Recent Disney World Vacation: Our Top Ten Moments

Our whole family went on a Disney World Adventure. We explored the safari and majestic landscapes of the animal kingdom, went back in time to the 50s film craze era of Disney's Hollywood Studios, traversed many  countries and cultures in a single day in Epcot, and visited the most visited castle in the world, Magic Kingdom. 

In this episode the dialing's shared 5 top experiences each from the their most recent trip to Walk Disney World. Some moments like saving the universe on Guardians of the Galaxy cosmic Rewind, and fleeing the empire on Rise of the Resistance. 

Most of all, this trip was filled with many family filled special moments that meant a lot to us. Walt Disney World Resort has many things to offer. It is a place the brings magic when life is hard and offers a much needed escape. 

Transcript

Just because of just how wild that ride is. It's so, so crazy and it makes, makes, I remember just like going on it fearful because we had to do rider swap and I've heard so many people say like, you either hate it or love it and I.

I'm really good with like roller coasters, but recently I found on some rides I might experience some motion sickness. So before I even went in I was like super nervous, but I went on with my wife's brother-in-law, brothers and my brother-in-law, and we, I was just laughing the whole.  and we got off and we were walking weird.

And I was like, were you laughing the whole time? He was like, yeah, . Because it's like, there's nothing, there's nothing else you can do on that ride, but just like laugh and Right. You don't know where to look. I think it's wild. It's like the laugh scr. Yeah, the laugh, screaming. Yes, like ahaha, like . If you're not laughing, you're screaming.

I found when I watched a video, cause I usually don't like to watch videos of rides I've never been on. Cause I, I wanted to, to maintain kind of, you know, like the o I guess. Yeah. It's funny cuz watching the video after I got home, I didn't remember half of like. What was being video . Yeah. I was like, I don't remember.

My eyes must have been closed or something. That ride was crazy. It is wild. That's a good pick. Yeah, Tyler, Tyler got off it and he just like, kind of comes back cuz we were the same. We did ride or swaps, so Tyler and I didn't, unless it was like a family ride. Unfortunately we weren't able to ride anything together so he He comes back and he kind of just remains neutral.

And he looks at me, he's like, I'm not telling you anything . I was like, , that's an interesting . So yeah, he went and it was quite intense. I had to like sit, sit down before I went back to my, I was like, I'm just gonna take a minute, sit down. I wasn't. Or sick or anything. Right. But it was just kind of like so intense that it's almost like I needed my soul to like catch up

Yeah. It's like your center with my body. Yeah. It was like off a little bit, but you, you could still like function. I don't know. It's hard to anyway. Absolutely. So good. So good. Okay. My number, like I say four, but you know, loosely so I would say the Christmas party. Mm. So this was a really interesting experience.

I, I enjoyed it. Do I think it was worth 500 Canadian dollars for two people? No. Which is hard for me to. , I wonder, but I also wonder it's because I also had a, like our littlest guy with us mm-hmm.  So realizing that he was asleep. So we kind of had to like, make some accommodations. So maybe I'll, maybe I'll word it differently.

Not with little children. Okay. I think, I think it absolutely would've been worth it if it. Tyler and I are definitely investing in those tickets when the boys are older. Yeah. Then yes, I think it would be worth it. But like the fireworks, so it was kind of neat. So we, we got to still do everything, but we had to like be strategic about it because the fireworks would be really loud for an infant.

Right. So we got like a spot at Casey's. Somehow we had a lot of fun running around trying like the Christmas food that was exclusive right? To the party, to the event. Yeah. So we tried all the desserts and then we tried the hotdog and we somehow found these seats at Casey's and we actually got to like sit down and wash the fireworks but be almost being inside.

Okay. But the doors were open so we could still hear everything. But like our kid was kind of protected from like, Super loud fireworks. Oh, that's awesome. Some highlights from like, the Christmas party would definitely be holding Cinderella's slipper. I didn't even know that was like a photo opportunity.

I didn't know that was a thing either. Yeah, so I was like floored. I saw it. I'm like, oh, this is, this is going. And then I always wanted to do the, the lantern hold. Oh yeah. Like Rapunzel's lantern. And I know that one's a little bit more popular not, not Christmas party exclusive or anything, but I, I just finally had the opportunity to take that picture.

