February 28, 2025 • 21 mins
This podcast episode delves into the myriad of activities available for families at Walt Disney World on non-park days. We explore the diverse options that abound beyond the confines of the theme parks, emphasizing the value of utilizing these days for relaxation and enjoyment. Among the highlights discussed are the attractions at Disney Springs, the allure of resort hopping, and the excitement of engaging in outdoor activities such as miniature golf and fishing. We assert that taking a day away from the parks not only alleviates the potential fatigue associated with continuous park visits but also enhances the overall vacation experience. Ultimately, this episode serves as a guide to maximizing the enjoyment of one's stay at Disney World, ensuring that every moment spent is filled with delightful experiences.
Takeaways:
- Visiting Walt Disney World entails not only enjoying the parks but also exploring various activities outside the parks to enrich the vacation experience.
- On non-park days, families can partake in activities such as miniature golf, resort hopping, and visiting Disney Springs, which offers unique shopping and dining options.
- The recent changes to the virtual queue system for attractions signify a shift towards increased flexibility for park guests, allowing them to choose standby options without the pressure of securing a virtual spot.
- Families planning their Disney vacations should consider incorporating rest days to alleviate the fatigue often associated with intense park schedules and enjoy the full breadth of the resort experience.
- Guests can enjoy outdoor movies, fishing, and boating at Disney World, providing alternative forms of entertainment beyond the theme parks.
- Dining experiences outside the parks, particularly at Disney Springs and various resorts, often provide some of the best culinary options available for visitors.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Disney World
- Disneyland
- Tiana's Bayou Adventure
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Cosmic Rewind
- Lightning Lane
- Tron
- Disney Springs
- Port Orleans French Quarter
- Yacht Club
- Saratoga Springs
- Magnolia
- Lake Buena Vista
- Palm
- Coca Cola
- M&M
- LEGO
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign.
It's another episode of theWands and Wishes podcast.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Tony Desiri along withLauren Mallard.
Of all the magic travel, partof the joy of going to Walt Disney
World is the parks.
Of course, four of them inOrlando and of course the two parks
in Disneyland out in California.
But there is a lot to dooutside of the parks.
(00:21):
Sometimes your vacations maybe a certain number of days, but
only a smaller number of dayswithin the park.
So in this podcast we're goingto talk about the things you can
do with your family while atDisney World when.
When you're on a non park day.
How are you, Lauren?
I'm good.
How are you?
It's a day here in Tennesseewhere we are as spring is approaching
and we got more springbreakers heading down to Disney World.
(00:41):
That's right.
Before we get to this, let'sget to some news because it was announced
that there is no more virtualqueue for Tiana's Bayou Adventure
in Gardens of the Galaxy.
Cosmic Rewind.
That's right.
So what exactly does this meanfor people planning trips?
So basically.
So the virtual queue is one ofthose things that it.
People will say, well, whatdoes that actually mean?
Can I not write it whenever Iwant to?
(01:03):
And so having no more virtualqueue means more flexibility.
So basically you will stand ina traditional queue if you want to
take the standby option, butit really shouldn't, shouldn't make
your wait time any longer thanit was when you got into the virtual
queue, if that makes sense.
Right.
(01:23):
So you can still buy a pass togo on.
You can still do that.
Now, is this going to be partof the Lightning Lane tears?
Oh, that's a great question.
You know, I don't think so,because I believe that it's still
going to.
Well, Tiana's is actuallyalready a tier one attraction attraction.
So that one will remain the same.
(01:43):
Guardians of the Galaxy willnot be affected because it is a single
pass.
So it is in addition to.
Or a la carte is like the wayI like to explain it to clients.
So you don't.
That won't affect that either.
When you get something like this.
And Tron just recently lostits virtual queue.
Is this something that peoplelike because again, it gives them
the flexibility or do they go,well, I did know I was going to have
(02:06):
a spot on the ride.
I mean, I remember when Riseof the Resistance came out, we were
down in 2020 and we wereoverjoyed to have gotten.
We had to wait for the secondLaunch of the.
We didn't get the first one,but when the second one landed and
my wife said, we're all on, we were.
I was like, this is great.
There was a feeling of, I'mgoing to ride this.
(02:26):
I don't have to worry aboutmissing it today.
So how does it.
How do you think this newscomes down for most people?
Yeah, I think there's pros andcons to it because I think the pros
were you have a little bitmore knowledge of a window of time,
I guess, as far as when you'regoing to get in line.
Whereas now with a standbyline, it's like, do I take the risk
and try to rope drop this andgo with everybody else that's going
(02:49):
to go to that ride or do Iwait and watch it throughout the
day and see what the line does?
But then the cons, I think, Imean, to having the virtual queue
is, like you said, there's somuch pressure because it is so fast.
It goes away in millisecondsand if you don't get it, then, you
know, then you're.
You're forced to buy it.
Yeah, it's.
It was one of the morehumorous highlights to be at a park
(03:13):
when.
Like 2 o'clock people wouldstart cheering.
Everybody's cheering andeverybody's on their phone.
Like the exact same momenteverybody's on their phone.
It can be in any line andeveryone's ready to.
Ready to go at that particulartime was always one of the amusing
things.
My wife used to handle thisand I used to say she was so brilliant
at it because she always couldget it and she always knew where
she was going.
And I one time tried it.
(03:35):
I failed completely.
I was like, refreshing and Iwas like, oh, I'm like, I screwed
up.
I don't think I got it.
So that being said, there ispeople who've been talking saying,
okay, look, they're doing thisbecause there's going to be a whole
mess of things coming in thefuture and they're going to virtual
queue those.
Absolutely.
So it's not necessarily themgoing, okay, we're done with this,
there's just more coming andwe don't want to keep things on virtual
(03:57):
queue.
So we're going to give itenough time for you to get used to
not having virtual queue andthen we're going to launch it with
new rides and new attractions.
Exactly.
