42:44):
corner. And as somebody whostarted my whole journey, like writing
trivia books about Disney. Ilove the minutia. I love the details.
I love finding those littleEaster eggs. Details that are hiding
in plain sight. And I thinkthis ship rewards you for wandering
and exploring and keeping youreyes open and looking up and looking

(01:43:06):
down because there are theselittle visual surprises. And as part
of that, and a couple of youtouched on it earlier, I don't normally,
like, I appreciate it, but Idon't, I don't think it impacted.
Impacted me as much as it doeshere. I think the artwork on this
ship is spectacular. Right.Serena, you and I, we were running

(01:43:32):
up and down stairs a lot andup and down hallways, like, trying
to get different places. Andwe were stopping, like, not just
to sort of take it in toshare, but just appreciate how good
some of the artwork isthroughout the ship. It's original.
It is custom created to feellike pieces and artifacts from each

(01:43:52):
of the different story worlds,whether it's Hercules, whether it's
Raya, whether It's Big Hero 6.Like, this is the first time. And
I, and I love this too. If youlove the artwork and I think that
you will, you can go to thekiosks on Deck 5 and you can order
it and have it sent home. Iwent and I looked and I browsed and
then I was like, oh, let mestart taking pictures or anything.

(01:44:14):
There's a little part of me,maybe a big part of me that slightly
regrets not purchasing thatBig Hero 6 artwork that hung over
my bed in my stateroom becauseI loved it so much. Just quickly,
because you guys talk about ittoo, I thought the artwork was just
so, so, so well done here.Whether it was things on the wall,

(01:44:34):
things on the floor, tilemosaics, the artwork everywhere really,
I thought was impressive.
This is the very first timethat I decided to go up and down
every single staircase becauseI wanted to see all the art on all
of the landings. And it was,it was incredible. It's not just
kind of there to just give youa pop of color. These were that quality

(01:44:58):
of art that you stand thereand you'll spend five minutes looking
at it to take it all in. Justlike you. I looked at a couple of
pieces. Like, I think I likethat one. Maybe I do need to take
that home. I think that moreso than any of the the Disney Cruise
line ships beforehand, thistruly has standout art that is so

(01:45:23):
true to the story. It's notjust a piece to decorate a staircase.
It is part of the story thatthe entire ship is trying to tell.
I love how when you have athemed space, for example, Cafe Merida,
which is a brave themed littlecoffee space on. I think it was deck

(01:45:45):
four. I know five. I thinkit's on five. Before you get to a
space and surrounding thatarea are little previews of the theme
that is coming. So you get alittle bit of brave inspired artwork
as you're coming down the halltowards it. And then on the carpet
again, the carpets, which I'mobsessed with. The carpets start

(01:46:07):
a little tartan pattern on thefloor as you're getting close to
that space. I love the waythat this spaces flow because when
you have highly themed areas,you know, you have to think about
that. How do you go from, youknow, something that's, you know,
again, you have the, the grandhall, which is Wakanda, and then
right off of it is Brave andScotland. Like, how does that, how

(01:46:29):
does, how do you do that?Well, they do it beautifully by the
blend of the artwork and thecarpets and the lighting and the
wall colors and everythinglike that. I love that they do that
so seamlessly that all ofthese spaces just flow and you get
that bit of like, theming inyour brain that knows what, like
you already are anticipatingwhat you're going to be walking into

(01:46:49):
based on how they're settingthe stage for you. I love that, that
spot. And the cafe the Magera,I think was those, those two little
coffee places. I loved thetheming there. Beautifully done.
I, I love the Easter eggs.Right. So when we do so we have,

(01:47:10):
we do group cruises on theships. We have one coming up February
9th through the 16th. Becky,we still have availability, I believe.
You keep talking and I'll,I'll double check.
So I always love to doscavenger hunts. Like I do these
printed scavenger hunts, whichwill pretty much take you the entire
duration of the cruise to do.So I love, as I go through, I'm doing

(01:47:31):
it not just for myself becauseI, I just dig the Easter eggs. I
love to. I want to appreciatethe work, work that goes into it.
And I'm also thinking I needto obviously go back on the Destiny
again so I could write ascavenger hunt for the cruise. But
as I walked around, I waslike, oh, like, look at how the black,
like get close up to the blackpanther statue and look at the little,
like, Wakandan inscriptionsand the, the vibranium veins that

