March 14, 2024 • 21 mins
Imagine strolling through EPCOT with the stars twinkling above and your favorite Disney characters around each corner—yes, even the elusive Miguel from "Coco"! Kris Johns and Vanessa Ferguson, are here to whisk you away on our enchanting escapade during Disney Vacation Club's Moonlight Magic event. Revel with us in the less-traveled pathways of the park and bask in the delight of meeting Minnie Mouse in her pilot gear.
As DVC members, we've discovered a treasure trove of joy in these after-hours celebrations, and we're eager to share our trove of tips with you. From strategically using your food vouchers to the mesmerizing allure of an exclusive fireworks display, we cover all you need to know to elevate your Disney adventure. Whether it's comparing the delectable offerings at EPCOT to those at the other Disney parks or discussing why Moonlight Magic triumphs over the usual after-hours events, we're dishing out everything that can make your Disney experience as captivating as ours. So, prepare to have a starlit evening of fun immortalized in your memories with our latest episode about the Member Exclusive Moonlight Magic Event at Epcot.
- Disney Overview about Moonlight Magic
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Dizla Podcast with Vanessa and Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Vanessa Ferguson and I'm Chris Johns.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We would like to welcome you to show number 145
and for any listeners joining usfor the first time.
Our show typically featuresthings we love at Disney and in
each episode we will have aguest who creates Disney magic
for our listeners at home or ontheir Disney vacations.
Except for this episode, fromvacation planners to product
producers, our guests can bringDisney magic into your life.
(00:31):
We do have some specialepisodes, like today, where we
do not have a guest, but we'llget to that in a few minutes.
And just as a reminder to ourlisteners, if you can take time
to leave us a review on ApplePodcast or any other platform
where you listen, that helps theshow grow and, of course, helps
us get more listeners.
And before we get started, wehave a message from our friends
(00:52):
Eric and Alexa over at Babyquip.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And that message is don't hassle bringing all of
those bulky strollers, car seatswith you on the plane to
Florida.
Let Babyquip help you out.
Our friends Eric and Alexa wantto remind you that when you're
planning your next Disneyvacation with the little ones,
make sure to reserve anythingyou need from them, including
strollers, car seats to cribsand high chairs, with delivery
(01:18):
directly to your resort.
As your Babyquip independentquality provider, they will
provide you with excellentcustomer service that is true by
providing clean that is trueuseful equipment that is true.
That will make your vacationeasy.
That is true.
They will help you.
If there's something that youdon't see in the website,
(01:39):
they'll help you connect with it.
We've used them for severalrentals for our daughter and our
trips and we've had an amazingexperience.
Everything from the delivery tothe quality of the equipment
has been top notch, Not on topof that, Eric and Alexa are
awesome pizza people, so let'ssupport good people who are
providing good service so thatyou can have a great time.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And if you just visit our show notes, you can get the
link right to their website tomake your reservation today.
So, as I mentioned earlier,every once in a while we do do
special episodes where we reviewsomething that we did that was
a special event, or, like we'vegone on cruises, we do reviews
of those as well.
So this is one of those specialepisodes and in this one we had
(02:23):
a chance to experiencesomething fun.
Now this does I should givekind of an asterisk this only
applies to individuals who areDisney Vacation Club members, or
if you have a good friend who'sa Disney Vacation Club member
who can get you in, that's alsoa way to attend these.
These are called MoonlightMagic events and we had a chance
to attend one on at upcott onmarch.
(02:45):
First, and before we get started, chris, I was gonna ask you a
trivia question.
Let's go.
So they have these moonlightmagics at parks across.
They have them in florida, incalifornia.
There is one disney park thatin the united states that does
not have moonlight magic.
What park would that be?
(03:06):
Hollywood studios good guess,but it's actually magic kingdom
and then in california I guessit's technically to magic
kingdom in florida, in disneyland, in california.
So this event they have it atanimal kingdom, at upcott, at
hollywood studios.
They actually also have itdisney's typhoon lagoon and then
in california they have atdisney's california adventure.
(03:28):
So this is a after hours eventthat takes place just for disney
vacation club members and we'llget into the details about how
you register, all of those sortsof things.
But before we get into some ofthose Details, I wanted to ask
chris and then I'll share mineas well just if you had to give
your overall impression, whatwould you say about this event?
(03:49):
Wonderful, that's it.
Yes, well, I will add, we'vedone the after hours that you
like, the ticketed events thatyou pay for.
Versus this event, I would saythey're on par or better.
I really enjoyed it a lot.
It was a great experiencebecause it can bind things that
we like food, had specialcharacters and rides.
(04:11):
So overall that was superawesome and we'll get in again.
Like I said, we'll go over someof those details now.
Maybe you'll be a little, havea little bit more to add for
this.
What was your favorite thingthat we did that night.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, number one, we had awesome time with our
friends.
Linden sheldon, yes and just.
It was nice because it's aspecial event for dvc owners.
We had a great time with ourfriends.
