188. Once Upon a Stage: Rob Lott's Disney Story

This week’s we’re talking to one of the most inspirational and creative people we’ve ever had the pleasure to cross paths with. Rob Lott has been a performer at Disney World for over 25 years. No doubt you’ve seen him on stage as Marlin in the Finding Nemo show, serenading audiences on Main Street with the Dapper Dans, just trying to be a part of the fun at the Hoop-Dee-Do as Six Bits Slocum, or in literally dozens of other roles. Rob also helps create, produce, and direct shows around the world, and has a passion for encouraging and teaching others how to follow their dreams.

You can find Rob on most social platforms as @‌robalott and his creative consulting business is https://bluetrumpetcreative.com.

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Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.

Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Twitter: @ourmousecapades
OurMousecapades.com
[e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Intro (00:00):
Please stand clear of the doors.
Please stand clear of thedoors.
Please stand clear of thedoors.
Because this here's the wildestride in the wilderness.

Alicea (00:23):
Hello, everyone.
I'm Alicea.
I'm Nathan.
And I'm Rob.
Welcome to episode 188 ofAdventures and Mousecapades.
On this week's episode, we arerolling out the red carpet for a
true showbiz renaissance man.
From puppeteering with Disney'sfinest to directing dolphins in
Abu Dhabi, yes, actualdolphins, Rob Lott has done it

(00:45):
all.
He is a storyteller, adirector, a marathon runner, a
podcast host, and a Welcome,Rob.
My goodness, thank you so much.
Wow,

Rob (01:03):
that was a heck of an introduction there.
Gosh, I would want to listen tothis.

Nathan (01:11):
Well, hopefully you can live up to it, so

Rob (01:12):
we'll see.
Yeah, I hope so.
Golly.

Nathan (01:15):
So you've done a ton of work for and at Disney, and
we'll get into a lot of thatstuff.
But where did your passion forDisney and storytelling come
from?
Was Disney a big part of yourchildhood?

Rob (01:28):
Yeah.
Yes, for sure.
My mother actually was afantastic Tupperware lady in the
1980s.
And if you have spent much timein the Central Florida area,
you might know that there tuckedinto Kissimmee was the
Tupperware headquarters.
That was happening in Kissimmeeevery year, and the convention

(02:12):
was two or three days, but wewould stay for a week.
And since the travel and thelodging had already been paid
for, my family, my sister and I,my mom and dad, we would all
come here and then spend therest of the week going to the
Disney parks.
And back in the day, they wouldbuy the seven, 10-day park

(02:36):
hoppers that never expired,right?

Nathan (02:39):
Oh.

Rob (02:39):
And so they would buy them, and we would use two or three
days at a time, then just tuckthem away into an envelope and
come back the next year and doit all over again and just use
those.
So as far as– I have alwaysloved the Disney company, and I

(03:00):
had a– I'm just now remembering.
I had a picture on my bedroomwall, and it was Mickey dressed
as like a live-action– Mickeydressed as like a businessman
executive Mickey on it and I andthat that might have influenced
me a little bit of like oh yeahI could make this my job I

(03:22):
could make this my work looksomebody gets to Mickey goes to
work and does a job this is whathe does and so I just yeah
absolutely we were visiting theWalt Disney we were visiting
Walt Disney World regularlyevery summer as I was growing up
and of course I grew up withthe films I And loved those.
And I was part of that Disneydecade and that early 90s

(03:46):
renaissance of, you know, late80s, early 90s of Little Mermaid
and Beauty and the Beast andAladdin and, you know.
and Lion King and all of that,where it was like, it was just
everywhere you looked, there wasDisney stuff.
And so it was okay and fun andcool to be a Disney kid, you
know?
And so I grew up with that.

(04:08):
And then of course, pairingthat with going to the parks
regularly.
My mother tells the story, wewere sitting watching the parade
and I turned and I looked up toher and I said, I wanna do
this, this.
I wanna work here, I wanna dothis.
And she filed that away andsure enough, Gosh, about 20
years later, there I am.

Nathan (04:28):
That's amazing.
So speaking of all thosethings, I'm going to fanboy out
here for just a little bit.
Six Bits Slocum at Hoopy Doo.
Marlon Finding Nemo theMusical.
You're one of the leads inDapper Dan's, which, okay, mind
blown right now.
You're at times the mime at theSea Lion show over at SeaWorld.

(04:52):
You've been crushed with TurtleTalking Crush.
Way back in the day, you wereSimba and or Scar at the Legend
of the Lion King way, way backin Magic Kingdom time.

Rob (05:04):
Yeah, where Mickey's PhilharMagic is now.

Nathan (05:06):
You have done everything.
I am in awe here.
I'm just flustered.
Alicea, you've got totake over!

Alicea (05:17):
Do I need to grab one of my little fanning things?

Nathan (05:22):
Yes, please.

Alicea (05:22):
One of those misters.

Nathan (05:24):
The vapors!

Alicea (05:26):
Oh my goodness...

Rob (05:27):
So here's what happened.
I was all set and ready to goto Ohio State.
I was going to study music, andI was going to go to Ohio State
and see where that led me.
Well, I graduated from highschool, and a buddy of mine
said, Hey, you know, they'rehaving auditions down in
Orlando.
I just saw this thing.
They're having auditions downin Orlando to work at Walt

(05:49):
Disney World as a performer.
Yeah.
you know, like you've alwayssaid that, you know, you enjoyed
visiting there and you mightwant to work there one day.
You should go just like you're,you're freer today than you
will be any other time in yourlife.
So just go and see.
So I, you know, I thought,okay, I'm going to go and I'm

(06:09):
going to audition and I'm notgoing to put all my eggs in this
basket, but I'm going to, Ihave a plan.
I'm going to go to Ohio stateand learn how to play the
trumpet better.
But I went to the audition, andmy goodness, they...
they said at the beginning ofthe, of the audition, uh, here's

(06:30):
what we're looking for.
And we are hoping to hireeverybody today.
And there was about, there wasabout 200 people at the, at the
audition and they were lookingfor parade, parade performers
and stage performers and, uh,puppeteers.

Nathan (06:43):
Yeah.

Rob (06:44):
And I'll tell you, I, I happen to be in the right place
at the right time with the righttalent.
Um, and that is that I hadgrown up loving Muppet stuff.
Um, and you know, and, andbeing able to, I'm a really good
kind of a mimic.
I'm good at emulating what Isee I can see it and I can
recreate it and so I would seehow Kermit the Frog would work
and would perform and so whenthe time came for the puppetry

(07:07):
audition I was like okay I'llhave a go with that and I did
and they pulled me aside andsaid yeah we need you for Legend
of the Lion King when can youstart and I said well I don't
live here I had grown up in Ohiograduated from Green High
School there in Green Ohio whereour colors were orange and
black...
We thought that one through.

(07:31):
And so they– Yeah, they said,we need you for Legend of the
Lion King.
When can you start?
And I said, well, I need tomove here.
They said, okay, this wasSeptember.
I said, can you give me amonth?
They said, actually, that worksout perfect because we'll start
you and get you all acclimated,get you through all of the
training and everything tobecome a Disney cast member.