(01:47:53):
sort of illuminate during theshow. Look at Saga. Look at some
of the carvings and thepatterns and some of the things on
the wall. When you go todeville's. Look at the original Ken
Anderson artwork that's on thewalls. Look at some of the details
behind the bar. Go to thePride Lands, and if you can walk
around and you can see thosecarved animal silhouettes and sort

(01:48:16):
of like the rafiki symbolsthat are hidden in the woodwork.
Cask and cannon, like, is atreasure. No pun intended. Pun intended.
Treasure trove of attraction.Level Easter eggs. Not just because
it makes you feel like you'rein an old pirate tavern, but you
can see, like, if you look at.There's a stack of map drawers that

(01:48:38):
holds treasure maps from thedifferent pirate lands, you'll immediately
get the references there.There's the Mark Davis concept art.
There's. You'll find CaptainJack's compass somewhere. There's
a lot of inside jokes andvillain references and. And nods
to sidekicks. And everywhereyou go from the environmental spaces

(01:49:01):
to the retail spaces to thelobbies to the outdoor pool areas,
there are these little smalltouches that are there for Disney
fans and super fans that Ithink add another layer to it. And
I love how Disney how Imagineuses that to complement the big moments,

(01:49:23):
the live entertainment, thestorytelling, the characters, et
cetera.
Oh, I also want to mentionthat I love that as someone who is
always navigationallychallenged, I'm, like, lost most
of my life. I just wanderuntil I find what I need. There's
a lot of little navigationclues in the ship that they give
you, which I think is reallycool. So heroes is aft and villains

(01:49:47):
is. No. Yeah, forward. Is thatright? Villains is forward. Heroes
is aft. So if you see a carpetor, like your elevator decor is villains,
then you know which part ofthe ship you're in when you're walking
in the hallways, there'shidden Mickeys on the carpets. The
carpets are going to be themedto the. To the theme of your deck,

(01:50:09):
but there's little hiddenMickeys. And if the Mickeys are.
If you're heading forward inthe ship, then the Mickeys look correct
to you. If the Mickeys lookupside down, then you're heading
aft of the ship. I can't tellyou how many times that has helped
me in finding my way around.So I love even details like that
which are practical, but yetthey're still done in a decorative

(01:50:31):
way.
Becky, just before I forget,is there still available for our.
I'm. I am still. That dateseems to be not showing up, so I'm
checking another thing.
Well, fill out a. Go towww.radio.com destiny26 if you're
interested. And we will findout if there is any space available.

(01:50:52):
Or you could just stay with Becky.
So she won't mind. She wouldlove that. Who doesn't want strangers
in your stateroom?
Preferably blends that arelike teething and just a little rambunctious.
Just that's Becky's. Just.
Are you a little messy? Thatwould be great.
She would love that. Yes.Okay, I finally pulled it up. Yes.

(01:51:16):
There is still availability oninside Ocean View and balcony at
this time. So there is availability.
Cool.
You're saved.
I know we've been talking for,for a long time and so much for my
ideas. Like I told them beforewe started recording, like, like
45 minutes, we're gonna getthis done in 45 minutes.
We knew that wasn't gonnahappen. We knew that.

(01:51:36):
I'm sure that we probablymissed you.
Is there anything else thatyou guys want to add to our discussion
before we start to wrap this up?
Just I just how impressed I amwith Disney Cruise Line and how what
a guest experience they areoffering. They're just so incredibly
dialed in right now to whatthey're doing. They're. It's kind

(01:51:56):
of, they're at their peak andI think there's some argument to
be made that Disney parks, theguest experience. I've said this
before. If you said I spent aweek at Disney World and I didn't
have a great experience, I hadsome frustrations, I would be like,
yeah, yeah, I can see that. Ifyou said that about cruise line,
I'd be like, okay, something'swrong with you. I'm sorry. I don't

(01:52:19):
really buy that because I justfeel like the guest experience on
a cruise is just, they'vereally got it dialed in. It's really
perfected. There's somethingfor everybody. And on these new ships,
they're just taking everythingthat they've already got. Really
a well oiled machine at thispoint. And they're just taking it
to higher levels in terms oftheming and in terms of entertainment.