Linden sheldon is part of that.
We were able to just reallyhave access to the park In a
much more relaxed sense and fromwe enjoyed food and wine we
don't know the food part, notthe wine part, but on top of
that, really I think the mainthing was just because your
(04:47):
member owners it's awesome to beable to really enjoy the park
in a much more relaxed pace andto get on rides that you want,
to get around and just have theoverall, just to have fewer
people in the park, which, again, I think people being in the
park is part of the energy.
But as at night the weather wasjust right, it was just perfect
for the four of us to enjoyeverything that disney had offer
(05:07):
.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I will say my favorite thing was probably the
unique characters that they hadout, so I will Go over a little
bit details about that, butthere was characters in their
outfits that you never see atthe parks, and our daughter
loves cocoa.
We were able to get our photowith me, miguel and Miguel is
I've never seen him out anything, so it was just those were some
(05:31):
of the things that were Awesomethat I really enjoyed.
And then the other thing I wasgonna ask you, chris, would you
do it again?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
one hundred percent yes.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So I think there's some events that we've done at
disney that we're like that wasnice but Don't necessarily have
to do it again.
This is something that I thinkI would go out of my way to do
again.
So just to kind of go over howit works.
So this Event they have certaindates during the year.
They announced at the beginningof the year like what the dates
were going to be.
I think it was actually inDecember.
(05:59):
They released all the dates forthis year.
So most of the parks had twodates.
So Animal Kingdom had two dates, epcot had two, california
venture there's two dates atTyphoon Lagoon and then there's
also a date at Hollywood Studios.
So it just depend on the park.
And here's how it works.
So you have to register,pre-register, for this event and
(06:20):
what happens is there arecertain dates that the
registration opens you.
Not only do you have to be aDisney Vacation Club owner, the
second part is that if you havea reservation at one of the
Disney resorts, then you get aEarly advance registration for
this event.
So it just really was sheerluck that we were able to.
(06:42):
We had already planned a trip.
We were going to the House ofMouse Expo that was being held
in Kissimmee.
So we already had a reservationfor that weekend, which meant
we had early access to reserveTickets.
So what happens is, if you'refamiliar, I'm sure most of you
have done some sort of virtualqueue for Disney, and it's very
similar for on the website,where if you're registering for
(07:04):
a cruise that's just beingreleased or tickets for
something, you get in a queue ata set time and and thankfully
our friend and she was on at thesame time, so we were both
trying to get tickets.
So that way, no matter who gottickets, or if we both got
tickets, we were all able to go.
And with that, once you get thetickets, what happens is that
(07:25):
Obviously, you are able to go in.
But one thing I didn't realizeand maybe it's just because
we're such new DVC members, butit was there was I hate to use
the word free because you'realready paying for DVC but it
was no cost, no additional costto go.
So that was a surprise to me,because I was in the queue and I
thought, oh, I got my cardready, just like with the
regular after hours.
I thought there was gonna be afee, but there's no charge for
(07:46):
it, which was super awesome, andeach person or like on our
membership, we were able to gettickets for five people so that,
like Chris mentioned, linda andSheldon came with us.
So we were able to use fourtickets, and that's a great
bonus too.
So even if you're travelingwith other people or if you like
our friends, linda and Sheldonthey live down there.
(08:07):
We have family that live downthere, different people you can
invite other people to come withyou or if you have a larger
family, hopefully five ticketsis enough.
That was one thing that issuper nice.
So you get the tickets and howit works is the day of the event
when you go in.
They have just like they do forthe Christmas Party or any of
those.
They have stations where you go, show your ticket thing on your
(08:28):
phone and they give you awristband.
Another thing that they dothere is, besides giving you a
map with a lay out of what'sgoing on that night, you get
three food vouchers, which Ihave to say a big thank you to
our friend man.
She, her and her husband hadbeen to the one a few weeks
earlier and she gave us sometips.
(08:48):
Number one as soon as you canget your food vouchers.
We went about 5 30.
I think you can go as early asfive.
Use those vouchers.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yes, eat first.
It's one of those things,because we saw a number of
places either a run out of foodor be they close down early, so
you may very well see.
Well, you know this event goesto how long did it go till till
one till one.
Food is not available till oneo'clock.
So, with that, eat first, thengo enjoy the rides.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So we were able to because Nan had given us that
heads up.
We went to the food or the.
It was.
The flower and garden festivalwas going on, so there was the
all of the stations throughoutworld showcase and then in
future world where you could go,and we got things from the
flower and garden festival.
(09:38):
So that was nice.
Each person gets three, so it'sa good amount.
What we did is we decided toskip like a dinner, because we
knew we were going to get thesevouchers, and we just had a
snack and we said, had a coupleappetizers in Mexico, and then
we got our food vouchers and wejust started going out, because
those lines start getting longerthe closer you get to the
(09:59):
events start time.
So the event officially startsat 10pm.
As you know, epcot closestechnically at nine o'clock.
Then they have the fireworksshow and then they go into this
special event.