(07:52):
You've got to go to Traditions.
You've got to go to Once Upon aTime is Now.
You're going to be at the MagicKingdom, so you need to take
the Magic Kingdom orientation.
You'll be part of the characterdepartment, so you need to go
and do full character trainingand And then in early November,
we will start you in rehearsalsfor Legend of the Lion King.

(08:24):
I was just thinking about thiswith a friend of mine who's
still a friend of mine to thisday.
And I actually sent her amessage, uh, the other day
thanking her as much because shesaid, she gave me a couple of
bits of advice.
Um, she, when I, when I firstgot here, she goes, Hey, I can
tell you're ambitious.
I can tell that you want to doa and get kind of stationary at

(08:50):
Walt Disney World.
There's always new stuffcoming.
There's always new stuffhappening.
And it's really easy.
The paycheck is every week.
You can just get reallycomfortable and sedimentary.
And I was like, okay.
She goes, so here's the thing.
That's not a problem.
Just set yourself a time limitas to how long you're going to

(09:12):
here.
And I said, okay.
And in my head, and I said itout loud later, In my head, I
went five years.
Five years.
I'm going to do this for fiveyears.
But I had a little caveat.
I said five years as long asI'm doing something new and
interesting.
If I'm doing something new andinteresting within the company,
then I will hit reset on thatfive years.
But if I find myself doing thesame thing over and over and

(09:38):
over again and being stuck inthe same place...
for more than five years, thenit's time to go.
And here's the thing, is thatI've hit reset on that five-year
mark over and over and overagain.
And now I find myself a 25-yearcast member at Walt Disney
World.
And yeah, it's true.
I've gotten to do a whole bunchof different things and go to a
whole bunch of differentplaces.
Got to work at Tokyo DisneySeafor a little bit.

(10:01):
But I've worked at all fourparks and done shows and done
all kinds of things at allthe...
with, with all of that, as wellas beyond in central Florida,
um, working in other places aswell.
You know, uh, we like to talkabout with the, we put up a good

show that the parks (10:19):
Universal, Sea World, Disney, that we're
all in competition with eachother and we hate each other.
Um, we don't, we really likeeach other.
We believe that each other isworthy rivals.
Yeah.
And, uh, you know, Simon Sinektalks about, uh, he's the start
with why guy.
Um, And he talks about the, youknow, find your worthy rival,

(10:41):
find the rival that challengesyou in a great way.
And so we work together.
What's good for one of us, youknow, Epic Universe just opened
and everybody's attendance wentup, you know?
And so we're good with that.
Bring everybody into town.
You do Epic Universe one dayand when you're done with that,
come on down the street andwe'll be waiting for you.

(11:02):
And then we'll open somethingnew and everybody will come into
town.
And it goes all, we all likeeach other, help each other.

Nathan (11:33):
We're musicians.
We've done auditions before.
We've raised a little theaterkid who just was in a multi-hour
rehearsal this afternoon forBeetlejuice Jr.
And he does a traveling, Ialways call it, it's like select
soccer for musical theater.
And we're traveling all overthe West Coast and stuff like
that.
So we're in this and auditionsare absolutely a thing.

(11:57):
And to walk into an auditionwith a couple hundred other
people and to have have thefolks running it go, Hey, our
ideal scenario is you all knockit out of the park and we hire
everybody.
Holy cow.
Like what a freeing experienceto reduce that pressure, which

(12:17):
brings out the best performancesand everybody.
I love that.

Rob (12:21):
I agree a hundred percent.
And I, yeah, the, there is a,for anybody who is looking to an
interested in auditioning forthe Walt Disney company, you
know, American Idol put a badtaste in a lot of people's mouth
when it comes to auditioning.
They think that it's going tobe those three judges on the
other side of the table who arejudgmental.

(12:41):
And they think that that'sgoing to be the case.
But the reality is, this is forthe most part true for
auditioning really anywhere.
But the reality is, when youwalk in the room, they want you
to be...
their answer to their problem.
They have a problem thatthey're looking to hire somebody

(13:02):
to help.

(13:33):
There's nothing better thanthat.

(13:56):
And so I highly recommendanyone, everyone, if you've ever
thought about auditioning forWalt Disney World or the Disney
Company or they're on your coastover there at Disneyland or
anything in between, I highlyrecommend it.
It will be a good experience.

Nathan (14:11):
Excellent.
Well, we're preparing for ourretirement jobs.
So I'm going to be the drummerin the little jazz quartet or
quintet that walks around everyonce in a while.

Rob (14:23):
Yes!

Nathan (14:23):
In Disneyland, there's always the Disneyland Marching
Band.
Really tempting.
Yeah, we have our eye on a fewperforming arts

Alicea (14:31):
I wish they had that in Disney World.
Although it is really hotthere, so I don't know.
Which one?
Which one?
Say it again.
The band.

Nathan (14:37):
The Disneyland Marching Band.

Rob (14:39):
I mean, we have the Main Street Phil.
Yes.
Which, yeah, they are, man,they can play.
They are good.
They are really good.
They don't do the formationsand stuff as much as the
Disneyland band.
The Disneyland band actually wasin town.
They were in Orlando a couplemonths ago.

Alicea (14:55):
Oh, cool.

Rob (14:56):
Yeah, and actually did a performance at Walt Disney
World.
Nice.
And it was really cool.
They made a specialannouncement and they were like,
hey, the Disneyland band ishere and if you go in front of
the castle, they were doing aspecial couple of sets there.
It was fun.

Nathan (15:11):
I would have been their drop of a hat!

Alicea (15:14):
Okay, so mime, puppeteer, vocal lead, your
range is wilder than a junglecruise line skipper spiel.
What role is one that stretchedyou the most artistically?

Rob (15:29):
The most artistically and that yeah that last word is the
that's because I I always saywhen it comes to performing at
Walt Disney World, they'realways looking for the triple
threat.
Classically speaking, thesinger, the actor, the dancer,
you got to have all three,right?
But for the shows and theperformers that perform at Walt

(15:50):
Disney World and Disneyland forthat matter, there's always that
extra special skill.
There's always that otherthing, that fourth thing that
they're going to kind of put ontop of it where it's like, okay,
yeah, we assume you know how toact, how to sing, and how to
dance.
But now we need you to do thatwhile you're also doing this
other thing.
And so I think the role thatwas most– artistically

(16:15):
challenging, stretched me themost, but also my favorite show,
I would say, of all time atWalt Disney World was Finding
Nemo the Musical.
Finding Nemo the Musical stillexists in a form at Animal
Kingdom, but what it was in thebefore times, the classic

(16:35):
version, Finding Nemo theMusical.
I actually started on that showteaching the puppetry to the
new performers coming in.

Nathan (16:42):
Oh, wow.

Rob (16:43):
And so the new performers would come in and we would walk
them through the entire show.
through the entire show andshow them how to bring these
puppets to life in order to tellthe story that we were hoping
to have told.
But then the opportunity camefor me to, again, kind of move
from around the table and go tothe other side of the room and

(17:05):
pick up the puppets myself andbecome a performer in the show.
So that's when I got to doMarlin.
And that role, you know, it's a37 minute, it was a 37 minute
show.
And Marlin was on stage forabout 35 of those 37 minutes.
37 minutes you were always onand Marlon ran this gamut of
emotion of being in love whenthe curtain first opens, being

(17:29):
in love with his wife there.
And then losing his wife andthen realizing I'm a single dad
I'm gonna need to figure thatout.
And then we jump ahead and nowhe's terrified and nervous for
his son to send him off toschool.
And then well of course theworst thing has happened now
I've lost my son and I need togo find him and so all of that.