So I really enjoyed doing those things. The Christmas party in itself, I think there's definitely a, like a, a pace. And we were listening to like a lot of veteran Christmas party goers and like, it's like they have this routine, right? So like they do the first parade, they do the main parade, they do the fireworks, like, but they all have like this very specific order, order that they do things.

Yeah. So it was neat getting to learn from them too. So we'll probably try it again. It's just our little, our guys we're just too, Right. That's all. That's all. Yeah. This was like, kind of appreciated the trip with the young, young links. Yeah, I think, I think that's like something that I, I really wanted to do the Christmas party.

My family, like Jess and I didn't opt for it just because. It was already gonna be a, a really expensive trip. And just the days didn't really line up for us, so we just figured we would, we would kind of pass on it, because like you said, like we didn't have any, our, our son is old enough to be babysat, but he's, he's kind of also too young to handle.

I don't know. It's hard to explain. Yeah, when, when he is older, I feel more comfortable doing that kind of thing. My number three, oh, sorry, I'm on four. What? I don't know how to can't. Yeah, it would've been rise of the resistance. So that would be my fourth, I think, important experience that I had.

That was wild as well. We, we got to Hollywood studios super early in the morning. We didn't have a resort and early access like Julie did. Lucky, but, but We ran. I had no idea that I walked by you guys. Yeah, we literally were there for like 40 minutes and then we just see Julie, Tyler and the family just like walk in, like, na da da, we're there nobody waves.

We were like, nobody told us that you guys were there.  in line for like 40 minutes. People were crowding and like, it's like one of those like lines that's not an official line. So like, they're like, okay. You know, come over here now. And so people that just arrived got like closer to the front than us and were like, oh man, I, that's like a pet peeve of mine.

But yes, it's also, I don't know, it's hard to complain. We were there and so we rushed into Rise. I think the first crew got in with like 40 minutes and 30 minutes, which is pretty good. I'd say so me and me and and Jess's brother we're the rider swaps. So we had the kids for the little bit, and then we, we got to go on.

And yeah, it was really fun. I really enjoy like just the, I didn't, I didn't go through the whole queue, but I really, really love just like the acting that the, the cast members have, like when you get out and you are not to spoil anything. For anyone who hasn't listened to this, There's an iconic photo that you've seen on Rise.

It's like, I'm pretty sure it's like the photo of the ride. It's like the, the lineup of troopers. And so I'm not spoiling anything by saying when you get off the ship, like there's, you're, you're be, you're being held for interrogation or whatever, and the cast member. Okay. Go to interior interrogation pods.

That's not like a request. That is an order . But the way he said it was just like, okay, stop. Right, stop taking photos. You you, oh, anyway, you're done. Oh, it, yeah. It was a great, it was a cool experience. I personally wished I didn't see a bunch of POV videos on that just because, just experience. It is just so wild.

But it was a good time. I think mom and dad enjoyed it and I'm surprised dad did it. I'm, I'm proud of him. That's good. Yeah. I, well, I, I showed him a POV and he was like, oh, I can do that. And then he actually did smugglers, which was more of a shock to me, but, wow. Yeah. So yeah, rise was definitely up.

On definitely a bucket list item that I hit that I didn't think I was gonna hit on this trip. Right. Well, that ride, so unfortunately, the day we were there Tara Terror went down Yes. For hours. Oh. Was sad. So it caused like the lines of the other big ticket rides to just be atrocious like I think rice.

Easily over two hours most of the day. And so Tylee and I rope dropped Slinky Dog, you know, to be good parents, cuz that was like Atlas's number one, talked about it four weeks, was tall enough to ride it and then was absolutely terrified. Yeah, , I think we scarred him a little bit. It was like the end of the night, Tyler kept thinking like maybe he wanted to go back to the hotel.

So really it was like the final nudge of me being like, just wait. People are lining up two hours early for, you know, the nighttime show cuz it just came back fmic, which is wonderful, but there's no way I was waiting two hours or, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm.  in line for that and. . So when that line started, the line went down to about 30 minutes and that's when I like looked at Ty.