So you'll have your wristbandalready at that point and as you
go around, things start slowlyshutting down.
(10:20):
There are a few of the foodplaces that stay open later, but
by this point most of the foodand the flower and garden
festival food kiosks are goingto be closing and so we had
already used our vouchers bythis point.
It does take some effort,though you don't realize that
three vouchers unless you'reusing them all at one place.
(10:41):
It takes a while because we ateat the honey kiosk.
I know we went over to the.
You guys got lobster tail.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
That was good.
We went to the America Pavilionand I know I got the gumbo,
which was super good, and I gota banana pudding.
You guys had some Mediterraneanfood.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
We did.
We had a kebab.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, was it good.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Delicious.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, so you get some different.
For I mean, how often is Disneygoing to give you a voucher to
get lobster tail?
So that was nice.
We enjoyed those and what we?
We kind of made a decision wego to the parks enough, and we
knew we're going to be back atEpcot.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We skipped rides this time we did Again the really
the focus.
We've been at Disney to so manytimes and so as part of it the
allure was not necessarily therides, but being able to be
there with friends.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
So if you, if you have kidsthat are really excited about
doing some rides again, this isa great time because the lines
were very minimal.
I think the only thing that hada decent line was Guardians of
the Galaxy, cosmic Rewind.
But we decided we were going todo the characters, because
there are characters that eitheronly come out in these outfits
(11:51):
at special events or they are inthese locations for this
particular event.
So we went first.
We lined up in Mexico.
Chris was the first one in linefor us to see Miguel from Coco.
So that was super cool to seeMiguel, and I'm hoping maybe
he'll be on the treasure, wherethey're going to have the Coco
themed restaurant.
But seeing Miguel was fun.
(12:12):
He did a video for our daughterbecause she wasn't with us on
this trip, so that was a neatthing to experience.
And then we headed over and youhave by the new Walt Dream
statue in that plaza in thecenter and right, with Spaceship
Earth behind.
They had Mickey there in hislike traditional, his tux outfit
.
I think that was a cool thingto have Walt and Mickey together
(12:35):
.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
It was.
It was really nice and again,that's really the part of the
allure of the midnight magic wasjust being able to get seeing
the iconic characters quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
That's the main thing .
And for many times you'd bewaiting for a long time.
And then again I got to seethat old duck In his in his
lumber quack outfit.
He was a lumberjack, he was inCanada and I said he's a lumber
quack.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, that's, that was Chris's favorite joke of the
trip.
So we did see Donald and hislumber quack outfit.
We saw a goofy in his.
He looked like a Sherlock home,like he was in a Sherlock
Holmes detective outfit.
And the UK.
We saw Minnie Mouse as a pilotand the land pavilion.
So she was up at the upperlevel with the hot air balloons
(13:21):
behind her.
So that's her pilot outfit.
One of our friends fromCalifornia, let us know that
that's actually the outfit shedoes for meet and greets at
California adventure.
So we had never seen thatbefore.
So those were the characters wedid.
We did get in line for Esmeraldaover in France, but this was
the morning we had flown in andwe had been up since 3 30 in the
(13:44):
morning and we just they asMeralda went on a break and they
said it was going to be wellover 15 minutes.
So we got out of that line.
But there is, as Meralda is inFrance.
They also had Mushu in Chinaand then, which we didn't make
it to, and they had one of thecharacters from Guardians of the
Galaxy and I'm forgetting offthe top of my head, but you, so
(14:05):
we got, we were in that timeframe, we were able to get all
except for three of thecharacters, and we could have
gotten as Meralda.
We were just too tired to standin line, but it was just so
much fun.
Besides the food vouchers, theyalso have ice cream that you
get, so we had a couple of icecreams delicious and so that was
super nice.
They do keep a few of the placesopen for you to buy drinks and
(14:27):
stuff like that, unlike ifyou've take went to a regular
after hours event.
You get the ice cream, so theMickey bars, the cookies, like
the sandwiches that are with thecookies and cream, and I think
they had the fruit bars.
So those are what you get atthe moonlight magic.
At a traditional after hoursyou would get that popcorn and
then also the beverages, the 20ounce beverages.
(14:49):
You do not get that there, sothat those are a little bit of
nuances, a few differences, butoverall this was really a nice
event.
It does run from 10 to 1 am, sothat can go by pretty fast
because that's not a lot of time.
But I think if you really Make aplan, which is what we did, our
plan was we were doingcharacters.
(15:10):
We ate first.
We did characters.
Our friend Nanna I also have,she called our.
Actually I called her that dayand she gave us lots of tips.
She said for the characters youcan be in line and then as soon
as 10 o'clock hits, they startthe opening.
So that's how we were able tosee Miguel so quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And so she gave us the tips about the characters,
she gave us the tips about thefood, so passing those along to
you, get those food vouchersearly, use them early, get in
line for the characters evenbefore it starts.
And the last special thing thatthey had, which we did watch,
was they had a Exclusivefireworks show for us too.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, it was wonderful .
