Going Beyond The Castle
Going Beyond The Castle is your ultimate travel podcast that takes you beyond the magical gates of Disney. Join hosts Fred, Lori and Ashley as they explore a world of vacation possibilities, diving into the best experiences from Universal Studios, Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Cruise Line, Sandals Resorts, and so much more. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just dreaming of your next getaway, tune in for expert tips, in-depth reviews, and insider secrets to make your vacation truly unforgettable.
Going Beyond The Castle
From Rope Drop to Fireworks: The Ultimate Guys' Disney Trip
What happens when a Disney veteran takes his best friend on a whirlwind first-timer's adventure through Walt Disney World? Fred and his lifelong friend Jamel join Ashley for a captivating trip report that reveals the magic, challenges, and unexpected discoveries of experiencing Disney through fresh eyes.
After seven years of planning, the duo finally made their guys' trip happen – an ambitious five-day marathon through all four Disney parks. From the moment they arrived at Animal Kingdom, Jamel was blown away by the immersive environments, outstanding food, and technological wonders that define the Disney experience. His genuine reactions to iconic attractions like Flight of Passage ("I had to tell myself out loud this is not real") and Guardians of the Galaxy ("hands down the best ride period throughout the four parks") offer a refreshing perspective on what makes these experiences so special.
The conversation takes us through their strategic approach to conquering the parks, complete with valuable insights on everything from Disney's Lightning Lane system (which Jamel initially questioned but quickly came to appreciate) to the importance of proper hydration in Florida's unexpected 90+ degree heat. We laugh along as they recount memorable dining experiences, including Jamel's enthusiastic reaction to Flame Tree Barbecue that had him talking to strangers about how amazing the food was.
Beyond the attractions and dining, what shines through is the friendship between these two men and how Disney provided the perfect backdrop for strengthening their bond. Whether it was Fred crying during Happily Ever After while Jamel remained stoically impressed, or their shared awe at visiting Oga's Cantina after park closing, these shared moments created memories that will last far longer than the trip itself.
Ready for a heartwarming, honest, and often hilarious look at Disney World through a first-timer's perspective? This episode delivers all that, plus practical tips for anyone planning their own magical adventure. Subscribe now and join our community as we continue to go beyond the castle each week!
Stay up to date with all things Going Beyond the Castle at beacons.ai/GoingBeyondTheCastle
I really enjoyed the food. That first spot we went to Flame tree barbecue. You said what? Flame tree barbecue? The combination of what was it? Coleslaw and fried onions and mac and cheese and what else.
Speaker 2:The barbecue, the pulled pork, the mac and cheese, the onions and the coleslaw. That was just. That was beautiful. He was so impressed by that first meal and I was like, no, this isn't even the peak. Like, this is a quick service. I was so happy.
Speaker 1:He was like this is amazing. I'm talking to people beside us like hey, is this your first time? This is amazing, have you tried? Like I'm not? Like who are you? I mean great food, I just had a good time.
Speaker 2:What is up and welcome back to Going Beyond the Castle. I am super excited about tonight's episode because, as you can see, my best friend, jamel Jones, is joining us, but we'll dive into that in a few minutes. Before we do dive in, I just want to give everybody a shout out. Thanks for joining us as we go beyond the castle each and every week. We wouldn't be anywhere near where we are without you guys who join us each and every week. So definitely excited that you guys who join us each night so definitely excited that you guys have joined us. Definitely excited to be here for this episode. And I will turn it over to Miss Ashley and she'll dive into some announcements, because it was a crazy week for Disney and Universal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's a lot that happened. I'm going to make it short and sweet because we're really looking forward to diving into Jamel and Fred's trip that they took a while ago. So just wanted to touch on the most important thing, which is Muppet Vision 3D has officially closed, that's dumb yeah not excited. I do think it's cool, though, that Jim Henson's daughter was the last person in line, so that was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I saw a I'm going to take us off on a rant real quick. I saw a fan theory that really hopes that, because eventually magic kingdom is going to get villains land, and so the hope is that obviously rock and roller coaster is going to transform into Muppets in 2026. And eventually villains whatever that stupid villain show is called is gonna gonna run its course, and so what they need to do is they really need to take muppets 3d, move it over there, move the fountain there and let that be a little muppet area, like I hope it's true. I mean, it's true it's a fan theory, but it would be super cool to see Muppets take over that area. They already have the stage seating in there now. I never understood the point of bringing villains to Hollywood Studios.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean it ties in with Fantasmic to a degree, but other than that, yeah, I agree, there's no real villains. Allure there, Also a really good fan theory, in my opinion. I think all of that is completely valid. I don't think it'll be Muppet Vision 3D in the state that it is today. It'll be much more technologically advanced. Which? Will not be as great.
Speaker 5:So I'll be opposite. I'm like I don't even think it was that great. Regardless, I'll be opposite.
Speaker 2:I'm like I didn't even think it was that great. I'm going to remove you from this podcast right now. Where's the eject button?
Speaker 5:I do love the Muppets, but I'm like I mean it was cool, that's so great. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're really getting. People are losing their stuff over. Wait what you said I said it's ashley and I gotta take over. After that comment, you could just no baby, go find a new podcast no, I mean, I would say it.
Speaker 5:I never said that it was like awful, I'm just like it's. I think some people are losing it.
Speaker 2:It was a work of art Truly, especially the queue, like the waiting videos, were super adorable.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yes, like the Muppets, all of that. It just sucks how much of a decline the Muppets footprint had over the years. That was a really great store, all of that. It just sucks how much of a decline the Muppets Footprint had over the years, because that was a really great store Back before they shut it down. It really was a great area Until it just started to decline. I mean, a lot of people don't know what Muppets are anymore. The newer generation coming up Wasn't raised on. Muppets.
Speaker 5:That's just what it comes down to. Yeah, we still have them in Flower and Garden Festival.
Speaker 4:We still have Piggy, oh that's true, yeah, and Kermit, um, all of this, to say that Muppets, as we know, is moving over to Rock and Roller Coaster. I don't even know what that's gonna look like and it terrifies me.
Speaker 1:I don't even ride.
Speaker 4:Rock and Roller Coaster for what it's worth. I'm a chicken, you know what, but um, everyone has until the end of this year to get their last ride in on rock and roller coaster because, uh, it's going to close the beginning of 2026 for that reefer to happen.
Speaker 5:Man, I guess me and livin have taken on a trip before the end oh, darn, yeah what amer.
Speaker 2:We have to go back.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't think it's going to happen. I'm going back in December but I don't think I'll get her back. But we did ride it in May and that was our yeah, like last hurrah, I guess We'll see, yep.
Speaker 4:We shall see Yep, all right.
Speaker 5:I think it's time let's dive into this trip. Yeah, so we're super excited. We always love when we have guests on that had just gone to a Disney trip and doing a trip report. But it's even more exciting when it's someone's first time, because you get to, you know hear about, because we've, you know, we've all been multiple times so to you know hear about someone who's experiencing it for the first time. It's just, you know it's fun and refreshing to kind of get their take on it and see. So I don't know, fred, do you want to chat a little bit first about, like how you got it started? You know, like how the trip came about?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know, like, how the trip came about? Or you want to question, let's take a trip back to may of 2018, on my very first disney trip and I, literally after day one, I facetimed jamel and I said you have to go to disney. Like I was, I'd only been there a day and I was like jamel, you have to come here, it's beautiful. And then, really, you know, over the past couple years, I mean, we had talked about, you know, getting the families together and going uh, you know, dates you know, never really seemed to to pan out. And then I think it was, you know, just after this, this, this past trip, that I went in September with Rachel and the girls that you know, jamel and I were like let's make, let's make this happen, let's make this guy's trip happen, locked in the dates. And you know, we finally made it happen after seven years of being addicted to Disney, jamel what were your thoughts going into it?
Speaker 1:Well, as we were planning this, I think what was funny was that this was like in the background, background, like on the radar, was we hadn't seen each other in a while.
Speaker 1:So it was like, hey, we need to get guy's trip going, you know whether we're, you know, at a cabin in tennessee or going to, yeah, vegas.
Speaker 1:Oh, we were just brainstorming things and then, but the undercurrent, right, the foundation, the thread was disney, and so, again, like he said, just because the schedule was all over the place for me, really more than him, and so, looking at how it kind of panned out, I was like, hey, this is, this is the week. You know, can you, let's go ahead and lock this in and so, and we did, and so through the whole process I was down for it, but stuff kept coming up and I was like, hey, don't think I'm like trying to eject on you, like when I say I'm ride or die, like I'm down. You know, it was just a matter of can, can, can we keep the date that we committed to really cannot that I committed to, because I'm telling you there was just stuff I'm gonna air it out, but there was just stuff that just kept popping up and I'm like I'm still good. I'm still good because it was wild. But no, I was.