And if is.
Is that a feeling of what he's.
Doing here, I definitely thinkthat's what's coming down next for
Whatever is the next big thingto open is going to be your next
virtual queue.
So no more getting up at 7o'clock in the morning and trying
to make, make to land this.
(04:18):
Everything is gone at 7amwhich is amazing because you don't
have to purchase yourLightning Lanes anymore.
You don't have to make yourselection anymore.
So that is really nice.
It kind of takes that, thatpressure off the Vegas now.
I did see a 170 minute waittime for Guardians on, on social
media the other day.
Oh, that's awful.
I didn't ride Tron with mykids because, you know, we went.
(04:42):
Yeah.
Like day after, two days after Christmas.
And it was like two hours, twoplus hours.
Forget it.
I ain't gonna do this.
I'm.
If I'm in a line and I.
And it's not movingimmediately, I'm just the one going,
all right, I don't know about this.
Can't stay here.
I just have that impatience buto me.
All right, so a lot of people,especially now that there's this
promotion, stay longer, save money.
(05:03):
Kind of what Disney is doingis trying to get people to stay longer
at the resorts.
And some people are saying,great, I will stay five days and
then I will just upgrade myticket to five days.
But there are a couple ofpeople saying, wow, you know, I,
I do want a complete weekvacation, but maybe with my family
of five, I can't do six days.
I, I think I can do three.
Let me, let's just go downthere and at least enjoy vacation.
(05:25):
Yeah.
And naturally you would say,well, there's pools, there's other
things to do.
But there's a lot of stuff todo outside of the four parks.
Yeah.
So let's talk about this andwe will talk about Disney Springs
because that's usually a placewhere people go.
But there are some otherthings to do in the parks.
Yeah.
One of them is you can playminiature golf.
That's right.
Have you ever done it?
I have not.
Have you?
(05:46):
I have.
I've played both of thecourses before and as a package inclusion.
And I think they're stilldoing it.
Yeah.
But a lot of people don't take advantage.
You actually can play a freeround, but it has to be before a
certain time of day because Iguess the influx of guests that are
going to play miniature golfare going to want to do it at night.
So they're trying to enticepeople to come during the day and
(06:09):
you can play a free round of golf.
And there's one that is that'sbetter, more geared for children
and just more fun.
And then there's actually areally challenging course.
Yeah, these are the Fantasia courses.
And one of them is actuallybuilt like a real putting course.
It is, yes.
So there you got the whimsicalsort of what you expect at miniature
golf statues hidden under this.
Etc.
But then there.
This is becoming more and morepopular in miniature golf, which
(06:31):
is.
Let's create a actual green,maybe areas where it looks like bunkers
and make it more like realgolf than anything.
Now do you find these crowded?
Is there a wait time?
Like you have to get there andgo, all right, you can go off in
40 minutes?
Yeah.
No, I did not have to waitwhen we went.
And we did go at night and wewere there.
I think it was over July 4thwhen we did this and we did not have
(06:52):
to wait.
There were people there.
But it's a great way to kindof spend an evening or spend a day
if it's not blazing hot outside.
You don't want to go in themiddle of summer in the middle of
the day.
But yeah, it's a lot of fun.
All right.
And you can also play realgolf, if that is your thing.
That's right.
Three 18 hole courses there.
Magnolia, Lake, Buena Vistaand Palm.
I played two of them on a tripin spring break in the early 90s.
(07:16):
Okay, now here's the funnything is because I always have this
thing at my age now where Igo, how did I do that?
Like, you know, like, Iremember a friend of mine and I went
to.
We were in high school, wewent to a friend's house at a party
that was like across the stateof New Hampshire.
And I still go, how did we getto that friend's house?
Like, did you just give us abunch of directions on the phone
(07:37):
and we all just knew how toget there.
That's right.
And I remember my friend Neiland I went to down.
We went down to Florida forspring break.
We were golfers and he wantedto go to Disney and he'd never gone.
He's like, I want to go toDisney for spring break.
And I said, great, I've been there.
I'll go down with you.
Yeah.
But he goes, I want to play golf.
And I don't know how we booked this.
I guess we just called.
Found it in a phone book.
Yeah, we guess we calledinformation and just got the n.
(07:58):
There was no Internet to look at.
I didn't even know the namesof the golf courses when I was down
there.
So I Just went, we just bookedsome tea times and it was great because
when we went down, we stayedin Orlando, not in the park, but
we were able to drop off ourclubs and we like, we got, we took
the shuttle there and wedropped off our clubs and when they
had their clubs all day andwhen we did the parks, we went back,
(08:19):
we went to the golf course andplayed 18 holes of golf.
That's awesome.
And it was great.
And I have yet to play sincethey also have a nine hole, what
they call executive golf course.
Now this is a walking course,shorter than your normal nine.
And this is a great way ifyou're a golfer and you're like,
I just want to do just abucket list of mine.
I want to play around of golfat Disney, but I don't want to do
(08:40):
it five hours.
This is perfect.
You can walk a little nine holes.
It's relatively inexpensivefor, in terms of, for, for Disney
or anything.
And it's a great way to getsome golf in.
And then you can wear a Mickeygolf shirt and say you actually did
play at Walt Disney World.
That's right.
So that's very cool to do that.
So I'm, I'm trying to do thatwith my father this year because
he's done everything Disneybut play golf.
(09:00):
That's awesome.
Side note, on the golf, if youare going to play golf, fellas, and
you want to send your wife forsomething fun to do, there are a
couple of spas on.
All right, so let's talk aboutthe spots.
I've never been to any ofthem, but there are a couple of them.
There's one at the Grand Floridian.
There's one I believe at theYacht Club and then there's one over
at Saratoga Springs.
Maybe I could be wrong, butthere's, there's at least two or
(09:23):
spas look fantastic.
I would love to go one day,but I've never been.
But yeah, that's somethinggreat that your wife could enjoy
while you go play around a golf.