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I was expecting it to be much shorter and not
as elaborate for a specialfireworks it was very elaborate
yeah that's what it was.
Very nice.
It was on par with I mean itwas a shorter version of what
the regular nighttime shows are,but for being a special thing
that was just for the DVCmembers it was awesome and we
(16:09):
did stay and watch that.
So that was at 11 o'clock.
That's only once, so you'llwant to make sure you plan
around that.
So what we did is we did thecharacters Towards the back, so
we did make or we did Miguel,then we went over and did Mickey
in that center area so we wereable to walk right back up and
watch the fireworks.
So that was super nice as well.
But really there's all kinds.
(16:32):
It's a great event.
I know our friends had alsoattended one at Animal Kingdom
and then we had some friendsthat had done one at Hollywood
Studios.
People kind of said Epcot's areally good one to do because of
those food kiosks for thefestivals You're able to.
Those vouchers you get for foodare essentially the equivalent
of a snack credit if you're onthe dining plan.
(16:53):
So there's a good value of whatOptions there are.
Our one friends who went toAnimal Kingdom said you kind of
get stuck in that like Frenchfry zone, french fry popcorn
with the vouchers.
So if you're looking at dates,definitely Keep an eye out for
Epcot the.
We did attend the last Epcot onebut there are, from what I
(17:13):
understand, they'll continue tohave these and release new dates
.
There are still some upcominganimal kingdom, typhoon lagoon
and then, of course, hollywoodStudios.
So it's a great thing and Iknow we have some friends that
have been able to register atthat later date If you did not
have a resort reservation.
Our one friends even werestaying earlier in that week and
(17:37):
Annette and she was able to addan extra day to be able to
their reservation and then theywere able to get those tickets
for Moonlight Magic as well.
You don't have to have areservation but if you do have
one again, like I mentioned, itgets you that chance to enter
the queue sooner and it's anearlier date that you're able to
(17:57):
.
But overall I liked it.
I think I liked it even morethan the traditional after hours
.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Now I can say I'm probably comparing apples to
oranges, because we've not donean after hours at Epcot but we
have done like the late nighthours at Epcot for like deluxe
resorts and those sorts ofthings.
So overall it was great.
We had a lot of fun with ourfriends Linda and Sheldon.
We also had some great tipsfrom our friend Nan and her
(18:24):
husband.
So it was really overall agreat time and we would highly
recommend it, like I would.
If we had a trip coming, Iwould adjust my dates to try to
go to it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I would you know.
Again, if you're a baseball fanand you happen to be there in
March, go see baseball and thenduring the day, relax and then
put those hours.
Because again, the nice thingis you might say well, it's only
X number of hours You're goingto get so much more frequency
and enjoyment.
Where you're not standing inline, you're not waiting in line
and whatever weight you do havewill be far less than what it
(18:54):
would be during the day.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Correct, so I'll share the links to the page that
talks about One Light Magic.
We'll share lots of our photosas well, and so overall it was a
great experience we highlyrecommend, and if you don't own
DVC, just ask one of yourfriends who does to get those
tickets and invite you along forthe night.
So today, because we are nothaving a special guest, we're
(19:17):
going to move right into our twominute trivia and our wisdom
from Walt Quote.
So, chris, you are up withtrivia.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
So we're talking about DVC.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And the question is how many destinations can you
use DVC points?
According to the DisneyVacation Club website, I'm
assuming you mean Disneydestinations, right?
Exactly on their website, onthe Disney website, how many
possible different locationsacross the world?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I don't know the exact number, so I'm going to go
with 16.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Try again.
This is worldwide.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I know, I think there's 12 in Florida, I think
there's two in California.
I'm going to go with 35.
Then You're looking at me likeit should be way higher.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Wrong.
What is it 118.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Wow, that must be with the exchanges and
everything, huh.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
These are again Disney labeled events, so,
whether it be Disney CaribbeanBeach Resort, oh yeah, because
you can switch your points.
All the way down to going toAfrica.
And again, these are on theDisney website.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, I guess, because you can go on adventures
by Disney, you can use theDisney cruise.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Antarctica and Patagonia Expedition Cruise for
only 1,350 points.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Man, that would be a huge amount of points.
How many points do we have?
We only have 200.
Yes, so I don't think we'regoing on the Antarctica
Expedition.
Yeah, I didn't think about that.
Yeah, because you can go toadventures by Disney, Disney
cruise, lots of things veryinteresting.
Now, that's good trivia to know.
You could be a salesman for DVCChris.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I should, actually I want to credit, because I'm the
one who brought up us buying DVC.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
OK.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Disney owes me.
I'm the salesman, I'm the onewho originated the sale.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Ask our salesperson.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Mickey, you owe me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
All right, so let's end out today with our quote
from Walt Disney.
Why do we have to grow up?
I know more adults who have thechildren's approach to life.
They are not afraid to bedelighted with simple pleasures
and they have a degree ofcontentment with what life has
brought.