Speaker 2:I was looking forward to it every step and I would just like to say have you seen those tiktoks going around of it's like hi, I'm fred and I did this, yeah I'm fred hi, I'm jamelle. I came to disney that was us. Jamelle literally just was there like absolutely. And I mean we talked about it like we had phone, we had a pre-planning phone calls and you know we talked dining and we talk all this stuff and Jamel was like yeah.
Speaker 1:And I got to say that's flowers to Fred, literally because of the fact that I didn't think about anything Like I was focused on teaching at conferences, teaching at churches, doing other stuff. Yeah, I was just busy with my schedule. Also, letting him know like, hey, I do appreciate you, I'm so grateful that you're doing this, because I wouldn't even know where to begin. So flowers to him for sure, and holding the ship steady while life was just being turbulent.
Speaker 4:Nice, nice. Well, let's hear about it. What were the initial plans? Where did you stay? How many days? Let's hear about it. What, uh? What were the initial plans? Where did you stay? How many days?
Speaker 2:let's get into it I'll cover the basis, the basics. Um, we did five days, monday through friday. We literally flew in, uh, first thing, monday morning, we both had direct flights coming from, you know, kentucky, new orleans. Um, met up at the airport at like 9 am, got on a mirrors connect, got off. We stayed at all-star sports, uh, which was a first for me I've stated a couple of the all-stars, but all-star sports was a first and literally got off, put sunscreen on, turned our bags into bell services and got on a bus to animal kingdom. I'm glad the priority there was sunscreen. I'm purely white, like it doesn't get wider than this, so sunscreen was a priority for me. But, yeah, we literally dropped out. We put on sunscreen, got our water bottles, filled them up, took a bathroom break and we were on our bus to animal kingdom. So, uh, monday was the animal kingdom what time did y'all get in?
Speaker 2:His flight landed. Your flight landed. What about 8? 8.30?, 8.50. And my flight landed at 9.50. And by the time we linked up, I want to say we were at All-Star Sports by 10 am. We were pretty quick to get there. But yeah, Monday was Animal Kingdom, Tuesday was Magic Kingdom, Wednesday was Hollywood Studiosuesday was magic kingdom. Wednesday was hollywood studios. Thursday was epcot. Friday was travel day. Slash me sleeping in a booth because I had the flu so you guys literally had like no off days no it was like go and he let, he left.
Speaker 2:He flew back at like like 6 am friday. So after doing four straight park days, of which were legit rope drop to like close, like sleeping six hours a night, like not stop like he, he got thrown into disney and he was right up, you know, friday morning on a plane back to Kentucky.
Speaker 1:You know, I gotta put this in.
Speaker 5:We kind of do the same thing, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Sorry, I gotta put this in Definitely. I learned quickly the first day. I think we both ran into it. Hey, if anybody didn't know, this Gatorade is your friend. We were sweating so much I'll speak for me. I know he was too, though, sweating so much that the intake of water you were just giving it back, and so it was like, hey, let's get some katorade, because animal kena was hot. I was like. I was like what is?
Speaker 5:what I usually try to do is like on it, if I know I'm going and it's super hot, I'll do a bottle of water before I leave with, like um, a hydration pack in it to at least get an initial good.
Speaker 2:You know well, and I was talking, we met up with one of my travel agent friends who lives there in orlando. Uh, and you know, her and I were having a conversation. Like that week was like record temps for me, like I've been a couple times in May and I have not seen 96, 98 degrees at Disney in May. Like usually like it's high 80s, like it's hot, but like it was hot. It was sunny. Like it was a rough week temperature-wise, like I wasn't. It honestly felt like Orlando in July.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'm over going into summer.
Speaker 1:It was beautiful, for sure. I will say the cheat code that we found in that was water. Like you said in the before you leave water again midway, then Gatorade at lunch and then water again, and then you're set Like we found the code.
Speaker 2:We were like and we were rocking each day from that. But the first one was like lord, what is this? Till the flu kicked in on thursday and I was like, okay, I don't know what this is, but I'm starting to feel and I went home healthy yeah, he did. That's all right. Fred took one for the team still feeling it. Fred took one for the team, still feeling it. Still feeling it.
Speaker 5:So I know you said that it was your first time staying at Sports. So what was the vibe?
Speaker 2:How did you feel about the resort Jamel? Let's hear your vibe.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I thought I can't compare it to anything else, right? So just initially, walking in, it felt like a probably like a 4.2 out of like five hotel. To me it was comfortable. I didn't need much because I was going for the experience, right? So I like the collapsible bed, I like that everything was clean, attention to detail on certain things that was in the room. You know it was all disney, which was really neat. You know, I just felt like it wasn't spectacular but it was great because it was a good place to lay my head to get ready to go, and I did like the fact that, after talking to Fred different moments, not moments, what do you call those? What was it? We were near the swim area and then there was another part for whatever.
Speaker 2:Each part was you had football, you had baseball, you had hockey.
Speaker 1:I thought that was neat too, I thought that was neat.
Speaker 2:But it was a good. I did a room request and we were right in the surf sub section like literally it was like a one and a half minute walk over to the buses. Oh, that's not bad at all. Yeah, I thought the resort was trash um.
Speaker 2:I mean years actually I mean I've I it, just it's one of the all-stars that needs to be updated like it really does. Like the, you know, it's the bare minimum of what you need to stay at disney, like I had. You know, like jamel said, I had a place to lay my head at night and that's all I needed because you know, from we from, we were 630, we were up 645. We were out the door seven o'clock. We were on the bus. We got back 10, 1030 at night. We were asleep by 11. I mean, it met the bare minimum. But for somebody who you know, personally would like to do some resort days and spend a little bit more time at the resorts, like I do feel like it's one of the more outdated resorts and definitely could use some updating, but it does meet the bare minimum pop century for life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that sentiment yeah, but it was, it was it's just, it's a, it's one of the outdated ones, and I mean it's a, it's the bottom of the bottom value resort, like. That's just just what it is. Yeah, like, but it was, you know, for the price that we paid for it. And again to, all I needed was a place to lay my head every night. So I can't, I really can't.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and if it's a make or break deal where you stay at one of the value resorts or you don't get to go of course. I'm going to say the Valley Resort too. You got to make things work. Yep, absolutely, but I was just curious. I've stayed at movies and music, but I haven't done sports.
Speaker 2:I loved movies. I loved the Fantasia pool. I love the vibe inside movies. I just yeah and I mean they just redid the Fantasia pool over at movies not too long ago so, like that kind of play, that kind of plays a role in it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hadn't claimed on it, but now Ashley sent me this cool little app and you can check off things that you've done. So now, like it's gonna drive me nuts Because sports is gonna be the only one that I'm not, that I haven't checked off of the value resort, so I might have to stay a night. Just so I can check it off don't.
Speaker 4:Don't hurt yourself over it. I, we're in the same boat. We've stayed at movies and music too, and we're staying at sports in September. So I will likely just like come on here and trash it yeah, I mean. I I mean I am reaching for straws trying to get my wife to change it. Like I will do. Whatever you need, I will donate plasma. I don't care, I'm going to get us to Pops and Tree.
Speaker 2:Again, like it's hard for me. Like pop is where my heart is. Like I mean I just the vibe of pop, I mean all the remodeling that they've done, the Skyliner, you know hippie dippy pool, like it's just. It's such a nice resort, especially for a value resort, and I mean being right across the street from art animation. Like, unless it's the polynesian, it's going to be hard to beat pop century for me, like that's just, that's just what it's going to come down to.
Speaker 4:That so how we're going to, oh god it's okay how we're uh, how we're crowd levels when you guys are there not bad.
Speaker 2:Epcot was a little busy. I would say that was probably the busiest park for us. On a scale of, you know, zero to ten, I would say epcot was probably around a six or seven. Uh, the other parks you know hubbard, around a four probably. You know animal kingdom was heard around a four probably. You know Animal Kingdom was beautiful, crowd-wise, didn't have any issues. I mean, magic Kingdom still wasn't bad at all. Hollywood Studios got a little bit crowded. I was really impressed that the entire Fantasmic Stadium filled up. I didn't expect that, especially, uh, especially like with how slow it was, you know being the last week before you know the summer season really hit. I just didn't expect it. But epcot was packed like it was, but I mean it's flower garden festival like. I mean it was especially in the evening, like epcot tends to be a pretty busy park as it is. But I would say it was a really decent crowd.
Speaker 5:Nice, nice. So did you guys, because it sounds like y'all did one park a day for four days. Did y'all use lightning lanes?
Speaker 2:We did. Jamel did not want to. I had explained to him that I am not a peasant. I will spend how much ever money I need. I don't wait.
Speaker 1:I do not wait in line. Let's put that in context, though. Let's put that in context. So I've been to a lot of amusement parks and like born and raised to date in ohio. One of the ones we often went to was one in mason, ohio, which is king's island, you know six flags.
