Welcome And Meet D’Nesha

Intro 0:03

PleaseK stand clear of the doors. Please stand clear of the doors. Because this hear's the wildest ride in the wilderness.

Alicea 0:24

Hello everyone, I'm Alicea.

Nathan 0:26

I'm Nathan.

D’Nesha 0:27

And I'm D’Nesha.

Alicea 0:28

Welcome to this week's episode of Adventures and Mouse Capades. This week we have a guest on who we met virtually at least in the WhatsApp group for a cruise we haven't even taken yet. D’Nesha mentioned that she was taking her family on the Disney Adventure, which is Disney Cruise Line's recently launched mega ship. It's a big ship. Of course, our interests were peaked right away. And then she dropped in chat that she was taking her family of six to both Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney parks before the cruise. And let's just say that the trap was sprung. We are just fortunate enough that D’Nesha had the patience to talk to both myself and Nathan when we independently reached out to have her be on the show. And so with that, welcome, D’Nesha.

D’Nesha 1:11

Thank you. Very happy to be here.

Nathan 1:13

Yeah, it's a pleasure to break out of the WhatsApp chat and uh actually kind of at least see each other from uh from a distance here. Obviously, you know, I have a face for radio, so we throw the audio or the video away at least. Yeah. And uh uh but yeah, thanks for for coming on. You you had a tremendous trip.

D’Nesha 1:34

Yeah, it was like the trip of a lifetime, honestly.

Nathan 1:38

Well, before we get to that, what's kind of your Disney origins story? Like we always ask this question what's your Disney background? Was Disney a part of your childhood or did it come later in life?

D’Nesha 1:51

That's a good question. Like um, people often say that I'm Disney obsessed and ask if I've traveled as a kid. But growing up, we I grew up in Louisiana, we couldn't afford to go, but I remember being a kid, I'm a 90s kid. And I remember before every Disney movie that I would watch, there was this kid going down the stairs with his suitcase. They were going to Disney. And I told myself that one day that would be me. Um, so fast forward to um my husband and I being married, um, we went on our first Disney trip um with our son when he was five months old. We adopted him. He was a 31-week preemie. We'd gone through all these infertility trials, and um we're blessed with the opportunity to adopt him out of thin air. And so we're sitting there and we're watching the fireworks, and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm at my the place of my dreams. And I thought that that was my dream come true, and I just watched my husband hold our son, and I was like, that is the moment I want for the rest of my life, as much as I can have it.

Nathan 2:57

Yeah.

D’Nesha 2:58

And um, so our life kind of changed to where we went from I went from living in Louisiana to Texas to um Southern California as a travel nurse. Um and I took my son pretty much on any day that I was off to Disneyland. And we ended up moving to um Modesto, California, actually Riverbank right outside of there. And we have since had three IVF girl members, and they are sweet as nectar and Disney obsessed because I take them, we take them whenever we can.

Nathan 3:34

Yeah.

D’Nesha 3:35

My husband is not the, he isn't he is a Disney dad by demand, but not by choice. But he will do anything for these kids to to smile, and um he will do all the Disney bounds, and we it's just become part of our you know regular life now, and it's it's been such a blessing. We we feel the magic, it's it's been great.

Alicea 3:58

So it sounds like your your kids are the Disney adults in training.

D’Nesha 4:02

They are, they should not be on drugs, they should not have bad habits because they're gonna spend their money there.

Nathan 4:10

Well, tell us a little bit about your your travel party. Who who all was on this trip?

D’Nesha 4:15

Okay. So myself, like I said, I like to call myself like the magic maker. I I try to plan trips that are seamless. I try to make all the or the outfits organized. And um, my husband um is uh he's calm to my chaos. Um, and he will grumble about the number of suitcases that I have, but he will push them and he will make sure we get everywhere in time. Um, our son is 12, almost 13, and um he has maybe five minutes of his attention to spare for us on a daily basis. But he's he's great. He will still um participate in my shenanigans for his little sisters, and you know, so that he can get all the treats and and merchandise he wants.

Nathan 5:00

Of course.

D’Nesha 5:02

I have a newly a new seven-year-old. She turned seven while we were in Shanghai. Um my son's name is Kayden, her name is Keegan. Um, she's seven, and I tell everyone she has main character energy. She is our singer and dancer. Um, never met a stranger. Um, I have a four-year-old who will be five um in a few weeks. And um, she's the one that we say will not let us go to a home. She is sweet as can be. And um, she's she definitely is on the baby side still. She still um believes that Mickey really is waiting on her next visit. And I feel that that is so magical, and I make sure not to disappoint her.

Nathan 5:44

Yeah.

D’Nesha 5:45

And then we have this little tiny two and a half-year-old who uh she doesn't talk very much, but you know exactly what she wants, and she's obsessed with Mickey, Minnie, and Ariel.

Alicea 5:56

Nice.

D’Nesha 5:57

And her name's Cohen. So we have four kids Kaden, our boy, Keegan, Kerrigan, and Cohen. So that's our group.

Nathan 6:03

Awesome. Beautiful.

Alicea 6:05

Had your kids done much international travel before this, or was this a whole new level for them?

D’Nesha 6:10

Well, I mean, this is definitely the farthest we've traveled. We've um

Nathan 6:15

it's hard to go farther.

D’Nesha 6:17

Right up again. Like, this is the farthest, I think. Like when we first were entered with before we decided to add on the China parks, we were actually, there's actually a direct flight from San Francisco Airport to Singapore. So it's 18 hours. So we entered and entertained that flight first. But prior to this, they've gone to we've gone to we've gone on a couple of cruises, one being um the Disney Treasure, which was amazing. We've done travels to Mexico and to Costa Rica.

Nathan 6:48

Okay. So they're not unfamiliar with, you know, being out of the country and doing a few things, but yeah, the the the day and a half on a of travel each direction is uh Absolutely. It's different. It's different.

D’Nesha 7:03

Yeah. They did a lot better than I think I could have ever prepared for. Um to fly domestically and then to fly internationally is totally different in like the the level of um customer service, the um the comfort level, figuring out your timing of when you're gonna rest. Like we set the bar very low. We brought all the snacks, we brought play-doh, we brought coloring books, we brought all the electronics because I didn't know what it was gonna take. I brought, I brought some melatonin just in case we needed it because I just wanted to make sure that we would make it through this trip without making it miserable for another another person on the flights. Um, but yeah, they they did a really good job. I feel like they rested well, they kept themselves entertained and they really weren't on the screens very much. They they they just did it, you know, like a thing at a time, maybe an hour or so, and take a little nap, eat a little bit, and just kind of continued. Our our two-year-old, I think, was the one I was most concerned about. And she slept like she would usually sleep. Um, going out there, you know, it it was really fine. And when we got there, um, I didn't really notice that we had a lot of jet lag. Okay. Coming back was was challenging because, you know, we woke up and it was like, you know, two in the morning and they're like ready to jump on the trampoline. And you know, we were wide awake, and it it took a few days to, you know, get our bearings, but yeah, worth it, worth it, you know.

Nathan 8:34

Yeah. So that actually was gonna be one of my questions was like how it sounds like the time change, at least when you were out in Asia, wasn't really a big factor. It was just coming back.

D’Nesha 8:46

It was coming back, and others had prepared us for that. Um I didn't I I took like two days off work, and I wish I had taken more just because I worked long shifts. And I was I was very productive at work, but when I would get home, I just found that you know I would sleep for very short periods of time and then at one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning. I'm like, okay, I have to get up. And that's not the case.

Why Add Hong Kong And Shanghai

Alicea 9:09

Yeah. This is a big trip. Two international Disney parks and a brand new cruise ship. What sparked the idea for this?

D’Nesha 9:19

Um, well, after we got off the treasure, we booked our placeholder. And I'm like, where do we want to go? And actually, we didn't even use our placeholder on this cruise because what was so attractive for us was the price was so much more affordable.

Nathan 9:36

Yeah.

D’Nesha 9:37

And, you know, we were just saying, you know, well, I've always wanted to go to Singapore. I want to go everywhere. Like that's just kind of me. But yeah, you know, just um, I have a few friends who are from, you know, Thailand, from Singapore, and you know, I'd heard about their travel, so it was very appealing for me to to do Disney somewhere so far away. So I was like I told you before, looking at flights and prepared to just fly just to Singapore and back and just spend a few days either before or after our trip, just exploring Singapore. Yeah. And as I joined the Facebook group for the the cruise and started talking to others, they were saying how they were gonna hang, they were gonna add on Shanghai. And I was like, oh, I don't have a map, I don't have a mental map. Right. So I guess I'm like, huh, is that even I know it's close, but how close is it? Like, what is flights, what do flights look like? So I looked and to go from Shanghai to Singapore, it's maybe like a three to four hour flight. And then I heard some people were saying how they liked Shanghai Park, but Hong Kong was so different. Yeah, and that Shanghai to Hong Kong is only like a two-hour flight. So I'm like, well, shoot, let's just do both of them.

