Parks and Passports | Gearing up for 2025 Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

Mike and Eric are joined by Destinations to Travel advisor Ali Willis to discuss the upcoming Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Plus, a game of Would You Rather involving holidays at Disney.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Parks and Passports Podcast. Join Mike and Brian
and Eric as they discussed some of the latest news
from the world of Disney and Universal Parks, plus hear
from other experienced travel experts and have some fun along
the way. Be sure to keep all hands, arms, feet,

(00:22):
and legs inside the vehicle at all times. It's gonna
be a wild ride.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Parks and
Passports Podcast. I'm Mike mac Eric Hyles is here.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, and salutations and greetings in that particular covers everything,
doesn't it? Does that cover everything?

Speaker 4 (00:49):
I think you got it.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
We do not have Brian today, but in his place,
we do have a very special guest. We've got Destination
to Travel advisor Ali Willis.

Speaker 5 (00:59):
Hey, Ali, Hi, how is everybody?

Speaker 4 (01:03):
We're good? We're good.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Ready to talk over the top of each other, what
to do, what to say? But yeah, I think we're gon.
We're good.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, that's just how it goes.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
We are excited to talk about Mickey's very merry Christmas party,
which is our main topic of this episode. Well, of course,
get into some news with some headlines you can find
over at chipincompany dot com. But First, we have to
get let our audience get a chance to know you
a little bit better. Ali, So are you ready for
our lightning round questions?

Speaker 5 (01:34):
I am.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Let's do it all right, So start off with an
easy one favorite Disney park Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Wow, okay, okay, that's wonderful.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
People, it gets a bad rap. I love it. I
could spend a whole.

Speaker 6 (01:48):
Day there, Like, I will never complain about Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
Yeah, I'm with you. I love Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I was more taken aback by, Like, how definitive that
answer was.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Usually we have people saying it's not a question.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Nope, it's easy. I worked to be fair.

Speaker 6 (02:03):
I worked at Animal Kingdom, Okay, and so I spent
I did the college program, and when I was done working,
I could go into the park. And so I spent
like all my nights just wandering Animal Kingdom and see
all the tiny little things and the details, and I.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
Just I love that park.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's a beautiful park. What about your favorite Disney attraction?

Speaker 5 (02:25):
That one? See? That one I have to think about.

Speaker 6 (02:28):
I am pretty torn between Flight of Passage or Toy
Story Mania.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Oh okay, one Animal Kingdom and then one non Animal
Kingdom and both are great.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
I would be hard pressed to skip either.

Speaker 4 (02:41):
Oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think that's the first time anybody's mentioned Toy Story Mania,
which I love that attraction too. I'm I'm one of
those annoying competitive people that is trying to set their
high score every time.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
But you know, it's a really fun attraction.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
Oh, for sure, you have to play it if you
want to win.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
What was that, Erica?

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Is your I was going to ask you, I I
asked what or say what her highest score was.

Speaker 6 (03:04):
Oh, I couldn't even tell you. It's probably not even
It's not like impressive. I've been the best vehicle several times.

Speaker 5 (03:13):
I've never been best of day. Yeah, but I just
beat all my friends that I take on the ride.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, that's always my goal as well. All right, what
about our Your favorite Universal.

Speaker 5 (03:25):
Park probably Islanded Adventure.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Okay, Adventure, got it. It's a good choice and favorite
Universal attraction.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
So it was Rick.

Speaker 6 (03:36):
Rocket roller Coaster. Yeah, and then they closed it and
I cried.

Speaker 5 (03:40):
Now it's a loss of coaster.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Great choice. Yeah, that's that's a popular one. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 6 (03:45):
It's the first roller coaster I got off of and
was literally like wind blown I was like, after getting
off of that, right.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, absolutely, it will do that to you. I am
curious because of your definitive islands of Adventure.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Answer. Have you been to Epic Universe yet?

Speaker 5 (04:00):
I have not.

Speaker 6 (04:01):
I want to go, but we went to Orlando in
May for a wedding, but I had my two month
old with me.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
Yeah, and I didn't really.

Speaker 6 (04:09):
Feel like you would get a lot out of Epic
and so we're saving it for later.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
That's very fair. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
By this point, Mike has been so many times that
you're can be obnoxious about it and rub in your face.
I see.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
That's why I was with flight a Passage when it opened.
Is I like, did that right? So many times I
could rub in people's faces and now I'm out of touch.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
There's benefits to living in Orlando. What about a favorite
theme park snack?

Speaker 5 (04:35):
Probably the cheeseburger egg roll in Magic Care.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
Yeah, that's a good one. It's a good choice. How
about favorite Disney or Universal.

Speaker 5 (04:43):
Restaurant Sonah at Anamal Kingdom launch.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Yeah, bread service.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, oh duh, yeah, fantastic. Right.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
Favorite thing to do in a park that's not a ride?

Speaker 5 (04:57):
I love the parades and shows.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
Oh nice?

Speaker 5 (05:00):
Watch them every single time.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
Do you have a favorite parade?

Speaker 5 (05:05):
Oh, probably Paint the Night.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Oh yeah, I've never gotten to see that in person,
and it looks spectacular.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
I love it.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
I went when they first had it a disney Land
for their Diamond celebration and that was my first like
Disney trip as an adult, and then I went back
when they re brought it back at like both times
just great.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, I hopefully I can get out to Disneyland at
some point and see it.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
How about favorite theme park event?

Speaker 5 (05:38):
That one's hard.

Speaker 6 (05:39):
I'm really torn between Mickey's not so scary Halloween Party
and then Mickey's very merry Christmas Party.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
I figured very Mary would be at least in the
conversation given that that's our topic of discussion today, but
it definitely is.

Speaker 5 (05:53):
I'm a sucker for the holidays and the after hours events.

Speaker 6 (05:55):
I just really like that atmosphere in the vibe and
kind of that like just Magic Kingdom in the dark
is so much fun. Yeah, and so yeah, either one
Halloween or Christmas, I'll take both.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
Both, great choices. Favorite tip or trick to share.

Speaker 6 (06:11):
Oh, I like to tell all of my friends and
family to bring a backup pair of shoes for when
you cannot.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
Physically put your feet back in your sneakers.

Speaker 6 (06:21):
I ended up buying crocs at the Rainforest Cafe one
time because I just could not wear sneakers anymore and
needed something. And so that's always my like, bring non
sneakers for when you.

Speaker 5 (06:31):
Just need a break.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
That's yeah, I feel like that's a pretty popular tip.
I mean people underestimate somehow still underestimate the amount of
walking and just the heat and everything associated with the
Disney vacation. So yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 6 (06:45):
Our final question, Yeah, it's a lot of walking, it's
a lot of stop and go, and your feet swell
every time.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
It's land of heat and humidity and like you're just
going to retain water.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah. Final questions favorite non theme park vacation.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
Cruising. I really like going on cruises.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
What's your preferred cruise jinks?

