195. From Parks to Ports: Navigating Disney Magic with Kids

What happens when a meticulously planned Disney vacation collides with unexpected illness? Travel agent Sara returns to the podcast to share her remarkable journey combining Walt Disney World parks with back-to-back Disney Cruise Line sailings on both the Magic and Treasure. 

The adventure begins with a red-eye flight and her family's first experience using Disney's Disability Access Service, providing valuable insights for parents of neurodivergent children. When both Sara and her daughter fall ill during their park days, we discover how Disney's medical services save the day with surprising efficiency and reasonable costs. Her firsthand account demystifies what happens when sickness strikes far from home—valuable knowledge no travel guidebook adequately covers.

As the journey shifts to the high seas, Sara offers a rare perspective comparing Disney's oldest ship with their newest. The Treasure emerges as a clear favorite with its thoughtfully designed spaces and immaculate theming, while both Castaway Cay and Lighthouse Point receive detailed reviews. Shore excursions provide unforgettable moments, from making friends with a bee named Waxy during a conservation tour to a heart-pounding encounter when a stingray jumps on Sara at Stingray City.

Beyond the adventures, Sara shares wisdom only frequent cruisers discover: the magic number for cruise length, why family cabanas are worth the splurge, and how Disney's newest entertainment offerings like the Moana stage show are raising the bar for cruise entertainment. Whether you're planning your first Disney vacation or your fifteenth, Sara's candid experiences offer both practical guidance and the inspiration to embrace the unexpected moments that often become our most treasured memories.

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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
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Episode Transcript

Alicea (00:24):
Hello everyone, I'm Alicea.

Nathan (00:26):
I'm Nathan.

Sara (00:27):
And I'm Sara.

Alicea (00:28):
Welcome to this week's episode of Adventures and
Mousecapades.
This week, we welcome back onthe show our good friend Sara,
who just had one of the mostamazing Disney vacations we can
imagine, and we've had our fairshare of some epic trips.
They had four days in the parksin Walt Disney World, followed
by a five-night cruise on theDisney Magic and a seven-nighter

(00:49):
on the Treasure.
That said, it was not withoutits challenges and we wanted to
have her on to share her story.
Welcome back, Sara!

Sara (00:58):
Thank you, happy to be back.

Nathan (01:00):
Yeah, it's so great to have you.
Can you remind our listenersyou've been on two or three
times before.

Sara (01:06):
Twice.

Nathan (01:07):
Yeah, can you remind our listeners a little bit about
your Disney background?
You've got a couple of amazingkiddos and you do Disney a lot,
right?

Sara (01:16):
We do do Disney a lot.
So I have an eight and asix-year-old and I've grown up
on the West Coast, so Disneylandhas been my home park.
And it all started when mythird birthday happened at
Disneyland.
So I've been a Disney loverever since.
But my true love is cruising.

(01:36):
I went on semester at sea incollege.
It wasn't my first cruise, butI was hooked after that.

Nathan (01:45):
So you've become a full-time travel agent or travel
advisor, I don't know thelingo's out there.
Was this classified, this trip,was this quote/ unquote
research?

Sara (01:56):
This was a hundred percent a business trip, absolutely,
you know.
I think it's really importantthat any travel agent is
consistently going to the placesand the destinations that they
are really interested in selling, because I want to be able to
give my clients the most recent,up to date and you know

(02:18):
firsthand experience that I canget.

Nathan (02:20):
Absolutely.

Alicea (02:22):
Was it just you three on this trip?

Sara (02:26):
Sort of.
So it was partially a solo trip, but not really a solo trip.
So the first portion we didwith my kid's half-sibling.
We met him and his mom in thepark.
My kids have a lot ofhalf-siblings.
That's a story for another daybut it has to do with using a
donor to conceive my kids, andso we did Disney World with them

(02:49):
.
And then on the last day ofDisney World, a couple of their
other half siblings came in.
There was a fireworks cruisethat happened for some, didn't
happen for others, and then weall got on a cruise together on
the Magic and we were joined byseveral other single moms by
choice.
So that part we did with otherpeople and then the sailing on

(03:09):
the treasure was with two othersingle moms by choice, but we
were kind of more on our own forthat one.

Nathan (03:15):
Got it.
So lots of plug and play oflots of different relationships
and friendships and family-ships and all sorts of stuff.
Nice!Disney's running a promotion
where you get free tickets tothe water parks the day of your
resort check-in.
You took the red eye fromOregon to Florida to take
advantage.
How'd that go, Sara?

Sara (03:37):
Well, that wasn't the plan .
I would not have planned that.
Initially, our flight wassupposed to get into Disney
World at like 3.30 pm and theychanged the itinerary and we
weren't going to get in until7.30 that night.
And I just don't want to get tothe parks that late and then
turn around and do a rope dropthe next morning.

(03:57):
So our only other option was ared-eye.
I've red-eyed with my kidsbefore.
It's been fine.
.
.
It was not as great this time.
You know, you live and learn,right?
But we did get there and I haveto say we did a mobile check-in.
Our room was ready when wearrived at 9 am.

Nathan (04:15):
Oh, wow.

Sara (04:16):
Which was incredible.
We went straight to the roomkind of unpacked and had planned
to go to Blizzard Beach.
Because that's the only wayyou're going to take advantage
as a West Coaster of that freepark day in the water parks is,
if you take a red eye, soperfect opportunity.
We decided to lay down for anhour to take a nap, and three
hours later we woke up anddecided we were not going to the

(04:38):
water park, we would stay atthe pool.
And we did.
And it was great, and mydaughter got an ear infection in
the pool.

Nathan (04:44):
Oh, no!

Sara (04:47):
What can you do?

Nathan (04:48):
Yeah.
So you got a good (?
) night's rest?
You finally got to hit theparks the next day.

Sara (04:58):
We did.

Nathan (04:58):
You had four days, did you hit all four parks?

Sara (05:01):
Well, that was the plan.

Nathan (05:03):
Okay

Sara (05:03):
We.
.
.
my immediate family hit three.

Nathan (05:06):
Okay

Sara (05:07):
We started off big at Hollywood Studios and had a
really fantastic day there.
It was actually our first timeusing the DAS pass.

Alicea (05:17):
Okay.

Sara (05:18):
So my daughter qualifies for DAS and it was our first
time using it and it was reallyfantastic.
We paired it with a lightninglane multi-pass and it was a
great combo.
We didn't do that for everypark, but we did it for
Hollywood studios and for MagicKingdom.
And it was great.
It works very similarly tolightning lanes in terms of not

(05:40):
having to wait in the long lines.
It was a great day, we had awonderful time and I I started
to have like the long lines.
It was a great day.
We had a wonderful time and Istarted to have like a sore
throat by the end of the day,but the day was really great.
We did not stay for Fantasmic.
We had Fantasmic VIP seatingfrom.
We did the sci-fi drive-inlunch, which was so good.

(06:01):
That place is so underrated,the food was so good and is so
underrated.
The food was so good and theatmosphere is 10 out of 10.
Um, so we had Fantasmic tickets, but we were tired, so we
decided to skip it and go backto our hotel.

Nathan (06:16):
How was the DAS pass, like, process?
They've made a bunch of changesto that, like there's uh this
and this was, I think, a yearago there was a big hubbub in
the Disney community.
What was your experience ofgoing through it like this this
time around?

Sara (06:35):
Yeah, so that's a great question.
I was terrified, to be totallyhonest, you know I've heard some
horror stories.
I have several friends who haveused it in the past, several
travel advisor friends that haveused it in the past and,
honestly, I didn't even realizethat we qualified.
My daughter is probably on thespectrum, but we haven't
completed her testing yet.

Nathan (06:54):
Got it.

Sara (06:55):
And they're like you qualify, you should apply.
So I did and I think the bigthing with going into the
interview I had a greatexperience with the interviewee.
She I think the big thing withgoing into the interview I had a
great experience with theinterviewee.
She was fantastic.
She asked really directquestions, not about a diagnosis
, but about what it looks likewhen we stand in line.
And so being able to answerthose questions.

(07:16):
What are the challenges withstanding in a traditional line?
My daughter's a runner.
She gets, you know,dysregulated and then starts
getting mad and you know,hurting me.
So those are all challenges tostanding in a traditional line
and so I was able to talkthrough those and she asked some
very pointed questions which Icould answer and then we were

(07:37):
approved and then she walked methrough all of the other
accommodations besides DAS forthe parks, which was really
helpful, and they send you areally nice guide that has like
quiet places in the park andsensory places in the park, so
those tools are really helpfulas well.