I'm like, okay, just go, the kids are already out late. Just go get on the ride. And like some cast members like kind of Pixie does a bit because he took my magic band with him and the off chance that they would like scan me in for a ride return. Mm-hmm. . But typically you have to, you also have to be. . But that cast member was really wonderful and, and let us do that.

I'm not sure if that's like typical. I think that was like a bit of pixie dust from a, from a cast member for us for sure. And like that honestly made Tyler's trip. So he would agree with you. That was like an insane, the guy who was like my partner on the ride was kind of cool because his, his wife, I can't remember his name, I feel.

But his wife actually helped build the ride or create the ride. Oh wow. He had this like really interesting like connection. So he was like telling me like fun facts about stuff and the things that were different about the day we were riding compared to, you know, what the ride is actually supposed to be.

Like. He was telling me about like all the changes. Mm-hmm. . So I found that really interesting. He was really. So it, like, even though I, Ty and I didn't get to ride a lot of things together, like the experiences we still had were, were pretty awesome. Cause I never would've, you know, likely met that guy or, or talked to that guy.

But I could not stop, like nervous giggling and the angry like interrogators for. There was two of them in my face,  and I, I couldn't get out of it. I was like, oh. Anyway, but I couldn't stop laughing at the same time. Mm-hmm.  because it was like nervous laughter. Anyway, it was, they were good. They were good cast members and you can tell like what a job, right?

To be grumpy at people all day. That must be lace . So relieving . Yeah. I feel like I pretty good does not have the standard of like . I think you could too. , but I love that. What a good ride. It was crazy. Yeah. This is like an experience, like the whole thing. The queue getting on your ride. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man.

Like the first 15 minutes, like I feel like the ride went on for half an hour. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. For sure.

All right. Number three. I feel like I, I don't wanna take the wind outta your sails on this one though, Nick. No, go ahead. I'm sure it's on your list too, but like our family breakfast celebrating Nick's little guy for his birthday. Yeah, that was so much fun. A little bit stressful at first because I was a little bit, not late.

I was on time. Yeah. But everyone else was there. And, and I came in later and they kept trying to give me to different families that, that weren't mine. . Yeah. That's funny. So eventually I arrived. The food was like, you know, it's so interesting. I read all these reviews of people going to places and they're, they're so harsh on the food, but that was honestly one of my favorite meals of the trip.

Right. Like the, all the breakfast things were awesome. Like easily you could find stuff for picky eaters, like no problem. You've got to try the symbol Simba waffles. And my, my favorite thing that they had really, my favorite meal of the trip was definitely like the chicken curry that they had. Right.

Which I understand is kind of a weird breakfast thing, but I think it was kind of more brunchy. Yeah, it was brunchy. Yeah. Breakfast, lunch. Yeah. No, I, I agree. It was def it's definitely on my list. It's actually my ne my second, my number two. Wait. And I, I expected there'd be some crossover. Great.

Bringing it up early. Yeah. . No, it was fun. We, when we planned this trip, we really wanted to do a meal for our family and for to celebrate Callahan. And so we had, you know, a couple cakes picked out for him. Oh, and those cakes were good. Yeah. And it, it, it was a character dining, so it's my first character experience and obviously my son.

So he was like old enough to, to, to recognize the characters and so he was bonking them on the nose and stuff and like, like wide-eyed at like how big they were. . Right. Like usually you're on my tv . Yeah. The characters were great. The, the waiter was actually hilarious. Like my mother-in-law was like, can I have some water?

And Tuskers is set in Africa, right? And so the waiter is like, well, water's hard to find in Africa. And she just looked at him like, wait, are you serious? ? Like, I can't, I can't have water. And, and he comes back with a cup and he is like, oh, I found some dripping on the side of the building. With a, and he gave her a cup and he like the whole, whole lunch, like he had that kind of dry, like sarcastic humor and it was, it was wonderful.