Nathan 10:50

I like your style. Yep.

D’Nesha 10:51

You know, I'm like, when am I gonna be over there again? Like, you know, so then I started looking at, I'm like, how how expensive are flights gonna be? Like, how is that gonna work? You know, it's six of us. And so then I started looking at flights from from our airport. We chose San Francisco to Singapore, versus how much would it be to go from San Francisco to Shanghai or San Francisco to Hong Kong, and then doing like some kind of Asian domestic flights from there. So what I did was, um, because this is it's expensive, you know, what we did was I I elected to do my international flights first. So I booked a flight from San Francisco to Shanghai. Okay, and then I booked a flight from Singapore to San Francisco. And then I kind of had to wait a little bit, work a little bit, paid off our cruise. And then, you know, I just kind of price tracked the domestic flights and those to go from Shanghai to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Singapore, those flights were maybe a hundred to a hundred and fifty bucks per person.

Nathan 11:58

Okay.

D’Nesha 11:58

Which is not, you know, it's not cheap, but when you're just when you have time to break it up, it makes it a lot, you know, easier than doing them all at one time. Yeah.

Alicea 12:06

A lot more palatable. Yeah.

D’Nesha 12:07

And it was nice because like um something that we experienced is that our baggage is included. So we didn't have a baggage fee.

Nathan 12:16

Okay.

D’Nesha 12:17

Um, we didn't have to pay to sit with our children because each one of those airlines, those are standards. They you don't have to pay for meals, you don't pay for sodas, you don't pay for checked bags. We we brought a checked bag, a carry-on, and a backpack for every person. And we had extra stuff because we brought snacks and quickly learned that we didn't need to pack that many snacks because they fed us so often. And it was stuff that my kids would eat. They had kid meals, they had, you know, vegetarian meals, they had all kinds of things.

Nathan 12:43

So it's like flying used to be.

D’Nesha 12:47

You know, I never experienced that, but it was um, we very much felt spoiled, and we were in, we didn't pay for you know business or first class, we just paid for coach and we're very comfortable.

Flights And Planning To Save Money

Nathan 12:57

That's awesome. That's awesome. You did a lot of this planning and the logistics yourself, then. What did you think about leveraging uh uh like a travel advisor to help out, or were you just gonna figure out all these logistics and and and go for it?

D’Nesha 13:13

You know, it's a really good question. I um I do have a travel agent who has been amazing in introducing us to Disney cruising and has planned um our Disney World trip for us before. She helped us plan our trip to Playa del Carmen, but I'm a very type A, but also type B person. I say I'm an A point B. Um what my my thing is I like to plan everything, and then I just would turn it over to her, like, look, this is what I want to do. And she's like, oh, okay. And so I've been doing that for like almost two years now with her, and I I was happy to do it, but I actually recently thought, like, maybe I should do this for myself. Like maybe I, you know, could do this for someone else because I have colleagues and friends who have told me, oh, I want to pick your brain when it's time for me to travel. And I'm always happy to share that. But, you know, if I can earn a commission to do that to fund my next trip, because that's where it's gonna be, then, you know, sure. So I am I am just starting that as of like just a couple of weeks ago. I actually just recently was approached and decided to, you know, try it out. Haven't done the training because like I said, I'm always working, but it is something I it is something that I want to share with others because travel can be affordable, it can be what you make it to be.

Nathan 14:28

Yeah.

D’Nesha 14:28

And there's there were things that we did to cut cost um so that we could have more quality to our trip.

Nathan 14:34

Yeah.

D’Nesha 14:35

And um, and then, you know, it I would love to share that with someone else. So so that's kind of what, yeah, I did it all myself.

Nathan 14:41

I love that. I love that.

D’Nesha 14:43

My husband does not know where we're going. He just he just pushes the bags. He is like so aloof, except getting us through the airport. He's very much, you know, in his zone then. But otherwise, where are we going then? What do I need to do?

Nathan 14:57

Did you find it complicated logistics with the travel to and and within China?

Getting Around With Didi And Octopus

D’Nesha 15:03

No, actually, I liked it. So a little bit about when we went to China. So we went first to Shanghai, right? And I looked at the prices to stay on resort and considered it because I feel like it's a lot more affordable for tickets and for um for the stay on resort um there versus you know in the the US-based parks and thought about it for a little while. But I'm like, we're gonna be at the parks for two days each. And on the other day, I really want to just pack in as much, you know, local site, like sightsee that we can. So looking at other hotel options, I decided to stay close to the airport at both locations because for Hong Kong, it's so easy to use the metro system. And I imagine it wouldn't be difficult in Shanghai, but we decided to use ride share. They have um what's called Didi there.

Alicea 16:00

Okay.

D’Nesha 16:00

And um, we were maybe like a 15-minute drive from the parks. And I feel like the ride share was very safe. Um, the way that you pay for things is through like um, it's like a system called Alley Pay.

Nathan 16:12

Yeah.

D’Nesha 16:12

Um, they have a few different types of systems. So, like once you figure that out, like, am I losing my money? Like, what how is my card secure? But pretty much, like in Shanghai, we pretty much did what's called Alley Pay. And you you load your card information into that. And from that app, you can um you can like preload money or it can go straight from your card. You can hail a DiDi ride, and they're very easy to identify and they communicate very well. So I felt very safe.

Nathan 16:42

Awesome.

D’Nesha 16:43

There were a few times that we had to have two DiDis because you know, most people don't have a family of six in in Asia, I learned. Like we're a big family there. And so with our, I don't know, seven suitcases and carry-ons, we did sometimes have to, like when we were going to to and from the airport, we did have to um to use two DiDis, which was not a big deal.

Nathan 17:04

Yeah.

D’Nesha 17:04

When we were in Hong Kong, it was really easy because we stayed at a hotel that was really easy. Like they shuttled us from the from the airport to the hotel, and then they would shuttle you like every hour to the closest metro station.

Nathan 17:18

Yeah.

Shanghai Disneyland Scale And Zootopia

D’Nesha 17:18

And you could use something called, there were a few ways that you could pay for your travels, but one was called octopus and it was super easy. You just add this to your Apple wallet and you can add whatever amount to it, and you just tap your phone and you and it opens the turnstile and you walk on. And then there's like a whole, there's like one um location. It's called the Pung Chung Line, and it says the Disney Line. And all you have to do is go to the Disney line, and then it will take you straight there. It takes a few minutes, and then from there, you see this plush, beautiful, Mickey windowed um metro rail, and it takes you right to the park in Hong Kong, and it's beautiful, and it's it's just decorated with all things Mickey and like these bronze characters and velvet seats. Definitely feels like you're, you know, in for you know a nice adventure.

Alicea 18:11

So I'm gonna talk Shanghai for a little bit here.

D’Nesha 18:15

Okay, sure.

Alicea 18:16

Um, Shanghai Disneyland is often described as massive, honestly.

D’Nesha 18:20

Yes.

Alicea 18:21

Um did it feel that way in practice?

D’Nesha 18:23

It felt different. It the way it there were like a it was like a it felt like a circle, but there were all these little like tentacles of ways that you could go. But their map was very easy to use. Like you could just say where you want to go. Like if you want to go to Tron, you could just type in Tron or the the area that it's in, and you can just start your route and you can just see yourself tracking along and you get there. And if you're going the wrong way, then you know you figure out that you need to turn around. Um it's very big. And I think because it doesn't flow like Disney World, like like Magic Kingdom, or flow like Disneyland. I'm very familiar with how you know Disneyland and um California Adventures is like it's it's just different. Yeah, it is massive, the castle is massive, and it is gorgeous, like the most beautiful castle that I've seen. I haven't gone to Tokyo or Paris yet, but I've heard that it's the biggest. And when you go inside, like there's um bibity bobbity boutique and lots of um mosaic picture um mosaics um inside, it's just absolutely gorgeous.

Alicea 19:31

What was the biggest wow moment that you experienced in Shanghai?

D’Nesha 19:35

Wow. Um, I think what blew us away was um probably Zootopia World. Oh my gosh, it was like we were there, we were in the movie, and there's like a spot where like there's a giraffe on the treadmill and he's like larger than life on a treadmill. And we went for the popsicles at Jumbo's treats. And just so many, just the theming was amazing. Yeah, yeah, especially in that world.

Nathan 20:05

I'm imagining it's kind of like like uh Carsland is from an emerging like you are in this movie, but

D’Nesha 20:11

you are in it. Yes, the ride itself was awesome, but just to walk around the world, like I have um Carrie, my my four-year-old, she's obsessed with Judy Hops, and she got to take the picture right in front of the Zootopia Police Department. Oh, fantastic. It was so cool. I think that it is the main attraction for people going there. Like when you see the merchandise, like all the gear that everyone's wearing, it's Zootopia. I don't know if I showed you guys a picture, but like I said, I love to do Disney bounding.

