Welcome And Guest Returns

Intro 0:03

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

Alicea 0:23

Hello everyone. I'm Alicea.

Nathan 0:25

I'm Nathan.

Wesley 0:26

And I'm Wesley.

Alicea 0:28

Welcome to this week's episode of Adventures and Mousecapades . Today we are welcoming back friend of the show, Wes, aka the brains and brawn behind version 5571, who just returned from another sailing aboard the Disney Destiny. Yes, another one. Since we've already covered his first Destiny experience back in episodes 205 and 6, this time we are digging into what drew him back, what felt different or better on a repeat visit, and how the ship held up on round two. Plus, he got to experience both of Disney's private island destinations on the same sailing. So we're putting lookout key and castaway key head to head, and you don't want to miss that. So without further ado, welcome back.

Wesley 1:15

Guys, so good to be here. Thank you so much for the invite.

Nathan 1:19

Absolutely.

Wesley 1:20

Good to know I didn't wear out my welcome.

Nathan 1:23

Absolutely not. Yeah. No, we uh uh enjoyed our conversation. I enjoy following you over at version 55.71 on all the socials and stuff. And yeah uh uh we we definitely need to pick your brain on magnet designs, that's for sure.

Wesley 1:39

Yeah, let's get into it. Before the call here, uh it's what I was doing because there's another sailing coming up, and I'm under a deadline to get these things out to the printer so I can have them in time before we leave.

Alicea 1:52

Yeah,

Nathan 1:53

gotta meet that work back schedule.

Wesley 1:55

Quote, work, quote.

Nathan 1:57

Yeah. So can you remind our guests kind of who you are and what your relationship is with Disney?

Wesley 2:04

Yeah,

Wes’s Disney Cruise Background

Wesley 2:05

um, I'm a lifelong fan. I this is a deep, this is a deep question that can go on. That can go on for some time. Okay, so the Cliff Notes version. Um, I grew up in Southern California. We, you know, went to Disneyland, it was a family affair. We loved it. Um we we sailed for the first time in 2005 uh and then didn't return until after the pandemic when I had a wife and kids, and we've kind of been going real steady and strong since then. Combined between uh Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean, we've done 10 cruises in the last about two years.

Alicea 2:49

Oh my gosh, that is amazing!

Wesley 2:51

Yeah. Right, amazing experience, yeah, it's for sure. Um, you know, I've worked, I've worked for Disney, I've worked in Florida and I've worked in California. Um, and I've visited Disneyland Paris, we've been to Aulani, and of course we've been on this was my eighth cruise, my eighth Disney cruise.

Nathan 3:10

Wow. Um 10 cruises in two years. Squad goals. Squad goals.

Wesley 3:15

It's a lot. It's a lot, but I have I had a goal that I wanted to be Platinum, a Platinum Castaway member before the next Disney cruise ship comes out. So before the before the Believe goes on sale, I want to be Platinum so I can get like an even better chance of booking those early sails.

Alicea 3:35

That makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Well, for this cruise, who was in your sailing party?

Wesley 3:42

For this cruise, um, it was just me and my best friend from way back in childhood. His name's Doug. Uh we've been buddies since as long as I can remember, to be honest. And but as we got older, he got married and had kids and moved away and had work and all kinds of stuff, same with me. So we hadn't hung out for an extended period of time like this in over 20 years. Wow. So for this particular sailing, my wife and kids couldn't make it, and so I invited Doug. And when I when I was getting ready to invite him, I was, you know, getting my sales pitch ready, and I had all the bullet points of things that I was gonna try to sell him on the all-inclusiveness, the food, the islands, the relaxation, the whole thing. And before I even finished popping the question, so to speak, it was an immediate yes. He was in, and there was no looking back, um, paid in full, ready to go.

Nathan 4:43

Excellent.

Booking A GTY Oceanview Room

Nathan 4:44

So, what kind of stateroom did you guys have? And and like what was the theme?

Wesley 4:49

So we booked kind of late into the process. I think it was only a few months ahead of time. So I was trying to save Doug some money. He's a frugal gentleman. And so we just booked a GTY, like an Ocean View State Room or Ocean View, uh Deluxe Ocean View GTY. And we got put in, we were assigned 8504.

Alicea 5:13

Okay.

Wesley 5:14

Which people who are very familiar with deck plans on wish-class ships might know already that it's kind of one of those corner rooms near the front that it has a slanted portholes.

Alicea 5:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wesley 5:28

It sleeps four, but it's kind of like that bigger situation. So you walk in, there's the bed, and then off to the left, past the bathrooms, there's like a bigger sitting area. Yeah.

Nathan 5:38

Nice. Yeah.

Wesley 5:40

So it's kind of it was a lot of it was a lot more space for just the two of us than when we travel with the five of us normally.

Nathan 5:46

Yeah. Kind of a nice, nice perk you stumbled into there.

Wesley 5:49

Yeah, lots of activity space.

Nathan 5:51

What was the theme of the room? Like who what was the the movie or the characters?

Wesley 5:55

Brave.

Nathan 5:56

Nice.

Wesley 5:58

You're supposed to know all of them. You're supposed to know all of them already.

Nathan 6:00

I yeah, I have the whole map memorized.

Wesley 6:06

No, I seen you've seen the spreadsheets. I've seen the spreadsheets where they list all the things. I still I there's no way I'm ever gonna remember all of that.

Alicea 6:14

No, no, I don't, I don't, I don't dive that deep into it.

Wesley 6:17

No, but it was Brave.

Alicea 6:20

Okay.

Wesley 6:20

I was a little I was excited about the stateroom type and like the different configuration, but we had Brave on the Maiden Voyage too. Uh so I didn't get to see anything new on this one. But there's nothing wrong with Brave. It's a win. Brave is a win, so I I like it.

Nathan 6:37

So when you book a guarantee room, you're not specifying a specific room number or location. You're just saying, hey, I want this type of room or better. Sometimes Disney will bump you up. Um how far in advance does Disney give you that room assignment, or or did you get yours? I know it can probably vary, I'm sure.

Wesley 6:58

Yeah, it varies quite a bit, actually. But for me personally, on this sailing, we got our room assignment about four weeks ahead of time.

Nathan 7:07

Okay.

Wesley 7:08

Maybe five weeks. I feel like it was pretty, pretty far out compared to maybe some some other people that I've heard speak about it, where they get their room assignment closer to to sailing, but yeah, about five about five weeks out.

Nathan 7:21

Nice.

Alicea 7:22

So you just talked Destiny with us back in December.

Why Sail Disney Destiny Again

Alicea 7:26

Uh, what was it that pulled you back so quickly?

Wesley 7:29

Well, pulled me back so quickly to the destiny was I couldn't wrap my head around everything on just one sailing. There was so much I'm gonna call it like extra stuff, but it you know, all the immersion, all the shows, all the storytelling, all the heroes and villains. In addition to all the crew stuff that you get already, with the already the good entertainment, already the good recreation in the pools and the adult spaces, uh, there was just too much. There was just too much, and there you know, the maiden voyage was relatively short, you know, it was only four days, right? Four nights. So I, you know, when the chance came up to go again, it was something that I wanted to get back into and kind of just kind of settle in it for a little bit longer.

Intro 8:18

Yeah.

Wesley 8:18

Um, the first time around on the maiden voyage, you know, there's all the hype, there's all the excitement, there's all the people. Yes. And I wanted to, and you know, I was getting pulled in different directions all the time, and the kids were there, and they wanted to do this, and my wife wanted to do this, and I wanted to do this, and there's just if you've ever been on a Disney cruise, there's just always too much to do. There's always too much to, you know, on paper, sometimes I think, oh, I don't know, is is this gonna be enough? Is this all I'm gonna this is all I'm gonna do for like four nights? And then you get there and it's that's never enough time. So yeah. So the thing that brought me back was just wanting to have more time to kind of marinate a little bit in some of the spaces and do some of the things and and revisit some of the things that you know just went by so fast.

Nathan 9:10

Yeah. Was this a four or a five-nighter?

Wesley 9:12

It was a four-nighter.