Speaker 6 (07:07):
I last year went on I was lucky enough to
go on to Virgin Voyages, and that's my top right now.

Speaker 5 (07:13):
I really liked that that food could not be beat.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
So I've been on a Virgin Voyage cruise last year.
It was pretty amazing. What food did you like the
best out of it?

Speaker 6 (07:27):
So I really liked their Korean barbecue restaurant and just
that whole group any experience. But to kind of tattle
on myself, the last one I went on, I was pregnant,
and the only reason we went on it is because
I had to have their pistachio macarons. They're like stuffed

(07:48):
with fresh raspberries and they're like massive pistachio cookie, fresh raspberries,
fresh cream. And on the four day cruise I managed
to eat like nineteen of them.

Speaker 4 (07:58):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
And the nice thing about Virgin two is it's adults only.
I mean not that you know, having kids is a
bad thing or anything like that, but it's a nice
change to get away from, you know, the uh, the
hecticness of a lot of little kids running around.

Speaker 6 (08:15):
So agreed, and you feel kind of if you want
to be silly or do their activities, you feel less weird.
Sometimes My husband and I are very young at heart,
but sometimes you know, if it's an activity and a
whole bunch of kids are doing it, like we're not
going to jump in and join. But when it's adult only,
like you can do the goofy things or be you know,
immature whatever and play the game and like no one cares.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
Everyone's doing it with you.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
I'm actually lily sorry.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I was just gonna say I'm a little surprised to
hear that they even have those sort of goofy activities
on that cruise.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
That's that's awesome.

Speaker 5 (08:47):
Yeah, it was a lot of fun, just as a whole.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
The adult trivia thing was was pretty goofy and pretty
interesting too.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
So yeah, I need to branch out into some to
try out some other cruise lines in the near future
for sure. Okay, so now I feel like the audience
has gotten to know you a little bit, Ali, So
let's get into our discussion of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
So you mentioned it being one of your favorite events.
Tell us about sort of your experience with the party.

Speaker 6 (09:17):
Yeah, so the first time I went, I've been twice,
And the first time I went was I was working
down there and I managed to bring my now husband.
But then boyfriend and mom they came down to visit
me while I was doing my program and we went
to the party, and then I was lucky enough to
go again after that.

Speaker 5 (09:37):
But I just love it.

Speaker 6 (09:39):
I love the holidays at the parks in general, but
kind of like I talked about just that after dark
Magic Kingdom after Dark has its own kind of magic. Yeah,
the lights glow better, the trees twinkle, and then you
layer Christmas on top of that. The party is just
really special. There's something for everybody. We're going to be

(10:00):
bored and so yeah, it was really fun. It was
really special to get to share that with my family
and then kind of spark this love of doing the
parties and after hour events.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Yeah, and I should back up a little bit and
just let the audience know. I mean, you're listening to
this podcast, you probably have a good idea of what
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is, but if you do not,
it is a separately ticketed event at Walt disney World's
Magic Kingdom on select nights from November seventh through December twenty.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
First, your ticket the.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Event runs from seven pm to midnight, and your ticket
allows you park admission as early as four pm, so
you can get in there, enjoy Magic Kingdom a little bit,
and then you're there until midnight taking part in all
of the holiday festivities that they have for Mickey's Very
Merry Christmas Party. So, Ali, I want to know what
is your favorite part of Mickey's Very Mery Christmas Party.

Speaker 6 (10:53):
Probably the parade. I really like that parade. Yeah, some
of the floats you're scented, it like blasts at you.
The music's catchy, So I just I really like that
element that you can I always stake out a good
spot and like, yeah, I really I would say parade
stage show is a close second.

Speaker 5 (11:14):
The what do they call it, Mickey's Most Marrius Celebration
stage show is also super fun. It's just an experience.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
Yes, you see parades in the parks, and you see
shows in the parks, but I feel like they really
amp up the parade and the stage show for this event,
and so it just feels like a little bit beefier,
just like that much nicer of a show.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, I think I'm with you on the parade being
my favorite part as well. It's it's a spectacular I think. Honestly,
going back to your two favorite events, Not So Scary
and Very Merry both have two of the best Disney parades.

Speaker 4 (11:48):
They're absolutely awesome.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
So yeah, we Holiday Pride is fantastic.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
Eric, What about you. Have you been to Mickey's Very Merry?

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Oh? Yes, I have. At Disney World kind of extended
a business trip along a couple of years ago and
went by myself, and you know, did these stay on
points at the the swan or sorry, the Dolphin and
then but very scary or sorry, Mickey's not.

Speaker 4 (12:15):
So Mickey's not so merry, or talking about Christmas.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, he's not so merry, scary Halloween Christmas party. And
I like the fact that, you know, they make it
snow in certain locations. I thought that's really cool. You know,
of course it's not real snow, et cetera, but it
looks really cool on main Street and if you're lucky
enough to go to one that is over at Hollywood
Studios to you know, they make it. They make it

(12:41):
snow throughout the kind of the main street attraction area
there on Hollywood Boulevard, et cetera. And it was kind
of weird seeing like the snow when looking at the
Tower of Terror. So it was kind of a cool
experience and I liked I like the food. I did
opt in for the at the time, they had a

(13:01):
holiday dinner at the restaurant, so I opted in for
that and it was just amazing.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, they do a really great job with special food
and drinks for the party as well.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
And yes, we love our snope for sure.

Speaker 5 (13:15):
It sounds so cliche, but there's something really magical standing
in fake snow at Disney.

Speaker 6 (13:20):
Really, you look around, everybody's looking at the sky like
they didn't expect it to happen. It's like the lights
are twinkly, they're soap falling on you. Like it just
it feels like a Hallmark movie.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
I know, being you know that that jaded local that
like everything is so normal to me. Now I try
to sort of disassociate and look around to the people
who this is really all completely new to and they
see that snope and it actually does feel real, and
I just kind of take in that magic a little bit.

Speaker 6 (13:48):
That's a really fun way to experience the parts is
watching it through people's.

Speaker 4 (13:53):
Like other Yes, absolutely, I.

Speaker 6 (13:55):
Really enjoy just people watching, especially and like this kind
of goes back even with the park and the parade
and the show and just the they have Santa and
the character appearances and watching people get so excited to
meet Santa Jack that you can't.

Speaker 5 (14:09):
Ever see in the parks. And I've seen grown adults
wearing the Jack's going to an outfit.

Speaker 6 (14:15):
Like really excited to meet him, and so that is
kind of its own kind of like not entertainment but
magic and like heartwarming.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
Is to watch it through other people's eyes.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
Definitely one of my favorite things to do at these
events for sure. So what are your some of your
favorite tips and tricks. I know you've only been to
the party a couple of times, but I'm sure you
have some tips and tricks that you give to your
your clients who are planning to visit for Mickey's Very Merry.

