SPEAKER_03: 0:03

Please stand clear of the doors. Please stand clear of the doors.

SPEAKER_00: 0:23

Hello everyone. I'm Alicia.

SPEAKER_01: 0:25

I'm Nathan. I'm Jarrett.

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

Welcome to episode 203 of Adventures and Mouse Capades. This week we are joined by Jarrett, writer, podcaster, and kind of person who says yes to my random ask on threads. Bold.

SPEAKER_03: 0:41

Bold move, Cotton.

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

Jarrett hasn't been to Disney World since he was a kiddo. The last time he went, character dining was filmed on camcorders, and FastPass was just a twinkle in Tomorrowland's eye.

SPEAKER_03: 0:54

Fast forward to 2025. Jarrett, his wife, and two young kiddos tackled a Disney cruise earlier this year and more recently stayed at Pop Century and visited Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We wanted to chat with Jarrett and see how their first family trip to Walt Disney World went.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

Welcome, Jarrett. Hi, thank you. And uh congratulations on breaking the 200 mark.

SPEAKER_03: 1:19

Yeah. Our own stick to itiveness and stubbornness has seen us through. Exactly. Somebody was asking me the other day, like, we were we have this trip coming up and all these other things, and they're like, you could just skip a week, right? I was like, well, yeah, we don't have any sponsors or or you know any other monetary things on the line. But um, I have promised myself that we're gonna put out a episode every week, and I'm gonna be darned if after 200 episodes I'm gonna screw that up.

SPEAKER_01: 1:47

So Yeah. It's crazy how that consistency as a content creator really builds up. Yes, it does. I totally understand it.

SPEAKER_03: 1:56

If only if only we could do the same thing with our social media posts.

SPEAKER_00: 2:04

Maybe someday it will happen. Maybe. Maybe. All right, let's let's dive in. Um first off, who was in your traveling party?

SPEAKER_01: 2:15

Uh my wife, myself, and my four almost five-year-old, his birthday is in 20 days, 25 days. No.

unknown: 2:25

Sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 2:25

Soon. 21 days. Yeah. Soon. And then my two and a half year old.

SPEAKER_03: 2:30

We know this was your first time back to Disney World in quite a while. How about for your wife? Did she grow up going to the parks?

SPEAKER_01: 2:39

Uh she did not grow up, but she did go more recently than myself. Okay. Uh, I think she said she was six or seven.

SPEAKER_03: 2:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 2:47

Got it.

SPEAKER_03: 2:47

And you were uh toddler, is that right?

SPEAKER_01: 2:50

I found pictures after we got back, which I wish I had looked at beforehand. And I think the date on it puts me at three years old. Wow.

SPEAKER_03: 2:59

Okay. So obviously, core memories, you remember every single thing you did, all the snacks. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 3:06

Space Mountain was amazing back then. I remember things, but I feel like it was the video that I watched and the pictures that I watched.

SPEAKER_02: 3:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 3:16

I even found the picture that is that core memory, and it is not the same character that I thought it was. Oh wow. So um, you know, I don't remember much about it at all. Got it. Got it. Well, we we won't hold that against you. Yeah. It was nice because it was kind of like a fresh, like I had no I mean, I was super intimidated when we decided we were gonna do this, and I had nowhere, no idea where to start and stuff, but it was all kind of a blank slate since I hadn't been there since I was tiny.

SPEAKER_00: 3:46

Yeah, it's it's a lot too.

SPEAKER_03: 3:49

Well, that that's actually kind of a a good kind of segue. Did you do any planning ahead of time? Did you like book dining or do lightning lings or anything, or was it more just like vibes and stroller navigation?

SPEAKER_01: 4:00

Um, my wife did all the planning. She's amazing at you know, getting us these super amazing vacations. Um she spent weeks on TikTok, Instagram, figuring out the best things to do. Yeah. I was paralyzed by fear because I didn't have any idea where to even start. Um it felt very intimidating for me. Like I wasn't even really interested. I wasn't dying to go to the parks at all, even though we have some friends who have kids that are similar age and they've been like three times already.

SPEAKER_02: 4:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 4:36

Um, like uh their daughter is a month older than my oldest son. But I was just kind of paralyzed by fear. I didn't even know where to start, how to look, what to do for a you know, two-year-old, a four-year-old. I didn't even think my youngest was old enough to go and enjoy it, but uh, we made it happen, and my wife did an amazing job planning. We flip-flopped on which parks we were gonna go for a long time. And I know like maybe a week or two before, she saw a video about the lines are super short when there's an event uh the Magic Kingdom, like when they shut for the day. And so we ended up like the week before just switching which ones we were gonna go to because we didn't want to wait in line and stuff, and it worked out pretty well.

SPEAKER_03: 5:20

Nice. Yeah, I mean, there's a few lines that are gonna be long all the time, but typically if there's an after hours event, like a uh not so scary Halloween party or the the Christmas party, they close the park to the Magic Kingdom park to day guest around six o'clock. Yep. And so you don't get that full day experience. But honestly, for for young kids, sometimes if you're hitting rope drop, you know, you get towards dinner time and they're kind of done anyway, or at least you may be done. Um, and but those days are markedly reduced or not capacity, but there's not as many people in in those parks because it is a shorter day. So that's awesome that you were able to take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_01: 6:05

Yeah. Uh we missed out because I think my wife was really set on having the kids see the fireworks above the castle. Uh but but by the time I mean we rolled out of the park about 4 p.m., maybe 4 30. It had been raining on us for a while. Uh we were kind of tired and miserable. My four-year-old was being very uh I'm trying to think of the right word. Everything we were asking him to do, he would not do and throw a big fight about, like go to the bathroom or eat. Uh so we were kind of done, and I think it worked out perfect, even though we did miss those fireworks. Uh we had a, you know, I had enough, and I was very my cup was very full.

