Disney World for First-Timers (Travel Lemming Podcast #4)

Planning a trip to Disney World? Our guest Katie Neufeld worked at Walt Disney World for 12 years and shares all her expert tips for visiting the theme parks. Watch this before your first visit to Walt Disney World.

Also in this episode: Helsinki is named “most sustainable travel destination”, Viking skeletons were discovered in Denmark, and Disney introduces a new pricey skip-the-line pass.

💻 Articles from TravelLemming.com 

-Disney World Guides: https://travellemming.com/disney-world/ 

-Where to Stay at Disney World: https://travellemming.com/where-to-stay-disney-world/ 

-Best Time to Visit Disney World: https://travellemming.com/best-time-to-visit-disney-world/ 

-Things to Do at Disney World: https://travellemming.com/things-to-do-at-disney-world/

-Disney World on a Budget: https://travellemming.com/disney-world-budget/ 

 

📰 Travel News

-Helsinki’s sustainable travel designation: https://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/helsinki-named-worlds-most-sustainable-travel-destination/ 

-Viking skeletons in Denmark: https://apnews.com/article/denmark-viking-burial-archeology-skeleton-aasum-dna-b8c29620bb78fd618c1d0f345d4dddfb 

-Disney’s skip-the-line pass: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/theme-parks/2024/10/16/disney-world-disneyland-lightning-lane-premier-pass/75696411007/ 

-Disney’s AI initiative: https://www.thewrap.com/disney-ai-initiative/ 

 

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:53 – Travel News

00:09:37 – Disney Cast Member

00:19:00 – Why Disney World?

00:24:23 – Planning Tips

00:30:10 – Lines & Passes

00:36:24 – Budget & Hotels

00:41:39 – Food Tips

00:42:02 – Magic Kingdom

00:43:32 – Hollywood Studios

00:46:48 – Epcot

00:52:19 – Animal Kingdom

00:55:02 – Disney Springs

00:56:15 – New Attractions

00:59:43 – Wrap-Up

 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you're planning a trip to themost magical place on earth, you're
definitely going to want to stay tunedfor my interview with Katie, our travel
lemming, Orlando writer who worked as aDisney world cast member for 12 years.
It's really fascinating.
She tells me all sorts of practicaltips, how to save money at Disney
world, how to spend less time in line.
And we also talk about some of the moreinteresting behind the scenes , that goes

(00:25):
on really lots of interesting tidbits.
She used to be one of the drivers in theKilimanjaro safari ride at animal kingdom.
She also worked with some of the animalsthere so if you're planning a trip to
Disney world, this podcast is reallygoing to make your trip a lot better.
And.
Even if you're not interested in goingto Disney world, we talk a bit about

(00:46):
that and about the folks who, you know,my first question to her is what would
you say to a Disney world skeptic?
So I think it's interesting whether you'rea Disney fan or you're a Disney skeptic.
I think that this podcast really wouldhelp you to understand what it is.
That some people find sospecial about Disney world.
So we're going to have most of the podcastfocused just on that interview with Katie,

(01:10):
because I recorded that earlier this week.
We had a very long, meaty, substantiveinterview, but first I want to
introduce my co host Betty Hurd.
Betty, how are you doing today?
I am doing Just Lovely Nate, and I'mso excited to hear about Disney World.
I know for myself, I am abit of a Disney skeptic.
My family never really tookus to Disneyland as a kid.

(01:30):
I think I went one time.
When I was really little.
So I've never been myself.
I'm excited to hear everything thatKatie has to share about it and maybe
change my own perspective about it.
Yeah.
It's a fascinating interview.
So we've decided to really set asideThe vast majority of this podcast,
just for that interview, we've onlygot one other segment for you today.
And that's of course,what's new in travel.

(01:51):
So Betty what's new in travel.
Well, my very first subject today isthat Helsinki was named the world's
most sustainable travel destination.
So this is rated by the globaldestination sustainability index.
It measures sustainability with more than70 indicators in four main categories.
So these categories aredestination management, social

(02:14):
performance, supplier performance,and environmental performance.
Now, I don't know exactly what allof those mean on a deeper level, but
Helsinki got first place in all ofthese categories when compared to
over 100 countries around the world.
So they said that they're focusingon reducing emissions with low
emission transport, encouragingtravelers and locals to Walk, bike,

(02:38):
get around the city with publictransportation, which has always been
a really major low emissions option.
They're also going to becarbon neutral by 2030.
That's the goal.
And lots of renewable energy andother sustainability projects.
So I would love to hearwhat people think of this.
What does sustainability meanto you when it comes to travel?

(03:00):
Is that a big factor inwhere you decide to go?
Because for me personally, it, it didn'tused to be such a big deal that I would
think about where I'm going and like,Oh, is this a sustainable destination?
But this, apparently they're gettinga lot of attention and a lot of
people who appreciate that so muchand want to go there because of this.
What do you think of that, Nate?

(03:20):
Sustainability is definitelya big trend in travel.
I'm going to the world travelmarket in London next week.
And just looking at the agenda, you cansee that clearly it's high on the minds
of a lot of brands and destinations thatare trying to position themselves as,
Hey, we're a responsible place to travel.
So maybe we could have awhole episode actually about.
Travel and about sustainability.

(03:40):
It is a popular topic, butI want to say, by the way,
Helsinki underrated destination.
If you haven't been highly recommend.
I have not been, but it'sdefinitely on the list now.
And for my next new topic 50well preserved Viking skeletons
were discovered in Denmark.
And This was really interesting to me.

(04:00):
And I know that we're past Halloweenalready, but I'm still in the spooky
mood, but I guess that these archeologistsfound this burial ground with very,
very well preserved skeletons, which Iguess they were saying sometimes they'll
only find like a handful of teeth, butthese were entire bodies of men, women,
and children from the Viking age, whichaccording to them, this ran from 793.

(04:24):
to 1066 A.
D.
So it's a really, really old skeleton.
So that I guess because of the way thatthe soil chemistry works in this part of
Denmark, they were super well preserved.
So it's going to shed light oncommunity workings, trade routes,
social patterns, migration patternsand more, which is super cool.
It's super, super interesting.

(04:45):
Yeah.
Fascinating stuff.
Okay.
My first story.
So on the Disney theme accordingto the wrap, they say that the
Walt Disney company is poised toannounce a major AI initiative that
will transform its creative output.
And basically the supposedly Disneyis going to announce that they're
going to start using AI in creatingtheir movies and also in some unclear

(05:08):
experiences within the Disney world parks.
And so if you listen to our lastpodcast, we talked about how Germany
has now hired an AI influencernamed Emma promote AI is definitely
one of the big trends right now.
I don't know how I feel about Disney.
Movies being written by AI.
I'm not sure what Walt Disney wouldthink of that on the one hand He was

(05:31):
very future forward like Epcot is allabout the future and all about technology
But I just something about it doesn'tfeel doesn't feel sit right with me.
What do you think?
Well, it wasn't a massive part ofthe writer's strike, all about how
AI is not allowed in movie writingscripts or TV shows, anything.
I mean, I don't know all the details ofthe writer's strike, but I thought that

(05:53):
was like a massive no no, especiallyfor a company as big as Disney.
I would think that theywould be really against that.
Yeah, I think, you know, my personalopinion is that most of these companies
are CAI and they see a way to cutlabor costs, which is my opinion.
But I don't know, maybe,maybe it could be interesting.
Let us know in the comments, ifyou would watch an AI Disney movie.

