Welcome Back Scott Gustin

Intro 0:03

Please stand Clear of the Doors por favor mategnanse .

Nathan 0:23

Hello everybody, I'm Nathan, I’m Scott, and welcome to episode 221 of Adventures and Mouse capades. Alicea can't be with us today, so it's just us guys flying without supervision, but we've also got the tight window to squeeze this recording in, so this should be fun. Well, today's guest really needs no introduction, but we're doing one anyway because we're polite like that. Scott Gustin is back with us, making his third appearance on the podcast. And if you spend any time in the Disney community, you already know him. Scott's one of the most trusted, level-headed, and dare I say, beloved voices covering all things Disney. And we've had the pleasure of chatting with him before about D23 announcements and big Disney moments. This time, though, Scott joins us fresh off something pretty special. Sailing aboard the brand new Disney Adventure as part of the media preview before its maiden voyage. He recently published a deep dive review that had a lot of people talking. And today we're excited to go beyond the article digging into what worked, what surprised him, and what this ship tells us about Disney Cruise Line's future. Welcome, Scott.

Scott 1:35

Hey, hey, thanks for having me back.

First Boarding Shock And Layout

Nathan 1:37

Yeah, good to have you. So you broke your review into what worked, what didn't, and what surprised you. And I'd love to use that kind of as a little bit of a roadmap for our chat. You got the rare chance to sail before the maiden voyage as part of the media event around the christening cruise. You talked early on about how the ship immediately signals that it's not a traditional Disney ship, Disney Cruise Line ship. Walk us through that first impression. What did your Disney cruise brain have to recalibrate?

Scott 2:08

Yeah. So sometimes at different ports, if you've anyone's been on a normal Disney cruise, if you get on in a different port, the um entry onto the ship sometimes you come in on deck four and not like the normal grand entrance into the atrium.

Nathan 2:23

Right.

Scott 2:23

Um or you sometimes you come in on like just different different parts of the ship based on where it is.

Nathan 2:28

Right. Sometimes you're on like deck one and you get dumped into a like a really small elevator lobby.

Scott 2:33

Yeah.

Nathan 2:33

Yeah.

Scott 2:34

So there there are different um different experiences there. But the typical one is walking into the atrium, getting that grand reveal, and then trying to shuffle your way to find some lunch. Um so getting on the adventure, um, you get on deck seven, and you enter into really just an elevator lobby.

Nathan 2:55

Okay.

Scott 2:56

Um, and that kind of was like, okay, yeah, this is this is gonna be different.

Nathan 3:01

Yeah.

Scott 3:01

Um, and we then made our way to what they call Town Square, and that is more of like what is their atrium. It's where the statue is.

Nathan 3:11

Okay.

Scott 3:12

Um weirdly, on this ship, there's also two uh dining rooms and a quick like a buffet restaurant right there.

Nathan 3:21

Oh, interesting.

Scott 3:22

And then that restaurant actually transitions into a table service at night. So that was all that was all the the night before I actually sailed on the ship, the night of the christening with Robert Downey Jr. That was I got on the ship early. I got to do a quick interview or a chat, uh, not really an interview with Imagineering just about the ship. Um that was my first look at the ship was in that moment. And then kind of hung out for the christening, and then I got to walk around the ship a little bit, but mostly was checking it out the next day. Um, but yeah, that first impression, uh, it wasn't bad. It was just kind of like it set the tone for this. Is just this is gonna be different. Right. Doesn't mean it's gonna be worse, doesn't mean it's gonna be better. Right. This is gonna be very, very, very different. And it it certainly was.

Nathan 4:10

Right. And just to recap, you know, this is a hull that Disney bought for literally pennies on the dollar uh because the company that was building this ship for the Southeast Asia market had gone under after the pandemic and then kind of Disneyfied a ship that already existed. So there wasn't a chance for them, you know, they could move some walls and do some things. I think they reduced the overall passenger count from like 9,000 out into like 6,700 or something like that. But, you know, they're not making like grand atrium design changes to match their existing pattern. So, you know, that does make sense that it's just it's different. What did had you gone in with like expectations, or were you just kind of prepared for something that you knew you were gonna have to throw the playbook out and just go, you know, whole hog all new?

Scott 5:03

Yeah, I was tracking the building of the ship. I was pretty familiar with what um the previous concept art for the ship was gonna look like. So I was really going in with that mindset of all right, where what was this going to be before Disney made this the kids club? What was this? Versus the going in with like, all right, you know, let's compare contrast the wish and the destiny and the treasure at every turn.

Nathan 5:30

Yeah.

Scott 5:31

Um, so I went in with some expectations for sure, and I knew that a lot of the ship was not anything that they could change. I mean, the only reason it has a coaster on it is because the previous owner put the coaster on it. You know, Disney didn't add that. They kept it, they didn't take it off. They took off a lot of um if you actually look at some of the original concept art, there was like seven water slides or something on the ship.