(01:52:42):
So you're gonna have a greatexperience no matter what Disney
cruise you do. I don't carewhat ship you choose, I don't care
what port you do, whatdestination you choose. It's gonna
be a fantastic experience.You're going to have a great time.
It's going to be great foryour whole family. But if you really
want to see where they'reheaded, where they're taking things,

(01:53:02):
what the next level is of thisimmersive entertainment that they
do, then I would definitelyconsider booking the Destiny or The
treasure. Just because thesetwo new ships are really bringing
the best of everything thatthey've accumulated across the 25.
How long St Cruise? It's beena while. How all these years, all

(01:53:23):
the experience that they'vegained and now you're getting the
best of all of that put intopractice and all of the best that
Disney Imagineering is able todo in these spaces. And it's just
a superior experience frombeginning to end. It's worth every
penny. All of us spend our ownhard earned dollars gladly to experience

(01:53:48):
these ships because they trulyare just that good.
Disney Cruise Line is one ofthe only cruise lines out there that
you can go on their oldestship, which came out in 1998, 27
years ago.
27.
And have still a wonderfulexperience because they've kept up
with it, they keep reimaginingthings, they keep updating it. And

(01:54:10):
I can't say that for allcruise lines. I do love the way that
they do have different type ofexperiences for different people.
There, there are people thatstill love the classic ships is still
their favorite and one of themis still mine. The fantasy and the
dream are going to give you acompletely different experience than

(01:54:31):
you get on these. So seeing itevolve, seeing how they're telling
the stories different but yetstill maintaining such a quality
experience from the food tothe entertainment to the, the stay
itself, I, I just really ambest word for it is just impressed

(01:54:56):
with how they've kept thestory, they've evolved the, the experiences.
You don't have to be on thelatest greatest to really enjoy a
Disney cruise. And right now,because they've gotten into their
seventh or their, their ship,their seventh ship, there's new itineraries
that are going to be comingalong. There's going to be new places
to go, other things toexperience. So even if it's not the

(01:55:18):
latest greatest ship, theWonder may be going somewhere or
the magic may be goingsomewhere on an itinerary that you're
like, I've never been thereand it's on my bucket list and this
is where I want to go. Sodon't shy away from Disney Cruise
Line just because it's not oneof these brand new ships.
Yeah, I think the, I think theDestiny represents a number of different

(01:55:39):
things. Right. I think it's,it's the broader move towards this
interactive adaptive themedstorytelling and I think, I think
this ship is going to reallyresonate with people in that sense.
I also think what's nice aboutthe, the Wish class ships, the Wish,
the Treasure and The Destinyis each ship is going to be somebody's

(01:56:02):
favorite, right? It's like,it's like a restaurant in Walt Disney
World. It's like anattraction. Everyone is somebody's
favorite. And I think each oneis going to be, is going to attract
and be attractive to differentfolks. Right. If you are more of
the princess and fairy taletheme, the wish might be where you
start. If you love the parksand nostalgia, the treasure and adventure,

(01:56:24):
treasure is being built foryou. If heroes and villains resonates
with you, Destiny is yourship. If you're looking for incredible
entertainment, they all speakto you. I think I found that. And
again, this is, this was sortof not a quote unquote, normal cruise
for us because we were in suchlike, I'll speak. I was like, such
locked in work mode. Like, Ienjoyed it, but I was just like,

(01:56:48):
I need, I need to capture,capture. I need to capture and turn
around and tapture and turnaround. The ship grew on me the longer
I was on it. And then even.And then once I left, I found myself
wanting to go back, liketomorrow. Like, I was like, oh, I
wish I could have somehowgotten myself on the maiden voyage
because I want to go back andexperience it all again. I want to

(01:57:11):
be able to take it all in. Iwant to be able to savor those spaces
and places, not just look atit through the quote unquote lens
of my phone. I think it's alsointeresting, and one of you mentioned
it too, is how the Destiny isgoing to influence what's next, right?
The next class of ships. I'mnot saying that we're going to do