(17:50):
And then becoming friends withDory and then being able to find
the son and everything thatgoes with all of that and having
the courage then to let him goto school again.

Alicea (18:04):
Yeah.

Nathan (18:09):
Yeah.
Wow.

Rob (18:29):
But also, here, hold this eight-pound puppet over your
head for the next 37 minutes.
Also, we're going to put thisharness on you and raise you up
about 15, 20 feet over the deckof the stage and have you do
some flips and turns and thingswhile you're doing that.
Sure, why not?

Nathan (18:49):
Yeah, why not?
I mean, you trained...

Rob (18:51):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.

Nathan (18:53):
Yeah, classically trained acrobat.
We forgot to put that onto theresume

Rob (18:58):
But again, I will say um to their credit they recognize the
walt i'm say Walt Disney Worldrecognized nobody's coming in
with the puppetry experiencethat that we need them to have
and so they give you so muchrehearsal time nobody's coming
in with the aerial flightexperience that we need them to
have so we give you thatrehearsal time and so uh yeah

(19:20):
it's it's uh what you get withthe Walt Disney Company is that
they fully support theirperformers.
They fully give them what isneeded, called for, and
necessary in order to be able todo and perform at the level
that our guests are expecting.

Nathan (19:38):
I was actually going to ask that.
How long does it take somebodyto ramp up from zero to 100 and
be able to get ready to go onstage and perform that show or
just a show in general?

Rob (19:50):
Yeah, that show started when it first When it first
opened, it was six weeks ofrehearsal from day one to the
final night before they steppedon stage the next day to
essentially a final night ofdress rehearsal and then
stepping on stage the next dayin front of guests.
So that was six weeks.
They whittled it down to fourweeks for the principals and I

(20:12):
think it's three weeks for theensemble now.
But yeah, it was an involved–it was certainly like, Mark, go
ahead and take everything elseoff your calendar.
This is what you're doing forthe next six weeks.
You're going to be busy for abit.

Nathan (20:53):
From a performance perspective, like you said
earlier, doing the same thingover and over and over and over,
it gets boring.
How do you make it your own?
How do you keep energized?
Keep yourself going?

Rob (21:05):
Well, I abide by, and this was some advice that was given
to me, early on as a, as a new,fresh, young, green performer, I
was going to be performing oneday with a seasoned veteran of
performing.
And, and I was really excited.
I was really excited to sharethe stage with them.
And so we went out on stage andI was pulling out all the stops

(21:26):
every, I just, I wanted to doevery extra bit, every extra
joke, every extra bit of, youknow, just whatever we could do
to just really, you know, I justreally wanted to show, show
them what I had.
And it I came back afterwardsand I sat down next to him in
the green room.
And I was kind of this youngkid.
I was like, hey, how'd it go?

(21:49):
How'd I do?
And he turned to me.
He goes, hey, man, great showout there.
Really, really fun.
And I said, I would love to getany feedback if you have
anything.
And he said, yeah, you arereally interesting out there.
And I said, well, thank you.

(22:11):
Thank you so much.
And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Next time we go out there, justas an experiment, why don't you
try being interested?

Nathan (22:18):
Yikes.

Rob (22:21):
And it changed everything.
Absolutely changed everything.
And from that point forward,not only– in performance but
also in life of approachingeverything not from an how can I
show up in the world and be themost interesting person but
rather how do I show up in theworld and be the most interested

(22:42):
person and I do that as far asshowing up on stage how do I
show up and be the mostinterested that I can possibly
be.
I've seen time and time againwith new young performers they
show up And, you know, we werejust, we were, before we pressed
record, we were talking about,uh, the, the heat there in, uh,
where, where you are.
And we, we, we have some heatdown on, down in Orlando.

Nathan (23:06):
Uh, we're familiar

Alicea (23:07):
Yeah.

Rob (23:08):
And so, uh, yeah, so it's, it's, it gets hot and that's not
only outside, but also onstage.
And so young performers, theyget going and they're sweating
and they're, and they're, asthey're first starting, they're
just, you know, they come offstage and, you know, need to
change the entire costumebecause they're Yeah.
Yeah.
huh, why is that?

(23:48):
You know what?
I probably, you know what?
I'm probably not working ashard.
I'm probably, I've become lazy.
You know what I need to do?
I need to pump up the energy.
I need to bump up the energyand just, I need to get back to
that place where I come offstage soaked in sweat.

Nathan (24:01):
Yeah.

Rob (24:02):
And now they're all of a sudden they're just, it's this
frenetic, crazy, weird, like,what are you doing?
You're just doing so much thatyou don't need to be doing.
Um, and it's, it's not aquestion of laziness.
It's just, no, you've justgotten stronger.
You've gotten stronger and youare acclimated to doing this
work now.

Nathan (24:22):
Yeah.

Rob (24:22):
So yeah, you're not as out of breath anymore.
You're not as, but here's whatyou don't need to do.
You don't need to bump up yourenergy.
What you need to do is keepyour engagement 100% in check.
Energy fluctuates from day today, but engagement is
pass-fail.
Are you fully there?
Are you fully engaged in theperformance that's there that

(24:44):
you are doing, that you aregiving, that the performers
around you are giving?
Are you paying full attentionto that?
Are you fully engaged?
Are you fully interested?
If you're doing that, then I'veactually learned shows fly by
when I'm interested in the onesthat I'm doing.
It's when I start looking for...
shortcuts, and how can I dothis with the least amount of

(25:05):
energy?
And I've gone through thoseseasons where it's like, how can
I do this with the least amountof preparation, the least
amount of energy, the leastamount of engagement, and get
away with it?
Well, then, actually, the showsbecome really long.
Like, oh, we're only at thispoint in the show?
Oh, I'm exhausted.

Nathan (25:23):
Right.

Rob (25:24):
Because...
you're trying to find shortcutsas opposed to just being fully
in it.

Nathan (25:29):
Right.

Rob (25:30):
And so that, when you ask the question, you know, how do
you keep it fresh?
That's, that's a long windedanswer of saying, be interested,
not interesting.
Don't give full energy, givefull engagement.
And as far as, you know, Marloncertainly, Marlon is a, that's
a, it is what it is.

(25:51):
Marlon, everybody knows what,what Marlon is supposed to be
like.
And so that is, that is anenergy that is, that is solid.
Six Bit Slocum is great becauseit's not like an intellectual
property character.
So if anytime you go to theHoopty Doo Review there at Fort
wilderness and you go and yousee, uh, the, the pioneer hall

(26:11):
players, uh, they're on stage,it's, All of the characters are
amplifications of the performersthat are there.
And so I always like to say SixBits just wants to be a part of
the show.
He hasn't been to anyrehearsal.
He doesn't know any of thescript, but he just wants to be

(26:32):
a part of the show.
Can he just please be included?
And that's my take on thatcharacter.
It's like, just please, Jim,Jim, Jim, just can I be in it?
Can I be part of it?
I just want to be a part of allof this.
But then also with Dapper Dan's,it's...
We use our real names.
When I'm singing with theDapper Dans, it's Rob.
And I sing with my buddiesgoing on down the line of

(26:56):
whoever happens to be in thatday.
And we talk to each other byname and we introduce ourselves
as ourselves.
And again, it's an amplifiedversion of us.
It's a Disney-fied version ofus, so to say.
But at the same time, it isjust us.
And so, yeah, that's how

Alicea (27:14):
Well, and...
You are creating all theseimmersive guest experiences.
How do you balance structurethat you have to stay with there
with the spontaneity of thecharacters?