Nathan 5:58

Yeah.

Scott 5:59

So they they took a lot of those off. Um, in addition to a lot of of other things. Uh so I mean I went in with expectations of knowing that this was uh this was a remodel. This was an HGTV, right? This was not uh where I could uh pick a hole in every design choice where there's weird layout choices. Um I think Disney introduced some more weird layout choices or layout issues, like an example is the Disney Imagination Garden, which is that open air part of the middle of the ship. Um you actually, depending if you're forward or aft, you enter into that on either deck 10 or 11, and there's forgive me, I can't remember exactly. I think it's aft where you cannot get to the Imagination Garden without going down to 10. Um, and it's because they've put the spa in that, like kind of in that in-between area near the elevator shafts.

Nathan 6:58

Yeah.

Remodel Reality And Imagination Garden

Scott 6:59

So there's a couple spots that where Disney was like, you know, we're we want to use the space differently than it was originally designed. So they kind of um they did some some things there that I know Disney would not have done had they started from scratch.

Nathan 7:13

Yeah, yeah. So you've talked a lot about instances where, oh, this is different was your your first reaction. Was there anything that surprised you in a good way right off the bat?

Scott 7:22

Yeah, I mean, Imagination Garden is a is an amazing space. Um, I don't know if Disney will do it again. I think you need the the mega ship layout to be able to give up that much, you know, real estate in the middle of the ship. Um, but I mean I kind of went on that ship thinking, why would anyone ever book a veranda, a garden veranda? Yeah, why would you want that? Yeah, and then after being on the ship, I was like, if I go back, I am 100% booking that room.

Nathan 7:48

Really? This is a debate that Alicea and I have been having a ton. Like, would we want a garden veranda to see all the shows and everything?

Scott 7:55

100% to see the shows. Um, I this is a bit of a spoiled point of view, and I I get it. Yeah. But when I so I've been on 16 Disney cruise line itineraries, or just I've I've cruised 16 times. Yeah. I I was not thinking of the right way to say that. I haven't been on 16 cruise ships or cruises, just 16 cruises. Right. And the majority of those we typically will do in the Bahamas, right? And we will get a veranda because the like the purpose of that trip is to enjoy the ocean, go to the beach. Like that just that's all the experience. This is not really that because you're not stopping in any ports, yeah. You're not um getting a first look at the island as you approach or watching as you sail away. And so on this cruise, we had a veranda and we never like never used it.

Nathan 8:53

Wow.

Scott 8:54

But if we had one facing the garden, yeah, we would have used it every day. Like we would have gone out. Um, I was there with my older sister and my brother.

Nathan 9:02

Okay.

Scott 9:03

But I know we would have been there for every show. Even the shows like um we only caught one, the the Duffy show. We only caught one of those. I know we would have watched multiple had we had the view from our room. Yeah. We would have saved time not having to like stake out a spot for the show. Yep. Um, for like the Marvel big shows, uh, which one night we actually watched it twice. So um the benefit on that for that type of cruise, uh I would sign up for it in a second.

Why Garden Veranda Wins

Nathan 9:34

Yeah. Now, obviously, these sailings have been sailing with limited capacity, and you you bring up, you know, staking out spots. We've seen some uh some comments from some folks who are on the maiden voyage where which also wasn't at full capacity, and they were even finding it hard to you know get spots for fireworks or this or that, some of the other things. Like, how did it's a different layout than what Disney's used to? And Disney's used to being able to do these massive events like a sail away party or things like that, where you have multiple decks and lots of viewing spaces on the on the floor and all around, where you can get a lot of people, uh most of the ship viewing a thing. How does how is that gonna work when this starts going full tilt with you know up to 6,700 guests uh on the ship?

Scott 10:29

Yeah, I mean, I think the maiden voyage was pretty close to full.

Nathan 10:33

Okay, got it.

Scott 10:34

I don't know if it was completely full, but at the same time, I'm not I would not expect the ship to be more full than the maiden voyage in the first year.

Nathan 10:45

Interesting.

Scott 10:46

That's just pure speculation, not informed.

Nathan 10:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott 10:50

That's based on kind of the way that the ship had to launch, they had to cancel the first three months. I think that the the five-year commitment to Singapore is five years because they know it's gonna take them some time to really build up uh a place in that market. So, you know, I I I think the maiden was probably about as crowded as it's gonna feel. You also have to take into account so the cruise that I was on only had 3,000 guests. Right. Um, but over half of those were Disney employees, people that work at the company or were still working on the coaster trying to get at work to work. Like that the a lot of those people were were doing that. Um so I would probably guess there were only like 1,500 people that were doing the guest experience. Right. Uh that was most obvious in the restaurants where they were just empty. Okay. But at the shows, doing all the things never felt like it was you know 20% capacity because everyone on the ship was trying to do everything. Ah and it's the same way on the main voyage. Yeah. And I think the first month or so.

Nathan 12:04

Yeah.