(01:57:32):
it, but stay tuned. But whatdoes this mean for the future of
the Disney Cruise Line fleetas it expands to 13 Ships Global,
globally? Singapore and Japanare going to be part of the fleet.
And I think this is going tobe interesting to see what happens
next and what this next classof ships is going to be like. I said

(01:57:54):
that we were, we were atdinner one night, I said, you know,
I'm going to do a show and I'mgoing to like, build my own Disney
Frankenship. I'm going to takelike, my favorite spaces. We could
use, like, my favorite spacesfrom each of the different ships
and put them all into asingle, like, imaginary vessel that's
going to be. But I really did.I really found that there was a lot

(01:58:15):
that I loved about this ship.All right, so quick, we'll do a couple
of quick rapid fire questionsfor you, Becky and Serena. What was
your biggest, like, what'syour like? Very quickly, what was
your biggest overall sort oftakeaway from the Disney destiny?
For me, head above shouldersis the spontaneousness of this ship.

(01:58:37):
And the one thing I love morethan anything I mentioned it earlier
is how the characters interactwith you at Disneyland is so much
different than Disney World.And you guys did again that through
string of bringing it aroundto Star Cruiser. I love that. I love
the element of the unexpected,the surprise, the surprise and delights.

(01:58:59):
And knowing that there weresome elements there that I may not
be able to find wasintriguing, which made me want to
stay up and find it, notsleep. But my biggest takeaway was
that they are thinking they'rereally thought provoking on trying
to figure out how to makepeople part of the story rather than

(01:59:23):
a passive observer, which Iabsolutely adore. Everything from
the drinks where you have toopen up something and there's smoke
falling out, to finding acharacter around a corner, or King
t' Challa who just walks outinto the crowd and just starts talking
to people. And I love all ofthat. It's so engaging and interactive

(01:59:46):
and you feel like you'regetting great value for the time
you're spending.
Yeah. It's so hard tosummarize a ship like this because
it encompasses so manydifferent pieces, which I think is
why it's so special. You know,you have so many different elements
that go into your overallvacation experience. What you take

(02:00:09):
away from it is gonna bedifferent for each person. For me,
as someone who really liveentertainment to me is what I love.
Disney. I love Disney becauseof the live entertainment that they
do, the characters, thestorytelling. It's never about the
rides. I could go to the parksall day and never ride a ride and
I'm just as happy. To me, thecruise experience is the same. I

(02:00:33):
don't need to get off a ship.I don't need to go step in an ocean.
I don't need to go buy asouvenir on a port. I'm fine staying
on those ships because to me,that is the experience that I'm interested
in. And if you are someonethat also really loves live entertainment,
you can't imagine, like youcouldn't imagine going to a park

(02:00:54):
and not seeing a parade or thefireworks, like that's what you love
about it, or stage show orsomething, then this ship is going
to be your cup of tea becausethat's its strength. They're all
strong, but this ship inparticular takes all of those elements
to an even higher level. And Ican't wait to Go back and experience

(02:01:15):
more of them and kind of getto see how they would wind through
a five day cruise experiencebecause it would just be that much
better. I already know enoughto know that I will gladly take my
credit card out and book itfor probably two or three more times
over the course of the nextfew years just to get to experience

(02:01:36):
more of what it has to offer.And also, if it's this good already,
this was a preview cruise. Ithadn't even set sail yet. Like the
first guest, the first payingguest gets on this week. So if it's
already this good, then Ican't imagine where it's going to
be in a year, in two years, inthree years, it's going to be just

(02:01:58):
that much more impressive. Soif anybody's on the fence, I hope
this show, after listening tothis, has convinced you to go ahead
and book it because it's fantastic.
Okay, more lightning Round.Ish. What was your favorite space
on the show ship? Becky and Serena?
Sanctum for me, I think. Andthat surprised me because it wasn't

(02:02:20):
my favorite space on any ofthe other ships. But I absolutely
loved the Sanctum. I loved thetheming, the vibe. I loved, like
you said, how kind of cozy itfelt and I loved the menu.
Becky, you're on mute. You'restill on mute, Becky.
Sometimes when I'm trying tomask the ability to type, something
gets me in trouble.
Where's Key?