SPEAKER_03: 6:45

Well, you gotta leave something for next time.

SPEAKER_00: 6:48

Right. So you all stayed at uh Pop Century. What made that the resort of choice?

SPEAKER_01: 6:55

Uh that would be a better question for my wife. But I think it was mostly it was one of the cheaper resorts that was on property. I think we just decided we didn't want to deal with transportation with a two and four four-year-old. Yeah. And Pop Century provided so much adequate transportation to the parks and stuff where we weren't gonna have to worry about car seats and Ubers. We also, uh one of my son's teachers last year is a Disney fanatic and she's been to the parks multiple times, and she told my wife that it was her favorite resort that she stayed at. So nice.

SPEAKER_03: 7:31

Well that that always helps to have the the inside knowledge there.

SPEAKER_01: 7:34

And I we both when she showed it to me, that was one of the few videos that I could like sit through and not get, you know, panic stricken before we went. I felt like it had a lot of character, a lot more than some of the other ones that we had seen. And it was just a nice change up compared to some of the other places that we've been with the kids and stuff. So awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 7:56

You've talked a little bit about you know the the the fear in your eyes, you know, ahead of this trip. Talk about the the trip itself compared to those expectations. Did anything really like completely surprise you? Did it was it scary in the end? It sounds like we had some meltdowns, but that's kind of like your average day with a toddler and a and a young kiddo anyway. So for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 8:21

Expectations. It's kind of str a strange feeling because my lack of experience with the parks. I grew up in East Texas. We were about an hour and a half away from Six Flags Over Texas, and so that's you know, my amusement park experience. We I went there quite a lot.

SPEAKER_02: 8:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:40

I was expecting a little bit more like that, where it was just roller coaster, roller coaster, roller coaster. And I I think this also has to do with having a two-year-old who's not gonna meet many of the height requirements. Right. You know, we didn't get to do a whole lot of those roller coasters, but we did Peter Pan, it's a small world. I wasn't expecting those type of rides as much. So I'm not sure that my I don't want to say like my thrill meter got met. Sure. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. And not in a bad way, but it didn't leave me with that feeling of uh going to an amusement park.

SPEAKER_02: 9:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:21

However, afterwards, like I'm still Jones and I'm ready to go back, my son wants to go to Disneyland now, uh, we want to do another cruise, you know. It yeah, it's an it's a strange feeling because I had fun, wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and it kind of left me a little disappointed in a certain way, but I'm still my feeds are all Disney now, like everything's on there, and I'm like, oh man, I gotta go back and try that. I gotta go back and try that. We gotta go do this.

SPEAKER_03: 9:47

Yeah, I could see how you know, with that six flags experience, yeah, Disney doesn't Disney has very fun rides, very, but nothing's extreme. You know, if you want to go to extreme and if you're in central Florida, you're going to uh Universal Park. Yeah. You know, if you want to go extreme and you're in um Southern California, you're I mean, actually, Knott's Berry Farm has some incredible coasters. Um but but that's probably more classic six flagsian I just moved up an adverb or no add whatever. Um grammar. My mom's gonna kill me the former librarian. Anyhow, sorry, mom. Um it yeah, it Disney, it's a different level, but I think it it does cater to those families. It gives us even as adults some spice here and there with some stuff, but it's just more approachable. And I think there's so much else going on in the parks in terms of kind of the vibes and the atmosphere and everything else that it makes up for that lack of like it's just it's just different. It is a different kind of fun.

SPEAKER_00: 11:03

It's it's uh I've heard it's called a theme park rather than an uh amusement park.

SPEAKER_01: 11:10

That makes sense. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 11:13

Was there was there a moment that felt especially magical or um or emotional for you or the kids?

SPEAKER_01: 11:23

Yes, but so uh the very first thing we did once we got into one the parks, we went to Hollywood Studios first.

SPEAKER_02: 11:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 11:33

Uh we had I don't think we necessarily c planned it. Like we originally wanted to rope drop and get in there, but uh the night before we had read the rode the skyliner with the kids just to kind of prep them, and somebody was telling us, Hey, little kids, you know, you're probably not gonna want to wake up super early, get in the long line for the skyliner, get in the long lines of of that. So we kind of took it easy that morning, but we still got there, I want to say around 7 45 or 8.

SPEAKER_02: 12:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 12:02

So we still got in there, we rushed a Slinky Dog. Uh the Slinky Dog Dash, because we've heard that one fills up fast and it's a fun one.

SPEAKER_02: 12:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 12:10

When we got into line, we were very far back because I don't think they had even opened the ride yet, and we didn't know that. So we got in line. I was pushing a double stroller with both kids in it, and uh we realized that we couldn't be in a line with the stroller, right? Like that's and I knew that, like I knew we weren't gonna go around, but I felt like as soon as I showed up with that stroller, one of the cast members was like, Hey, let me take you over here, we'll handle your stroller and stuff. And so she helped me. I pushed the stroller over, wasn't smart about it, and the kids were still in the stroller as I was pushing it to the station. The parking, yeah. Yeah. And so once we got them out and the cast member like parked the stroller for me, we walked back and they had opened the line, so my wife was nowhere to be seen anymore because she had gotten through the stuff, and I was just like, Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do? Like, I don't want to just take both of these kids, you know, holding them, uh, pushing through everybody in line. Right. And so I'm trying to text her, I'm holding the kids, a cast member comes over and he's like, Are you okay? And I explain the situation. They were like, Okay, well, we'll just take you to the front. When you see her, you know, you can jump in line. And that was awesome. Yeah. I'm already kind of feeling pretty uh, you know, man, that would never happen at Six Flags. Right. You know, it hadn't happened when I was a teenager and going to theme parks all the time or amusement parks. Then uh we get up there, and my s my oldest has never really ridden a whole lot of roller coasters. Um they don't have Six Flags Astro World, which is in Houston and our area anymore. We did take him to like a county fair and he rode one ride that just kind of went in a loop. It had a little bit of a hill. And I think one of the kids actually like broke the ride in the middle, so he got stuck for a little bit. Oh no. And then he came back, and so he didn't have much experience. But when we got to the front and he saw all Slinky Dog and all the cars and all the people, he started to panic. And he's like, I don't want to do it, I don't want to do it. Um, I want to go back to the hotel. And so, like, I'm holding him, I'm explaining to him we can't just leave mom in line. Right. Let's wait for mom to get up to the front, and she can take our two-year-old on the ride. Um, and I'll I'll sit here with you.