Nathan (07:53):
That's amazing.
I didn't.
.
.
I mean, it makes sense thatthey'd have those other things,
but I never.
.
.
I mean we, you know for for weare lucky enough to not have to
be in that situation, and so,yeah, I didn't even realize that
there was those other things.

Sara (08:10):
Me either!

Nathan (08:11):
That's pretty great!

Sara (08:16):
It was.
It was a really greatexperience and I would you know
it's nice because I have thatfirsthand experience now to
explain to my clients and we did.
We have an upcoming Disneylandtrip and we applied for it there
as well and got a got approvedthere, and the process was very
similar.
It was faster at Disneylandthan at Disney World, but the
kind of questions that theyasked were the same.

Nathan (08:33):
And for those who don't know, DAS is disability access
services and it's justaccommodations that Disney can
help you out as a family forindividuals who need some help
being in lines.

Sara (08:50):
Yeah, and it's not for mobility services anymore.
That's the big change that theymade, is it's not for mobility
and if you have a hard timestanding, they're gonna find
other accommodations for you.
It's mostly for people that areneurodivergent that have
trouble with standing in atraditional line for other
reasons than physical.

Alicea (09:13):
And when you qualify, it's not just for that single
trip, is it?
It's good for a longer amountof time, or do you have to do
that every time you go to a park?

Sara (09:26):
So that I'm actually not clear on.
It was a big deal that theyhave extended the length of how
long it's good for.
But they told me in theinterview that it was only good
for that trip and if we cameback even in that window we
would need to reapply.
So I don't know the firm answerto that?
I would have to find out, yeah.

Alicea (09:46):
That was just something I heard and if they, if they
told you that, then obviously iffolks needed to reapply, then
they should try that yeah.

Sara (09:54):
But there wasn't a long wait.
I've heard that people arewaiting for hours for their
interview.
I was in an interview within 10or 15 minutes.
It was very fast, veryefficient.

Nathan (10:04):
And then you just call in, I'm assuming, and then
you're in queue for an interview?

Sara (10:08):
You do it.
You have to log into your myDisney Experience account on a
computer I assume you could doit on a phone too and they ask
you some questions and then itsays are you ready to get into
the queue?
And you say yes and you answera couple of other questions and
then you just sit in the queueand the the person that is
applying for the DAS has to bepresent, so like I started the

(10:30):
interview and then went andbrought her in uh, okay, got it
makes sense, cool.

Nathan (10:36):
Well, thank you for sharing.
That's.
.
.

Alicea (10:37):
yeah

Nathan (10:38):
Yeah, yeah it's, it's super, super.
.
.

Sara (10:40):
it's a really great tool if you need it.
It was a game changer.
Yeah, it was a game changer.

Alicea (10:48):
From the remainder of your park days, are there any
highlights?

Sara (10:52):
Oh yeah.
Well, my daughter is finallytall enough for all of the rides
, so we all went on Tron for thefirst time, which was
incredible.
My son did it with no hands.
I have the picture to prove it.
It was great.
It was my son's favorite ride.

(11:13):
My daughter and I still preferGuardians of the Galaxy, but
Tron was incredible.
You know, if I'm being reallyhonest, by day two I was
starting to get sick, and daythree was the worst we got.
By the end of the day, wefinally made it back around to
Ratatouille.
Yeah, and it was going to be ourlast we, it was our end up

(11:33):
caught and we'd just gone aroundthe world showcase we were at,
we were going to go out theinternational gate and get on
the Skyliner and we're in line.
We're walking up to Remy and or, um, to Ratatouille and I was
like I, I can't stand in thatline, I'm just gonna go sit by
the exit, and I don't reallyremember oh, I don't remember
how long I waited.
I sat there.

(11:53):
I was like you know by then.
I was like in a fog.
So I was like I'm gonna go.
We're gonna go home and go tobed yeah like five o'clock, oh
um, but it was great.
You know, we were there overthe 4th of July, so Epcot was
actually our 4th of July day andwe did Magic Kingdom on the 3rd
, because they do the fireworkson the 3rd and the 4th at Magic
Kingdom and on the 4th at Epcot,but we didn't stay for

(12:14):
fireworks for any of them.
It was just it was good for me,because I'm a very type A, I'm a
planner and I'm a rope drop tofireworks kind of girl and that
was not this trip and it was OKand we still had a really
incredible time.

Nathan (12:28):
How were the crowds on the 4th?

Sara (12:30):
It was not bad.
I was truly expecting it to bea lot more crowded on both days.
In fact, we canceled on the 3rd.
We canceled the Ohana dinnerreservation because we were
afraid to leave the park and notbe able to get back in, but I
don't think that would have beena problem.
It was really not that bad.
But on the 4th at Epcot, youknow, typically at Epcot I say

(12:54):
get a spot an hour, hour and ahalf before.
There's lots of places to seethe fireworks, you're going to
be able to find a good spot.
Four hours before people werestaking out their fireworks spot
.
So I think if we had stayed forfireworks it would have been a
lot of just sitting and waitingyeah that's why we didn't wait.

Nathan (13:14):
It isn't necessarily fun in the Florida heat and
humidity and yeah, yeah allright.
so we've danced around it alittle bit.
Unfortunately, you and yourdaughter got sick.
A complete bummer anddefinitely a fear that I think
many of us have.

(13:34):
You're traveling, you're goingcross country for those of us on
the West Coast.
How did you get medical helpfor you?
You were feeling sick.
You know Addie had the earinfection, Like how did you get
help while you were, you know,at a Disney resort?
How did that work out?
?

Sara (13:57):
Yeah, Disney is great.
I mean, I knew that there wereservices and I tell clients
about them, but I had neverexperienced them.
So it's great, I experiencedeverything for my clients, so
they don't have to.
.
.

Nathan (14:06):
See it's just research, Sara, it's just research.

Sara (14:09):
And I had trip insurance, so I knew we were fine.
So the first thing I did is Iwoke up and I thought I had
strep throat.
I get it a lot and I thought Ihad strep.
So I called guest services andthey told me the option.
They have a concierge that willcome to your room or there is
an urgent care and the urgentcare sends a van.
It's free.
They pick you up at your resortand then they whisk you off to

(14:31):
urgent care and bring you backwhen you're done.
And it was great.
I was back to the resort in lessthan two hours from the time I
left I went first thing in themorning and they did a bunch of
tests and I didn't have COVID.
Um, I tested negative for strep, but I that happens to me all
the time, so they're like itlooks like strep.
We're just going to give youantibiotics.

(14:52):
They have the antibiotics there, so you don't have to go to a
pharmacy.
Um, it was very easy and theybrought me back and I went on my
merry little way, rested forthe morning, and then we went to
the park later and it was great.
The next day by evening I waslike I don't think it's strep
because the antibiotics are notworking.

(15:13):
Then the next morning Icouldn't get out of bed.
I was just too tired to get outof bed, and so we had a
connecting room.
.
.
with my kid's my kids halfsibling and so we.
I texted her.
I was like, just go to the parkwithout us, we'll meet up for
our dining reservation.
I like.
.
.
I can't do it.

(15:33):
She's like we'll, we'll checkin in an hour.
In an hour.
I was like, just go, we'll findyou later.
And then a couple of hourslater I changed our dining
reservation because there was noquestion we were not going to
the park.
So I opted to have the conciergecome to my room, which you know
.
I was a little bit scared aboutwhat the bill would be, even

(15:55):
with trip insurance, but I willsay it was about $550, including
the doctor coming.
She immediately determined Ihad the flu with flu test and
she gave me a bunch ofmedication that she had with her
.
If they don't have what youneed, they have a pharmacy that
delivers.

Nathan (16:14):
Oh, wow, okay.

Sara (16:16):
And she gave me everything I needed to turn that in to
insurance.
When I got home both medicalinsurance and trip insurance and
they were lovely.
She was just incredible.
So in hindsight I wish I'd donethat first maybe, but I was
getting on a cruise the next day.
And so she was like I'm goingto get you on this cruise.

(16:37):
I promise you will feel like awhole new person tomorrow.
Today is going to suck, buttomorrow you're going to be
great.
And you're going to be able toanswer the health questionnaire
honestly.
And I was.
That was the big thing.
.
.
I'm not lying on the healthquestionnaire for the cruise!
And um so, um, you know, it wastrue, it was a horrible day, um,
but I felt better.

(16:58):
And right as we, my, my family,was leaving to go to the
fireworks crews, my daughtersays Mommy, I have a sore throat
.
So we called concierge back tothe room because I didn't feel
good enough to go to urgent care.
And so a different doctor cameand treated her and their

(17:20):
bedside manner was just so good.
They let her play with thestethoscope and listen to her
heart and look at her eyes andher ears and um.
They determined that she had anear infection and um gave her
meds as well.
They had child medication onboard as well and um all was
well.

