45. Most "Dope Add-Ons" at Disney World - Dopey Episode

[00:00:00] Coming up, there are great fun ways to make your Disney World trip as dope as possible. We are diving into our dopey episode and bringing to light some of the things you may not even think to think about when it comes to planning your Disney vacation. Did you know that you could go scuba diving? Probably not. You're going to learn about that and more coming up.

[00:00:20] Hey there everyone! Welcome into another episode of the Moms Behind the Magic Podcast. I am your host, Allie. I am here today with Karla Steward and Stacey. How are you ladies? So excited to record number six out of seven in our series. Is that right? Are we already the six? That's crazy. But we have a dope conversation coming up today. But before we dive in, how's it going?

[00:00:46] I just had to remind myself that I'm on camera. This isn't like, I'm not used to this yet. And I just really went into cringe mom mode. Like, you know, when the kids are all talking with their hip language and I'm like, Oh really? What's up? I feel like I'm going. It's all dope, man. I actually considered like dressing dope or whatever. I don't even know what that means. But like, I was thinking, do I have a flat brimmed hat? Do I have a big chain?

[00:01:13] Yes. And I literally, this was going through my mind. I was like, I don't have any of those things. I would literally love to have seen what you would have shown up with to be dope. That would have been fantastic. I have some dope wide leg jeans on right now. I have on my little fancy glasses. Okay, I have on nothing like that. And the kids, I actually had to change because y'all told me I was washed out. And the kids at the dance studio literally already make me feel so old. And I'm not old. And I feel like if they become my age and they're still as cool as I am, then they're going to be very lucky.

[00:01:42] Someday they're going to regret when they're 40 and some 16 year old is making them feel 70. I think my kids think that I'm pretty cool. They don't really tell me so often. But I do think every now and then I get compliments from both of them and I take them very near and dear to my heart. That's right. Hang on to those. Yeah, my own kids are doing fine. They're not old enough to dislike my cool level. But the kids at the studio, they keep me in check. Mine will not necessarily say nice things about me or to me.

[00:02:09] But they let me hang around and they laugh. I get a few little nods that secretly deep down I'm okay. I feel like we let you hang around. We let you hang around, Stacey. That's where I find my space is like, okay, they're not kicking me out. I'm in. We're good. No, I think you're great when you hang around. I think you're the life of the party even. Oh, yeah. Probably. Probably. Well, look who I'm up against though here. Ha! Ooh, burn! Ooh, burn! Torn's us.

[00:02:39] I'm going to roll right over though because it's so clearly untrue. So it's fine. I want to tell you guys something though. Well, number one, my kids are back at school. So when this is released, they're going to have been back for already a month. But as we're recording it, I've already lost track. It might be day two or three. I actually have no idea now. But we did our annual and traditional breakfast at the bus stop. It was great. I think it's great. Zan did like these pencil pancakes. They were really cute. I posted them online. But she added edible like glitter dust to them. And I kind of decided I just prefer when my food is glittery.

[00:03:09] It reminded me of Cake Bake Shop. And I think that if my food is going to be glittery, I'm going to prefer it. You do need all the glittery food. I don't know that I've had glittery food. Does it have a crunch? Is it like... No, it's just a shimmer. It's just a shimmer. It's just a shimmer. No flavor. No texture. I guess I've had some cookies. You know, like you have some like little glittery sugar cookies. But those have like a little crunch to them. You had to have had glitter because we've been to the Cake Bake together. And just a reminder that what goes in must come out. Just putting that out there. Okay. Speaking from experience.

[00:03:39] Yes. Also, the other thing I wanted to say, and I think I've mentioned this already before, is that my family is now diving into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and see you. I am so happy for you for that. Finally. Yeah. We've done none of... You know, we're complete virgins here. We've never done any of it. And my only superhero experience at all is Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. That's it. And everybody has been talking about, you know, Tom Holland Spider-Man.

[00:04:09] And how great these movies are. And so ahead of this new one coming into theaters, I went ahead and was like, we're going to watch all of the Spider-Man movies. Well, we loved them. Then we went to the theater. We saw Brand New Day. Loved it. But we knew there were all these nods happening to previous movies, other superhero crossovers, like little tidbits of information. And I was like, we have to go back. And we just have to know what's going on. So then I was given information from lots of friends about the order to watch it in. I got confused. I really wanted to do it in release order.

[00:04:37] I accidentally went to Captain America next. So that's wrong. I should have gone to Iron Man. So now I'm going to go to Iron Man. But we did do Captain America. So we're out of order again. But I did not love Captain America. I thought it was kind of boring. I mean, in my first introduction to all the Marvel universe was Iron Man. And I fell in love with Iron Man. And then I did not even realize. I mean, I was just so out of it. I didn't know that like all these other future movies were all connected.