Scott 12:05

Crowds are weird in the same way when you go to the parks, certain time of the year, there can be the same number of people in the parks, but over spring break, people are there to ride rides. Yep. People are there to do things. It's their one time to be there, unlike other times of the year where you could have the same number of people in the park, and people are locals and they're just kind of having a good time.

Nathan 12:28

I mean, we go over the summer, and you know, there we've been blessed a couple times to have like two weeks because we had DVC points to blow after the pandemic, canceled a couple things. And it's like, we're just gonna hang out, and if we ride stuff, we ride stuff. If we don't, we don't. Like we're just here for the vibes. It's a very different thing than when we try to cram something in on a spring break. Right.

Scott 12:48

And I think that's what the adventure will be in a few months. You'll have more people doing what's normal on a cruise where they just hang out in the room and they come out for the shows and the dinner, but they're there to chill. Yeah. These first, these first like couple months of cruises, people are there to see it all, do it all. Um so I I I think that um what you guys were seeing, what I was saying, kind of with lines and characters, it will settle out. They'll also figure out the operations for all of it, right? Yeah. Um but I'm I'm certainly glad that there's not more than the the set capacity that they've put on that ship because um as spacious as it is, as many different spaces as they've created, all the different restaurants, all the different places to go, I can see that ship when you're not stopping anywhere feeling very crowded very quickly.

Crowd Flow At Full Capacity

Nathan 13:43

Yeah. I read something last night. I read the Substack article you put out right before the um your like main review. And I forget the gentleman that you were talking with from Disney. But something that caught me, and and you just mentioned like the five-year commitment to um to Singapore. Like the the quote that sticks in my head was a some comment of, you know, like, well, we're gonna be uh in Singapore for five years, and then we'll see where else the adventure goes. It was like, I think down towards the bottom of your write-up of it. Like just I know this is a little tangent, but do you think this is gonna stay in Singapore? Like, this doesn't feel like a ship that's gonna do well outside of the Southeast Asia region.

Scott 14:28

No, it it will be in Singapore for five years and then it will go somewhere else.

Nathan 14:32

Really? Okay.

Scott 14:33

Yeah, it doesn't mean it won't return. It doesn't mean that Disney wouldn't then with you know, if it's extremely successful, they'd put another ship there for you know a season or two. Um, I think the home port part is unique because this is the only ship that they're doing it with. Right. It was done in a commitment to Singapore uh for them also backing Disney coming there. Okay. Um but no, I I'm pretty confident that that that ship will go elsewhere after five years. That doesn't mean that it'll be in the US for a long time. It will come. I'm pretty confident it will make its way to the US after that five-year commitment. Yeah, it will come to the US, but not forever. I think it'll become a ship that moves around similar to the ones they have now.

Nathan 15:21

Got it. Because this is like they're positioning this as a brand kind of ambassador to that region. There aren't, you know, you can get to Hong Kong in four hours, but it's just a different culture and a different travel style. So this is a uh, you know, this is a Disney park experience for in a Disney cruise experience, a Disney experience for the first time for most of these people who are gonna be on the ship, right?

Scott 15:48

It is, and I I think the ship can serve that role in the five years that it's there, and then it can kind of um go other places, which is what I would expect for it to do. But it for the next five years, it is absolutely a Disney brand ambassador for that market. Yeah, they can over the thing about all the things that are probably gonna happen with the company over the five years, they can introduce characters in that market as we're introduced to them, if they're characters we don't know about yet, or new Marvel characters that show up in uh the next few years. Like all of those can then be introduced in Singapore through the adventure, and I think that they'll they'll absolutely use it for that.

Nathan 16:29

Do you think the ship will work in an American market if it does come stateside? Like I'm looking at some of the pictures of some of the rooms, I'm like, this is a little, it's a little tight.

Scott 16:42

Oh, it's it's extremely tight. Yeah. Um, and the decor is not uh nearly as nice as the the other ships.

Nathan 16:50

I heard I read the rooms were pretty much done when Disney bought the ship.

Scott 16:54

So pretty much, yeah.

Singapore Homeport And Future Moves

Nathan 16:55

Wow, that's amazing.

Scott 16:56

With the with the exception of some some um decor and some other like structural or configuration changes that they made to some of the rooms. Um but yeah, mostly, mostly done. Um I don't think that's a blocker, but they can um it it would work with some modifications. Um I would not be shocked if it in five years, hypothetically, five years leaves Singapore, comes to the US, goes through like a um a dry dock, yeah, or uh even uh just a a refurb where they would make some changes. I I hate to already like declare bankruptcy on the Marvel landing area, but like it wouldn't it wouldn't shock me if like when it leaves Singapore that they just take all that off. Interesting. Um because the the reason the rides work on the on the ship, I think, is because it's in Singapore where they don't have a Disney theme park.

Nathan 18:00

Ah, okay.