(06:13):
My next story is also about Disney andis relates to something that I talk
about more in depth in the interviewwith Katie, which is that Disney
has announced a new lightning lane.
So lightning lane is basicallythe skip the line pass system.
So you can pay to skip the line.
Katie and I go into detail about thedifferent types of passes and when to

(06:34):
use them and whether they have value.
There were previously twodifferent lightning lanes.
And then recently they announced anadditional one called the premier pass
and get this, it can cost up to 449.
Plus tax per person, depending onthe park and depending on the day.
Now, what do you get for that?

(06:55):
You get the ability to skip the lineat every single ride at Disney world,
which the other ones don't offer.
But for a family of four,is that worth 2, 000?
I don't know.
I get into it with, Katiequite in depth there.
But boy, if that isn'tquite the price tag, huh?
I can't even imagine.
I mean, maybe if I had a ton ofmoney, all the money in the world,

(07:15):
that wouldn't mean anything to me.
But for me, I mean,that's like, that's rent.
So I, I just can't imagine having to pay.
I mean, that's not evenincluding the taxes.
It's going to be upwardsof 500 to skip the lines.
And, you know, with each passing year,I become more and more like my father.
I don't like crowds.
I don't like waiting in line.
And I don't like being arounda bunch of little kids.

(07:36):
So, I'm excited to hear this interviewbecause y'all, you guys are gonna have
your work cut out for you to convinceme why this is worth it, you know?
And the ways to navigate Disney in a waythat isn't so expensive and stressful
Yeah, you know, so I wanted to do thisinterview early with Katie because I
was just at Disney World last month andI went to all four parks for the first

(07:58):
time in about 10 years and I got touse Katie's guides in order to go and
I also used a bunch of other guides andYouTube videos to try to plan because
you really need to plan for Disney World.
If you don't, other people areplanning and you're going to
be spending your time in line.
You're not going to getthe good reservations.
You're not going to go to the good showsand you're going to be worse off for it.
Her guides are so fantastic.

(08:19):
There's a lot of Disney content out there,but I, I'm obviously biased because I'm
the owner of travel, I think, but I'mtelling you like her guides saved us
so much trouble and really helped usto navigate the park and to save money.
So she gets into lots of reallyinteresting tips in this interview.
I think Disney world was a lot of fun.
I, I convinced Clara.
Clara went into it on the first day,and she wasn't excited at all about

(08:42):
Disney World, and then after about threerides, she was, couldn't wait to go
on to the next one.
Yeah, and it's true that the Magic Kingdomis very kid oriented, but there are
more adult oriented parks, like Epcot,like Hollywood Studios, that have things
that, That it's not all just young kids.
And actually a lot of the rideshave, have height limitations.

(09:04):
So, you know, it's, it's teenagersand above on, on quite a few of them.
So I think, you know, Disney world is.
Maybe not everything at Disney worldis for everybody, but it's meant
to have something for everybody.
It is however, very expensive.
And so one of the things that wereally talk about a lot is how
to save money at Disney world.
so without further ado, I'm goingto go ahead and kick it right

(09:26):
off to that interview where weget right into it with Katie and
we'll talk all about Disney world.
And then we'll go ahead and come backhere and send you off for the next one.
So.
Here we go.
take it away.
Okay, and for our next segment, I'mhappy to have here with us Katie Neufeld,
who is Travel Lemming's Disney Worldfreelance writer based out of Orlando.
Katie, how are you doing today?

(09:47):
I'm doing great.
How about you?
Sure.
Good.
Happy to have you here.
Happy to talk about Disney World.
For listeners who don't know, Katie isour Disney World and Orlando expert.
She's got tons of guides toOrlando, to Disney World.
She worked at Disney World.
She's a former cast member still aseason pass holder, visits all the time.
If you are planning a trip to DisneyWorld, you're going to want to listen to

(10:08):
this interview because we're really goingto help get all of Katie's knowledge,
hopefully get you some helpful tipsthat will help you have a better trip.
Even if Disney World isn't the kind ofplace that you want to go, you're wanting
to go ahead and listen because I'm goingto talk to Katie about, you know, why
maybe you might rethink your positionon Disney World or perhaps help you to

(10:29):
understand sort of what the appeal is.
So we're going to get into all of that.
But first I want to go ahead and tellthe listeners a bit about Katie and
give them a bit of an introduction.
So Katie, do you want to go ahead andjust tell us a bit about yourself?
A bit about your background andmaybe about you know, how you got
started working at Disney world
I grew up here in Orlando.

(10:49):
So I've been going to the parksfor as long as I can remember both
Disney, the Universal, Orlando parks,SeaWorld, pretty much everything
that there is to do in Orlando.
I have done it at some point.
I actually started working atDisney at 17 right before my
senior year of high school.
I started working as a seasonal lifeguardand seasonal just means I really didn't

(11:10):
have a set schedule and I was able towork on weekends and during school breaks.
So it was nice to be able to do thatthroughout college, coming back and
already being connected to the company.
It was awesome because
and you were a lifeguard atlike one of the water parks or
I was a lifeguard at some of the resorts.
So I worked at the SaratogaSprings resort, Old Key West
resort, and then Porter lanes.

(11:33):
And so for folks who haven't beento Disney world, in addition to the
theme parks, there are how many Disneyresorts, like a dozen or more of
over 30 at this point.
Yeah.
And they're all different brands,different themes, and they're all
kind of part of the broader property.
So it's, it's more thanjust the four main parks.
Okay.
So you work as a lifeguard andthen what was your next sort of.

(11:53):
Position
Yeah, so I graduated with my degree inzoology with the goal of working as a
zookeeper and I was able to transferover to Disney's Animal Kingdom,
which for people who don't know isbasically a theme park and a zoo had
a baby and there's Animal Kingdom.
It's not a zoom.
It's not a zoo, that's the oldmarketing phrase, but I like to
say it's one of the best zoos.

(12:14):
I think it's fantastic.
I was able to drive the KilimanjaroSafari Trucks, which is probably the
most iconic attraction at that park, andthen I moved into the Animal Nutrition
Center, which is a very fancy restaurantmaking food for all the animals that live
at Disney World, and then finally I gotmy dream job as a zookeeper at Disney.

(12:37):
Super cool.
So Kilimanjaro Safari.
Okay, so that is that is such a cool ride.
I don't think I don't know if there'sany other ride like it in the world.
It's a safari like you'regoing through this.
So I just did.
So I just visited Disney World about amonth and a half ago, Katie and I had
dinner and went through the KilimanjaroSafari ride and I've been on real
safaris out in the Maasai Mara andI have to say that they did about as

(13:01):
good as possible of trying to kind ofrecreate that you get in a vehicle that's
actually a proper vehicle with a guideand you're driving through and there
are animals like really close to you.
At one point, a rhino came withina few meters of our vehicle.
So what would describe that ride forsort of readers and why it's so special.
Yeah, so, Number one, it'sa huge, huge attraction.