Rob (27:28):
So not much spontaneity with Finding Nemo

Nathan (27:33):
You're not improv-ing?

Rob (27:34):
Not so much.
Once that show starts, it doesnot stop.
But yeah, so with...
Here's the reality is...
So it's...
You might have heard of the fivekeys right?
We got safety, courtesy,inclusion, show, and efficiency.

(27:54):
Right?
And uh, now i pay most attentionto the show uh to the show
element but of course you knowwe we pay attention to safety we
pay attention to courtesy buthere's here's what it used to

be (28:08):
safety, show, courtesy...
Inclusion wasn't on the listyet...
but it used to be safety, show,courtesy, and efficiency.
Well, what ended up happeningwas we were valuing show over
efficiency, which on paper looksreally good.
But the reality is a lot oftimes they would go, oh, well,

(28:32):
we need to cancel this showbecause we're missing this one
element.
This one element that is notnecessarily– plot necessary this
one element that it's not...
You know, we have a...
we have a part of the set thatis supposed to move and it's not
moving, but can you still dothe show?
Well we could, but it wouldn'tbe the show.

(28:53):
It's not the best show possibleso let's go ahead and cancel.
But at the same, time peoplehave been waiting out there for
about 45 minutes

Nathan (28:59):
yeah

Rob (29:01):
yeah but it's not the show so we need to we need to we need
to cancel it. S o, rightly so,there was a flip that happened
where they said, okay, hold on.
What is the courteous thing todo?
As soon as we know we can't dothe show, let's let everybody
know as quickly as possible.
But if we can do a show, it maynot be the show, but if we can

(29:21):
do a show, let's do that.
And so then getting into theefficiency piece, efficiency is
still on the list.
It's last on the list, but it'sstill on the list.
And so– For me, yeah, there isa recognizing the structure of
how to do what we do.
Especially I think of thetimeline of the Pioneer Hall for

(29:41):
the Hoop-Dee-Dee Review.
It's about an hour and a half,two-hour experience for the
guest as they come in.

Alicea (29:47):
Mm-hmm.

Rob (29:50):
Around that experience, there are bus schedules and
there are other shows thatnight.
There are also other castmembers who are on other
schedules that we need to workalongside the kitchen to make
sure that food timing is comingout on time based on where we
are in the show.
Yeah, we have to pay attentionto those things.

(30:11):
And just quietly, don't tellanybody, but there's big, giant
clocks on stage left and stageright that I can look over at
any time.
And there's benchmarks at anypoint in the show of going, this
is where you need to be by thistime.
This is where you need to be bythis time.
This is where you need to be bythis time.
And one of our directors wouldsay, well, we have had a couple

(30:33):
of different directors over the50 plus years that Hoop-Dee-Doo
has been around.
But a couple of the directors,one of the directors would say,
you know, you have the roadmap.
You have the roadmap of thescript of the show.
You can leave that roadmap, butmake sure you know how to get
back.
And then another director, hewould talk about everybody has a

(30:55):
dollar to spend.
You have a dollar to spendoutside of the confines of the
script at the Hoop-Dee-DoReview.
And so...
when we're talking about kindof those, when you, when you see
the, and every show at, uh, theHoop-Dee-Do review.
And I also believe every showat, um, with the Dapper Dans, I
always like to say like, let'sprove that it's live.

(31:16):
Let's prove that it's live.
Um, let, let's do things forthis audience that they know
this is only happening for usright here, right?

Nathan (31:26):
Yeah.

Rob (31:26):
And so, um, I have a dollar to spend to prove that.
And the other performers onstage have a dollar to spend.
And now I can't spend...
I might only need to spend 15,20 cents in order to do my
proving.
But...
as far as what I'm allowed tospend outside of the script.
But I don't want to take awayany of the dollar that the other

(31:51):
performers have to spend.
Let them also have their spaceto do what they need to do.
And same thing then with DapperDan's, where it is...
There's a big giant clock onMain Street USA, and it's not
there just for the decoration.
It's there for all of us to beable to glance at and make sure
that we are staying within–because, all right, think about

(32:12):
this...
When somebody stops for a DapperDan show, especially this day
and age, when somebody stops fora Dapper Dan show, they are–
potentially um missing a fastpass somewhere they are
potentially missing a or theymight be late to a dinner
reservation right or a lunchreservation so it is a high

(32:33):
honor that they are stopping forus yeah and I used to say you
know well my goodness um why isit such a bad thing that our
20-minute show became 22minutes, became 23 minutes?
Why is that so bad?
The audience was there.
They were having a good time.
Well, because they're not herejust for the Dapper Dans, Rob.
There's other things to do.

(32:55):
And if you take more than whatwe've asked for, it's a little
bit selfish as a performer towant to hold somebody beyond
what we've agreed to.
And so...
Sending them on their way to goand enjoy Space Mountain.
That's okay, too.

Nathan (33:12):
So I have kind of a logistical question, and it's
okay if you don't want to givethe whole inside baseball
answer, but I think we'd beokay.
How many Dapper Dans are there,like on average?

Rob (33:25):
Yeah.
So there's two full-timequartets.

Nathan (33:27):
Okay.

Rob (33:28):
And then they cross over on Wednesdays.

Nathan (33:31):
Okay.

Rob (33:32):
We actually, two full-time quartets, and on Wednesdays, one
group does the AM up on thestreet while the other group is
in rehearsal.

Nathan (33:40):
Okay, got it.

Rob (33:41):
And the Dapper Dans are always in a constant state of
rehearsal because Dapper Dansare not only needed and
necessary on Main Street USA,but they get called on a lot for
special events and other thingsto be other places.
And so there's a regularoccurrence where, and there's
also new guys coming in on aregular basis.
We cycle through, every year wehave a full rehearsal process

(34:04):
and bring new guys in.
There's always new material tolearn and also old material to
brush up on and just keep all ofthat good and steady in the
book and in the rotation ofmusic that we do.
Two full-time quartets, but Iam one of the subs that fills in
for the full-timers when theywant to go on vacation.

(34:25):
People like to, even thoughthey live in the vacation
capital of the world, sometimesit's nice to leave town for a
little bit.

Alicea (34:32):
Gotta take care of yourself.

Nathan (34:33):
Exactly.
I have to admit that one of myDisney highlights is Alicea
sprung on me a happy birthdaydedicated to me from the Dapper
Dans.
Uh, I was, I think buying thephoto pass.
Our daughter was four and ahalf at the time.

(34:53):
She's now 20.
So this is a few years ago.
And, uh, I was doing the, uh,the checkout at the, the, the
counter after the photo session,after Bibbidi Bobbidi makeover
and all the rest of that stuff.
And, uh, All of a sudden, theDapper Dans are behind me
singing me happy birthday.
And it was just the mostincredible thing ever.