SPEAKER_02: 14:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 14:37

And so he's still like he's in a bad mood, he doesn't want to do it. I've been down to try to uh console him, and my two-year-old takes off. And so I go and chase my two-year-old and get him back, bring him back to the front, and then my four-year-old, five-year-old is starting to, you know, he's still kind of whining, my two-year-old's fighting, everybody's just it's not a good time at this point.

SPEAKER_02: 15:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:02

I'm like, what have we done? Some of the cast members again come over and I was like, Hey, can you talk to my oldest to tell him this ride's not gonna be bad, there's nothing to be scared about, and they did. We ended up waiting maybe 25 minutes, I think. Um just the three of us, and again, every time I'm focusing on one, the other one's running off. And finally, my wife gets up and my four-year-old, like, I'm holding him, I'm like, and he's screaming, I don't want to go, I don't want to go. And I was like, Okay, okay. I don't know if this makes me a good parent or a bad parent, but I put him on the ride and buckled him in. Yeah, because I knew that if he tried it, he would have fun. He just has to get over that hump.

SPEAKER_02: 15:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 15:42

And he he was kind of panicking. I let him hold my hand. I was like, squeeze as hard as you can, you're gonna be okay. Yeah. As soon as the ride started moving, his face went and he was having so much fun. Awesome. And that just kind of, you know, it was a moment. Uh I actually recorded our faces the whole time too, so I can, you know, send you that photo, but or that video. But he had so much fun, and as soon as we got off, he's like, I want to do it again. But by that time, the line had gotten to like 45 minutes long, and so we moved on. But after that, every ride that we did, he would put up a huge fight, we'd make him ride it, and then he'd be like, I want to do it again.

SPEAKER_00: 16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:21

So like it was it was a good experience. I had so much fun just watching him, you know, lighten up, enjoying something new. The second day, uh, my wife told him about Space Mountain, and he he's like, Let's go, let's do it. I want to go right now. And he wrote it and loved it. And uh, you know, he definitely changed and kind of overcame a little bit of fear, and I think that's gonna help him, you know, not just for that, but for life. So it was a really cool moment.

SPEAKER_05: 16:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:50

And it was really cool to have all the cast members, you know, talk to us and try to help us. And it was a different experience than I was used to at that this kind of situation.

SPEAKER_03: 16:59

Yeah. Yeah, we've had we've had lots of moments like that. Um our daughter was deathly afraid of costume characters. And uh yeah, like the mariner moose was like when she was really little. And then finally she was it was four. She's four or five, same similar age as as your oldest. And we did a Mickey meet and greet. I think it was in Hollywood Studios, I don't think it exists anymore. And we were putting our bags down, and Caitlin, our daughter, got beckoned over by sorcerer Mickey, and she was very timid. And then we went to after we're putting our stuff down, we went to approach and Mickey just held his hand up and said, Stop, I've got this. And they had a whole interaction, and Caitlin's fear and all the rest of that stuff just completely melted, and it was off to the races and every like all the characters all the time from then on. It was it was pretty magical. The the cast members at Disney, whether it's on a ride or character attendance or friends with the characters or guest services, or like they just know how to take care of people in those situations. And the the one thing that I want to stress for for us parents and for all the parents who are who are listening to this or who are thinking about going to a park for the first time, we've all had kids go through this stuff. Everybody except like nobody's surprised, and nobody's judging you as a parent when your kiddo has a meltdown. It's gonna happen, and we all have the utmost sympathy for you. This isn't the airplane where you're getting sneers and jeers, right? This is just like, oh, I've been I wish I could help you. Yeah. And the cast members know how to help you through that stuff, and you experience that, and that makes me so happy that you got that experience because that is pretty magical.

SPEAKER_00: 19:02

Yeah. And we've we've had something very similar with with our son as well. He'd been on roller coasters when he was younger, and actually, even up to I think age, oh gosh, how old was he? Um, nine or ten. You know, we go to Disney a lot, and he rides these rides a lot. And then he didn't want to go on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Like he's like, he was freaking out about it. Like we were in the line, he was he was ready to go, and then we got up to the front, he's like, I don't know, I I can't do this, I don't want to go on this. We sat down on it, and I'm like, you've been on this before. You've been on this multiple times. And me just saying that just gave a switch for him. He's like, oh yeah, I've done this, I'm okay. And it's kids. I don't know what goes through their heads. We we know our kids though, and like you knew that he didn't join this, yeah. Just putting him on there. And yeah, we know what's we know what's gonna work for them.

SPEAKER_01: 20:04

We're gonna have to plan different for the rest of the time.

SPEAKER_03: 20:07

So But child psychology is a thing, man.

SPEAKER_01: 20:12

Man, I'm so tired of it as a stay-at-home dad.

SPEAKER_00: 20:16

How did your kids react to the parks? Were they were they wide-eyed with wonder or were they just in it for the snacks?