Nathan 9:14

Okay, another four-nighter. Was there anything specific that you were chasing, like food or vibes, or or or ports, or or specific entertainment? Or was it more of let's just see what I stumble into and have a fun time?

Wesley 9:28

Doug, my buddy that went with me, he's a first-timer. He had never been on Disney Cruise Line before. So there was a little bit of I want to watch him and see like what his reactions are to just everything that's happening around him. Um, but yeah, there were definite things that I wanted to do again, and some things that I didn't do the first time that I wanted to get into. For instance, I wanted to see ‘With Great Power a Marvel comedy show’. I wanted to see that again. We went to Palo Brunch, which we didn't do on the maiden voyage, so I got to go to Palo on the Destiny. And then there are still, even still, after two sailings, eight nights on this ship, there were still some things that I wanted to do that I just didn't get a chance to do again.

Nathan 10:15

Oh no, you'll have to go back.

Wesley 10:16

Yeah.

Alicea 10:18

Oops. Yeah.

Wesley 10:19

Such a tough situation I've put myself in. Yeah.

Alicea 10:22

Yeah. Um, how different does the destiny feel when it's no longer new to you? Uh, did anything land better or or worse on the second visit?

Wesley 10:32

Yeah, it's funny. I was walking around and I kept thinking, I don't know, it felt familiar, obviously, because I had been there. So I knew where everything was and kind of what to expect around certain corners. But I don't, I I tried hard to not take it for granted, you know, that I had been there before and that I had done it. And so every once in a while, as I was as I was walking around, I did have to remind myself like this ship is only a handful of months old. You know, this is still the newest Disney Cruise line ship in North America, right? And for all intents and purposes, the newest Disney Cruise line ship for most of us that is attainable. So uh it's yeah, I felt a little giddy, like kind of walking around, like this is as good as it gets right now. This is as new as it gets, you know, we're still they're still kicking the tires on stuff, but it it was it was a bit surreal kind of thinking, you know, back, oh, this is where this happened on the Maiden Voyage, or this is where, you know, we saw this for the first time, or or I I know we have to get to this thing right away because it'll fill up. Yeah. And I want to and I want to get the whole thing this time, you know?

Nathan 11:40

Yeah.

Crowds And Hard-To-Get Shows

Nathan 11:41

Did some of those experiences from the maiden that were just kind of like almost oversubscribed or just like real impossible to get to? Was any of that easier to do this time around? Have things kind of calmed down a little bit?

Wesley 11:57

Uh I I'm glad you brought that up because some, you know, the crowds and the lines and the so-called like rope drop culture that is kind of sneaking in on some of these wish class ships because the spaces are so cool and everybody wants to experience them, but they have limited capacity and availability. So the oversubscription to some of the places is still ongoing. And you know, it's still within its first year. I mean, November, December, January, February, March, April, May. Six months in, yeah, I still couldn't get into, and because maybe I didn't make it a big enough priority, but I still couldn't get into DeVil’s to see ‘treblemaking’.

Nathan 12:37

Wow. Yeah.

Wesley 12:38

You know, some of the people that I was with that I met while while we were on this sailing, you know, sat in DeVil's for over an hour before troublemaking started, you know, just to make sure they got a seat.

Alicea 12:50

Yeah.

Wesley 12:50

As it got closer to showtime, you know, they they asked them, can you scooch? Can we fit, you know, one or two more people in here? Because we're trying to maximize the space.

Alicea 13:00

Yeah.

Wesley 13:00

Space in there is really, really small.

Alicea 13:02

Yeah, that is that's a small area. Same on on the other ships, like same for is it Scat Cat?

Wesley 13:09

Yep.

Alicea 13:09

And um Nightingales. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Nathan 13:13

Yeah.

Wesley 13:13

So that's one on the list for next time for next time because it still eludes me. But it's to their own credit that it was popular and something that people want to experience. I've only heard the best things about this show.

Nathan 13:29

Yeah.

Wesley 13:29

And people want to experience over and over because it's different every time. Yep.

Alicea 13:34

Do they only offer it once?

Wesley 13:36

No, they did offer it multiple times.

Alicea 13:38

Okay.

Wesley 13:39

But it's still difficult to get it. Yeah, but still difficult, not only because there's a queue, but difficult in the fact that like I'm not gonna give up. I don't know when the show times were off the top of my head. But for instance, I'm not gonna give up castaway time or lookout time.

Alicea 13:56

Yeah.

Wesley 13:57

Or, you know, and then on the on our sea day, when I think there was two versions of the show, uh, you know, we were in Palo for three hours, and also Hercules is on the last day, and there's three showings of that. So there's a lot, even on a sea day, when oh, you're just on the ship and you can be hyper focused on the certain things that you want. I'm still kind of running around with my head caught off, trying to like do all the do all the things that that I couldn't get to do otherwise. If it was a seven-night sailing, it might be a bit easier to get in on some of this.

Nathan 14:34

But yeah, well, and frankly, that's why we're doing a seven-night sailing our first time on the destiny coming up in June. Uh, they're starting to do it. Looks like they're gonna be doing uh uh one seven-night western and a seven-night eastern kind of per quarter. Yeah. And yeah, so we're on the first iteration of those in June, or at least the eastern one in June, and and very much looking forward to that and having more time. But you know, the real solution here is to get on these ships when they have like uh an eventual, like a Europe crossing or a Panama Canal or something like that, and you've got two weeks, and then it's just like soak everything in, and everything's so much more relaxed. But yeah, we'll get there.

Alicea 15:16

And who knows when they'll start doing those with the wish class. Yeah, yeah, it'll be well.

Wesley 15:20

Oh, the wish, right? Because the wish is going to um go into Europe next year. That's right. Next year.

Nathan 15:25

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But the wish doesn't have this level of of entertainment and offerings, and it it's nice, but it's

Alicea 15:33

it doesn't have the storytelling aspect.

Nathan 15:35

No, no.

Wesley 15:36

But following the same pattern, you know, just a few years after the wish goes in 27, the destiny will follow in a handful of years after that. So that's a good point. Put that on your calendar if you want.

Alicea 15:47

We have not done any type of transatlantic yet. Um, we've done Panama Canal, but someday we'll do transatlantic. We love sea days, and that's just perfect. Perfect.

Wesley 15:58

Yeah, that's yeah, it is perfect. And they're always such a good value, like per day when you break it down, right?

Nathan 16:03

Yeah, 100%.

Wesley 16:04

Yeah. No kids, so you can't take kids on those. They got school and everything.

Alicea 16:08

Yeah, that's okay.

Wesley 16:09

Oh, okay. Oh no, no resistance from Alicea on the no kids thing.

Alicea 16:14

Nope. They're used to it. We do that to them a lot. They get to go on vacations with us, and we get to go on vacations without them.

Nathan 16:21

Yeah. Look how benevolent we are. Yeah.

Grand Hall Villains And Storytelling

Alicea 16:26

Was there a space experience or moment this time that kind of made you say, okay, this is why people repeat going on ships.

Wesley 16:35

On this ship in particular, I think the okay, we're gonna keep doing this, are the storytellers and the immersion with the like the villains.

Nathan 16:45

Yeah.

Wesley 16:46

Particularly in the Grand Hall, where it's on full display for everybody. Because there are some moments like that, but they're adult only, like the Marvel comedy show or treble making. These are much smaller, and they uh I believe they have wide appeal against the lines and the inability to get in on them, but very few people get to experience it as a ratio of the total number of people who are on the ship. So the things that happen in the in the Grand Hall, starting with Zaya and Gamble and The Legend of Loki on embarkation day, just really grabs your attention. And and it's one of those things where I'm like, this can't be real, like this is actually happening type situation for me. I mean, it's a simple retelling of you know Asgard and Thor and Loki, but just the dramatics of it all and the comedy of it all, and then the intensity of the music and the lighting and and the entrance of Loki from you know up the stairs, like on deck four coming down, yeah, is makes a real impression, even for like an old-timey guy like me.

Nathan 18:07

Was that impression bigger the second time around? Because you knew some of what was gonna happen, or did were you finding new things where it just made a bigger impression?