Nathan (17:38):
That's awesome.
So they don't take directinsurance but they give you all
the paperwork to go file that onthe back end.

Sara (17:44):
Yeah, you have to.
Um, where the urgent care didtake my insurance and I just
paid my regular copay.
Um, but the concierge you haveto pay out of pocket, but all
told, both of our visits wereabout a thousand dollars.
Ironically, the most expensivepark day, and we didn't even
leave our room.
My son to go to the fireworkscruise, though, and he said it

(18:06):
was really good.

Nathan (18:07):
Awesome, that's good, good, good, good good.

Alicea (18:09):
I looked it up because I was curious how crazy busy the
parks were on July 4th.
The predicted crowd overall wasa 6 out of 10.
The overall crowd observed forthat day was a 3.

Sara (18:25):
Yeah, it was not crowded

Alicea (18:25):
Which is really low and you were at Epcot for that day
was a three.
Yeah, it was not crowded, whichis really low, and you were at.

Sara (18:28):
Epcot that day.

Alicea (18:29):
We were at.

Sara (18:29):
Epcot.

Alicea (18:30):
And that was the busiest park at a full six.
Magic Kingdom was a three,Hollywood Studios and Animal
Kingdom was a two.

Sara (18:37):
Well, and I think that that would be different if Epcot
did their Fourth of Julyfireworks both nights too.

Alicea (18:42):
Yeah

Nathan (18:42):
oh yeah.

Sara (18:44):
Y ou know they kind of pushed the crowds away from
Magic Kingdom on the 4th to goto Epcot if you're there for
more than one day.
But apparently a lot of localsannual pass holders go to the
parks for the 4th of July, whichmakes sense.
Yeah.

Alicea (19:00):
Well, you're feeling much better the next day.
So off to Port Canaveral andthe Magic.
Did you use Disneytransportation from Pop Century
to the ship?

Sara (19:09):
We did not.
I'm a big DCL fan, but we had10 people, so we opted to do an
away.
.
.
an Away We Go van and have aprivate van and just a little
moment for the kids to connectand it was really fun.
You know we all had differentport arrival times.
The other people I was withwere first time cruisers, so we

(19:30):
we just went to the latest portarrival time.
We were on the ship, you know,within 20 minutes of getting
there.
It was so easy.
They do a great job there atPier 8 getting you on the ship.

Alicea (19:42):
What was your itinerary for this five night sailing?

Sara (19:46):
It was the best itinerary ever.
We went to Nassau and most ofus stayed on the ship, and then
we went to Castaway Cay andLookout Cay at Lighthouse Point.
And then we had a sea day.
So it was really, you know, mynew favorite itinerary.
I could, you know I could dowithout Nassau if we want to
have another sea day.
But, it does get some peopleoff the ship.

(20:07):
So, you have a little bit lesscrowd at the pool.

Alicea (20:12):
Have you been on the Magic before?

Sara (20:14):
Yes, so that was actually our first Disney cruise, so it
was fun to get back on the Magicfor a little bit longer than
our first cruise, which was kindof short.
You know, I also just got offthe Wonder two months ago, and
so it was really fun to be ableto compare those two ships,
really truly kind of back toback, because I think the Wonder

(20:38):
is aging a little bit betterthan the Magic which pains me to
say, because I do love theMagic.

Nathan (20:43):
Yeah, that was going to be our, our kind of our next
question, like what?
What's your impression of howthe Magic's holding up?
I mean, we're we're closing inon 30 years here.

Sara (20:52):
Closing in on 30.
She just turned 27.
You know, for her age I thinkshe's doing very well.
She's still a beautiful ship.
She's very well maintained.
We had a little issue with ourum Miranda door and I kid you
not, they must have checked onus like eight times to make sure
it was fixed and I was like Ipromise it's good, it's fixed.
Um, but you know, just the um,she's just showing her age a

(21:15):
little bit more.
I think she is going in for ashort dry dock next year before
she um goes to Alaska.
So I think that that's that'sgood Um, but I just love the
size of that class of ship.
It just feels so intimate andyou really get to know the cast
members that are working and wehad a great time.

Nathan (21:36):
Good, good, good good.
I heard the kiddos didBibbidi-Bobbidi on board.
Did they love that?

Sara (21:42):
They did.
So my daughter had just done iton our last cruise, and so we
took her dress, which is a greatmoney-saving tip.
You take the dress back and youdon't have to buy a new dress.
You just get the makeover forher.
And then my son and one of hishalf-brothers did night
makeovers, which, if you've everdone anything with two, well

(22:03):
one's nine.
So an eight and a nine-year-oldboy.
I mean it was high comedy atBibbidi-Bobbidi.
Luckily we were like the onlypeople there the three of them
but their fairy godmothers werefantastic and they made it fun
for the boys.
They learned how to sword fight, they did remove the sword from
the stone, and so the boysreally had a good time.

(22:24):
And then, you know, theyproceeded to sword fight all
over the ship, which made forsome really great photos.

Nathan (22:30):
That's awesome.

Sara (22:31):
It was very fun.

Alicea (22:33):
You got to hit both Castaway and Lighthouse Point on
this one.
What did you guys do atCastaway?

Sara (22:40):
At Castaway we had a cabana

Alicea (22:42):
Nice!

Sara (22:42):
So one of the great things about doing Disney Cruise Lines
a lot and helping people dothem a lot is I know some of the
tips and tricks and so we wereable to score kind of a last
minute cabana.
It's my second time doing it, soI consider myself a
professional now at scoring alast minute cabana and I really

(23:04):
love that experience of kind ofhaving a private place to leave
your stuff.
And the interesting thing aboutthis time of year which I guess
I hadn't really realized aboutCastaway is the water is a lot
lower than when, like moreenjoyable to be in but the water
itself is so low and our cabanawas down at the end of the

(23:28):
family beach and when the tidewent out there was a giant mud
flat.
Well.
.
.
I mean, it was a giant sand flat.
And when the tide was in, itwas like three inches of water,
but it was really good for thekids who were playing in the
sands and it was also very funfor snorkeling, because you're
that much closer to the giantstatues, most of them we could
touch or stand on, which wasreally kind of fun for the kids.

(23:52):
So we snorkeled, we took our ownsnorkel gear and we snorkeled,
and then, you know, the kidsspent some time on the Pelican
Plunge, which is the water slideinto the ocean, and we just
spent some time relaxing.
It was a good day.

Nathan (24:07):
Nice.
What was your thought onLighthouse Point?
Was this your first time there?

Sara (24:16):
It was my first time and I wish I could tell you I was
feeling good that day because Iwas not.
Our day started out, so we gotoff the ship early and first
impression you guys have beenthere, right?

Alicea (24:28):
We have not yet.

Sara (24:28):
Oh gosh, okay, so photos and video make that pier look
insanely long yeah and when wepulled up alongside of it.
First of all, we docked on theport side, which is fun for
people on the port side thatdon't usually get a, that don't
get a view at Castaway so thosepeople had a really great view
of Lookout key.
The pier does not look nearly aslong in person which was I was

(24:49):
like, oh, that's not a big deal.
It took, you know, about 10minutes to walk.
We there were lots of wagonswhen we got off, so we put our
stuff in a wagon and justenjoyed the pier.
We got on the shuttle, got toto the beach right as the skies
opened up the dark black skies.
That whole week we had a lot ofthunder and lightning really fun

(25:10):
storms, but, um, it was warmrain, um, and the thunder and
lightning was far.
They never cleared the beach.
So that beach is incredible,absolutely incredible.
The water is beautiful.
Now, we could not get in thewater for about two hours, I
think, because they had spotted.
.
.
wildlife.

Nathan (25:30):
Okay.

Sara (25:31):
Uh-huh.
So, they kept us out of thewater and then they had a boat
going back and forth andchecking and all the lifeguards
were out there.
They let people kind of wade upto their knees.
Yeah.
But if you went in any fartheryou got.
You know.
Tweeted at.
A whistle and tweeted by thelifeguards.
And then, once they weredecided that it was all clear,
we were able to go in the water,got it.

(25:51):
But wildlife, the food you knowit's very similar to Castaway
the food and the lunchexperience.
I feel like there's moreseating at Lookout and it's kind
of more spread out.
Like there's more seating atLookout and it's kind of more
spread out, so the areas mighthave fewer tables in them but

(26:11):
there are more areas with tables.
Very similar to Castaway inthat term.
But we loved it.
We're going back a couple timesnext year and I'm excited
because I will feel better,because also that day we went
back and I wasn't feeling goodby the time we left, right after
lunch, because I just was.
I was worried about making itback to the ship on the pier and

(26:31):
I did end up getting a tramride back.
They were like are you OK?
I was like maybe.
.
.
?
Go over there there's a tram.
So I did take the golf cartback which before you get on one
of those golf carts you need toknow that they drive so fast
down the pier.