Speaker 6 (14:43):
The first and foremost, I always tell them to take
advantage of that early entry that you can get in
at four pm when the party starts at seven, and
that I mean if you're there for to midnight, that's
like basically a park day. And so I always tell
people sleep in, get a nice lunch, you know, get
cute for the party, and then go in early and

(15:04):
treat that kind of like a Magic Kingdom day because it,
to me, it feels like a bonus day.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah, absolutely, I was gonna say that that is a
tip that I like to give people as well as
you know, if the park is closing at five pm
on a party night or whatever whatever the hours may be,
you pretty much get just as much time with a
party ticket, and most days at least it's the less
expensive ticket, so you could you could go with the

(15:31):
Mickey's Very Merry versus the standard day at Magic Kingdom,
get some added you know, benefits, some new features and
things like that that you wouldn't normally have, and it's
gonna cost you less money. So it's a it's a
nice way to plan your day at Magic Kingdom or
your night at Magic Kingdom.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
I suppose it.

Speaker 5 (15:49):
Really is, and it forces you.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
I like to kind of try to schedule it either
on your travel day or in the middle so that
you get that rest that you can sleep in. You're
not hit yeah, in open, but you still, like you said,
get that full day. I like to tell people that,
and then I also just like to kind of set
your expectations that you won't be able to do everything,

(16:14):
and that's by design. They want you to come back
over and over again. They want you to fall in
love with bits and pieces, and so especially for the
Christmas party, I personally deprioritize the treats, the.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
Cookies and stuff.

Speaker 6 (16:28):
I think as you walk around, if there's if it's there,
and they hand it to you, great, But if you
make that a priority, that's all you're gonna do because
there's a ton of them, and you wait in line
and you walk through and you get cookies and you
get hot coc and you can get that anywhere, and
so I think it's fun to grab one if there's
no line while you're headed to your next thing.

Speaker 5 (16:47):
But like, set your priorities.

Speaker 6 (16:49):
Do you want to see the rare characters or do
you want to make sure you see that stage show
or the fireworks which we didn't talk about but I
could die for. And so it's like you can't do everything.
Pick a couple things and then be really excited that
you've got to do those. And if anything else, you know,
you stumble upon no line for this, or you stumble
upon a treat trail that you didn't know existed, then

(17:12):
those are the bonuses and that just makes the night
that much more special.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, And it's especially true if you're trying to hit
your normal attractions, right, like the attractions are open during
Mikey's Very Merry, and so if you're trying to do
you know, a haunted mansion or something like that, like
you're not gonna you can't get through everything in Magic
Ingdom in one day, so don't expect to be able to.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
Do all of Very Merry in one day. You know,
there's just so many, so many things.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
And speaking of let's let's kind of run through the
offerings at makeys Very Merry Christmas Party. We already touched
on a lot of them, but we'll kind of, you know,
sort of recap everything here.

Speaker 4 (17:47):
So special character meet and greets.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
That is one of the big ones you mentioned, you know,
the Santa Jack meet and greet. These are probably the
biggest draw and you know you're gonna see very long
waits for a lot of these characters.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
So if this is something you want to prioritize, do.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
It as quickly as you can, you know, get in
there and try and knock these out because the wait
times are only going to get longer.

Speaker 6 (18:11):
And they opened the line, I know for Santa Jack
when I went, they opened his line before he started meeting,
and so you could get in line for him, like
you could use your four to seven early entry to
just stand in mind for Santa Jack if that's someone
that you have to have, right and so you can
kind of prioritize out what characters and what lines you

(18:32):
want to get into, because those are going to be
your longest wait They're longer than the attractions.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
Yeah, oh absolutely.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Sometimes you'll see these characters, like Santa Jack, for example,
will be multiple hours long in the middle of the night.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
So just keep that in mind.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
If you see like an hour and you think that's
too long, it's not going to get shorter.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
Just go and do it.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
If you have to meet Santa Jack, definitely take advantage
of those earlier wait times.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
We already talked about the parade. Absolutely love it.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
The music is going to get stuck in your head
for the entire holiday season. Those toy soldiers are my
favorite highlight of the probably the whole event.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
But they're so crisp. It's so cool.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, they're so and they're all in sync.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
It's so good. Minnie's Wonderful Christmas Time Fireworks show. So
you touched on that, Ali, and so you're I think
we're kind of in the minority. We both absolutely love
that show.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
It is a great show, but I think people compare
it to Happily ever After, which in my opinion, is
probably the best firework show Disney's ever done. But I
absolutely love Minnie's Wonderful Christmas Time Fireworks.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, I do too.

Speaker 6 (19:36):
I even the Christmas one and the Halloween one. Both
the old and the new I think are really well done.
But you can't compare them to Happily. Nothing's going to
touch Happily. Ever after, when they announced that that firework
show was going away forever, I booked a trip and
like made my family go with me to watch it.
And then a year and a half later they.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
Brought it back.

Speaker 5 (19:59):
But but yeah, I like the Fireworks a lot. It's
a newer show. The men Wonderful Christmas Time.

Speaker 6 (20:05):
You kind of revamped it. I think they added a
lot of really great elements to it. I don't think
it's something that you should sleep on. I think it's fun,
it's festive. It's a good Disney firework show.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
I think if you're going to prioritize any two things,
you know, I'm personally not somebody who tends to go
and wait in line to meet characters, but the parade
and the Fireworks show are the two top of my list,
no question, agreed.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah, we had some news about the Firework Show.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
By the way, it is going to be running for
all guests starting December twenty second through through Christmas, so
you'll get a chance to see that even if you're
not attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 5 (20:42):
And correct me if I'm wrong. Do they still do the
Christmas Parade the week of Christmas as well?

Speaker 2 (20:47):
That is a good question. I'm not sure off the
top of my head. I have not been to Magic
Kingdom the week of Christmas because it is probably the
busiest week of the year, but I believe, I know
they used to. I'm not sure if they are still
running that. And then we also mentioned briefly Mickey's Most

(21:09):
Marius celebration. That is the stage show sort of a
music show with all your favorite Disney characters right out
in front of the castle. Again, a lot of fun,
and it runs a few times throughout the night, so
they'll have a couple opportunities to see that. Another one
that would probably be the next tier down as far
as what I'm prioritizing at this party, and right in
line with that would be some of the holiday decked

(21:31):
out attractions. So we've got Space Mountain with holiday music,
which that's great, I mean, nice touch to beloved attraction,
it's still Space Mountain. Yes, I would say if it's
a long wait, you don't want to, you know, spend
that time. You don't have to, but it's it's fun.
It's a nice little addition.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
I really like this one.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
So I tomorrow Land Speedway not an attraction I typically do,
but I loved the addition of the lights and the
decorations on tomorrow Land Speedway.