Scott 18:01

Um but those rides take up a lot of space, they're gonna take up a lot of just time, like maintaining them. I mean, when you walk around deck 17 and you get back to where they have the coaster.

Nathan 18:16

Yeah.

Scott 18:16

Under the coaster, there's like a there's like a stair lift. I wish I'd taken a picture of it. Um but they have just under a tarp, like an extra light cycle vehicle. Uh-huh. And then they have two extra um like Groot spinner. Oh, okay. Yeah. And it's like, I saw that and I was like, oh my god. Like if one of those things break, they have to have it on the ship. Yeah. And that way they can fix it when they can, and they probably have to still would have to be docked to like do all of that. Right. But they still gotta have all of that stuff here to like support and manage a functioning ride. Yeah. And the people and the res, you know, it's not just the resources. Yeah. Having people on standby, like able to help. Um, so like just seeing that, I was like, you know, this little dinky uh carnival attraction works in that Asian market because it's like I get to go on a Disney ship and I get to do Disney rides and I get to see Disney shows and I get to see Disney characters. You bring that over to Port Canaveral, like, yeah, what are we doing here?

Nathan 19:28

Yeah. Yeah. I was like, well, the the spinner, especially, is like, I mean, I guess it's kind of like Dumbo, but like it's not real impressive.

Scott 19:36

It's not. No, I rode the spinner. I did not ride the car, the little um to be clear, these rides are not made for me. They're not made for you, they're not made for probably most of the people listening to this podcast. It's made for families to be able to come and take their kid on that first Disney ride, and it's fine for that.

Nathan 19:54

Yeah.

Scott 19:54

But I mean, they found the slowest moving cars on the planet, on the entire planet, are on that that ship. Um the Pym particle or whatever. I I was just watching it, you know. If I'm driving a car on a cruise ship, I probably would make want to make sure that it's safe and it's slow. Totally get it.

Nathan 20:16

Yeah.

Scott 20:17

But when you see it, you're kind of like, maybe we should have done something else. Like if this is all that it, if this is if we decided, if you decide to to build a house and the cost of lumber, the day you decide to do it, goes up 500% because of some market impact, you probably would be like, man, maybe we don't need to build a house with wood. Maybe we need to put up a metal structure.

Nathan 20:41

Right.

Marvel Rides And Maintenance Reality

Scott 20:42

That that's what they should have decided on that attraction at some point. But like, if this is what we have to do to have a drivable car experience, let's what other what other ideas do we have? Yeah. What else do we have?

Nathan 20:53

Interesting. Interesting.

Scott 20:55

So I could see it coming to the US. I could see them uh actually taking it at some point to ports, uh, making stops outside of the Asian market.

Nathan 21:05

Yeah.

Scott 21:05

Um, but uh they would definitely have to make some changes. Yeah.

Nathan 21:12

In your review, there's a a clear tension between things that feel unmistakably Disney and moments that feel like quite a departure. And we've we've been talking about a bunch of those. Where do you feel the the most internal push and pull as a longtime Disney observer?

Scott 21:29

Um that's a good question. I I think they nailed making the ship feel like a Disney ship. I think I don't think you if you walked onto the ship with without having been on a Disney cruise line ship, yeah, it feels very Disney. And it's nice and you get the same feeling that I think we all had the first time we would have gone on a Disney cruise ship. When you walk on having been on a Disney cruise line ship, it's not Quite the same Disney feeling that you got on those ships. But I still think they they pulled it off, even with all the cards that they were dealt. The low ceilings that you have throughout most of the ship. They did what they could. I think they kinda went above and beyond like having the promenade Like on the side. Like there were things they were like, no, we're we're going to have some of it, we're gonna do these things. Like we have to have the ship funnels. Thank goodness they didn't have six. In the original artwork, um, because four is plenty.

Nathan 22:42

Yeah.

Scott 22:43

Uh and I still don't fully know what's in the faux uh funnels. Yeah. There are rumors that there is a suite that will at some point open, but was not ready. Uh but I I don't know if that's accurate or not. Okay. Um so I I think the push and pull, I think they they did a better, it did a they surprised me with how Disney it was able to feel while still looking pretty darn foreign from the outside. Yeah.

Nathan 23:12

Was there a moment where you thought, man, fans are really gonna debate this?

Scott 23:17

Uh the state rooms.

Nathan 23:19

Yeah.

Scott 23:19

As soon as we walked in the stateroom, the first thing, so I was with my older sister, a couple years older than me, and my younger brother's actually 23. Uh, I've been on the most, my sister's been on a lot of cruises, and my younger brother, I think I think he's only been on two or three.

Nathan 23:35

Okay.

Does It Still Feel Like Disney

Scott 23:35

And we walked in the room, and we all were just kind of like, ooh, you know, it was smaller than expected.

Nathan 23:42

Uh-huh.

