Making Memories: A Mother-Son Journey Through Walt Disney World

Host: 00:00:04

Thanks for joining us.

Host: 00:00:04

It's another episode of Wands and Wishes, the podcast for your theme park enthusiast for the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios.

Host: 00:00:12

And whether you're a Walt Disney World professional, like, go there all the time, or whether you're a newbie, and sometimes the overwhelming nature of the park can get to you.

Host: 00:00:20

One of the things I still like to do is listen to people's park experiences, their trips, how they planned it, how they executed it.

Host: 00:00:26

The things that they observed while they were down there always helps me.

Host: 00:00:30

Even though I've gone down there multiple times, I always remember some little bit of tidbits.

Host: 00:00:33

And we're going to do that today with Lauren's trip from late July.

Host: 00:00:37

She's going to give us all the details on her trip to Walt Disney World and maybe some of the things that can help you out on your next adventure down to Orlando in the Walt Disney World resort.

Host: 00:00:46

Okay, so it has been about a month since you've come back.

Lauren: 00:00:49

It has, yes.

Lauren: 00:00:51

We were there actually, starting on the first day of the lightning lane multipass, and I.

Lauren: 00:00:57

So we go pretty often as a family.

Lauren: 00:01:00

But I here in the last year or 18 months, I've decided that I really love to go one on one with each of my kids.

Host: 00:01:07

Oh, what a great idea.

Lauren: 00:01:08

And so last year, it started with my youngest, Cora was gonna be turning three in May, and so I got a harebrained idea in, like, January or February, and I said, I wanna take her one more time before she turns three, because she's free.

Host: 00:01:23

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:01:23

And so I took Cora completely by myself.

Lauren: 00:01:26

It was just me and her.

Lauren: 00:01:27

Loved it.

Lauren: 00:01:28

Absolutely loved it.

Lauren: 00:01:30

And then in January of this past year, I took my daughter, Lily, who was ten, with her best friend and her best friend's mom, who is also a friend of mine.

Lauren: 00:01:40

And so we split a room.

Lauren: 00:01:42

We went down for four days and loved that one also.

Lauren: 00:01:45

And I thought, okay, well, I haven't taken my son yet, and so last minute.

Lauren: 00:01:49

And also, I should add, I'm an annual pass holder, so sometimes I kind of feel like that girl math of, you know, I may as well use it while I've got it, you know?

Lauren: 00:02:00

So I have it until November.

Lauren: 00:02:02

So I'm like, okay, I want to go one more time.

Lauren: 00:02:04

I want to take Graham, and we're going to go in the summer.

Lauren: 00:02:07

So we did.

Lauren: 00:02:08

So we had it booked to start off on July 24.

Lauren: 00:02:14

One note is when I first booked it, just to hopefully get it as cheap as possible, I booked pop century.

Lauren: 00:02:22

And if you know me, I love a really good resort.

Lauren: 00:02:26

I love deluxe resorts at Disney.

Lauren: 00:02:28

And so I was pumping myself up about pop century, because I know it's a great resort.

Lauren: 00:02:33

It's awesome.

Lauren: 00:02:34

It's got a lot for it.

Lauren: 00:02:35

It's got the skyliner, it's got just really cool theming for kids.

Lauren: 00:02:40

But I knew just leading up to it, I was like, I'm gonna want that pool with a little more to offer, or I'm gonna want that possible sit down restaurant or something like that.

Lauren: 00:02:51

So literally, less than 24 hours before we left, I made the switch to stay at animal Kingdom lodge.

Host: 00:02:57

Oh, nice.

Lauren: 00:02:58

And I didn't tell Graham, so I was like, I'm just gonna surprise him to go.

Lauren: 00:03:05

And so anyway, so it starts with, on Wednesday, we flew down, we flew southwest, arrived at mco at, like, 430, and we got an Uber.

Lauren: 00:03:15

And I got in the Uber, and the Uber driver was like, animal kingdom lodge.

Lauren: 00:03:20

And I was like, hmm.

Lauren: 00:03:21

Uh huh.

Lauren: 00:03:22

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:03:23

And looked at Graham, and Graham looked at me, and he's like, why are we going there?

Lauren: 00:03:26

And I was like, oh, well, it's close to pop century.

Lauren: 00:03:31

And he's like, oh, so we're just gonna walk to pop century?

Lauren: 00:03:34

I was like, yeah, uh huh.

Host: 00:03:36

So he didn't catch on that the uber could have taken you to pop century?

Lauren: 00:03:40

No, thankfully, Graham just kind of takes things, and he just rolls with it.

Host: 00:03:46

I'm an adult, and I probably would have done the same thing.

Lauren: 00:03:49

Yes.

Lauren: 00:03:50

So we get to pop center.

Lauren: 00:03:52

No, not pop century.

Lauren: 00:03:53

We get to animal kingdom lodge, and it's a pouring down rain, and the uber driver pulls up underneath the awning, and it's just raining.

Lauren: 00:04:02

And we get our suitcases out, and we're standing there, and Graham looks at me, and he says, so we're gonna walk to pop century in this?

Lauren: 00:04:12

And I was like, oh, buddy, I guess we are.

Lauren: 00:04:15

I don't know.

Lauren: 00:04:16

And then he looks at me again, and I was like, well, why don't we just stay here?

Lauren: 00:04:21

And he's like, what?

Lauren: 00:04:22

Are you serious?

Lauren: 00:04:24

And so it was a really good moment of, like, this surprise that just kind of came together total last minute, so.

Host: 00:04:31

All right, so you talk about taking all of your kids down.

Lauren: 00:04:35

Yeah.

Host: 00:04:35

So how did you plan this one for Graham?

Host: 00:04:37

How do you plan the trip around each kid and what they like and what they can do, what they can't do, what they like, and what they don't like?

Lauren: 00:04:43

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:04:43

So that's the fun part.

Lauren: 00:04:44

So, with Cora, it's obviously, we pretty much ride the carousel the whole time, so it's really just, I like to be more laid back, though, because my kids go multiple times.

Lauren: 00:04:56

They're okay with that also.

Lauren: 00:04:57

And so I usually will say, hey, what?

Lauren: 00:05:01

I know what restaurants that they like to eat at, and we'll make sure that we eat at those.

Lauren: 00:05:05

I know what rides are going to be their priorities.

Lauren: 00:05:07

We do those and I know what snacks they're going to like and we do those.

Lauren: 00:05:12

And then aside from that, it really is about them.

Lauren: 00:05:16

Like, I, while I am a type a personality and I'm a micro manager at heart, I really try to go with the flow when it's just me and them because I'm like, we don't have a schedule to go on.

Lauren: 00:05:28

And so having that time to just absolutely be anything you want to do today, we're going to do it.

Lauren: 00:05:36

And if you want to sleep in today, we're going to sleep in.

Lauren: 00:05:38

If you want to stay out late, we're going to stay out late because we've done all this before.

Lauren: 00:05:43

Thankfully, that's not the way that a lot of my clients plan their trips.