(13:24):
The entire Magic Kingdom themepark can actually fit inside the
Kilimanjaro Safari attraction whichjust goes to show how big it is.
It ends up being about a 22 minuteride on these big safari trucks.
And yes the animals arefree roaming around.
It is very common to get stuck inwhat they like to call a giraffic jam

(13:45):
because the drafts are particularlygood at stopping in the middle of
the road and blocking the trucks.
But you go through three or fourdifferent ecosystems and every safari is
different because the animals have thatfree will to come and go as they please.
They might be hiding under a tree,taking a nap, or they want to be front
and center and showing off for everyone.

(14:06):
Yeah, it's a real, it's a really specialride and I think one of the things
that makes Disney worlds special.
. And then so after Kilimanjaro, so,so you were driving those trucks or
Yes, driving talking, giving the wholespiel and showing off all the animals.
that's incredible.
I was really impressed by ourguide when we do it because I mean,
they host, those trucks are huge.

(14:27):
They must have what, 20, 25 peoplein them, maybe a bit more, 45.
I can't, they're balancing so muchbecause everybody gets in the ride.
They're talking, you know, beinga tour guide, but they're also
driving through this, you know,field with animals everywhere.
That's, that's really quite the adventure.
Very cool.
Any, any other particularmemories or things that, that

(14:48):
come to mind from that time?
As a safari driver, probably the mostfun thing was driving in the rain.
Um, I know I have it on my guides ontravel limbing, and you'll see a lot of
people talk about if it starts raining.
While you're at animalkingdom, run to the safari.
The animals just get so fun andfrisky and the elephants love
to go swimming in the rain.

(15:08):
It is just, you see some of the bestanimal behaviors and just beautiful
scenes when it's raining on the safari.
Oh, that's super cool.
. And then after that, so you saidyou helped prepared food, food.
What's your next job?
Yeah.
Back in the backstage areas atanimal kingdom, they have basically
a full commercial kitchen and that'swhere all the food Gets brought in

(15:30):
and then prepared for every singleanimal that lives at Animal Kingdom.
And also for some of the animalsthat live over at The Seas, which
is a huge aquarium inside Epcot.
So, I don't remember the exact tonnage offood, but let's just say it's a lot and a
full semi, refrigerated semi truck wouldbring in that food a couple times a week.

(15:51):
Oh, wow.
That's incredible.
And so then after that, you startworking with the animals directly.
So tell us about that.
Yeah, that was my dream job fromthe time that I was a small kid.
And I especially wanted to work atDisney because visiting animal kingdom
was so special to me when I was a kidand growing up here and I've always
loved working with large animals.

(16:11):
My first experience was actually workingwith elephants, while I was in college.
So I knew I wanted to be on what , orwhat is called the Atari forest team,
which is the beginning of the safari.
So they have black rhinos.
bongo and kudu, a couple different typesof antelope, okapi, hippos and crocodiles.
So it's a very fun group ofanimals to get to work with.

(16:33):
And like I said, itwas absolutely my dream
And what were you doing day to day?
Like, what does that even look
Oh,
a lot of cleaning.
The day usually started,it was a little different.
Our areas were kind of split up.
So you weren't taking care ofall the animals every single day.
We had a large team of keepers thatwere doing that work all together.
But it was, feeding, cleaning, if anybodyneeded medications, we would do training

(16:57):
for different behaviors to help theanimals participate in their medical
care and yeah, it was just a lot of fun.
Super cool.
Awesome.
And so how long were you at Disney world?
All, together I was atDisney World for 12 years
. Very cool.
So lots, of helpful knowledge there.
And in addition to animal kingdom,you've been to the other three parks

(17:19):
a ton of time and you're a pass holderand all that, is animal kingdom,
your favorite park dethroned it?
I always say that Animal Kingdomis my favorite park, but Epcot is
probably the park I go to the most.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And what, why Epcot?
Epcot is our favorite place to stopin for just a couple of hours, because

(17:39):
there are so many food and drink optionswhen you don't really want to sit down
for a full meal, but, you know, we'relocals, we can just pop in when we
want to, grab a drink and walk around.
just walk around the internationalshowcase and, and, and have a drink
from Germany or Japan or whereveryou want, you know, it's, they've got
Epcot has this like huge lake and thenthere's the right area sort of by the

(18:00):
main interest and then below it, you'vegot this giant lake with all these
different country setups around it.
And each one of them has restaurantsand foods, and some of them have
attractions like the ratatouilleride is in the France section.
And all of that super cool.
Okay, well let's go ahead andtalk about Disney world generally.
So some of our listeners maybehave never been to Disney world.
Maybe never really had thedesire to go to Disney world.

(18:22):
You know, obviously some, there are maybeothers who are listening who are regulars
and go all the time like you, but let'sgo ahead and talk to those folks who,
Disney World hasn't been on their radar.
Maybe they prefer to, youknow, have their travel be more
traditional trips or something.
And you know, some people maybeuh, struggle to understand
the appeal of Disney World.
So maybe you could help me understand,like to somebody who's a bit of a skeptic

(18:44):
about Disney World or who maybe thinksit's not for them, like just help them
understand what is the attraction?
What makes Disney World so special andwhy are so many people drawn to it?
Sure.
And first off, there isa vacation for everyone.
Not everybody has to enjoy going to thesame places and that's totally fine.
We all have what makes us happy.
The reason that I think Disney Worldis particularly great, and this goes

(19:07):
for Disneyland, Universal Orlando, allof these theme park, you know, larger
resort destinations, is that everybodyis stepping away from real life.
If I travel to Oslo, I am going tothe museums and seeing the sites,
but everyone else around me is justgoing through their daily life.
So when you go to a place likeDisney world, nobody's working,

(19:30):
nobody's in their daily life.
Everybody is just thereto have a good time.
to create memories with theirfamily, their friends, whoever
they took that trip with.
And there is something for everyone.
Of course, if you want attractionsand those thrill rides, all
of the parks have those.
You can meet your favorite charactersfrom Disney movies, especially

(19:50):
for families with little kids.
They love being able to seethose characters that they've
only ever seen on a TV before.
And for foodies, you have hundredsof restaurants, not just at Disney,
but in the greater Orlando area
I like how you Put it, you know,it's everybody who is around
there is also on vacation.
So you're detached from theproblems of the real world because

(20:11):
everything is meant to entertain you.
And it is meant to be thisvacation that you're stepping into,
if the word vacation could be aplace, it would be Disney world.
And so, having just gone, youknow, Clara was a bit of a skeptic
before we went and she was kindof like, not that excited for it.
And within a couple hours on thefirst day, all she wanted to do was
just keep going back, and go tomore rides because it is so much fun.

(20:32):
So, I would say if you've never been, youknow, don't knock it until you try it.
And, there definitely is a lot there.
And also, by the way, it's not just forkids either, like, we don't have children.
We didn't go with children.
We still had a ton of fun,particularly a couple of the parks.
Like, I think probably Hollywood studiosand Epcot are probably the most adult
oriented parks, but all of them haverides that are really interesting.