Wesley 18:17

I just think like on the on the first time, and everyone kind of experiences things differently, but the first time I saw it, my my eyes are like going back and forth. Like, am I supposed to be paying attention here? Do I look here? What am I? I I'm trying to like so hard to take everything in that inevitably like I just miss some things.

Nathan 18:37

Yeah.

Wesley 18:37

So this time I was able to hold a bit more composure and and revel in the things that I knew, but then pay attention where I knew I needed to pay attention and kind of take in some of those extra moments that that I might have gone by too quickly last time for me to like kind of catch, catching my so to answer your question, I don't know, I don't know what the answer to your question is, but was it more captivating or not? It was equally as captivating. It didn't lose, I think the point you're trying to get, it didn't lose anything just because it was the second time I've seen it. It was equally as uh tantalizing for somebody who who is into that kind of thing. The other point is like the cast was different, like Zaya and Gamble, they're different cast than than on the than on the Maiden Voyage. So I'm I'm trying to follow like their idiosyncrasies like between each other, like as a duo, like how the how do they play off each other, how and then quickly like comparing it. Like, is it how does it compare to who I think now is is like the standard of Zaya and Gamble, where the Maiden Voyage couple, because that's who I knew from the beginning, and so like uh inevitably you want to compare them, right? Are they as good? Are they better? They would have done this, but these guys did this particular thing better. And the answer is really it's all good, it's everything everyone's good. They're so good, they're not gonna end you, you just don't end up as these storytellers on these ships, you don't just accidentally become Zaya or a gamble. So these people are good and they're quality and they are different. And for a minute I was like, mmm, because it wasn't, but then once you get used to like their particular spin or shtick on the back and forth.

Alicea 20:34

Yeah. They have to make it their own, but still staying within the parameters of the characters. But there's little things that they could do to to change it a little.

Wesley 20:44

Yeah, exactly. Like Gamble, for instance, this time he I'm terrible at accents, so I think it was like maybe a Scottish accent. Maybe somebody will probably be mad if I if it's not, if it's like an Irish, but I don't know. I'm telling that anyway, it was like a UK-ish accent. And he like really leaned into it sometimes, and it like really came out. And at first I was like, oh, the original gamble, he didn't, he wouldn't have done that. And then I was thinking, is he making it like is he faking it? But then as I saw him more, he he wasn't, he just kind of leaned into it a little bit more from time to time. And after a while, it was like, I see what he's doing, and it's like it it accentuates like the joke or like you know the levity of it all, and uh and it becomes the new standard.

Nathan 21:35

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. We had an entertainment host, uh uh assistant cruise director. What was Dean's role? No, he was the club host, which is a role they don't have on the DCL ships anymore. He's from Ireland, and uh like we just it became a drinking game. Every time he said a three, it was a tree or a turty tree and a turd. Like yeah. It was we had so much fun on that cruise.

Wesley 22:03

Yeah. Did Yeah, similar, similar thing.

Nathan 22:06

Yeah.

Alicea 22:06

Yeah.

Design Details That Reward Noticing

Alicea 22:07

Did you notice any details this time that you completely missed on your first sailing?

Wesley 22:12

Well, I'm pretty, I don't know, we don't know each other that well, but I'm pretty detail-oriented. So I pretty much saw all the details. Um, the funny thing is like when you notice something, and then I notice it more, right? The first time like you see something, then you start seeing it kind of everywhere. Yeah. But we talked about this last time. Like, I try to pay attention, especially to like the carpet. There's so much good carpet.

Nathan 22:38

Yeah.

Wesley 22:39

There's so much good like wall textures and lighting. And my favorite thing is subtlety and and like the Disney-ness of it all.

Nathan 22:52

Yeah.

Wesley 22:52

I like the things that are I like the things that you have to kind of look for and kind of seek out for them to and then they become apparent and they become obvious. You know, this is this is in things, especially like in 1923, where you know, it's like old timey, like 20s styles, vibes. But then of course there's animation maquettes and drawings and things all around. Where if you're just walking through the restaurant, you you pass them and you can kind of pick up on them a little bit. But if you stop and look, then the story in the whole case becomes something that you shouldn't miss.

Nathan 23:34

Yeah.

Wesley 23:35

But it's impossible. You can't like stop in the middle of dinner and go by because the space is so you can't like it.

Alicea 23:41

But you want to. Like, yeah, I want, yeah. I wish that was open during the day. Because it's not. Like, I just want to spend a half hour in there and look at everything.

Wesley 23:50

Even in the windows outside, you know, there's some windows with some really nice set dressing in them where you can kind of get lost in like some history and yeah, and uh like culture there for sure.

Nathan 24:01

Well well,

Rotational Dining Highs And Lows

Nathan 24:02

speaking of the restaurants, how did rotational dieting, how did the food hit the second time around?

Wesley 24:07

Let's go. Okay, we can can we skip pirate menu?

Alicea 24:12

Yeah.

Nathan 24:13

We always skip pirate menu. That was the last time we went allowed.

Wesley 24:16

Yeah. I'll come to the def I don't want to talk about it in depth because everyone it's the same, it's the same, but I will come to the defense of Pirate Menu. Like I like it, I'm not gonna avoid it. I know it's not for everybody, and that's fine. I like it. So my rotation was 1923, Worlds of Marvel, Worlds of Marvel, Pride Lands.

Alicea 24:40

Okay,

Nathan 24:41

cool.

Wesley 24:42

I don't like this rotation. Um, I don't like this rotation because I don't want to go to Pride Lands on the last day.

Nathan 24:53

Yeah.

Wesley 24:54

Because as I kind of already mentioned, like it's already so jam-packed. And if for any reason I can't get off my butt after Palo brunch and go to Pride Lands, then that would be a problem for me.

Nathan 25:08

Yeah.

Wesley 25:09

Personally. So that wasn't ideal, but you know, I persevered and I still I still made it and ate everything I wanted to.

Nathan 25:18

I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you, Wes. You would have been.

Wesley 25:22

Um 1923 was great. Yeah, I think I ate exactly the same thing on this cruise as I did on the last cruise, and I have no regrets about that whatsoever. So I had the Filet mignon in 1923. It was noticeably smaller than before, but still enough.

Nathan 25:45

Yeah.

Wesley 25:46

It was like noticeably small. Because when we went on the wish too, it was like, I feel like it's gotten smaller every time, every time, from the wish to the destiny to the my most recent sailing. I feel like it's gotten, I feel like it's gotten smaller. But it's it's good. I think the consistency between like the textures and the and and the flavors are still there, and it really worked. I don't know, it just works for me. Like it comes uh like I'm um it's good. But I know what you want. It's good, it's very good. Me and my buddy also shared the pork tenderloin,

Nathan 26:20

okay.

Wesley 26:21

Which I thought was really great as well, and was quite large. It had like two shanks. Do you call them shanks? I don't know.

Nathan 26:29

Sure. Sure.

Wesley 26:30

The bones like the little chops. Maybe it was a chop. Yeah, maybe there's two chops or two shanks. There was two of whatever they were called, and it was it was tasty, man.

Alicea 26:41

How did Pride Lands hold up the second time you saw it?

Wesley 26:45

Okay, so Pride Lands is Pride Lands is problematic to me because of a few things. One, we talked about this last time, it's Pride Lands is incre is incredibly loud. It's too loud. We even sat farther away this time than we did on the Maiden Voyage, and it's just too like I sat at a table with not just me and Doug, but with six other people that we had gotten to know over you know, Pride Lands was last. So three nights we had gotten to know these people, and we were having good conversation. Like and you can't, and then it's weird. And then in Pride Lands, my seat happened to be situated where my back was to the stage. So not only could I not see what was happening, I couldn't hear what was happening at my table, and I just had to basically stare at somebody I had just met three days ago. Oh which I tend to make things more awkward than they should be. So maybe that was on me. But I mean, and it wasn't weird, like we everyone was friendly and sure, and it was fine, but like the drums would come with like you know, we would we would hear the drums kind of start to go, and I was like, all right, well, I'll see you in 10 minutes when this set's over and we can resume what we were doing. In addition to that, like the lights go way down. So they rush to get your food out to you before the set starts.

Nathan 28:21

Right.