[00:05:05] But the kids were talking like, oh, dad, take us to the opening night. And then it's like that dawned on me that they were all connected. And I said, why haven't y'all been making sure I was included all along? So I had to play some catch up with the rest of the family. And by the time it was in game, oh my goodness, we were all in. In game was such an incredible experience in the theater. Yeah. And I'm jealous. Communal experiences. I mean, I'm sad for you because it's like, let's do it again. Like, let's reenact because it was amazing.

[00:05:34] So I've always been aware that that's what's happening. And I have felt on the outside. That's how I used to feel about the NFL. Like I knew it was this big special thing that everybody loved on Sundays. And I felt so excluded. It's hard to believe now because I'm so into football and the NFL. But years ago, you know, and especially when I was growing up, I always just felt on the outside of this big thing that people loved. And I don't like that feeling. But it has to be an organic fall down the rabbit hole for me. I can't just jump in because other people do.

[00:05:59] I feel like you're embarking at such a fun time of life, like these ages of your kids and getting to experience Marvel. And I'm hoping that maybe Star Wars is also kind of in this future of yours because I feel like your experience at the parks is going to be so much different now. And your kids are probably going to start dressing like some of these characters and interacting.

[00:06:22] Like the time when it was during COVID for us, but the kids ages like 8, 9, 10, where the parks just really become alive. Places like Galaxy's Edge at Hollywood Studios. When I think of that time, I just think about Liam and his little stormtroopers. And I've talked about this so many times. But him being a stormtrooper fighting a jetty or Jedi in the middle, like a jetty. You know, we'd be waiting by the bathroom over there in Toy Story Land, right?

[00:06:51] And then a little cute Jedi came up and Liam had his stormtrooper outfit on and he had his lightsaber, almost called it a sword. He had his lightsaber and they totally like dueled it out right there. And we have videos. It's just such a cute time. And then I think about London and her fascination with Marvel movies and Guardians of the Galaxy and dancing on our back patio, singing at the top of her lungs. It's such a cute age. I loved it. My grandbabies are into Groot right now.

[00:07:21] They're on Disney+. There is a shorts little series of Groot. I am Groot. Oh yeah. And it is so adorable. And it's just the teeny tiny little introduction. I cannot wait until they're old enough that we can start watching all the movies. And they love Groot. They are into it. In fact, my granddaughter, I was trying to tell her to do something she didn't want to do. And she looked at me just as plain as Dan. She went, I am Groot. Perfectly used. But you better obey. Yeah.

[00:07:49] I am really excited because my kids are at good age, just like Carla just said. And last night when we were watching Captain America, my son was just, my girls were kind of not into that one. They humored it. They're into this journey with me. So they were there and they were, but they were making like duct tape wallets or something with Captain America on in the background. My son was on the edge of the bed. Like nobody talked, nobody speak. I'm so into this. So it's very fun to watch it through his eyes right now. I love that. I am really looking forward to just doing this whole thing. That's number one.

[00:08:17] Number two, I'm going to keep updating, I think, a little bit on this show just as we embark on this journey. I think a lot of our listeners are into MCU. If you're not, maybe you can be inspired to follow down this rabbit hole with me. I think it's very unusual that I'm such a newbie here, that it's completely new to me in every realm. I know nothing. I mentioned that I didn't even know why Becky's dog was named Stark. I was like, oh my word. I didn't know you were that out of it. Out of it. So I am really coming with a fresh perspective. So I'm excited to keep like bringing all of our M&Ms along.

[00:08:47] And then just really one second, one more funny thing. Carla had said she was thinking back about Liam dressing up. One of my friends made the comment recently when we went to see The Lion King, because my daughter got herself dressed and she was so just themed perfectly. She looked so cute. And it was the first time she really had gotten dressed for an event that was themed without our input. And she still crushed it, right? And I had made a comment like, oh, she did all that herself. And my friend was like, girl, she knows what family she's in because, you know, we love to get dressed for a part. So when we were going to see Brand New Day in the theater, we didn't have Spider-Man

[00:09:16] clothes or anything like that for my kids. And I said, all right, let's go. And they were all like my twins looked at themselves and they're like, we're not dressed. Like what? And I was like, we got to go. We're going to miss the movie. And they'll be like, we'll be right back. They go upstairs. They come back down in five minutes. Listen to this. They both have gotten all of the red and blue clothing they can find out of their closets. Then they colored black spiders and cut them out of paper and taped them on their chest. So cute. Oh my goodness. I love it. And then we went to see Spider-Man and I was like, well, they know what family they're in. Then they're ready.