(26:52):
It's a little frighteningbecause they are driving so fast
down that pier.
They are on a mission and those.
It was kind of interesting.
We were talking to the driver.
He is a local to the islandand he just comes into the
Disney beach to work, which isdifferent than Castaway, which
was kind of fun.
Yeah.

(27:12):
But as soon as we got back on, I went to the medical
center because I needed more.
I needed more medicine, Ineeded more steroids because I
had bronchitis.
At that point, yeah yeah, itwas so good.
.
.
But! The medical center wasincredible.
I was also afraid about thebill.
Medical center, because again,you pay out of pocket.

(27:33):
I came away.
It cost me $120.
And that included threemedications and a nebulizer
treatment.

Alicea (27:40):
Oh wow.
Okay.

Sara (27:41):
So I was afraid to go to the medical center yeah.
And they were so fantastic Iwould highly recommend.
If you don't feel good, youjust go.

Nathan (27:50):
Right, or, if you don't feel good, take a cruise.

Sara (27:54):
It seemed like a good idea .

Nathan (27:55):
You're going to get cheaper health care on a cruise
ship.

Sara (27:58):
I did think about that actually, when I got the bill I
was like this is the cheapestmedical care I've had in a
really long time.

Alicea (28:04):
Wow, all right.

Nathan (28:09):
Circling back to Lighthouse and Castaway, which
one's your favorite?

Sara (28:14):
Oh, I really think it's Castaway.
You can't compare it to thebeach at Lookout.
The sand is pink.
It is the finest sand.
Like, if you hold it up in thewater, it literally
disintegrates out of your hand.
It's almost so fine, it's apowder.
The sand is incredible.
The water is so clear, but youcan't beat Castaway for the

(28:35):
ability to just walk off theship and be at the beach and
just the ease of not having toget on a shuttle and wait unless
you want to.
So I think that's why Castawaypushes me over.
And then the other thing is theday we were at Lookout was the
photos and videos I've seen.
It's been very, very calm.
Yeah.

(28:55):
And our day we had waves sopeople wanted to kind of snorkel
at that family beach.
Yeah.
But it was, you couldn't reallysnorkel.
So that protected area atCastaway, I feel like especially
if you have little kids, isreally good.

Alicea (29:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard that from some other folks
too that there's no barrierthere.
So if it's a if it's a rockyday, it's a rocky day and it
gets pretty nasty.

Sara (29:18):
Or if there's wildlife,

Alicea (29:19):
yes, yes, if there's wildlife.

Nathan (29:22):
I mean I would love it.
I grew up on the ocean and so Ilike swimming and floating
around and playing around in areally nice swell.
But I get how many people wouldnot like that at all.
Kids, Like I said.

Sara (29:37):
I get it Well, and it's not like a beach where you could
like body surf or boogie board.
It's just enough to be Kind ofannoying, because it's not big
enough to have fun.
Yeah Right, yeah, yeah yeah.
But it was fun.
Everybody drug the chairs downto the edge of the water and
kids were all making friends.
That's good Buildingsandcastles.

(29:57):
It was really.
It's a beautiful beach.

Alicea (30:01):
You could still build sandcastles with that type of
sand.

Sara (30:04):
Yeah, okay.
If it's wet enough, cool yeahBack.
Yeah, it's wet enough, okayyeah.

Alicea (30:08):
Back on board.
You got to do brunch in theprivate room in Palo.
What was that like?

Sara (30:15):
Well, that was very fun and it was not my first time in
the private room, so we've donethe private room now on the Wish
and the Wonder and the Magic,and it's such Palo already is so
special yeah.
And the food is so special, yeah, and the food is so incredible.
And if you are traveling on the, if you're traveling with a
group and you're planning ondoing Palo, I highly recommend

(30:36):
reserving that private room.
Every server that I've had inthe private rooms has said it's
vacant most of the time becausepeople don't know it exists, so
each ship holds a differentnumber of people.
The newer ships hold less, butum the Magic and the Wonder,
both hold between I think it's 8and 14 people, and so you have

(30:56):
you know in a your own privateserver and it's just, it's a
whole experience and it justadds that extra little magic to
the Palo brunch.

Alicea (31:07):
It's.
.
.
we've done that once way in thebefore times in 2013, we met an
extended family that was on thetrip and they basically pulled
us into their group.

Nathan (31:20):
It was actually Tim and Audie, you know you know we met
them as we were getting on boardfor our uh first, uh first
Panama Canal crossing out ofMiami.
And yeah, we met in theterminal and they just adopted
us and it was great and we gotinvited with their whole
extended family to privatedinner at Palo.

Alicea (31:43):
They added us to their dinner rotation.

Sara (31:47):
That's incredible.

Alicea (31:49):
We got to their table then.
Yeah, we were a part of theirrotation.
It was so fun.

Sara (31:52):
I love that, the connections that you make on
Disney cruises are so fun.

Nathan (31:55):
Cruise Friends are the best friends w e've met.
.
.

Sara (31:56):
.
.
.
some of the most interestingpeople.
It's just really really neat.

Nathan (32:00):
Yes, cruise friends are the best friends, for sure.

Alicea (32:04):
Okay, so you made your way back to Port Canaveral and
had a night between sailings.
Where did you stay?

Sara (32:12):
We stayed at a Wyndham that's on the beach, okay, and
it was just very.
We wanted something very lowkey and right on the beach and
we spent most of the day at thepool.
And what was really fun is theywere practicing unbeknownst to
me because I just didn't do anyresearch about.
We just knew we were notleaving the hotel.

(32:33):
Right.
They were practicing for the airshow that started the next day.
So we were getting all thesevery low flyovers over the hotel
and the pool, and that wasreally fun, the hotel and the
pool, and that was really fun.
And then we also just drovearound Cocoa Beach just kind of
exploring because, I haven'treally spent time.
.
.

(32:53):
You know you go to the cruiseship and then you go home, so I
hadn't really driven around thatarea.
So it was just kind of nice toexplore and get the lay of the
land.

Nathan (33:01):
Yeah, we inadvertently got to spend a week there in
Cocoa Beach a few years ago.
It was absolutely fantastic.
We missed a cruise becausesomebody, I won't name any names
, but she's 20 and lives in ourhouse, got COVID.

Sara (33:17):
I might have met her.

Nathan (33:20):
We had to skip our very first attempt at sailing on the
Wish.

Sara (33:26):
Oh, no!

Nathan (33:26):
Yeah, we found a VRBO rental for a week and it had a
pool and it was great and we hadsuch a fantastic time down
there and we go down to thebeach.
I think we saw a SpaceX rocketlaunch, from right near where we
were staying and, yeah, we werestill able to.

(33:49):
.
.
we had rented it for two weeksand then Kaitlyn tested negative
and we were good to go.
We were able to go take oursecond cruise, so it all turned
out okay.

Sara (33:58):
It's a great little area.
You know we had planned to doKennedy Space Center but then we
decided we would just be tootired after the cruise we just
wanted to relax because that'ssuch a day you almost need to.
You know it is a night on thefront and back and it's a pretty
.

Nathan (34:12):
I mean it's, it's not horrible, but it's probably a 45
minute to an hour drive fromCocoa beach because you can't go
right up the the coast there.
You have to go inland and thenup and then back out onto the
outer islands there.
So, yeah, you probably made theright call.

Sara (34:29):
Yeah, another trip.

Nathan (34:31):
Yes, exactly.

Alicea (34:33):
Would you recommend that hotel to others?

Sara (34:36):
I would.
It was good, it was clean.
They had a really great freebreakfast that was included.
You're paying beachfront prices, but you're going to pay that
kind of anywhere.
I wish I could remember thename of it off the top of my
head, the full name, but it'sthe Wyndham that's on the beach.
.
.
Okay there's two there there'sone on the beach, there's one
not on the beach and they havethe same name the full name is

(34:59):
this the full name is the same.

Nathan (35:01):
Of course.
Thenks Wyndham!

Alicea (35:04):
Did they have a shuttle to the um port?

Sara (35:07):
They did, but I did not use it because we were with
another family and they weregoing back to the airport.
So together we rented a car,which was great.
There was a shuttle that pickedus up at the cruise terminal
and took us right over to thecar rental, which was right
there, and we were on our waywith just a few minutes.

Nathan (35:25):
Nice.

Sara (35:26):
And so they dropped us off at the port the next day.