Speaker 4 (21:59):
So if that's if you're.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Planning to do one of the holiday attractions, it would
be Jingle Cruise. But have you're planning to do two,
tomorrow Land Speedway would be the next one. So, like
I said, Jingle Cruise, that is obviously jungle cruise with
some holiday jokes thrown in. Fantastic gotta do what every year.
That is operating during normal park hours as well, So
I'm not just during Mickey's very merry Christmas party. So

(22:22):
if you are coming earlier in the day, you can
do that as well well.

Speaker 6 (22:27):
And I would argue save Jingle Cruise for if you're
having if you have a Magic Kingdom day in your trip,
because it's going to be a long line during the party.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
It's true, yeah, Christmas party, and it is the Christmas.

Speaker 6 (22:37):
Ride, but if you can get that, it will not
be as long as a line throughout the week. People
say it to do the Christmas party, and so I
would even deprioritize during the party itself, deprioritize Jingle Cruise,
but make sure you do it because it's fantastic. But
if you're going to Magic Kingdom any other time than
the Christmas party.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Do Jingle Cruise then yeah, definitely if you if you
do have that other magic today, for sure push some
of these things off that are offered, you know, throughout
the normal park hours.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
We also have holiday.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Lights on the Mad Tea Party, so the teacups, and
then there is a seasonal show for Monsters Inc. Laft Floor,
which I've never even seen myself, so I typically just
walk right past that.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
I think, have you ever seen it? Ali?

Speaker 5 (23:21):
I have not.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
Yeah, I was not when I the last time I went,
they were not doing a seasonal Monsters Inc. Show. That's new.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, I'm not even sure this might be new this year,
but then again, it could have been off for the
last three years and I wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Have even noticed. So, but there's a seasonal Monsters Inc.
Laf Floor show.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
There's also dance parties throughout you know, this is a
pretty much a staple of Magic Kingdom events. You'll see
like the Rocket Tower Plaza stage, and then inside like
Cosmic Rays, you'll see some DJ's dance party things type
of thing. So you'll see that stuff all around the park.
And then of course we mentioned special food and merchandise.

(23:58):
It's not a Disney event without special food and merchandise.
Keep an eye on the Disney Parks blog leading up
to the holiday season as we're getting very close to it. Now,
you'll see a foody guide released for the event, and
there'll be all sorts of delicious things that are going
to force you to buy your ticket because you just
have to try them.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
The food and merch like they do a good job.

Speaker 6 (24:22):
It's I'm not going to say it's the reason to
go to the party, but is it really fun? Perk
is getting that specialty party merchandise. And then I really,
like I do. I get on the food blog and
kind of map out exactly what I want. So then
as I'm bouncing around the park, I'm like, oh, this
is where we need to go.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
Oh we need to get this.

Speaker 6 (24:39):
And I always get really competitive with making sure I
get all of the limited like seasonal food.

Speaker 3 (24:46):
Yeah. Out here at Disneyland, I make it a point
to go to the Jolly Holiday Bakery and grab whatever,
you know, Christmas desserts that they came up with for
the party out here.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Yeah, you get out there and get any of your
candy canes.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Eric, I'm not a candy cane fan out that much.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
Neither, but I know they're so popular out there.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
To give a deal, Yeah, they are very popular. I
don't know why. Once you've had one peppermint, you've had
them all.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
Well, you don't really eat this one.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
So I've waited in mind for this thing once in
the pouring down rain, and like you don't eat the
candy cane, you get the candy cane to say you
have the.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
Cane, right right, right right.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
So any closing thoughts on Mickey's very Merry Christmas party
before we move on to some news.

Speaker 6 (25:35):
I think if you're on the fence, it is something
that you should experience at least once and then decide
if you think it was worth it, because it's really
it's such a fun way to kickstart your holiday spirit.

Speaker 5 (25:47):
Like it's really hard to leave that park after.

Speaker 6 (25:49):
It snowed on Main Street and you saw a fantastic
parade and you smelled cookies. It's really hard to leave
that park and not be seeing Christmas carols and just
ready to go full Chris spirit.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
On all of your friends and family.

Speaker 6 (26:01):
Absolutely, I think that's a really fun takeaway from that
is you leave that and you're like, I am ready
for Christmas.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
Yeah. I totally second that because when I went the
last time that I went with their extending the business trip,
I was it was a really rough business trip and
I kind of got you know, was was really bummed out,
chew got chewed out in a multiple meetings and everything,
and was kind of like, you know, dealing with a
lot of customer issues at the time where I was
working at And I went there with a total like

(26:32):
Grinch night before Christmas type feel, and as soon as
I hit the park, everything changed my entire my entire
mood change. And I came home and was like put
in a Christmas tree up now right now, let's put
it up, blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
So yeah, now that's that's very cool. I absolutely share
the same sentiment.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
I mean, we are now the family that will have
our Christmas Tree up on November first, because it's just
Christmas is all around us, like as soon as this
season turns, and so we can't avoid it. So just
embrace it, just enjoy the holiday season, even if it's
what November seventh the first party, So yeah, I mean

(27:11):
it's it's a great way to kick off your holiday
season for sure. And again select nights November seventh through
December twenty first, and the event runs from seven pm
to midnight. Okay, let's jump into some news. Actually, you
know what, before we do that, I'm sorry, Alie. I
got to give you the chance to let our guests
know exactly how they can plan their Mickey's Very Merry

(27:34):
Christmas Party experience and their Walt Disney World vacation.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
How can they get in touch with you?

Speaker 6 (27:39):
Yes, email is I think always the quickest and most
efficient way. My email is a l I WI li
at d the number two travel dot com and yeah,
email reach out and then we can start talking and planning.
I love planning the stuff Christmas time, even if you're

(28:02):
not doing the party. Christmas time at Disney is my
favorite thing to talk about. There's so much to do
outside the parks and in and so I would love
to start planning that and get tickets resort. You know,
your itinerary all down, and like I said, email is
really the quickest way to get a hold of me.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Perfect awesome. So let's move into some news from the
past couple of weeks here there was kind of a lot,
So we're gonna blow through this real quick ally and
Eric jump in whenever you have anything that you want
to specifically talk about a little bit more. But we'll
start over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, where Mini Seasonal Dining

(28:42):
is expanding to include breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. So
that is the end of the Disney Junior Play and
Dine breakfast that is being replaced with the Mini Seasonal Dining.
And the holiday dine runs November sixth through January fourth,
so we're right around the corner from kicking off. I
mean even a day earlier than He's very and I
should mention too. Jollywood Nights also begins over at Disney's

(29:03):
Hollywood Studios on November seventh as well.

Speaker 6 (29:08):
That holiday dine is yummy. I have done it both
Christmas and Halloween, and it's cute to see the characters,
the food, is pretty good. It's well themed, and so
if you are here for the like themed buffets and
you want a holiday meal, that's your place to be.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
It's it is not disappointed a couple times.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
That I've done it very cool.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
I've actually never eaten at Hollywood and Vine, so I
should probably change up.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, yeah, me either. I need to make a point
to go there next time.