Sometimes that isn't mucheither.
So thank you so much forjoining us on this episode.
(21:28):
Don't forget to check out allof our other episodes on our
Buzzsprout page and follow us onsocial media for more Disney
magic.
Thank you again for joining uson this episode of the Dizlove
podcast with Vanessa and Chris.
I'm Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And I'm Chris.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And I'm Chris, and I'm Chris.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney
Company or its holdings, and itis intended for entertainment
purposes only.
Welcome to the Dizla Podcast with Vanessa and Chris.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm Vanessa Ferguson and I'm Chris Johns.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
We would like to welcome you to show number 145
and for any listeners joining usfor the first time.
Our show typically featuresthings we love at Disney and in
each episode we will have aguest who creates Disney magic
for our listeners at home or ontheir Disney vacations.
Except for this episode, fromvacation planners to product
producers, our guests can bringDisney magic into your life.
(00:31):
We do have some specialepisodes, like today, where we
do not have a guest, but we'llget to that in a few minutes.
And just as a reminder to ourlisteners, if you can take time
to leave us a review on ApplePodcast or any other platform
where you listen, that helps theshow grow and, of course, helps
us get more listeners.
And before we get started, wehave a message from our friends
(00:52):
Eric and Alexa over at Babyquip.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And that message is don't hassle bringing all of
those bulky strollers, car seatswith you on the plane to
Florida.
Let Babyquip help you out.
Our friends Eric and Alexa wantto remind you that when you're
planning your next Disneyvacation with the little ones,
make sure to reserve anythingyou need from them, including
strollers, car seats to cribsand high chairs, with delivery
(01:18):
directly to your resort.
As your Babyquip independentquality provider, they will
provide you with excellentcustomer service that is true by
providing clean that is trueuseful equipment that is true.
That will make your vacationeasy.
That is true.
They will help you.
If there's something that youdon't see in the website,
(01:39):
they'll help you connect with it.
We've used them for severalrentals for our daughter and our
trips and we've had an amazingexperience.
Everything from the delivery tothe quality of the equipment
has been top notch, Not on topof that, Eric and Alexa are
awesome pizza people, so let'ssupport good people who are
providing good service so thatyou can have a great time.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
And if you just visit our show notes, you can get the
link right to their website tomake your reservation today.
So, as I mentioned earlier,every once in a while we do do
special episodes where we reviewsomething that we did that was
a special event, or, like we'vegone on cruises, we do reviews
of those as well.
So this is one of those specialepisodes and in this one we had
(02:23):
a chance to experiencesomething fun.
Now this does I should givekind of an asterisk this only
applies to individuals who areDisney Vacation Club members, or
if you have a good friend who'sa Disney Vacation Club member
who can get you in, that's alsoa way to attend these.
These are called MoonlightMagic events and we had a chance
to attend one on at upcott onmarch.
(02:45):
First, and before we get started, chris, I was gonna ask you a
trivia question.
Let's go.
So they have these moonlightmagics at parks across.
They have them in florida, incalifornia.
There is one disney park thatin the united states that does
not have moonlight magic.
What park would that be?
(03:06):
Hollywood studios good guess,but it's actually magic kingdom
and then in california I guessit's technically to magic
kingdom in florida, in disneyland, in california.
So this event they have it atanimal kingdom, at upcott, at
hollywood studios.
They actually also have itdisney's typhoon lagoon and then
in california they have atdisney's california adventure.
(03:28):
So this is a after hours eventthat takes place just for disney
vacation club members and we'llget into the details about how
you register, all of those sortsof things.
But before we get into some ofthose Details, I wanted to ask
chris and then I'll share mineas well just if you had to give
your overall impression, whatwould you say about this event?
(03:49):
Wonderful, that's it.
Yes, well, I will add, we'vedone the after hours that you
like, the ticketed events thatyou pay for.
Versus this event, I would saythey're on par or better.
I really enjoyed it a lot.
It was a great experiencebecause it can bind things that
we like food, had specialcharacters and rides.
(04:11):
So overall that was superawesome and we'll get in again.
Like I said, we'll go over someof those details now.
Maybe you'll be a little, havea little bit more to add for
this.
What was your favorite thingthat we did that night.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, number one, we had awesome time with our
friends.
Linden sheldon, yes and just.
It was nice because it's aspecial event for dvc owners.
We had a great time with ourfriends.
Linden sheldon is part of that.
We were able to just reallyhave access to the park In a
much more relaxed sense and fromwe enjoyed food and wine we
don't know the food part, notthe wine part, but on top of
that, really I think the mainthing was just because your
(04:47):
member owners it's awesome to beable to really enjoy the park
in a much more relaxed pace andto get on rides that you want,
to get around and just have theoverall, just to have fewer
people in the park, which, again, I think people being in the
park is part of the energy.