(20:53):
So you've over the course of.
your time working at Disney Worldover the course of the years living
in Orlando, like Disney World's gonethrough a lot of changes over the world.
It's been a while since a new park hasopened but they obviously opened Star
Wars Rise of the Resistance, they'veopened a bunch of new rides and sort
of lands, and there have just alsobeen a ton of other changes to the way

(21:13):
that Disney World works over the years.
I've gone down this rabbit hole ofwatching all these YouTube videos
before our visit, to understand someof that history, so I just love to
hear from your perspective, how HasDisney World changed over the years?
Yeah, so the parks themselves, Iwould say there's been a huge swing
into including intellectual property.

(21:34):
So Disney, under that umbrella,includes ESPN, Star Wars, Marvel, of
course all the Disney and Pixar films.
So they have a ton of this intellectualproperty to choose from, and they really
love to tie that into their theme parks.
So you don't see as manyoriginal attractions.
as you did when Magic Kingdomand Epcot first opened.

(21:56):
For example, the Haunted Mansion, Piratesof the Caribbean, those were original
rides that the Imagineers just thought of.
The rides are still awesome, don'tget me wrong, but now there's
almost always a tie in with one ofthose Disney characters or brands.
Which is really fun because, like StarWars fans, how cool is it that this,

(22:18):
You know, fandom that has been aroundfor so long and has so many different
characters and movies and books and allthese different things connected to it.
They can go live in star Wars.
They can walk through it and havea drink of blue milk and ride on.
Sorry.
I'm not a star Wars fan.
The millennium Falcon.
That's
Smuggler's Run.

(22:39):
Smuggler's Run, yep.
Yeah, Smuggler's Run isa game style, simulator ride.
You go in, and there's two pilots, andthen the people in the back are gunners.
We wrote it three or four timesand every single time we were
pilot, we never got to be a gunner.
And I was awful as a pilot becausethe first time I crashed the
whole thing and I felt, you know,you get like a score at the end.
So it's very fun that particularride is, but what did they call

(23:02):
the land where Star Wars is?
Galaxy's
Galaxy's Edge, all of Galaxy's Edgeis themed like Star Wars, and it's
themed at a degree that's even higherthan all of the other lands, like it's
near the Toy Story land, and that'sthemed like Toy Story, but Galaxy's
Edge takes it to another level
you understand why they would do thatbecause of course Disney, has their
movie business to promote, although I,was interested to find out that they

(23:24):
still primarily earned revenue fromtheme parks like they still make more
from that than they do from the movies.
But you're right, like some ofthose older rides don't necessarily
have that tie in to one of themovies or to one of the Disney
characters pirates of the Caribbean.
am I correct that that the rightactually preceded the movie.
Yeah.
Yeah, the ride inspired the originalmovie, and then obviously it turned

(23:47):
into the whole series together.
But the ride did come first.
Let's go ahead and talk a bit aboutjust like some trip planning for folks
who are planning a trip to Disney world.
What do you need toknow all the basics now?
We're not going to have time toget deep into every single thing.
And maybe we'll have Katie back on ifyou're listening to this, and there's
something that we didn't get to cover,let us know in the comments, we'll have
Katie back on and we'll have a wholeother section where we could do a deep

(24:10):
dive into a particular park or intoa particular aspect of Disney world
that but let us knowwhat's interesting to you.
And then at the end, we'll do abrief section where we'll talk about
about some of the latest news andwhat's going on, uh, at Disney World.
But first let's talk a bit about putyourselves in the shoes, Katie, of someone
who has decided that they want to go toDisney World but they're just starting

(24:31):
off thinking about how to plan a trip and.
You know, I've seen stats where theaverage person who is planning their trip
to Disney world plans way in advance.
I know my sister will plan for literallytwo years in advance before they make a
trip out there and she will think aboutevery single aspect of it and plan her
itinerary to a T having just gone I wasnot a planner and I just sort of showed
up and I realized very quickly thatby not planning, you have to deal with

(24:54):
wait times and moving around the park.
And now with the, with the fastpasses, like all this different
stuff, it can be a bit overwhelming.
And where do you eat and, andand parking and getting around?
And where do you stay in relation to that?
If you're someone who's Coming at thisand wanting to go to Disney World and
you dive in and you're quickly likeoverwhelmed with all that information.
What would you say?

(25:15):
Like how, how would you goabout planning that trip?
So first off, yes, I think planningahead, planning in advance is
the best thing that you can do.
There is so much great content.
Obviously, on Travel Living, wehave a bunch, but there's also great
YouTubers um, Disney's website hasa host of information they're, like
we said, there are over 30 hotels tochoose from if you want to stay at

(25:38):
a Disney hotel, there are four themeparks, two water parks, you have Disney
Springs, you have the boardwalk there.
So many things that it can veryquickly become overwhelming.
So the farther in advance that youbegin planning, the easier it's going
to be as you can narrow down what youwant to do and what's important to you.
Um, Another thing that I really recommendfor first timers or people who maybe just

(26:01):
don't come that frequently, is to usean authorized Disney vacation planner.
So these are travel agenciesthat, uh, Partner with Disney,
their agents have been trained.
They fully understand the Disney bubbleand all of the things that go with it.
And they're also the most upto date on current promotions,
offers, you know, low season, highseason, all of that information.

(26:25):
And kind of help.
Guide you in the right direction.
If you're not sure when to go or whichhotel would be best for your family, what
day to go to what parks, things like that.
And yeah, that's very helpful.
So on that, what are yourthoughts on which months or
which times folks should go?
It's such a nuanced answer because Ialways like to say the best time to go

(26:48):
is weekdays when kids are in school.
But if those are your kids that arein school, it can be hard to take
them out for a family vacation.
I understand that.
So sometimes you have to travelduring school holidays or on
weekends and things like that.
So the times of year that I find areeither a little cheaper or have lesser

(27:09):
crowds is late January, sometimes a littlebit into February, um, president's day.
And I think some of the.
Northern U.
S.
has like a week off of school in February.
We don't have that in Florida, sothat's not a problem Um, I also
really like between Spring Breakand Summer Vacation, so late April,
early May, and then September.

(27:30):
This past September, the parks were dead.
It was so wonderful.
There were these random days whereeverything was a walk on, and you don't
really know when it's going to happen.
It's kind of, You know, what did they say?
Lightning in a bottle, but whenit does happen, it makes for a
really, really fun day at the park,
And a walk on is where there's no lineor, the line is very minimal and you

(27:52):
just go and you're immediately on.
And those are typically, I mean, thetypical advice that folks says either
go first thing at what they callrope drop when they open the park.
And then the lines will be less.
Another is a lot of the resortsyou get, Early entry like a
half hour early or something.
Yeah,
all, if you are staying at anyof the Disney resorts, and that
also includes the Swan and Dolphinproperties, which are Marriott hotels,

(28:15):
uh, that are on the Disney property.
And I believe the Four Seasonsand Shades of Green are the other
two resorts that access that.
And you can get into all four of the themeparks 30 minutes before park opening.
So.
Even with all of the Disney Hotelguests able to access that, not
everybody wants to get up early.