Scott 23:43

But the first thing I noticed was like the curtain separator from our our layout was we had the bed and then we had the couch and we had the veranda. Right. But the the curtain that separates the the couch area and the bed. Yeah. It's like the cheapest fabric, just like plastic thing. And I was just like, oh no. Like I know my kids of a few years ago would have broken that within like a day of opening and closing it. So we clock that. The sofa that converts into a bed is not you don't sleep on a mattress, you sleep on it kind of just extends out. And you're sleeping on top of the couch cushion.

Nathan 24:32

Oh.

Scott 24:32

Flattened.

Nathan 24:33

Okay.

Scott 24:34

Um which is the complete. I mean, we we often talk about how well we sleep on a Disney ship. And a lot of that is because if you've ever Googled the mattress or the linens they use on the ships,

Nathan 24:46

it's nice.

Scott 24:47

It is really nice stuff.

Nathan 24:48

Yeah.

Scott 24:49

Uh, this is not on the ship. It is not. You sleep on a couch cushion that is extended out that's topped with a mattress topper. And so that's where my brother slept.

Nathan 24:59

Yeah.

Scott 24:59

So he got he ordered some extra pillows and made it work.

Nathan 25:02

Okay.

Scott 25:03

But that was um, that was kind of a surprise.

Stateroom Size And Comfort Tradeoffs

Nathan 25:06

Yeah. It's funny because you and then the decor in the room is is very like it's not, it's a nice room, but it's not super Disney. Like there's the mural behind the main bed. And then I think we've seen like there's another kind of like line art illustration drawing elsewhere in the room, and and that's kind of it. Yeah. I think there's a there's a little Mickey Mouse head by the the the bed as well. But that's kind of it, where we're used to like, you know, carpets and lampshades and all sorts of stuff all throughout the suite being overly themed. It's interesting. You mentioned just a few minutes ago where you were surprised about how Disney they were able to make the ship feel. And yet there's this also a dichotomy with the rooms that were largely already done and designed and installed being very much not Disney. It'll be interesting to see, you know, to your point earlier, they will have to do a dry dock in five years. That, like that is, you know, for every every new ship for the first 15, 20 years or something like that, you do every five years and then it goes every three. I think that sounds like this is going to have a longer dry dock after that first five-year period is over and lots of room for improvement. And we'll see how much they actually do. Um

Scott 26:24

room for improvement, too.

Nathan 26:25

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott 26:27

Remove for the rooms can improve.

Nathan 26:30

Yes. So you call out some uh in your article a few seemingly small operational choices that actually say a lot about how the ship is meant to function. What do those details tell us about who Disney designed the ship for?

Small Ops Details That Reveal Market

Scott 26:47

I think, I mean, I I think the um the rooms are still like it's very clearly made for uh the market that traditionally for cruises like this are signing up to put four adults in a tiny state room, not something that Disney would really try to sell in the markets they're in right now. Yep. Um, so that like that was pretty obvious. Um I mean, you know, they're as far as like part of the world, like the soda selection was was unique, did not have the normal drink selections, they don't even have uh regular Coca-Cola.

Nathan 27:29

Oh wow.

Scott 27:30

They have I heard them calling it uh Coke Light, which is diet diet coke, right? Coke zero. But then if you just order a regular Coca-Cola, it's not, it's half regular Coke, half Coke Zero. Oh, interesting. So it's like a reduced calorie blend Coca-Cola, it's like called less sugar Coca-Cola, um, which was just you know, I think it's very normal in in Asia. Yep. Um, but was not normal to me. Right. And when I just ordered a Coke and I tasted it, and I was like, this tastes like this tastes like fake and real mixed together. And then we looked, and we're like, oh, it is that is exactly what it is. Um and then they had like a uh a Minute Made orange, just called Orange Drink.

Nathan 28:21

Okay.

Scott 28:22

It was like my brother's favorite thing on the ship. Um so I mean, like those types of things. I I saw that they've like run out of Mickey ice cream bars. Yeah. So there's like a Singapore version of the Mickey ice cream bar on the ship right now. I think until they get the regular ones back in. Yep. Um, so that one was like a all right, yep, we're we're not sailing from Port Canaveral. This is different.

Nathan 28:45

Right.

Scott 28:45

Um, I wouldn't say there was really anything else that stands out that was uh other than just the ship was built for a lot of people. So with that in mind, they created a lot more spaces for smaller spaces for people to go. Yeah um with the four restaurants on deck 10 and 11, like that is completely foreign for a normal Disney ship. Usually you're going you're going out to the top deck for all of your quick food options, yeah. To kind of have two different areas for that um was different, but it was all an effort of trying to spread out people.

Nathan 29:22

Right, right. You know, a lot of the issues you're talking about is you know, Disney cruise line, even today when you have ships sailing out of Europe or Australia, you know, there are issues where they don't have the normal supply chain. And so maybe you don't always have Mickey bars or you don't have this or that or the other thing. I think the most critical question, you know, I have for you, uh, and I don't know why I didn't lead off with this. Like, have they internationally sourced the chicken tenders?