Nathan 20:43

Yeah,

D’Nesha 20:43

it doesn't seem like it's the biggest thing there where people like down, like even like going comparing like Orlando to California, I think we're a lot heavier on the Disney bounding in California, at least to me.

Nathan 20:55

Yeah.

D’Nesha 20:55

You know, coordinating shirts, sure. I will say Orlando, but I feel like, you know, really going out, we do that at Disneyland. And so for the girls, I dressed one as Judy. I dressed one as Nick Wilde. I had she's my two-year-old, she had the little tie in the ears. And my my seven-year-old whose birthday it was, Keegan, I dressed her as Gazelle. And it was the most over-the-top bougie outfit. And the other, you know, visitors at the park went nuts. Like they wanted to take pictures with our girls. They wanted to take pictures of them, they wanted to take them with them, and they felt like they were celebrities. I think it was eye-opening to us that we were foreigners and we were different.

Nathan 21:42

Yeah.

D’Nesha 21:43

And but everyone was so welcoming and just so sweet. But yeah, it was um, I think Zootopia just really won us over at that park. And yes, it is massive. I say you need two full days to maybe even three. We did two to really get through the park.

Nathan 21:59

Yeah.

D’Nesha 22:00

See a lot of it. They do offer like a kind of like a they offer like the premiere access. We didn't elect to do like the, you know, like the tour or, you know, the more expensive option where you can ride everything. But we did do some kind of like fast passes. I think they call those premiere access too. The wording is a little different than how we worded it here in the US. Sure. But I didn't find that we really needed it except for maybe two rides. I feel like they were affordable. And honestly, we could have waited, but we were on a shortened time schedule. Um, we used it for Tron and we used it for the Zootopia ride. I feel like you do need it for the Zootopia Hot Pursuit ride. So much fun. Everything else was walk-on.

Nathan 22:44

Did y'all do Pirates?

D’Nesha 22:46

Amazing. Oh totally different Pirates.

Alicea 22:48

We want to do that one so much, but I don't know if we're ever gonna get it.

D’Nesha 22:51

I don't know if it I don't know who told me, but they told me that the Pirates of the Caribbean ride there is different.

Nathan 22:57

Yeah.

D’Nesha 22:58

And my son, he's not a rider, he doesn't like drops. My four-year-old is iffy, but I was like, please, everyone, do this with me.

Nathan 23:06

Right, right, right.

D’Nesha 23:08

And we wrote it twice, and it was so cool. Yes, it was it was so much fun.

Nathan 23:14

Yeah, someday, someday.

D’Nesha 23:17

Seriously awesome.

Nathan 23:18

We have some blockers right now, but someday.

D’Nesha 23:21

Tron, I feel like was very similar, if not identical, to the one in Orlando. Okay it was amazing.

Nathan 23:27

I think that one is like a straight copy and paste.

D’Nesha 23:31

Yeah, yeah, I think it's exactly like we were like, is it different? Like, no. And my son, I didn't think so. My son, he even braved himself to do that. He would not do it for us last year, and he absolutely loved it. That's awesome. Um, they have rides there that we don't have here. Like they have um, like an Iron Man ride, and Ant, I think Ant Man the Wasp. My son loved those.

Nathan 23:54

Um I think the Iron Man one is basically, is that one that that's Star Tours?

D’Nesha 24:01

I believe, I believe so.

Nathan 24:03

Star Tours.

Alicea 24:04

You mean Space Mountain?

Nathan 24:06

No, the Iron Man one, I remember hearing it's basically like this, but re-themed to Iron Man instead of like something else. And I don't remember what it was. It wasn't Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, I know that.

D’Nesha 24:18

Okay, no, no, that's another favorite of my son. Yeah. So um, we were there was uh there is Space Mountain, but it was closed during the time we were there. They they closed it for refurbishments.

Nathan 24:30

Yep.

D’Nesha 24:30

There was like, you know, the carousel, not as majestic as the ones that are here, but still really nice. There's there's Dumbo, you know, a lot of um ones that you would think of. There's um teacups, so pretty. Um but just wandering around trying to get to everything was was different because you're used to like things being, you know, there's still like fantasy land, but it's just different, you know.

Nathan 24:56

Yeah, we have enough problems, you know. We go to Florida and California frequently enough. And we're like, wait, it's where in this park? I don't remember.

D’Nesha 25:06

Exactly. Like, I don't need a map when I go to California. I'm good. Like you you put me in, you put me in Orlando, I can I'm a bit lost. Um, Magic Kingdom, forget about it. But you know, I can get around Animal Kingdom well.

Nathan 25:19

Yeah.

D’Nesha 25:20

Epcot, mm, maybe, but you know, yeah, maps are definitely our friends.

Language Barriers And Park Navigation

Nathan 25:26

Speaking of kind of getting around, how is language? Did you have any language barriers or uh does everybody kind of like operate as English as a second language?

D’Nesha 25:36

So I will say that Shanghai, it was a bit challenging. Maybe if we had stayed at like um a more well-known um hotel, we had a it was a wonderful hotel that we were at, but maybe if we had stayed like at your typical Marriott or somewhere like that, there would have been more English speakers. Okay. However, um, they were always happy to wait for you to use translation or they would pull theirs up.

Nathan 26:01

Got it.

D’Nesha 26:01

I would say that once we got to the park, um, the majority of cast members spoke English. Okay. Um if they couldn't, there was someone always very close that could. I felt well received, even though I didn't understand the language. We learned hello, goodbye, and thank you. And um, that was that was plenty for them. It went, you could tell it went well, it went a long way for them.

Nathan 26:23

Yeah.

D’Nesha 26:24

The rides, um, if there were instructions on the rides, there there was English translation. Okay. But if um if the ride had a lot of talking, it was in um, it was in their language. In the city.

Nathan 26:38

Like um, yeah.

D’Nesha 26:39

Yes, it's so like the hot pursuit ride, it was interesting to hear, you know, the characters speaking in Chinese. My kids did not care, they they loved it. It didn't matter.

Nathan 26:50

Yeah.

D’Nesha 26:51

Um it was great. But um, Hong Kong, everything was more in was in English. Yeah, the hotels, everyone spoke English there.

Nathan 27:00

We can thank the British for that.

D’Nesha 27:02

So yes, yeah. And Singapore, their their country language is English. So because they're such a melting pot country.

Hong Kong Disneyland Feels Like Home

Nathan 27:09

Yeah. Well, speaking of Hong Kong, what did you think of Hong Kong Disneyland? Like, what was your first impression as you got there and walked in?

D’Nesha 27:18

When I got to Hong Kong, like once we got over the initial wow factor of the the metro rail and getting in, yeah, as you're walking down Main Street, you feel like you're at home. Like it you see the same layout just about.

Nathan 27:32

Yeah.

D’Nesha 27:33

And um, it it felt very similar to what we're used to. It was, it was, it was very nostalgic. A lot of the rides are the same.

Nathan 27:41

Yeah.

D’Nesha 27:41

Their small world, I thought was amazing because it was interesting to see all the different countries from a perspective that wasn't the the US perspective.

Nathan 27:53

Oh, yeah.

D’Nesha 27:55

Like to see, I mean, and I feel like there was a lot more contain within each group. It was um like you go through Asia and you see a lot of focus on smaller countries that you may not, you know, readily think about as an American. And then you get to the spot where it says the Americas. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, that's right. That's how they see us. And so we're mixed in with a lot of people from Peru and Mexico and you know, Southern in South America. Yeah. And you're mixed with, then you get to see um like their take on the most important things here. Like we, I'm like, oh girls, look, there's the Golden Gate Bridge. There's the Statue of Liberty, like, you know, things that are, you know, iconic for the US. So I thought that was really interesting to see. And I love that we we we went on small world probably like three or four times over the two days we were there. It was so cool.

Nathan 28:48

So that that's interesting. I hadn't even thought about it. So, like, even the countries and and the things that are being depicted are different. It's I'm imagining it's the same style, same tune going on from on and on, and on, but different scenes, different countries, and different focus for all that. That's awesome.

D’Nesha 29:09

Lots of focus on the um the smaller countries of Asia. Like here, you may see like one snippet of India. And here you're gonna, there you may see India, Myanmar, Thailand, China. Like it's really cool. That's awesome.

Nathan 29:24

That's very cool. All right, that makes me that's my now my bucket list. I want to do small world everywhere,

D’Nesha 29:32

and it's beautiful and it lights up so pretty. And right when you walk past small world, you'll love this because you guys go to Disney World. Right after that, there's frozen world, and it's gorgeous. And the frozen ever after ride is not two and three hours, it was 10 minutes.

Nathan 29:48

Wow.

D’Nesha 29:49

The ride, the ride times were staggeringly just different. Like you didn't have to wait very long. And I I learned that it's not because the park, the parks were we we asked like some of the locals, like, you know, are is this your holiday week? Did we come in a week? Because I've heard that the parks can get very busy.