(28:36):
You know, not everyone is going toa park every day, so you can get on
to some of the rides very quickly.
Yeah.
And, certainly lines areone of the big challenges.
You're right in September.
So that's, when we werethere and it was great.
We did not spend a lot of time in line.
I think Navi river journey was the onlytime when I found myself feeling like I

(28:58):
was in a line that was like way too long.
And between that and using the lightninglane system, which we should talk about
a bit, we were able to navigate thelines even as a last minute planner.
but I could definitely see like theday that we went to the magic kingdom.
It was quite busy.
It was the busiest of the day and youcould definitely see how that becomes
more of a problem at peak seasons.
So even if you've got to go, it's summeror in, you know, Christmas holidays

(29:20):
are probably one of the busier times.
If that's when you have to go, you saygo anyway, because Disney's so wonderful.
How do you approach addressing the linesand someone who's worried about just
spending all of their time waiting around
Yeah, so maybe except for HollywoodStudios, every park has attractions
that generally don't have long lines,even when the park is very busy.

(29:40):
They just have a large capacity,so they can move a lot of people
through the attraction in a shortamount of time, which is great.
Or they're just not as popular.
So some people skip them.
So I I'd say there's always things to do.
Hollywood studios is the one park that hasso many fantastic and popular rides that
it just seems like every line is long.

(30:01):
So at Hollywood studios, or ifyou're visiting any of the parks on
a holiday or during a busy season,that's where I would recommend looking
into the lightning lane passes.
Lightning Lane, it was formerlyknown as Fast Pass, which is
essentially a skip the line pass.
Um, This used to be a free ticketedsystem where you would actually go to
the front of the attraction, scan yourpark ticket, and then it would give you

(30:24):
a return time to come back and ride.
Now it's all digital, it's all throughthe My Disney Experience app, and
there are three different options.
There are Lightning Lane single passes,Where you will pay for a return time
at a specific attraction and basicallyonly the most popular four or five
rides are Part of the lightning lanesingle pass right now and that can range

(30:49):
anywhere from 15 to like 30 per person
per ride.
So it's a one ride.
So family of four, you're talkingpotentially a hundred dollars and some of
these rides like cosmic rewind guardiansof the galaxy, which is my favorite
is maybe a couple of minutes or less.
So that's crazy.
It's definitely not cheap, butfor some of them, like cosmic
rewind, there is no standby queue.

(31:10):
So you either need a lightning laneor you have to do the virtual queue.
You wake up at 7.
AM and kind of try to join thislottery to try to get a spot to go in.
So, for the lightning link, singlepass that applies to which rides.
So that is Avatar Flight of Passageat Animal Kingdom, Guardians of
the Galaxy, Cosmic Rewind at Epcot,Tron and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train

(31:34):
at Magic Kingdom and Rise of theResistance at Hollywood Studios.
those are really like the big ticketrides and that those can very often
have like, Two hours, standby lines,guardians of the galaxy, cosmic rewind,
doesn't even have a standby line.
So it's pay to play if you wantto not wait in line for those.
And now the multi pass.
Talk a bit about that.
I like the multi pass.

(31:55):
I don't like the single pass.
The idea of paying just forlike you said, probably a two
minute ride for me and my budget.
I just can't do it.
But I understand if this is youronce in a lifetime trip, why that
might be worth it for some people.
So the multi pass you would purchase.
Three to seven days in advance, threeif you're not staying at a Disney

(32:15):
resort, seven days in advance if youare staying at a Disney resort and by
purchasing that multi pass, you will getto choose three lightning lanes before
you even get to the park that day.
So about a week in advance.
You can select, so for example, if you'regoing to Magic Kingdom, you can choose, I
want to ride Space Mountain, and HauntedMansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean.

(32:38):
Those are my three rides.
And then once you get there thatday, and you scan in and use your
free First Lightning lane, say it'sSpace Mountain, you can get back on
the My Disney Experience App and makeanother Lightning Lane reservation.
So if they're available, you cancontinue making Lightning Lane
reservations for the entirety of the day.
Now, of course, if it's busy oryou know the popular rides they.

(33:02):
can sell out.
So there is a chance thatlightning lanes will fill up.
All of the reservations will be takenon specific days, but there is that
opportunity to guarantee at leastthree lightning lanes and potentially
more once you get there the day of.
Yeah, we used it when we were there andwe really did like the multi passes.
The pricing is dynamic.

(33:23):
So it was a little bit moreaffordable in September because
there were fewer people there.
It also depends on the park, right?
Like the animal kingdom.
1 is significantly cheaperthan the magic kingdom pass.
But if you have the park hopper optionwhere you're hopping between parks,
which You can only select your threefrom that park, but as soon as you tap
in, you could select at another park.
So I think one day we were ableto get 10 or 11 rides out of

(33:45):
the multi pass where you're justcutting the line every single time.
And, for 20 a piece, I thoughtthat was a pretty good deal.
So definitely, that one makes sense to me.
So what's the third of thelightning light passes?
I, there's a new one and
that wasn't complicated enough,Disney decided to throw a curve ball.
recently, as of recording, recentlyannounced that in uh, end of October,

(34:06):
2024, they're going to be introducingthe Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
Now, this is a big ticket item.
I believe the cheapest is $130 or $150for Animal Kingdom, and it goes all the
way up to $450 for the Magic Kingdom.
That's
per
person.

(34:27):
And so what do you get for that?
So the great part is you do not haveto schedule a single lightning lane.
You don't have to look at your phone againthe entire day while you were at the park.
You can ride each lightning laneattraction, so anything that's part
of the multi pass or the single pass,you can walk right up at any time.
tap your magic band or your parkticket and just walk right on.

(34:51):
No scheduling needed.
You can do each attraction one time.
So you can't go ride Everest over andover and over and over, but you at least
guarantee lightning lane access to everysingle attraction at that park that day.
Yeah, I, I mean, if you have the money,it's definitely the best way to do it, but
boy, that, will add up fast, especiallyif you have multiple people in your

(35:13):
party, and especially if you're goingto multiple parks it's definitely nice.
So when you're in the lines, youknow, there's two lines typically
at most rights, there's a standbyline, which has a posted wait time.
So it'll say at the get, 60 minutesor 90 minutes or whatever it is.
And then you have the lightning lane.
And then sometimes.
Like the one time that we were waitingin a line that felt a little longer,
you can see some of the people, thelightning, and they're just like, they're

(35:34):
just ripping past you in the line.
And alternatively, when you have thelightning lane pass and you're ripping
past other people it definitely feels likea lot of that is the case at Disney world,
where it's just, if you have the money,there's ways that you can experience it.
You know, in a better way.
And it's, it's expensive to begin with.
tickets start at a hundred bucks,but a lot of them are even more

(35:54):
expensive than a hundred dollars.
And so even just the base priceto get in is already expensive for
a lot of families going to Disneyworld is a dream, but the total cost.
Can easily total into, you know, Ithink the average cost is four or
5, 000 for a family in order to goby the time you add up everything,
flights, tickets, hotels, all of that.
So budgeting is a majorconcern for a lot of folks.