Scott 29:53

So I I think they were just the normal ones. Okay. The problem is I don't consume them regularly enough because I have been on I've been on a preview cruise for one of the wish class ships and was sitting down with one of my colleagues, and they looked normal to me, and this person ate them, and they're like, oh, these taste different.

Nathan 30:15

Oh, weird.

Scott 30:16

I couldn't taste the difference. Yeah. Um, but these appeared and tasted to me to be just normal cruise line chicken fingers. So we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Nathan 30:28

There'd be a riot if that wasn't the case. Yeah.

Scott 30:32

I the the riot though may come for the the there's no Mickey ice cream bars for room service, which was always like a you know, not insider, but like a kind of an open secret for people that love to crew to go on the cruises. Is it's not listed anywhere, but you could call room service and they'll deliver Mickey ice cream bars, but no, you have to get them in the restaurants. That's the only place you can get them on the ship.

Nathan 30:58

Huh. I wonder if that's just a supply chain, you know, maybe they'll change that. That feels like an easy change if they get a supply chain.

Scott 31:03

It it is an easy change, but it it was a like um even before they ran out, it was a policy. But should they have a better established way of getting those? Uh, that's something they could change in a second for sure.

Nathan 31:20

So reading, you know, your your overall review, it didn't feel like a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. It it felt a lot more nuanced, and and that's what we've been talking about here as well. What part of the ship are you still thinking about here days later?

Scott 31:37

Um I think I think in a good way, the the adventure, Disney Adventure Garden. I think it's yeah, it's or imagination garden. Yep. I think it's an open space that is kind of it's an open space on a very closed-in feeling ship with the low ceilings, and you kind of get that breath of fresh air without being up on the top deck that allows you to not feel as cramped as I often felt in other parts of that ship. Um so I I'm still thinking of that. I'm still like I'd love to know what their plans are for even more shows to have on that stage because the stage is amazing. It is like state of the art, outdoor amphitheater. Yeah, they've got all the space for the shows. The Marvel show is incredible, um, and it uses all kinds of uh tech show elements that you normally would only get in the Walt Disney Theater. Yeah. Um flying people on you know, uh wire flying in during the show. All of that is really amazing. So I I keep thinking about like other ways that they could in the future use that that whole space. Um I think the uh they were forced into having escalators, which I love.

Nathan 33:04

Yeah,

Scott 33:05

it's not the whole ship, it's only in the middle of the ship. Okay. You could go from like deck four or five up to I think up to ten. I think it's like five to ten. Yeah. Um but it's in the middle, apart from the two elevator bays or elevator banks. Okay. So you're in the middle of the ship, uh in the town square area, and you want to jump up to Imagination Garden, you could just take the escalators, which I like to take the stairs uh as much as I can, but sometimes you just don't wanna. And so having that option versus going and finding an elevator, yeah, I think is is something that they didn't choose to do. It was part of the original ship. And and I I wonder if they'll find a way to incorporate those onto the next class of ships. Yeah. I don't know if there will be space since it's not that big as big of a ship. Yeah. But uh it was it, it was when I saw them originally and I knew they were gonna be on the ship, and kind of thought, oh, they're they're gonna be, you know, I can go from top to bottom on an escalator. The way that it's uh integrated into the ship, it doesn't really take up a whole lot of space. It just makes it easier to kind of get to where you want to go without having to go all the way forward or aft to the elevators. Right. Or or to the stairs. Right. Because there's no stairs in the area where they have the escalators.

Nathan 34:32

That's fantastic. That's a good supplement.

Scott 34:34

Yeah, and then I mean, I don't stay, we don't stay concierge. I've never stayed concierge, but the concierge area on the ship is crazy big. Yeah. Has its own spa, has its own gym. It's a massive sun deck. So I'm still thinking about that. Yeah. Uh wishing that I could actually experience that one day. Yeah. Yeah. And then just the I feel like the Marvel area is just kind of a missed opportunity. Like even the forgetting the rides for a second, just the overall feel and look of that area.

Nathan 35:05

Yeah.

Scott 35:06

It's very warehousey. It just doesn't

Nathan 35:09

interesting.

Scott 35:10

Um, that just didn't love, didn't love that.

San Fransokyo District And Adult Space

Nathan 35:12

You know, one of the compromises they had to make, perhaps because of the the Marvel area that you're talking about, is there isn't a dedicated adult space on this ship. How do you think that's going to play out? Like, do you think that's a big miss? Do you think it's okay because there's lots of other things? Like, we haven't even talked about uh San Fransokyo, uh, that whole district, because that looks absolutely phenomenal.