All right, what about resort hopping?
What about going around toother resorts and checking it out?
This seems to be a popularthing to do.
I've never really done it.
I've gone to the resorts onlyin connection to get to somewhere
else.
Right.
Like I've gone to Boardwalkbecause I was going to catch the
(09:45):
bus outside of Epcot one timeor gone to different places.
I walked once from HollywoodStudios to Epcot, which is a horrible
walk.
Yeah, it's too long.
Don't do it.
I thought it was shorter.
Than it actually was.
It's still the bane of myexistence at Christmas parties in
my family.
But that seems to be a popularthing to do, not just to eat, not
just to get there to eat, butjust go.
Let's check out the lobbies ofthese different resorts.
(10:06):
Yeah, it's a really popularthing to do and it's a great thing
to do if you're unsure whereyou want to stay next on the next.
So there are fun things aboutdifferent resorts for different reasons.
Like I have a lot of clientsthat like to go over to Port Orleans
French Quarter and get beignets.
Yeah.
And when they go over there,you can walk the paths between Riverside
and Fren Quarter and see whatthat resort is like.
If you're on the monorail orover at Magic Kingdom and want to
(10:29):
take a stroll on the monorail.
I've seen people get off atevery Montreal resort and shop their
gift shops.
They have fun gift shops atevery resort and they're a little
different in every resort.
So you can check out what theyhave, get a snack at different places.
Now the only thing that youcan't do if you're resort hopping
is you can't use anotherresorts pool.
Right.
People will ask that a lot.
Can I go and check out thepool somewhere else?
(10:51):
You can't.
You can walk past it, you cancheck it out, see if you think you
might like it for your next stay.
But you can't actually usethose amenities at the resort.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it is a great way to go.
Hey, you know, our next trip,let's, let's take a look at Polynesian
and see if we like that.
Or let's go check out someother places because there's so many
different themed resorts thatit's a great way to just sort of
(11:11):
check it out yourself withouttrusting somebody's photoshopped
picture online.
Which, which they're going togive you the best picture the lobby
has ever looked ever.
Yeah.
You know, so this is a way tokind of check it out and see and
kind of see.
Speaking of the Polynesian,that's another thing.
If you don't want to be in thepark at night with, with the exception
of like July 4th or New Year'sEve, you can actually go to the beach
(11:33):
at the Polynesian and watchthe fireworks and they pipe the music
in right there even if you'renot staying there.
So you can go, like I said,it's limited.
You can't go on the 4th ofJuly or New Year's Eve unless you're
staying there, but otherwiseyou can go watch the fireworks from
the beach.
All right.
Now the.
What I said earlier is thereis a lot to do at Disney Springs.
Yeah.
And a lot of people do takethe option of going to Disney Springs.
(11:54):
It is a lot of shopping.
There are, there are a lot of stores.
But you can go bowling there.
That's right.
You can see a show.
Now, you did say in anotherpodcast you're not the biggest fan.
I am not a fan.
Yes, that's right.
So I did want to bring that up.
So I, I'm with.
I find Disney Springs is likefor my family when we go visit my
parents in Ocala for the holidays.
(12:15):
It's the thing we just do on a day.
Sure.
Like, we'll, like, somebodywill go, what do we want to do today?
I don't know.
You guys want to go down toDisney Springs?
It's always one of thosethings, like my sister will bring
it up or my brother will bringit up or whatever.
My parents bring it up.
And so we've gone a lot.
But I'm.
I'm with you in a way.
We don't do the fun stuff.
We don't see.
We've never seen a show there.
We've never done the hot airballoon thing or we've never taken
(12:37):
the car into the water.
We've never done those things.
We shop or eat.
Yeah.
Like, that's really all we do.
And I do, I do say there aresome stores there that are really,
really interesting.
Yeah.
And there's some.
There's some what?
I.
I guess you could say NormalShopp, non Disney.
So brand stores, you know.
Absolutely.
So there's plenty of things tolook at and see there.
(12:58):
I just, I don't enjoy it.
I don't enjoy the crowds and Idon't enjoy the hustle and bustle.
I agree with you that there is a.
It can be.
If you're one of those peoplethat can take the crowds because
you're at a theme park.
Yeah.
Mult.
Like picture your mall in the1980s on Christmas.
Yes.
Like, and it's just wall towall people that can get like that
at Disney Springs.
(13:19):
Where you.
And if it's hard to navigate.
Yeah.
They do provide maps, but ifyou're not familiar with it, it's
hard to navigate.
Can be very confusing.
Like if I'm trying to get toGideon's Bake Shop and I don't know
where exactly I am and I'mlooking at a map and I can get there
by a Bridge.
If I walk this way or goaround the corner and find another
store that's familiar.
(13:39):
So it is very difficult to navigate.
Yeah.
But there is a lot to do, andit is a good time eater, if that's
all right.
You can eat up hours and hours.
Yeah.
And World of Disney is agigantic store.
It.
There's multiple entrances in there.
Yeah.
But they also have the art of Disney.
There's also other places youcan find Disney merchandise.
(14:00):
Lego store.
LEGO store is over there as well.
So there's a lot of reallycool stores.
I do have a funny story.
When we were there a couple ofyears ago, my wife saw Winnie the
Pooh weighted blanket that shewanted in the park.
Goodness.
And she goes, I think I'mgonna get that.
I said, do you want to carry aweighted blanket around for the rest
of the night?
(14:20):
It was heavy.
She goes, no.
She goes, all right.
Well, when we.
I said, let's.
We'll go to.
You know.
We ended up leaving without it.
We went to Disney Springs andshe found it, but the lady said,
these things go like hotcakes.
She's like, they're flying offthe shelves.
So she bought it, and I had tocarry a weighted blanket around Disney
Springs for her because shewas afraid there wouldn't be one
(14:43):
when we walked out of Disney Springs.
Yeah.