Speaker 1:I've been to holiday world. I've been to, you know, cedar point. Like so the just basing off of king's island, how we grew up, and even going back when I was in college, it was like, oh yeah, we can just wait in line. I mean, kick it with your boys, you know, blase, blase, have a good time. And then before you know it, I know it's been like an hour, but you already up front, you ready to go ride that wide one time. You go ahead, eat, go on to the next thing, right again, not being there ever. I'm like, bro, I'm glad you got the lightning, because we just, I'm telling you, I looked back, okay, we were at, uh, let's just take epcot.
Speaker 1:We were heading to what's the what's, what's, what's her name? Uh, we went to frozen's. Was it ever after? Yes, we go, we go to that that ride and rope drop. We get there and I mean not even like 10 minutes, I'm like where's this line going? It was just unreal. Or even, uh, the boat ride we did up in, uh, was that animal kingdom? No, that was magic, the dad jokes yeah jungle cruise oh yeah, jungle cruise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, even that line was ridiculous, just as an example, and I'm like imagine if we didn't have these, we would be literally waiting more than what I did at Mason Ohio. So again, thank you so much Again, but my ignorance I can admit that I'm like I would have thought that would have been cool to sit in the line for an hour. That's a different type of line.
Speaker 2:It is, yeah, the worst line that we waited in, and it was solely because I wanted to test a theory, a rope drop theory, and I'm still thankful of how it panned out. But the longest line we waited in was Mickey and runaway railway was about probably 65 minutes in the afternoon, and it was. It was primarily in the sun yeah, that's not.
Speaker 5:That's a rough that one's brutal outside it is, yeah it was funny because like we were.
Speaker 2:We, of course, you know the outside is like this and you get inside and then you see the the priest show and I told you, mel, I was like we're about to wrap again. He's like no, we're not. And we walked in and started wrapping again. I'm like, I told you hey but it was worth it.
Speaker 5:I'm sorry go ahead.
Speaker 1:No, no, I'll say it was worth it to see the graphics like it was beautiful. I think it was a fun, fun ride.
Speaker 5:The animation was wonderful, but yeah, them lines, they different at disney yeah, especially the ones that start outside when it's hot, because then you're out. I mean, they do have the umbrellas in that qli, but you know there's still a lot of sunny spots and it's it's super hot, so it's hard to to maneuver through those. Yep, yeah we are.
Speaker 4:So you spent your four days. Did you park hop at all no no, you just did one park per day. So animal kingdom, jamel and then fred. What did you take away from animal kingdom, like? What was your favorite? What could you probably leave next time, if there is a next time?
Speaker 1:man, that's great. I think first of all, I didn't get to say thank you all for giving me the opportunity to get on. I appreciate that. So just the fact I want to say shout out to you all, I do follow you all you know, and on your different platforms, and so thank you for the work that you're doing and just educating people on disney, making their experience better. So I want to say thank you and flowers to all of you, cause I didn't get to do that in the beginning Cause we were, you know, uh, shooting and everything. So I just want to say appreciate that Anyway to answer your question.
Speaker 1:the general Bob I took from animal kingdom was just fun. I'm a big fan of zoos. I'm a big fan of like this, the family centric. It really it was hot but it was a ball. I mean I really enjoyed the food. That first spot we went to Flame tree barbecue. You said what Flame tree barbecue? The combination of what was it? Coleslaw and fried onions and mac and cheese and what else.
Speaker 2:The barbecue, the pulled pork, the mac and cheese, the onions and the coleslaw. That was just. That was beautiful. He was so impressed by that first meal and I was, like this isn't even the peak, like this is a quick service. I was so happy he was like this is amazing.
Speaker 1:I'm talking to people beside us like, hey, is this your first time? This is amazing. Have you tried? Like I feel like, who are you? I mean great food, I just had a good time. Was that where pandora was? Is that, is that right? Yeah, that ride is uh, flight of passage. Fight, flight of passage. It was amazing.
Speaker 1:I really I had to tell. When I told him this, because you know, vr is crazy, you know, and I don't do it often, not because it's crazy, I just don't have the means in which to go do all the time. And I tell you what, when we had a, when we did the first drop in the VR, I had to tell myself out loud. I said this is not real. Like I had to tell myself that because it was so intense. I was like, and then, when I, when I, when my brain clicked with what I said, it was like, oh, then I had a ball. I'm sitting there yelling, like you know, yelling wakandan stuff from black panther, you know, and just like, look it was, it was fun. So I think animal is just, I really enjoyed it. To me, it set the bar pretty high, starting with animal kingdom, like I just liked everything about it, like it from the food was good, the rides were good, I really thought and again, I'm a big zoo, aquarium, you know safari type of guide, so that was, that was really neat.
Speaker 5:I think that just set the tone I just have that, my favorite, love it I have to show this picture just to make laurie happy.
Speaker 2:so just to make laurie happy, just to make Lori happy, there is the very first ride that we rode Dinosaur, just for her.
Speaker 5:And then I have to show off Jamel's photo. I didn't realize that was you.
Speaker 2:Jamel's photo session.
Speaker 1:I love that tree. I love that back there, that they put that in the center.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what's on your lounge play?
Speaker 1:Aladdin, which is actually a birthday gift from Fred Nice which is also now signed by jasmine well well, we will go there real quick. Yeah, so I was waiting in line. We missed aladdin which is on me, you know, I feel like it was on me because we totally forgot and so jasmine had the opportunity or I had the opportunity to meet jasmine and she was super cool. Her calligraphy, you know, was astounding. I was like you could this is who taught you this like this was amazing.
Speaker 3:She was real nice took a picture, so I felt like I was a little kid again Epcot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was at Epcot, I gotcha. Anyway, animal Kingdom was dope.
Speaker 5:It's my favorite. I love it.
Speaker 4:Fred, you got any last thoughts on Animal Kingdom, besides the fact that I'm pretty sure it's also your favorite park?
Speaker 2:It is my second favorite park Ep. The fact that I'm pretty sure it's also your favorite park.
Speaker 2:It is my second favorite park, um f cod, is his favorite. Oh, that's right, that's right. I will say I um animal kingdom was a was a hit and run kind of park, just because we didn't get in. I think we got there probably around 10, 30 and we had to turn around and leave at four. Uh, because we had dinner reservations over at homecoming and disney springs, he didn't really get to experience the fullness that is, you know, animal kingdom.
Speaker 2:We did animal kingdom in like six hours well and there's there's so much more to do at animal kingdom. You know we've had the conversation many times that it really is a full day park Jamel. You know you really didn't get to see half the park. There's so much more to it, but it was. I mean it was a great trip, a great day. You know we hit the ground running with Dinosaur. You know we did Festival of the Lion King, which is one of my favorite shows.
Speaker 4:It's excellent Awesome.
Speaker 2:Did Kilimanjaro Safaris, did Expedition Everest, did Flight of Passage, did Navi River Journey. I think we did everything. The only thing we didn't do was Cali River Rapids, because I'm not doing it, Didn't want to get soaked. Yeah, that was really the only thing we didn't do, aside from you know, going back to Rafiki's and you know doing the animal trails. So it was. It really was a great introduction To Disney.
Speaker 5:Did you eat any snacks In the park? We did. I assume that. Since y'all left and went to homecoming, I assume that lunch was the only thing you had there Any snacks?
Speaker 2:I don't remember what it's called. I think it was the Did you have Mr Cole's fries. Yes, oh my God, this drink. It was like a combination of like a pear and a raspberry and it had the little like boba balls Best drink I think I've ever had at Disney.
Speaker 5:It was good. It was fabulous. Is there like a little cart, like right outside of pandora, where you can get the pineapple things that I get?
Speaker 2:yep, yep, so it was. That was the one snack that we did um it was. It really was amazing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, really enjoyed that drink wait, it looks delicious I feel like we need to give jamel the floor for homecoming, because I feel like he had something good to say about it.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, I mean it was good, it was good. No, I was just listening to him, I was going to just go touch back on that drink, like the boba in it was just. I mean it was just, it was good, it was good. No, I hadn't had probably going. Well, I can't make that's an assumption. From here to wherever we go, I will definitely say the shows there was not one bad one in the house, they were all good. So Animal Kingdom definitely did well with that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, they definitely have. The Lion King is probably one of my favorites. What did y'all have at Homecoming?
Speaker 2:I know I had the hush puppet. We got the hush puppies as an appetizer, which the jalapeno jam, whatever it was that came with those hush puppies was fire like I still think about those hush puppies. Um, and then I had the country fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans, and then, jamel, what did you have? You have, um.
Speaker 1:I had asparagus with I think that was grilled chicken on top of a. I think it was a better I can't remember it was a better rice or a better something, mixed veggies I think, or something like that.
Speaker 2:I'm looking at a picture. It was grilled chicken with asparagus and french fries yeah, the the three things.