Nathan 30:07

Yep,

D’Nesha 30:07

but we didn't feel bombarded, like, you know, when it's time for fireworks, sure. Um, it was a little more crowded in Shanghai because it's bigger.

Nathan 30:16

Yeah.

D’Nesha 30:17

But I felt like for the the the volume of people at these parks at the ride times were very short for most of the rides.

Nathan 30:26

Yeah.

D’Nesha 30:26

And I feel it's because it's not to, I don't mean to generalize about the Asian culture, but something that we learned or that we observed throughout the um our experience is that they are very much photo focused, character focused. They want their character interactions, they want the meet and greets.

Alicea 30:47

Yeah.

D’Nesha 30:47

There were, you know, there were lines. We didn't take a lot of pictures with characters. I'm like, we have Mickey at home because we did take a picture with Mickey because we lucked up and we we got in, and like his wait time was an hour, which is kind of on the upper limit for us, you know.

Nathan 31:04

Yeah, yeah.

D’Nesha 31:05

They have different characters there. We we were introduced to Duffy and Friends.

Alicea 31:09

Oh, all Duffy's friends.

D’Nesha 31:10

Oh my gosh, we are obsessed.

Alicea 31:12

And they are obsessed in the international parks with anything and everything, Duffy. Yep. Yep, and all their characters, yeah.

D’Nesha 31:19

Yeah. So one of the characters, Lena Bell, her her meet and greet time was 360 minutes all day.

Nathan 31:26

Oh goodness.

D’Nesha 31:29

Wow. I'm so grateful my kids can't read, my girls can't read because they love Lena Bell. And I just was I I cannot imagine sitting.

Nathan 31:38

Well, several of those friends are at Aulani, and it's not a 12-hour flight.

D’Nesha 31:44

So we love Hawaii, so we'll have to go someday, but you know, um, but we just noticed like around the the parks, like um a lot of you know Asian visitors were taking these really cool creative pictures in front of the castles with their food. And I picked up a few different pictures, but some of them did that like most of their day.

Alicea 32:08

Oh wow.

D’Nesha 32:09

Um, and so I think that that just I'm like, well, this is great for us because we can just get on these rides. Yeah, so definitely a definitely a difference that I noticed right off.

Nathan 32:20

Yeah.

Alicea 32:21

What was the crowd behavior like at the parks over there?

D’Nesha 32:25

Um honestly, I was prepared by other people to be um surprised by people being rude, um, that that people would just kind of cut in line or that they may not be, you know, as polite as what I would expect. And uh, me being a little me and it's southern, I'm I'm real, I try to be real polite. Um, but I didn't find that to be the case.

Nathan 32:48

Yeah.

D’Nesha 32:49

Definitely not in the parks. I will say, you know, a few times like when we were traveling, like, you know, some people would just kind of rush ahead, but we're a big group, so I don't have a problem slowing down because I want to make sure I don't lose a kid. So um I didn't find it to be problematic. There were a few times where, like needing a little help, like getting through the airport, there was a gentleman who pretty much saw me in line, and he just kind of went ahead and tried to get the um the um agents' assistance before me. And there was a gentleman who said, no, she was in line first. So I feel like, you know, there's there's gonna be that behavior anywhere, but it didn't spoil my trip. And it was it was more so that I noticed that in Shanghai than I did in Hong Kong.

Nathan 33:33

Yeah. I mean, we noticed that here domestically, so

D’Nesha 33:36

of course

Nathan 33:37

those folks are everywhere,

D’Nesha 33:38

not out of the norm.

Nathan 33:39

Right, right, right, right.

Alicea 33:41

What were the must-do experiences for your family in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong Tips Plus Food Highlights

D’Nesha 33:46

Well, unfortunately, we we really wanted to go and see the um the Buddha in the mist. There's like an ancient fishing vis village and monastery. It's like you take a cable car to go up there. And unfortunately, everyone but I caught um a stomach bug. So I was the nurse for everyone for about a 24 to 48 hour period. So we didn't get to do that. But we we did get to um to go to to Disneyland, Hong Kong two days before that set in. I think kind of just exploring their their shops is really cool because you can just pretty much the way that their the levels are, like you can be on the rail system and it goes right into a mall. So you may have like four or five stories of a mall that you can shop through and you know, buy a lot of you know local and you know, international things if you want to try different foods and and you can get right back on the metro rail. Like you don't need, you don't need ride share, you don't really need anything other than to be able to get on the metro system there. I think it was cool too, just kind of going back to payments that octopus and alley pay. I thought it was cool because you could purchase other things, like you could buy stuff from food or like if I want to shake shack, I could use that. So I wasn't like pulling out my card and using this app. Like I did everything, and I believe that it cut down on our international fees a bit. Um, I noticed when I used my card that um we had quite a bit more um separate transactions for um international fees. So I think it was a little bit more when we did that.

Nathan 35:23

Yeah. Well, our son will be thrilled to hear you can get Shake Shack over in Asia.

D’Nesha 35:28

So Oh yeah, you can.

Nathan 35:29

That'll that'll go a long way. Kind of we haven't really talked too much about it, but just quickly, what were your thoughts on food there in Shanghai and Hong Kong?

D’Nesha 35:39

Oh goodness, it was so good. Um, in Shanghai, I feel like everything was so well seasoned. Like I thought, you know how you think, oh, well, this can't be how food is in China because you know, you're in America, you think it's like been Americanized. But it was so well seasoned. Like we went in Shanghai. I you asked about what not to miss in in Hong Kong, but in Shanghai, do not miss going to Nanjing Road. It's like a pedestrian, a pedestrian shopping, it's a pedestrian road, and then there's a really big shopping center. They have a lot of upscale shopping and then like local stuff. Like we took our kids to the Hello Kitty store, it was massive there, a lot of stuff. And then we got approached by someone to go to like this other store, like this underground spot, and we we got some nice stuff. I still don't know if it's knockoff or not, but it was cheap and it looks real good, and so it was an experience, and I didn't feel unsafe.

Nathan 36:32

Yeah,

D’Nesha 36:32

and um, I feel like the lady who took us over there, like loved our kids. We took a picture with her, and I feel like she's our our China auntie now, like she's she's awesome.

Nathan 36:40

That's awesome.

D’Nesha 36:41

But so, like, if you're on Nanjing Road, you can like do all the shopping, like they have this massive Apple store, like all these different well-known brands, some that you won't know about. They have like stories and stories of anime, um merchandise. And uh my son really loved that. But from Nanjing Road, it's maybe like a 20-minute walk or less to the Bund.

Nathan 37:05

Okay.

D’Nesha 37:05

And it's so pretty and scenic, but it's like you could take a ferry there. And I kind of equivalate the Bund to like uh Times Square in New York. It's beautiful. You had you see all the jumbotrons and stuff like that. It was really cool to see. And from there we walked and we got some local food, like we saw like Papa John's and well-known things, but we saw this um this noodle shop, and we decided to go in there. And it was like an upscale Chinese restaurant, but Panda Express price, if you can imagine. Like it was delicious. And um, again, they did not understand English, but they their menu was in English and and um Chinese, and there was someone that could help us if we had questions.

Nathan 37:54

Yeah,

Alicea 37:54

it was delicious. And then we just got like, I mean, I feel like we we budgeted a lot more for food than what we spent. Things were very affordable. Like near our hotel, we spent like maybe like the US equivalent of maybe three dollars for this huge plate of stir fry that we all ate from. It was delicious. So when we would get back late from the parks, we would just go there. They were open like till two in the morning. It's delicious. Are there any challenges or things that you wish you had known ahead of time?

D’Nesha 38:22

I think I went into things, I went into it with an open mind. I tried to just research as best I could. I think the one thing I wish I had known is that China and Asian countries, they they really don't play around with medications, substances. I have ADD, my son takes medication for it. So those are considered illegal substances there. And so you can't take your Adderall there because it'll be confiscated, or you could be, you know, you could be potentially, you know, confined. So we didn't learn about that until a few days before. And so they recommended, you know, looking at non-stimulant options. We couldn't get that changed. I wouldn't have switched my son anyway. So he kind of had to go without, which wasn't the worst thing because you you can take breaks from those medications. I myself was a little nervous about how I was gonna navigate with four kids and being an overstimulated mama without my Adderall. Um, and honestly, I took my work bag and didn't realize I had not taken my medication out.

Nathan 39:31

Oh.

D’Nesha 39:32

And um, it didn't trigger any alarms, but I didn't find out until I was in Hong Kong. So I was like, oh my goodness, thank you that I was not caught. And then I was like, okay, thank you. I'm gonna take this step. And I will make sure that I don't return with any medicine. I only had a few tablets, so yeah, it was fine, but it was definitely something that I wish I had known about before. The other thing that you should learn about is, you know, when you're going to any country is about visa requirements.

Nathan 40:03

Yeah.