(02:02:41):
Hey, be nice to me. Right nowI'm multitasking, trying to figure
out something for February 7thor 9th. I love Deville's. I but I
didn't get a chance to to sitdown and have a cocktail in there.
So I'm gonna say Sanctum aswell, only because I love the detail
in there. I need about 42 moredark holds because those were really,

(02:03:05):
really good cocktails. That'sthe one. Come on. One. It's the one
with the salted caramelchocolate. And it was amazing. So,
yes. Don't judge me from ahangout space. That's probably my
favorite on board.
Yeah.
How about you?
Judging by the 42 drinks youhad there, it clearly was your favorite.

(02:03:27):
Okay, it was only 24, but still.
So I love the Haunted Mansionparlor, but spaces that are unique
to the Destiny. I wish I couldhave spent more time in Cask and
Canon. And by more time, Ialso mean getting to experience the
menu, the food menu in Kaskand Canon. We tried a few of the

(02:03:51):
items one night, like rightafter dinner. But I'd like to go
back and try that again, youknow what? I was gonna say sanctum.
But as I'm quickly sort oflike, flying through the ship, I
found my. I'm. I'm. I reallylike how Saga can be so many different
things in the exact samespace. It's where you can go play

(02:04:13):
bingo. It's where you have theMarvel show. It's where you've got
the Maleficent show. You cansort of sit in the back, in. In sort
of those little banquettes, orsit upstairs, be a little bit far
removed from it, and just sitand have a conversation and a cocktail.
So I. I do really like, and Ithink on this ship, they've really
utilized that space really,really, really well. All right, Lightning

(02:04:37):
round. Question. Of all thecool, different stateroom themes,
if you could pick, don'tforget about what deck it is like,
because, Becky, we know whereyou. What. What theme and what room
and what level you need to beon, but what stateroom theme would
you choose if you could just.Just pick one?
I'd probably do Big Hero 6 ifI could pick one, because I think
that artwork was pretty awesome.

(02:04:57):
This is why we're friends.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasreally good.
I was lucky, and I got Mulan,and I really, really love the artwork
in there, too. But I do likethe big hero6theming. I like the
whole San Francisco Tokyothing. I think that that's great.
I heard Brave was really nice,too. I haven't actually.
That's what I had.

(02:05:18):
Did you. So it would bebetween Big Hero 6 and Mulan.
For me, what characterinteraction or story moment just,
like, wowed you the most?
Celebration of a King waspretty amazing. I think what I loved
is how it closed the loop onthe story that the ship started with.

(02:05:40):
So, you know, you have thismoment in the beginning with Loki,
and then it closes that story.And I think that the way that the
lighting and the whole grandhall play into that particular showpiece
is really, really impressive.
I loved watching Maleficentspeak with people. I loved observing

(02:06:01):
that. I was going to ask, isthe Deadpool thing an interaction?
Maybe, maybe not. That showwas probably my favorite thing on
the entire ship. If I couldsee that show again, that was amazing.
But also, like, Loki, too. Hewas good. He was really good. So

(02:06:24):
I just gave you three or twoand a half.
And finally, if somebody istrying to decide whether the Destiny
is the right ship for them,what would you tell them?
I mean, I think if you're aMarvel fan, that's clear. So don't
even go any Farther. Ifcharacter interaction is a big part
of your cruise experience, Iwould say you need to do the Destiny.

(02:06:47):
The biggest thing I've beenasked is how does it compare to the
Treasure? And for that answer,I have to experience it as a guest
to really know, because I'vespent a lot more time in the Treasure
than I have.
Which is why I'm not askingyou the relatively unfair question,
which is where does theTreasure, where does the Destiny
rank for you in the DisneyCruise line fleet? Because I don't

(02:07:08):
feel I can answer itappropriately without having a lot
of ifs it.
Yeah.
Or having to ask a lot ofqualifying questions. Because I think
that the answer comes withwhat you personally want to experience.
So I think that's a greatquestion Serena is asking. You know,
if character interactions area big part of what makes a vacation