SPEAKER_01: 20:27

Uh my four-year-old, I want to say he started with some trepidation because we had never really done it. Yeah. Um also being first timers, we didn't know our way around Hollywood studios. So I kind of just followed the crowd because I'm pushing the stroller. Um, my wife, I think, was trying to find the directions to get to Slinky Dog Dash. But we ended up going through Galaxy's Edge first. Uh, and that opened up my eyes and my four-year-old's eyes. Like he he likes liked Star Wars. Like, he never watched the movies, but he's seen a couple of the cartoons. He's had lightsabers. I don't know if it's a national change, I don't remember, but Party City, uh, they had lots of costumes. They went out of business and we went, we picked up, you know, two, three dollar costumes, and we got him like a Darth Vader one. Nice. Uh he never wore it. But uh we went through there and he something clicked, and he just was like, I oh Star Wars, this is amazing, these starships, and blah blah blah. So while we were doing Slinky Dog, like after we were done, he's like, I want to go to see Star Wars, and like he just really kind of dove into it. Yeah. And I think that was really cool. And again, for me, just kind of going through and seeing like an X-Wing or you know, the droids there, I was like, wow, this is this is something I've never experienced before, and it's very you know, very touching to me because I grew up with Star Wars and love it.

SPEAKER_03: 21:56

Yeah, you're like two-year-old? We feel the same way, buddy. Like, we're there. Oh my gosh, that's the Millennium Falcon. Holy crap. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:05

Uh my two-year-old, I don't think he he was just he's a good natured, easy to go, easy going boy. I he was just like along for the ride. He was having a good time. He didn't express a whole lot of anything. Um But he was loving it. Every ride that I took both of them on, they were like, again, again, I want to do it again. So I think they really, really loved it. But I don't also don't think since we hadn't really discussed it much, um, I don't think they had much preconceived ideas for it. The only experience they really had was the cruise that we went on in February, and uh they've never been to an amusement park or anything. We didn't tell them until the morning we left what was happening. I kind of I mean part of it was because we didn't want them asking, are we going tomorrow? Or are we you know when do we go?

SPEAKER_03: 22:58

You have to look out for your own sanity.

SPEAKER_01: 23:00

Yeah, but I also didn't help prep them to know what they were gonna be excited for as well.

SPEAKER_02: 23:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 23:08

Yeah. But uh I think they they loved it. I asked my son when you know when we came home, did you like that or did you like the cruise better? He's like, Disney World. It was amazing. I want to go to Disneyland next. Like he wants to invite all his friends, and so he had a really good time.

SPEAKER_03: 23:25

So we we've talked a little bit about the the interactions you guys had at Slinky Dog. Was there any like character moments that really stood out to you with with the boys?

SPEAKER_01: 23:37

So we did the first day at Hollywood, we did uh character dining for lunch.

SPEAKER_02: 23:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 23:45

And we uh rolled up into the restaurant, we sat down, and the kids both went for the knives and started playing with them, and it kind of drove me crazy. But that doesn't have anything to do with we were told that Goofy was coming in like four minutes. Okay, and so we'd been at the park, we're like, all right, we gotta go take care of business real quick. I need my son to pee. He hasn't peed since we left the hotel at 6:30 in the morning. We need to wash hands and stuff like that. And so I took the oldest first, and we came back, and then my wife took the younger one, and while they were gone, Goofy did show up. Uh and so we're taking pictures, uh, I'm taking pictures with my oldest and Goofy.

SPEAKER_02: 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:28

And I was just like, man, he's gonna be so sad that he missed it, my wife. And Goofy was just kind of like motioning to me that he'll come back.

SPEAKER_02: 24:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 24:38

And like that restaurant was packed. There were so many different sections, and he did come back when my my youngest showed back up and he took pictures with everybody again. And nice. I know that was just a really cool moment that they went out of their way to make sure that everybody there got, you know, some time with them. That's number one. Uh, number two, after we finished Toy Storyland, we went to the Star Wars section because my oldest was asking to go back to Star Wars.

SPEAKER_02: 25:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:06

We got like front row seats for the Kylo Wren uh thing where he comes out of the ship and he's looking for the Rebel spy. That's cool. Loved that. Uh that started really getting my son invested in Star Wars. And then that afternoon, he wanted I wanted to go meet Darth Vader, and it was like one of the last ones. And my son was like, Darth Vader, I want to meet Darth Vader. And uh we couldn't figure out how to get to him. Like we saw him walk past us, and then he walked back and he went to the section that looked roped off, and we didn't know how to do it. So he and I went and rode star tours.

SPEAKER_02: 25:46

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 25:47

Uh while my wife stayed with the youngest who fell asleep in the stroller. And then we came back and she was in line to meet Darth Vader, and so we did that. And ever since that moment, my son has been all Star Wars all the time. In fact, while I was sitting here in the closet, I found his toy lightsaber hidden in my clothes. He has worn his costume just about every day. He wore it three days in a row for Halloween, like to his schools.

SPEAKER_03: 26:17

Excellent.

SPEAKER_01: 26:17

Uh anytime he goes out and plays with our neighbor kids, we have a bunch of kids in our cul-de-sac. He puts on his Darth Vader outfit and goes out there with his lightsaber. And we have since watched the uh original Star Wars, and we started Empire Strikes back last night, and they are just Darth Vader! Darth Vader's on the screen! They're stormtroopers. So you know he it helps him develop a love for something which I'm just so excited for him because he he loves it and I love it, and we can bond on it, and I'm really hoping we can make it through Empire Strikes back before it gets spoiled for him because he does not know all the stuff.

SPEAKER_03: 26:54

Yeah. Well, just man, if he's really latched onto Darth Vader, just watch out for Return of the Jedi.

SPEAKER_01: 27:02

We're gonna put that one off for a while.