D’Nesha 40:04

I was a little stressed out because I um Singapore didn't have you don't have to have a visa unless you're gonna be there for like 90 days. So we're good. But with China, you can go visa-free if you're going for 10 days or less. And as long as you have proof, as long as you have proof of onward travel. So if you have a if you have a flight coming up to get you out of China or to your next leg, or if you have a bullet train or a cruise, those all count as onward travel. Got it. So um they call it the 240-hour rule. And so it did take a little bit more time to process that because we were going visa-free when we left San Francisco. But we just arrived, you know, in enough time. I would say instead of like that three-hour international travel window, maybe go three and a half, four hours.

Nathan 40:51

Yeah.

D’Nesha 40:51

And then when we got to Shanghai, it just took a little bit longer for customs to process us through. I think that each exchange through custom through immigration was a it was a little um, it wasn't long, but it it just was an another layer. Right. I feel like they handled it a lot better than what we do in the US. I feel like we didn't have to take out all take your shoes off and take the baby out of the stroller. They were very accommodating and patient. And we didn't have to, you have to empty your liquids, but we didn't have to take out our electronics at every stop. Um, but there are a few different checkpoints that you go through. So just be mindful of time.

Nathan 41:28

Yep.

D’Nesha 41:28

But we didn't have any issues.

Nathan 41:30

Cool. All right. We we've we've got to get to the real reason

Why Sail The New Disney Adventure

D’Nesha 41:36

that's long-winded.

Nathan 41:37

No, no, no, no, no. Like we said, tangents are always welcome. But we need to talk about the whole reason you thought of doing this trip in the first place, which was hitting the brand new Disney adventure. So what put that on your radar? Like, what was the the driving factor of like, no, we gotta go do this ship?

D’Nesha 41:57

I think because I had just done our first Disney cruise, I'm like, I am I'm sold. Like before I even got on the Disney treasure, I had booked the Destiny. I'm going on the Destiny in June. I cannot wait. Yeah. But, you know, so then, like I said, we had gotten this pre placeholder. So I started thinking about it. I'm like, oh, well, I don't want to waste my placeholder on this. Yeah. Let me just see, you know, how much it would be for us to go on the adventure and was staggered by how much it would how much less it costs because it doesn't port anywhere. And because the US dollar is so much more powerful in in Asia than it is here.

Nathan 42:32

Yep.

D’Nesha 42:33

And like I said, I was very interested to someday visit Singapore. So those were the things that made me really excited to go.

Nathan 42:40

Yeah.

D’Nesha 42:41

We flew into Singapore on the 31st.

Nathan 42:45

Okay.

D’Nesha 42:45

On the first was like kind of our day that we we wanted to just kind of regroup, um do some sightseeing. And then the second was the day that we um began our cruise. Got it. I I've heard people say that they are gonna wait until they fly in or the day before, and I just I couldn't deal with that just because of concerns of you know, travel delays or cancellation. Sure. Yeah. Um, so I felt like I felt really good about going in on the 31st. On the first, uh, my husband was not feeling well, so we just kind of camped out in the room, which was actually a good thing.

Nathan 43:18

Yeah

D’Nesha 43:18

um, kind of reorganized our bags for what we were gonna wear on the cruise, kind of washed a few things that needed to be washed, and we cruised from the second to the sixth, and then we had three full days in Singapore.

Nathan 43:30

Oh, wonderful. Nice.

D’Nesha 43:32

And I feel like three to four days is enough to see a lot of Singapore. Yeah. Um, quite a few other travelers spent about that amount of time. You can see a lot during that.

Nathan 43:42

All right. The cruise ship. So you had been on one Disney cruise before on the treasure.

D’Nesha 43:50

Yes.

Nathan 43:50

Had you been on other cruise ships before, or was this just second cruise overall?

D’Nesha 43:55

My husband had never cruised, so before our treasure cruise. We did a Royal Caribbean to make sure he his stomach could take it. He's a little squeamish. And um before that, my son and I had had gone on carnival years ago. Okay. So we're this is, you know, so the treasure was our third cruise, our daughter's first cruise.

Nathan 44:17

Yeah.

D’Nesha 44:17

So we're still pretty novice in the cruise world. We're definitely uh prior ourselves in being more resort people.

Nathan 44:23

Sure.

D’Nesha 44:23

Um, but yeah, we definitely have um enjoyed cruising.

Nathan 44:27

Well, and this ship is kind of in theory geared towards resort resort people, or at least it's geared towards representing all of what Disney is in a cruise ship kind of experience versus with Disney cruise line, they don't have to they can focus more on being just a cruise line and not trying to represent everything that is under the the Disney umbrella.

D’Nesha 44:52

Yeah,

Nathan 44:52

I think your perspective is going to be really interesting. I what did you think? Uh first impressions about getting on the ship. You know, so many of us and and folks that we have seen online um who have been on like every Disney ship and is they've done 20 cruises or something, and then they're they're getting on the adventure, and a lot of it is compare and contrast against uh expectations based on all of the other Disney cruises that you they have been on. You didn't necessarily have all of that. I'm gonna call it baggage.

D’Nesha 45:25

Yes, and I think that that really benefited me. And I I so so as most people know who followed this ship, it was initially supposed to begin its maiden voyage in late 2025. It was pushed back because it was not really done, you know, whether that be to Disney Specs or I don't know what we don't know. So it made a lot of people anxious about our sailing because they wouldn't have that buffer of you know going through the teething issues, the the crew getting all the, you know, that their um cohesiveness together.

Nathan 45:59

Because you're about what two weeks in?

D’Nesha 46:01

I think we were like maybe like the fourth, fourth, maybe fifth sailing. Okay. Because because there were like a couple of four days and a couple of three, a couple of four nights, a couple of three nights.

Nathan 46:10

So it's still very early days.

D’Nesha 46:12

Still very early. I started seeing like a lot of posts from influencers, from people who had gone on the maiden voyage and a few after. And honestly, for lack of better words, a lot of people were nitpicking and bashing this ship.

Nathan 46:27

Yeah.

New Ship Reality Characters And Crowds

D’Nesha 46:28

And I wasn't seeing a lot of good things. And, you know, I was like, you know what? I'm going to go in here with an open mind. Like, it may not be how the treasure was. Um, it may not be, you know, like the parks, it may not be the same Disney experience I'm used to, but it's an experience all the same. And maybe I can teach my kids, you know, to accept differences, cultural differences within people, you know, different food options, different, like, you know, I had some people who were so complaining, complaining so much about the Mickey bars being different. I tell you what, the Mickey bar we had was just fine. It was different, but I think I liked it more. So I think just um, I think um going into it with an open mind that it's going to be different. The layout, people complained about the layout and you know, just the heat, it's hot, you know. They complained about the iron cycle not being up and running. I'm like, you know what? We have coasters at home. Like, if I don't get it, it's not going to nothing. I just told myself nothing is going to ruin this trip for me because it's such an adventure overall. And I think that if you made perhaps maybe if you were going just for this one experience and you were expecting that Disney experience that you were used to, then maybe you would be disappointed. Um, but I think that we had an amazing time. I um I found that the crew, a lot of them were were new, but they were so welcoming. They were happy to be there. They they wanted to help your help you have the best experience. You know, you'll hear so many people like talk about the negative aspects, but just the positive blew me away. And I didn't, I personally didn't have a negative experience other than I had a different experience. Whereas so it's different from ships here, where you get like um notifications of like you get like a kind of like a schedule of which character is where, you know, it's on eight aft to see Donald. Here it's different where it started out where there were very limited character interactions because they have to control, they have to keep crowd control. It's so busy.

Alicea 48:46

Yeah.

D’Nesha 48:46

And like I said before, I believe as a culture, the Asians really enjoy their interactions. I uh, you know, so I and I again it was an accident, they apologized, but someone like kind of pushed past me to get to Donald during the Congo line. Yeah. And they they came back in apologies, but they're just so excited. And, you know, seeing how the interactions are here in the parks and hearing how they are in Tokyo, I get it. Like this, this is their chance.

Nathan 49:14

Yeah.

D’Nesha 49:14

And so um instead of having those like um interactions listed as where you can go and just line up, you have to book a time to go and meet these characters.

Nathan 49:26

Okay.

D’Nesha 49:26

There were some characters round roaming around the ship. I think in the first few sailings, that wasn't the case so much. They have something called selfies at sea, which a lot of people felt they didn't like. And pretty much it's like a character goes on the stage, and you can like see them doing their, you know, performance or interacting with the crowd, and you can just take a selfie.

Nathan 49:49

Yeah.

D’Nesha 49:50

Um, they had dance parties, they had characters going into the nursery and the oceane ears. My kids were telling me who that, you know, Cinderella read to them. You know, they were seeing these characters.

Nathan 49:59

Yeah.