Speaker 1:One, the atmosphere was dope, really enjoyed it, really enjoyed it. Two, the guest experience from the server makes it just way better. And so, yeah, dude was great. I mean, if he ever, hey, if you watch, this man forgot your, forgot your name. You were on point, you know he was on point. And then the food again. Just it's like everything leveled up. If you got the atmosphere and you got the great server, then the food has to deliver. That has to be the home run. If not, you didn't miss you, definitely. You know, messed up. It was just so good and it was filling, which it was like I hate wasting food. I don't waste food and I'm sitting here like, oh Lord, we worked it down. And then that dessert, good night.
Speaker 5:Actually hold on. What dessert did y'all get?
Speaker 1:I got the donut.
Speaker 2:I got the hummingbird cake favorite.
Speaker 5:So my husband and I it's like y'all hit my favorites all in the first day- animal kingdom is my favorite and homecoming. So when it's just josh and I, we and we try to go to homecoming almost every trip. And that hummingbird cake is amazing, it is so good it was.
Speaker 2:It was quite fabulous. There's the, there's the country fried steak oh, that looks so good oh, it was so good. It was so much like I am not one to not finish a meal and I could not finish it. Yeah, it is a lot, and, and there was Jamel's.
Speaker 1:Now.
Speaker 2:I want to say this real quick.
Speaker 1:There was a lady diagonal to me. It was on my left and I had to run over her and ask her can I take a picture of her plate? Because those deviled doubled. However people say them, eggs looked amazing and they were stacked with bacon and it looked like cilantro. I said I was about to ask you if I could have one and I'll pay her.
Speaker 5:It looked that good, you probably could have asked your server.
Speaker 1:She didn't mind. She was just like yeah, go ahead and take a picture. I was full, I didn't want anything else.
Speaker 2:I'm surprised he didn't ask the server, because this man will ask for anything. We went to a restaurant once and I got something and he was like that looks really good, can I get a sample? She brought him the whole dish wait, wait, wait.
Speaker 1:So real quick for that. So yeah, we and him were in new orleans. I was visiting him for the first time there and he had a beautiful catfish and I told the lady. I said, man, that looks really good what he's got. Can I get a sample? I mean it's crazy right. And she was like baby, we'll see. I said it's all good if you can't. I mean it just looked real good. She really came back with tired peas and said it's on the house. I said I appreciate you. Oh wow, that wasn't even my meal. I was eating something else. Oh gosh, hey, that fish was fire, though it was.
Speaker 2:That really was the.
Speaker 5:Basco.
Speaker 2:Factory if you haven't been strongly recommend it Something's flying on my face.
Speaker 5:Thanks, Forgot I was on camera. I'm like something's flying in here One of the things they do at homecoming because I get the thigh-high chicken biscuits almost every time we go but it almost every time we go, but it's too much to eat. So I'll ask them can I get a smaller portion? And then we'll give them to you, but the thigh-high chicken biscuits.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because it comes with three. That's for a smaller portion.
Speaker 5:Get it to go. I'm not going to eat it in my room. What, wow, wow. Can you please charge me full price, but give me less food?
Speaker 3:no, no, they don't charge you the full price. You can get well, you can get smaller portions for different prices.
Speaker 4:We always get the deviled eggs too. The deviled eggs when I'm on vacation.
Speaker 5:I'm not eating leftovers, I'm eating something fresh every single time that is.
Speaker 2:That is an entire episode in and of itself yeah, that's a hot take right there. Disney world do you take home your food? Yes, day one was a great day. It really was. It was kind of a nice slow introduction before the road drops apart close really happened yeah sweet yeah so where'd y'all?
Speaker 2:go second uh, monday, tuesday was magic kingdom. We got there at man. We were out the door at 645 on a bus at 7 and we were there by 720. Technically early, magic hours, or whatever it's called now, didn't start until 830. Let's not leave out that every time.
Speaker 1:Let's not leave out that every time we get to the line to get checked, it was you. Every time I think you were, you were you were animal kingdom yeah, I was magic kingdom.
Speaker 2:Once I figured out how to pack my lounge fly, I stopped getting hit. But yeah, it was a full day, magic Kingdom from open. We probably didn't leave the park until 10.30, 10.45.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was a full like 16 hour day. Yeah, what did you guys rope drop Seven dwarves Great.
Speaker 2:What did you guys rope drop? Seven dwarves. We had.
Speaker 2:Magic Kingdom for me is not one that's like super, super lightning lane for me. So we had, we purchased Tron, we had the single pass for Tron, we did the single pass for Tron, we did a multi-pass of Tiana's Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Just because the way the tiers are set up Like it really is, there's not a lot of great options at Magic Kingdom. So it was, you know, it really was great, like before the park even opened, because of course now the way it works is they let you in the park before it even opens so that you can get in line for the ride. So we were standing in line for seven dwarves for probably 20 minutes before we started actually going into the queue and then once we were in the queue, like we were on in like two minutes I want to say before the park even opened we did seven dwarves. I think we did. I think after that we did buzz lightyear race range at my space rangers spin that. We think we did one more um before the park even opened who won?
Speaker 4:who won? Space rangers spin let's hear it.
Speaker 2:I just, I would just like to show this photo hey look yo.
Speaker 1:First of all, I even understand the rules at first. Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 2:It's not hard Point and shoot?
Speaker 5:Did he cheat and not tell you?
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I got worked. I ain't going to lie, I got worked at that and in Toy Story, but that's okay. Yeah, he did, he got destroyed Hang on. Looking for it. I took a lot of pictures. Yeah, because that nice I didn't see. He gave me some tips on the aiming portion, because the way I started he's like no, no, don't do that, do this let's just say he's not the bigger number. See, of course he got received.
Speaker 4:Look at that that's still a pretty big number, though.
Speaker 1:Like I'm not going to lie. That's a big number, I'll give you that. Don't give me sympathy. No, no.
Speaker 4:I feel like some people can't even hit that number and they've been going there for years, aka.
Speaker 2:He did a good job. Yeah, at least I didn't take it and spin it so he couldn't hit anything.
Speaker 5:Like my kid does to me and draws me nuts. I told Braden I was like I'm not riding. You see, I'm getting all feisty. My son will do that to me. Every time I was like I'm not riding with you anymore if you keep spinning, he's 20. He's not a baby, that's hilarious.
Speaker 5:I'm really glad that this ride is getting an upgrade though, because I feel like a lot of times well, last time I really smack talked my whole family like I was gonna win and I didn't beat any of them but also, like a lot of times when you go on there, I feel like it needs to update because, like, sometimes it doesn't work, because the time before, when josh and I went in february, like both harley, we either one of us got hardly any points because it wasn't shooting. So it definitely needs an upgrade for sure. Yep, yep, I'll be excited for those changes.
Speaker 2:But I think we did. We did just about every major ride. I mean we did. I mean we did ever just about everything in tomorrowland. You know, we did seven dwarves, we did space mountain, we did people mover carousel progress. Buzz lightyear space rangers been on a mansion pirates. We did small world. Buzz Lightyear Space Rangers, Ben Haunted Mansion.
Speaker 1:Pirates. We did Small.
Speaker 2:World. We did Tiana's twice.
Speaker 1:I think one of my favorite rides which you didn't ask this question, but he said it twice now Overall at Magic it's Tron. I thought that was phenomenal and serious moment and then funny moment. Serious moment is that one of my dear friends passed away in a motorcycle accident, so that brought back some like good and bad out of that. But then the cool thing about the ride was that I'm like, oh, he would have loved this, just because it was smooth. You know it, I wish it was. It was like a I'm not explaining like it gave you enough, but it was like I need more, like can this ride go another two minutes, three minutes, like that's how good it was. You know I mean it was. It was just smooth, it was quick, you know, at least quick enough, right? Um, the design was great. I was like this, this is wonderful. So like, yeah, it definitely was the best ride to me in magic kingdom yeah, I think that's probably the crowd.
Speaker 4:Opinion is that it needs to be longer. Yes, it is an excellent ride. I've only ridden it once, but everyone wants it to be longer for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jamel, the instructions were very clear. When we take off, lean back and put your arms out, and apparently I was not clear and it's hard to gauge, to judge, it's hard to gauge these.
Speaker 1:It's hard to gauge when they uh, when they about to drop the picture, I'm like, hey, do I right now, right now, you know, but you gotta hold it for a minute, yeah, and then we have our fabulous tiana's picture.
Speaker 2:We don't know, we couldn't figure out why this one dude in front of us was holding up his pinky to the camera I was like like is he pulling a braid in, or what is he doing? There. No, he's holding his pinky up.
Speaker 4:That's weird.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah I don't know what that means. I still didn't look it up to this day. Yeah.
Speaker 5:I don't know, getting a cup of tea.
Speaker 2:I don't know what he was doing.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's fine. So what did you guys eat, sorry? No, you're okay, that's I know.
Speaker 4:We're all over from the script, so we just rolling with it.
Speaker 5:Ash, yeah no, I'm just gonna go day by day at this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly started the day with a cheeseburger spring roll snack fire oh yeah, you did, yeah, fire fire. Yeah, yeah, that was started the day on a high note I dream of that cheeseburger spring roll. There is nothing quite like the cheeseburger spring roll from Magic Kingdom and a nice cold water.