There's a pin trading storethat there as well.
But like we were saying, there's.
There's.
And there's places like CocaCola, M M.
Places to get that kind of stuff.
But this is if.
If there's an off day for mostpeople, it's usually I'm either going
to spend it at the pool at myresort or I'm going to Disney Springs
to shop.
That's absolutely right.
So you can do that as well.
All right.
We mentioned Disney Springs.
(15:04):
You mentioned resort hopping.
But you can also do thingslike fishing.
You can fish at Disney World.
You can go to Port Orleans.
You can rent a pole.
You can fish.
There's other places to do it.
But you can also rent a boat.
Yes.
I've never done that.
Have you and anybody ever do this?
I actually haven't ever hadanybody do this.
I've had people ask about thehorseback riding.
Now, the horseback riding isvery interesting.
(15:26):
Huh.
I'm.
I'm kind of afraid to do itbecause I've been on horses.
But I'm, you know, I've gottenolder and I don't know if I'll get
off a horse as well as I goton it when I was younger.
Exactly.
Same.
But you can definitely, youcan book it, you can do that and
you can do things again likewe were talking about with the resorts.
Park Hop.
Visit some restaurants.
Yes.
Like go visit some restaurantsin some places.
(15:48):
Go check out the differentstyle of restaurants that are at
different resorts.
Yeah.
You can go to Polynesian andget a completely different kind of
food as you can in other places.
Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc.
Etc.
Go check those kind of things out.
That's right.
I find that a lot of the bestdining is actually outside the parks
and in the restaurants or atDisney Springs.
Now I will ask you this.
As somebody who you know is,has seen many people take different
(16:11):
kinds of vacation, do you findit's important that people do take
a day off from the park?
Yes.
I do too.
I do.
I do too.
I am, you know, look, look,I'm a go go person.
I like that kind of action.
But I almost look forward tomy off park days.
I agree.
I think that if you are ableto build in an extra night of your
vacation and take that offday, it really helps because at the
(16:32):
end of a Disney vacationyou're going to feel like you need
a vacation anyway.
So go ahead and build that injust, just for some rest time.
Whether you plan to doanything extra.
You don't have to do anything extra.
That costs money.
You can just spend a dayenjoying what you've already paid
for.
And we were talking about thisone time in another podcast, people
arrive at the resort, the roomisn't ready.
They're not going to want touse a park ticket.
(16:52):
Let's say they get in at 11 o'clock.
They don't want to use thepark ticket yet.
So there's got to be stuff todo until that room is ready at 3:00,
let's say.
Yeah, and that's a good pointactually that you bring up because
for 2025, and we've talkedabout this before, you actually can,
this is another thing you can do.
You can get into the waterpark for free on that check in day.
So take advantage of thatbecause Disney has two great water
(17:14):
parks.
They're only open one at atime, typically depending on the
season.
So see which one is open onyour check in day and if you get
there early enough, that's areally good value you can take advantage
of.
Now how do you like the water parks?
Because I love them.
I, I'm not a water park person.
But I hear that a good waterpark and it is fun.
Graham and I did TyphoonLagoon on Our last trip and it's
easily to me a half dayactivity if you get there early in
(17:38):
the morning.
But there's a lot to see anddo and it's, it's a lot of fun.
I'm more of a lazy river kindof person.
Yes.
That's my, more my style.
Okay.
So I, Yeah.
But these are really greatthemed water parks.
I remember when I was a kid wewent down to Orlando and we were
staying at a hotel near wetand wild.
Oh yeah.
And I've told my kids this inmy, you know, a lot of times I tell
(17:58):
stories to my kids about whenI was young and they rolled their
eyes because that's what youdo with your parents when they, when
they go back in my day.
But my brother and I, he's ayear younger than I am, so we were
at the same age for us to see.
We.
And we grew up in the middleof nowhere in New Hampshire.
For us to see a water park, wemight as well have seen a colony
on Mars.
Yeah.
And we did not know thesethings existed.
(18:21):
And so we see this and we'relike slides into pools.
Like we were blown away.
Blown away.
And now, you know, of coursenow everybody knows what water park
is.
Most people have visited but Imean we were like 10 years old and
never even knew this place was there.
Yeah.
And so I, I found myselfloving water parks.
But I found myself also asI've gotten older, I've gotten.
(18:43):
I just hated the waiting withthe raft.
Yes.
You know, climbing the stairs.
Climbing the stairs.
Holding on to a big inner tube.
I, I just got done with that Is.
So is there, is, is there anease of use to the Disney water parks?
It depends on the attraction.
A lot of them are still grabyour float at the bottom and walk
up the stairs.
So it's an exh.
(19:03):
Experienced but it is still fun.
The waves way pools.
Good.
Those are fun too.
Oh yeah.
I don't do the wave poolsbecause I mean it's, it really is,
it's, it's kind of a crazy experience.
Yeah.
So again you, you can checkinto those.
When you check in and you havenothing else to do, make sure you
pack your, you know, bathingsuit and be ready to go and go to
the water parks.
Any other advice for people ontheir half day or full day off outside
(19:26):
of their own resort pool orjust sort of taking it easy.
Outdoor movies, that kind of thing.
Yeah, I think we pretty muchcovered it.
There's always going to besomething going on if you're at the
pool.
You'll find the entertainmentteam there that's always doing games
with the kids.
Sometimes they'll have littleprizes for them.
They'll have music and trivia.
Sometimes just so just kind ofsit back and enjoy just some off
(19:47):
time when you're there.
Exactly.
And I will tell you this, Ilove your idea of, of shopping and
going, you know, on themonorail stops.
The monorail for some of us isstill a pretty cool thing.
Even though it's clunky, it'sstill kind of fun.
You can just ride that around.
Just enjoy that bit.
So again, don't be dismayed byI only have four days at the park
but I'm there six or whateverit is.
(20:07):
There is still plenty to doand let your imagination run a little
bit and you will definitelyfind things to do for sure.