(35:15):
It was great.

Rob (35:16):
You know, Dapper Dans is one of my most favorite things
that I have.
The legacy of that group.
Some people know, not everybodyknows, the Dapper Dans are one
of Walt Disney's original ideasfor Disneyland.
And his favorite day of the yeargrowing up in Marceline was
July 4th.
And he loved it because therewas a parade there was fireworks

(35:40):
and he goes wouldn't it begreat if there was a place where
every day there was a paradeand every day there was
fireworks and there was abarbershop quartet on the corner
singing um you know just musicfrom my childhood wouldn't that
be great?
And so that's what he createdand so when and uh when When

(36:01):
Magic Kingdom opened in 71,Dapper Dans, of course, were
going to be a mainstay there.
And so to be a part of that, itis really a super special thing.
I recognize how special it is.
First off, barbershopquartets...
I am aware of the circle ofbarbershop quartets that exist
in the world, but the idea thatpeople are able to make a full

(36:23):
time living and you can go tothis place every day of the year
and get to hear a barbershopquartet on the street corner
every single day.
Like that's cool.
It's different.
It's special, you know?
And so to be a part of that,it's, it's an honor.

Nathan (36:39):
So that kind of, for lack of a better term, Americana
and that essence, you know, thefireworks and the parade and
the, and, and the, you know, thebarbershop quartet.
You take that and you've done,uh, I forget the name of the
group over in, in, in TokyoDisney, uh...

Rob (36:56):
The dockside porters.

Nathan (36:57):
That's it exactly.
And you've done some otherthings over in Tokyo as well.
Like how does that translate?
Not just for the performances,but also for you as a performer,
you're in a different culture.
Like how does, how does that...
What was your experience likedoing that?

Rob (37:14):
Uh, my experience over there was amazing.
I Right.
Oh, my.
They want Americanstature-looking people coming to

(37:48):
the parks because that's whatgives it its, for the Asian
culture over there, it givesthem, here is something
different that we don't havehere.
Here's a different look and adifferent energy of a performer.
So they wanted the Americansand the Australians come over
there and be able to bring that.
But then it was also like, butwe need to understand you.

(38:08):
So please, please speak inJapanese.
So they would be given thesebinders of phrases and scripts
and everything to learn.
We worked in an area literallycalled the American waterfront
at Tokyo DisneySea.
And our director said,gentlemen, would it be okay if

(38:30):
you mainly spoke English?

Nathan (38:34):
no.

Rob (38:35):
Okay, fine.
Yeah.
Oh, gosh.
Okay, yeah.
That'll be okay.
We will make this sacrifice.
So I will say, I didn't learnas much Japanese while I was
over there as I could have andshould have.
But it's true.
I mean, when you're in it, andyou're surrounded by it you
learn it and you learn theculture you learn the traditions

(38:58):
and you learn how to be amember of this society and also
before I went there I was 23when I went and I was 25 when I
came back.
And before I went, a buddy ofmine pulled me aside.
He was about maybe 10, 15 yearsolder than me, pulled me aside
and he goes...
Hey, you are about to become amember of a very small club of

(39:19):
people.
And it is the World TravelersClub.
And all of a sudden...
When you get back to theStates, you're going to have a
whole lot more patience forpeople who don't know the
language.
You're going to have a wholelot more patience for people who
don't know how to move aboutand live in this world and this
society and this culture that wehave over here.

(39:41):
You're going to realizeliterally how small the world
is.
And so enjoy it while you'reover there, but also recognize
when you come back, you will bea different person.
And that has been 100% truewhere...

Alicea (39:55):
Yeah.

Rob (40:17):
What are the things that get laughs everywhere?
What are the things that getsmiles everywhere?
What are the things that makecouples just squeeze each other
a little bit tighter everywhere?
What are those things?
And there are.
There are things that justelicit smiles no matter what.
No matter what you are, who youare, where you are, you learn

(40:40):
what those things are.
And it's great.

Alicea (40:44):
Okay, you're talking about doing a show that
resonates across cultures byusing humor and whatnot, and
just things that just go overeverything.
You did this with DolphinIsland, which was in the UAE.
Can you tell us a little bitabout that show and how you
designed it?

Rob (41:00):
Yeah, well, it was an interesting situation.
So yeah, I got to work atSeaWorld Abu Dhabi in the United
Arab Emirates.
And my area was in tropicalocean there at the SeaWorld Park
there.
And yeah, the Our marquee eventthat was there was Dolphin
Island.
So it was an interestingsituation where the park broke

(41:25):
ground, I want to say in 2020,2021.
And so you can imagine, thinkabout like if we had trouble
getting things delivered here,they got a little bit behind
also there as far as gettingeverything on time to open the
park on time.
So what ended up happening wasthe production team that was in

(41:49):
place to write and direct andcreate everything at SeaWorld
Abu Dhabi, they had othercontracts.
They had other things that theyneeded to do.
So they basically– they wrote,created everything, but the park
wasn't ready to open.
It was still a hardhat area.
Got it.
just need to find some peopleto mount it, put it up, and get

(42:18):
the show up on its feet.

Nathan (42:20):
Right.

Rob (42:20):
And so that was...
So the creative team there inAbu Dhabi, they opened up their
Rolodex of contacts and startedcalling all of the SeaWorld
parks in the States and saying,okay, we need directors.
We need directors.
We need creatives.
We need costume designers.

(42:40):
We need set designers.
We need all of these people tocome in and help get this thing
up and done and finished.
Yeah.
who do you got that isavailable?
And I had just finished workingon doing some consulting with
the Dolphin presentation here atSeaWorld Orlando.
And so they're like, oh, well,we got this guy, Rob.
He just finished working on theDolphin show here.

(43:03):
Yeah, we can give him yourcontact info.
So they called me up out ofnowhere and they said, hey, we
have this opportunity for youoverseas.
Are you interested andavailable?
I was like, well, let's keeptalking.
So that's how I ended up goingover there and doing that.
And it was a Yeah.
we went through a whole previewprocess of putting the show in

(43:35):
front of lots of different kindsof audiences.
And what ended up happening waswe kind of realized, oh,
there's some stuff that wethought was going to work and it
didn't.
And that's okay.
We will repurpose it and reuseit somewhere else in the fleet
of parks.
But yeah, but those things endedup getting kind of changed and

(43:56):
cut and adjusted to the UAEculture based on what what they
resonated with.
The idea of gathering in atheme park for a show was a
little bit foreign to the UnitedArab Emirates as far as the
parks.
They have beautiful concerthalls and beautiful theaters,

(44:19):
but it's just a differentculture.
American musical theater is notas prominent, wouldn't you
believe?
It's not as prominent thereas...
as it is, say, in the West Endor on Broadway or all around the
country here.
And so when we went over there,we kind of had to teach them,
oh, here's how.
Here's how you enjoy a show.

(44:41):
Yeah, you're going to besitting here for 20 minutes.
And we're going to entertainyou right here for 20 minutes.
And you don't have to goanywhere.
You don't have to do anything.
Just relax.
We'll take it from here.
And we had to kind of teachthem that, no, you can just kind
of chill out.
Relax.
Lean back.