Nathan (35:30):
Nice, all right, so that next day you get back to the
Disney terminal there and youget on board the fantastical,
amazing Disney Treasure.
This was your first chance tobe on the Treasure.
.
.
first impressions?
What was it like jumping fromDisney's oldest ship to their
newest?

Sara (35:51):
Well, it's really made me think, rethink.
Um, you know therecommendations that I made.
The Treasure is so beautiful,she is so perfect, her every
space.
You guys have been on her soyou know every space is so well
thought out, and I was on theWish in March, so I have also a
very recent comparison to theother ship that's currently in

(36:14):
that class and the Treasure isjust heads and shoulders better
is better than the Wish.
The Wish is a beautiful ship,but every space on the Treasure
is just so well thought out.
And she's so beautiful and thedetail everywhere is incredible,
like the carpet.
I have a whole, probably 30videos just me filming the

(36:38):
carpet around the ship becauseit was so pretty.
Yeah, they just did.
They hit it.
I mean, they have big shoes tofill with the Destiny and
subsequent ships, because that'sthe new standard.

Nathan (36:52):
Yeah, 100%.

Alicea (36:55):
Did you get to see anything with Coriander and Sage
?
Oh that, look there.
.
.

Sara (37:03):
I don't know.

Nathan (37:04):
Oh, you need to get back on the Treasure, Sara.

Sara (37:06):
Well, obviously I need to get back on the Treasure.
That is not up for discussion,but when is the question?

Nathan (37:13):
So Coriander and Sage are the two kind of, adventure
hosts I think is their billing.

Sara (37:19):
Oh yes, yes, we did, we did the Adventure Tea! We did
the Adventure Tea so we did.
You know I had a moment.
.
.
Oh, we did the Adventure Tea, sowe did they.
You know I had Gathering, amoment.
Yes, they came and we've donenow the Royal Gathering no.

(37:45):
.
.
not the Royal Gathering theMagic Court Royal Wonder Tea,
which Dream is the Meet Fantasy.
And activity on.
They have Royal Picnic haveOlaf's Wish, Yeah, wonder, the
dream and the fantasy.
And then they have olaf's royalpicnic on the wish yeah I've
done that, and now we've donethe royal adventure tea got it
and it's different because theyactually come and you go on a
full adventure around the atriumbefore you go into the
restaurant

Alicea (38:02):
I saw that and I was wondering what that was, because
it's coriander sage, followedby just a whole slew of kids.
And I didn't know what wasgoing on.
I was like, oh, this is kind ofcute.

Sara (38:12):
Okay, that's the beginning of the tea.
So they go on this wholeadventure and they give them
this whole storyline before yougo in and get seated at 1923.
That experience is really fun.
Now that we've done them on allthe ships, we probably won't do
them again, but I highlyrecommend them.
It's so fun and when you getinto the restaurant it's a whole

(38:33):
entertainment, it's a wholeshow and the princesses come,
and when you're on the Wish,Olaf comes and you come away
with a whole suitcase of swag.
You have to figure out how toget home.
But yeah, it's very fun andthey were very fun.

Alicea (38:49):
Yes, and this is one of the rare times where the adult
price for this is.
.
.
it's the cheap fare compared tothe kids.

Sara (38:58):
Very cheap it's only $75 as opposed to $250 per child.

Alicea (39:03):
Is it worth the price tag?

Sara (39:06):
You know, I think it is worth the price tag once, okay?
It would be hard to justify theprice tag twice, because part
of what you're paying for is allthe swag.
So, on this we've got, they gotlike this um fabric sash like
an adventure sash.
They got um an adventure, umcrossbody tote like a backpack,

(39:29):
a crossbody backpack, kind oflike the old castaway backpacks,
that kind of style, and it hasan emblem from all the different
princesses that you might seeyour experience might be
different depending on whatprincesses are available to come
to the tea.
So they have, I think, likefive different emblems.
And then you have like a keychain and they got a really
beautiful autograph, an activitybook, a set of binoculars, um,

(39:52):
you get your photo with all ofthe princesses at the end in a
big eight by ten thing yeah theydeliver to your cabin um, frame
, um.
I feel like I'm missingsomething else that they got.
I mean, oh yeah, they got alittle shoulder, one of those
magnet shoulder, um,

Alicea (40:08):
shoulder pal

Sara (40:09):
yeah, a shoulder pal.
And they got Pascal fromRapunzel which is very fun.
So you know you're, you're,that's what you're paying for
with the kids, it's not just theexperience, but all the swag
that you're taking home.
But you get a whole trays of umsnacks and treats and it's
really fun, but it's probablyfor most people a one and done.

Nathan (40:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That makes sense, that makessense.

Alicea (40:35):
So is that the the one thing that you saw, Coriander
and Sage at?

Sara (40:39):
I feel like we saw them someplace else, but now I'm
trying to think about where wesaw them.

Alicea (40:43):
You definitely need to go on again and try and see
anything and everything you canwith them, because they are
amazing.

Sara (40:50):
They were so funny.
They're amazing, they were sofunny yeah.

Alicea (40:53):
They do an adults-only retelling of, or kind of
retelling, achoose-your-own-adventure of the
Indiana Jones movies.

Sara (41:02):
Oh boy.

Alicea (41:02):
It's hilarious.
They do a jungle cruiseexcursion in the middle of the
atrium and that's all ages andthat's all ages.

Sara (41:11):
Yes, part of my problem on the Treasure was, um, I just
didn't, um, I didn't do as muchnight life activity.
Well, truly, I, you know mykids are still little enough
that after dinner, if we go tothe show, that's kind of all
that they have in them.
It's time to go to bed.
Sometimes they can do the kidsclub for 45 minutes or an hour,

(41:35):
but we pay the price the nextmorning.
So as my kids get older, I'mlooking forward to more
nighttime activities because theschedule is so jam-packed with
fun stuff at night for it is Foradults, it is.

Nathan (41:48):
Well, you'll get there, yep.
Someday and make sure you checkin with Coriander and Sage,
okay?
W e love that they're bringingthat kind of element of we've
called it on other episodes likestreetmosphere, Like you see it
, you know, in the parks.
They're bringing that to theships and it's just so fantastic

Sara (42:06):
Yeah, we did notice that with characters too.
There were a lot of charactersout on that ship and we
experienced them in a way thatwe haven't on other ships, where
they're just wandering around,taking photos, and they're not
on the schedule.
And that was really fun.
We met several characters thatway nice and it was a lot more
laid back and kind of fun youhad some shore excursion

(42:29):
highlights on this seven-nighter.

Nathan (42:31):
It was a western caribbean itinerary.
You let your kiddos pick yourexcursion in Cozumel.
.
.

Sara (42:40):
Sure did!

Nathan (42:40):
What did they go with?

Sara (42:42):
Sure did.
They selected the NationalGeographic.
.
.
um.
They selected the NationalGeographic Bee Rescue Tour.
And it was either that orsnorkeling at shipwrecks.
So this is what they chose andit was actually really good.
I figured anything withNational Geographic in the title

(43:04):
was going to be done very well,and we went.
They get you on a little bus.
It was very small, which wasnice.
I think there were maybe only15 or 16 people on the tour.
It was a very small.
There were some other kids, um,and they bus you almost to the
other side of the island.
If you've ever been to Cozumel,they really have like one road

(43:26):
and so you're almost to thebeach on the other side.
We did go..
.
They drove us over to the beachso we could see it on the way
back.
But out into the jungle andit's just, it's really
fascinating.
It's a bee rescue center andthis woman founded it 10 years
ago when she discovered thatwhen bees are found on the

(43:47):
island, the fire department iscalled and they kill them all
with hoses.
They hose them down and killthem.

Nathan (43:52):
Oh my gosh.

Sara (43:53):
And yeah, and so she was the first bee rescue place on
the island.
There are a couple of them now,but she goes out and she
rescues the bees and bring themback, and what was fascinating
was how many different types ofbees that she had.
Some of them were so small.
They looked like flies.
I would have thought they werea fly.
Most of them do not sting, butthey're all honeybees, so we got

(44:13):
to try probably like 20different types of honey.
And different things that theymade with honey.
We got to crush cocoa beans andmake fresh cocoa powder and
then mix it with honey, and thenwe made hot chocolate and put
honey in it.
So it was a very hands-on,really very fun.
It was a very fun excursion andmy kids loved it.

(44:37):
That's awesome and they madefriends with a bee.
A bee came and landed onanother kid and he gave it to
one of my kids.
His name was Waxy and he stayedwith my kids for about an hour.