But as at night the weather wasjust right, it was just perfect
for the four of us to enjoyeverything that disney had offer
(05:07):
.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
I will say my favorite thing was probably the
unique characters that they hadout, so I will Go over a little
bit details about that, butthere was characters in their
outfits that you never see atthe parks, and our daughter
loves cocoa.
We were able to get our photowith me, miguel and Miguel is
I've never seen him out anything, so it was just those were some
(05:31):
of the things that were Awesomethat I really enjoyed.
And then the other thing I wasgonna ask you, chris, would you
do it again?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
one hundred percent yes.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So I think there's some events that we've done at
disney that we're like that wasnice but Don't necessarily have
to do it again.
This is something that I thinkI would go out of my way to do
again.
So just to kind of go over howit works.
So this Event they have certaindates during the year.
They announced at the beginningof the year like what the dates
were going to be.
I think it was actually inDecember.
(05:59):
They released all the dates forthis year.
So most of the parks had twodates.
So Animal Kingdom had two dates, epcot had two, california
venture there's two dates atTyphoon Lagoon and then there's
also a date at Hollywood Studios.
So it just depend on the park.
And here's how it works.
So you have to register,pre-register, for this event and
(06:20):
what happens is there arecertain dates that the
registration opens you.
Not only do you have to be aDisney Vacation Club owner, the
second part is that if you havea reservation at one of the
Disney resorts, then you get aEarly advance registration for
this event.
So it just really was sheerluck that we were able to.
(06:42):
We had already planned a trip.
We were going to the House ofMouse Expo that was being held
in Kissimmee.
So we already had a reservationfor that weekend, which meant
we had early access to reserveTickets.
So what happens is, if you'refamiliar, I'm sure most of you
have done some sort of virtualqueue for Disney, and it's very
similar for on the website,where if you're registering for
(07:04):
a cruise that's just beingreleased or tickets for
something, you get in a queue ata set time and and thankfully
our friend and she was on at thesame time, so we were both
trying to get tickets.
So that way, no matter who gottickets, or if we both got
tickets, we were all able to go.
And with that, once you get thetickets, what happens is that
(07:25):
Obviously, you are able to go in.
But one thing I didn't realizeand maybe it's just because
we're such new DVC members, butit was there was I hate to use
the word free because you'realready paying for DVC but it
was no cost, no additional costto go.
So that was a surprise to me,because I was in the queue and I
thought, oh, I got my cardready, just like with the
regular after hours.
I thought there was gonna be afee, but there's no charge for
(07:46):
it, which was super awesome, andeach person or like on our
membership, we were able to gettickets for five people so that,
like Chris mentioned, linda andSheldon came with us.
So we were able to use fourtickets, and that's a great
bonus too.
So even if you're travelingwith other people or if you like
our friends, linda and Sheldonthey live down there.
(08:07):
We have family that live downthere, different people you can
invite other people to come withyou or if you have a larger
family, hopefully five ticketsis enough.
That was one thing that issuper nice.
So you get the tickets and howit works is the day of the event
when you go in.
They have just like they do forthe Christmas Party or any of
those.
They have stations where you go, show your ticket thing on your
(08:28):
phone and they give you awristband.
Another thing that they dothere is, besides giving you a
map with a lay out of what'sgoing on that night, you get
three food vouchers, which Ihave to say a big thank you to
our friend man.
She, her and her husband hadbeen to the one a few weeks
earlier and she gave us sometips.
(08:48):
Number one as soon as you canget your food vouchers.
We went about 5 30.
I think you can go as early asfive.
Use those vouchers.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yes, eat first.
It's one of those things,because we saw a number of
places either a run out of foodor be they close down early, so
you may very well see.
Well, you know this event goesto how long did it go till till
one till one.
Food is not available till oneo'clock.
So, with that, eat first, thengo enjoy the rides.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So we were able to because Nan had given us that
heads up.
We went to the food or the.
It was.
The flower and garden festivalwas going on, so there was the
all of the stations throughoutworld showcase and then in
future world where you could go,and we got things from the
flower and garden festival.
(09:38):
So that was nice.
Each person gets three, so it'sa good amount.
What we did is we decided toskip like a dinner, because we
knew we were going to get thesevouchers, and we just had a
snack and we said, had a coupleappetizers in Mexico, and then
we got our food vouchers and wejust started going out, because
those lines start getting longerthe closer you get to the
(09:59):
events start time.
So the event officially startsat 10pm.
As you know, epcot closestechnically at nine o'clock.
Then they have the fireworksshow and then they go into this
special event.
So you'll have your wristbandalready at that point and as you
go around, things start slowlyshutting down.
(10:20):
There are a few of the foodplaces that stay open later, but
by this point most of the foodand the flower and garden
festival food kiosks are goingto be closing and so we had
already used our vouchers bythis point.
It does take some effort,though you don't realize that
three vouchers unless you'reusing them all at one place.
(10:41):
It takes a while because we ateat the honey kiosk.
I know we went over to the.
You guys got lobster tail.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
That was good.
We went to the America Pavilionand I know I got the gumbo,
which was super good, and I gota banana pudding.