Again, Orlando was built forthe City of Entertainment was built
for people leaving the Disney bubble.
But if you're staying withinthe Disney bubble, there is a lot
to do within the Walt DisneyWorld Resort.
That's right.
All right, that's going to doit for our in Depth series.
So if you have missed any oneof our Inside the parks you can check
(20:29):
out our library.
Look at, listen to our podcaston the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal
Kingdom, Hollywood Studios andnow this one as well as what to do
when you are having an off dayat Disney World.
If you're planning a DisneyWorld vacation, reach out to lauren
lauren all themagictravel.comyou can reach out to me Travel with
Tony D@gmail.com we would loveto help you plan your Disney trip.
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(20:52):
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We will see you next week Weekwith another edition.
Thank you for joining us andhave a great, great planning of your
Disney vacation.
Foreign.
It's another episode of theWands and Wishes podcast.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm Tony Desiri along withLauren Mallard.
Of all the magic travel, partof the joy of going to Walt Disney
World is the parks.
Of course, four of them inOrlando and of course the two parks
in Disneyland out in California.
But there is a lot to dooutside of the parks.
(00:21):
Sometimes your vacations maybe a certain number of days, but
only a smaller number of dayswithin the park.
So in this podcast we're goingto talk about the things you can
do with your family while atDisney World when.
When you're on a non park day.
How are you, Lauren?
I'm good.
How are you?
It's a day here in Tennesseewhere we are as spring is approaching
and we got more springbreakers heading down to Disney World.
(00:41):
That's right.
Before we get to this, let'sget to some news because it was announced
that there is no more virtualqueue for Tiana's Bayou Adventure
in Gardens of the Galaxy.
Cosmic Rewind.
That's right.
So what exactly does this meanfor people planning trips?
So basically.
So the virtual queue is one ofthose things that it.
People will say, well, whatdoes that actually mean?
Can I not write it whenever Iwant to?
(01:03):
And so having no more virtualqueue means more flexibility.
So basically you will stand ina traditional queue if you want to
take the standby option, butit really shouldn't, shouldn't make
your wait time any longer thanit was when you got into the virtual
queue, if that makes sense.
Right.
(01:23):
So you can still buy a pass togo on.
You can still do that.
Now, is this going to be partof the Lightning Lane tears?
Oh, that's a great question.
You know, I don't think so,because I believe that it's still
going to.
Well, Tiana's is actuallyalready a tier one attraction attraction.
So that one will remain the same.
(01:43):
Guardians of the Galaxy willnot be affected because it is a single
pass.
So it is in addition to.
Or a la carte is like the wayI like to explain it to clients.
So you don't.
That won't affect that either.
When you get something like this.
And Tron just recently lostits virtual queue.
Is this something that peoplelike because again, it gives them
the flexibility or do they go,well, I did know I was going to have
(02:06):
a spot on the ride.
I mean, I remember when Riseof the Resistance came out, we were
down in 2020 and we wereoverjoyed to have gotten.
We had to wait for the secondLaunch of the.
We didn't get the first one,but when the second one landed and
my wife said, we're all on, we were.
I was like, this is great.
There was a feeling of, I'mgoing to ride this.
(02:26):
I don't have to worry aboutmissing it today.
So how does it.
How do you think this newscomes down for most people?
Yeah, I think there's pros andcons to it because I think the pros
were you have a little bitmore knowledge of a window of time,
I guess, as far as when you'regoing to get in line.
Whereas now with a standbyline, it's like, do I take the risk
and try to rope drop this andgo with everybody else that's going
(02:49):
to go to that ride or do Iwait and watch it throughout the
day and see what the line does?
But then the cons, I think, Imean, to having the virtual queue
is, like you said, there's somuch pressure because it is so fast.
It goes away in millisecondsand if you don't get it, then, you
know, then you're.
You're forced to buy it.
Yeah, it's.
It was one of the morehumorous highlights to be at a park
(03:13):
when.
Like 2 o'clock people wouldstart cheering.
Everybody's cheering andeverybody's on their phone.
Like the exact same momenteverybody's on their phone.
It can be in any line andeveryone's ready to.
Ready to go at that particulartime was always one of the amusing
things.
My wife used to handle thisand I used to say she was so brilliant
at it because she always couldget it and she always knew where
she was going.
And I one time tried it.
(03:35):
I failed completely.
I was like, refreshing and Iwas like, oh, I'm like, I screwed
up.
I don't think I got it.
So that being said, there ispeople who've been talking saying,
okay, look, they're doing thisbecause there's going to be a whole
mess of things coming in thefuture and they're going to virtual
queue those.
Absolutely.
So it's not necessarily themgoing, okay, we're done with this,
there's just more coming andwe don't want to keep things on virtual
(03:57):
queue.
So we're going to give itenough time for you to get used to
not having virtual queue andthen we're going to launch it with
new rides and new attractions.
Exactly.
And if is.
Is that a feeling of what he's.
Doing here, I definitely thinkthat's what's coming down next for
Whatever is the next big thingto open is going to be your next
virtual queue.
So no more getting up at 7o'clock in the morning and trying
to make, make to land this.
(04:18):
Everything is gone at 7amwhich is amazing because you don't
have to purchase yourLightning Lanes anymore.
You don't have to make yourselection anymore.
So that is really nice.
It kind of takes that, thatpressure off the Vegas now.
I did see a 170 minute waittime for Guardians on, on social
media the other day.
Oh, that's awful.
I didn't ride Tron with mykids because, you know, we went.
(04:42):
Yeah.
Like day after, two days after Christmas.
And it was like two hours, twoplus hours.
Forget it.
I ain't gonna do this.
I'm.
If I'm in a line and I.
And it's not movingimmediately, I'm just the one going,
all right, I don't know about this.
Can't stay here.
I just have that impatience buto me.
All right, so a lot of people,especially now that there's this
promotion, stay longer, save money.