Wesley 28:22

And then the set starts and the lights go down, so you can't hear anything at your table. I couldn't see the show, and I couldn't see my food. Now, the food was bonkers good. Like I love, I got the same, like I said, I got the same thing as I did last time. And it was the shrimp curry that comes in a little pot, and there's rice and like some bread and a little cucumber salad. Excuse me, my dog needs the dog wants out.

Intro 28:53

A few moments later.

Wesley 28:55

So the shrimp curry is fantastic. I would eat that every night. It's so good. It's a little bit spicy, it's full of flavor, the texture is good. If I said the filet mignon in 1923 was gonna be smaller, the quantity of shrimp in this dish is just right. Like it's it's a good, it's a good meal. So I wanna love I want to like it so much. Yeah, I love The Lion King. It's one of my favorite movies. You know, I I grew up in like that, like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast Lion King era, and I love it so much. And the new cast was good. Yeah, I think the new cast kind of suits the vibe and the tone a little bit better. Okay. The lead was a female in the first cast, and there's a male in the second cast, and I just thought his voice was a bit more baritone-y, yeah, and it sounded really good. It should be in a different venue.

Nathan 29:52

Yeah.

Wesley 29:52

I don't know. I don't want to say that. I don't know. This isn't like a hot take.

Nathan 29:56

It's just it's not a hot take. We've talked to several people who have been on The Destiny, and almost to a person, they all have the same impression.

Alicea 30:04

It's too loud in there.

Nathan 30:05

It's fantastic. We love the food. We love we love the content of the show and what's being presented. It's just too loud. They

Alicea 30:14

Arendelle’s like that too.

Wesley 30:16

I want to sing along, I want to like participate. Like there's dancers that kind of come from like the outskirts of the restaurant and come up on stage. So it's a little uh yeah, there's a lot going on, and I want to be more a part of it.

Nathan 30:29

Yeah.

Wesley 30:29

But I also I don't know. I don't know. There's a mix of something that's off. I'm not an expert enough to know how to fix it, but yeah, I want to like it. Okay, I mean, I'll just have to go back and try it again and see if I can't crack I can't crack the case on this one.

Alicea 30:46

Uh and you were at Marvel for two nights, right?

Wesley 30:49

Yeah, yeah.

Alicea 30:50

Was that was that okay? I know a lot of people, that's not their favorite.

Wesley 30:57

I know it's I think Marvel gets a bad rap a little bit. Because if you have kids with you, there is something to occupy the children the whole, yeah, pretty much the whole time.

Alicea 31:10

That's true.

Wesley 31:10

They're either watching the group show or there's like this like trivia thing going on where you have to push the button on the point. Yeah, yeah. And that works for adults too. Our table full of adults like was also entertained and occupied the whole time. And the food is neither great nor bad. It's yeah, it is what it is. Oh, but you know what really stood out to me this time there was that there's there's like these rolls, and I'm really bad at the names of the rolls. It was like reddish.

Alicea 31:43

Oh, like the marbled, the red, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Wesley 31:47

Yeah. That roll is really good. If you it because when they put the bread down, there's like one or two of them.

Nathan 31:53

Like be quick, be quick-handed on the on the red roll. All right, good to know. We'll have to let we'll have to let our son Sterling know that. Uh so they like doing bread reviews now.

Wesley 32:04

So uh the bread, the red one, get them on the red one, man. Yeah. Ten out of ten or five out of five, or I don't know what kind of scale you guys use, but it's good out of good.

Nathan 32:15

Yeah, I don't know. He seems to change it every time. Yeah.

Lookout Key First Impressions

Nathan 32:20

All right, so this is the big one. You hit both lookout and castaway keys on the same sailing. Obviously, not on the same day. That would be kind of insane. Experiencing them back to back, though, what stood out immediately as you are inevitably comparing the two?

Wesley 32:38

The way it was planned out worked in my favor because we went to lookout key first and then castaway key.

Nathan 32:45

Yeah.

Wesley 32:46

So, from my perspective, it got better as the days went on. Okay. Now, like I said, I was with my buddy Doug. He has never been to any of these places, he had no idea what to expect. There was no spoilers, I didn't try to prepare him for anything. Yeah, we just showed up and walked a half a mile.

Nathan 33:05

Yep.

Wesley 33:05

And that that was his first like impression. And when it was all over with, and we went to dinner on that night with our new friends at our table who were very delightful. We discussed like which one was better, and he liked Lookout Key better based solely on the fact that like once you get over the journey, yeah, that you know, basically the reward is worth the journey here.

Nathan 33:31

Yeah.

Alicea 33:32

That beach and water.

Wesley 33:33

The beach.

Alicea 33:34

Oh my gosh.

Wesley 33:35

It's crazy. Yeah. And what what was particularly interesting about Lookout Key and being there with him for the first time is again, we didn't discuss anything. I didn't tell him anything about nothing. Nothing. And we get in the water and we're hanging out, and he goes, This water is so soft. And I was like, that's exactly now. Again, we've been friends for like our whole lives, and we have similar, we're like similar, but again, we didn't we hadn't really hung out in this depth for this length of time in 20 years. But like we're still like, yeah, we're like almost the same. I say, Yeah, the water is, I don't know what's happening. The water is soft, it's not like beach harsh salt water, yeah. It's like soft, smooth bath water. Yeah, yeah, you know, and he like couldn't, he couldn't get over, he couldn't get over how like soft and velvety the sand was. He started putting it like on his head and like on his shoulders. He burnt, he sunburns easily too. So he's like, let me just put this, but that's how that's how cool it was. And you know, we we we hung out at Serenity Bay, which I didn't do the first time, and it's exactly the same as the family beach. It's literally right next there. There's no difference. You can still see and hear the children, and that's fine. I'm not offended or put off by that at all. There's less coral and like snorkeling opportunities like at Serenity Bay, but it's adjacent, it's like right there if you wanted to do it. So it's no big deal. So we hung out at Serenity Bay Beach, and man, it's easy to float in that water. It was probably the best like ambient temperature and best water temperature. And I think I've been there this I don't want to mess this up, but I think this is my fourth time at Lookout. And this is by far the best, the best time.

Alicea 35:39

Nice.

Wesley 35:39

And I was trying to think and decide why I thought it was the best time, and I don't want to say it was because I was by myself without my family, because I want to be there with my family.

Nathan 35:50

Yeah.

Wesley 35:51

But it might have been because I because I could just do whatever, because I could just do whatever I wanted. Yeah, all I wanted to do. Yeah, I don't have to. There's not something in the back of my mind where I'm I mean, my kids are getting older, they can swim perfectly fine. I don't have to worry about them at all, like at the beach here in California. I definitely don't have to worry about them in the in this calmer, you know, calmer water, shallower water at lookout key. But they're still there and I still have to think about them.

Nathan 36:20

Yeah. Yeah.

Wesley 36:21

Or is my wife hungry? Does my wife need an ice cream? She probably needs an ice cream. She definitely needs a Diet Coke. Should I get her a Diet Coke? I'm just gonna stay here until she says she wants a Diet Coke, and then I'll go get her a Diet Coke. But I kind of also want a Diet Coke. Maybe I'll go get Diet Cokes just to have them. I don't have to think about any of that kind of stuff. I'm just I just lay in the water and then eventually we're like, we should get food. And I'm like, yeah, let's go get food. So we ate at the Serenity Bay Beach Barbecue.

Alicea 36:51

True true? Is that what it is?

Wesley 36:53

It's not true, true. I don't know what it's called.

Alicea 36:55

Okay,

Wesley 36:55

it wasn't true true, and it wasn't true true too. Okay, it was whatever they call the Serenity Bay Beach. Whatever the Serenity Bay is.

Nathan 37:01

I think it may just be Serenity Bay Barbecue.

Wesley 37:03

I think it is Serenity Bay Barbecue.

Nathan 37:05

Yeah.

Wesley 37:06

I think you're right.

Nathan 37:07

I could be wrong though, but it's true. If you say anything with enough authority in your voice, you're good to go.

Wesley 37:14

Alright, I'll I'll work on that. We went to Serenity Bay Barbecue.

Nathan 37:18

There you go.