Lauren: 00:05:47

They want to start at rope drop and go all the way until close, and that's totally fine.

Lauren: 00:05:52

That's the way I plan trips for clients every day.

Lauren: 00:05:55

But for me, I like more of a laid back approach and I think my kids do, too, so that they're not so tired and they can just take in the things that they like.

Host: 00:06:02

You talked about the resorts.

Host: 00:06:03

How do you balance somebody who says, I'm a go goer, I may leave and not even realize 90% of what that resort had for me.

Lauren: 00:06:12

So if somebody tells me that they are going to go sunup to sundown, then we do.

Lauren: 00:06:18

We look at that value resort because they're like, I don't care.

Lauren: 00:06:21

I don't want, I don't care anything about the resort.

Lauren: 00:06:23

I don't care what it has to offer, anything like that.

Lauren: 00:06:25

Then we look and say, hey, are you going to spend a lot of your time at Hollywood studios in Epcot?

Lauren: 00:06:29

If so, let's look at pop century or art of animation because you have access to the skyliner for an amazing price.

Lauren: 00:06:35

But then if you've got somebody that like, hey, I really think every day we're going to want to take a pool break, we're going to want to come back, we're going to want to nap, we want to come back to our room.

Lauren: 00:06:47

Then we look at a couple of different factors.

Lauren: 00:06:50

I look at number one, I love Storm along Bay over at Yacht and Beach Club, where you can walk to Epcot and Hollywood studios.

Lauren: 00:06:57

So that pool is amazing.

Lauren: 00:06:58

I also love the monorail resorts in that regard, because the strollers can just roll right on the monorail and they can come back for an afternoon break.

Lauren: 00:07:08

And then even so, if somebody says, hey, I'm going to spend a lot of time at the resort, it might even be worth it to look at club level.

Lauren: 00:07:14

Because while you're not going to get your money's worth, eating as much as you can from the lounge, that convenience and having that is kind of one of those things that I feel like once you do it, it's like, oh, wow, I didn't know I needed this till I actually was in here.

Lauren: 00:07:29

So there's definitely something for everybody in that regard.

Host: 00:07:32

All right, let's talk about Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Host: 00:07:34

Because it is, for a lot of people, it's a bucket list resort once they know what it is and what it offers.

Host: 00:07:39

It's one of those resorts.

Host: 00:07:40

People say, one day I'm going to go to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Host: 00:07:43

What were your experiences at that particular resort?

Lauren: 00:07:45

And I think you hit it on the head right there when you said, one day I want to go there, because it's one of those.

Lauren: 00:07:50

It's not super accessible when you're at Disney World.

Lauren: 00:07:53

So if you're not going to eat at Geco or Boma, then you don't really pass through it for any reason.

Lauren: 00:08:00

However, whenever I book a client at Animal kingdom Lodge, I know they're going to be happy, because when you walk in, the lobby is so grand.

Lauren: 00:08:10

It reminds me a lot of wilderness lodge, the same architect.

Lauren: 00:08:13

And so it's got really high ceilings, it's like a five or six story lobby.

Lauren: 00:08:19

And then off in the distance in the back, you can see the savannah off of the back of the lobby.

Lauren: 00:08:25

And so it's got a smell that's super, just exotic.

Lauren: 00:08:28

It's really nice.

Lauren: 00:08:30

And then you've got Jiko down below Boma, you can hear it bustling.

Lauren: 00:08:33

The lounge, that's right there, Victoria Falls.

Lauren: 00:08:36

And then several sofas and couches that are just spread throughout the lobby.

Lauren: 00:08:40

That just gives it such a nice, relaxing feel.

Lauren: 00:08:44

And then at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you can also book a resort view room, which is not going to give you a view of the savannah, but it's going to get you into animal kingdom lodge for a less expensive price.

Lauren: 00:08:56

But you still get to enjoy the entire resort as a whole.

Lauren: 00:08:59

So you can go to the different viewing areas to see the savannahs and you can get all those perks of a deluxe resort without paying for that savannah view.

Host: 00:09:07

All right, so day one of your trip with Graham, how did that work?

Host: 00:09:11

And what you were again, somebody who goes there a lot.

Host: 00:09:13

Your first day of Lightning Lane, what was that procedure?

Lauren: 00:09:17

Yeah, so it actually.

Lauren: 00:09:18

So when we arrived on the 24th, I told him once we were there, I couldn't tell him this before, since he didn't know where we were staying.

Lauren: 00:09:26

But deluxe extended evening hours were happening on Wednesday night, and I had an annual pass, so it wouldn't matter for me.

Lauren: 00:09:33

But he.

Lauren: 00:09:34

We had a four day park hopper ticket for him.

Lauren: 00:09:36

So the intention was to go to the parks Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and fly home on Sunday night.

Lauren: 00:09:42

And I said, buddy, we can go.

Lauren: 00:09:44

If you want to use your ticket tonight instead of on Sunday, we can go to the deluxe evening hours tonight.

Lauren: 00:09:51

We can go from ten to twelve and get pretty much anything we want to do in Magic Kingdom done.

Lauren: 00:09:56

But that's going to keep us from going to the park on Sunday.

Lauren: 00:09:59

as going to be storming about: 09:00

Lauren: 00:10:07

and we're like, nope, let's not do that.

Lauren: 00:10:08

So we scratched that.

Lauren: 00:10:09

We went back to our original plan.

Lauren: 00:10:10

So we got up on Thursday.

Lauren: 00:10:13

This was July 25.

Lauren: 00:10:16

Our plan was to go to Magic Kingdom.

Lauren: 00:10:18

We had made lightning lane passes for Tiana's Bayou adventure for pirates and for tomorrowland Speedway.

Lauren: 00:10:26

And so you ask, why tomorrowland speedway?

Lauren: 00:10:28

But the reason is because it goes back to those tiers.

Lauren: 00:10:32

So we couldn't choose Space Mountain, we couldn't choose Big Thunder Mountain because those are all tier one rides.

Lauren: 00:10:38

So we kind of had to have what we consider to be more throwaway rides.

Lauren: 00:10:41

As far as Tomorrowland speedway goes, we love pirates, but you have to kind of have something in place, then you can modify it.

Lauren: 00:10:50

So even if you didn't want to ride tomorrowland speedway, you can modify it.

Lauren: 00:10:54

So we actually slept in a little bit that morning, sleeping in for me, I think I woke up a little after seven.

Lauren: 00:11:01

I let Graham sleep till about eight.

Lauren: 00:11:02

We got to magic kingdom about: 09:00

Lauren: 00:11:05

I was keeping an eye on Tiana's.

Lauren: 00:11:08

It was already down for the morning, so it had technical difficulties.

Lauren: 00:11:12

So I said, okay, let's go over and ride big thunder standby.

Lauren: 00:11:15

So we went over there.

Lauren: 00:11:16

Complete walk on for that.

Lauren: 00:11:18

Tiana's was still down when it was time for our lightning lane, which was at like 945.