Nathan (45:01):
So we're talking about the experience of– seeing shows,
of performing in shows, ofstaging shows all around the
world, all these differentcultures, like thinking about
everything that you've built andbeen a part of and seen, like
what's one moment or two momentsof a theme park show that gives

(45:22):
you goosebumps?

Rob (45:24):
Uh, that's a, Oh, that's a great question.
Um, for multiple, multiplereasons, um, the voices of
Liberty, um, at the AmericanAdventure at Epcot still are
thrilling to me.
And partially because I may ormay not have fallen in love with

(45:47):
a certain first soprano.

Nathan (45:51):
Details.

Rob (45:52):
Yes, yes, that sung there with the Voices of Liberty.
But at the same time, I was afan of the group before she
started singing with them.
And when she started singingwith them, somebody came up to
me and was like, Rob, you're afan of Voices of Liberty.
They got this new soprano.
You need to hear this girl.
She is amazing.
I'm like, okay.
But at the same time, Voices ofLiberty was created by a group

(46:15):
by a guy named Derek Johnson andhe arranged all of their music
in the early days from theopening of the park for the
first couple of decades that thepark was around he arranged all
of their music.
And he had a pretty strongbelief of we are not after what

(46:37):
is relevant we are after what issignificant and We are going to
do this show musically.
We are going to aim this showto the 10%.
We can aim it at the 90% or wecan aim it at the 10%.
We're going to aim it at the10% because if we can get the
10%, and when I say the 10%,what he would refer to, when he

(46:59):
said the 10%, he was talkingabout people like you...

Nathan (47:02):
Yeah

Rob (47:03):
The music majors and the true appreciators of harmony,
the true people who understandwhat it is to sing in a choir,
to put a sound like thistogether.

Nathan (47:15):
How hard that is to do.

Rob (47:17):
How difficult that is.
And we're going to make it lookeasy.
We're going to make it soundeasy.
But that 10% of people are justgoing to go, what?
We've never heard anything likethis, not

Nathan (47:30):
Yeah, yeah.

Rob (47:31):
And so we're going to aim for that 10% because here's the
thing.
If you get the 10%, they'regoing to bring the 90% with
them.

Nathan (47:38):
Yeah,

Rob (47:38):
yeah.
And so, yeah.
Whereas, now here's the thing.
Dapper Dans, Dapper Dans,they're for the 90%.
Nobody should walk away from aDapper Dan show going, oh my
goodness, those harmonies wereimpeccable.
Now sometimes they do, butreally what you should walk away
from a Dapper Dan show isgoing, those guys love each
other and they were having somuch fun.

Nathan (47:59):
Yeah

Rob (48:00):
That's what you should walk away from a Dapper Dan show
with.
You should walk away from aVoices of Liberty show going,
that was vocal excellence.
That was musical perfection.
And I've never heard anythinglike that before.
And so...
Yeah, that show still, if we'retalking about goosebumps, God

(48:22):
Bless America, Battle Hymn ofthe Republic, nothing beats it.
Nothing is compared to that onDisney property.
Okay, you got me.

Alicea (48:34):
And the acoustics in there...

Rob (48:35):
So good.
The sound goes straight up andcomes straight back down.
You'll find the best seat isright here at the edge of the
red

Alicea (48:45):
There's...
Something magical about livepark interactions.
Are there any guest encountersthat still make you grin years
later?

Rob (48:54):
You know...
Because of what I get to do, itreally is an everyday
occurrence.
And that sounds like a cop-outanswer, but I'll bring it around
here in a second.
It really is an everydayoccurrence where you see people
who are like, it's them.
It's the Dapper Dans.

(49:14):
It's the world.
They're right there.
I'm so excited.
And you see those people.
And then you see the otherpeople who are going, wait, who
are the Dapper Dans?
Wait, what?
What is this?
I have never...

Alicea (49:25):
Yeah.

Nathan (49:26):
Yeah.

Rob (49:44):
People who are in the know, know.
And we all talk about it.
But for the most part, the adsand everything aren't really
saying, look at theentertainment.
What the ads are saying is,look at these new attractions.
Walt Disney, of course,famously said, Disneyland is the
star.
Not any one attraction, not anyone performer.

(50:07):
Disneyland is the star.

Nathan (50:09):
Right, right.

Rob (50:10):
So...
I think World, thinking of itthe same way, World is the star.
Walt Disney World is the star.
Magic Kingdom is the star.
And everything that's in it,that is the draw for most
people.
But then they get there, and Iremind myself on a regular basis
of going, not only is this...
Marty Sklar was famous forsaying, every day is somebody's

(50:32):
first day at the Magic Kingdom.
So we have to be great everyday we have to knock it out of
the park every day.
But then also I like to thinkabout it as not only are we
doing this show for the firsttime for somebody, we could very
well be introducing somebody tolive theater for the very first
time.
To live performance for thevery first time.

(50:54):
Where they are coming from theyjust don't have it there and
they're getting here and they'reseeing it and experiencing it
for the first time.
And we might ignite somethingin someone that It has them go,
oh, my whole life trajectory hasjust changed.
This is what I want to do now.
I want to surround myself withthis kind of thing.
But then to go back to answeryour question a little bit,

(51:17):
what's really fun, it is aneveryday experience, but what's
really fun is when they comeback and again and again and
again.
And especially if it's...
I saw somebody just last night,they go, hi, you don't remember
me.
And I go, I do remember you.
I remember you.
Back table at the Hoop-Dee-DooReview.

(51:37):
That's where we first met.
And it was in Orlando and she'snow back as a college program
person.

Nathan (51:45):
Yeah.

Rob (51:46):
But, uh, but I, I absolutely, I go, yeah, I
absolutely remember you.
Yeah.
Because you said that this iswhere you wanted to be in this,
what you wanted to do.
And we had a great, goodconversation about it.
And it was partially, um, shewas having a conversation with
Six Bits, but really Six Bits /Rob Lott was also giving some
advice as to how to get to dosome of those things.
But, uh, but yeah, but then shecame back and I was like, yeah,

(52:08):
I, I remember you.
And that little twinkle in hereye of going, you remember me?
Yes, I do.
And those, when, when they comeback and they bring their
friends and they, you have thathistory with somebody.
I think that that's somethingthat is so special about the
entertainment at Walt DisneyWorld.
It is that personalizedexperience.

(52:30):
It's really hard to match upthe timing to have the same
bellhop at Tower of Terror thatyou had when you were eight
years old to have them againwhen you're 18 to have them
again when you're 28.
It's not so difficult to findthe same performers again when
you were eight and now you're 18and now you're 28 and you're

(52:52):
bringing your own kids andintroducing them, it's not so
odd to find somebody who's beenworking at Walt Disney World in
the same role doing that stuff.
So that's what's super

Nathan (53:04):
That's so magical.
And it speaks to kind of, youdo a lot of your podcast and
other things where you talkabout creativity and leadership
and how that all blendstogether.
And, you know, speaking ofthis, you know, this young woman
who's now back and, you know,do you, partly inspired her.

Rob (53:28):
She already had the motivation.
It her idea, but I was like,oh, let me point you in the
right direction.

Nathan (53:33):
In general, what advice do you give to that young artist
on how to lead and how topursue that vision that they
have with heart and thecreativity?
What do you speak into thosefolks?