Wesley 37:19

Good. And we got the ribs, we got the chicken sandwich, I got the fruit, and the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese at Lookout is still the worst mac and cheese of all the mac and cheese that you can get that's available on Disney Cruise Line. The chicken sandwich was good. The ribs were good. The fruit was also good. Something I didn't know last time that I did that I found that I saw other people doing and that I participated in myself is that you can order a steak. Yeah. I didn't know that. So I ordered a steak, two of them, one for me, one for Doug, and they bring it out to your table. I mean it's nothing special. It's just like a I'm also not good. I'm not good at a lot of things. I keep saying this, but I'm not good at like meat cuts. So I don't know what it was.

Nathan 38:11

It's part of a cow.

Wesley 38:12

But it's steak.

Nathan 38:13

Yeah.

Wesley 38:14

And so they brought it out. It was good. It was fine. The thing that I noticed, and it could be a Serenity Bay barbecue issue because they don't have the big fans over there like they do at the other at the other True True barbecues. They have these big fans that I think help with the fly situation.

Nathan 38:32

Yeah.

Wesley 38:33

They didn't have those big fans at Serenity Bay. So there were tons of flies.

Nathan 38:38

Oh still.

Wesley 38:39

We're like a year and a half going on two years at this place, and there's still like tons of flies. I think it's seasonal though.

Alicea 38:47

Yeah, we we didn't have a fly issue when we were there, but there was a bee issue.

Nathan 38:52

Yeah. There was bees all over A. Everything, especially at the bars. Yeah. Especially because of all those like fruity drink mix-ins and stuff like that. The bees were going wild, especially around the uh the Serenity Bay Bar over there. Don't let me get they were super friendly. There was just a lot of bees.

Alicea 39:12

There's just a lot of them. Yeah.

Wesley 39:13

Oh, the bees were nice?

Nathan 39:14

Oh, yeah.

Alicea 39:15

They weren't attacking people.

Nathan 39:17

No, drunk. One of them got drunk, uh, fell into Alicea's drink.

Alicea 39:21

Yep.

Nathan 39:21

And but we stayed with him. We fished him out.

Alicea 39:25

Yeah.

Nathan 39:25

We made sure he sobered up before he flew away. Because don't let friends fly drunk.

Wesley 39:30

No.

Nathan 39:31

Yeah.

Wesley 39:31

That's very you're very responsible.

Nathan 39:33

Right. We're the best kind of a Disney adult. So if if Castaway is the comfort food of Disney Cruise Line, what role does Lookout play, do you think?

Wesley 39:47

Lookout is still need Lookout is it's still too early to tell. Lookout still needs to like stretch its legs and like really embrace and embody who it could become. Like it's a weird, like early adolescent, awkward person right now. You know what I mean?

Alicea 40:08

Yeah.

Wesley 40:09

Like the plants are coming in nicely.

Nathan 40:12

Yeah.

Wesley 40:12

The, you know, it's getting fuller. You can, you know, the wood is wearing a little bit, and I love that.

Nathan 40:20

Yeah.

Wesley 40:20

I hated the new, I hated the newness of it. But at the same time, like I would have so much FOMO if I didn't go there as immediately as I could. So that's on, you know, that's on me because I wanted to be there when it was new, but I also knew that I wasn't gonna necessarily like fall in love with it when it was new. But I wanted to see it because I like to see the evolution of it. So the newness of it is kind of wearing, you know, the like I said, the wood is getting weathered, the plants and trees are growing. It is really spread out. I

Alicea 40:59

yeah, it really is

Wesley 41:01

just like this a little bit too. However, again, we walked to the far south end of the island. And to me, this is the highlight of the whole thing. This is why I would pay all the money and fly across country and walk a half a mile to the tram and take a you know 10-minute tram ride and then walk another 0.75 miles from Serenity Bay to the bottom of the island, yeah, is to just see what's happening down there because it's different. When the tide comes in, it's you can only go so far. But when the tide is out, you can walk around the bottom, and you can go all the way over, you know, basically to the other side of where the lighthouse is.

Nathan 41:45

Right.

Wesley 41:46

It's up on the hill, but you can walk around like on the sand side, and you can see the ship, and you can see the cabanas over there. They're still too far. You can't quite. I mean, you could walk all the way over to the cabanas if you were feeling really ambitious, but we're not, so we didn't. But this is where like the nature and the landscape and it's ever-evolving, like the light is different every time. This is the this is the highlight for me, right? The combination of the just the natural beauty of the place that you're in, which is like a blessing. It's it's so amazing that it exists and that we can go there, and that I have been there multiple times is wild to me. I love that so much. And then, like, there's like the little cave that everybody talks about, which is if it's if your camera's on a wide angle, it looks like more of a cave, but if you're not in a wide angle, it just looks like a little overhang. So don't be fooled, but it is cool. And we saw a crab. I don't know if you saw like my Instagram story, like we saw a big crab, like a big crab, and he was just hanging out, he was running around, and like we were playing tag for a little bit, and it's just so cool, it's just so cool to be there, and then and then at one point people were on a kayak excursion. So we're down here, we're like you know, ankle deep in water that's warm, the perfect temperature, the sand you can barely feel because it's so cozy, and then there's kayakers in the middle ground, and then in the background is the ship, and it's it's fantastic. I'm so glad we got to go there. I'm so glad that Doug got to see it in this particular, like this particular iteration of it because again, it's it's different. It was windy one time, it was like super windy one time when we were there, it was like super hot one time when we were there, it was kind of cold another time, and this time it was absolutely just right. It was perfect.

Nathan 43:49

Awesome. It's goldilocks.

Alicea 43:51

Yeah. So,

Why Castaway Cay Still Wins

Alicea 43:52

what was the highlight for you on Castaway and what has it keeping your top spot?

Wesley 43:58

Oh, Alicea, I was so glad you asked this. Again, the thing that sells me on Castaway is it follows all the same visual tricks and storytelling that you get when you go to Magic Kingdom or Disneyland. You can see it from afar when you're on the ship. Then you get off the ship, and there's just these little visual peekaboos that you get as you progress toward as you get deeper into the island. It's so great. To me, it's perfect. You can see like the sailboats from like Marges Barges, right? There's the the boats and the sailboats and the little paddle things. And then you keep walking, and then there's like a store, and then there's like some hammocks, and you keep going, and then there's like this jungle gym, and then you keep going, and then there's like some food places and like a water play area, and then there's a bar, and then you get to the other side of the bar, and there's pelican plunge, and it just keeps going.

Nathan 45:00

Yeah.

Wesley 45:00

And it and and at each new little twist and turn of the walkway, like there's something new to see and to discover and to do. Whereas on lookout, it's like you're just getting from A to B. You're just like, I gotta get to the end of this thing. And I know there's something spectacular there, but it's like an uphill battle, you know, to get there. And at Castaway, it just keeps, it just keeps coming, you know what I mean? It just keeps you got Mount Rust more. It's just everything. Everything just keeps coming. There's characters along the way.

Alicea 45:34

Yeah.

Wesley 45:35

I don't know. Like, am I wrong? Do you what do you think? What do you think?

Alicea 45:39

I I like Castaway more for the theming and how it's not compact, but it's more compact than Lookout is.

Wesley 45:46

Yeah, for sure.

Alicea 45:47

If if I could have the beach and the water at Castaway that we do at Lookout, I would never leave.

Nathan 45:54

Yeah.

Wesley 45:55

Alicea, today's your lucky day. I have something for you that I didn't know was gonna happen. But we ever, you know, you've heard about the new cabanas, right? The Mickey, they renamed the old ones Sam Castle, and the new ones are Mickey and Minnie Cove, whatever. There's new cabanas. So my buddy, Mike, he owns a travel agency, best day ever vacations. He invited me to go see his cabana. He had a cabana in Mickey and Minnies. Oh. So I was like, and he's like, hey, what are you guys doing today? I was like, ah, we're gonna ride bikes, we're gonna do it. He's like, well, stop by later. Stop by the cabana later on. I was like, you got it, pal. You don't gotta ask me twice. And so we did our things, we did the bike ride, we had our food, we hung out in the water. The water was great, the water was clear, like more clear than I have remembered it in more recent times at Castaway. It's still like a little bit rocky, like right when you get in. But it was great. The water was great, the food was great. We went all the way to the Mickey, what was it called? Mickey and Minnie's cabana, Mickey and Minnie. Something like that. Mickey Mickey.