Speaker 5 (29:33):
It was good.

Speaker 6 (29:34):
We specifically went for the menu, and the first time
I booked it, I didn't even realize it was a
character dining and then was pleasantly surprised. And then the
second time we went back for Christmas to see them
in their Christmas Outfitsy's in a Santa suit, And like
I said, the food is.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Good, it's it's just hard to stop there when Primetime
Cafe is right next door.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
I've never done Primetime.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Cafe that peanut butter and jelly milks.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Don't get me started.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
I could do a whole episode on that, right about it,
I get it. Speaking of Jollywood Knights, by the way,
there are some new character meet and greets this year
that people are going to be very excited about. And again,
these character meet and greets draw a very long line
so if you're attending Jollywood Knights, make sure you get
in line early. Miguel we talked about that one of
a few episodes back. Miguel from Coco is one of

(30:21):
the new additions. There's also Partysaurus Rex, Life Day Chewbacca,
which I love this Chewbacca celebrating Life Day, and then
Bingbong is another one that you know, these these are
gonna be again.

Speaker 4 (30:34):
People are going to be lining up.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
To meet these characters, so just be prepared for a
weight if you want to go and meet them.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yeah, that's one awesome that they're including the Life Date
Chewbacca thing.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
And if you haven't seen the Star Wars Christmas Special,
you need to put that on YouTube just so you
understand what that's all about.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
Oh, I don't know that you need to.

Speaker 3 (30:54):
Yes, you do it. I mean you'll hate it right right,
It's terrible, but it's worth the watch.

Speaker 4 (31:03):
Just to understand what Life Day is.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Absolutely one of my favorite holiday offerings at Walt disney
World is returning this year, and that is the Christmas
Tree Stroll at Disney Springs, and the themed trees have
all been announced and I'll just run through them real quick.
We're gonna have Cocoa, Disney Villains, Incanto, Fantasia, Frozen, Haunted Mansion, Lee,
Low and Stitch, The Lion King, Mickey Mountain, Mini Mouse, Moana,

(31:27):
the Princess and the Frog, Star Wars, The Nightmare Before Christmas,
and Toy Story and all of these trees will be
spread out throughout Disney Springs. A you go to one
of the locations to pick up a map, and then
you go and do the little scavenger hunt find all
of the trees throughout Disney Springs. It's a great time.
These trees look awesome, the theming is so incredible.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
There are also going to be three interactive trees.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Haunted Mansion, Star Wars and Nightmare Before Christmas will interact
with Magic Band Plus, so make sure you have your
Magic Band Plus with you. And again, I highly recommend
getting out to Disney Springs during the holidays. If you're
visiting Walt Disney World, it's it's a must do all
of Like a bunch of the restaurants will have special offerings.
You'll see all sorts of decorations and things like that
they do. They also have Snope there at night. I

(32:12):
highly recommend it have either of you guys been to
Disney Springs during the holiday season.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
Yes, yeah, I was gonna say, I love the Christmas
tree stroll Again, It's one of those things you kind
of walk through and you can't be mad.

Speaker 5 (32:25):
Yeah, And so I totally agree.

Speaker 6 (32:27):
Disney Springs does a really good job for the holidays
They've got They'll bring out a couple like live entertainers
and musicians and stuff to really just make everything feel
warm and cozy and festive.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
Yep. And I've gone. I like going just to get
the holiday special food items that show up kind of
at the different restaurants there. So yeah, I'm all about.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
There's no shortage of food at Disney Springs. It's honestly
a problem for me every time I go there, but again,
love it during the holiday season.

Speaker 4 (32:59):
Jump over to Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Just a quick reminder that z Uotopia Better Zoogether will
be opening November seventh, So this is our last episode
before the opening of that, and as of this episode's release,
I will be getting a preview of this new attraction
over at Disney's Animal Kingdom, So keep an eye on
our socials and our YouTube channel YouTube dot com. Slash
d two Travel to check out a little preview of

(33:24):
this new attraction coming to the Tree of Life in
Disney's Animal Kingdom. Well, let's go over to Epcot for
some more news. Remy's Ratitude Adventure is closing November tenth
to the thirteenth to convert to a two D attraction.
I'm curious to get your guys' thoughts on this. Have
you guys done the three D version of this attraction?

Speaker 5 (33:44):
I have, and I am so happy. I sent that
announcement to my mom.

Speaker 6 (33:50):
And sister in law because all three of us have
had to close our eyes yeah, to get through that ride.
And it's one of those that we did it a
couple times and don't do it anymore. And so I
like breathed the sigh of relief when they decided to
change it to two D because it's such a cute
theme and that larger than life like decorations.

Speaker 5 (34:10):
They did a really good job with it, and now
I will be able to ride it with my eyes open.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
I'm gonna I'm gonna disagree.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
Yeah, you like the three D.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yeah, I like the three D because to me, I mean,
what's what's the point?

Speaker 5 (34:23):
Right?

Speaker 3 (34:23):
And two D? You know, you're taking a complete dimension away, right,
I mean that's more interactive, more like engaging for me,
and just the loss of that dimension is probably will
will will be hesitant to ride that again. That's just
my heart will break. I totally that's fair.

Speaker 6 (34:40):
I like Mickey's and Minnie's Runaway Railway and that's two D.
But then I have friends that think it's boring, and
so you are definitely if people like the three D
and don't get motion sick, you're losing a whole bunch
of people that are excited about that.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
Yeah. I totally see it too. I am on Ali's
side with this one.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
This this particular attraction doesn't bother me, but some three
D attractions do.

Speaker 4 (35:04):
I know this one.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
My wife can't do this attraction, and so we're excited
to ride it as a family when it reopens.

Speaker 4 (35:09):
Is two D, so I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
I'm curious to get more feedback though from you know,
future guests after it does conver.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, I'm gonna call conflict of interest on this because
Alie said her favorite ride was over an Animal Kingdom.
What was the name of that one? That is that
a three D ride or D ride.

Speaker 5 (35:33):
That's fair, and that one does not get me motions.
But like Star Tours, I can't do interesting.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
I was gonna say sometimes it's that combination of screens
and live sets and like the movement going through those
live sets.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
But Star Toars that's interesting too, Okay.

Speaker 6 (35:49):
Yeah, And I do love fight and I could ride
that one over and over and over again and not
get motions stick at all. So you're right, Eric, I yeah,
I pick and choose which one be okay.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
With selective choices, So selective motions.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
More news at Epcot, Spaceship Earth has reopened. I was
actually just there at Epcot today as of this recording.
It looks great. I got to write it today. I
don't know that I've ever seen it look prettier, like
everything is working. Everything is like brightly lit. There are
things that are moving that I've never seen move before.