Rob (53:49):
My core message is start.
Start.
Begin.
Yeah, but no, I don't...
Yeah, start.
Yeah, but I feel like maybe Ijust need to...
No, start.
Start.
And...
Not only start doing this thingthat you want to do, just have
a go at it.
I started by copying otherperformers.

(54:13):
When I first started at Disney,again, the same person who gave
me the five-year limit to howlong you're going to be here
also gave me the advice andsaid, hey, you want to be great?
Go watch everybody else's show.
Watch everybody else's show andsee what they do and you will
learn what you want to emulateand do every show of yours, as

(54:35):
well as oh don't want to ever dothat.

Alicea (54:38):
yeah

Nathan (54:39):
yeah

Rob (54:39):
you know i just saw them do that on stage yep i want to
make sure i never fall into thattrap and do that.
You will become great bywatching everybody else yeah and
uh and then bringing that intoyour own performance.
But jumping in there andstarting and doing it and just
getting taking every opportunityfor, especially if performance

(54:59):
is what you're after.
Taking every opportunity tojust be in and around and on a
stage.
Don't listen to anybody who saysyou know hold out for lead
roles.
No, that's dumb.
Get on stage.
I don't care if you're runningthe spotlight.
I don't care if you are handingoff props in the wings.
Be in it.
Be around it.
If that's the goal, if that'swhere you want to go and what

(55:21):
you want to do and what everybit of experience is good
experience, jump in find a placeto do it now.
If you can't find a placelocally where you are...
This is where the proximityprinciple comes into play.
There's a guy named KenColeman, wrote a book called The
Proximity Principle.
And he'll be honest and say hedidn't come up with it.
He just wrote a book about it.

(55:41):
But the idea is you do need tobe in proximity to the people
who are doing what you want todo.
And you need to be in proximityto the work where it's
happening.
It's going to be really hard tohave a career on Broadway
living in Wyoming, right?
It's just going to be reallydifficult to do that.
Not saying it's impossible.
Who knows technologically howwe're going to be able to move

(56:03):
forward in the coming years anddecades, but it's just going to
be really difficult.
If Broadway is the goal, there'sonly one place you can do that.
You need to go to New York andget yourself ensconced in that
place.

Alicea (56:17):
Yeah.

Nathan (56:18):
Right.

Rob (56:21):
Yeah.
Say yes to everything for thefirst five years, and after

(56:41):
that, you'll be able to pick andchoose.
When you're first starting outand you're young, you have all
the energy in the world, soyou'll sleep later.
Go ahead and say yes toeverything.
You'll figure it out on yourcalendar.
Say yes to everything.
and just get that experience,build your resume, and then
after that, you'll be able topick and choose.

(57:02):
The other thing that will happenis you'll go, oh, I never want
to do that again.
I said yes, and I did it, and Ifollowed through, but I never
want to do that again.
You learn in those five yearswhat you're great at and what
you probably should hand off toothers.

Alicea (57:18):
If you could reboot any retired Disney show, what would
it be, and would you do anyreimagining to it?

Rob (57:26):
Couple come to mind.
I loved, did you ever see the,I forget the name of it, but it
was the Tijuana, oh, TijuanaShowboat Jubilee.

Alicea (57:37):
Oh, that sounds familiar.

Nathan (57:40):
Okay.

Rob (57:41):
It was on the Rivers of America, on the Mark Twain
riverboat.
The parade would start inFrontierland, and it was Tiana,
and she had a brass band, andthey would play this New
Orleans-style music and have aparade, like a New Orleans-style
parade that got them to theriverboat.

(58:05):
Right.
Right.
with Princess and the Frog,that film coming out.

(58:32):
And once that came out, thenthey never did it again.
And I just thought, it waslike, this is what you want.
You want Magic Kingdom to bethis kind of stuff all the time.

Alicea (58:42):
That would have been perfect for opening Tiana's
Bayou Adventure.

Rob (58:47):
Agreed

Nathan (58:49):
You know what?
In true Disney style, though,no good idea ever gets
completely put on the shelfbecause when
Maleficent her... her conflagration a year or two ago in Disneyland...

Alicea (58:58):
Oh, that's right.

Nathan (59:18):
Tiana and a New Orleans jazz band on a float parked
right there in the water.
And it was amazing.
And honestly, we doubled backand just parked and listened.

Rob (59:30):
So much fun.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, you know, I, listen, I,I am all about, um, my
personality type is just lendsitself towards fun and
excitement.
And, you know, if it's not fun,I don't care to be a part of
it.
So, uh, so, so I'm just, I'mjust always looking for those
fun for the sake of fun typestuff.
Yeah.
And I feel like there'sopportunity around every corner

(59:53):
to create fun for people, right?
So that's something.
I would also, this is just me, Iwould also, I would take
Finding Nemo the musical andbring it back to its full
original 37-minute version.
I just think it was the mostcreative, artistic, theatrically
fulfilling show.
Whether I would be a part of itor not, that's not it.

(01:00:14):
I just think it was...
Now what they have going on nowis great.
The people who worked on it andare working on it are
fantastic.
It's still a great show.
I thought Finding Nemo themusical was a very special
capsule in time of Disneycreative entertainment.

Nathan (01:00:35):
This is going to be a rather difficult question, so
prepare yourself.
You've run seven marathons.
What's harder, Mile 21 or TechRehearsal?

Rob (01:00:46):
laughter laughter I am built for tech rehearsal.
Nobody, nobody is built formile 21.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My goodness.
You know, the story goes, thefirst guy who ran a marathon, he
died.
So yes.

(01:01:06):
So this is what we're doing.
Why are we doing this?

Nathan (01:01:11):
Did you not get the hint thousands of years ago?
What are you doing?

Rob (01:01:15):
But I'll tell you, you know what, what it was.
My wife was working with, uh,with some people.
a number of years ago and theywere like hey let's all get
together and go to the finishline of the princess half
marathon let's go to the finishline and cheer for everybody.
I was like well that sounds funso yeah I'm in I'll go I'll do
that.
So I got up and I went and Iwatched these people finishing

(01:01:37):
the half marathon and I saw therelief and the joy and the I did
it I set a goal and I did it Isaw that on their face and I
turned to Kate and I said I wantI feel like, I feel like I'm, I
feel like I want to do that.
I feel like that's something,that's something I want to do.
And, uh, and she goes, okay.

(01:01:59):
And before I knew it, uh, shehad bought me a bib, uh, to do a
half marathon.
And I was like, okay, so herewe go.
I'm in it.
We're, we're going.
So, but yeah, it's addictive.
And those Disney, the run Disneyexperiences, they were super

(01:02:21):
fun.
It has been a while since I'verun a marathon.
The last one I ran was in 2020.
And they shut them down for alittle bit.
And then, you know, and whenthey brought them back, I said,
hey, that was something fun thatI did for little bit.

Nathan (01:02:34):
Well, speaking of torture, it's now time for
Alicea's patented Disney torturetest.
But you're a professional.
Okay.
You've got this.
But seriously though,good luck.

Alicea (01:02:47):
This is just your Disney favorites from under Mickey's
umbrella.
So like Disney, Pixar, StarWars, Marvel, all that.
Okay.
Who's your favorite character?