Nathan 47:06

Mickey Mini. You know? Yeah. The other ones next to Serenity Baby Castaway. Yeah, the other one.

Wesley 47:12

So we get out there, and it's like that new again, right? All the plants are small, whatever. And I was like, okay, just but you want to see this. So we got there, we got to the cabana. They're just like the other cabanas, pretty much. You know, they're new, they're about the same size. They're kind of they're like lightly themed with like some Disney characters, you know, like Fab Five type characters. And then and then we get out to the beach side, and we get down to the water, and the sand is it's not lookout sand, but it's nice. It's like it's soft, and it's a little bit less granular, right? And for about 200 yards, the water was about two feet deep, and it was clear, and it was warm, and it was like a bay. There was no, it's on the other side of the island, so it doesn't get the wind, right? So it was calm and smooth the whole time.

Nathan 48:09

Wow.

Wesley 48:10

And we stood out there for probably four hours and hung out with some of our new friends and with Mike, and we played with the kids, and there's little fishes that we try to catch. Someone found a sand dollar. I think this is where our other friends found like the sea cucumber. There's sea cucumbers out there. Yeah. I thought it was delightful, it was like it was the antithesis of what the family beaches are on the other side of Castaway. Yeah. So now Castaway has like these family beaches with like the water playgrounds out there, and then on the other side and then those cabanas, but then the other these new new cabanas have like a totally different type of beach that kind of speaks to what people kind of love about Lookout Key. The sand's not pink, it's not like it's not like um powdered sugar, you know. It doesn't like um, yeah, it doesn't have any like regenerative properties. It doesn't, it's not like the fountain of youth sand, but it's cool, man. It's cool. And we saw a pelican.

Alicea 49:17

Oh, cool.

Wesley 49:18

Nice. And he was plunging, and I thought, oh, I get it now. Pelican plunge. Pelican plunge. He was diving down, he was diving down and like trying to get some fish. He was eating all day. Alright, it was just a really good experience. It was just a really good experience.

Nathan 49:34

Yeah. I I love what you were talking about earlier with just the the worn-in, lived-in feeling of castaway is just it's something else. And that's what I you know, you would you would ask like our opinions of stuff. Uh, I I still prefer castaway because of that worn, lived-in feel. Lighthouse point lookout key is great. I it's just, you know, my favorite uh vacation growing up was a cabin that had water and electricity, and that was it, on top of the dunes on Cape Cod for like two weeks. And there was no TV. We just had a radio for some music, and just completely disconnected from the world and relaxed. And like this was a you know, I don't even think there was insulation on this place, like it was just uh, you know, just the most basic cabin you can imagine, and that was glorious. And castaway reconnects me with that feeling every time I'm there. Yeah, I don't need the new and fancy. In fact, like the theming and everything, like lookout is beautiful, but there's there isn't the uniqueness of it. It's like, okay, here's the same octagon design of a building, and oh, that that one's blue instead of pink or whatever. Like it's just it's too cookie-cutter to me. Maybe that'll wear in over time, but yeah, castaway just flows better and feels better for me.

Alicea 51:11

And it has a theme. And yeah, lookout doesn't really, other than it's it's meant to be educational. So you learn about the culture, you learn about the island. Yeah. Um, I just kind of wish they had they had found another way to do that.

Nathan 51:27

Yeah.

Alicea 51:28

Like I I'm all for learning about it, but it could have been Disney's so good at storytelling, they could have found another way to do that.

Wesley 51:37

Yeah. I think that's the thing. I think that's the biggest kind of disappointment because you know, you know what they're capable of. Yeah. As far as like story, visual storytelling goes.

Alicea 51:48

And they try to. And and there's go the extra.

Wesley 51:52

And it and there's just lots of room for future enhancements.

Nathan 51:57

We're we're in we are Disney adults in parent mode. We're not angry, we're just disappointed.

Wesley 52:03

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Nathan 52:05

You're not living up to your potential.

Wesley 52:08

It's just very face value. Yeah. It's just very face value. People ask me, what do you like about Lookout Key? The beach. Well, guess what? The beach was there before Disney was there. Yep.

Alicea 52:18

Yep.

Wesley 52:18

Yeah. Like, what is Disney bringing to the equation here? And I think so far it's just the fact that they take you there and then you can go experience the thing that was already there. And if that's all it is or ever will be, then that's fine. I will gladly pay money to go there because it's great. Yep. But I enjoy the castaway-ness of castaway key. Yeah. Right. Like if you're there, if you're there for the first time and you're like rummaging around and you're like, why is there a runway? Why is there a runway back here? And what's all this old like sea stuff? And then you're on the runway, and then there's like, what's this trail? There's this trail that goes into like these trees. Where does that go? Oh, there's a lookout tower? Oh, well, let's climb the lookout tower and see what we can find. And it just keeps giving you things and reasons to be there. Yep. And look how we went to the beach.

Alicea 53:14

Yep. That's that's about it.

Wesley 53:19

I love them both. Don't hate me.

Nathan 53:22

No, we do too. And it's not like it's not like we're saying lookout is bad. We're just saying lookout is a 9.5 and castaway is a 10.5.

Wesley 53:34

There you go.

Nathan 53:35

There you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hercules Review And Best Seats

Nathan 53:37

Yeah. All right, Wes, we've talked about food, we've talked about all sorts of stuff. What about the entertainment? Specifically, Hercules. What do you think of the brand new kind of marquee show there in the Destiny?

Wesley 53:49

I'm so glad you brought this up because so far everything has been kind of like on par. My experience has kind of been on par from Maiden Voyage till now. Yeah. Going back and seeing Hercules again, I'm not gonna say it was this is tough because I don't wanna, I don't wanna. Everyone is so talented, the others in this show. And they can do things that I can never do or will never do.

Nathan 54:18

Yeah.

Wesley 54:19

Um, Hercules is not my favorite show. I'd rather see Frozen, I'd rather see Beauty and the Beast.

Nathan 54:26

Yeah.

Wesley 54:26

Um I haven't seen Moana, but I continually hear good things about Moana.

Nathan 54:33

Yeah.

Wesley 54:34

As it stands now, Hercules is you know, is not top three. I'd rather see even some of like the like compilation shows.

Nathan 54:45

Yeah.

Wesley 54:46

You know, like Golden Mickeys. I probably watched Golden Mickeys.

Nathan 54:50

I love the Golden Mickeys.

Wesley 54:51

Now look, there's still three, there were still three showings on our sailing. There was the matinee and then the two dinner shows. And we went to the matinee, which I think is a mistake. The the if if you happen, I know a lot of people like late dinner, but if you have early dinner, I think the 8:30 show is the best show to go to. It's the least crowded. Oh, we should, we had early dinner. We should have gone to the late, to the late show. But here's my here was here was my mistake, and then I'll tell you about the show and why I don't think it was this kind. My mistake was I like romanticized like sitting in like the little box seats on the side in the balcony.

Nathan 55:33

Uh-huh.

Wesley 55:34

You know, I don't know, maybe it's like I want to be a Muppet, maybe I have a thing for Abraham Lincoln. I don't know what it is, but I wanted to sit there and they were available, so we sat there. Okay. And it's close to the stage, so you can see stage things, right? You can see the lift go down. Yeah. You can see some people in the wings on at least one side of the stage. And like technically, I want to see that stuff because I think it's cool. The speaker for the music was like right in my face.

Nathan 56:05

Oh.

Wesley 56:06

It's like on the side of the stage, and it was just like right there. And I was so close to that speaker that it drowned out some of the dialogue, which is coming from a different set of speakers in the theater. Yep. So I didn't get all the dialogue that I should have. It was there, it was just drowned out by the music speakers. So don't sit in the those box seats on the balcony.

Nathan 56:31

Don't be Statler and Waldorf, is what I'm hearing.

Wesley 56:34

Correct. Not in this situation. In other situations, it might work out for you.