Scott 35:36

Yeah, San Fransokyo is my favorite, my favorite space on the ship, without a doubt. The way that they let imagineering go crazy, the way they integrated the teen clubs into like the street. So you're walking down the street and you see this neon sign for vibe, and you're like, oh, this is cool. This feels like a street. And you're like, oh, this is an actual like store entrance. Yeah. Oh, this is the club. You know, these two teen clubs are like integrated into the facade of the San Fransokyo Street. Then they have like an arcade area that the whole family can go play games together instead of those being inside of the clubs. Yeah. There's not really uh Hero Zone kind of on the wish class. They have some, you know, some things up there for family to play, but these were really cool, um, interactive, like uh not VR, but um

Nathan 36:29

like an augmented reality?

Scott 36:30

Oh, yeah, like an AR. Kind of like that, where you are the the character in the game and they've got the camera above and it's projecting you onto the screen.

Nathan 36:38

Oh, neat.

Scott 36:39

Um, and it was the best, hands down, the best use of trying to pull off that tech in a game that I've I've ever been able to play.

Nathan 36:48

Yeah.

Scott 36:49

So yeah, San Fransokyo is um, and then you have the movie theater at the end of the street. So it's it's easily my favorite spot on the ship. And I don't know what that area was supposed to be before uh on the old ship. I don't know what that was an adult area that they turned into San Fransokyo or what, but

Nathan 37:10

maybe a casino?

Scott 37:12

Yeah, that could have been the casino. Yeah, I haven't figured it out. I haven't figured out the casino. That's the only thing I don't know if it was in the concept art. And we weren't like the kids' club area also felt like it could have been the casino. The the where it was laid out on the ship and it kind of has steps down into it. Okay. Uh, as you get into the club, it kind of felt like it could have been too. Got it. Um, and maybe the ship didn't have maybe it wasn't gonna have a big casino, maybe that's why it's not easy to figure it out.

Nathan 37:40

Yeah.

Scott 37:41

Uh or there's an obvious answer, and I just haven't seen it. Uh, but the the lack of adults only space. Yeah. I don't know this for sure, but there were a couple other instances where like even on the kids' play area, on like the sign where it tells you like all the safety information, like there was a line on there that said only for kids under the age of, and they blacked that out. They changed the height requirement on the woody slides. So, and I think that the the back of the ship, that pool area, I think was possibly originally intended to be adults only. Uh-huh. But it almost seems like operationally they decided we need everything to be for everyone.

Nathan 38:31

Got it.

Scott 38:31

And we can't like be telling in this market. I think they decided that it was going to be a difficult hurdle to tell people you can't take your families back here. Yeah. Instead, just kind of saying everything's for everyone, and then, you know, six months down the road, all they'd have to do is put up a sign that just says this area is for adults, is intended for adults until 7 p.m. or something. Yeah. Without making it an advertised adults-only space. Right.

Nathan 39:04

Yeah, you'd have a riot blocking off like the Moana show from families. So that's just not going to happen.

Scott 39:10

It it it's um, I think that they could pivot on that if they chose to. I think it is interesting that there's just not a space as it is on launch, but I don't know if it's that weird for that market. I think it's weird for us because we expected it based on the other ships.

Shade Heat And Sailing Weather

Nathan 39:28

We've got just a couple minutes, and I know you've got to go. I have a real quick question. Do you see them needing to add a bunch of shade? Because it sure looked like, hey, you're sailing really close to the equator and there's not a lot of shaded areas outside. What's your kind of take on that?

Scott 39:44

No, I didn't think that. I mean, I um Singapore is a very, very warm place. Yeah. People don't know where it is. It's essentially the same temperature all year, rainforest type climate. But while you're sailing at sea, not going anywhere, you're uh basically doing donuts out in the ocean. Yeah. Literally just making these tiny on the on the TV in your room, you get to pull up the map and you're just going in circles. Um but they they choose and they selectively pick, you know, where to go out in the ocean for weather. And I mean the temperature was like uh almost 10 degrees cooler out where we were versus in the city, Singapore.

Nathan 40:27

Yeah.

Scott 40:28

So we were not um really sun kind of sunday there anything while we were there. The Wayfinder Bay during the Moana show was a little warm. Okay, but no, and I'm I mean I I get warm easy, like anywhere. Yeah, and I've certainly felt a lot warmer on other Disney cruises versus this one. So I I think it was fine. There's there are a couple spots on deck 17 where it looks like they have the structure for shade near Sunnyside pool where they could put one up. Um and it's very possible that they're just haven't had to see or they haven't had a chance or it hasn't come in. Um, but there are some structures that you can clearly see that they would they could be adding some some shade there.

Nathan 41:18

Got it. Well, anything like kind of what's your your closing argument here? You know, should people be flying, you know, 18, 20 hours to to go to Singapore from the US market and check out this ship?

Scott 41:31

I think if you're curious, yes. I think if you're just like a curious person who wants to just go see it and um you're not going in with your checklist to compare, you know, trying to find every fault in the ship. Um personally, I don't enjoy my vacations that way.

Nathan 41:49

Yeah.