(05:03):
Kind of what Disney is doingis trying to get people to stay longer
at the resorts.
And some people are saying,great, I will stay five days and
then I will just upgrade myticket to five days.
But there are a couple ofpeople saying, wow, you know, I,
I do want a complete weekvacation, but maybe with my family
of five, I can't do six days.
I, I think I can do three.
Let me, let's just go downthere and at least enjoy vacation.
(05:25):
Yeah.
And naturally you would say,well, there's pools, there's other
things to do.
But there's a lot of stuff todo outside of the four parks.
Yeah.
So let's talk about this andwe will talk about Disney Springs
because that's usually a placewhere people go.
But there are some otherthings to do in the parks.
Yeah.
One of them is you can playminiature golf.
That's right.
Have you ever done it?
I have not.
Have you?
(05:46):
I have.
I've played both of thecourses before and as a package inclusion.
And I think they're stilldoing it.
Yeah.
But a lot of people don't take advantage.
You actually can play a freeround, but it has to be before a
certain time of day because Iguess the influx of guests that are
going to play miniature golfare going to want to do it at night.
So they're trying to enticepeople to come during the day and
(06:09):
you can play a free round of golf.
And there's one that is that'sbetter, more geared for children
and just more fun.
And then there's actually areally challenging course.
Yeah, these are the Fantasia courses.
And one of them is actuallybuilt like a real putting course.
It is, yes.
So there you got the whimsicalsort of what you expect at miniature
golf statues hidden under this.
Etc.
But then there.
This is becoming more and morepopular in miniature golf, which
(06:31):
is.
Let's create a actual green,maybe areas where it looks like bunkers
and make it more like realgolf than anything.
Now do you find these crowded?
Is there a wait time?
Like you have to get there andgo, all right, you can go off in
40 minutes?
Yeah.
No, I did not have to waitwhen we went.
And we did go at night and wewere there.
I think it was over July 4thwhen we did this and we did not have
(06:52):
to wait.
There were people there.
But it's a great way to kindof spend an evening or spend a day
if it's not blazing hot outside.
You don't want to go in themiddle of summer in the middle of
the day.
But yeah, it's a lot of fun.
All right.
And you can also play realgolf, if that is your thing.
That's right.
Three 18 hole courses there.
Magnolia, Lake, Buena Vistaand Palm.
I played two of them on a tripin spring break in the early 90s.
(07:16):
Okay, now here's the funnything is because I always have this
thing at my age now where Igo, how did I do that?
Like, you know, like, Iremember a friend of mine and I went
to.
We were in high school, wewent to a friend's house at a party
that was like across the stateof New Hampshire.
And I still go, how did we getto that friend's house?
Like, did you just give us abunch of directions on the phone
(07:37):
and we all just knew how toget there.
That's right.
And I remember my friend Neiland I went to down.
We went down to Florida forspring break.
We were golfers and he wantedto go to Disney and he'd never gone.
He's like, I want to go toDisney for spring break.
And I said, great, I've been there.
I'll go down with you.
Yeah.
But he goes, I want to play golf.
And I don't know how we booked this.
I guess we just called.
Found it in a phone book.
Yeah, we guess we calledinformation and just got the n.
(07:58):
There was no Internet to look at.
I didn't even know the namesof the golf courses when I was down
there.
So I Just went, we just bookedsome tea times and it was great because
when we went down, we stayedin Orlando, not in the park, but
we were able to drop off ourclubs and we like, we got, we took
the shuttle there and wedropped off our clubs and when they
had their clubs all day andwhen we did the parks, we went back,
(08:19):
we went to the golf course andplayed 18 holes of golf.
That's awesome.
And it was great.
And I have yet to play sincethey also have a nine hole, what
they call executive golf course.
Now this is a walking course,shorter than your normal nine.
And this is a great way ifyou're a golfer and you're like,
I just want to do just abucket list of mine.
I want to play around of golfat Disney, but I don't want to do
(08:40):
it five hours.
This is perfect.
You can walk a little nine holes.
It's relatively inexpensivefor, in terms of, for, for Disney
or anything.
And it's a great way to getsome golf in.
And then you can wear a Mickeygolf shirt and say you actually did
play at Walt Disney World.
That's right.
So that's very cool to do that.
So I'm, I'm trying to do thatwith my father this year because
he's done everything Disneybut play golf.
(09:00):
That's awesome.
Side note, on the golf, if youare going to play golf, fellas, and
you want to send your wife forsomething fun to do, there are a
couple of spas on.
All right, so let's talk aboutthe spots.
I've never been to any ofthem, but there are a couple of them.
There's one at the Grand Floridian.
There's one I believe at theYacht Club and then there's one over
at Saratoga Springs.
Maybe I could be wrong, butthere's, there's at least two or
(09:23):
spas look fantastic.
I would love to go one day,but I've never been.
But yeah, that's somethinggreat that your wife could enjoy
while you go play around a golf.
All right, what about resort hopping?
What about going around toother resorts and checking it out?
This seems to be a popularthing to do.
I've never really done it.
I've gone to the resorts onlyin connection to get to somewhere
else.
Right.
Like I've gone to Boardwalkbecause I was going to catch the
(09:45):
bus outside of Epcot one timeor gone to different places.
I walked once from HollywoodStudios to Epcot, which is a horrible
walk.
Yeah, it's too long.
Don't do it.
I thought it was shorter.
Than it actually was.
It's still the bane of myexistence at Christmas parties in
my family.
But that seems to be a popularthing to do, not just to eat, not
just to get there to eat, butjust go.
Let's check out the lobbies ofthese different resorts.
(10:06):
Yeah, it's a really popularthing to do and it's a great thing
to do if you're unsure whereyou want to stay next on the next.
So there are fun things aboutdifferent resorts for different reasons.
Like I have a lot of clientsthat like to go over to Port Orleans
French Quarter and get beignets.