SPEAKER_03: 27:04

Yeah, good call. Good call. We ended up watching uh Rogue One uh on a Disney cruise uh uh uh premiere at sea, and uh Sterling was about that age, our son, and he latched on, just like absolutely fell in love with K2SO. And then, you know, three quarters through the movie, all of a sudden I had a very distraught four and a half or five-year-old next to me in the middle of that uh the Walt Disney Theater, and um that was a little rough for a few minutes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:38

Yeah, not looking forward to that one. We're gonna go maybe watch uh Return or Empire and then go back to maybe one and two and then all as long as we can.

SPEAKER_00: 27:48

There's all the animated stuff too, which will um help with those. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 27:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:56

What was your uh what was your strategy for managing two littles in the parks? Uh did you have any tricks of the trade, or did you just rely on caffeine and optimism?

SPEAKER_01: 28:10

Um besides my four-year-old's like oppositional behavior when it comes to bathroom and food, he's actually both kids are pretty good, especially when we take them on these types of things. So basically we just took the stroller. We kinda we didn't necessarily let my oldest guide the way, but we would ask for his input, like what kind of things he wanted to do. Yeah. We'd be like, hey, we could go see uh Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion, do and then he'd pick one and we'd go. Other than that, we bought a popcorn bucket on the cruise and brought it and filled it up every time things started going a little haywire. Ah, nice. Uh we also on our full day at Hollywood, we planned a midday break to go back to the hotel and relax and take naps, and the only person that ended up sleeping was my wife, and the kids were going crazy. So it was funny when we went back to meet Darth Vader, because we went after that nap time. My youngest fell asleep in the stroller after, you know, an hour of in the hotel hoping he would nap and he didn't, then he finally fell asleep. Uh but uh other than that, we did take a couple of toys with us for those times we did have to wait in line. Uh my four-year-old loves to write things like he I don't understand how he's already starting to read, but he's already reading, he's writing. Uh so my wife had gotten them a little goodie bag of a bunch of Disney stuff that we gave him when we got to Pop Century and had a whiteboard in there that's like Mickey themed. And he would just sit there and write, and you know uh like when we were on the Skyliner, he saw the sign that says Disney Skyliner and he just started writing it out. Whenever we were waiting in line, he'd find things around that he could. Write out and draw, or he would write Skyliner again. And then we had a uh Woody from Toy Story Doll for my other one. And then other than that, we just try to keep them fed, you know, get them to drink a drink every once in a while, because they'll forget to do that too. But uh they they were good. We I think, like I said, my wife planned everything so well we didn't have to wait in too many lines. I don't think we waited longer than maybe 30 minutes for any ride.

SPEAKER_03: 30:27

Nice. That's fantastic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 30:29

Yeah. So uh she did a great job planning, and then we had the toys to distract them when they were in line. And other than that, they were good except when we told them to eat or go to the bathroom.

SPEAKER_03: 30:42

I love I love the term oppositional behavior. Yes. That's that's coin that. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_01: 30:50

Uh at Magic Kingdom, we rode a bunch of rides, and it was getting to be like 10:30, 11. We'd been there for a while, and we passed the bathroom, and we were like, hey, this is a good chance. Do you need to go to the bathroom? No, I don't need to go. I don't want to go. Okay. You don't have to make a big deal out of it. Uh we went to the magic carpet ride for Aladdin, and he didn't want to ride that one, so I took my youngest, and then he decided he did want to ride it, so he jumped in line, and then as soon as he got in line, he started doing the I Gotta Pee dance. He's like, I gotta go pee. That was like within 10 minutes of us stopping. So it was just stuff like that the entire time, it felt like. Yeah. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 31:29

Kids. Yay.

SPEAKER_01: 31:31

And I hope he listens to this when he's older and realizes how much you put me through.

SPEAKER_03: 31:38

Uh well, speaking of of uh memories from uh from childhood, you mentioned not really remembering hardly anything from from your last trip. Did anything feel vaguely familiar or spark a memory?

SPEAKER_01: 31:52

The I mean, just the character dining, really.

SPEAKER_03: 31:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 31:56

Uh just because the kids were doing exactly what I was doing in the pictures in that video.

SPEAKER_02: 32:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 32:02

Uh like I said, I did find a bunch of pictures after we got back, and I have one of my brother holding me, because my brother was 11 years older than me.

SPEAKER_02: 32:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 32:10

Um, he was holding me up in front of the castle and took a really cool picture, and I really wish that I had seen that beforehand so that we could have recreated that with you know me holding my son or you know, something, or all of us in that same spot. That would have been pretty magical too. Yeah. But it means we just gotta go back. Exactly. Oh no.

SPEAKER_00: 32:36

How did the park stack up for you? Were there any favorites or any never-again moments?

SPEAKER_01: 32:44

There were no never-again moments. Um I don't want to say I was let down like I mentioned earlier. It was a weird feeling. I really enjoyed the Star Wars section and Hollywood and Toy Story, and you know, the more we explored it, the more we realized we kind of missed out. You know, we if we could go back, I would do some things different. However, I was expecting more rides, kind of like we talked about. And it didn't even have to be like super exhilarating rides. I was just expected more than two things in Star Wars and three things in Toy Story. Yep. Um But then when you go to Magical Kingdom and there's a lot more rides, I wasn't expecting the story kind of rides.

SPEAKER_05: 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 33:29

So it was a very, very weird, like I already mentioned, like I wasn't let down, it wasn't what I was expecting. I had fun, but not as much fun in it. Like I wasn't I was expecting to be to feel magical the entire time. Yeah. And that's not necessarily the case. Uh but again, the algorithm on all my feeds and just that desire to go back, like it's already there. And I'm gonna be interested to see if we do go back and the kids are older how that feeling changes. Because we'll definitely be able to approach things differently, because we'll be able to ride more rides, because they'll be taller and you know, do some things.