D’Nesha 49:59

So I think if you are the typical Disney cruiser and that is your thing and you want that interaction, like I love my interactions. I was a little bummed, especially because I didn't get in quickly enough to book interactions. Um it was a big frustration for a lot of people was how much you had to use your phone and how much you had to like book and refresh. And if you think about 6,300 people on this app trying to do the same thing at the exact same time, it's gonna fail. It's gonna lag.

Nathan 50:31

Yeah.

D’Nesha 50:32

And and during the time that they they pretty much dropped these meet and greets for the whole crews on night one after the muster station drill was done. And at the same time, we were decorating our door, and my two-year-old's finger got slammed in the door. So we had to rush to the medical center to make sure it was not broken.

Nathan 50:52

Right.

D’Nesha 50:52

It was not, they were amazing and took care of us. And I forgot all about the characters. Yeah, I did ask guest services, you know, is there any any availability later? They said they just they didn't think that they would be able to accommodate, they apologized. And I'm like, I understand that.

Nathan 51:07

Yeah.

D’Nesha 51:07

But we saw pretty much every we saw every character that we would have wanted to see in random interactions. Like we got to do the let's sail, and my kids were doing congo with Daisy and Donald. You know, they we got off the elevator and Mickey was there and took me and my daughter down, walked down the walkway, and we took a quick picture, you know. Yeah. Um, we got to see Bay Max and we just snapped a picture in passing. You know, um, I feel that maybe for an adult who wants that picture perfect moment, that you would be maybe disappointed. But for my kids, the person that I, the people I brought for this experience, they were delighted. Yeah. They were delighted to walk out of Bibbity Bobity boutique and Jasmine be sitting there to take pictures with them.

Nathan 51:53

That's awesome.

D’Nesha 51:54

We did get royal gathering, but they they loved just being surprised.

Nathan 51:59

Yeah. Those kind of ad hoc, spur-of-the-moment, random interactions on a Disney cruise ship, whether you've got 2,500 people on board or 6,300 people on board, they're just that is where the magic is.

D’Nesha 52:13

Exactly.

Nathan 52:14

Fantastic. And I'm so glad that you didn't let the lack of having those things getting scheduled, A, just ruin everything for you. And B, you were able to just then take advantage of the magic and the pixie dust that happens.

D’Nesha 52:30

Yeah.

Nathan 52:31

And that's fantastic.

D’Nesha 52:33

You know, um, kind of going back briefly to the iron cycle. I just put my expectation low that we wouldn't get it or all of us wouldn't get it. Like I said, my son's my son doesn't ride. My husband said he didn't care. My seven-year-old is our rider. And we were part of a WhatsApp group, and pretty much people were kind enough to say, hey, look, you know, iron cycle's up, you know, book now. Like they would open slots for the iron cycle like every day, yeah, um, for a few hours of the day. And if you get, if like people were frustrated because it wasn't open all day, it's hot out there. Yeah, you know, you it and imagine running that and people outside all day. I I get why it was limited. They did it in kind of like the early evening hours, and someone booked it, and I was like, I don't want to do this. This day, it's like almost the end of my sh my trip. I'm gonna just look, but I know it's gonna be gone. And I got it. And I got two slots, and my daughter and I waited maybe 30 or 40 minutes to get on, and it was absolutely amazing. But had I not done it, I would say I still had an absolutely amazing time. Yeah, and I would want to go back, you know. So yeah, it was great.

Alicea 53:40

What was the most surprising area of the ship?

D’Nesha 53:44

So much going on on that ship.

Alicea 53:46

It's a big ship,

D’Nesha 53:47

it's so big, and there's so many things going on. And you know, people wonder like if you're gonna have enough to entertain. We didn't do all those things, we had a great time.

Nathan 53:56

Sorry, were you on a three night or a four night? I think you did

D’Nesha 53:58

the four night.

Nathan 53:58

Four night, okay.

D’Nesha 54:00

Yeah. So um, I think the most amazing thing on the ship was the performances were the shows were gorgeous. The remember show brought tears to my eyes. It was so cool to to see those um those performances. You could tell how much work they put into the Moana show, um, was in Wayfinder Bay. Um, we didn't see the entire show, but we could view part of it from breakfast one day. And um, it was it was really cool. That I think that the performances were were our favorites.

Nathan 54:33

Yeah. We've heard the entertainment is top notch. I mean, the entertainment on DCL is top notch anyway, but yeah, the adventure sounds like it's it's absolutely just stunning and incredible.

Alicea 54:47

What kind of uh what kind of staterooms did you guys have?

D’Nesha 54:50

You know, we decided not to splurge because we've been splurging in so many other ways. We elected to do connecting inner um interior state rooms.

Nathan 54:58

Okay.

D’Nesha 54:59

We booked very early, like we booked back in I think July or August. And um initially thought we would do like ocean view um or veranda. Um, but we we did the um interior connecting, and it was really nice. I felt like we had plenty of space underneath the beds. Yeah, their closets don't have doors on them, which I know some people don't like, but it worked well for us because we were able to just, you know, put we just brought hampers and like put clothes for each person in. Um there are a few drawers. Um, we had a folding stroller for our daughter. And um I liked that they had the toilet and shower separate. There's a refrigerator and um there's a hot tea kettle, and they restock your coffees and teas every day.

Nathan 55:49

Nice.

D’Nesha 55:50

Um it's really nice.

Nathan 55:52

What about the food on the ship? Like you've got uh I think six restaurants that are basically uh three pairs, and you hit one kind of side of that uh in in terms of the rotation dining rotational dining. How how was the food in in in your uh scenario in your case?

D’Nesha 56:11

Yeah, I loved it. We we rotated between Hollywood and Animator's palette. We did Animator's Palette twice, that was our favorite. Okay, and um Enchanted Garden, which is um or Enchanted Summer. Apologize, I can't remember, but it is where it's like kind of frozen themed and was beautiful.

Nathan 56:30

Yes, summer. Yeah. Enchanted Garden is is drawn the dream. Fantasy? One of those is one of those, anyhow.

D’Nesha 56:38

Yeah.

Nathan 56:38

They were using it.

D’Nesha 56:40

I'm I'm not always correct on their wording, but it's okay.

Nathan 56:43

We aren't either, so don't worry about it.

D’Nesha 56:45

I feel like they were all beautiful. Animator's palette was our favorite because on one of those nights the kids got to um draw on their coloring book, they drew a character and then they put it up on the screen, and their characters are part of a display of all the the other um cruisers that are dining in there that night.

Alicea 57:05

The animation magic. That is that is so fun. Yeah.

D’Nesha 57:09

And then they make it like into a certificate for the kids. So it was nice keepsake for them. Yeah, it was fun. And then um Hollywood was really cool because let's see, Donald, Daisy, Mickey, and Minnie came and performed. They come to the tables briefly to like you know, take a quick picture if you'd like, but you gotta be ready. And again, maybe it wasn't that they're gonna sit and stay with you because they're trying to see everyone.

Nathan 57:34

Sure.

D’Nesha 57:35

But again, my kids were alight, uh were delighted to see them and briefly interact with them and then continue with their meal.

Nathan 57:42

Nice.

D’Nesha 57:42

Yeah. As far as um the buffets, we love the Pixar market. There were always so many options. There were a lot of Asian options. And um there was, but there was always like, you know, American type food available. There was pizza. Uh, pizza was probably the highest in demand to kids. And I think because some of them don't eat, you know, maybe they want to eat that, you know, instead.

Nathan 58:09

Yeah.

D’Nesha 58:10

And um, I've heard a lot of people complain about how long it took to take to get a pizza, but honestly, they're sitting there cooking them, you know, there you can customize it as you'd like. I don't, I didn't find the weight to be, you know, out of the ordinary.

Nathan 58:24

Yeah.

D’Nesha 58:25

And there was always options for if you didn't want to wait, there's always you could walk 10 steps to Pixar Market. Yeah. Um, where they really shined were the quick eat places, yeah. Like the Ohana Grill, yummy burgers. There's a swarma spot. Those are all included. There were a few others that we didn't go to, but um, my son ate it all of them, you know. Then they had a spot where you could get boba, bewitching boba and brews. My husband enjoyed going there.

Nathan 58:53

Yeah.

D’Nesha 58:54

There's a a well-known coffee and tea company. Um, the coffee company is called Botcha, and the tea company is called TWG. And when you think just bougie, gold, any type of tea or coffee you want to sample there or to take home, they have it. And they're like connoisseurs of these different coffees. Like I bought a couple of coffees, one from Thailand, one from Myanmar, that I brought for a friend of mine who loves coffee. And just the process of them opening these beautiful gold tins and wafting this coffee. Like, if you're a coffee person, you want to go there. And then next to it is the tea spot. And my daughter and I had um, we had like this tea mocktail and tea ice cream there. It was very nice, and it was just so cute. It's really, really nice experience.

Alicea 59:46

Did anything feel unfinished, um, experimental, or very different?