And every time I left he like, looked at me and spark kind of like, are people like picking up when I'm putting down? But it was, it was good. Right. You know, so it was, yeah, it, it was one, one of the. The Disney things, I think

that we could talk about was just like the, the price increases and Tuskers is, is unfortunately one of those things that got one of the price increases. So we were This is one of those things that we had to experience and I definitely think that it's gonna be something that we do again as a family when we do a trip.

Again, we're thinking about going again this spring, but we're still trying to figure it out. Woo. That'd be fun. Yeah. I do have to say though, the time of year we. . That was probably my favorite weather that we've ever had. Yeah. We got pretty lucky too, though. It wasn't super cold. Like we had a one cold night that we went when we were in the parks.

It was pretty much t-shirt weather the whole time. Yeah. But I would prefer even if it was colder, right. Because one guy was like, it's, it's unseasonably warm. Right. And, and I found like after the sun went down, you did have to put it on like a sweater. Right. Which is, which is perfect. Like I would take, I would take that over when we went in May and we're like dripping into  the sidewalk.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, it, I agree. Tuskers was. It was awesome and the weather was great. Mm-hmm. , every time we went, we went, it's so, so strange. We've never had a rain experience and we, oh man. And we've been to like seven parks, like seven full park days and we've never, that's pretty awesome. We've never had a rain experience.

But you've never really gone in like hurricane season either. No. Like, the only time we really had like rain experience was like on our honeymoon. Right. So, and it rained every day, like tres for like a few minutes or a couple hours. So I thought that's what just Florida was like. So every day, every other time we've went, it's been pretty good.

Yeah,

that was good. That was a good number three. My number three was dumb. Because, Aw, that was my son's first ride. I think it's a lot more memorable when you get to experience like rides through their eyes. He was definitely, he was, he was definitely scared. Aw. But it was, it was a cool experience. Like just, you know, doing the whole, we did photos of Mickey, we got photos in front of the castle.

You know, that whole morning routine when you go to Magic Kingdom. We got the tu share cattails at the, the cafe there. And then we went to Dumbo and it was just yeah, really fun. We did a lot of rides with him. And that would be, that would've been really memorable. And so we got, we got him Mickey, pretty much at every park.

Not intentionally at first, but then at the end it was, and we found There was like a Mickey Mouse collection that was going on, and we found the Dumbo one. It was like the 12 rides of the year, or every month there's a new ride that they highlight Mickey in. And I think the previous month was Dumbo, so we got a Dumbo Mickey, which was cool, just a, as a memento of his first ride at, at the Disney Parks.

Oh, absolutely. Not that it's like super exciting or a wild ride, but yeah.

Now I love that that was like, I don't know. Why do you think it's because of the commercials? Like there's always that family that's in the demo ride that just look like, ah, you know what I mean? Yeah. I don't know. That's a good question. So, so stink and happy I. I think I have that attachment to the ride that, that you're feeling.

Except for this. Yeah. Like you, this was the first time we wrote it cuz we had little guys and it and for us it was like Walk on. Yeah. So anyway, Atlas I think wrote it like four times. Like , it's crazy. He is kept being like again, again. And it was really rare for him to have like a moment with a ride like that.

Right. After Slinky Dog . Yes. So we definitely catered to when he really enjoyed something, we tried to be like, yes, see, rides are safe, rides are fun. , , sorry for scarring you for life on your first ride. Yeah, that was good though. I love that. My number two, I think it would have to be, there's a toss up between my next two.

I. And I think it would have to be the, the haircuts at harmony. Mm-hmm.  Barbershop. So originally we had haircuts booked for the four of us because I thought they were like, not that they weren't legit, but they don't have like a shampoo sink. Right. You know what I mean? So Tyler got his haircut to kind of show Atlas that it was going to be okay.

And Soren is just still kind of a potato. So he would, he would go with the flow no matter what, but I booked mine thinking like, oh, sweet, I can finally get my haircut postpartum. You know what I mean? . Mm-hmm. . And then I got there. I'm like, oh no, this really isn't what I thought. Like it's not a salon, right?

Like it's very much catered to like those, those kid appointments and. So there was a woman who came in that was like, oh, is there any like openings? And they were like, Nope, sorry. And she, she was basically like, oh, I'm panicking at this point. Cause I'm thinking like, oh, I'm gonna have to get some kind of haircut, I guess.