(36:17):
What would you say to someone whois trying to plan a trip to Disney
world, but is on a tight budget.
So there is definitely a way to doDisney at just about any price point.
Now, if you are on the tightestbudget, looking to pinch pennies in
every single corner, I don't want todissuade you from coming to Disney,

(36:39):
but it will be a little bit harder.
And it does lose a littlebit of the magic when you.
Don't have any wiggle room whatsoever.
So I don't want to say don't come.
It can definitely still be done, but Iwould say this is a good trip that can be
done on a budget, but a reasonable budget.
So, for example, Disney hasdifferent levels of hotels.

(37:01):
They have value their lowestlevel or budget hotels, moderate
and then deluxe resorts.
So those deluxe resorts are goingto be closest to the theme parks.
They're going to have the funtransportation like the monorail
or the gondola, the skyliner.
Whereas the value resorts,you're gonna be taking buses bare
minimum in terms of amenities.
There's no table service,restaurants, things like that.

(37:23):
But you still get thatearly entry into the parks.
You still get complimentary Disneytransportation, you still get free
parking at your resort, things like that.
So those value resorts, I would say onaverage are about 150 to $225 a night.
And those rooms are sleepingfour to five people.
Now, are there cheaper hotels in Orlando?

(37:45):
Yes, there are.
You can probably find places thatare a hundred dollars or maybe
even a little bit less, but alot of hotels have parking fees.
They don't have regular shuttle schedulesto get you to the Disney parks, especially
if that's only where you're going.
So it really is aboutlooking at that balance.
When picking your hotel, cause I thinkthat's that and the park tickets are

(38:08):
going to be your biggest expense.
So of the value hotels, arethere any particular ones that
you think people should look at?
So the cheapest are typicallythe all star resorts.
It's one property split up intothree resorts, the all star sports,
all star music and all star movies.
That's going to be the cheapest option.
Almost as a rule yearround on Disney property.

(38:31):
Now, depending on what your budgetis, there is also the pop century
and art of animation resortsthat are in that value category.
And they do connect to the DisneySkyliner, which is a gondola
system that takes you to otherhotels for dining or recreation.
And then they also connect toHollywood studios and Epcot.

(38:51):
Okay.
So obviously accommodationis beyond park tickets.
So you've got to get your tickets,you've got accommodation and the other
big categories of costs are of course,your flights that you'll have to get
there and then probably after that, it'sgoing to be like food and drink, right?
So, which can get real expensive realquick, cause these are theme park prices.
So how would you approach assomeone who has a family going?

(39:14):
Budgeting for that.
so I would say on average, thequick service restaurants, you
know, on a cat at a counter,grabbing your food, paying for it.
Those are typically maybe10 to 15 for breakfast.
And then I'd say 10 to 20 forlunch and dinner at both the
hotels and at the theme parks.

(39:35):
So that's where I would look at.
Where you can save a little bit of money.
Personally, I like to have breakfastin the room instead of paying for a
full meal, especially like young kids.
If anybody has tried to fight witha toddler about eating breakfast,
they just want like a banana andthey're ready to take on the day.
Right.
So why, why waste the money on a full bigbreakfast buffet and things like that?

(39:59):
Yeah.
And then so for lunch and dinner,like when you're at the park, so you
have all those quick service oneswhere you can pick up and you also
have the sit down restaurants and alot of those can get quite expensive.
What about bringing your ownfood in or, packing stuff?
Yeah.
So the nice thing about Disney is youcan bring your own food into the parks.
You can bring in a soft sided cooler.

(40:20):
So none of those big, hard Igloo coolers,you can't have big ice bags, but I
believe you can bring in ice packs.
So, you know, the little.
Cooler packs and you canbring in whatever you'd like.
No alcohol though.
That is that is the exception Butif you want to make sandwiches
pack something like that saladsanything that can stay cool.

(40:41):
There aren't microwaves So you're notgoing to be heating up a full meal But
we always bring snacks with us whichhelps again with the toddler who then
decides that they're ravenous afterhaving only a banana For breakfast
that they need all the snacks.
So instead of paying disney snackprices We usually bring a few
things in our bag ready to go
Very helpful.
Any other budgetingtips or other resources?

(41:02):
I know you've got a few guideson the site on how to approach
Disney world on the budget.
Yeah, Travel Lemming has all of my besttips for the budget, but really I would
just prioritize what's important to you.
If one of the parks doesn'tseem exciting, don't go there.
Maybe just prioritize the othertwo parks or things like that.
Especially with kids, it can be so hardbecause you want to do everything and

(41:26):
make such a magical experience for them.
But tempering the expectation andrealizing that you're going to have
fun, no matter what you're doing, howlittle or how much you accomplish.
It's just about spending time together.
Okay.
So let's talk about that then if, whenyou're talking about prioritizing.
If you have to choose let's talkabout like your favorite rides,

(41:47):
your favorite parks, you saidanimal kingdom has your heart, but
you spend the most time at Epcot.
Give us your sort of veryquick high level sort of way of
breaking down each of the four.
Parks and then they've also gotthe water parks and they've got
the ESPN stuff and all of that.
So we'll start with the OG,the original at Magic Kingdom.

(42:07):
This is the everybody park.
I think that there, there trulyis something for everybody.
You have a couple of more thrill rides.
You have tons of stuff for the kids.
And because there are so manyattractions, I find that.
There are a lot of short lines.
So especially kids havetrouble waiting in line.
It's You can't ask a five yearold to stand in line for an

(42:27):
hour for a one minute ride.
I understand how hard that is.
So I like magic kingdom for that.
And it has that old nostalgia,the original Disney, you know,
this is what Walt envisioned whenhe planned out these theme parks
uh, the best attractions there.
Tron, I would say is very popular.
My issue with Tron is it is.

(42:49):
It feels like a 30 second ride,but it is very cool because you are
sitting like you are on a motorcycle.
So you are, you know, sitting on thesaddle and leaning forward and holding on.
So it is a very fun ride, but to me,it's a little too short to be worth
the wait time that it usually has.
Peter Pan is another one that has avery long wait time typically, but

(43:12):
it's not that exciting of a ride.
So that's my little tip.
Maybe skip Peter Pan just causeeverybody else is doing it.
Doesn't mean you need to also.
Haunted Mansion is a classic and Ilove Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Okay, so that's Magic KingdomSo then Hollywood Studios, we
talked a bit about that earlier.
I mean, it does have a lotof the most popular rides

(43:32):
Yeah.
Hollywood Studios for me, I would say wego there the least just because we have,
Our toddler son who cannot ride a lot ofthese really cool attractions and it's
just too much to handle rider swap, butI am excited for when he's tall enough
and we can all go do these together.
So we talked about galaxy's edge.
You have rise of the resistance, whichis, I don't even know how to describe how

(43:56):
immersive and engaging this attraction is.
It's just stepping into StarWars and then smugglers run is.
a video game and interactive, youknow, you and your team are in
the Millennium Falcon flying and
yeah, that's the one thatI crashed as the pilot
the rebels, right?
We're helping the rebels or theresistance, something like that.