Nathan 56:39

Yeah. And maybe don't heckle during a live performance either.

Wesley 56:42

Don't heckle. No. No, that's never that's never part of my suggestions. Um, okay, the cast. Obviously, second cast of Hercules. I don't know any of these people's names, but really good. Really tell, really telling. You know, they sing good. The the Hercules actor, not quite as strong as as the original.

Nathan 57:05

Yeah.

Wesley 57:06

I think that's goes without saying, right?

Nathan 57:08

Like, yeah. I mean, the the folks who get to sit and develop the show and kind of become the iconic canonical version of the show. There's something special about these people.

Wesley 57:21

Yeah, there's something special about the first cast for sure.

Nathan 57:23

Yeah.

Wesley 57:24

All across the board, not just in these, in these big musical Broadway style stuff. On the night that we saw Hercules, yeah, we didn't get some of the puppets, some of the puppetry. I

Nathan 57:35

interesting.

Wesley 57:36

Right? Puppetry is a big, yeah, is like the big like show stopping thing, right? So we got um the Hydra, we got the what do you call a horse that has a man body?

Nathan 57:46

I know the answer to this.

Wesley 57:50

Um this is a test. I know, I obviously know what it is, but I was just testing you.

Nathan 57:55

Alicea had to step away as we're recording this, and she's gonna yell at me. Is she for not knowing? She'd be she's probably yelling at her radio right now.

Wesley 58:06

Well, she should have stayed because that's a centaur.

Nathan 58:10

There you go. That's it.

Wesley 58:12

Uh, the scent there was the centaur, then there was the hydra puppets, but then the titans were missing, and so the B show for when the puppets aren't working is just like this animation in the far back part of part of the stage.

Nathan 58:27

Weird.

Wesley 58:28

And so not only could we was it not cool because the titans weren't out, and they're really cool. Yeah, they should always be there if possible. It's like a big part of the show, and so not having them was kind of a bummer, but then also the animation was really set back, and from where we're we were sitting, we couldn't see it out.

Nathan 58:48

Yeah, because you're in such an oblique angle, yeah.

Wesley 58:51

Yeah, exactly. Um and then the other thing is the fights. I'll say this like the fight scenes, aside from the puppets not being there, they're just not. I know it's a kid's show, but but it's not even coherent. Uh it's not even you don't even know really what's yeah what's happening.

Nathan 59:16

I wonder if that again is the blocking and everything, because you are you are making your your staging and your acting for the audience in front. And if you're over on an extreme wing, you're gonna see that they're swinging at stuff and not even coming close. Yeah. Maybe Wes, maybe Wes, you're the problem. Maybe your desire to sit in the box seats.

Wesley 59:42

Maybe you're not wrong. I am a problem a lot of the time. But I get it, I get the blocking is made for people in front, but but the first time I saw it, it was also the it was this, it was the same. Okay, you know what I mean? The that those parts were some of the weakest parts, and that's like he's like Hercules. He's supposed to be like, you know what I mean? Like strong, and and maybe it has something to do with like the limitations of the movement of like the puppetry. Oh like the centaur, for instance, he's like, yeah, his movement is limited, and that I I think maybe that just slows down the action scenes a little bit. Other than that, it's I mean it's still a good show, it's still worth going to see. It's still good. Um, but it's definitely not my it's definitely not my favorite.

Nathan 1:00:34

Well, we'll be on in a few months, and I will come back and I will text you and let you know how and why you were wrong. And then please we'll have it, yeah, yeah.

Wesley 1:00:44

Yeah, please. We can we can take this dialogue offline, as they say, and yeah, tell me about it.

Nathan 1:00:50

Wes will never be hearing from again on this show. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

What Makes A Great Cruise Ship

Nathan 1:00:58

So after two Disney Destiny sailings in a fairly short time span, has your opinion of the ship changed overall? And is this ship now uh one that you'd actively seek out again? Or do you need to immerse yourself back in everything else that is DCL, at least to us humble North Americans?

Wesley 1:01:24

There's no reason for me to not go on to Disney Destiny for a third, fourth, fifth time. There's still, like we said, there's still things that I need to do. There's still things that I've seen twice now that I want to see a third, fourth, or fifth time. It's just good. It's just good. Despite the things that I don't like about wish class ship layout design, you know, as a separate issue, this is where this is where it's at. Now, let me bring this up because this I think is important as we look ahead. Like, there's one more of these ships coming to North America. There's obviously the the Japanese version of this ship, and then we're gonna get into something new. As much as I love like the immersiveness of some of these spaces and bringing some theme park attributes onto these ships, like haunted mansion parlor, you know, Star Wars stuff, yeah, you know, all these things that I think you would typically think more of like theme park things. All these things are great. The reason why I loved Disney Cruise line from the beginning was that it was a cruise line done by Disney with like their certain panache for like service and attention to detail. And those things are separate. You know, putting an individual IP in a space does it's not gonna do it for me forever. The thing that does it for me forever is the classic cruise liner theme.

Nathan 1:03:08

Yeah,

Wesley 1:03:09

right? The theme of the cruise ship that I want is cruise ship. Yeah, because I want to go on a cruise ship. Yeah, I don't want to go on a floating tiki room.

Nathan 1:03:21

I think this is why, yeah, 100%. I think you've articulated what I haven't been able to, and and that for me, the treasure and the wonder are my favorite ships on Disney Cruise Line. We haven't been on the Destiny yet, we will in a few months. But I still put the wonder ahead, and it's got its quirks, it's smaller, it doesn't have some of the amenities and things like that. But what it does have is that classic cruise liner feel and the nautical theming and the the art deco um styling or or no, is that one art nouveau? Whatever the art something, the artistic styling. Um, I it just speaks to me, and I it is my happy place. It is it I love going on the treasure, I love the treasure, yeah. But if you made me pick whether I'm gonna go on the treasure or the wonder for the exact same cruise, I'm like itinerary, I'm probably gonna pick the wonder. It's just me.

Alicea 1:04:33

That's where we differ because I and everybody's everybody's very different on how they like this. I am very much IP driven. Um, and I don't know if it's just nostalgia and just growing up with that stuff, but I love that Disney has brought that into it. Now, I still love the wonder too, but I think having that additional theming stuff to to look at and really dive deep into, that's just something that I enjoy.

Wesley 1:05:00

It's such a conundrum, isn't it?

Alicea 1:05:03

It is. I don't care what they do, I will go on them anyway.

Wesley 1:05:06

Yeah. Well, don't say that too loudly because they probably have some really weird things that they want to do that I don't want them to do.

Alicea 1:05:13

Oh, like the adventure? Right. Yeah.

Wesley 1:05:15

Like put like put theme park attractions on ships. Let's not say that too loudly.

Nathan 1:05:21

In Disney's defense, they largely inherited those decisions.

Wesley 1:05:26

In my defense, they didn't have to.

Alicea 1:05:29

This is true.

Nathan 1:05:30

Very fair.

Wesley 1:05:32

Anyway. Very fair. No, but Alicea, like on The Wonder, there are, you know, there's Tiana's, which is a heavily themed restaurant.

Alicea 1:05:40

There's a show. That's my favorite restaurant on any of the ships.

Wesley 1:05:43

That's that's mine too. I've I've liked Tiana's a lot. I was very impressed by it. I don't know what I was expecting, but like I'm not a big like Princess and the Frog guy, but that was a party and I I enjoyed it. Yep. French Quarter Lounge. It's like This is again, this is I'm being predictable now, but like it's a subtly themed area.

Alicea 1:06:06

Yeah.

Wesley 1:06:06

And I just think that's the best.

Alicea 1:06:09

But it's still IP.

Wesley 1:06:10

Yes, a hundred percent.

Nathan 1:06:11

But Cadillac Lounge is Cadillac Lounge is top notch. Yeah.

Alicea 1:06:17

It's fantastic. And that's not IP at all. I don't know. I like it all. I I veer more towards the IP just because it's what I'm familiar with.

Nathan 1:06:27

Let me put it this way. If you said I had to take five cruises and they had to be on either the treasure or the wonder, I would do three on the wonder and two on the treasure.

Wesley 1:06:40

Interesting.