Speaker 5:I haven't even tried those yet.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we had that as a snack. Lunch was at, of course, columbia Harbor House. I got the lobster roll, jamil's, like I'm going to be healthy and eat some tuna, or no, you got the salmon, yeah fire. Which I hate on it, but the salmon is really, really good. Rachel absolutely loves the salmon. Yeah, that was lunch. Did we do any other snacks at Magic Kingdom?
Speaker 1:I don't recall just that one.
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I don't think we did an afternoon snack just because we knew we had Liberty Tree Tavern coming up. So of course we did dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. Jamel was super impressed by Liberty Tree Tavern.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'll tell you now, that's number one food-wise we also had a really dope waiter.
Speaker 2:The waiter was just such a cool guy. He was possibly my favorite waiter of the whole trip.
Speaker 1:Facts oh, wow.
Speaker 2:Like you could just tell, there are some people at Disney that you can tell they truly, truly love what they get to do. He was one of those people. He was so happy to be at Liberty Tavern. He was so happy to be serving us. He was just a fabulous server. Jack literally left the building to go get Jamel Powerade because he wanted Powerade.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like I don't need it.
Speaker 2:He was like, well, we don't have Powerade there's, I can go over to the cart and get you one outside. Jamel was like no, no, no, don't do that. And the dude came back with the power like he, literally went to the building. Go get Jamel powerade. Awesome. Yeah, he's gonna go, so it's a super cool dude. I think Jamel's favorite part was just the all you can eat, family style like yes, absolutely, and the food was good though food was good.
Speaker 1:The portions are right again shout out to that dude.
Speaker 1:I was like man, where the heck you from, bro, because you real chill. And I looked, I said you from new york. He's like, yeah, man, new york only come out when I watch the knicks. I said okay. I said well, thanks for holding it in, but it was just, it was a great atmosphere, man, I mean. And then I used back to the portions of the food. They cooked it well and it was like, oh, you can come back and replace this for that. Absolutely Run it. So it was good, yeah, really good.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, the cast member experience definitely makes the whole thing for Disney. I think that's why it's a totally different vibe that you get from some of the other theme parks. You know where we talk about, like how Universal. Not that their team members aren't nice too, it's just a different experience. The people at Disney truly make it what it is. You know, when you have that good experience.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Like, and that's there were a couple people like that, for yeah, I mean there were a couple people like that. For yeah, I mean there were a couple people on this trip that like just really just gave off a great. I mean there were definitely some couple.
Speaker 2:There were definitely a couple that I was like you need to go to universal um but like one of them was like this photopath person like we walked up and I'm always like, are you taking pictures right now? And she was like yep, I was like go away. Like who hurt you? I was like you got an umbrella. You're literally standing in the shade. You got water. All you gotta do is stay in here and go click. Like it's not hard, wow, but anyway, back to the food topic. So, yeah, yeah, dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern. We did get dessert twice and it was worth it, and then we also had. I had to introduce Jamel to Dole Whip.
Speaker 4:I was going to ask.
Speaker 2:Yep, we held our spot at Happily Ever After because I don't remember what time. One of the common trends that I really enjoyed about this trip on each and every day is that we did everything that I personally wanted to show Jamel, to really give him that Disney experience, and we were done super early and we had a lot of downtime in the afternoons and the evenings. It just kind of chills. So we could go and sit at Happily Ever After at 7 o'clock and we had done everything and let me give him.
Speaker 1:Let me give him flowers on this too, for real, because he may, and I make this abundantly clear to anybody. I'm not the guy you want to vacation with, like meaning that like, if we go on monday through friday, we can go hard on monday, but I'm laying around on tuesday walking around, eating, just walking, like the less is more for me. And so this trip I like that. He paced things because he knew that, like yo, if you give me too much at one time, I'm not going to want to do stuff later. So I like that. Even though we did the whole park, it wasn't like a you know buzzsaw, it was like okay, here we're going to do this and we'll space this, let's do a show, space this. We got the like. It was great, spacing, um, which that? That was very important, because I would probably wouldn't have liked the trip as much because of the spacing it was a lot like magic kingdom was easily a 16 hour day, but like it didn't work out like right.
Speaker 2:But it worked out like right. A lot of it was accidental, like it was just kind of on the fly stuff like right. You know, it really did like we were able to do something fast paced and then kind of slow down and then go do something else. It was fast paced and then kind of slow down, so yeah, but that dessert was fire like you were saying that dole whip was as it always is, just the traditional we did. I just went plain aloha isle, don't whip.
Speaker 4:So 10 out of 10 every time, every time and then the fun part was.
Speaker 2:He was all the way over back in front of cinderella's castle. So there I am with these two dough whips like speed walking because it's 95 degrees outside it and it's melting, and it's melting and I'm like move people, like trying to get it back before it melted. That was crazy.
Speaker 5:And it was still good. The big question that I want to know, jamel, did you cry unhappily ever after, like Fred does?
Speaker 1:Apparently that's a me thing. Yeah, he did that time again. I did not, not. I felt like wow, this is a very great show and very hopeful, you know. I mean, like you know, in regards to disney, hopeful.
Speaker 2:But yeah, the fireworks go over jordan fisher's singing and it's just, it's over for me every time. It just gets me right. That's so funny, I both cried that day and then. Tinkerbell goes and it's just he's starting to cry. Now I love Apple Ever After. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 4:And it's very beautiful. I'm pretty sure I cried the last time I watched it. It's a great show.
Speaker 2:It's excellent.
Speaker 5:Maybe I don't know, because I haven't been able to watch it since our first trip, because my family doesn't want to stay and watch it, they want to ride, or we're back in the room. Maybe when I go in December I'm going to watch it.
Speaker 2:You have to. It was solid. Great Love that After that we went over and did Swiss Family whatever it's called Treehouse.
Speaker 2:I love taking people up there, especially if they've never been. Like it's always so cool to see magic kingdom lit up at night, like it literally is one of the photo, perfect things. And after that we just kind of walked around, took some photos and I kept hinting at jamel it's like you know, you still get in line for another ride and he was like no, I'm good. And then we got over to tianas. He was like no, I'm good. And then we got over to Tiana's. He was like you know what, let's do Tiana's again.
Speaker 1:I was like oh yes, I really like Tiana's. I like Tiana's a lot. I really do, because I like water rides too.
Speaker 5:Did y'all get wet?
Speaker 1:Just the dropping or whatever.
Speaker 5:No, Neither time no to be if you don't want to get wet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, magic Kingdom was a really good day. I really enjoyed our day at Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 4:Did you guys watch Best Little Fantasy at all?
Speaker 2:We did In my favorite spot right there in the DVC sign-up area in Frontierland. Yep that is the best spot, I agree. It's a really good spot.
Speaker 4:Nice, are you guys ready to kick it to Day 3?
Speaker 1:Jamel, you don't have anything else to say about magic kingdom. No, I think I will say no, I'm not. I'm gonna save it because I'm a way to let you know all of them in order. I will say about magic, it's definitely what I'm used to seeing. What I mean by that is because I didn't look up anything about disney. You know, over all these years. I always see like stuff and I realize, oh, that now I'm looking, all that's been from magic kingdom, so but I think disney, I think that park, and so that makes that made a lot of sense. But overall it's a good park.
Speaker 2:It doesn't beat animal though wow, hot tank that's fair yeah, yeah, I'm not mad about it, but but yeah, I'll take it. Day three was Hollywood Studios. The original plan was to do Epcot and end with Hollywood Studios. However, which Lori texted me the morning of and thinking.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I had the days mixed.
Speaker 2:She tried to save me and I was like oh, I already got it. Epcot closed early Wednesday for a private event, so it closed at five. So swap days did Hollywood Studioswood studios. On wednesday, same rope drop plan. Like I mentioned earlier, we rope dropped millennium falcon, which was great solely because jamel and I got our own like cabin to ourselves. We both got to get a ride like and I've never got to be pilot so nice. I thought they were going to make us wait because there were people coming like shortly behind us.
Speaker 4:Yeah but he was like.
Speaker 2:He was like what do you guys want to do? And I was like I've never been a pilot. He was like all right, cool, you got your own, your own cabin, you can both be pilots.
Speaker 1:So sweet and that's one of my favorite interactives. That's a good yeah, that was so good.
Speaker 2:That was super cool. And then we also got in Alien Swirling Saucers before Rope Drop ended and I think, that was the last thing we got in.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it's hard to rope drop Hollywood Studios just because all the major attractions are so spread out.
Speaker 2:It is. Yeah, it's a pretty spread out park and there's also a lot of big attractions like that's. That's what a lot of hollywood studios is. I mean millennium falcon's not as big as it used to be, but it's still pretty popular. Rise of the resistance mickey and minnie's run a very rare way. Slinky dog dash toy story mania like it really is, like every ride has such high demand. Oh, I think after that we pulled off. We actually pulled off Rockin' Roller Coaster before Early Magic Hours ended as well, so we got those three rides in and that ride.