D’Nesha 59:54

I would say what felt different, and you can tell that Disney, I feel that Disney is listening to the feedbacks that's being given. But the experiences with like characters, the um meet and greets, all of that was you could tell it was different from the cruising before. And I think it's that they're trying to figure out how to keep the crowds, you know, controlled and keep things flowing. You could tell that they were listening. And then as the day, as the trip went on, there were more characters that came about.

Nathan 1:00:25

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:00:25

We noticed Mickey out more frequently. And I think it's just they just you could tell that they were listening and that they were trying.

Nathan 1:00:32

Well, it it's what you were trying to what you were talking about before, where originally this was going to start sailing in December, and you were gonna be sailing early April, and they would have had a few months to iron out some of these things. And you know, that it is the the the really cool thing about being on brand new ships is like you're on a brand new ship. On the other hand, you're on a brand new ship, and they're still trying to figure out some stuff, especially, you know, the wish had a bunch of teething uh issues when it first launched as well. Um, you know, the treasure, not so much, the destiny was a lot smoother. Now the pandemic impacted the wish, but you know, there's just layouts and things that the the crew is just trying to figure this stuff out at scale from an operational perspective, and it takes a little time for that stuff to stick out.

Alicea 1:01:26

And it's all new. I mean, it's so new. It's new.

D’Nesha 1:01:29

And like I said, a lot of their a lot of their staff was was new, but um, I felt like they were being mentored well. They told you I'm new, but I want to make this the best I can for you. And that goes a long way for me.

Nathan 1:01:40

Yep. 100%.

D’Nesha 1:01:41

It was it was delightful to see um a photographer that we used at Shutters on the treasure who had then transitioned over to um to the adventure. He remembered us. Like it was so cool. He was like, Your daughter was dressed as Tinkerbell and you guys were all pirates. Like, yes. And I showed him a picture and it was so cool. The photographers, oh my gosh, like so many people have asked him if I may um talk about the photo package.

Nathan 1:02:06

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:02:07

Um, so many people have asked, you know, especially with the character interactions being a little different, um, is the photo package worth it? And I feel like there are tons of opportunities throughout the ship to take photos. Like my daughters did Bippity Bobity Boutique for the first time. And right when you get off a Bippity Bobbity Boutique, there's an area where there's um a setup for princesses. Anyone can use it, but they have all the props for each princess, like a glass slipper, a magic lamp, um, an apple. And we went in there and we spent probably 30 or 45 minutes with the photographer. And he just had us like taking all these pictures. That's awesome. I have gorgeous pictures of my girls. There were like there were pictures where there's Thor's hammer where the in the app it'll tell you, you know, we're doing pictures of Thor's hammer today. We go take pictures there. And they have random backdrops. I think even without having, you know, dedicated character interactions. I had about 175 pictures of my family. And I feel like for the cost of the photo package, you can't pay for that anywhere. You know? And they were beautifully done. So that's awesome.

Nathan 1:03:12

That's great to hear.

Alicea 1:03:13

Yeah, and we love taking advantage of the photo package when we when we go on cruises. It's it's better when it's a a longer one. Like we are definitely taking advantage of it on the destiny.

D’Nesha 1:03:23

Absolutely. I think the thing that I was a little disappointed about, and it's not because of anything Disney. I absolutely love the rainforest room, the rainforest spa on the treasure. And so I booked that. I feel like, you know, for the the number of days, it was priced up, you know, fairly.

Nathan 1:03:40

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:03:40

But after my daughter injured herself, and just with it being a full cruise of activities, I ended up not using it. And they were so kind as to refund it to me.

Nathan 1:03:50

Oh, wonderful.

D’Nesha 1:03:50

Um, they understood. I was like, I just can't leave. Or they're like, well, can we discount it for you? And you could just use it today. Or, you know, they even offered just because she had had such a rough go in the beginning, they offered to give me a day. I said, Well, if she lets me, then sure.

Nathan 1:04:03

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:04:04

Um the only thing I didn't mention, you guys, is we lucked out. We didn't get it on the treasure. We got to do Palo Brunch. It's amazing.

Alicea 1:04:12

Wow. Okay.

D’Nesha 1:04:12

It was beautiful. The breakfast was so good, and we could barely eat the rest of the day.

Nathan 1:04:17

So and this was on the adventure. You were able to do that's awesome.

D’Nesha 1:04:21

Yes, it was actually pretty available even to new cruisers. I think because the the cruise director told he told us, I think it was like maybe 70 or even maybe more than 70% new cruisers. Sure. New Disney cruisers or even new cruisers, period.

Alicea 1:04:37

Interesting.

D’Nesha 1:04:38

Yeah. So um Palo Brunch was it's definitely not to be missed if you can book it.

Nathan 1:04:42

Yeah,

Alicea 1:04:43

it's one of our favorites.

Nathan 1:04:44

Yes.

Alicea 1:04:44

Do you know how full your cruise was?

D’Nesha 1:04:47

It was completely full.

Alicea 1:04:48

Okay.

D’Nesha 1:04:48

There was one room that was open, like I guess for like emergencies.

Nathan 1:04:52

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:04:53

And I was told that there was an emergency, like someone had to move from that room to another because it was a leak that had to be taken care of. Um, but they were safe and had no issues.

Nathan 1:05:02

Sure, sure, sure. Well, given everything that you've experienced on the adventure, and you know, it is that new ship. What was on your comment card? You know, your survey at the end, was there any, you know, constructive feedback that that you observed and and you know, or that you shared or would want to share to Disney of some future uh or additional opportunities for improvement from your perspective?

Rankings Big Feelings Lightning Round Outro

D’Nesha 1:05:27

Um, you know, honestly, I just I remember commenting that I see that your crew is doing your very best and it's very much appreciated. I just said that, you know, if there were a different way to roll out interactions or maybe to hold some back and maybe do it like they did the iron cycle, maybe send some out throughout the day, um, that that would be helpful. But in retrospect, like I said, there were more, there were additional opportunities, and they did a lot of parties and things like that where you could. See these characters. So I think that that would satisfy a lot, a lot of people's frustrations.

Alicea 1:06:06

Yeah. All right. So parks versus parks. If you had to rank Hong Kong versus Shanghai for your family, how would that shake out and why?

D’Nesha 1:06:18

Oh wow, that's hard. Um, because I love I loved Hong Kong. You could definitely get it done in about a day, day and a half. And it feels so much like home for us. But I would have to say that um Shanghai was more exhilarating for it because it was so different. Tron and Zootopia World are worth their weight in gold.

Nathan 1:06:40

How did the cruise kind of complement the parks portion of your trip? You know, you went in originally saying, hey, let's go do a cruise, and oh, maybe we'll do parks too. Was that the right decision?

D’Nesha 1:06:53

Absolutely. I could see maybe feeling maybe a little disappointed if that were the the highlight, the only highlight of our trip.

Nathan 1:07:02

Yeah. Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:07:02

Um, it just felt like one thing just led to something even better and something to even to be even better. And so when I just sit and think about it as a as a whole, I'm like, I can only say it was amazing. Like when people ask me how my trip, it was just amazing. Like, and um, if I dissected, yes, I could, I could, you know, pinpoint a few things that I would like to have been different.

Nathan 1:07:22

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:07:22

Um, but I think if you can make, even if you can't do both parts, if you can choose one that is of interest to you and and add that to the cruise, whether that be before or after, I think it's just gonna make it just so much, so much better.

Alicea 1:07:38

Kind of pivoting off of that. So you did park park cruise. If you could do the whole thing over, would you do it the same way or would you switch to do the cruise in the middle or the cruise at the cruise at the beginning or where it is now?

D’Nesha 1:07:51

I would keep it where it is now. Okay. Um, after our cruise, we we did just a few things around Singapore. We went to um Gardens by the Bay, which is a very popular place to go. Um, they have light and water shows. There's beautiful. And then we did the Singapore Zoo, which is like the second best behind San Diego in the world. It's amazing. And then we did Universal Singapore, and it was really fun. It could definitely be done in a day. But honestly, after cruising and eating and relaxing, I didn't really want to be at a park, especially because it was so hot there.

Nathan 1:08:27

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:08:29

But it was, it was fun. And we spent, you know, a good bit of our day there. But I would say, um, and when I did the treasure, we did a couple of park days to cruise, and then we did a few more park days. That was fun, but we were exhausted. This time I felt really well rested. Okay. And I would have been content to, you know, if I had seen what I'd wanted to see in Singapore, I would have been content to just fly home after that.

Nathan 1:08:55

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:08:56

Um, I definitely think ending on the cruise is is really nice.

Nathan 1:08:59

Which part of the trip? You've got, you know, Hong Kong, you've got Shanghai, you've got uh the adventure in Singapore. Which, and and you did all the logistics for those. Which part of the trip felt like the most reward for the effort that you put into it?