Nathan 1:06:41

And I'd I'd be Pearl, and that would be great.

Wesley 1:06:46

Are you just two short or five short? What are you? I'm I maybe six short. No, I think after this next well, we have several already booked.

Alicea 1:06:54

I think I'm 19, so you're six.

Nathan 1:06:57

No, you're 20 now.

Alicea 1:06:58

Am I? I don't know.

Nathan 1:06:59

I think you're 20 now, which means I'm 18. Yeah. And then we have two common. Yeah, so five more. I'll be pearl.

Wesley 1:07:08

Keep bragging.

Alicea 1:07:08

Yeah.

Nathan 1:07:10

Okay, Mr. 10 cruises in two years.

Alicea 1:07:12

You're gonna get there before we are.

Wesley 1:07:14

Apparently, I got a lot of I got a lot of catching up to do. Oh, hey, you think it's all fun and games, but I need to be, I got goals.

Alicea 1:07:23

Our problem is we do the longer ones.

Wesley 1:07:25

Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, yeah, you gotta you gotta work up to it. One of um my new friend Sarah who was on this sailing with me, she has done 11 in two years. So she she's even more harcore than I am. Yeah.

Nathan 1:07:40

Now we're we're waiting for either the wonder or the magic to be semi-permanently based down by uh your neck of the woods there in Southern California. And we're hoping for some some shorties that we can do some some back to back to backs and just crank out some some sailing numbers because we gotta get there and uh yeah.

Wesley 1:08:01

Well, I'm with you, man. If once once they once the wonder or whatever like gets to San Diego like semi-permanently, it's it's game over. Like I'll have to move, I'll have to move farther away. Like it's not gonna be. So it'll, you know, it's the ship that I have sailed on the most.

Nathan 1:08:40

Same.

Wesley 1:08:41

And yeah, there's just something unique about it that I I I don't get it. I don't get it. Like the ships got bigger, the adult pool area has gotten smaller. I don't get it. There's just some things about the new ships that I just don't understand the the logistics or like how how they came about because the restaurants on the smaller ships, even the Dream and Fantasy, don't feel smaller. Like square foot per person that they put in there. Yeah, they feel like there's more room. Uh, but then you get to Pride Lands, which is just tight. Yep. It's like unnecessarily tight. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not a cruise ship architect, I don't know how it works.

Nathan 1:09:24

But well, Disney's gonna start designing the next class, so we'll we'll just have to see what happens. And Disney, if you're listening, the three of us are happy to give our input.

Alicea 1:09:35

Yes, for sure.

Maintenance Notes And Finding Version 5571

Wesley 1:09:37

What one thing of note on the Destiny this time, the adult pool area cove bar closed the whole time.

Nathan 1:09:44

Yes. I yes. Did they have to redo the pool or something like that?

Wesley 1:09:48

I asked somebody because like it was blocked off, we couldn't even go back there. And I haven't seen if somebody else has said like what exactly is going on. But somebody, a crew member on the ship was like, Yeah, they just took the whole thing out. Yeah, like there's no pool back there.

Alicea 1:10:01

Yeah, right now. Well I heard it had to entirely be redone and retiled and everything. Um, and they're not giving any timeline on when that's gonna be ready, so that may still be down when we're gone. Yeah.

Nathan 1:10:11

Yeah.

Wesley 1:10:11

Well, she said she said it had been the four cruises before us, and she had no idea when it was gonna be.

Nathan 1:10:17

Yeah. Well, I'm sure they're having troubles getting any work done because they're not pulling that thing into a dry dock, and they've already sold the room, so it's not like they're gonna keep going to kick people off.

Wesley 1:10:28

They were like there was like saws or hammers or jackknifts or something. There was like some very tool noises going on back there. And I don't know, related or not, but the hero zone, I think they fixed it later on in the cruise, but the AC had broken the hero zone. And and for the moment, you have to walk through the hero zone on the second on the second level of the hero zone to get to the cove cafe.

Nathan 1:10:52

Oh, yeah, okay.

Wesley 1:10:53

And it was blistering hot, and the basket ball court was missing from the hero zone. Oh, you know, it like comes down and you can see it when it's up, but it was it was missing as well.

Nathan 1:11:04

Well, they'll figure it out, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah.

Wesley 1:11:07

Yeah, I'm sure.

Nathan 1:11:08

Well, Wes, tell us what's going on in the world of version 5571.

Wesley 1:11:13

All kinds of stuff. We've been going on cruises because I'm trying to like I love taking photographs. I'm a kind of a photographer and videographer by trade, so I love like capturing content and unique moments and like people experiencing what we love to do. So I'm doing that. The website is pretty much like up and running. I've got blog articles about like trip reports and um things coming to the cruise line into Disney Parks that I'm trying to give like my opinion for whatever it's worth on. Uh I'm still trying to build a version tracker and I've worked with some really talented people behind the scenes who know a lot more about like database construction and SQL inquiries and a lot of boring stuff that I don't know. Um but I also want to know. So I've also enrolled in some classes and I'm learning how to do some of this stuff myself so that I can get out. It's gonna be a process, but we're getting there. Um, and then we've also partnered with a travel agency to help get people who kind of share our enthusiasm for cruising to get them out there and to get them to experience these things as well. So you can find all of that at version5571.com. And that's what we're up to.

Nathan 1:12:33

Awesome. Well, we'll link that in in our socials and up on the show notes too. So, Wes, it was so amazing getting to talk to you again.

Wesley 1:12:43

Yeah, it had been like a whole six months. I know. And we should just make this like a semi-annual tradition, all go on some cruises so we can come talk about it.

Nathan 1:12:53

Absolutely. Or or even the rare park visit. I know you live right there, but if you have

Wesley 1:12:59

I was gonna bring that up. I saw you were at Disneyland, which is a mere 20 minutes from my house.

Nathan 1:13:04

I know.

Alicea 1:13:04

We are really we didn't have a ton of time. No, we didn't. I have one of my coworkers lives down there and and tried to get together with her, and she's just like, I have no time. I'm like, okay, okay.

Wesley 1:13:15

That's fair.

Alicea 1:13:16

One of these days.

Nathan 1:13:17

Yes. I understand. Well, you're about to go fly over our house in a week and a half. So it's it's you know, wave as you go by. Yeah. I will.

Alicea 1:13:24

I will. We are gonna try and be down there for um October for Oogie Boogie for days of the year.

Wesley 1:13:29

Oh, yeah. We've we went last year and it was great.

Alicea 1:13:31

Nice.

Wesley 1:13:32

What like are you trying? Are you like an early, are you like an August Oogie Boogie kind of person?

Alicea 1:13:37

No, we're gonna try based on um uh Sterling has um October 12th.

Nathan 1:13:44

That's your birthday,

Alicea 1:13:45

this is my birthday. Yeah, he has he has that day off of school, so we're gonna try and make that a three-day weekend then.

Wesley 1:13:51

Nice, nice, nice. Yeah, maybe I'll see you then. Yeah. We would love to go to

Wrap-Up And Listener Callouts

Wesley 1:13:55

Oogie Boogie and so on. It's a lot of fun.

Nathan 1:13:57

Awesome. Wes, thanks again for coming on. We will talk to you again soon.

Wesley 1:14:02

Nate, Alicea, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Nathan 1:14:05

Well, as we wrap up, a reminder that we're not affiliated with Disney or any of its subsidiaries. Everything you hear on this show is based on our personal experiences, opinions, and questionable snack choices. We are, however, proudly affiliated with fun.

Alicea 1:14:22

And powder soft sand.

Nathan 1:14:25

Ooh.

Alicea 1:14:26

If you're planning a Disney vacation, we always recommend working with a travel advisor or reaching out to Disney directly to help make the magic happen. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please take a second to rate and review the show. It really helps other Disney fans find us.

Nathan 1:14:41

If you have a question, a topic suggestion, or a Disney story you'd love to share, please send us an email at podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Alicea 1:14:51

You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads at Our Mouse Capades, and on YouTube at OurMousCapades Pod. And don't forget to share us with your friends, your family, and Disney fans of all ages.

Nathan 1:15:03

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

Wesley 1:15:07

Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.