Lauren: 00:11:23

So we went over to Sleepy Hollow.

Lauren: 00:11:26

And I don't know if you've ever had the Nutella and fruit waffle I have at Sleepy Hollow.

Lauren: 00:11:31

And it is, oh, it's so good for breakfast.

Lauren: 00:11:34

But it's also if you're on the Disney dining plan, which we were not this time, but if you're on the Disney dining plan, it counts as a snack.

Host: 00:11:41

Oh, no kidding.

Lauren: 00:11:42

So it's like 849, but you can use one snack on that.

Lauren: 00:11:46

And really, two people can probably share that as a breakfast item.

Lauren: 00:11:49

So there's a little fun fact there.

Lauren: 00:11:52

So we finished our breakfast.

Lauren: 00:11:53

Tiana's was still down at that point, and it was time for our pirates lightning lane.

Lauren: 00:11:59

So we went over to pirates, we did our lightning lane there.

Lauren: 00:12:02

I wrote down that it had a 35 minutes posted standby wait, and we waited four minutes with lightning lane.

Lauren: 00:12:08

So that's good to know that, you know, you're saving a ton of time when you're using those lightning lanes.

Lauren: 00:12:13

And as soon as we scanned in, I grabbed a lightning lane for Big Thunder Mountain.

Lauren: 00:12:18

Since we were still in the same area, we know we like it.

Lauren: 00:12:21

We had ridden it once on standby, but we still had the ability to get it.

Lauren: 00:12:25

With lightning Lane, you can use one lightning lane per ride per day.

Lauren: 00:12:29

So we had not used that yet for Big Thunder, so we grabbed that.

Lauren: 00:12:33

After we finished pirates, we ran back over to big thunder.

Lauren: 00:12:37

That one had a posted standby of 40 minutes, and we were on the train in five.

Lauren: 00:12:41

So again, a really good use of that.

Lauren: 00:12:45

After that, we got on the railway over from frontierland over to Fantasyland.

Lauren: 00:12:54

This is a really good tip that if it is hot outside or if it is super crowded, take a ride on the train.

Lauren: 00:13:00

It doesn't take a really long time, and it's a nice, scenic, slow ride through the back of magic kingdom.

Lauren: 00:13:08

And it spits you out right over there by the barnstormer and dumbo.

Host: 00:13:11

I almost, almost always forget the train every time I go.

Lauren: 00:13:14

I think most people do.

Host: 00:13:15

I've gone on it when I was younger.

Host: 00:13:17

You know, I have pictures of me on it when I was younger, but as an adult, I don't remember ever going, ever taking the family on the train.

Host: 00:13:24

As soon as I see it in the front of the park, I almost forget the locations of where it is throughout the rest of the park.

Lauren: 00:13:30

It's a really good step saver, so my kids always will push back on it.

Lauren: 00:13:35

And I'm like, they're like, well, we'll get there faster if we just walk.

Lauren: 00:13:37

And I'm like, well, it's a bazillion degrees outside, so let's take just a minute and breathe and get on the train.

Lauren: 00:13:44

So we did that.

Lauren: 00:13:45

It put us out right there by Barnstormer and then also, I don't know.

Lauren: 00:13:49

Do you know about the little walking path that's right behind Barnstormer that goes back?

Lauren: 00:13:54

It used to go back by space Mountain.

Lauren: 00:13:56

Well, now it goes back by Tron, and not a lot of people know about that pathway.

Lauren: 00:14:01

So it's nice, it's quiet.

Host: 00:14:03

Kind of runs the back end of the Maryland speedway.

Lauren: 00:14:05

So we did that.

Lauren: 00:14:07

So we walked from the train over to Tron, and we did our lightning lane for Tron.

Lauren: 00:14:12

That took all in all, about ten minutes to get on the ride by going through the locker and going through the pre show, and then we were off of that in ten minutes.

Lauren: 00:14:22

One side note is if you do a virtual queue, expect a lot longer wait time.

Lauren: 00:14:27

eue is you can do it still at: 07:00

Lauren: 00:14:32

but we purchased the lightning lane, so I think we paid $17 each.

Lauren: 00:14:39

For me, that cost of the convenience is worth it.

Lauren: 00:14:44

If you do the virtual queue, depending on the time of year, how crowded it is, expect to wait anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes for the ride.

Lauren: 00:14:51

Basically, the virtual queue is like getting you into a standby line.

Host: 00:14:55

How would you rate the crowd?

Host: 00:14:56

It's late July, it's summer, but there's always been these reports.

Host: 00:15:00

Attendance was down, attendance was up, et cetera.

Host: 00:15:03

Where did you find mid July or late July to be?

Lauren: 00:15:06

So I tend to agree with the reports that the attendance is down in the summer.

Lauren: 00:15:10

I think really, because of the heat of, you don't have as many people that are traveling as you would on any school break other than summer.

Lauren: 00:15:20

So fall break, spring break, Christmas break, you're always going to find higher crowds than you do in the summer.

Lauren: 00:15:25

It was definitely manageable.

Host: 00:15:27

Yeah.

Host: 00:15:27

Okay, so I want to.

Host: 00:15:29

It may be difficult to answer this because you've been around this with the lightning lanes and whatnot for a long time, but did you find it without the bias of, I've done this before.

Host: 00:15:37

Did you find it easy if you put your mind into somebody that had never done this before, was it manageable or is it, does it take a little practice or does it take a little seasoning before you actually hit the park?

Lauren: 00:15:48

So if I had never done genie plus before, also, I would find it to be a little bit difficult.

Lauren: 00:15:55

It is similar enough to Genie plus that if you did that system, it's definitely manageable.

Lauren: 00:16:02

However, I will say to get it and to really be successful at it in refreshing to get better times, things like that.

Lauren: 00:16:11

That's really going to take a seasoned, a seasoned person to be able to navigate that.

Host: 00:16:17

Yeah.

Host: 00:16:17

Because that's one of the things you can do for somebody is give them a guided, help them out with that.

Lauren: 00:16:21

Absolutely.

Host: 00:16:22

That's kind of the key because if you really don't know, it's very difficult and it can be frustrating when it's hot and you're kind of new to this and you're wondering, am I ruining my vacation?

Host: 00:16:30

Because I don't really know how to navigate this.

Host: 00:16:32

It's nice to know if somebody can help you out and say, look, before you even go, we've got these things, or we're going to have this the day of.

Host: 00:16:37

You're going to be good to go.

Lauren: 00:16:38

Yes, absolutely.

Lauren: 00:16:39

Because somebody is going to be in their phone pretty much the majority of the day.

Lauren: 00:16:44

And so if you can kind of know what you're doing, doing or have somebody that is in your ear helping you know what you're doing, then it will help tremendously.

Host: 00:16:50

All right, so now, magic kingdom, did you guys complete go to the end or did you guys leave early?

Lauren: 00:16:55

So after tron, we did a couple more.