Speaker 5:Those are pretty spread out.
Speaker 1:That ride is the best ride to me in Hollywood. I told him after it was finished I wished it was longer. It was too short Because it reminded me of what's it called, is it no?
Speaker 2:It reminds you of.
Speaker 1:Flight of Fear, because I love it indoor like that.
Speaker 2:But I mean, we did just about.
Speaker 5:Did you ride Rise of the Resistance?
Speaker 2:We did so we had, we bought Rise of the Resistance and then we multi-passed Slinky Dog, star Tours. No, we did Tower of Terror, which we didn't ride, still salty about it, but I think at the I also we got. We got a tower of terror at the end of the day, like it was the last thing we were going to do before, or phantasmic. And I think at that point Jamel I don't think ever wanted to write it Like for the very beginning he was like which one?
Speaker 1:the tower? You didn't tell me that. Yeah, tower, you didn't tell me that. Yeah, yeah, I don't blame you, well, and mind you me either. I like to be straight up and I always say it like it is that one. I was still preparing all day, because I just don't like drops or anything that goes like this. If it's a corkscrew or a dive, all that, you won't hear me complain, I'm just part of it. But I was preparing from day one, all the way to that point, and when we were eating I said, yeah, man, I ain't gonna be able to do this, bro, I'm good.
Speaker 2:And I think for me, I think the flu had started kicking in at that point, because really I started to feel the flu on Thursday and then it hit full force Friday, but I think Wednesday evening like it kind of hit, because like after dinner I didn't really start feeling that great. And so I looked at Jamel and I was like I hate to do it, but I don't think I can write down her terror, like I'm scared, like something's going to happen if I write down her terror. So we didn't even do it. But we did. Do you know? We did Indiana Jones, we did.
Speaker 1:Frozen.
Speaker 2:Singalong. Indiana Jones is always one of my favorites. I hate how loud it is, but it is one of my favorites.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the plane scene is a little loud, for sure.
Speaker 2:We did Frozen Singalong, which was great, always top tier show there was a kid that sat behind me, that every 30 seconds went yay oh no, oh, and I was like you have children take a breath, you have your own children take a breath. But it was good. I mean he was like, and I'm, I'm solely there for the adult jokes anyway.
Speaker 1:So there was good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, yeah, we did Mickey Moose Runway Broadway, we did star tours, we did slinky dog, we did toy store and we, I think we did just about everything in that part, except for down or dare. Yeah, wow, jamel, what's the vibe? How'd you feel? What was your favorite ride?
Speaker 4:Man. Yeah, wow, jamel, what's the vibe? How'd you feel? What was your favorite ride?
Speaker 1:Man favorite ride was the rock and roll. Was that what's it called again Rock?
Speaker 4:and roll.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was my favorite. The vibe. I'm not. I think he could tell probably straight off jump, I'm not a West coast guy, I'm more Midwest East coast. You'd be like what the heck is that? Even have to do anything. I, the cali style is not my thing.
Speaker 1:So coming in, I actually had an expectation to see a few things and that's not fair, you know, because the other three I did not. I just said let me just go in, but this one, because I knew this is to me, I knew it was pixar, so I was expecting a few other people as far as uh, animations that were not there. And then I was just kind of like I felt like I enjoyed it because Star was. I'm not a Star Wars head but I still watch it to stay current with culture and I'm like man, this is well played out, well drawn out, like this was great. You know, the Toy Story was great, I think that was it and I was kind of like I felt like a little let down for a lot of what hollywood had to offer. I will say what made it really, really neat was that we we did that bar after I was gonna ask, I was gonna it was amazing.
Speaker 1:The service was yeah, oh yeah. Service is great. The drinks was great. I really feel like that was probably the really honestly, the real immersive. You know, if somebody, if people were wearing masks and stuff, that'd be wild, but like it felt like I was in any of the star wars movies sitting down or any of the dizzy plus series, just sitting down at a bar, you know, waiting for you know a jedi or or what's his name? What's his name?
Speaker 5:august cantina yes, august, I was like why? Can't I think of the name of it August Cantina. Yeah.
Speaker 4:You thinking of Luke Skywalker?
Speaker 1:No, just a Skywalker, I mean anybody who's a Jedi or I forgot a Mandalorian, mandalorian, whatever. If somebody just walked in the room like, oh my gosh. It was very immersive. So, and the drinks were great. The vibe.
Speaker 2:The music was good. I was like this. This is great, I think. I think one of my favorite parts about it was the fact that the park technically closes at nine and our reservations were for 10.
Speaker 4:So we've done that before, yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know you get 45 minutes. At 45 minutes they kick you out, they're like time to go. So by the time it was 1045, by the time we really wrapped up. So, like some of the shot, the photos that I got, like walking out of that park, like are now some of like my favorite, like let me see if I can pull this one up.
Speaker 4:Did you guys have an escort out? When we did that, somebody had escorted us to the front, so we were bummed about that.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's awesome Some of these shots that I got on my phone. I'm just like man, you would never get these during the day or later in the evening, right, yeah, last shot I took of Muppets it was just super cool to get to walk through the park and just take our time and just see it empty. Was, you know, one of the things I've always wanted to do that I've never got to do? Because, really, the past couple times I've gone, I've either been with my kids or I've been with my parents, or rachel's parents, and they're not typically ones to be like let's stay an hour and a half after the park closes, yeah, so it was super cool to get some of those shots throughout the park and just again see the park empty yeah, what?
Speaker 5:um? I didn't, I just realized what time it is. Um what? What did you guys eat? We're going way long tonight we are.
Speaker 2:That's fine. That's a trip report. Um yeah, so lunch was pizza rizzo, of course, because we you know had to close it out yeah, we had to close it out, um and get some, which was really good. I forgot how how good the pizza is a pizza rizzo. I don't think we did any snacks at hollywood studios I recall I don't remember we had talked about the blue milk but we never ended up getting it there were a couple of guys.
Speaker 2:We did it yeah, there were a couple snacks we talked about doing, but I don't think we did, and the dinner was roundup rodeo barbecue, which nice I was not impressed by really, I've heard some mixed reviews, yeah the vibe was super cool, loved the whole andy's bedroom thing and everybody frees in when andy comes in like that was super cool experience. The biscuits that they brought out I thought were the best part of the meal, like and I hate to say that like the mac and cheese was really good, like I thought it was really really rich, thick mac and cheese they had.
Speaker 2:For some reason they had mexican street corn I don't know where that fits into barbecue, but whatever, it was good, I liked it. But the meat I just was not impressed by any of the family style meat. They brought out the ribs, the brisket. What else did they have? They had ribs, brisket, sausage. I just I wasn't impressed by any of it, like it just what makes it difficult somebody who? Also. It's somebody who also smokes his own meat, like I. Just I wasn't impressed by any of the barbecue at all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think for me, I enjoyed it mainly because of the ribs, and I forgot what else was.
Speaker 2:I did like those ribs, the biscuits ribs.
Speaker 1:There was one of the other, macaroni and cheese for sure. It's hard to eat that because it feels like you're comparing it to the other. What's the other spot again? Liberty Tavern, pine Tree. Yeah, liberty Tree, liberty Tree, because stylistically it's similar and so it's like the comparison tribe is easy to be like well, yo, your food is better and it felt like Thanksgiving and the chicken was tender, the pork was tender. And then you go to Toy Story and it's like, okay, this was going on right here, but it still had some good parts to it.
Speaker 2:And our waitress was great. I loved our waitress. She was super nice, super attentive. She really was a great waitress. For sure I got that vibe from a lot of the staff inside. They were really great and again I definitely recommend going for the experience. And I mean, maybe the food will be different for somebody else, but I just again was not impressed by the barbecue.
Speaker 4:We're considering doing a fryer trip in September, but that is very good insight.
Speaker 2:Yeah. About it Like it was. Either like it, just it wasn't. Their barbecue sauce was really good, but the meat was like, either it was just too dry for me, like I was just again. Cool, vibe, just. Nah, I probably won't do it again. I'll go back to sci-fi drive in I'll give that to you so last day I've got.
Speaker 4:Yeah, let's dive into the dreaded flu that you caught.
Speaker 2:Let's just get that out of the way now, if there was a dark ride on Thursday I was asleep in it Spaceship, earth. Why am I drawing a blank on the ride over it next to Soarin' Living with the Land? Both of those I was asleep on. I mean Spaceship.
Speaker 5:Earth is a good nap ride.
Speaker 2:I really started feeling it on Thursday. The cough kicked in, sore throat kicked in the exhaustion, it all hit I was like, oh, and to be fair, you texted us.
Speaker 4:You texted us on, was it Wednesday or Thursday? And you're like I'm not built for this.
Speaker 2:Thursday.
Speaker 4:I'm tired and I was like, was like Fred, you are so weak, like what is wrong with you?