Rob (01:03:01):
Aladdin.
Not Aladdin, but the geniespecifically.

Alicea (01:03:05):
Your favorite movie?

Rob (01:03:08):
Mary Poppins.
Yes.

Alicea (01:03:11):
Favorite ride?

Rob (01:03:12):
Can we get into classic or new?
One of each, sure.
Yeah, I love, if we're talkingnew, Cosmic Rewind.
But if we're talking classic,I'm sorry, I'm copping out a
little bit.
I go back and forth betweenPirates and Haunted Mansion.

Nathan (01:03:38):
No shade.

Alicea (01:03:38):
You're fine.
Disney World?
Or Disneyland?

Rob (01:03:44):
Oh, man.
You're making me choose betweenthe happiest or the most
magical.
To visit Disneyland.
Yeah.

Alicea (01:03:54):
Yeah.
Out of all of the individualparks that you've been to, which
one is your favorite?

Rob (01:04:00):
Epcot.
Yes.

Alicea (01:04:02):
Good answer.
Do you have a favorite hotel orresort?

Rob (01:04:08):
The Polynesian.
The Polynesian feelslike vacation.

Nathan (01:04:12):
Yeah.

Alicea (01:04:12):
Yeah.

Rob (01:04:12):
All the other ones are fine and fun, but they don't feel
like vacation.
Polynesian feels like vacation.
I love that.
That's great.

Alicea (01:04:22):
Have you been on any of the cruises?

Rob (01:04:24):
Yeah.

Alicea (01:04:24):
Do you have a favorite ship?
The Dream.
The Dream.
All

Rob (01:04:29):
I actually got to be a part of the christening for The
Dream.

Nathan (01:04:35):
Oh, wow.

Alicea (01:04:36):
That's cool.

Rob (01:04:37):
And that was also a...
They...
I knew some people that wereworking on the christening.
They were working on theproduction for that.
And they realized about twoweeks before the christening
event was going to be, theyrealized, oh, everybody who is
going to be there on theproduction side has a specific
job.
But we've never done this andwe don't know what we're up

(01:05:00):
against and we don't know whatis going to go wrong or what is
going to go not to plan.
We need some people who don'thave a job or a job title that
are just around and available todo what needs to be done.
And so me and three other peoplegot called and we were– We only

(01:05:20):
answered to one person who'sthe production manager for the
entire christening event.
And she would go, here's what Ineed for you to do.
Here's what I need for you todo.
And sure enough, we were hitwith rainstorms.
This was an outdoor event thatwas going to be televised on
Good Morning America.
And so this thing needed to beready at 8.30 a.m.

(01:05:42):
on this day.
It needed to be ready.
But we were hit with torrentialdownpours leading up to that.
So they moved the rehearsalsinto the parking garage.

Alicea (01:05:53):
Okay.

Rob (01:05:53):
And we're doing everything there.
And then finally that morning,everybody showed up real early.
Well, I was there for aboutthree days.
And over the course of thattime, at one point, I was
sweeping the stage.
And at another point, I wasstanding next to the director of
the event taking notes forthem.
At another point, I was holdinga banner for somebody who was
about to pass out.
I did all sorts of things.

(01:06:15):
So the Disney dream has aspecial place in my heart.

Alicea (01:06:19):
Yeah.
Do you have a favorite Disneyrestaurant?

Rob (01:06:24):
We love Le Cellier.

Alicea (01:06:26):
Okay.
Okay.

Rob (01:06:27):
Yeah.
But yeah, it's, yeah, I wish Ihad a more interesting answer,
but that's it.
We love Le Cellier.

Nathan (01:06:34):
We'll allow it.

Alicea (01:06:37):
Last one.
Favorite Disney snack.

Rob (01:06:40):
Oh, Mickey bar.

Alicea (01:06:43):
Okay.

Nathan (01:06:43):
Classic.

Rob (01:06:43):
Yeah.

Nathan (01:06:44):
Hey, you survived.
Hooray! Congratulations.

(01:07:15):
Where can people follow you? Is there anything you want to plug?
am an actor and a director, andwe are brother-sister artists.
And so we have conversationsabout what we are reading about,
writing about, thinking about,and speaking up about on that
podcast, Let's Talk Soon.
And then coaching, consulting,and creative development.
That is what my company, BlueTrumpet Creative, does.
And you can learn more aboutstarting whatever it is that you

(01:07:39):
are hoping to get off theground.
We can help with that.
You can learn more at bluetrumpet creative
dot Where can people follow you? Is there anything you want to plug?
Yeah sure! You can find me on the socials @robalott. I also have a couple podcasts, one called the Leading Creative, and one with my sister. She's a teach and best selling author. Iam an actor and a director, and
we are brother-sister artists.
And so we have conversationsabout what we are reading about,
writing about, thinking about,and speaking up about on that
podcast, Let's Talk Soon.
And then coaching, consulting,and creative development.
That is what my company, BlueTrumpet Creative, does.
And you can learn more aboutstarting whatever it is that you
are hoping to get off theground.
We can help with that.
You can learn more at bluetrumpet creative
That's amazing.
Well, Rob, I have to say thatnot only are you interesting,
but we are incredibly interestedin whatever you do next.
So thank you so much for beingon with us tonight.

Rob (01:07:57):
Thank you so much.
You two are a delight, and whatan honor and what fun this has
been speaking across thecountry.

Nathan (01:08:04):
Yes.
Exactly.
Thank you so much.
Putting together podcasts is alot of work, and it is
conversations like the one wejust had with Rob— that make all
that time and effort and bloodand sweat and a few tears
completely worth it.
That was so inspiring.

(01:08:24):
I am ready to do another 200podcast episodes right

Alicea (01:08:29):
I loved talking with him and just learning everything
and hearing his stories.
Perfect, perfect, perfect.

Nathan (01:08:35):
It was so good.
We hope you enjoyed listeningto Rob.
Please do go ahead and followhim on socials.
And if you see Rob with thedapper dans or six-bit slocum
hanging around the hoopty-doo,absolutely give him a shout out
because he's one of the peoplethat really makes the Disney
magic happen.

(01:08:55):
Yes.

Alicea (01:08:57):
Well, please remember we are not affiliated with Disney
or their subsidiaries.
These are personal opinions andsuggestions based on our own
experiences.
We recommend working with atravel agent or contacting
Disney directly to plan yourperfect vacation.

Nathan (01:09:11):
If you have questions or suggestions or would like to be
interviewed on our show toshare your Disney experience,
please send us an email topodcast at ourmousecapades.com.

Alicea (01:09:23):
You can follow us on socials.
We are at Our Mousecapades.
You can find us on Instagram,Facebook, Threads, and YouTube.

Nathan (01:09:30):
And please give us a rating and review in your
podcast app.
That's either Apple Podcasts orSpotify or wherever.
You could do skywriting.
You can do tattoos.
Whatever you need to do, spreadthe word about us.
That really helps the worldfind us.

Alicea (01:09:49):
And of course, do not hesitate to share us with your
friends and fellow Disney loversof all ages.

Nathan (01:09:54):
Thanks for listening.
We'll be in your ears nextweek.
And maybe not a tattoo.

Alicea (01:10:01):
Yeah, don't do that.

Nathan (01:10:03):
Bye-bye.