SPEAKER_03: 34:11

Something definitely does change about that whole experience when you go from keeping your kids alive mode, which I think you're still kind of in, to more of a uh like experiencing with it with them. So when they're in that like eight and above kind of range, like the the that Disney magic really is magical to them and they just experience everything and it's fantastic. And then, you know, you can keep going and they get a little older, and all of a sudden they get some independence and things like that. And you know, you can you can go to a lounge and enjoy a a beer and a really nice churro while they go ride like Pandora or something like that over Animal Kingdom, and that's really fantastic.

SPEAKER_01: 35:05

I was thinking that like uh I was talking to my wife, I was like, can you imagine going back there where we don't have to corral the kids? Like they can go off on their own? Like, I don't even know what I would do.

SPEAKER_03: 35:16

There's lots now.

SPEAKER_01: 35:18

There's yeah, give us a call.

SPEAKER_03: 35:19

We'll we have suggestions. So you also did a Disney cruise this year earlier. Uh how did that compare to the parks for you guys in terms of chaos versus relaxation?

SPEAKER_01: 35:35

The cruise was much more relaxing.

SPEAKER_02: 35:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 35:39

We had a uh we had a friend that went with us that kind of helped corral the kids when we needed a little bit of a break. Yeah. But also the kids' club, and uh we my two-year-old wasn't even two at the time when we went, so you know, we did the I don't remember what it was called, but where we the baby can go take away. Yeah, the the nursery. Yep. The nursery, yeah. Um I definitely felt like it was more relaxing for me, but also when we ate, you didn't have to worry about spending$200 on a character dinner or how much that churro that really looks good is gonna be, because you could just go to the buffet and be like, oh I'm gonna, you know, fill up on these.

SPEAKER_04: 36:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 36:27

Uh we still had fun. It was again lots of waiting around for character meetings and stuff, and my son was way too scared and probably too small to ride the the slides.

SPEAKER_05: 36:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 36:39

Um but we did do the uh the pool, which you know he loved. I hated because I've got kicked in the stomach or lower multiple times just sitting there by random kids, not even my own.

SPEAKER_03: 36:51

Sure. It's kid soup. Uh uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01: 36:54

It's kid soup. I was trying to remember what you called it. I listened to one of those episodes the other day. Um but kid soup. I personally like the cruise a little bit better at this point.

SPEAKER_02: 37:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:06

But my son was like, oh yeah, Disneyland. 100%. Like it was way or Disney World, excuse me.

SPEAKER_03: 37:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:12

What ship were you on? We were on the magic. Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 37:16

We actually, in in uh uh as we record this, they just announced some FAA flight restrictions. So uh in theory, we fly out on Monday to to get to Puerto Rico to get on the magic. But uh the good news is we have uh uh uh three three and a half, four days to get there because the cruise doesn't leave until Friday. So we have flexibility. We'll we'll figure it out somewhere somehow.

SPEAKER_01: 37:41

Y'all have cruised on the magic before, correct? Or no?

SPEAKER_00: 37:44

Fifteen years ago.

SPEAKER_01: 37:45

Fifteen years ago.

SPEAKER_03: 37:46

It's been a hot minute. Uh it's been through multiple refurbishments and all sorts of stuff. So um yeah, we're we're excited. So I'm guessing you went out uh went uh out of Galveston then? Correct. Yeah. Nice. Nice. We're actually the cruise we're on is going from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Galveston. It's the repositioning cruise. So we'll wave when we get in town. And then go go. Yeah, let me know.

SPEAKER_01: 38:10

If you need a ride, I can take you to some good Mexican food.

SPEAKER_03: 38:13

Nice. Yeah. Well, we may need a ride early to the airport or something like that, so we can stand in the you know 12-hour TSA line there at the at the airport. So yay! Anyhow, let's move on to happier things.

SPEAKER_00: 38:28

Do you have any tips for families doing both a cruise and a parks trip in one year, or is there anything that you might do differently next time?

SPEAKER_01: 38:38

I think they're both different experiences. So maybe judge what you need by that time of the year. Yeah um you know, maybe if it's better for you to go in the spring to the park, go do that. Definitely don't go to it in the summer though, because it's way too hot. Yeah. Um if you're trying to choose between the two, I would maybe weigh what's more important to you, you know, the rides or the relaxation or the you know, the buffet versus you know, trying to wait in line for all those other, you know, delicious stuff.

SPEAKER_02: 39:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 39:13

Which, by the way, I don't know if we want to get into later. The food was m how do I put this? The food was my biggest disappointment, not because of the quality of the food, but because we were always in what are these toddlers gonna eat? Uh so we didn't get to go explore, you know, all the good stuff that often.

SPEAKER_03: 39:32

Yeah, that is kind of the nice part about the cruise is that you know they'll have, you know, especially thinking of main dining uh for your dinners, they've got the kids' menu there and they will, you know, cater to getting that food out quickly, keeping them entertained, all the rest of that stuff, and then you can actually have a pretty nice meal uh alongside that and and not have to do dishes and all the rest of that stuff. And I wouldn't say it's a free meal, but you've you've already paid for it, so you're not worried about that price tag at the end of it. Exactly. It can get a little hectic in the parks.

SPEAKER_00: 40:06

Yeah, there's so many choices, and then you have to worry about mobile ordering and then timing and all of that, and then finding somewhere to eat. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01: 40:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 40:17

It gets a little hectic.

SPEAKER_01: 40:19

If I were to give parents advice for their first time at the park, though, uh uh it's hard to say, but I would try to say don't overplan. Um I try to do a whole lot of just go with the flow, um, see what we can do, which again, because my wife's amazing planning on it, you know, we never had to wait too long on any lines, but I realize that's not always the you know ideal or the situation you can get yourself into.