And I'm like, wait,  here. Random stranger, please get your little girl's first haircut with my appointment.  . So it was kind of fun to like pixie dust, I guess another family who wanted the same experience that we had, but like the boys looked so sweet. Yeah. And they really liked their, their people and they were really good with them.

Like white patient, which I really like. The pictures that you get of them looking in the mirror are like so sweet. I'm looking at their little hats. Yeah. In my office right now. So like what a good keepsake. Yeah. I thought it was 10. I thought it was $10 though. I didn't realize it was 30. So it's actually.

Like 30 u s d to update, I think previous episodes where we said it was $10, cuz I think maybe it used to be Okay. Yeah, I thought, I think that's probably one of the things I thought mine was like 18 for, for Callie. That was my number one guys haircut. Aw, sorry, . No, it's okay. Just taking all the thunder here.

Just kidding. No, it was, well you can add more. It was good. I, I really enjoyed that experience. Yeah, the person we had was Colleen and no, she was really, really good with our son and she was like really into getting the right angles for photos and videos. And we got some really fun ones of him like smacking the window from the inside where, where my wife was outside, like getting the capture of him under the barbershop and him smiling and stuff.

So it was kind of cool. Yeah. And the, the little hat and all that fun stuff. So we did that, and then we did Dumbo as the first ride, so it was really cool. That's awesome. We, that was kind of like our magic kingdom that we had to do. It was like early in the morning, and so, yeah. Yeah, it's hard, hard to explain.

Is the experience worth it for the child? Probably not, but for the parent it's a hundred percent. Right, like if you're a Disney fan, it's just some, some such a, a wonderful keepsake. Even that hat I think is worth more than you. You probably couldn't buy one. Those hats for as cheap as the haircut was.

Right? So that's how I see it. Because Disney's expensive. . Well, did you see the big announcement? Apparently they're rolling back. I did see some of the decisions. I did see some changes. Yeah. It's not all the way back. Bob Chk is gone since we've last recorded, so there's gonna be some changes. Is Bob Iger the answer?

I don't know. But that's for another. , what's your number one? Right? My number one. So I was . My big thing was I try not to make a big deal about it cuz I think, I think I've learned with toddlers is when you put a lot of pressure, when you have a lot of big feelings about something, it almost puts them off, right?

So I. A Prince outfit per atlas. And what I did is I made it really neutral. So when we got dressed, it was like, I didn't make a big deal about it. That was just like the clothes he was wearing. Right. So he put it on and he, he's at an age where he doesn't want to take photos. Yeah.  or, you know, like the power struggle of taking a photo.

And so I was really nervous, but I, but I really, I really tried to temper my expectations of like, if this doesn't work out, I'll just try to take some candid photos of him not looking. Mm-hmm.  at the camera. I don't know if like the star is aligned or what happened there, but , he pulled it out. It was great.

He took the pictures, he smiled. I think he liked the attention. Right. Because you see a lot of princesses around. Right. But I think it's like not unusual cuz I know people do it, but to see a little like two year old prince running around like full prince outfit Yeah. I think was, you know, people found that quite endearing.

So yeah, I think he got a lot of positive attention, which I  of course. What, what little guy doesn't like that. And I found a little one for Sorin. , but my favorite would probably be the castle pitchers, right? I really wanted to do, to do pitchers with, especially Sorin in front of all of the like, big marker.

Oh, I'm markers, that's not the right name for it, but like the icons, right? So unfortunately, if found, if found, if I didn't do it like first thing. We were either too busy, too tired, too rushed somewhere else, or he was sleeping. Right. So I was a, I was able to do it for Atlas, but I wasn't able to do it for, so where he was in all of the, oh, okay.

All of the icons, but definitely the castle picture. And then I posted it to like a group, one of the Disney. Photoshop groups. Yeah. And they were able to like add Cinderella's slipper in it in a way that actually makes it pretty realistic that it was in the picture. So like bow to that person in their photo skills.