Lauren: 00:16:57

We just, we knocked out a couple more lightning lanes really quick for mad tea party and for Barnstormer.

Lauren: 00:17:02

And then when we finished those two, we knew we wanted to go to Epcot later in the day because we had dining reservations there.

Lauren: 00:17:08

So we did a mobile order, actually, for lunche.

Lauren: 00:17:11

Our favorite thing at Magic Kingdom is the corn dog nuggets at Casey's corner.

Lauren: 00:17:16

And so we actually, we split an order of those.

Lauren: 00:17:19

So this is another good thing when you're going with just one kid or just a couple of people know that a lot of the quick service meals can easily be split.

Lauren: 00:17:28

They're really great portions, especially the drinks.

Lauren: 00:17:31

We got one coke and it's ginormous.

Lauren: 00:17:33

So I just went out and got a water cup that's sitting out by the water jug and just poured a little of his coke into a cup.

Lauren: 00:17:40

And that way we're only spending money on one meal.

Lauren: 00:17:43

But it was plenty for both of us.

Lauren: 00:17:45

Cause we had just had that waffle a little bit earlier, but so, yeah, so we had corndog nuggets.

Lauren: 00:17:50

Tip.

Lauren: 00:17:50

If you can find indoor seating at Casey's corner in the summer, do it.

Host: 00:17:55

Oh, no doubt.

Lauren: 00:17:56

Just wait a little bit because it was so blazing hot and I knew that I didn't want to sit outside, but that's what I wanted for lunch.

Lauren: 00:18:03

And so there's just a few tables inside at Casey's corner.

Lauren: 00:18:06

And I kind of just walked in and kind of looked around to see who was almost done.

Lauren: 00:18:10

And thankfully, there was one that was almost finished, and we were able to eat in the air conditioning.

Host: 00:18:14

All right, so how long did you stay at Magic Kingdom before you boogied over to the epcot for the dining?

Lauren: 00:18:19

So at this time, it was about: 1230

Lauren: 00:18:22

So we had been at Magic kingdom about 3 hours.

Host: 00:18:24

Okay, so you got a lot in, in the 3 hours.

Host: 00:18:26

I mean, a lot of it was the lightning lane, but you got a lot of stuff in in those 3 hours.

Lauren: 00:18:31

Yes, we did.

Lauren: 00:18:31

We really, we were able to make the most of that 3 hours, but not just completely busting it, either.

Lauren: 00:18:37

So we, as soon as we were done with lunch, we actually hit the monorail.

Lauren: 00:18:41

We took the monorail.

Lauren: 00:18:42

When you're going to Epcot, you take the second stop over on the monorail from.

Lauren: 00:18:46

Or you can take the express monorail.

Lauren: 00:18:47

But if you're on the resort monorail, it's going to stop at contemporary, and then it's going to go to the transportation and ticket center, where you get on the Epcot monorail.

Lauren: 00:18:54

It's a quick ride over to Epcot, about eight minutes or so.

Lauren: 00:18:57

Once you're over at Epcot, then you go in the front of the park.

Lauren: 00:19:01

I had grabbed a lightning lane before we got there for Soarin, so we actually went straight to Soarina.

Lauren: 00:19:08

We did that one.

Lauren: 00:19:09

I want to say the wait time on that one was listed at about 50 minutes.

Lauren: 00:19:14

Soarin is one of those that even with a lightning lane, expect to wait just a little longer for that, just because of the way that they load their theaters.

Lauren: 00:19:21

I'm not sure really what the holdup is, but we waited maybe, like, ten to twelve minutes on that one.

Lauren: 00:19:27

I immediately grabbed a living with the land lightning lane.

Host: 00:19:31

You needed a lightning lane for living with the land?

Host: 00:19:33

No, I think I've waited a total of 20 minutes my entire life for living with the land.

Lauren: 00:19:38

We did not need one, but it's one of those things that.

Lauren: 00:19:41

Okay, well, I can get one.

Lauren: 00:19:43

So I'm going to scan my magic.

Host: 00:19:45

I want a quick question about that.

Host: 00:19:47

I want to go back to the lightning lane, because hearing this story, it seems like anything that you were looking at, like, let's just do that right now.

Host: 00:19:53

How did the lightning lane work?

Host: 00:19:54

get a pass say, come back at: 07:00

Host: 00:19:59

But you were like, let's just do that right this instant.

Lauren: 00:20:02

So there's a couple of different strategies that people will use.

Lauren: 00:20:05

I tend to be one that likes to use them more of, like, a crank and use.

Lauren: 00:20:08

So, like, whatever I see that is available in immediately if we even remotely want to do it.

Lauren: 00:20:14

I get that one because I know if we're close by and we can use that one in five minutes, I can see what else is available.

Host: 00:20:20

So go back to Soarin, which is a very popular ride.

Host: 00:20:22

What was the time from the moment you saw it, from the.

Host: 00:20:25

So you didn't just get to epcot and go, well, why don't we just do Soarin right now?

Lauren: 00:20:28

No.

Host: 00:20:29

What was the time gap between that?

Lauren: 00:20:31

So I actually wrote that down.

Lauren: 00:20:33

And so when we were at Magic Kingdom, I grabbed that right after we had finished at Barnstormer, before we had a mobile order for lunch.

Lauren: 00:20:42

ad finished at Barnstormer at: 12:00

Lauren: 00:20:51

We ate our lunch.

Lauren: 00:20:52

We finished there about: 1230

Lauren: 00:20:54

We were at Epcot by about: 01:00

Lauren: 00:20:56

Before we went to Soarin, we.

Lauren: 00:20:58

We went through the journey.

Lauren: 00:20:59

Journey of water.

Lauren: 00:21:00

Journey through what?

Host: 00:21:01

Moana.

Lauren: 00:21:02

Yeah, the Moana attraction.

Lauren: 00:21:04

So we did that really quickly.

Lauren: 00:21:05

And then I've also learned that with the lightning lanes, they will let you scan in at least five minutes early.

Host: 00:21:12

Yes, I heard this, too.

Lauren: 00:21:13

Sometimes a little earlier than that.

Lauren: 00:21:16

And so I tend to be one that tries to push it a little bit.

Lauren: 00:21:20

If we're a little early, they're definitely more lenient on if you're a little later than if you're a little early.

Host: 00:21:29

So always be kind of playing 3d chess in your mind.

Host: 00:21:32

We're going to be at this location.

Host: 00:21:34

Why don't.

Host: 00:21:34

I want to keep checking now if I know we're leaving in an hour to go to another park.

Host: 00:21:39

Keep looking, keep looking, keep looking.

Lauren: 00:21:40

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:21:41

And try to keep the geography of the parks in mind because you don't want to book something that's going to be on the complete opposite side of the park, knowing that, like, if we have a lightning lane for guardians that we've already booked and purchased, we don't want to book something that's over at Remy's ratatouille adventure because it's on the other side of the park.

Host: 00:21:59

2012, I had a fast pass for Soarin and a reservation at Viva Napoli.