SPEAKER_02: 40:49

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 40:50

Um, so I'm not really sure if I would say, hey, take that three-year-old and go rope drop slinky dog dash at six o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_02: 40:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 40:59

But there's there is so much to do. You might not be exactly what you want to do. Like you might want to ride roller coasters, but that hour and a half wait to get on that ride, not gonna be the best for your toddler, so maybe go find a show or something instead. There's always something that you can be doing. Yeah, try not to stress too much.

SPEAKER_03: 41:19

Yeah. Um, just kind of to wrap up this section. What's next on your Disney radar? It sounds like maybe Disneyland is uh coming up uh next, maybe.

SPEAKER_01: 41:31

I think next is we're gonna do another cruise. Nice. Uh, we have some families that have talked to us about it, and a few of them read uh my review of the cruise that I wrote way back in the spring. And so they've been asking me questions, and I was like, well, we're thinking about doing it. And they're like, oh really? Can we go March, April? You know, we haven't sat down to look at dates because we just got back from Disney World.

SPEAKER_02: 41:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 41:55

Uh, but we would like to go. I would love it if we could experience a different ship just to get that experience, but I'm not sure flying to another port would be uh viable right now for us.

SPEAKER_02: 42:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 42:10

So hopefully, I know that they do like a seven-day cruise out of Galveston now that goes to the islands. Uh casting what's going on.

SPEAKER_03: 42:19

Yep, every once in a while they'll throw a seven in there. Um the other thing, and I know this doesn't help you for near term, the kind of rumor mill and assumption mill is that they're going to have one of the bigger ships rotate over to be kind of more semi-permanently based out of Galveston than the magic has been there. So I think you'll have an opportunity for a different um size ship, a different um set of experiences. It may be a couple years before that comes to fruition. We haven't seen that hit the itineraries yet. But yeah, um, you know, hopefully, hopefully coming soon. I will say yeah. I will say though, um you guys I think would really enjoy Disneyland. It is a different vibe from what you got at Disney World. It is you can literally it is a 90-second walk between the two parks. Um it's just way more compact. Um, you will you will see that that castle there in Disneyland and go, oh, how cute.

SPEAKER_02: 43:24

It's so short.

SPEAKER_03: 43:25

What's the point? Um, but it's just it's a much different vibe. And I I to me, I think it's a lot more laid back because it's more of a locals vibe kind of park. Um you don't have people trying to to like maximize everything, every single ride and all the rest of the stuff. And it's not that you won't get lines, it's just it's just more relaxed. Um I think you'll really enjoy it. There's a lot of a lot of goodness there in Disneyland. For sure.

SPEAKER_01: 43:58

Well, I think the idea uh I could be talking out of turn because we haven't officially discussed this, but uh we would like to go do Disneyland, so we might do like the cruise in the spring and then go to Disneyland in the fall again. God willing, you know, the country's not in a civil war or something like that. Um but because you know, like I said, my son said as soon as he got f done with Disney World, he was like, I want to go to Disneyland and I wanna we have family. My brother lives in Seattle and our he has two sons. Okay. They're a little bit older than mine, but my son was like, and we can invite the cousins and we can all go. And you know, if we can make that happen, I think that would be an amazing trip for us because we haven't done much of that. You will love it.

SPEAKER_03: 44:47

You will love it. Well, Jared, it is now time for Alicia's patented Disney torture test. But you know, you you've you've got you know some podcast stuff going on, you've got the reviews, you've been to Disney things twice, I guess technically three times now. You've got this. But seriously, good luck, man. Uh I'm pulling for you.

SPEAKER_01: 45:08

May the force be with me.

SPEAKER_03: 45:10

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 45:11

This is easy. I'm just asking a couple of your favorites from um Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, everything under Mickey's umbrella. And I'm changing it just a little bit since you are not a Disney regular. But first off, is who is your favorite character?

SPEAKER_01: 45:32

Oh man, that's a tough one. We've got to think about like Han Solo, Spider-Man. Does Spider-Man count? No, he's in there, but he's also a Sony guy.

SPEAKER_03: 45:44

Well, it's fine. There's enough of a dotted line. We'll we'll include them.

SPEAKER_01: 45:49

Uh I grew up with Aladdin and Simba. Uh we did Emperor's New Groove for Halloween as our family costume. So I might have to go with Kronk because he's so under the radar, I feel like. Yes. Uh those are a few of my favorites, I would say. And of course, Mickey.

SPEAKER_00: 46:06

Of course. Do you have a favorite Disney movie?

SPEAKER_01: 46:11

It would definitely be a tie between Aladdin or Lion King, because those are some core memories. I remember sneaking into some movies after I watched Lion King the first time. I would just go to one of the other showings and watch it again when I was telling anybody.

SPEAKER_03: 46:25

Don't worry, nobody listens to this.

SPEAKER_01: 46:28

They can't catch me anyway. No. Uh Empire Strikes Back wasn't necessarily a Disney movie, but it is now. So Emperor's New Groove, again, it's underrated. Uh my wife's mother is from Peru, so it's cool that there is a Disney movie set in Peru.

SPEAKER_02: 46:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 46:47

So that's one reason why we really like it. Up is always a classic for me. That's a good one. Yeah. And I could keep going with all the Marvel movies and stuff. They're all good. I'll stop there. They're all not all of them, but most of them.

SPEAKER_03: 47:03

Okay, that's fair. That's fair. I stand corrected.

SPEAKER_00: 47:06

Uh out of the rides that you went on, what was your favorite?

SPEAKER_01: 47:11

Slinky Dog Dash for sure. Excellent. We rode the is it the Barnstormer, Goofy's Barnstormer. Yes. We rode that one about five times with the kids and it was fun. Although I hated the long walk off of it to go back around and then get back in line. Uh the kids loved it. I liked it. It was, you know, almost that classic. It was a classic roller coaster that I'm used to, and it didn't jostle me around much like Space Mountain broke my back, I feel like.