Nathan (44:49):
Oh, my gosh

Sara (44:49):
And um the people at the bee center were like this is not
normal, you have to post onsocial media about this because
this is not normal behavior.
But they had to actually takethe bee from my kids and put it
back in the hive because itwould not, it would not leave it
would not leave.
They fed it, they put somehoney on my daughter's hand and
the bee came and ate it all.

Nathan (45:10):
Wow

Sara (45:10):
It was wild, it was wild, so it was very fun highly
recommend if you're like don'tneed another beach day if you
want something that'seducational and fun and really
hands-on.
Highly recommend

Nathan (45:22):
that's awesome

Alicea (45:23):
Yeah.
What did you do in Grand Cayman?

Sara (45:27):
So at Grand Cayman we booked and canceled a number of
excursions.
I had a real hard time narrowingit down.
Ultimately, we went on one thattook us to Stingray City and
then Starfish Beach.
So you get on a little bus andthen Starfish Beach.

(45:49):
They take you to a boat thattakes you out to the sandbar
that is known as Stingray City.
And I love the little historythat you get when you do these
excursions.
Disney doesn't just hire peopleto take you on excursions.
You get history of the placesand how Stingray City came to be
.
It did not used to havestingrays at it.

(46:10):
They were having a problem intown with cleaning the fish when
the fishing boats would comeback they were having this huge
problem with.
I think it was raccoons.
No, it wasn't raccoons, Someanimal they were having problems
with Squirrels, maybe I don'tknow, I don't know, I don't
remember.
Don't quote me.
I was on vacation.

Nathan (46:28):
This won't go public, Sara, don't worry.

Sara (46:32):
Okay good

Nathan (46:34):
Nobody listens to this.

Sara (46:39):
So they told the fishermen , you have to go out to the
sandbar to clean your fish, andso, and have them cleaned before
you come back to the town.
Well then, all the stingraysshowed up, got it, and they
never left.
So, now it's a place fortourists to go have stingrays.
I would not recommend it foranybody less than maybe my

(46:59):
daughter was kind of like theyoungest age I would recommend
so they anchor on this sandbarwith like 20 other boats.
Yeah, and everybody just getsinto the water and it's like
kind of deep water yeah you'vegot waves you've got people and
they're stingrays everywhere.

Nathan (47:16):
Oh my gosh

Sara (47:17):
They're everywhere.
And then you have the tourguides are like throwing
stingrays in your face, like soyou can pet them and hold them,
and it was kind of a lot, it waskind of stressful.
Um, my kids are great swimmersbut they had life jackets.
Not everybody chose to lifejacket.
Their kiddo, my kids had, liketheir, you know, their masks on.
They're trying to look and itwas just.

(47:37):
It was a lot, but it was veryfun.
They made sure that we gotpictures taken with them, we
kissed them, we held them.
One crazy thing did happen,though, and like we were done
after that.
.
.
So I'm holding my daughter andthey gave us all squid because
we're gonna feed the stingraysnow okay and then they're
they're taking the stingrayaround to eat everybody's squid

(47:59):
and they said hold it above thewater.
if you put it in the water, thefish will come eat it.
So I'm trying to hold it up.
She's trying to hold hers up.
I'm trying to to hold her.
There's like waves, there'sstingrays everywhere.
A stingray jumped on gosh, likecame out of the water.
I didn't know they could do !that Came out of the water onto
me, took the food from my hand.
I'm like take it, go.

(48:19):
And my daughter, like threw herfood and then it whipped around
and the tail hit her in theface and it was terrifying.
I was like, oh my god, are you,are you okay?
Are you okay?
And it was just, it hit hergoggles, but she was fine five.
But I was like okay, we'regetting out now yeah, we're done
and we're getting out um.
If son loved the excursion yeah,my daughter was a little bit,

(48:42):
not so sure um, but gosh, it wasincredible to see them, and
they were everywhere.
And then they we get back on theboat and they take us to..
.
They took us to starfish beach,which isn't so much of a beach,
but there are tons and tons ofstarfish to see and, um, you
can't take them out of the water, which is it's kind of a

(49:03):
protected area, but it is um theseaweed season, so the water
wasn't very clear there, but wehad lunch.
And it was like a traditionalCayman Islands type of lunch,
kind of like a chicken, almostJamaican and then they take you
back to the ship and it was afull day and I highly recommend
that too.
But Stingray City, really, Imean, I would almost say like

(49:27):
the older kids might even bebetter yeah.

Nathan (49:29):
Speaking of Jamaica.
I think that was your otherstop.
Did you get anything to doanything there?

Sara (49:34):
We, we did not.
We've actually been to Jamaicabefore and we did have a really
fun excursion planned and Icanceled it so that we can stay
on the ship because there wasjust so much I felt like we had
not yet done on the ship that wecan stay on the ship because
there was just so much I feltlike we had not yet done on the
ship that we just wanted toenjoy a ship day, and I'm so

(49:54):
glad that we did that.
I'm so glad that we just stayedand, um you know, did the Aqua
Mouse over, and over and justhung out in the pools and got
some.
You know it was a great day.

Nathan (50:06):
Yeah, and that's actually a big difference, where
one of the bigger differencesbetween the Eastern and the
Western Caribbean itineraries isthat you get three ports of
call plus Castaway on theWestern, and you just get two
plus Castaway on the Eastern, sothere's an extra sea day when
you're talking about theTreasure, where you know the
ship really is a highlight.
Like it's kind of nice to havethat extra day on shore excuse

(50:32):
me, on the ship.

Sara (50:34):
Yeah, I knew what you meant.
Well, and that in Jamaica.
You know Jamaica is a greatplace.
I highly recommend going on anactual vacation to Jamaica.
I've done it now a couple oftimes and we love it there yeah
but everything is far from theship yeah, so we didn't want to
sit on a bus for 45 minutes oran hour going to our excursion
that time was better used on theship yeah, yeah cool, we did

(50:56):
have a surprise port oh, uh-huh,do you?
Yeah, we had.
We had a surprise port they, onthe night before we were going
to Cast away, they made anannouncement that there was a
medical emergency on board.
Yeah.
And so we, um we made anovernight stop at Lookout Cay on

(51:16):
the way to Cast away, so wewere delayed getting to Cast
away by about 45 minutes.
I don't know exactly when westopped at Lookout Cay.
I did not hear it.
Um, I didn't hear us pull intoport, but apparently we got
there and they did a medicaltransfer, um to the person um
there got it so that was an butthe crew did a great job of, you

(51:38):
know, getting Castaway openfaster than normal so that we
didn't have a significant delaygetting off the ship.

Nathan (51:44):
Nice, well, and that's I .
.
.
We did an episode comparing thetwo spots a long time ago.
Well, not a not a long time ago, but a little bit ago.
And like the Lookout andCastaway aren't exactly close.
Like, they're, I want us tolike 120 or 140 miles between
the two.
So that was probably earlier inthe in the evening, and then

(52:07):
they must have hauled butt toget up to Castaway.

Sara (52:09):
Well, we did, it was, I mean it was, we did not.
We didn't port until after wewent to bed, and I think I went
to bed at 10 or 1030, maybe alittle.
We went to a show that night.
So you know it was a laternight for us and we had not
gotten to look out, but you knowwe were, we were moving.
We were moving that night andthe next morning before we got
to Castaway, because when I wokeup we were still not at

(52:31):
Castaway.

Alicea (52:34):
How was your second stop at Castaway?

Sara (52:37):
It was so good I was I was feeling 100% better.
Um, you know, we got off as soonas they said we could and
rushed over to the family beachand, you know, claimed a spot.
You kind of have to do that onthe family beach there early if
you want, you know, to be upclose by the water.
But we had a great time.

(52:57):
We just relaxed.
Everybody was very laid back bythat point in the cruise and we
went snorkeling again and itwas good because I actually felt
great and we got to see all thedifferent things that we

(53:19):
couldn't find the first time orwe got too tired to find the
first time.
And the coolest thing that wefound was this giant shell with
an animal in it.
I think it was a conch.
But I don't know for sure, butit was giant so big and it was a
conch, okay, but I don't knowfor sure, but it was giant, so
big and it was really cool thesepeople picked it up for my kids
to like see it and touch it.
Yeah, um, and it was.
It was really neat.
It was very fun to see verycool.

Nathan (53:40):
Well, speaking of things that are giant, you know the
Disney Treasure, has some newshows on it.
Uh, well, it has A new show onit.
.
.

Sara (53:49):
A new show yeah.

Nathan (53:51):
What did you think of Moana?

Sara (53:54):
Okay, Moana needs to be on Broadway.

Nathan (53:58):
It's that good?