(36:25):
So it just looks like everything is is, you know,
in like one perfect working condition there in Spaceship Earth.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
You know, things wear down, the.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
Paper does it? I gotta know does the paper boy
have a face?

Speaker 4 (36:37):
If he does, I did not see it.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
But Dynasty video on that and I have not seen
anybody shoot anything where I could see it's a paperboy
hit a face or not.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, we will have a video of it coming up
to our YouTube channel again, YouTube dot com slash d
two Travel, So if you want to check out what
the uh the refurbished attraction looks like.

Speaker 4 (36:59):
More.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
But did they by one quick question before we go,
because it's been bugging me, did they do anything to
track like of the attraction? Did they quiet it down
as it seem smoother not as clunky?

Speaker 2 (37:12):
No, there are still some bumps here and there that
you know, I kind of just feel like the nature
of that attraction, but I mean everything, I guess for
that he did kind of feel a little bit smoother,
But that might have just been like, you know, my
mind playing tricks on me because of how amazed I
was at how good everything looked, you know.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
But yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
Definitely recommend checking it out the next time you're at Epcot.
And we do have some more Epcot news as well.
We he learned that we were getting Soaring across America
coming to both Epcot and so actually transitioned us to
our Disneyland news because it is also coming to Disney
California Adventure. So this is in celebration of America's semi quincentennial.

Speaker 4 (37:53):
Thank you for that, Patrick Warburton.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Which these Soaring Across America will be coming to both
parks for summer twenty two. We don't have any specific
dates or anything like that just yet, but I'm curious
to get your guys' thoughts on this too. I mean,
where do First of all, where do you stand on
sore and over California versus storing around the world?

Speaker 4 (38:11):
And now how do you feel about this new version?

Speaker 6 (38:16):
Uh? So, I only did Soreing over California once when
I was probably six years old at Disney Only End
it was, and so I remember the orange smell, and
I know everybody loves it. Yeah, but that is my
only My only like adult memories, is of soaring over
the world.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
I like it.

Speaker 6 (38:37):
I will not skip that, right, I'll do it every time.
But I think it'll be fun to have a new
show and like new scenes and smells and that kind
of stuff.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
Yeah, I've I've done. I've done every version of Soreing
that's ever been created. So out of the two, so
all of them, I did. Like all of them both. Yes,
I like Southern, I like sworn Over California the best.
The you know, the bending, the bending Eiffel Tower just
kind of annoys me, and I really hope that they

(39:06):
have taken care of that because I don't want to
see this atue of Liberty, like bent.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Over arched stuff.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Yes, absolutely, yes, I have seen them so but yeah,
I did like the orange smell, of course, because that
you know, that's a kind of addictive to your senses.
But I'm just not a fan of Soaring over the World.
I'd want to see digital polar bears from like the
Coca Cola commercials of what the early two thousand, jumping

(39:33):
into the water, that kind of stuff, Right, So you're.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Looking forward to this one. I'm excited for a new
version of the attraction. I like every iteration of it.
But I do agree I Soaring over California I think
was the better version. But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward
to a new a new video put to this attraction,
more expansion or more celebration, I should say, for America's

(39:58):
two hundred and fiftieth We're going to get of the
fourth of July fireworks at both Magic Kingdom and Disneyland,
which will now be shown on July third, fourth and
fifth at both parks. So have you guys ever seen
the Fourth of July fireworks at either one of these?
I've never seen Disneyland, obviously, I have not.

Speaker 6 (40:16):
I for my personal travel try to avoid holidays like
the plague, and so I've not gotten to see Fourth
of July.

Speaker 4 (40:24):
What about.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
Yeah, I'm in the same boat as Ali. So I
haven't been there during the Fourth of July because I
was specifically warned off of it from people in the know.

Speaker 5 (40:32):
You have Magic Kingdom's act capacity and turning people away.
I don't want to be there.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. I have done it a
couple of times. The fireworks are awesome, the fact that
you are surrounded by fireworks when you're in the park
or I actually most recently watched it from the Polynesian
from specifically the island tower of one of their garden terraces,
and you can actually you can see video of that
on our YouTube channel as well. But that was a

(40:57):
really really cool way to watch those fireworks. So it's
interesting too that I'll be curious to see if adding
this third day is that going to, you know, sort
of dissipate the crowds.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
A little bit. Maybe we don't hit capacities quite so early.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
But yeah, it's it's nice that they're going to have
a third day of these fireworks for sure. One more
piece of Disneyland news, and that is a new restaurant
coming to Downtown Disney.

Speaker 4 (41:24):
It is Gordon Ramsey at the Carnaby. It is a
sixties British themed gastropub.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
Eric, you are a Disneyland expert here, are you excited
for this one?

Speaker 3 (41:36):
Yeah, Ashley was cool. I just hope it doesn't become
a like, you know, strictly you know, I know, strictly
British food. You would expect to have their right, but
you've got to be really selective on the British foods
you actually agree, because yeah, a lot of it's boiled meat,
no matter if it's got Gordon Ramsey on it or not.
But yeah, I am excited about it. Anytime there's a

(41:59):
new restaurant and Downtown Disney, I get excited about it
and I'm kind of hoping to go there when I'm
when I'm visiting there in two weeks.

Speaker 4 (42:08):
Oh, very nice. Yeah, I trust Gordon Ramsey.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
And it's also the team behind Earl of Sandwich as well,
so I know people love Earl of Sandwich, so that's
the combination creating this new restaurant. I would I trust
that they'll do a good job. Let's jump into some
Universal news before we move.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
On to our game. Here.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
First of all, the biggest news twenty twenty six tickets
for Universal.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
Orlando are now available.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
I know it was like a long time coming waiting
for park tickets, but they are now available. It includes
multi day tickets that are available for Epic Universe. You
no longer have to have you know, three day ticket
with one day at Epic Universe. You can go to
Epic as much as you want. So that is available now.
Ask your destinations to travel advisor like Ali or Eric

(42:53):
to get you set up for your next Universal Orlando
resort vacation. Universal is also testing single attraction express passes
on Revenge of the Mummy in Universal Studio Florida and
Skull Island Reign of Kong in Universal Islands of Adventure.
So similar to the individual Lightning Lane experience over in
Walt Disney World, you can now at least as of.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
Right now, they are testing these. They are available in
the app.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
It is I want to say twenty four to ninety
nine per person for per attraction, So it's definitely you know,
a little bit pricey like that those individual lightning lane prices,
and they are available in the Universal Orlando app. I'd
be curious to see if if this catches on.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
Yeah, I've have some clients going to Universal and we did,
you know, look at adding the Universal Express Pass, not
the unlimited version of it, right, but just the standard
Express Pass, and it just was way out of their budget.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, And that I think is the idea here for
these individual attractions. If I guess if these tests, well,
you might see these pop up at some of the attractions,
like you know, maybe Hagrid's Magical Creature motorbikeer Adventure, which
is consistently the longest wait in Islands of Adventure, and
then it could expand you know, to other attractions as well.
And so you know, if if the whole Express Pass

(44:12):
is not in your budget, maybe you want to single
out one specific attraction which is nice to have that
flexibility and then the Universal and then it will break up.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
Your day a little bit too.