Speaker 3:like making fun of him yeah yeah, and then he's like, okay, I'm so sorry.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'll take it back.
Speaker 2:I'll take it back yeah, because like Monday, tuesday, wednesday, like I was rocking, I was going and then Thursday hit and I was like okay, I'm done. I was like three days is my limit, but yeah, just, you know, turns out I had the flu. But no, it was. I will say, you know, we rope dropped frozen, which we probably could have walked much slower than we did. Um, because, of course, not staying at a Skyliner resort, we came in front of the park and 99% of those people Are going towards Gardens and then you know A lot of the people that are coming in Through the Skyliner, they're going to Remy's.
Speaker 1:So both Jamel and I Were really hurting by the time that we got to frozen because that is a long long we were, we were booking it, uh because we were easily like we were like third or fourth in line yeah, and here's the thing like if they let you run we wouldn't be as hurt, but we had to speed walk, so shins were shins were hurting and I'm like why can't? We just take off, you know can we just jog it out?
Speaker 2:yeah, but we did, we did. Uh, we started with frozen rope, drop frozen, and then we went over and did soren.
Speaker 2:Uh, jamel loved soren so much that we got off and did it again uh before the park even opened, uh, and we waited to sit and be be row two, uh, so that way we could be center of the screen. So always always a top ride, and then most of the morning we focused on the back of the front of the park. So I think I think after soaring, I think it was pretty much time for us to go hit Guardians. We went over to Guardians Always, always the best ride at Disney.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Every time like it was just yes.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:What song did you get?
Speaker 2:I don't remember. I had the flute. That's yeah, that's accurate. That's just going to be my excuse.
Speaker 5:Got it, blame it on the excuse got it blame it on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we did, we did, you know, living with the land. We did um the seas, with nemo and friends, we did. We did the moana area, we did spaceship earth. We pretty much did that whole area, the only thing we didn't do. No, and I'm super sad, it just kind of didn't work out, uh, and we didn't do mission space because just that one. Anyway, yeah, I've got you, I could be perfectly healthy and I'm not stepping foot on mission space. Yeah, I don't do that one either. Uh, and then most of the afternoon, really all of the afternoon, was just the countries walking around, all the countries you know, getting to check out that stuff, and then we had enough time in the evening to where you know. We could just spend some time shopping on our last day over the creation shop, I think, like I mentioned on one of the episodes before when we talked about the new spaceship earth lounge lounge there's some great.
Speaker 2:There's some great chairs right outside that area back before they took the trees out. That that's apparently. The views are more important. We just got to chill out in the chairs and just kind of listen to the music and I just kind of chilled the evening before we went over and saw Luminous, and that was the wrap.
Speaker 4:Jamel what did you think about?
Speaker 5:Guardians. Oops, sorry, no, you're okay. You're okay. What was the question? What did you think about Guardians?
Speaker 1:Guardians? No, you're okay, you're okay. What was the question? What did you think about Guardians? Guardians of the Galaxy? Oh, best ride period just throughout the four parks.
Speaker 5:Absolutely yeah, definitely Just very immersive.
Speaker 1:I mean it was smooth. I like all the stuff that you well, I guess it's not really a spoiler anyway, but you see the celestials and just or one celestial, it was really great. And then getting you in just kind of explaining everything and how you are part of it, it was great. I will say, if you eat, though, before that, I'm just saying that may be a bad idea. We didn't, but I'm saying that would be a bad idea, I thought, I think. But outside of that, it hands down is number one yeah, I can't do that right, no way, really is that because it spins in the dark?
Speaker 5:You're not a coaster person at all.
Speaker 4:I'm a coaster person, but I am. I just get insanely motion sick.
Speaker 5:So I get motion sick too, and so I was very afraid, like, of the ride, but I did it. So I take boning before I'd go and go there and ride that. However, when we went in May I had, I guess I forgot to take it and I was okay, like I didn't get sick at all. So I mean, I'm not trying to encourage you, and then you go and get sick?
Speaker 4:No, yeah.
Speaker 5:But I do get motion sickness a lot. But I, I would say, do I love the ride so much that I would probably sacrifice, and even if I got a little sick, because it's not spinning the entire time, right, yeah, so you get a little bit of a break. I've ridden it once.
Speaker 4:Oh, you have yeah yeah, for anybody out there, I used the patches that you put behind your ear. So I used the patch and I loaded up on Dramamine before I wrote it and it just still rocked still gotcha yeah, gotcha well, at least you got to experience it, though.
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely and I'll try and do it again whenever I can. I guess I want to head over to the chat. It looks like we got a couple questions from amanda. She said did you see any changes that you didn't like? I think she's more focused on Magic Kingdom because she says I hate that Liberty and Frontierland are getting revamped.
Speaker 2:They haven't made any of the changes yet. Right, especially like yeah, I mean Muppets is probably the first change that we're going to see, just because you know that they just announced the close of. You know we'll see Tom Sawyer's Island close next month. Yeah, so that'll really be the first thing that we see. I will say it wasn't great to see a giant crane hovering above Thunder Mountain, big Thunder Mountain but that was probably.
Speaker 2:You know, I wouldn't consider that one of the changes. I think it'll be a while before. I think it'll probably be. I want to say probably a couple more months before we start seeing any of the big changes that disney's got coming, yeah, for sure, uh, back to epcot. Any good foods, any good eats we did lunch at um, la cantina hostienda always favorite a favorite Great food.
Speaker 2:I love going there, especially because you get a little bit of Mexico without having to go over At the table service. We did lunch there. We did go get I'm going to say this, I think we all pronounce it incorrectly La Croquette or whatever the ice cream sandwiches over at the France Pavilion. That was good. We did do that. Uh, I think that was really it. I don't think I don't think we got any other snacks and dinner was over in germany, which that point I was really feeling it like I barely ate anything yeah, he did, yeah, oh yeah I just I was feeling it at that point like it was the flu, was like right knocking on the door and was like ready to kick it down.
Speaker 5:Make my me miserable saying it's wild to me, because that whole time I kept washing my hands.
Speaker 1:I'm taking emergency, you know yeah yeah, I naturally do that when I go on long trips to go speaking or just hang out or whatever, I'm always taking one at the beginning, in the middle and the I really do in the end. Or if I don't do the beginning, I'll do middle and end, because you're always doing something I don't know, anyway.
Speaker 2:So yeah, what's crazy is, like Jamel can attest, I used hand sanitizer the whole trip. I had hand sanitizer, I had Clorox wipes.
Speaker 5:Maybe it was there before and just hadn't come out yet, like maybe you were
Speaker 2:exposed. I'm just glad it didn't hit monday because that would have been a really rough week and I would oh yeah, but no, we did eat uh dinner at beer garden, which is one of my favorites. It could have been the flu, but I wasn't super impressed. This time food was a little bit on the colder side. Jimmy woods food just wasn't as fresh to me. Some of the food wasn't super impressed. This time Food was a little bit on the colder side. Food just wasn't as fresh to me. Some of the food wasn't. But I mean, you're going to get that when you go to a buffet.
Speaker 2:It's bound to happen, but I mean the experience and the vibe that you get from Germany, and Beer Garden is always one of my favorites.
Speaker 5:Gotcha, what was your highlight from Epcot Jamal, other than Guardians being amazing?
Speaker 1:And Soarin' being great, I think for me is just the overall look and experience, because Epcot is pretty, especially during a time of, like you said, the Flower Festival, if I'm correct, going on the music. I like the selection outdoors, visiting the different countries. I think overall it's just a great experience. I really do. I got to me, I would say early or now, is that Epcot is definitely number one, like it just checks every box, really yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah Over Animal Kingdom. No way you know what, Fuck it.
Speaker 2:Animal.
Speaker 1:Kingdom. It was a tight race with Animal Kingdom. At the start of Epcot I was like but I gotta see it more to be able. And I'm like Animal Kingdom is probably a notch or two under, because I really do love Animal Kingdom. It's a notch or two underneath Epcot but Epcot definitely has got the number one spot.
Speaker 4:If Fred wasn't here, would you still say that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's why you best friends.
Speaker 4:Leave Fred out of the equation, and would you still say that?
Speaker 1:no, I really would, because, honestly, because when we came in, like I knew how I felt about hollywood and I think he could tell I was already like man, this is. I didn't like it when I first got this, but I feel like I had. I wanted to be like, oh yeah, but I'm like nah, and I think he could tell. When I got into epcot I was like, hey, can we slow down and enjoy some of these things? He's like well, let's get this first and this first and then we can go ahead. And when we did that, I was like this is just great. So, yeah, yeah, even if he wasn't here, it'd still be Epcot 1 and Animal 2.
Speaker 5:Did you guys get to ride the Skyliner or no?
Speaker 2:No, I thought of ways and I was just like that's just going to be too much work, yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think the big burning question is Jamel, would you do it again?