Yeah.
And when they go over there,you can walk the paths between Riverside
and Fren Quarter and see whatthat resort is like.
If you're on the monorail orover at Magic Kingdom and want to
(10:29):
take a stroll on the monorail.
I've seen people get off atevery Montreal resort and shop their
gift shops.
They have fun gift shops atevery resort and they're a little
different in every resort.
So you can check out what theyhave, get a snack at different places.
Now the only thing that youcan't do if you're resort hopping
is you can't use anotherresorts pool.
Right.
People will ask that a lot.
Can I go and check out thepool somewhere else?
(10:51):
You can't.
You can walk past it, you cancheck it out, see if you think you
might like it for your next stay.
But you can't actually usethose amenities at the resort.
Yeah, absolutely.
And it is a great way to go.
Hey, you know, our next trip,let's, let's take a look at Polynesian
and see if we like that.
Or let's go check out someother places because there's so many
different themed resorts thatit's a great way to just sort of
(11:11):
check it out yourself withouttrusting somebody's photoshopped
picture online.
Which, which they're going togive you the best picture the lobby
has ever looked ever.
Yeah.
You know, so this is a way tokind of check it out and see and
kind of see.
Speaking of the Polynesian,that's another thing.
If you don't want to be in thepark at night with, with the exception
of like July 4th or New Year'sEve, you can actually go to the beach
(11:33):
at the Polynesian and watchthe fireworks and they pipe the music
in right there even if you'renot staying there.
So you can go, like I said,it's limited.
You can't go on the 4th ofJuly or New Year's Eve unless you're
staying there, but otherwiseyou can go watch the fireworks from
the beach.
All right.
Now the.
What I said earlier is thereis a lot to do at Disney Springs.
Yeah.
And a lot of people do takethe option of going to Disney Springs.
(11:54):
It is a lot of shopping.
There are, there are a lot of stores.
But you can go bowling there.
That's right.
You can see a show.
Now, you did say in anotherpodcast you're not the biggest fan.
I am not a fan.
Yes, that's right.
So I did want to bring that up.
So I, I'm with.
I find Disney Springs is likefor my family when we go visit my
parents in Ocala for the holidays.
(12:15):
It's the thing we just do on a day.
Sure.
Like, we'll, like, somebodywill go, what do we want to do today?
I don't know.
You guys want to go down toDisney Springs?
It's always one of thosethings, like my sister will bring
it up or my brother will bringit up or whatever.
My parents bring it up.
And so we've gone a lot.
But I'm.
I'm with you in a way.
We don't do the fun stuff.
We don't see.
We've never seen a show there.
We've never done the hot airballoon thing or we've never taken
(12:37):
the car into the water.
We've never done those things.
We shop or eat.
Yeah.
Like, that's really all we do.
And I do, I do say there aresome stores there that are really,
really interesting.
Yeah.
And there's some.
There's some what?
I.
I guess you could say NormalShopp, non Disney.
So brand stores, you know.
Absolutely.
So there's plenty of things tolook at and see there.
(12:58):
I just, I don't enjoy it.
I don't enjoy the crowds and Idon't enjoy the hustle and bustle.
I agree with you that there is a.
It can be.
If you're one of those peoplethat can take the crowds because
you're at a theme park.
Yeah.
Mult.
Like picture your mall in the1980s on Christmas.
Yes.
Like, and it's just wall towall people that can get like that
at Disney Springs.
(13:19):
Where you.
And if it's hard to navigate.
Yeah.
They do provide maps, but ifyou're not familiar with it, it's
hard to navigate.
Can be very confusing.
Like if I'm trying to get toGideon's Bake Shop and I don't know
where exactly I am and I'mlooking at a map and I can get there
by a Bridge.
If I walk this way or goaround the corner and find another
store that's familiar.
(13:39):
So it is very difficult to navigate.
Yeah.
But there is a lot to do, andit is a good time eater, if that's
all right.
You can eat up hours and hours.
Yeah.
And World of Disney is agigantic store.
It.
There's multiple entrances in there.
Yeah.
But they also have the art of Disney.
There's also other places youcan find Disney merchandise.
(14:00):
Lego store.
LEGO store is over there as well.
So there's a lot of reallycool stores.
I do have a funny story.
When we were there a couple ofyears ago, my wife saw Winnie the
Pooh weighted blanket that shewanted in the park.
Goodness.
And she goes, I think I'mgonna get that.
I said, do you want to carry aweighted blanket around for the rest
of the night?
(14:20):
It was heavy.
She goes, no.
She goes, all right.
Well, when we.
I said, let's.
We'll go to.
You know.
We ended up leaving without it.
We went to Disney Springs andshe found it, but the lady said,
these things go like hotcakes.
She's like, they're flying offthe shelves.
So she bought it, and I had tocarry a weighted blanket around Disney
Springs for her because shewas afraid there wouldn't be one
(14:43):
when we walked out of Disney Springs.
Yeah.
There's a pin trading storethat there as well.
But like we were saying, there's.
There's.
And there's places like CocaCola, M M.
Places to get that kind of stuff.
But this is if.
If there's an off day for mostpeople, it's usually I'm either going
to spend it at the pool at myresort or I'm going to Disney Springs
to shop.
That's absolutely right.
So you can do that as well.
All right.
We mentioned Disney Springs.
(15:04):
You mentioned resort hopping.
But you can also do thingslike fishing.
You can fish at Disney World.
You can go to Port Orleans.
You can rent a pole.
You can fish.
There's other places to do it.
But you can also rent a boat.
Yes.
I've never done that.
Have you and anybody ever do this?
I actually haven't ever hadanybody do this.
I've had people ask about thehorseback riding.
Now, the horseback riding isvery interesting.
(15:26):
Huh.
I'm.
I'm kind of afraid to do itbecause I've been on horses.
But I'm, you know, I've gottenolder and I don't know if I'll get
off a horse as well as I goton it when I was younger.