D’Nesha 1:09:16

Oh my gosh. I was hoping you would ask me this. I was um when we find when we got into Shanghai, it was our first park day. And honestly, we were just tired of a long flight. Um, our kids were being feral, they're you know, all over the place. My husband and I had been snappy with each other because we're tired. And, you know, we get to the park, we're there. I've been I'm I'm walking into the park, stitching on the Nick Wilde top to my daughter's shirt and trying to make her put these ears on so I can take this perfect picture.

Nathan 1:09:50

Right.

D’Nesha 1:09:51

And I'm just so frustrated because as soon as we get there, she snatches the thing off. She would wear the ears. But the parade starts.

Nathan 1:10:00

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:10:01

And to see their excitement, to see all the, you know, the visitors' excitement. And I just remember videoing myself watching, you know, the parade and engaging my kids, like, you know, trying to make that, you know, that memorable video.

Nathan 1:10:19

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:10:20

And the tears just start to fall. Like I could not stop crying. And I started to just turn it off. And I'm like, no, this is this is this is what it looks like when you do something and you care about it, and it really happens.

Nathan 1:10:35

Yeah.

D’Nesha 1:10:36

And I just felt so much magic for my kids, but for myself. And I think that, you know, as a Disney adult, I think that that's what we're chasing, that magic for ourselves, because we're so we're the generation that wants to pour into everyone. But to feel that for myself was really, really rewarding.

Nathan 1:10:54

Awesome. It's funny that that is the feeling that I'm always chasing was being in the parade in Disney World when I was in high school and coming around the corner and you know, playing in the marching band, and I was in the drum line, and then the the castle's right there in front of you. Like that feeling is what I'm always chasing.

D’Nesha 1:11:15

Yeah.

Nathan 1:11:15

I love uh yeah, it's the parade. It's just the parade.

D’Nesha 1:11:18

The parade and then the fireworks shows right now. Um, Shanghai is it's celebrating its 10th year and Hong Kong is still celebrating its 20th year. Yeah. So their fireworks displays are gorgeous. And I just saw myself singing to my kids and my husband like taking a video of us, like singing. I'm like, this is what I want. I don't want anything else other than this, and to play these for the rest of my life, you know? So yeah. I love it.

Nathan 1:11:42

Well, we've had so much to cover with you. We're foregoing Alicea’s typical Disney torture test, but she'll get you next time, and there will absolutely be a next time.

D’Nesha 1:11:52

Oh, I'd love to.

Nathan 1:11:53

That said, we do want to do a bit of a wrap-up, kind of a lightning round with you. So, with that, Alicea, I'll I'll hand it over to you.

Alicea 1:12:01

What was your favorite ride of the whole trip? Small world.

Nathan 1:12:06

Nice.

Alicea 1:12:07

Best meal. Best meal, Palo brunch. Nice. Most magical, unexpected moment.

D’Nesha 1:12:16

Getting off the elevator on the last night of our cruise and being greeted by Mickey, walking down the aisle with my daughter. That's amazing. After Iron Cycle at that.

Alicea 1:12:27

One word to describe Hong Kong Disneyland.

D’Nesha 1:12:31

Nostalgic.

Alicea 1:12:33

One word to describe Shanghai Disneyland.

D’Nesha 1:12:37

Epic.

Alicea 1:12:38

And one word to describe the Disney Adventure cruise.

D’Nesha 1:12:43

An adventure. Honestly, I knew everything about it.

Alicea 1:12:47

Yeah. Who is this kind of trip best suited for and who might struggle with it?

D’Nesha 1:12:55

I think that this is best for families. I found that some people I think the parks could definitely be for adults, but just the breadth of our adventure for kids. Um and I think because our ages range from two to almost 13, any age, I encourage people not to be afraid of that flight to go. But the um something I noticed that people who were on the adventure would comment is that this is really for kids. And um, like if they if they were on it and it was just the two of them, they were just all adults, I would say this is more so for families. There was um a great club for each age group, also.

Alicea 1:13:37

Nice. What's a splurge that was absolutely worth it?

D’Nesha 1:13:42

Oh man, the merchandise. I bought so much stuff. I've I you guys will love this. They had plenty of Eevees. I bought one for every kid, and they didn't really know who Evie was over there.

Nathan 1:13:57

Well, that's where all the stock went.

D’Nesha 1:14:00

I I think so. And um, I don't know if they're receiving additional stock, but I was like, oh my gosh, this this they didn't even know her name. Oh my god.

Alicea 1:14:10

I think they sell out on the wish class ships all the time.

D’Nesha 1:14:13

All the time. And so um, I in addition to splurging on that, we splurged a lot on um Duffy uh merchandise. Like each girl got a stuffy and a purse and all the things. Yeah.

Alicea 1:14:28

How did this trip change your view of Disney as a global brand?

D’Nesha 1:14:33

You know, I feel that Disney is trying to meet people where they are. I know that the that Japan will be granted a ship at some point. I think that they are um trying to reach more people and share that magic and you know, their brand. And I think that they're even though they have to make modifications, I think that they do their very best to stay true to who they are as a company, making that magic, listening to feedback and making the changes that their guests want.

Alicea 1:15:05

How did this change how you think about future family travel?

D’Nesha 1:15:10

This opened my eyes that we can we can go anywhere, you know, we can we can go on a 15-hour flight. Um, we can do different layers of travel. Like this is probably the second time, second or third trip that I've, you know, not done like multi-country, but you know, stop in a city here and do something and then carry on. So I'm I feel like as long as you um give yourself a buffer, have travel insurance, and expect that there's going to be, you know, a little bit of chaos along the way, that it's okay to to give yourself the best, the most bang for your buck and and make the trip, make the trip what you want it to be.

Nathan 1:15:49

Yeah, yeah.

D’Nesha 1:15:50

Yeah.

Nathan 1:15:50

All right, I'm gonna jump in. Last question of the lightning round. Knowing what you've you know now and what you experienced, would you do it again?

D’Nesha 1:15:59

Absolutely. We already we already have uh plans to go back someday.

Nathan 1:16:04

I love it. Yeah, I love it. Well, is there anything that we didn't ask that you think families considering an international Disney trip should know?

D’Nesha 1:16:13

I don't think so. I think just that when you're traveling internationally, something that I've learned is to just accept that it's it's it's international, it's a different country with different norms and um just having an open mind and asking for help because a lot of people just saw us, you know, looking around and they're like, let me help you do this. Let me, you know, I think just asking for help. Most people are kind and I think are willing to help you out. They know you're not from there.

Alicea 1:16:42

Yeah.

Nathan 1:16:42

Yeah.

Alicea 1:16:43

Where can people follow along if they want to see photos or ask you any questions?

D’Nesha 1:16:48

Okay, that'll be cool. I would love that. Um, we are um on Instagram. It's raising baby merits, M-E-R-R-I-T-T-S. I share pictures on there and all my, you know, mama content. And um, I I would love to to share if anyone has any questions. We're also on on Facebook. Um maybe someday I'll, you know, do TikTok or something like that. But like I said, I I work two jobs. Um, so I don't know. But I I would love to to inspire others to to take the trip and to um answer any questions that they may have along the way. Awesome.

Nathan 1:17:26

I love it. Well, uh, we will definitely have you on again and we'll have more questions for you that you can answer then.

D’Nesha 1:17:32

All right. Thank you so much. It's been such a fun opportunity.

Nathan 1:17:35

Thank you so much for for being willing to talk to both of us as we independently reached out to you without talking to each other.

Alicea 1:17:41

It's been a delight talking to you, and thank you for letting us monopolize so much of your time. Yes. It's been great.

D’Nesha 1:17:47

I've been hiding in my room, and for the most part, no one's bothered me. So it's been great. Thanks.

Alicea 1:17:53

Well, that was an absolutely stellar conversation.

Nathan 1:17:55

That was amazing.

Alicea 1:17:56

I loved hearing everything about her trip.

Nathan 1:17:59

Yes. I D’Nesha, thank you so much for coming on and sharing part of your family's journey to the other side of the world with us and our listeners. Uh, that was absolutely fantastic. And can't wait to uh see you in person in June. And uh round of drinks uh for you and your husband on us for sure.

Alicea 1:18:20

Well, onto all the outro stuff that we have to cover. Indeed. Please remember we are not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are personal opinions and suggestions based on our own experiences, but we are affiliated with fun, snacks, and international travel.

Nathan 1:18:38

Absolutely. We recommend working with a travel advisor or contacting Disney directly to plan your perfect vacation. And if you love this episode, please give us a rating and review. Five stars, ring that bell, subscribe, all that good stuff. It really helps other Disney fans find us.

Alicea 1:18:56

And if you have any questions or suggestions or would like to talk to us on our show to share your own experiences Disney related, please send an email to podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Nathan 1:19:08

You can follow us at our mousecapades on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and we're Our Mouscapades Pod on YouTube. And of course, please share us with your friends, family, and that one coworker who still thinks fast passes a thing.

Alicea 1:19:23

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

Intro 1:19:26

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.