(02:07:30):
for you on board a Disneycruise, then it's an absolutely no
brainer if you're an adultthat wants more time in adult spaces.
I think that this isdefinitely a better choice than.
Than the other two. Justbecause those adult spaces are. They
thought through it a littlebit more, I think so. I think you

(02:07:52):
just have to ask a lot ofqualifiers because I think different
people are going to look atthat differently.
Wait, wait. I have a greatidea. Ready? Ready.
Okay.
Why don't you book a trip forthe three of us? Do like a little
girls week. Like, the three ofus will go. We'll stay in the incredisuite,
Right?
Yes.
Which we didn't even talkabout. Like the incredible suite
and the iron man.
The iron man.

(02:08:14):
Like, get the suite in theback. It'll be. Becky, it'll be great
from a coverage perspective soyou can show people what that suite
looks like. And we'll do alittle girls weekend and it'll be
so much fun.
Yes.
The spa we'll get done.
We get a two bedroom suite.You're on the couch and Serena and
I are in the two rooms.
Even care. That's fine.
Yeah. I could be on the floor.

(02:08:37):
Be careful because somethinglike that is very doable. So we do
have 50% offs from ouradventure cruise there. Lou.
If you can dream it, we can doit. I'm just saying Walt would have
wanted it this way.
Yeah, absolutely. I need verylittle persuasion to be financially
irresponsible. Let me just saythat it doesn't take much.

(02:09:02):
Well, it is. Look, it is abig, beautiful ship. We covered a
lot, yet we still didn't covera lot. There's a lot more that we
can Chat about. Certainly ifyou have any questions about it,
you can go to the Clubhouseover at www.radio.comclubhouse on
Facebook. Post your questionthere, we'll answer it. Hit me up
on Instagram at Lou Mongello.Or call the voicemail at 407-900-9391,

(02:09:26):
which is 47900, WDW1. Ask yourquestion or give if you've been on
the Destiny, let us know yourthoughts. If you want to book your
own cruise on the Destiny orany of the Disney Cruise Line fleet
or anywhere on this big bluebeautiful planet of ours, go visit
Becky menken over@mMouseFanTravel.com and then go and
see Serena over at living bydisney.com and on the Ticky talks

(02:09:50):
and on Instagram. Anythingelse? Any final words of wisdom or.
I have a question for you. Howdoes it rate in terms of chicken
tenders? If you have to ratethe top three ships for chicken tenders,
what wins?
So to show you just toevidence just how exhausted I was,

(02:10:12):
I was, I was counting down tochicken tenders like for weeks. I
was so excited because we knowfor a fact science has proven this.
The chicken tenders that youget through complimentary room service
are different and better thanthey are anywhere else on planet
Earth. I don't know why I wasso tired the first two nights. I

(02:10:34):
couldn't even like stay awaketo do it. On the third night, I'm
like, I don't care if it killsme. I am getting chicken tenders.
I sat on my little bed with mychicken tenders. Big Hero 6. You
should have seen this stupidlittle grin on my face. I was just
so happy. It is the littlethings. Of all the incredible moments
that I had on Disney CruiseLine, sometimes it is the simplest

(02:10:56):
things that make me happy.Whatever magic Disney has because
I think that they areconsistent across the fleet. So whatever
sort of magic kitchen they areoriginally crafted from and then
ported out onto the ships, I'mtelling you, the chicken tenders
late night will change yourlife forever. They have changed mine.

(02:11:17):
Just as you both have by beinghere. Thank you. First of all, listen,
I went on this trip solo, butI was not alone. We ate together,
we worked together, we playedtogether. In fact, he's tanks she
drank together. So thank youguys so much for being here. Any
last words of wisdom before wego book early?

(02:11:40):
The biggest thing with withDisney Cruise line is when they release
you get the rock bottom pricesand it only goes up from there. So
if you know you want to book Atrip. Do it now. And of course it's
fully refundable depositsunless you're after final payment
or in a concierge. However,you can book it, you can cancel it
if you need to, but you willlock in the lowest available rates.