Sara (53:59):
It is that good.
Just the way that they.
.
.
I mean, I kind of knew what toexpect because I'd seen the
special on Disney Plus about themaking of it and it still blew
me out of the water.
I don't want to give anyspoilers but, the way, the way
that they use those puppets wasjust incredible, and we were in

(54:20):
the second row, which wasincredible, and it just.
.
.
You know, we don't necessarilygo to all the shows anymore
because we've seen, I'm sure youknow, once you've seen them,
sometimes you're like, oh, I'mgoing to do something else, but
that one I wish that we had goneto the early show, the two

(54:41):
o'clock show, because weprobably would have gone back
again.
It was that good.
And I'm very excited to see thatthey're doing the oversized
puppets for Hercules on theDestiny, because that's going to
be incredible too.
Amazing.

Alicea (54:55):
Yeah, we've seen just from the socials that Disney has
posted.
It looks so good.

Sara (55:00):
Incredible, yep yep And did you see that, the
cabanas that were being built?
Yeah are available for bookingnow, starting in December.

Nathan (55:13):
Ah, I had not seen that yet.
That was my suspicion that theylooked like they were tracking
towards late this year.

Sara (55:19):
And they're family cabanas .
surprising, everybody.

Nathan (55:22):
All of them are family cabanas?

Sara (55:24):
There's 28 family cabanas and one of them is a grand
cabana, and they're not quitedouble the price of the family
beach at Castaway in price

Nathan (55:39):
Wow.

Alicea (55:40):
Interesting.

Sara (55:41):
Yeah, for the first six people yeah.

Nathan (55:44):
Huh, because why?

Sara (55:48):
I don't know, but they're calling it Mickey and Minnie's
Cove.
Um, so it'll be.
You know, I'm excited for moredetails to come out to see
because they look.
When I was there I was likegosh, those look just about done
yeah um, but you still can'treally tell how many there are,
but they're 28 and I'll beinterested to see what the plan
is for lunch, if they'll have totake the shuttle back over to

(56:08):
cookies too.
Yeah, because that for lunch,if they'll have to take the
shuttle back over to Cookies 2.
Because if they're kids, they'renot going to the Serenity.

Nathan (56:13):
Yeah it looks like there was a big cinder.
.
..
We were there in April andthere was a very big cinder
block building that was beingbuilt.
I kind of want to think kind ofbehind, where the cast or the
serenity bay, um kind of cookoutplace, is I wonder if that will

(56:36):
be a dedicated food spot forthose family cabanas maybe yeah
maybe interesting it would be.

Sara (56:43):
It would have to be pretty small, though, if it's just
serving those cabanas.

Alicea (56:46):
Right, yeah Right.
I was hoping those would beavailable mid-November.

Sara (56:53):
December 5th.

Alicea (56:53):
Yeah, dang Sorry, oh well.
Oh well, so you previouslysailed on the Wish.
What did you think of thespaces that are different
between the two ships?

Sara (57:07):
You know, Treasure just did everything better in my
opinion.
You know there's no comparison.
You cannot.
Hyperspace Lounge is cool, butit doesn't compare to the
Haunted Mansion

Nathan (57:17):
Correct.

Sara (57:18):
Like it, just it doesn't.
And the other spaces, you know,the thing about the Wish is
they're just not memorable,they're beautifully done.
Yes.
But they're not memorable,whereas every space that we went
into on the treasure I was like, wow, this is incredible, I'm
just going to sit here and lookaround.
All of the detail.
You know we spent a lot of timedoing family crafts and stuff

(57:40):
in the Jungle Cruise themedlounge.
Skippers, and you know, everytime we sat there, I purposely
selected a different place tosit, because it was all new it
was a whole new experience.
You know, it was really neat.

Nathan (57:54):
Anything you hope they change with the Destiny, which I
don't think they're going to doa ton of of new differences,
but maybe the the future to Wishclass ships that are coming.
There's another one that's, Ithink, in 2028, that'll be here
in the in the North Americanmarket, and then there'll be one
for Japan.
Any kind of structural changesthat that you'd like to see them

(58:16):
make?

Sara (58:18):
You know, I know it's so controversial.
People either love or don'tlove that class of ship.
I really do like it.
It took me a minute to likenavigate my way around but once
I got it, I was like oh, Iactually really like this yeah
um, it's I, she's just verycommunity focused and not as

(58:39):
many nooks and crannies.
I do like the nooks and crannies, but um, there's just, it just
feels more open.
the one thing I hope they I knowit's not going to change on the
Destiny is I feel like we needa revamp of the restaurants.
You know we have so manyrepeats across the fleet.

(58:59):
And the ones that are unique,like Coco was so good, yeah, so
good, and I picked, I requesteda dining rotation.
We got it, and so we were atCoco three times nice and just
it's so special and 1923 isbeautiful and the food is
incredible.
But we've done it now on twoships and it's going to be on a

(59:20):
third ship, so it would be funto see something different there
, yeah, or something differentin the marble space yeah they're
all cool, but that's what kindof one of the draws, in my
opinion, of going on thedifferent ships is experiencing
those unique spaces.

Nathan (59:36):
I mean definitely the Marvel restaurant is going to be
the Marvel restaurant on theDestiny.

Alicea (59:43):
It has to be on the Destiny.

Sara (59:44):
Oh for sure

Nathan (59:44):
That's not going to change.

Sara (59:45):
And we know we're getting Lion King in place of Coco,
which I think is you know, wedon't have any Lion King rides
at any of the parks.

Nathan (59:55):
Not yet.
It's coming in Paris, paris,but as of now, we don't have
anything.

Sara (01:00:00):
And that's been one of you know it's been one of the
biggest movies for Disney ever.
It's kind of funny that wedon't have a lot of theming for
it so.
I'm excited for that alongthose lines.

Nathan (01:00:10):
What do you think about doubling up on the Haunted
Mansion bar?

Sara (01:00:15):
It's cool enough.
I think it's okay.

Nathan (01:00:17):
All right.

Sara (01:00:19):
I was surprised, yeah.

Nathan (01:00:23):
I came up with an idea.
I think this is a few shows agonow.
I think, yes, they should dothe Haunted Mansion bar again on
the Destiny, but it should bethe Muppets version, yep.

Sara (01:00:39):
Wow

Nathan (01:00:40):
You can take the Muppets out of our parks, but oh, by
the way, they're on the cruiseship now.
Hey, you want to stop doingdiscounts for your sailings, DCL
?
Put the Muppets on a ship.

Sara (01:00:51):
You're going to need to cut this out too.
Um, but I did.
.
.

Nathan (01:00:56):
[Voiceover] Sorry folks, we went a little bit too far
inside baseball here, so we'regoing to skip ahead just a
little bit.
[A few moments later.
]o me, this tells me it will be
an 11 ship fleet.
Eventually yeah, the three ofthe new class.
Two of those are replacing theMagic and the Wonder.

Sara (01:01:18):
They're going to have to.
Well, they need to replace it.

Nathan (01:01:20):
But everybody's like, oh no, those aren replacing the
Magic and the Wonder there's,they're going to have to.
They're well, they need toreplace it.
But everybody's like, oh no,those aren't going to be the
replacements, cause Disney saidit's going to be 13 ship fleet.

Sara (01:01:26):
So then like five minutes,

Nathan (01:01:27):
Right yeah exactly.
Exactly.

Sara (01:01:30):
five minutes.

Nathan (01:01:31):
The third one of those will come out, and then you'll
have a season of the new hotnesswith the 13 ship fleet, and
then you'll have a grandsend-off season for the Magic,
and then a retirement season forthe Wonder.

Sara (01:01:44):
Yeah, yeah so there's well , I mean they've already
Galveston already said yes, thatwhen they sign that new
contract with Disney they'regoing to be bringing over bigger
ships probably the Dream andthe Fantasy, at least the first
couple years.
But they're going to haveenough of the big ships that we
could see the Wish move overdown the road I don't think it's
going to be immediately, but Ithink down the road we might see

(01:02:05):
a very different distributionof ships.

Alicea (01:02:09):
And I know they haven't released the itineraries yet,
but people are doing researchonline because they can see
where the ships are gonna be,because all of that's public,
right?
So you can kind of piece stufftogether.

Sara (01:02:21):
Yeah, and I'm hoping that it means we're going to get a
ship on the West Coast.

Alicea (01:02:25):
I hope so

Sara (01:02:25):
More especially with them, adding Catalina.

Nathan (01:02:27):
Well, they've committed to a full year season in
Catalina with two, yeah, so yeah, I think it's going to be good.
Yeah.

Sara (01:02:38):
It'll be good for West Coast 100%, 100%.

Alicea (01:02:41):
You've been on a bunch of DCL ships, now which one is
your favorite?

Sara (01:02:47):
Well, you cannot compare it to the Treasure.