Lauren: 00:22:03

And.

Host: 00:22:06

I missed the reservation run the.

Lauren: 00:22:08

Marathon back over there.

Host: 00:22:09

And he knew when we got off a soren, I'm like, that thing is all the way across this water.

Host: 00:22:13

We're not going to make it.

Host: 00:22:14

Like, just hopefully they'll seat us.

Lauren: 00:22:17

That's when you just go and you just.

Lauren: 00:22:19

I'm so sorry.

Lauren: 00:22:20

And they're usually so kind about us.

Host: 00:22:22

I said, I had a reservation.

Host: 00:22:24

Like, we had a reservation at seven.

Host: 00:22:27

And I said, we had.

Host: 00:22:28

I said, oh, I had a reservation, 715.

Host: 00:22:30

Just to see what she would say.

Host: 00:22:32

She says, well, we don't do reservations on the quarter hour.

Host: 00:22:35

I said, all right, you caught me.

Host: 00:22:36

We were on a ride.

Host: 00:22:37

I'm sorry, but they got us in.

Lauren: 00:22:40

That's awesome.

Host: 00:22:41

All right, so dinner.

Host: 00:22:42

Where did you.

Host: 00:22:42

Or dinner at epcot?

Lauren: 00:22:43

So speaking of Viannopoly, that's where we went.

Lauren: 00:22:46

That's Graham's favorite.

Lauren: 00:22:47

It's my favorite also.

Lauren: 00:22:48

It is amazing every single time that we go there.

Lauren: 00:22:51

So we had reservations there at 530.

Lauren: 00:22:54

This was after, I should say, graham had two rides on guardians of the Galaxy, because I don't ride guardians, but I purchased two single passports for him.

Host: 00:23:02

Good for him.

Lauren: 00:23:02

So he was able to ride twice.

Lauren: 00:23:04

And then we went over and had dinner at Vianapoli.

Lauren: 00:23:06

I had the spaghetti and meatballs.

Lauren: 00:23:08

Graham had the chicken fettuccine Alfredo.

Lauren: 00:23:11

We had salad.

Lauren: 00:23:12

It was so delicious.

Lauren: 00:23:14

So once we finished that, we finished up with our last lightning of the day, which was Remy's ratatouille adventure.

Lauren: 00:23:20

This is one that I do not expect to get same day.

Lauren: 00:23:23

But I did.

Lauren: 00:23:23

I got lucky.

Lauren: 00:23:24

I was actually sitting in Starbucks while Graham was on Guardians of the Galaxy, and I was charging my phone, and I was just refreshing the app and happened to see Remy's come available, and I was able to grab it.

Lauren: 00:23:35

So we did that one.

Lauren: 00:23:37

That was the last thing that we did that night and finished up our day.

Host: 00:23:40

Okay, so you go back to the resort, any resort fun, or did you guys get tuckered out?

Lauren: 00:23:46

We did a night swim that night, so that was one of our favorite things to do.

Lauren: 00:23:50

We went down.

Lauren: 00:23:51

I actually sat in the hot tub for a bit while he did the slide probably 50 times over and over.

Lauren: 00:23:57

It wasn't super crowded that night, so we were able to enjoy it for about an hour or so.

Lauren: 00:24:02

And then we went back and got ready for the next day.

Host: 00:24:05

Okay, so day two.

Lauren: 00:24:06

Yeah.

Host: 00:24:06

Now, how are you prepping the second day of where you want to go, what you want to do, how you want to do it.

Lauren: 00:24:12

So that's another good thing about the new system is.

Lauren: 00:24:15

When the new system dropped on July 24, we were able to book every day's lightning lanes at one time.

Lauren: 00:24:22

So I knew where we were going to go.

Lauren: 00:24:24

We actually had plans to go to Typhoon Lagoon that morning.

Lauren: 00:24:28

And we knew we had lightning lanes at Animal Kingdom after that.

Lauren: 00:24:31

And then we wanted to finish up our day at Magic Kingdom.

Lauren: 00:24:33

So we kind of just said, you know what?

Lauren: 00:24:37

Let's get to Typhoon Lagoon.

Lauren: 00:24:38

I had read the best strategy was to rope drop Typhoon lagoon.

Lauren: 00:24:42

And so we got there at.

Lauren: 00:24:44

We took the first bus to Typhoon Lagoon, which got us there, about 930.

Lauren: 00:24:49

We got inside.

Lauren: 00:24:50

I did not get a locker.

Lauren: 00:24:52

You know, maybe I.

Lauren: 00:24:54

Maybe you should get one.

Lauren: 00:24:56

But I was just, I used maybe a trusting attitude and said, you know what?

Lauren: 00:25:00

We're going to find a chair.

Lauren: 00:25:01

We're going to put our phones on this chair and our towels and whatever else.

Lauren: 00:25:05

So that was pretty much all we brought.

Lauren: 00:25:07

But the strategy that I had read that was best, and I do agree with this.

Lauren: 00:25:11

After doing it, we did the family raft first.

Lauren: 00:25:14

Then we went and we did three rides on crush and Gusher, which is the water coaster.

Lauren: 00:25:18

es, and we were done there by: 1110

Host: 00:25:27

Okay.

Host: 00:25:27

That's very cool.

Lauren: 00:25:28

Yeah.

Host: 00:25:29

All right, so then you go back to the resort to go change up for your day at Animal Kingdom.

Lauren: 00:25:33

Yes.

Lauren: 00:25:34

So we did a very quick change after that.

Lauren: 00:25:37

We went to animal kingdom.

Lauren: 00:25:38

Our lightning lane that day were for Everest safari and Lion King, the show.

Lauren: 00:25:47

Yes.

Lauren: 00:25:48

And then we also had lightning lane single passes for flight of passage.

Lauren: 00:25:52

This is another one I don't do.

Lauren: 00:25:54

So Graham actually got to ride twice on flight of passage, and I went to Nomad lounge.

Host: 00:25:59

Okay, very nice.

Lauren: 00:26:00

Yes.

Lauren: 00:26:01

So it's close enough that I just texted him.

Lauren: 00:26:04

I said, I'm going to be right down here at Nomad lounge.

Lauren: 00:26:06

I sat in there, had a beverage, waited for him to get done, and then after he was done with his second ride on that, that was the first thing we had done that day.

Lauren: 00:26:14

We did safari.

Lauren: 00:26:15

Knocked that right out.

Lauren: 00:26:17

We had lunch at the quick service for yak and Yeti.

Lauren: 00:26:21

The only thing that I will say, I wish we had done differently.

Lauren: 00:26:24

I wish we had not had lunch there this day because it was so hot and there's nowhere to sit inside.

Lauren: 00:26:32

So if I could go back and do it again, I would have gone to setuli canteen, which is my favorite quick service at Animal Kingdom.

Lauren: 00:26:38

But then we did, we did a couple rides on Everest, because we had a lightning lane for it.