SPEAKER_03: 47:42

Maybe don't do Matterhorn when you get to Disneyland. Just if you've got back problems, if you don't have back problems, you will when you're done with that ride. It's like chiropractic, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 47:55

Did you guys have a favorite restaurant while you were there?

SPEAKER_01: 47:58

No. We didn't I don't even remember where we ate, but again, it was just trying to get the toddlers fed with chicken strips or pizza most of the time.

SPEAKER_00: 48:08

Yeah, yeah. Did you get to try any snacks?

SPEAKER_01: 48:11

Did we try any snacks? We got popcorn a couple times. I was a little let down with the pretzel, the Mickey pretzel. We did get that. Uh maybe it was just my expectations that it would be so magical and I would start, you know, flying like Peter Pan, but I didn't feel like it was the greatest.

SPEAKER_00: 48:31

I think the humidity in Florida, for some reason, really messes with the baked goods. Yes. So like churros and pretzels, they just they don't last. They just don't taste as good. I don't know what it is.

SPEAKER_03: 48:46

Not at the carts. If you're getting those at the carts, it's it's not it's not the same as it is in in California. The snacks. Actually, the food in general in California is top-notch. Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 48:59

Yeah. We did get a uh you jog my memory that we did get churros when we went to see Phantasmic.

SPEAKER_04: 49:06

Okay.

unknown: 49:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 49:07

And then uh at Pop Century, they had a Mickey bar that was dipped in salted caramel beads. That was it was delicious.

SPEAKER_03: 49:19

Nice.

SPEAKER_01: 49:20

Sorry, I dawffled my laptop a little bit. Oh, you're fine.

SPEAKER_00: 49:24

And lastly, your favorite moment from the trip.

SPEAKER_01: 49:27

I think it would have to be uh when Slinky Dog started and my son completely turned around and had a good time. It would either be that or Kylo Wren, like when he came out, that it was really kind of special, and my kids were really into it, and it felt like something a little like not planned. We didn't have to wait in line to meet somebody, it was just kind of happening in front of us. Yeah. I think that was a little bit more of what I was expecting to happen at Disney World. Yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 49:57

Well, congratulations, Jared. You survived.

SPEAKER_00: 50:02

It was easy.

SPEAKER_01: 50:03

I'm gonna have to go take a nap now. My heart was racing.

SPEAKER_03: 50:07

So you're online, you do some content creation, you've you've mentioned kind of your blog and some reviews. How can people find you?

SPEAKER_01: 50:14

Uh my website is jswordsmith.com. That's where most of my or all my writing is, and I'll link out to anything that's not on my blog there. Uh you can find me on threads and Instagram with JS underscore underscore wordsmith.

SPEAKER_02: 50:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 50:33

Uh, but I'm pretty sure if you just search for JS Wordsmith, you'll find me on there. Uh those are the two I'm most active on, but I'm also on Blue Sky, Mastodon, Facebook, you know. All that's trying to get content out there. Yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03: 50:46

Well, we'll work on the I was gonna say we will link you in the in the show notes too. So if people want to find you there.

SPEAKER_01: 50:54

I appreciate it. Yeah. Been furiously trying to get through uh my write-up from my trip to Disney World, but between kids, doctor's appointments, and you know, getting caught up with the real world since getting back. It's taken me a while, but I'm hoping to have that out. I was hoping to have it out by today, but uh my school district that my kids go to also decided to give the kids the day off for voting day, so uh I lost a whole day of work on that one. Sweet. Um but yeah, hopefully I can get some stuff done and written up. And if anybody's interested, you can read a little bit more about my experience going to the park.

SPEAKER_03: 51:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: 51:31

Definitely.

SPEAKER_03: 51:32

Well, this should go up in actually a couple weeks. This will go up on November 17th. So you have a deadline now. If that helps.

SPEAKER_01: 51:41

Well, I'm hoping to get it done by early next week if I can't get real motor going here. And thank you guys for extending the offer. This was really fun and cool. I've been excited and prepping for it a little bit. And uh, you know, congratulations on over 200 episodes. That's amazing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 52:00

Yeah, thank you for responding to some random person just asking about your trip.

SPEAKER_03: 52:07

That's what I'm here for. We will absolutely uh have you back on. Um I'm looking forward to hearing uh how future cruises and and uh you know maybe maybe some uh a Disneyland trip in the in the future goes as well. That sounds exciting.

SPEAKER_01: 52:22

Yeah, I think y'all. And maybe we'll run into each other at a park one day or a cruise. Maybe. Well, with with our schedule.

SPEAKER_03: 52:30

Maybe. All right, thanks, Jarrett. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 52:36

Please remember we are not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are our own personal opinions and suggestions based on our own experiences. We recommend working with a travel agent or contacting Disney directly to plan your perfect vacation.

SPEAKER_03: 52:51

If you have questions or suggestions, or like Jarrett, would like to be interviewed on our show to share your Disney experiences, please do send us an email to podcast at our mousecapades.com or find us on uh on the socials. Alicia, where can they find us on socials?

SPEAKER_00: 53:09

We are at our mousecapades. We're on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube, X Twitter.

SPEAKER_03: 53:18

Yeah. I mean, technically we have an account, and I think some automation cross-post some stuff still. We we don't we're not really active there. Of course, we're not October. Well, please do say with all of that in mind, please do give us a rating and a review in your podcast app. That absolutely helps people find us.

SPEAKER_00: 53:41

And of course, don't hesitate to share us with your friends and fellow Disney lovers of all ages.

SPEAKER_03: 53:47

Thanks for listening. We'll be in your ears next week.

SPEAKER_01: 53:52

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.