(44:17):
Right next to that is Toy Story withSlinky Dog Dash, which is such a
fantastic intro roller coaster forkids who are just tall enough to
start trying out those thrill rides.
I love Toy Story Mania, which isan arcade shooting game with all
the characters from the movies.
And then you still have the classics,Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror,

(44:39):
and the most recent addition uh,Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.
For the older Disney fans, you'll rememberthe Great Movie Ride, which was, you
know, a classic for the park, but Minnieand Mickey's is very cute, little.
It's very similar to Ridesof the Resistance in, like,
that it, it's trackless.
Your cars just seem to be floating about.

(45:01):
I think it's magnets that are keepingeverything on track, but it's a
very smooth, very fun attraction.
Okay.
So magic kingdom is gearedtowards the younger crowd.
And also just where you'll findthe general Disney magic.
Everybody can go there.
That's where you have thefireworks show that's famous.
And Hollywood studios, maybe moregeared towards adults and a bit sort
of more the adventure, maybe competingmore with like the universal resorts.

(45:24):
Is that a fair assessment?
Yeah, I would say it would probablybe the closest to the universal.
We don't hit the same level of thrillat Disney um, but Rock and Roller
Coaster is an indoor coaster, very fun,
The only
one that goes upside down at Disneyworld, which, you know, which I did
do it but I hate the upside down stuff

(45:45):
so the Disney rides are definitely abit less adventurous than you know,
the six flags or your universal ones.
I personally like that.
but they appeal to abroader range of folks.
So Hollywood studios has but it does havethose bigger rights, like obviously like
rise of the resistance is a very big ride.
Also a fair bit of shows.
I mean, originally Hollywood studiosused to be like an actual movie studios.
They don't still film thereanymore though, do they?

(46:07):
No, I don't know ifthey ever filmed there.
They did have animation.
uh, Lilo and Stitch, and I believeMulan were entirely animated from the
Orlando Um, Most of the animators wereout in California at that time, but
I believe they also contributed toa number of other movies in the 90s.

(46:28):
Hollywood Studios was originallyMGM Studios in a partnership that
Disney had with MGM, and it is theonly theme park that does not have a
single opening day attraction anymore.
So everything has changed inside the park.
Oh, wow.
So that's Hollywood studios.
Now we've got what Epcot.
So you said Epcot's whereyou spend most of your time.

(46:49):
Yeah, Epcot is definitely gearedtowards adults in my opinion,
but that doesn't mean that thereisn't anything for kids to do.
There's still lots of fun for kids.
For adults, the big appealis the food and drinks.
There are Bars everywhere.
There are lounges.
Disney doesn't likebar lounges everywhere.
Tons of restaurants.

(47:09):
There are festivals throughout the year.
So they have currently goingon the food and wine festival.
Then it'll go into festival ofthe holidays in late November
and December, January, and.
And I believe a little bit of Februaryis Festival of the Arts, and then we
go into Flower and Garden Festival.
So with each of those festivalscomes different decor around the

(47:31):
park, different snacks and foodstands, and more drinks to try.
But for the kids, they have the aquarium,the Seas at Epcot, which has some Finding
Nemo theming with it, which I know my sonloves to run around in there, and it also
has a connected attraction to it as well.
And It's currently closed forrefurbishment, but it should be

(47:53):
opening early next year is testtrack for the older kids who like
something a little more adventurous.
That's when we were like racing cars.
Basically.
I liked that a lot when I was younger.
It was closed when we were visiting.
I was really sad to see that.
Very cool.
So the talking about the food andthe wine and kind of going, you know,
some people will go and just drinktheir way around Epcot by having a
drink at each one of the countries.

(48:14):
Is there a particular spot or aparticular food or beverage item that,
that you find yourself going back to?
have a couple of my favorites.
In the UK, they have a pear cider.
Normally it's Magners.
There's a whole background, there'sdistribution issues right now, but
they still have pear cider there atthe little beer cart right outside the

(48:36):
Rosencrown pub there in the UK pavilion.
And I love limoncello.
So I like to grab a little limoncellofrom what I consider a hidden
bar inside the Italy pavilion.
So.
It's called Enoteca Castelloand it's kind of tucked in.
It looks like it's a merchandise shop,but they have a couple of different

(48:57):
wines and then limoncello as well.
Very cool.
And speaking of food items there'ssomething called the dole whip
We did try one, butexplain what that is folks.
Yeah.
So it started as a partnershipbetween Dole, you know, the
pineapple company and Disney.
Uh, I don't know if it was openingday, but it's been a very long time.
And this was originally only anadventure land in the magic kingdom.

(49:20):
And it is.
frozen.
I don't even know how it'snot frozen yogurt because it's
dairy free, but it's pineapple
ice cream.
Pineapple
thing, but it's, it's,
but it's fluffier than a sorbet.
Yeah, it's a better texture if it feelslike ice cream, but it's not ice cream.
So they, the original was justwith that dole pineapple juice
and that's what it was made of.

(49:41):
Now they've expanded it to have, Idon't even know how many flavors and
typically with every festival or holidayseason, there will be new flavors.
Sometimes they'll serve it in awaffle cone or you'll get little
You know, decorations, sprinklesor character related things.
So now it's taken on a whole lifeof its own, but it did just start

(50:02):
with a little pineapple sorbet.
Yeah, it seems to have almost like a cultfollowing, like every, there weren't that
many lines when we were at Disney World,but there were lines for the Dole Whips.
And I've heard that you can get aspiked Dole Whip in a couple places.
That's one of my favorites.
Um, I have only gotten it at animalkingdom in Africa at the little
snack stand, right as you're walkinginto the Africa land um, and that

(50:26):
was with pineapple cider, butyou could also get it with rum.
So, but I do know that there arespiked dole whips around property
the adults who need a little bit helpto relax on your wonderful vacation.
So we tried to order it spiked atMagic Kingdom and did not realize
that Magic Kingdom, she's laughing.
Why are you laughing, Katie?
Because Magic Kingdom doesn'tserve alcohol except for in the
so for the longest time, there was noalcohol anywhere at the magic kingdom

(50:52):
and when in the back side of fantasyland, there's be our guest restaurant,
which is themed like the beast.
Castle from Beauty and the Beast, andthat was the first restaurant where you
could order beer and wine only whileyou were sitting in the restaurant.
Now, I believe all or most ofthe table service restaurants in
Magic Kingdom, you can drink whileyou're seated with your meal.

(51:13):
But even for the longest time,you could not have wine with
dinner, even at Magic Kingdom.
I'm not a heavy drinker.
But just wanted to drink and MagicKingdom because it was a more crowded day
and then quickly realized after havingbeen at the other three parks was our
final park realized, oh, this is theone place that we can't easily get that
now we did end up finding one when wehad booked lunch at the jungle canteen.

(51:36):
I would highly recommend that restaurant.
I found it off one of Katie's guides.
Pretty good value, pretty goodquality and a relatively shorter
wait times compared to most of theother places at the Magic Kingdom.
We were looking at getting in a few ofthe others and because we were so last
minute, we didn't have everything booked.
So Epcot is definitely the place togo if you want to drink, although
you can also find, alcohol servedfrom some of the stands at Animal

(51:57):
Kingdom and in Hollywood Studios.
You're just gonna need to have it at asit down restaurant in Magic Kingdom.
The last park we've talked aboutat the beginning of course Animal
Kingdom where you worked at.
Now, set the scene forsomeone how the park is.
It's all arranged around theTree of Life and then there's a
couple different lands about it.
Obviously we talked aboutKilimanjaro safaris and the
animals, but sort of describe thepark to someone who hasn't been.