Speaker 6 (44:22):
I think if you can pick one or two that
are short lines, you know you're going to get on
those attractions, then you might not mind waiting in line
for the apps so that your whole day is not lines.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
You've got a couple that are going to be quick.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, you're not locked into you know, while I paid
this for the Express, I have to use Express for everything.

Speaker 4 (44:41):
So no, that that makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
And then the most exciting piece of Universal news we
got in the last couple of weeks, we got all
the details for not all the details. We got some
details for the Universal Kids Resort, which will be opening
in twenty twenty six in Frisco, Texas. We now have
the let me count this real Quick one two, three, four,
five sixty seven.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Themed lay and I'll run through the real Quick.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
I Love Curiosity, which is sort of the entrance to
the park and will be hosted by Gabby of Gabby's Dollhouse.
We've got DreamWorks, Shreks Swamp, We've got DreamWorks, Puss in Boots,
Del Mar, Illuminations, Minions Versus Minions, Bellow Bay Club, Jurassic World,
Adventure Camp, DreamWorks, Trolls Fest, Nickelodeon, SpongeBob, SquarePants, Bikini Bottom,

(45:22):
and then outside of the resort actually serving as sort
of the entrance to the resort.

Speaker 4 (45:25):
There is also a three hundred room hotel.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
I need to know what part of this Universal Kids
Park are you most excited for.

Speaker 6 (45:38):
So I am excited because so I am in Kansas City.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
Oh cool, and so.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
This feels closer to me, and so I'm kind of
excited for that.

Speaker 5 (45:49):
And then having just had a baby, I am.

Speaker 6 (45:53):
Just that much more interested in family friendly and like
younger audience things and activity, and so I'm pretty excited
about it that it's close. It's something that I think
we can do as a family. And then obviously my
nine month old doesn't care now, but I think in
a couple of years it'll be an exciting thing to
take him to.

Speaker 3 (46:14):
Yeah, I'm a big fan. I'm looking first forward to
SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom. I want to see how that
that gets pulled off. I think it could be like
super awesome if they do it right. But I'm also
a fan of like theme parks with hotel rooms at
their entrances. I just think it's a really cool. I
think that's why I like staying at the you know,
Grand Californian Hotel out here, just because I'm right there

(46:37):
and I feel like really just connected to the park
and it cuts down on my walking time too.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Yes, totally agree. I do love the idea of that
hotel being right there. And Ali, I'm with you. I
have a one year old myself, and so by the
time this park opens, she'll be just about at that
perfect age to experience this park.

Speaker 4 (46:54):
So I'm really excited to bring her out there again.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
I'm with you, Eric, I grew up on SpongeBob. Absolutely
love the idea of a bikini bottom land there. That
seems like a lot of fun. And then the there
is concept art for all of this out as well,
and again you can see that on chippincompany dot com.
The Jurassic World Adventure camp looks like, going back to
what you were saying, Ali, on your cruises, looks like

(47:20):
one of those things that I'm gonna be real awkward about, like, Okay,
I've got to play around them as a kid's attraction.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
I have to run around through this playground here. It
looks so so cool.

Speaker 5 (47:30):
Yeah, I agree, I've seen the concept art. I totally agree.
It's definitely gonna be something that I'm going to want
to be like, oh yeah, I'm.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Definitely gonna take right right exactly see.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
It, because it seems it just all seems really fun
and very nostalgic with some of the themes the Trek
and SpongeBob and like it's all kind of things I
grew up watching too.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
Yeah, the kid is totally just going to be an
excuse for us to get to play around in this park.

Speaker 5 (47:56):
That's kind of how I feel.

Speaker 6 (47:56):
About in Universal that the other Jurassic ride that you
have to write it, that thing is totally unlocked once.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
Yeah, I'm just waiting probably a couple more years I'll
be able to finally go on that attraction. And that's
the only attraction I have not been on a Universal Orlando,
So I'm waiting to complete that list.

Speaker 6 (48:18):
It looks I've always watched people swoop overhead like one day.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
All right, Like I said, you can read more about
all of those headlines and so much more over at
chippin Coompany dot com.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
But let's jump into our game.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
And since our topic of discussion tonight was a was Mickey's.

Speaker 4 (48:36):
Very Merry Christmas Party, I figured.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
We'll do a little Disney Holiday inspired would you rather question? Here,
so we each have our own would you rather question?
Around the world of you know, Disney, and the holiday
is not just necessarily the Christmas season, but any holiday.
So who does any somebody want to kick us off
in particular? Or should I start us?

Speaker 5 (49:00):
How about you start?

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
All right, so let's go with would you rather spend
Christmas in a Copper Creek cabin at Disney's Wilderness Lodge,
which to me I think is just like the perfect
Christmas location?

Speaker 4 (49:14):
Or Fourth of July in a Polynesian bungalow.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
I feel like we kind of touched on this a
little bit, but I think the idea of the fireworks
kind of being right over top of you in your
poly bungalow, it sweetens the deal a little bit.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Well, I got I gotta say one thing. Thanks for
taking the role of Brian and stealing one of my
ideas on here, Mike. So you perfectly just rip me
off to keep keep with the tradition here on the
parks and passports. That's when it comes to would you
rather game?

Speaker 2 (49:45):
I'll let Brian know that I, you know, stepped up
and filled his shoes for him. Yes, So, Ali, why
don't you you give us your answer here?

Speaker 4 (49:55):
First?

Speaker 2 (49:55):
What do you think Christmas in a Copper Creek cabin.
Fourth of July in a Polynesian bungalow, definitely Christmas.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
I thought, I thought that might be where we were
going here.

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, I would choose fourth of July in a bungalow. Nice, Okay, yeah,
just because I'd like, you know, my thing that you
stole was all about the Polynesian holiday lou wow. Oh
so now that I can't use that one.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
I thought I stole the cabin from you. I thought
that was sort of when I think of, you know,
holidays at Disney, that's immediately that's top of my bucket list.
I absolutely want to spend Christmas in one of those cabins.
And I will say I've stayed in one of those cabins.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
I've stayed in one of the poly bungalows.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
I actually slightly prefer the poly bungalow, and I think
fourth of July would be so awesome. But I just
can't picture a better Christmas location than one of those cabins.
So that's that's my answer for my own question as well, Eric,
since I stole one of yours, do you want do
you need some time to pivot to something else?