Scott 41:50

I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Um, you know, if if you really want it to be something it's not, then it's probably better to just wait it out and see it when it comes to the US and let them make whatever changes they'll make to it at that time. Yeah. But the entertainment on the ship, the package of entertainment, all the shows. Remember the Wall-E show and the theater, um, the Marvel show, the Duffy show that's out there is adorable. Um as a package, the entire entertainment package on the ship, the fireworks show, which is we didn't talk about it, it's incredible. It's a 12-minute firework show. It's not three minutes of little, you know, little pyro at the end of a pirate show. It's an actual storied, uh, has a soundtrack, firework show. As a package, the five the entertainment as a whole, I think is the best on any show.

Nathan 42:44

Yeah, we've heard we've heard that.

Scott 42:46

So if you love the entertainment part of the Disney ships, I think you should go and see it because it's worth it. Um The Flight is a beast. I I did the uh I'm in North Carolina, yeah, and I connected through Chicago, which went to Tokyo and then Tokyo to Singapore. Um the Chicago to Tokyo, since it might be a good fit for a lot of people, yeah, was an easy hop over uh from there to Singapore.

Nathan 43:17

Yeah.

Scott 43:18

Um, and you know, it's a long time. You get the time back when you come home. When we flew back, we flew Singapore through San Francisco. Okay, and we took off at 10 45 p.m. And we landed in San Francisco on the same day at 10 30. Hey, that's a quick trip. That's easy. That is that is some serious time. We just landed, me and my brother looking at each other and we're like, is that right? Like, I it it it it is one thing just to hear it and be like, yeah, Scott, that's how time zones work. But man, when you do it and you're like, you're falling asleep, you're groggy, you step off the plane, and you're like No time's past. Like what what just happened? It's worth it.

Nathan 44:04

I have a funny feeling that that we'll uh take the plunge and try this out. We'll see. Alicea really wants to do one of those garden view rooms uh to to see the shows and everything. So uh and her she has a a big birthday ending in zero coming up in a couple years. So uh this it may be on our docket. We'll see how it goes.

Scott 44:22

Yeah, I would be be strategic about the you know which rooms you look at. I'm sure you guys will do the research there, but I I I would definitely try to think about the rooms that'll have the best view of the show, and then maybe even try to get one that would have a view of the fireworks as they they go off above. I would still say go up to 17 to watch the fireworks. Yeah, but yeah, you I don't think you'll be disappointed. Singapore itself is an awesome place. Yeah. Take a day just for the airport. I'm I'm dead serious. Everyone tells you that. And you go and you're like, I should have done that. Because I we didn't do we didn't do it. We didn't take we did not set aside a full day for the airport, but you should because uh there's a ton of stuff to do in that that mall.

Nathan 45:10

So that's awesome. Scott, I know you gotta run. Thank you so much for for joining me today. It was uh great to talk to you, and I know uh we'll be in touch and and uh we'll chat soon.

Scott 45:19

Yeah, let's chat again before you before you take the plunge on the next one.

Where To Follow Scott And Wrap

Nathan 45:23

Absolutely we'll do. All right, cool. Take care. I see you. I want to thank Scott again for coming on with me this morning. Uh our our schedules went sideways uh in multiple different ways. Alicia couldn't be with us. Scott had a thing come up and we only had like 45 minutes to chat, but uh I think that was 45 minutes well spent. I so totally enjoyed uh learning a firsthand perspective about the brand new Disney adventure that is sailing out of Singapore. Uh if you want to know more about what's going on on the adventure, please go visit Scott Gustin's Substack. That is over at Scott Gustin, S-C-O-T-T-G-U-S-T-I-N.substack.com. Give him a subscribe and follow over there. Uh, and then he posts a ton over on Twitter or X, whatever you want to call it. He's at Scott Gustin, uh fantastic source for legitimate news. Uh, there's there is some opinion, occasionally a little healthy, about a start of snark, but uh it's just a good, honest perspective without the clickbait from an honest to goodness journalist that covers Disney uh as a passion. And uh yeah, we could not be more pleased for uh having Scott in our uh portfolio of people who we can reach out to and have on and share with y'all because uh just as fantastic nerd, because just as nerds ourselves, uh having that kind of insider access to uh uh a world-renowned journalist like that is just absolutely fantastic. Well, remember that uh we and our guests are not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are all personal opinions and suggestions based on our own experiences. But of course, we all are affiliated with fun snacks and questionable decisions. We recommend working with a travel agent or contacting Disney directly to plan your perfect vacation. If you have questions or suggestions or would like to be interviewed on our show to share your Disney experiences, please send an email to podcast at our mousecapades.com. If you love this episode, please give a rating and review five stars, ring that bell, like and subscribe, all of that good stuff. It really helps other Disney fans find us. And you can follow us at our Mouse Capades on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and we're even over there on YouTube. Please share us with your friends and family and that one coworker who still thinks FastPass is a thing. Thanks for listening. We'll be in your ears next week.

Intro 48:02

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.