(02:12:02):
And I cannot emphasize thatenough because you'll see a change
from the day it releases to aweek out. Can be up to 800 or a thousand
dollars per person. Higher.
Just book it. Just go. Go forit. Come on. You know you want to.
No, just. Yeah, just. Yeah, Ijust highly recommend it. I think

(02:12:25):
it was. It's just fantastic.
Well, thank you guys, again. Iagree. Just book it. The Disney Destiny
is a special ship in a specialclass on a very special cruise line.
Becky Menken from MousefinTravel. Serena Lynn from Living by
Disney. Thank you so very muchfor being here. If you can snap your
fingers, be on board and eatone item in any one restaurant, what
it's going to be go.
What is this eat thing?

(02:12:46):
I want a darkhold.
Oh, wait, it comes with thechocolate. So yeah, I would eat the
chocolate from the dark holethat I would be drinking in the sanctum.
Becky likes a little liquidlunches. Liquid lunches.
You can eat the lipstick. Sothat's true. I mean, come on.
That's true. I'd probably gofor a Donald's Cantina bowl right

(02:13:08):
now on the deck. Watching somefunnel vision right now.
Yeah, one of those tacos.Remember when they built that taco
for you, Lou, and you couldn'teven shove it in your face. It was
so big.
It was more like two giantcalzones. But oh, the barbecue's
all. I love Deck 11. I loveFestival foods. So I'll have a little

(02:13:31):
bit of barbecue. I'll alsotake a cheeseburger. I want a cheeseburger.
No, I want a hamburger. Whatmovie? It's Caddyshack. You'll never
would have got a cheeseburger.I want tacos from Donald's Cantina.
I'd like a little bit ofbanana soft serve ice cream. Oh,
and then I want to go back forlate night pizza.

(02:13:52):
Yeah.
I'm not kidding.
I didn't even go in there.
You didn't even. We didn'teven get. We didn't even talk about
it.
We didn't even.
Let's do a supplement. Let'sdo a supplemental cruise and we'll
do a supplemental live showand discussion.
All the things we didn't getto. If we really talked about it
all though, it'd be the lengthof a cruise. Just L we'd be like

(02:14:16):
just day three cruise daythree of the podcast cuz Lou says
I'm live and I don't care. I'mtalking about whatever I want to
talk about.
Oh by the way too, we alsoforgot the ship actually goes to
ports of destination.
Yeah whatever. It doesn'tmatter. You don't care where it goes,
just.
Get on the ship. Some of themhave a double dip though where you

(02:14:39):
get the cast away and lookout key.
So hey that is nice.
Becky, get off the phone and start.
I know I might have a browseropen right now to the Destiny pricing.
I might. That's all I'm saying.

(02:15:09):
That's going to do it for thisweek's show. Thank you so much for
taking the time to listen andbeing part of the WW Radio family.
I am so grateful to and foryou. Hope that you found some magic.
Got some questions answered inthis week's show. If you have any
more questions about theDisney Destiny, you can email me
louwwradio.com come to theclubhouse over at www. Radio.com
clubhouse or message me overon Instagram. I'll be happy to answer

(02:15:32):
them for you. I also have alot more content to share from the
Destiny, including more videosand reels that I'll be posting on
my Instagram. I also have anumber of interviews that I conducted
while I was on board withimagineers and executives and crew
members and cast members.Again, I'll be sharing those both
as videos, maybe even as somebonus podcast content as well. So
stay tuned and you can alwaysask questions about the Disney Destiny,

(02:15:54):
Disney Cruise Line or anythingat all on our Wednesday Night Live
show every Wednesday at 7:30pMPM Eastern on Facebook and YouTube.
I hope that you enjoyed thisweek's show. You feel better because
of it and if you do, pleasehelp spread the word, share the show
and tell a friend. And thankyou again for the opportunity to
be on the Disney Destiny onthe most recent cruise. None of this
happens without your love,friendship and support and for that

(02:16:16):
I am so very grateful and ofcourse huge thanks to Disney Cruise
Line for the opportunity to beon the ship and cover it for you.
So until next time, rememberto be connected, choose the good,
be the good. Set an examplefor others by your words and your
actions. Have an amazing dayand even better tomorrow. So until
next time, I love you. Iappreciate you. See ya. Well, it

(02:16:39):
sounds pretty good. In fact,that's just the right spirit.

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