Like even, even like the shadow of like where the sun was so crazy. That's cool. . So I think coming home with those and the fact that it just happened to. It was, it was definitely something I had my heart set on, but it definitely 100 depend, 100% depended on, you know, like atlas's temperament right of the day.

No, I'm, I'm happy that it all worked out. Me too. Yeah, it's kind of funny, you know,

I think it's all about mindset When you go to a place like Disney and, you know, just going into it, With that kind of mentality of just like, we're just gonna enjoy the day and Right. If we do the things we wanna do, that's great. If we don't, we're in Disney and we're just gonna enjoy it. So would you, out of 10, what would you rank this trip out of?

10 out of 10. Oh, boy. Well, I think it's, it was just such a different experie.  with the kids, right? So I mean like bringing the kids and actually like the way G Genie Plus works out and how everything just kind of came together. I would definitely rank this trip really high. I would probably say like eight or nine.

Yeah. Because there were all, all of this fear out there of like, you know, all of the flight craziness out there. Yeah. Lights just being. For no reason. People being stranded place, like I had so many fears of like, ta like, what am I, what am I doing taking these little guys? . What if like, we're stranded somewhere?

You know, I had all these what ifs? Everything just worked out. Worked out. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, the planes were great. The, we only had like one poor experience, which, you know, I won't explain in this. Of the whole trip and that was more of a cast member interaction and everything else. Just like it took us a while I think, to get in a groove, which is, I think the only reason why I would even like make it in the eight.

Cuz we definitely needed to like get our bearings of like two young , well one baby and one toddler in. And like the balancing of, you know, yeah. Families and naps and who's hungry and that kind of thing, I guess. Yeah. And the luggage that comes with kids in the flow, you just have to flow differently. And I think we definitely achieved that by the end of our trip.

Yeah. But we were definitely. Looking at each other being like, we definitely for the effort that you had to put in to get those babies there, we definitely should have stayed two weeks . Yeah, I hear you. Like maybe not even doing like parks all of the time, but like even just having the time at the resort.

Right. Nice. Now I hear you. So what about you? Yeah, that's a good question. I, I probably would've ranked it like a, like a 9.5 I think for what we wanted to accomplish. We did everything and more and we just wanted to, yeah, we feel like we, like, I think we did everything we want to do. Maybe, maybe you didn't eat it many restaurants that we wanted to do, but, you know, I think it was.

And no complaints. I find restaurants like there's so much time, like there'll be so much time for that. Right? Yeah. The, the one that, because I found like the ages that our kids are quick service and snacks are just like the way, the way to go. Right? No, for sure. Maybe we'll talk about that in our next episode as our top five food options that we tried for the first.

Or maybe re reoccurring and I wonder how floored our listeners are about, like, they didn't even bring up food  in their top five. Yeah, no, I know. Who are we? ? Who are we? Yeah, we, we both had very different experiences in this guy. I feel like we've seen each other, so each other only a few. This family vacation, which is funny.

I know. But with that means we have more to talk about. With Earn So True. Our next episode of Top Five Foods. Maybe we'll do, like, I don't, I don't wanna say regrets, but maybe like another word for saying like, Experiences that make, well make you think differently about something next time . Yeah.

Where you can maybe talk about the instance that you had cuz I think people should know and. Not to. Yeah. Bad talk about any one cast member, but I think, oh, I don't even have his name, but, but I don't even have his name. It would just, but parents should, it would just be to like, yeah. With that kind of warning, yeah.

It would just be to prepare people for the situation Yeah. That we found ourselves in, to avoid that in the future, . Yeah. Exactly. Anyway, if you are still listening, we thank you for following. And if you'd like to support us, there's a way to do it by ranking us, or what is it called? Leaving a review. . I haven't done this in a while.

Review ranking? Ranking? No. Ranking? No. It's review. Yeah. Leave a review on Spotify and on Apple Podcast. And yeah, that's all I have to say. Julie, do you have anything left? Until next time. And so our journey comes to an end, but yours continues on. Grab a hold of your dreams and make them come true for you are the key to unlocking your own magic.

Now go and let your dreams guide you. Reach out and find your happily ever after.