Speaker 1:I would not go at this pace, but I could go again, absolutely, you know, like if it was.
Speaker 2:That pace is. That's not even a pace I like going that was. We have four days, four tickets. We gotta get it all in for sure for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if I definitely would go again, it would definitely be probably one park. And then what depends? Like, if it's epcot, I would split that into two days. I agree with him on that. I'll split that in. Like, if it's Epcot, I would split that into two days. I agree with him on that. I would split that into two days. If it's animal kingdom, I would do that with Epcot. You know what I mean. Like, I it's either. I don't know how, I don't know how it worked, but I would definitely do those two.
Speaker 5:So I would do it again with those. Every time, especially my husband and I go we're like, okay, let's just make it like kind of a chill trip. But then we get there and then we just like, oh, let's do this like we'll do three of three parks in the same day, or you know, we never take a chill time.
Speaker 2:So I will tell you, like, after my september trip like I mean every trip going that I went before, like it was five days we get there on sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday you're in park. Saturday leave, like that. That's the. That is the disney trip that I was essentially raised on. But now, having gone and gotten in the break days and the resort days and the half days, like that's Disney life for me, like in the days where you sleep in and like it's cool to rope drop, but like I don't want to, I don't, like it's not fun to go to bed at 11 and then wake up at 6 and do it again like we never do open to close anymore it's definitely an experience that you have to experience, like, like at some point I feel like.
Speaker 2:But you know absolutely like, if you're going to do Disney, take the time, do the half days, do the midday naps. There's no need to try to get it all in as quickly as you possibly can if you have that ability.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, our trip in Septemberember.
Speaker 2:I think we've now got two off days, maybe three, and I'm honestly looking forward to like just hanging out at the pool with the kids, because the boys are six and seven, so like they're probably gonna look more forward to the pool than the parks for the most part, yeah, and like getting you know waking up, you know waking up when you wake up and you know going over to a different resort to get breakfast and then coming back and doing.
Speaker 2:You know, swim time like doing resort activities like there's so much to do at the resorts, like whether it's meeting characters or doing an arts and crafts thing or trivia with the you know, the cast members like there really is so much to do. Like it's called walt disney world resort for a reason because there's so much to do. Like it's called walt disney world resort for a reason because there's so much to do outside of the park.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, I also have I also, before we wrap up, have to give a quick shout out to advent health, and they were fabulous. Also, one of the things I didn't know and this was after I paid for for an Uber to get there there is an Advent Health that's right outside of Disney Springs and they actually have a free shuttle service. So if anything does happen while you're on your trip and you need to go to an urgent care, they will actually come pick you up from your resort for free, take you to be seen and then they'll transport you back to your resort.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow so good thing to know. If you ever get sick at disney which hopefully it never happens slash, buy travel insurance, because that is the sole purpose. Like, yeah, if you get sick at the beginning of your trip, that's what travel insurance is there for. Like to reimburse you for the days that you miss. Like strongly recommend travel insurance.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that's just my little quick shout out to Advent Health Lake Buena Vista. Y'all were fabulous. They thought I was gonna die because, like my blood pressure was like through the roof and they were like, are you okay? And I was like, yeah, why? They're like your blood pressure is like 200 right now scary gotta keep it interesting probably all the Celsius I had throughout the week.
Speaker 5:Fred, they're healthy Okay.
Speaker 2:They are not, they don't. It's listen, you wouldn't know. It's fine. You've never had a Celsius. I actually I have.
Speaker 5:They're so funny story they're not bad, they're not. The caffeine is not good for you, but the rest of it is. So, olivia, josh didn't want to have an energy drink, so she's like, mom, they have these drinks. They're called Celsius and it's just like a vitamin drink. So I'm like, okay, so she got one. I took a sip. I'm like, oh, this is good.
Speaker 5:So I got one and I'm like it's a pre and she had just bought a pack of them to take them with her to cheer camp last year. So I was like olivia, do not pack those. Those are energy drinks. You're gonna get in trouble it's a pre-workout. That's essentially what it is it's a pre-workout yeah, I had no idea, so like, yeah, don't drink those Olivia.
Speaker 2:Except they don't have all the stuff that monsters have in them, or bangs.
Speaker 5:It is a better version.
Speaker 2:It is a much better version. I will say it's not healthy for you. Don't drink energy drinks.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Anyway, back on topic, it would have been great if you had one on your table and you would have took a sip of it. That would have been great Liberty took a sip of it.
Speaker 1:That would have been great. All right, Liberty for sure.
Speaker 2:Yes God, I knew we were meant to be best friends.
Speaker 1:Hands down, hands down, favorite part of.
Speaker 2:Zepcot favorite restaurants. Liberty Tree Tower, and this is.
Speaker 4:I think this is going to work out for you guys. Yeah, I think we'll be fine. We've been at it for 14 years.
Speaker 2:So We've been at it for 14 years. So if it wasn't meant to be. At this point, I feel like yeah, we would have been stopped.
Speaker 1:I think we're good.
Speaker 5:I think we're good, awesome, great job. Well, thanks so much for joining us. We always love having guests on and again, like I said, you know, getting to do a trip report with someone who's experienced it for the first time is always great to get a new perspective and maybe hear some things that we hadn't thought of. So love sharing your journey with you.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you having me on. For sure, I really do.
Speaker 2:That was fun Sweet. What are we next week? Is your trip report right, Lori? I am no one so into it yet, cause last week you gave us a little teaser, and the teaser turned out to be like this long so I'm not gonna go into it, we're just gonna say I can't help it.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so next week we're talking epic universe, and now I've gotten to go for three days, so I really have.
Speaker 2:No, I did yeah, twice, twice, yeah two trips, three visits yeah so yeah, so we have lots of stuff to share.
Speaker 5:so I'm super excited. So I will work this week on sending you all my pictures and videos and stuff, so that way you'll have some stuff to share. Yep, fun stuff.
Speaker 2:Can't wait. So next week is Laurie's trip report on Epic Universe, and then the week after is going back to me. All about me this month and Disneyland.
Speaker 5:So yes, at that point it will have been like two months since I went to disneyland, so hopefully I remember it all yeah look, I just went to epic and I'm like this week I'm like I need to go take some notes, so that way I say the right stuff yeah, uh, any last words before I close out our super long episode no no, not for me. Oh, it's almost 10 o'clock, so it's almost me I know I'm feeling it.
Speaker 2:Um, jabelle, again, thank you for coming on. Um, I know you didn't really have a choice, um, but thank you for saying yes. Uh, it is a blessing to get to do life with you, uh, and I'm super glad we got to go to disney, and so thank you for coming on the podcast to you know, just kind of share your experience with us. Hey, love you, fam, appreciate it, man, okay. So, with that being said, thank you for joining us. We had quite a bit of viewers on tonight, so that was super cool just to get to have you guys on. So, again, definitely thank you for joining us this evening. We love having all of you guys to go on this venture with us, so please make sure you're sharing our content with your friends and your family. Come on the episode, ask us some questions. We love getting to interact with you guys and answer the questions that you have, so please definitely keep doing that.
Speaker 2:With that being said, there are a couple of different ways that you can reach out to us here at Going Beyond the Castle. First and foremost is our website. We do have a website where you can find everything that is and was, and always has been going beyond the castle, whether it's our video episodes, our audio episodes, our blog, current discounts going on at the parks and even going beyond the castle merch. So definitely go check that out, wwwgoingbeyondthecastlecom. For a quick and easy way to find us on social media and anywhere to listen to us is our Beacons channel beaconsai forward slash going beyond the castle.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, we have an email. If you'd like to reach out to us at our email, whether it's to ask questions or recommend a podcast episode topic, whatever it is definitely reach out to us info at going beyond the castlecom. So, with that being said, again, thank you for joining us tonight. Appreciate you guys sticking it out for us for our super long episode. Go ahead and expect the same exact thing next week, because lori likes to talk about epic universe. So yes, I do.
Speaker 5:I don't blame her, I'm not mad I might have to do we might have to do part one and part two nope you get one part, you get one shot, one shot okay I got it all right.
Speaker 2:with that being said, thanks joining us. Have a great rest of your week and we will talk to you guys next Sunday. Bye, bye.
Speaker 3:Thanks so much for hanging out with us today on Going Beyond the Castle. We hope you had as much fun listening as we did sharing. To stay up to date on all things Going Beyond the Castle, head over to our website goingbeyondthecastlecom. There you'll find more info about your hosts, both audio and video versions of our episodes, our weekly blog and even some fan favorite merchandise. Want to follow along on social media? The easiest way to connect with us is through our Beacons channel, beaconsai forward slash goingbeyondthecastle. You'll find links to all our social platforms, travel updates and giveaways in one place. And hey, if you're dreaming about your next big adventure, whether it's Disney, universal, a cruise or a tropical escape, we'd love to help make it happen. Our travel planning services are completely free when you book through us. Until next time, keep dreaming big, keep exploring and, as always, go beyond the castle.