You guys had some Mediterraneanfood.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
We did.
We had a kebab.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Yeah, was it good.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Delicious.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Yeah, so you get some different.
For I mean, how often is Disneygoing to give you a voucher to
get lobster tail?
So that was nice.
We enjoyed those and what we?
We kind of made a decision wego to the parks enough, and we
knew we're going to be back atEpcot.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
We skipped rides this time we did Again the really
the focus.
We've been at Disney to so manytimes and so as part of it the
allure was not necessarily therides, but being able to be
there with friends.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Yeah.
So if you, if you have kidsthat are really excited about
doing some rides again, this isa great time because the lines
were very minimal.
I think the only thing that hada decent line was Guardians of
the Galaxy, cosmic Rewind.
But we decided we were going todo the characters, because
there are characters that eitheronly come out in these outfits
(11:51):
at special events or they are inthese locations for this
particular event.
So we went first.
We lined up in Mexico.
Chris was the first one in linefor us to see Miguel from Coco.
So that was super cool to seeMiguel, and I'm hoping maybe
he'll be on the treasure, wherethey're going to have the Coco
themed restaurant.
But seeing Miguel was fun.
(12:12):
He did a video for our daughterbecause she wasn't with us on
this trip, so that was a neatthing to experience.
And then we headed over and youhave by the new Walt Dream
statue in that plaza in thecenter and right, with Spaceship
Earth behind.
They had Mickey there in hislike traditional, his tux outfit
.
I think that was a cool thingto have Walt and Mickey together
(12:35):
.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
It was.
It was really nice and again,that's really the part of the
allure of the midnight magic wasjust being able to get seeing
the iconic characters quickly.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
That's the main thing .
And for many times you'd bewaiting for a long time.
And then again I got to seethat old duck In his in his
lumber quack outfit.
He was a lumberjack, he was inCanada and I said he's a lumber
quack.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yes, that's, that was Chris's favorite joke of the
trip.
So we did see Donald and hislumber quack outfit.
We saw a goofy in his.
He looked like a Sherlock home,like he was in a Sherlock
Holmes detective outfit.
And the UK.
We saw Minnie Mouse as a pilotand the land pavilion.
So she was up at the upperlevel with the hot air balloons
(13:21):
behind her.
So that's her pilot outfit.
One of our friends fromCalifornia, let us know that
that's actually the outfit shedoes for meet and greets at
California adventure.
So we had never seen thatbefore.
So those were the characters wedid.
We did get in line for Esmeraldaover in France, but this was
the morning we had flown in andwe had been up since 3 30 in the
(13:44):
morning and we just they asMeralda went on a break and they
said it was going to be wellover 15 minutes.
So we got out of that line.
But there is, as Meralda is inFrance.
They also had Mushu in Chinaand then, which we didn't make
it to, and they had one of thecharacters from Guardians of the
Galaxy and I'm forgetting offthe top of my head, but you, so
(14:05):
we got, we were in that timeframe, we were able to get all
except for three of thecharacters, and we could have
gotten as Meralda.
We were just too tired to standin line, but it was just so
much fun.
Besides the food vouchers, theyalso have ice cream that you
get, so we had a couple of icecreams delicious and so that was
super nice.
They do keep a few of the placesopen for you to buy drinks and
(14:27):
stuff like that, unlike ifyou've take went to a regular
after hours event.
You get the ice cream, so theMickey bars, the cookies, like
the sandwiches that are with thecookies and cream, and I think
they had the fruit bars.
So those are what you get atthe moonlight magic.
At a traditional after hoursyou would get that popcorn and
then also the beverages, the 20ounce beverages.
(14:49):
You do not get that there, sothat those are a little bit of
nuances, a few differences, butoverall this was really a nice
event.
It does run from 10 to 1 am, sothat can go by pretty fast
because that's not a lot of time.
But I think if you really Make aplan, which is what we did, our
plan was we were doingcharacters.
(15:10):
We ate first.
We did characters.
Our friend Nanna I also have,she called our.
Actually I called her that dayand she gave us lots of tips.
She said for the characters youcan be in line and then as soon
as 10 o'clock hits, they startthe opening.
So that's how we were able tosee Miguel so quickly.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
And so she gave us the tips about the characters,
she gave us the tips about thefood, so passing those along to
you, get those food vouchersearly, use them early, get in
line for the characters evenbefore it starts.
And the last special thing thatthey had, which we did watch,
was they had a Exclusivefireworks show for us too.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Yes, it was wonderful .
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, I was expecting it to be much shorter and not
as elaborate for a specialfireworks it was very elaborate
yeah that's what it was.
Very nice.
It was on par with I mean itwas a shorter version of what
the regular nighttime shows are,but for being a special thing
that was just for the DVCmembers it was awesome and we
(16:09):
did stay and watch that.
So that was at 11 o'clock.
That's only once, so you'llwant to make sure you plan
around that.