Lauren: 00:26:43

And then they have a single rider line.

Lauren: 00:26:44

Single rider line is a great way to knock it out if you don't mind who you're sitting with.

Lauren: 00:26:50

It works very similarly to a lightning lane.

Lauren: 00:26:52

You grab, you get in there.

Lauren: 00:26:54

Anytime that there's an odd number party, they throw a single rider in with them.

Lauren: 00:26:58

So that moves really quickly.

Lauren: 00:26:59

And so then we were done there, and I actually had scored.

Lauren: 00:27:03

After.

Lauren: 00:27:04

After scanning in on one of our lightning lanes there, I was able to score a Tiana's bayou adventure, which, going back to the day before, I should add, tiana's never came back open that day.

Lauren: 00:27:14

Oh, yeah.

Host: 00:27:14

Okay.

Host: 00:27:14

Yeah.

Host: 00:27:14

Cause you mentioned it was technical difficulties.

Lauren: 00:27:17

On your first day, so we were never able to get on that day.

Lauren: 00:27:21

So I was super happy we were able to grab Tiana's, and then I had also grabbed another lightning lane just to stack on there.

Lauren: 00:27:28

I think it was for Space Mountain.

Lauren: 00:27:30

So we ran over to Magic Kingdom.

Lauren: 00:27:32

So this had been a long day already.

Lauren: 00:27:34

we got to magic Kingdom about: 04:00

Lauren: 00:27:41

We did Tiana's.

Lauren: 00:27:42

It's so cute.

Lauren: 00:27:44

It's just.

Lauren: 00:27:45

It's fun.

Lauren: 00:27:47

We also had beignets where they're serving beignets from the quick service, and that was really good.

Lauren: 00:27:53

We did Space Mountain, and then we had a dinner reservation that night over at the Polynesian at Kona Cafe.

Host: 00:27:59

All right, now go back to the resort.

Lauren: 00:28:03

Yeah.

Host: 00:28:03

Any night swimming at that point?

Lauren: 00:28:04

I think we did.

Lauren: 00:28:05

So we swam.

Host: 00:28:06

Even though you went to Typhoon Lagoon?

Lauren: 00:28:08

Yes.

Lauren: 00:28:08

So we swam three out of the four nights that we were there.

Lauren: 00:28:11

So I do think that we swam this night.

Lauren: 00:28:14

We had dinner.

Lauren: 00:28:15

We might have taken a little loop on the monorail.

Lauren: 00:28:18

We did shopping a couple different nights on the monorail loop, and I think this was one of those nights.

Lauren: 00:28:22

And then we went back, but you'll see.

Lauren: 00:28:24

So, for me, we don't do a lot of.

Lauren: 00:28:27

Of the nighttime shows in the parks.

Lauren: 00:28:32

Not because we don't like them, but just after dinner, we just kind of are like, okay, well, let's see what we can get into that's just kind of laid back and calm.

Host: 00:28:42

All right.

Host: 00:28:42

Day three.

Lauren: 00:28:43

Yeah.

Host: 00:28:43

So when you wake up in the morning, you're all set to go.

Host: 00:28:45

Where do you go?

Lauren: 00:28:46

Where do you think we're going now?

Host: 00:28:47

Hollywood studios.

Host: 00:28:48

You haven't mentioned anything about Hollywood studios.

Lauren: 00:28:50

So, originally, when I had made plans, and this was before I made my lightning lane, passes this week when they dropped.

Lauren: 00:28:57

Originally, when I had.

Lauren: 00:28:58

When I had thought about the itinerary, the reason that I waited on Hollywood studios is that rock and roller coaster was not set to reopen until July 27.

Lauren: 00:29:07

Okay, so for that.

Host: 00:29:08

So very smart planning on your part.

Lauren: 00:29:10

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:29:10

And so it ended up opening a couple weeks early.

Lauren: 00:29:13

So it had been open this whole time, but this is why I intentionally waited to go to Hollywood studios for this day.

Lauren: 00:29:20

We could have hopped over there any other day, but it just didn't end up being the best thing in our plans.

Lauren: 00:29:26

So we actually.

Lauren: 00:29:27

We got to Hollywood studios for early entry to try to get a few rides on rock and roller coaster, and it did not open with.

Lauren: 00:29:34

With early entry.

Lauren: 00:29:36

It normally does open with early entry, but it had a delayed opening that day.

Lauren: 00:29:41

So.

Lauren: 00:29:42

So that day, we did not start with rock and roller coaster.

Lauren: 00:29:46

Slinky dog that started about: 10:00

Lauren: 00:29:57

So we did Toy Story mania, and then we saw that rock and roller coaster was open at that point, and so we went over, and then it was down again.

Lauren: 00:30:07

This was a whole saga all morning, and so we're waiting, and a group of probably 15 people was waiting.

Lauren: 00:30:15

You know where those benches are that are right outside the standby line of rock and roller coaster?

Lauren: 00:30:20

And we're just watching, like, talks at all the cast members that are standing there.

Lauren: 00:30:24

And then all of a sudden, we see a cast member put a thumbs up.

Lauren: 00:30:28

And this was probably an hour and a half after park opening, so everybody races over there, and we're probably 10th in line at that point.

Lauren: 00:30:40

We're on the very first train that goes for the day.

Host: 00:30:42

Nice.

Lauren: 00:30:43

And at first, I was like, do I really want to be on the first train that goes for the day after it's been down for an hour and a.

Lauren: 00:30:48

Yeah, half.

Lauren: 00:30:49

But so we were able to ride through twice really quickly and get that knocked out for the morning.

Lauren: 00:30:55

And so that was a really fun way to start the day, knowing that we were on the first train of.

Host: 00:30:58

Now, do you do that ride?

Lauren: 00:31:00

I do.

Host: 00:31:00

Okay, so you do that ride, but you don't do flight of pass?

Lauren: 00:31:03

Yes.

Lauren: 00:31:03

So I.

Lauren: 00:31:04

So, really, it's more the simulators that bother me.

Host: 00:31:08

Oh, I hear this all the time.

Lauren: 00:31:09

Yeah.

Lauren: 00:31:10

And then guardians.

Lauren: 00:31:11

There's something disorienting about guardians for me.

Host: 00:31:14

All right.

Host: 00:31:14

Yeah, no, I hear that all the time.

Host: 00:31:15

If it's.

Host: 00:31:16

There's something about the vision and stuff like that that gets the throws them.

Host: 00:31:19

So I want to ask you, did you ride the mania in early entry?

Host: 00:31:24

Was that part of early entry?

Lauren: 00:31:25

We did, yes.

Lauren: 00:31:26

So we did that.

Host: 00:31:27

I go back and forth.

Host: 00:31:28

I love early entry and I like late.

Host: 00:31:30

But now people are posting videos of, like, this is what early entry is like, and it's just an ocean of people that looks like rope drop.

Lauren: 00:31:36

Yes.

Lauren: 00:31:37

So it does look that way at early entry.