Nathan (01:02:49):
Hands down.

Sara (01:02:50):
Hands down the Treasure.
I think second would be theWonder.
She's a beautiful ship.
I love the little ships.
Her theming is so good, it'sjust very different than the
Treasure.
You're going to get a verydifferent experience on those
two ships, but that's also whatI really love is that there is a
ship for everybody and everytype of travel.
Yeah, but the Treasure I mean,you can't compare.

(01:03:13):
I can hardly wait to figure outwhen I can get back on her,

Nathan (01:03:18):
Anything else stick out in your mind that uh, from your
trip that we haven't talkedabout?

Sara (01:03:23):
There was a very strange encounter with bees on our ship.

Nathan (01:03:27):
On the ship?

Sara (01:03:28):
On the ship.
I will find the photo and sendit to you.
Um, but there was a swarm ofbees.
That appeared on the pool deck,on a pool chair.
And I don't know what they didwith it.
I never heard the end of thestory, but there was a swarm of
bees on the pool deck, whichI've never heard of happening on
a cruise ship when you were inport.

(01:03:50):
I think it was in while we werein port.

Nathan (01:03:52):
Yeah, which do you remember where?

Sara (01:03:54):
it was on the Treasure.
I think it was when we were inGrand Cayman, otherwise they
could have called the bee rescueplace yeah but like where did
they come from?
I don't know yeah no, it was areally great um.
You know, the day that we got onthe ship, on the Treasure, my
daughter was like I'm ready togo home and I was like sweet

(01:04:16):
girl, I kind am too, but I'mreally looking forward to
getting on the Treasure.
We've now done on Disney CruiseLine a two night, a three night
, a four night, a five night anda seven night In that order,
which was not on purpose, but itjust really reiterated for me
that I don't love a cruisethat's shorter than five nights.

(01:04:38):
We have a couple that we'redoing next year.
I didn't pick the itinerary onany of them, or we probably
wouldn't be but when you go,when you make that jump from a
five night to a seven night,it's just a different pace of
vacation and you can truly relaxand settle in and really take

(01:05:00):
advantage of all the things thatthe ships have to do.
And, that being said, we didn'teven get to like three quarters
of the things that we wanted todo on the treasure.
You, just you can't fit it allin and relax on vacation either
at the same time, but it's justa better pace.
I think it's a different typeof traveler too.

Alicea (01:05:19):
Everybody's just a little bit more relaxed yeah,
which I like yeah, yep yep.
I joke with Nathan that thenext time we do the Treasure it
needs to be a back-to-back

Sara (01:05:28):
Well, I've thought about it, I'm not gonna lie.

Nathan (01:05:33):
So now we have a back-to-back on the Treasure and
we're demanding like an 11 or12 night on the Celebrity down
South.
.
.

Sara (01:05:40):
I'm gonna have to sell a kidney.
.
.

Nathan (01:05:42):
Right exactly!

Alicea (01:05:44):
I'd rather do the Treasure back-to-back before the
Celebrity something.
.
.

Nathan (01:05:48):
All right, we don't we don't need both kids, do we?

Sara (01:05:53):
They don't..
.
We don't need to pay forcollege no, none of that.

Alicea (01:05:56):
No, she's almost done none of that.
She's got that covered yeah,yeah, yeah.

Sara (01:06:01):
There's just something so great about that ship I just
cannot stop thinking about howam I gonna fit that in?
And there are so many otherplaces in the world that we want
to go to and so many otherthings that we want to do but I,
just I, my heart is cruising.
And easy cruising.

Nathan (01:06:19):
Yes, yes.
So, speaking of what's next,what's your next Disney trip?

Sara (01:06:24):
Well, in a few days we are leaving to go.
We're actually going on a RoyalCaribbean cruise out of LA, and
when my daughter found outthere were no Magic Bands, she
declared Royal Caribbean is theworst.
We'll see how that goes.
It's going to be great becausewe can compare kids clubs and

(01:06:44):
experiences for kids acrossdifferent different cruise lines
.
And then we're going to bedoing four nights at Disneyland
and really excited to celebratethe 70th anniversary at
Disneyland and and then we aregetting on the Disney Destiny in
March for For a four-nightsailing.
We're going to both DisneyIslands and leaving out of Fort

(01:07:07):
Lauderdale, and then in April.
.
.

Nathan (01:07:09):
And skipping Nassau!

Sara (01:07:11):
Skipping Nassau, it's a big day.
And then we're doing the sameitinerary on the Dream in April.
And then we are doing Alaska inJuly on the Wonder

Nathan (01:07:24):
wow

Sara (01:07:25):
Which I'm so excited to take my kids to Alaska.
I've been waiting until they'reold enough to kind of enjoy
some of the excursions and it'stime yeah,

Nathan (01:07:31):
That'll be fantastic.
We really liked our alaskacruise on the Celebrity Edge.
I really, I really want to dothat with Disney but.
.
.

Sara (01:07:44):
Yes, you know, Celebrity is a great option If you, you
know, I feel like my kids are alittle too young for Celebrity.
I have friends that have takenkids my kids's age Celebrity,
and on the right itinerary.
I feel like Alaska could bethat right itinerary, right?
You're not spending as muchtime in the kids club because
you're out in port, but yeah, Ican't wait to get on some

(01:08:06):
Celebrity ships.

Nathan (01:08:07):
For our early teen, 13-year-old son Sterling, the
Celebrity ship was just not hisjam and it was fine when we were
doing, like you said, all thoseexcursions.
But there's several sea days onthose Alaska itineraries and it
was just yeah, it wasn't nothis favorite cruise.

Sara (01:08:27):
So well and you've raised Disney kids that are used to
being entertained in the teenspace, the vibe and the edge of
the kids club, and that's hardto.
.
.
You just don't get that onother cruise

Nathan (01:08:37):
Sterling didn't understand why we just like hung
out all day at the martini barLike it just wasn't his jam.

Sara (01:08:43):
So yeah, it's our jam.

Nathan (01:08:45):
Exactly 100%.

Sara (01:08:47):
And truthfully, I don't want to go on a cruise to get
rid of my kids and not vacationwith my kids, but I also really
appreciate having built-inchildcare and not having to cook
or clean.
I did do laundry on both of ourcruises, um, so I did that, but
it's kind of fun, becauseyou're on a ship.
It's different.

Alicea (01:09:05):
Sara, you are a travel agent.
What do you specialize in andhow can people find you?

Sara (01:09:12):
I am a full-time travel agent and, I specialize in all
things Disney.
So Disney world, Disneyland,Disney Cruise Line.
And all cruise lines I book alot of, you know, Royal
Caribbean, Celebrity, VirginVoyages, Princess, Holland
America, kind of all thosethings and you know I have
extensive worldwide travelexperience personally, and so

(01:09:34):
I've also helped a lot ofclients travel kind of off the
beaten path around the globe, soI can really help with just
about anything, and if I'm notthe right fit, I can usually
refer you to somebody who is abetter fit for your destination
if it's not something that Ifeel super comfortable with.
I have a Facebook business page.

(01:09:55):
I'm Magical Adventures withSara.
I'm also on TikTok, I dabble inInstagram, but it's really just
dabbling and so I have a linktree that has all of those links
available as well that I canshare.

Nathan (01:10:08):
Excellent, awesome, and we'll make sure that gets in our
show notes too.
So thank you so much for comingon with us, Sara, tonight.
It was such a great pleasurecatching up with you again, and
we can't wait to hear more aboutall of your magical adventures,
for sure.

Sara (01:10:24):
Thanks.
It's always such a fun time tocome chat with you guys, so
thanks for having me back.

Nathan (01:10:28):
Absolutely.
Please remember we're notaffiliated with Disney or any of
their subsidiaries.
These are personal opinions andsuggestions based on our own
experiences Well, ours andSara's.
We recommend working with atravel agent, just like Sara, or
contacting Disney directly toplan your perfect vacation.

Alicea (01:10:48):
If you have any questions or suggestions or
would like to be interviewed onour show to share your own
experiences, please send anemail to podcast at
ourmousecapadescom.

Nathan (01:10:57):
Go ahead and follow us on socials.
We're at Ourousecapadescom.
Go ahead and follow us onsocials.
We're at Our Mousecapades.
You can find us on Instagram,facebook Threads and YouTube.

Alicea (01:11:05):
Please take a moment and give us a rating and review in
your podcast app.
It really helps people find us.

Nathan (01:11:10):
And, of course, don't hesitate to share us with your
friends and fellow Disney loversof all ages.

Alicea (01:11:17):
Thank you for listening.
We'll be in your ears next week.
Thank you for flying star tours.
Bye.