So what we did is we did thecharacters Towards the back, so
we did make or we did Miguel,then we went over and did Mickey
in that center area so we wereable to walk right back up and
watch the fireworks.
So that was super nice as well.
But really there's all kinds.
(16:32):
It's a great event.
I know our friends had alsoattended one at Animal Kingdom
and then we had some friendsthat had done one at Hollywood
Studios.
People kind of said Epcot's areally good one to do because of
those food kiosks for thefestivals You're able to.
Those vouchers you get for foodare essentially the equivalent
of a snack credit if you're onthe dining plan.
(16:53):
So there's a good value of whatOptions there are.
Our one friends who went toAnimal Kingdom said you kind of
get stuck in that like Frenchfry zone, french fry popcorn
with the vouchers.
So if you're looking at dates,definitely Keep an eye out for
Epcot the.
We did attend the last Epcot onebut there are, from what I
(17:13):
understand, they'll continue tohave these and release new dates
.
There are still some upcominganimal kingdom, typhoon lagoon
and then, of course, hollywoodStudios.
So it's a great thing and Iknow we have some friends that
have been able to register atthat later date If you did not
have a resort reservation.
Our one friends even werestaying earlier in that week and
(17:37):
Annette and she was able to addan extra day to be able to
their reservation and then theywere able to get those tickets
for Moonlight Magic as well.
You don't have to have areservation but if you do have
one again, like I mentioned, itgets you that chance to enter
the queue sooner and it's anearlier date that you're able to
(17:57):
.
But overall I liked it.
I think I liked it even morethan the traditional after hours
.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Now I can say I'm probably comparing apples to
oranges, because we've not donean after hours at Epcot but we
have done like the late nighthours at Epcot for like deluxe
resorts and those sorts ofthings.
So overall it was great.
We had a lot of fun with ourfriends Linda and Sheldon.
We also had some great tipsfrom our friend Nan and her
(18:24):
husband.
So it was really overall agreat time and we would highly
recommend it, like I would.
If we had a trip coming, Iwould adjust my dates to try to
go to it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I would you know.
Again, if you're a baseball fanand you happen to be there in
March, go see baseball and thenduring the day, relax and then
put those hours.
Because again, the nice thingis you might say well, it's only
X number of hours You're goingto get so much more frequency
and enjoyment.
Where you're not standing inline, you're not waiting in line
and whatever weight you do havewill be far less than what it
(18:54):
would be during the day.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Correct, so I'll share the links to the page that
talks about One Light Magic.
We'll share lots of our photosas well, and so overall it was a
great experience we highlyrecommend, and if you don't own
DVC, just ask one of yourfriends who does to get those
tickets and invite you along forthe night.
So today, because we are nothaving a special guest, we're
(19:17):
going to move right into our twominute trivia and our wisdom
from Walt Quote.
So, chris, you are up withtrivia.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
So we're talking about DVC.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
And the question is how many destinations can you
use DVC points?
According to the DisneyVacation Club website, I'm
assuming you mean Disneydestinations, right?
Exactly on their website, onthe Disney website, how many
possible different locationsacross the world?
Speaker 1 (19:48):
I don't know the exact number, so I'm going to go
with 16.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Try again.
This is worldwide.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I know, I think there's 12 in Florida, I think
there's two in California.
I'm going to go with 35.
Then You're looking at me likeit should be way higher.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Wrong.
What is it 118.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Wow, that must be with the exchanges and
everything, huh.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
These are again Disney labeled events, so,
whether it be Disney CaribbeanBeach Resort, oh yeah, because
you can switch your points.
All the way down to going toAfrica.
And again, these are on theDisney website.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, I guess, because you can go on adventures
by Disney, you can use theDisney cruise.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Antarctica and Patagonia Expedition Cruise for
only 1,350 points.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Man, that would be a huge amount of points.
How many points do we have?
We only have 200.
Yes, so I don't think we'regoing on the Antarctica
Expedition.
Yeah, I didn't think about that.
Yeah, because you can go toadventures by Disney, Disney
cruise, lots of things veryinteresting.
Now, that's good trivia to know.
You could be a salesman for DVCChris.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
I should, actually I want to credit, because I'm the
one who brought up us buying DVC.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
OK.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Disney owes me.
I'm the salesman, I'm the onewho originated the sale.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Ask our salesperson.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Mickey, you owe me.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
All right, so let's end out today with our quote
from Walt Disney.
Why do we have to grow up?
I know more adults who have thechildren's approach to life.
They are not afraid to bedelighted with simple pleasures
and they have a degree ofcontentment with what life has
brought.
Sometimes that isn't mucheither.
So thank you so much forjoining us on this episode.
(21:28):
Don't forget to check out allof our other episodes on our
Buzzsprout page and follow us onsocial media for more Disney
magic.
Thank you again for joining uson this episode of the Dizlove
podcast with Vanessa and Chris.
I'm Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And I'm Chris.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And I'm Chris, and I'm Chris.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney
Company or its holdings, and itis intended for entertainment
purposes only.
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