Lauren: 00:31:39

And I think this is where it comes back to having a strategy.

Lauren: 00:31:43

And I did this back in January as well.

Lauren: 00:31:46

We tried to rope drop Slinky dog dash with early entry, and it's very intimidating when you first get there.

Lauren: 00:31:53

I always suggest to my clients, if early entry starts at 830, get there at 745.

Lauren: 00:31:59

I know that's crazy, but you're going to be towards the front of that sea of people.

Lauren: 00:32:04

And so once you're in there, then you know which way to go.

Lauren: 00:32:08

You also need to study the map, whether that's digital or whether that's a paper map.

Lauren: 00:32:13

Know which direction you're going to go.

Lauren: 00:32:15

If you're going to go to rise of the resistance, you're going to take a left off of Hollywood Boulevard.

Lauren: 00:32:18

If you're going to go slinky dog dash, you're going to go up past runaway railway and you're going to go down those stairs and around the corner.

Lauren: 00:32:25

You got to have a plan, because if you don't, you're going to get lost.

Host: 00:32:28

That's right.

Host: 00:32:28

That's right.

Host: 00:32:29

I always, with the holiday parties, you can get in at four, but you got to be there at three.

Lauren: 00:32:35

Yup.

Lauren: 00:32:35

You got to rope drop it because that line, it will back up.

Lauren: 00:32:38

And then it's really, it's overwhelming.

Host: 00:32:40

All right, so dinner plans at Hollywood studios, or did you bounce out of there and go somewhere else?

Lauren: 00:32:44

So we bounced back out of Hollywood studios and we.

Lauren: 00:32:49

So I will say this day, we also built a droid.

Host: 00:32:52

Oh, nice.

Lauren: 00:32:53

And that was a last minute decision.

Lauren: 00:32:55

Graham was like, I really want to build a droid.

Lauren: 00:32:57

And I was like, okay, well, let's see if there's any availability.

Lauren: 00:32:59

So we had done rise of the resistance.

Lauren: 00:33:02

We did Millennium Falcon.

Lauren: 00:33:03

We had lunch at docking bay seven, which is the quick service over in Galaxy's edge.

Lauren: 00:33:07

And then we built the droid.

Lauren: 00:33:09

And after we built the droid, we both decided we wanted to go back and kind of just take a rest, maybe play around with the droid a little bit in the room.

Lauren: 00:33:17

So we went back.

Lauren: 00:33:18

He did that for a little bit.

Lauren: 00:33:19

We took a quick swim, and then we went back over to Magic Kingdom again because we had Space Mountain, and I had also scored another tiana's.

Lauren: 00:33:27

So we did some of the favorites again.

Lauren: 00:33:29

We do a lot of Space Mountain, a lot of big thunder.

Lauren: 00:33:33

We did Tron again this day because you can buy two lightning lane single passes per day, depending on the park, so it can be one in one park.

Lauren: 00:33:42

If one park has two of them, you can do two in one park.

Lauren: 00:33:45

Had done rise of the resistance this day and Tron.

Lauren: 00:33:49

So we did those two or three things, and then we hopped over to one of my favorites for dinner, which is steakhouse 71 at contemporary.

Lauren: 00:33:57

So we took.

Lauren: 00:33:58

We took the monorail over there, went down my very favorite meal to get.

Lauren: 00:34:04

It's not an entree on the menu, but I get a Caesar salad and I get the bacon and eggs, and it is unbelievably delicious.

Lauren: 00:34:12

It's a poached egg on and, like, stone ground cheese grits and, like, a delicious, like, maple pork belly.

Lauren: 00:34:21

I don't know if any of this is right, but it was so good.

Lauren: 00:34:24

So we had that that night, and we finished up the night by doing a monorail loop.

Lauren: 00:34:29

We shopped at all the shops and got the sisters a little something.

Lauren: 00:34:32

And then we went back and we did our swim.

Host: 00:34:35

All right, so that's day three was the ending of day four, so we.

Lauren: 00:34:38

Still had day four.

Lauren: 00:34:40

And I wish.

Lauren: 00:34:41

I wish if it had not rained the first night, that we could have gone back and done this differently, because I kind of felt like we felt like we had to go to a park the next day, but it was kind of one of those things that we really didn't want to.

Lauren: 00:34:52

I wish we had just done a pool day.

Lauren: 00:34:54

So we went back to Hollywood studios.

Lauren: 00:34:55

We just mainly did the things that we.

Lauren: 00:34:58

That we loved there.

Lauren: 00:34:59

Again, we did slinky dog.

Lauren: 00:35:01

We did several rides on rock and roller coaster.

Lauren: 00:35:03

Again, we did.

Lauren: 00:35:07

We didn't go back to Galaxy's edge this day, I don't think.

Lauren: 00:35:10

We did toy story mania, slinky dog, and a couple of rides on rock and roller coaster.

Lauren: 00:35:14

And then we were out of there.

Lauren: 00:35:15

I think we got there at: 09:00

Lauren: 00:35:17

were out of there probably by: 1045

Host: 00:35:19

Wow.

Host: 00:35:20

So an hour and 45 minutes you got.

Host: 00:35:21

So, again, crowd levels were pretty moderate.

Lauren: 00:35:23

It was very moderate.

Lauren: 00:35:24

It was not bad at all.

Lauren: 00:35:26

flight that day was at, like,: 06:00

Lauren: 00:35:29

so we still had a little time.

Lauren: 00:35:30

I knew that we needed to leave the resort by, like, 334 o'clock at the latest.

Lauren: 00:35:35

And so Graham was like, can we go to Disney Spring?

Lauren: 00:35:37

I love Disney Springs, so I don't love Disney Springs.

Host: 00:35:40

I don't know why I love Disney Springs.

Lauren: 00:35:42

So hot take, but I do not love it.

Host: 00:35:44

It's a lot of stores I don't go to.

Lauren: 00:35:46

It is.

Host: 00:35:47

And there's only a handful I will go to.

Host: 00:35:49

So it's a lot of real estate for.

Host: 00:35:52

I probably am interested in about 10% of it.

Lauren: 00:35:55

Exactly.

Lauren: 00:35:55

And that's how I feel.

Lauren: 00:35:57

Excuse me, too.

Lauren: 00:35:58

And so he had a specific t shirt that he wanted to find at World of digital.

Lauren: 00:36:04

And so we went to World of Disney, and then we went to the Lego store, and after that, we were trying to figure out where to have lunch, and I was like, well, you know, there's.

Lauren: 00:36:14

There's chicken guy here.

Lauren: 00:36:15

There's polite pig.

Lauren: 00:36:17

There's Earl of sandwich.

Lauren: 00:36:18

And he chose polite pig.

Lauren: 00:36:20

This was my first time going to polite pig.

Lauren: 00:36:22

I didn't love it.

Host: 00:36:23

Didn't love it.

Host: 00:36:24

No, I've not gone there now.

Host: 00:36:25

I've gone to chicken guy.