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Now I've got I have I can pivot. I've got
I've got twobits, and I'll give you, guys the choice.
Would you want one that is not possible to do anymore?
Or would you like one that is entirely possible to Oh?

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Well, now, I ali, I'll let you decide. I'm not
sure which one I want.

Speaker 5 (51:14):
Let's do not possible to do it? Okay, be nostalgic.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
This is the Star Wars Galactic Holiday Voyage. Would you
rather take your whole family on a private Star Wars
Galactic star cruise or Christmas voyage where you decorate the
ship's control deck with light sabers and R two D
deserves Hot Coco or close down Galaxy's Edge for one
night letting your kids build unlimited lightsabers while Chewbacca reads

(51:40):
Twas the Night Before Light Day?

Speaker 2 (51:44):
Now, does Chewbacca get a translator or how does that work?

Speaker 6 (51:47):
No?

Speaker 3 (51:48):
You need It's great, Tobacca.

Speaker 6 (51:52):
Man.

Speaker 2 (51:53):
Both of those sound awesome, but that is one of
my biggest Disney regrets is not getting the chance to
check out the star Cruiser.

Speaker 4 (51:58):
So I gotta go with that one.

Speaker 3 (52:01):
It's booked like the month after the cutoff date and
couldn't get in.

Speaker 6 (52:08):
I also would pick the Christmas Star Cruiser. I think
that like you painted a really great picture, was this
and the like?

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Does he have like one of the serving trays like
on Java's sale bargers?

Speaker 4 (52:22):
He just absolutely hot chocolate.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
No, No, he's absolutely got like well, let's put him.
He can do both. So he's absolutely got like the
serving tray. But he has a little arm that will
come out and fill your hot chocolate up for you.

Speaker 4 (52:33):
I love it. Yeah, okay, I'm on board, all right.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Portray Bacca didn't get any love on that one.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
They honestly they should have the life date Chubacca do that.
But we'll see how far Disney wants to go with that.
All right, Ali, what what would you rather scenario do
you have for us?

Speaker 5 (52:51):
All right?

Speaker 6 (52:51):
So, if you could only ride one ride for the
entire night, like over and over and over again, it's
not just a one and done.

Speaker 5 (53:01):
Would you rather only ride Jingle Cruise all night? You
can have different tour operators so you get different jokes and.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Pockets or small world holiday.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
This is an easy one for me.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
I'm taking Jingle c Yeah, that's the easy one for
me too, but not for the reason you're thinking.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
So are you. Are you on the small world side?

Speaker 3 (53:26):
I'm going on the world side.

Speaker 6 (53:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
See, I can take I can take the terrible puns
and dad jokes all night long.

Speaker 4 (53:32):
I can't take that song all night long. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
No, I can't take the dents and funds. It's like
I feel like jumping off the boat. I mean, I
do love to go on the John Go Cruise, but
it's like it's a one and done during the trip
for me.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
So I I think I also, I love those attractions
with a like a live narrator, because you get those
slight variations every time you ride right, it might be
a little bit different each time, so I live for
those slight changes.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Nice. Do we have time for one bonus one that
since I since you stole me?

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah, I just I want to hear Ally's answer to
her own question though too.

Speaker 5 (54:09):
Oh. I I think I would pick small worlds.

Speaker 6 (54:13):
Okay, how they like at Disneyland where they completely redo
it and it's just gorgeous, And I would just you.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
Know, glass my eyes over and ride it over and
over and over again.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
It's gorgeous that it is fair make that skipper, mind,
I don't I don't think about the Disneyland version of things.
Often that is by far the superior small world, especially
during the holidays. So that's that's a fair point, all right, Eric,
what's your what's your backup option here?

Speaker 6 (54:37):
Now?

Speaker 3 (54:38):
This was the one that you stole from me sort
of n So would you rather reserve every bungalow over
the Seven Seas Lagoon at the Polynesian Village Resort, each
with its own Christmas tree, missletoe deck and lelo and
stitch delivering breakfast and Santa hats? Or host a private
melee kliki maka fireworks louau on the Bee where your

(55:00):
family serves with Mohana and Maui joins in the hula.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
I mean, you just gave me the option of taking
every bungalow. I'm taking the bungalows.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
I think I would take the fireworks now, nice, I'm
gonna have a consensus. Yeah, I would. I would definitely
take the bungalows for sure, and then have all my
family come in and you know, make them bow down
to me for the entire week, yah side lord over
them with my Christmas Disney paths, yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
For real, and a different Christmas tree in each one too.
Are you just stealing the Disney Springs trees and just
putting them in each bungalow.

Speaker 4 (55:36):
Oh yeah, of course, all right, that was fun. I
enjoyed that.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
But let's get into our deal of the week before
we wrap up this episode. So we're going to stick
to Walt Disney World here and this spring. You can
save up the two hundred and fifty dollars per night
on a four night, four day or longer Walt Disney
World room and ticket package for days most nights from
February twenty second to July twenty fifth.

Speaker 4 (56:00):
This is one of those where you know, the sale
drops and it starts on my birthday?

Speaker 2 (56:03):
That how do I not try and take advantage of that?
Ask your Destinations a travel advisor for more information.

Speaker 4 (56:10):
Alie, thank you so much for joining us. This was great.

Speaker 5 (56:14):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 6 (56:15):
Like I said, I can talk Christmas at Disney like
both parks, either parks forever.

Speaker 5 (56:21):
I love it so much, So thanks for having me
and letting me gush about.

Speaker 2 (56:24):
It and give give our audience your email address one
more time so they can get in touch with you
to start planning their next Disney vacation.

Speaker 5 (56:31):
Yes, that is Ali, willis at d the number two
travel dot com and.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
If you need that spelling again, it will be in
the description of the episode, so you can check it
out there. Eric, why don't you go ahead and plug
your contact information as well, since I guess if people
for some reason think I'm not going to book with Ali,
I guess they could maybe decide for some reason to
book with you instead.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Maybe they would want a more West coast flair to
You can reach me at Eric that's are I C
H I L E S at D two travel dot com.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Awesome, Well, Ali, thank you again for joining us. We
will definitely have you back at some point. We got
to talk more holiday season. I'm sure a lot more
coming up Jollywood Nights for one, but yeah, there's there's
just this.

Speaker 4 (57:19):
Is such a crazy time of year for me.

Speaker 2 (57:21):
I'm always getting out to all of the holiday happenings
at the parks and sharing them on our socials. So
you'll see a lot more holiday coverage from Destination to
Travel and from Chipping Company as well.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
But Ali, thank you again, Eric, fun as always.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
Yep, looking forward to seeing you again soon. My friend
coming up here.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Yeah, we'll be back in a couple of weeks and yeah,
we're only a couple of weeks away from a Disney
Destiny cruise, so keep an eye out for that episode as.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Well special surprises.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Thanks again everyone, We'll see you all real soon.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
Bye.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
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