(52:20):
Yeah, I would say it's kindof like spokes on a wheel.
So the tree of life is on an islandat the center called discovery island.
And this thing is huge.
It is big and you can seeit from all around the park.
And that is.
Probably the most iconic park, parkicon, other than Cinderella castle.

(52:40):
So that's in the center andthen you kind of go out and
explore these different lands.
The original intention behind thepark was that very explorative
that you were coming in here.
You didn't know whatyou were going to find.
You might find an attraction.
You might find some animals.
So there are these animal exhibitsall around the tree of life.
And even throughout the different lands.

(53:02):
So Pandora is the avatar land, whichis the newer land, and so it kind
of all feels like this futuristic.
Avatar ride.
It's where you can go on avatarflight of passage, which is
one of those premium rides.
And then the other lands arelike the dinosaur land, which
they're about to renovate intolike Indiana Jones or something.

(53:24):
Do I have that right?
Yeah.
So Dino land will be converted intotropical Americas, which I am very
sad to see Dino land go 'cause it.
It's not the most popular part of thepark, but my family really loves it.
But I am excited for TropicalAmericas because the other
two lands are Asia and Africa.
So this is continuing with that regionaltheme and it's going to have an Encanto

(53:47):
ride where you're going into Antonio,if spoiler, if you haven't seen the
movie, Antonio can talk to animals.
So that's the tie into animal kingdom.
But you'll be able to journey throughthe house and see his bedroom with
all of these animals that he nowshares this really cool room with.
And then the dinosaur ride that iscurrently there will be converted

(54:08):
into an Indiana Jones attraction.
I'm sad that they're gettingrid of that dinosaur, right?
Cause I actually thought it wasone of the more fun rides that I
enjoyed, even though it's really old.
And I remember going on itwhen I was a younger child.
So I'm sure the Indiana Jonesride will be fun, but it just
felt like it's such a classic,
Okay.
That's a bit brief overview of the parks.
We could go on all day talkingabout all the different parks,

(54:30):
all the different rides.
Katie has itineraries,for each of the parks.
She's also got a list of things to do.
Guides to restaurants, guides tobudgets, guides to visiting as an
adult or visiting as a toddler.
Lots of different guidesfor every different way of
approaching a Disney world trip.
And if you don't find the informationthat you need off of one of Katie's
guides, you can click the littlecomment button up at the top, leave

(54:53):
a comment and ask your question.
And Katie will get backto you in a few days.
So that's that's a really cooloverview of the whole park.
Before we go ahead and wrap up thistrip planning section, , Katie, are
there any particular, places inDisney Springs or any of the other
parks, that you think folks shouldthink about as they're planning their
trip that you particularly love.

(55:13):
sure.
Definitely keep in mind the two waterparks, typhoon lagoon and blizzard beach.
They are so much fun and a greatway to cool off while still having
fun and doing rides and thingslike that, because it gets hot here
in Orlando for most of the year.
So I definitely recommend it.
And if you head over to DisneySprings, which I think everybody
visiting Disney should do, it's anentertainment district filled with

(55:35):
restaurants, shops things to do.
Definitely head over to Ragland Road.
That is my favorite restaurant, hassome of my favorite drinks on property.
And Disney Springs doesn'trequire a ticket to get in.
It's, it's open to anyone.
Yup.
Free parking, free access.
Okay.
Well, let's go ahead and jump into ourfinal segment I want to ask you just
briefly about what's the latest stuffgoing on in Disney world, because I

(55:59):
YouTube channels that basically give like.
Daily news, just about what'sgoing on in Disney world.
There's so much going on, butwe recorded this interview a
couple of weeks before it aired.
But we're here in the fall of 2024.
What's the latest at Disney.
So the newest attraction is Tiana's BayouAdventure at Magic Kingdom, which is a

(56:21):
re imagining of the Splash Mountain ride.
So the the big water ridethat you head down and get
that big splash at the bottom.
It is fantastic.
I really love the attraction.
The music that they've done forit, everything is just top notch.
Animatronics, fantastic.
We also have those newlightning lane passes.

(56:42):
So by the time this airs,all of those will be active.
And Ready for use if that's part of yourbudget and currently under construction
is the latest Disney Hotel, which willbe a Disney Vacation Club Hotel attached
to the Polynesian Village Resort.
Very cool.
And I hear there's a monsters Inc.
Section plan for a coupleof years in the future.

(57:05):
Oh, Nate, there is so much coming.
We had huge announcementsat this year's D23 Expo.
D23 is the official Disney fan club.
And every other year theyhost an expo, which has really
become their place to announce.
All of the new stuff coming to theparks and we have a lot coming up.

(57:25):
Awesome.
Anything in particularthat you're excited for?
So starting next year in 2025,I mentioned that test track
will be reopening with that.
They're calling it test track re imagined.
So same great ride, buta little bit different.
We are also getting a brand new nighttimeparade called Disney starlight at magic
kingdom, which if you've ever had theopportunity to do a nighttime parade

(57:48):
at magic kingdom, it is just one ofthose really magical, very Disney esque.
Things so I'm very excited about that.
We also have a new villain show comingto Disney's Hollywood Studios and two
new lounges one by Spaceship Earth atEpcot and Probably my favorite lounge

(58:08):
location a Pirates of the Caribbeanthemed lounge coming to the Magic
Kingdom So another place to grab adrink as long as you're sitting inside
And what are those lounges about?
Basically, they're bars, but Disney likesto be a little more family friendly.
So they include some light drinks snackand food items and call it a lounge.
I got it.
I got it.
Okay.

(58:28):
Very cool.
Well, anything else?
Any other words or thingsthat we didn't talk about?
we covered a lot of stuff.
I would say if you're startingplanning now, this is a great time to
be looking at maybe a 2026 2027 tripto Disney because like you mentioned,
we're looking at a new Monsters Inc.

(58:48):
land coming to HollywoodStudios in Magic Kingdom.
We're getting a Villains land as wellas a reimagined Frontier land with
two new Cars attractions themed afterthe Disney Pixar movie and I would
imagine they'll be announcing even more.
Very cool.
Well, thank you so muchfor coming on today, Katie.
Go ahead and tell the listenersanyone who's following along, where's

(59:11):
the best place to find you online?
I know you've got your,you Instagram stories.
Yeah.
So all my guides are ontravel living, of course.
And then on both TOK, Iam Katie and the sunshine.
And yeah, I like to share a littlebit of our Disney adventures
and having fun around Orlando.
Perfect.
Well, thank you so much for,taking the time to chat with us.

(59:33):
I'm sure we've got lots of othertopics that we could cover.
Listeners, feel free to leave us acomment if there's something in particular
that you want to hear from Katie.
So thank you so much, Katie.
Really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Okay.
Well, if you are planning a trip toDisney world, Or really anywhere else,
you should use travel lemmings guides.
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(59:57):
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