Host: 00:36:26

I've gone to Earl of sandwich, but I've not been to the polite pig.

Lauren: 00:36:30

Left there saying, I wish we had just gone to Earl of sandwich.

Host: 00:36:33

Yeah, Earl of sandwich is not bad.

Host: 00:36:34

Yeah, that was pretty good.

Lauren: 00:36:35

So.

Lauren: 00:36:35

And that was the way that we ended the trip.

Lauren: 00:36:37

All right.

Host: 00:36:37

So again, going back, new lightning lane procedure.

Host: 00:36:41

You executed that really well.

Host: 00:36:43

You got all those.

Host: 00:36:43

All that stuff.

Host: 00:36:44

Any beginner tips on what you would do differently or somebody should pay attention to in the snoop procedure?

Lauren: 00:36:50

So I think the main thing to do is if you are going to get to the park in the morning, make sure that your lightning lanes are booked for the morning, because with the strategy of getting another one after you scan in, then if you're already in the park but you're not using any lightning lanes, it's not doing you any good.

Lauren: 00:37:07

But on the flip side of that, if you're doing what we did and go to Typhoon Lagoon, you can't book your lightning lanes in the morning, so you would have those in the afternoon.

Lauren: 00:37:16

But what I'm saying is if you know you're going to be in the park, go ahead and have something booked that you can scan into and grab something else so that you can really maximize your day.

Host: 00:37:26

Dining plan.

Host: 00:37:26

You did not do the dining plan.

Host: 00:37:28

Do you recommend the dining plan?

Host: 00:37:29

You guys were splitting entrees.

Host: 00:37:30

So if you're doing something like that, would that nothing work?

Lauren: 00:37:33

So it really depends.

Lauren: 00:37:34

So this year, I've actually done it both ways.

Lauren: 00:37:36

In January, when I went with my daughter, we actually did get the dining plan.

Lauren: 00:37:41

And so what I usually say to guests is, if you are going to get the dining plan, do the math, see where you're going to eat and see if it's worth it.

Lauren: 00:37:49

If you're planning to go to at least one character meal, usually it's worth it because those children are going to be paying, paying full price regardless of what they're going to eat.

Lauren: 00:38:01

So on that trip, we had done, we did topaline breakfast, and we did garden grill lunch.

Lauren: 00:38:09

So we did two character meals that it ended up being worth it at that point.

Lauren: 00:38:13

And we didn't have to worry about, you know, budgeting ahead for things.

Lauren: 00:38:17

Now, Lily and I could have easily split things, but knowing that we had already budgeted ahead for it, we didn't have to.

Lauren: 00:38:24

And we, Graham and I didn't split at every meal, but at quick service, we usually did.

Lauren: 00:38:30

And so we came out far better ahead.

Host: 00:38:32

Yeah.

Host: 00:38:32

There have been so many people who've done the.

Host: 00:38:34

If you had the physical cash in an envelope, would you have more money?

Lauren: 00:38:38

Right.

Host: 00:38:38

If you left it?

Host: 00:38:39

You know, if you leave the park, then.

Host: 00:38:41

Then not.

Host: 00:38:41

Would you have to dip into your reserves if you did?

Host: 00:38:44

And there have been so many different ways, different opinions about that.

Lauren: 00:38:47

Yes.

Lauren: 00:38:47

I think it really.

Lauren: 00:38:48

It comes back to just, you're really paying for the convenience.

Lauren: 00:38:51

It's not going to be a huge difference, especially if you are really looking at it and saying, okay, I'm going to make sure I'm going to order the most expensive thing on the menu so that I get my value out of this, but it's really more of a summer.

Lauren: 00:39:01

So, like, I've already paid for this.

Lauren: 00:39:03

It makes it easier on vacation.

Lauren: 00:39:04

I'm not nickeling and diming myself while I'm on vacation.

Lauren: 00:39:07

I know that I can just go and enjoy.

Host: 00:39:09

I like the.

Host: 00:39:10

I completely thought that it was convenient.

Host: 00:39:12

It's great because you get, you know, we had the kids, we were picking where we wanted to eat, and it made it a ton of fun.

Host: 00:39:18

But I found myself going way too much food.

Host: 00:39:21

I didn't need it.

Host: 00:39:22

It really is, because I was getting an appetizer, a dinner, and a dessert, and I said, holy cow, this is a lot of food every time I was sitting down.

Host: 00:39:30

But the convenience of it and the idea of kind of saying, we're gonna do this regardless.

Host: 00:39:36

We're gonna experience this regardless.

Host: 00:39:37

We paid for it.

Host: 00:39:38

It's done.

Host: 00:39:39

So even if people are not super, super hungry, we're gonna get to go to fifties primetime diner, we're gonna get to go to coral reef.

Host: 00:39:45

We're gonna get to do all that stuff.

Lauren: 00:39:46

And you're not thinking about that ticket that's gonna come at the end of the meal.

Host: 00:39:49

Not at all.

Host: 00:39:50

Not at all.

Host: 00:39:50

All right, so any last bit of information on your wonderful trip in July?

Lauren: 00:39:54

Yeah, I think we pretty much covered it all.

Lauren: 00:39:56

You know, I'd say really as far.

Lauren: 00:39:58

Whereas when you're planning your vacation like, this is a really good example of you're not married to the resort that you choose and you're not married to the dates that you choose, everything, especially with Disney, can be changed.

Lauren: 00:40:13

We can change the dates, we can change who's going on it, as long as it's not the lead guest.

Lauren: 00:40:19

So just know that it doesn't have to be overwhelming when you put down that dollar 200 deposit.

Lauren: 00:40:24

You have so much flexibility.

Host: 00:40:26

Absolutely.

Host: 00:40:26

Absolutely.

Host: 00:40:26

Lauren Mallard again, all the magic travel.

Host: 00:40:28

Reach her at Lauren at all the magictravel.com with me, Tony D.

Host: 00:40:32

Travelwithtonydmail.com dot.

Host: 00:40:34

We'd love to help you plan not only your universal trip, Disney world trip, sandals, any place you'd like to go.

Host: 00:40:39

Excellent stuff.

Host: 00:40:40

I'm looking forward to my trip now.

Lauren: 00:40:41

I can't wait.

Host: 00:40:42

Good stuff.

Host: 00:40:43

All right, so please like and subscribe to the podcast if you like what you've been hearing.

Host: 00:40:47

And also if you'd like to reach out to us to plan your next Disney World trip or to Universal Studios or to sandals, please let us know how we can help.

Host: 00:40:56

You can contact Lauren at Lauren at all the magic travel.

Host: 00:40:59

You can contact me at travelwithtonyd@gmail.com dot.

Host: 00:41:03

Please leave us a five star review if you're liking the podcast.

Host: 00:41:06

It really helps with the algorithms and whatnot, but nevertheless, hope you enjoyed this episode of wants and wishes.

Host: 00:41:12

We will have another one next week.

Host: 00:41:13

Thanks for listening to the wants and wishes.