Exactly.
Same.
But you can definitely, youcan book it, you can do that and
you can do things again likewe were talking about with the resorts.
Park Hop.
Visit some restaurants.
Yes.
Like go visit some restaurantsin some places.
(15:48):
Go check out the differentstyle of restaurants that are at
different resorts.
Yeah.
You can go to Polynesian andget a completely different kind of
food as you can in other places.
Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc.
Etc.
Go check those kind of things out.
That's right.
I find that a lot of the bestdining is actually outside the parks
and in the restaurants or atDisney Springs.
Now I will ask you this.
As somebody who you know is,has seen many people take different
(16:11):
kinds of vacation, do you findit's important that people do take
a day off from the park?
Yes.
I do too.
I do.
I do too.
I am, you know, look, look,I'm a go go person.
I like that kind of action.
But I almost look forward tomy off park days.
I agree.
I think that if you are ableto build in an extra night of your
vacation and take that offday, it really helps because at the
(16:32):
end of a Disney vacationyou're going to feel like you need
a vacation anyway.
So go ahead and build that injust, just for some rest time.
Whether you plan to doanything extra.
You don't have to do anything extra.
That costs money.
You can just spend a dayenjoying what you've already paid
for.
And we were talking about thisone time in another podcast, people
arrive at the resort, the roomisn't ready.
They're not going to want touse a park ticket.
(16:52):
Let's say they get in at 11 o'clock.
They don't want to use thepark ticket yet.
So there's got to be stuff todo until that room is ready at 3:00,
let's say.
Yeah, and that's a good pointactually that you bring up because
for 2025, and we've talkedabout this before, you actually can,
this is another thing you can do.
You can get into the waterpark for free on that check in day.
So take advantage of thatbecause Disney has two great water
(17:14):
parks.
They're only open one at atime, typically depending on the
season.
So see which one is open onyour check in day and if you get
there early enough, that's areally good value you can take advantage
of.
Now how do you like the water parks?
Because I love them.
I, I'm not a water park person.
But I hear that a good waterpark and it is fun.
Graham and I did TyphoonLagoon on Our last trip and it's
easily to me a half dayactivity if you get there early in
(17:38):
the morning.
But there's a lot to see anddo and it's, it's a lot of fun.
I'm more of a lazy river kindof person.
Yes.
That's my, more my style.
Okay.
So I, Yeah.
But these are really greatthemed water parks.
I remember when I was a kid wewent down to Orlando and we were
staying at a hotel near wetand wild.
Oh yeah.
And I've told my kids this inmy, you know, a lot of times I tell
(17:58):
stories to my kids about whenI was young and they rolled their
eyes because that's what youdo with your parents when they, when
they go back in my day.
But my brother and I, he's ayear younger than I am, so we were
at the same age for us to see.
We.
And we grew up in the middleof nowhere in New Hampshire.
For us to see a water park, wemight as well have seen a colony
on Mars.
Yeah.
And we did not know thesethings existed.
(18:21):
And so we see this and we'relike slides into pools.
Like we were blown away.
Blown away.
And now, you know, of coursenow everybody knows what water park
is.
Most people have visited but Imean we were like 10 years old and
never even knew this place was there.
Yeah.
And so I, I found myselfloving water parks.
But I found myself also asI've gotten older, I've gotten.
(18:43):
I just hated the waiting withthe raft.
Yes.
You know, climbing the stairs.
Climbing the stairs.
Holding on to a big inner tube.
I, I just got done with that Is.
So is there, is, is there anease of use to the Disney water parks?
It depends on the attraction.
A lot of them are still grabyour float at the bottom and walk
up the stairs.
So it's an exh.
(19:03):
Experienced but it is still fun.
The waves way pools.
Good.
Those are fun too.
Oh yeah.
I don't do the wave poolsbecause I mean it's, it really is,
it's, it's kind of a crazy experience.
Yeah.
So again you, you can checkinto those.
When you check in and you havenothing else to do, make sure you
pack your, you know, bathingsuit and be ready to go and go to
the water parks.
Any other advice for people ontheir half day or full day off outside
(19:26):
of their own resort pool orjust sort of taking it easy.
Outdoor movies, that kind of thing.
Yeah, I think we pretty muchcovered it.
There's always going to besomething going on if you're at the
pool.
You'll find the entertainmentteam there that's always doing games
with the kids.
Sometimes they'll have littleprizes for them.
They'll have music and trivia.
Sometimes just so just kind ofsit back and enjoy just some off
(19:47):
time when you're there.
Exactly.
And I will tell you this, Ilove your idea of, of shopping and
going, you know, on themonorail stops.
The monorail for some of us isstill a pretty cool thing.
Even though it's clunky, it'sstill kind of fun.
You can just ride that around.
Just enjoy that bit.
So again, don't be dismayed byI only have four days at the park
but I'm there six or whateverit is.
(20:07):
There is still plenty to doand let your imagination run a little
bit and you will definitelyfind things to do for sure.
Again, Orlando was built forthe City of Entertainment was built
for people leaving the Disney bubble.
But if you're staying withinthe Disney bubble, there is a lot
to do within the Walt DisneyWorld Resort.
That's right.
All right, that's going to doit for our in Depth series.
So if you have missed any oneof our Inside the parks you can check
(20:29):
out our library.
Look at, listen to our podcaston the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal
Kingdom, Hollywood Studios andnow this one as well as what to do
when you are having an off dayat Disney World.
If you're planning a DisneyWorld vacation, reach out to lauren
lauren all themagictravel.comyou can reach out to me Travel with
Tony D@gmail.com we would loveto help you plan your Disney trip.
Please subscribe to thechannel Like It Give us a five star
(20:52):
review.
We certainly love the feedbackon Wands and Wishes.
We will see you next week Weekwith another edition.
Thank you for joining us andhave a great, great planning of your
Disney vacation.
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