[00:09:46] Then they're ready. So we are, we're down this rabbit hole. We're back in school. I feel good that we have routine and rhythm and things we're doing. And I'm in, I'm in a good place because of it. Watching Captain America. Well, I'm glad that your son was edge of his seat, but. He was. There are so many key parts of the story that are important. So I'm glad that you watched it. It's such a smart series. Like put the way it all builds is amazing. It's amazing. That's why I'm so excited. Cause I know that's going to be true and we can move on from this conversation.

[00:10:15] But at the end of Captain America, I was, I don't want to spoil it for anybody. But at the end of that movie, I was like, oh wait, I'm in. Like I, I am in now. There's something intriguing here. So it took the entire, what I consider kind of a boring film. I'm sorry. I know there's enough Captain America fans. It wasn't my favorite Spider-Man way better so far for me, but we'll see how it stacks up as I go on. Maybe our movie club that Becky's been doing in our Facebook group, maybe that evolves into Marvel movies. I think when you get to end game, we need to do that. That way you have at least a little, a little bit of that feeling.

[00:10:44] All right. Well, I'm excited to dig into today's episode. Thanks for humoring me as I had to talk through that because I am very excited. And I do think bringing the M&Ms along on this journey is going to be fun. So I won't obviously monopolize mom talk with that all the time, but I'm excited to at least do some fill-ins with what's going on. And like I said, now that the kids are back in school, I can't really watch them without them because I did bring them along the journey with me. So now I have to wait until they're available. So it'll be a slow, but fun. That's hard. I know. I've now made the decision. Yeah. I brought them along. Okay.

[00:11:11] So we're digging in here to dwarf number six in our seven series here. And today we are hitting number six. This is Dopey Dwarf. We are taking a very fun spin on Dopey today, and we are calling it the dopeiest episode. And we are going to cover Dopey and say what dope upgrades that you can make to your Walt Disney World vacation. We're going to be dropping a list of upgrades that you can add to either your vacation package

[00:11:40] when you're booking, or maybe these are just experiences that you can book as you get closer to your vacation. We have thrown them all into a random wheel spinner, and we're going to spin it to let a random one come up and then discuss today. As Disney has way too many to cover all of them, but we're going to discuss a good bit of them that we think are the best and are worth the discussion. And then we're going to give them a rating. So when one pops up, they will get a one to five diamond rating. We each will say what we think and kind of come to a common ground here.

[00:12:08] One diamond being skip it unless you have a very niche interest in this. It might be a low value for cost and time. Two diamonds would be a nice bonus if the budget allows, not essential to the trip. Three diamonds, solid value, enhances the trip for most guests. Four diamonds, highly recommend it, strong memory value per dollar. And five diamonds, this is a bucket list slurge that everybody should not only know about, but spend time and energy and money for. Are we excited? Should we?

[00:12:38] I looked at our age range of our listeners, and I'm older than most of our listeners. But do we need to explain like dope? Stop. No. The word no, and dope means very... Not drunk. Y'all are laughing at me. I mean, I feel like there might be one or two, right? What was it? No? Yes? No? Wait, but are they the younger listeners that we're referring to, or are they the older listeners that we're referring to? Older. Because I feel like it's more of an issue of young people were going to say dope, and they're going to be like, we don't say that anymore. We don't say that anymore.

[00:13:07] That's like, what's the new word for dope? It's fire. It's gas. You know. Isn't it Saved by the Bell that has that episode? It's not chopped. I learned that chopped is bad. Chopped is bad. Chopped is bad. Chopped is bad. But wait, isn't it Saved by the Bell that has the episode that's like, say nope to dope? Something like that. I think so. Probably. I don't know how you remember these things. I don't know either, but I was a big Saved by the Bell fan. And Stacey, that's the kind of dope Stacey's talking about. We're talking about dope. Like, that is a dope upgrade.

[00:13:37] That's amazing. Yes. This is a good thing. Five diamonds being the best. Yes. And that's what we're going to do today. So I do have a wheel spinner. Now that we are video podcasting, I'm going to share the spinner. And that's going to be great for our drafts because everybody's going to see the random names and how they're in the wheel. And you're going to get to see it in real time. And everybody can see that whoever gets the first place in the draft is who wins. That's what happened to me. That's not true. That's not true.

[00:14:05] I drafted really badly in that draft and you drafted better. And it wasn't because you went first. You did a better job than me. Maybe it was because you went first. It wasn't though because like I left Ogas on the board. I should have taken it and Stacey took it and it was available to me to take. Like I just drafted poorly. That's what is true. Okay. It's also just really fun to mess with you about. You can mess with me all you want. I'm just not going to agree with you. But before we dig in here and we talk about these upgrades that you can make to your trip and during your trip, let's talk about how you can upgrade your trip before your trip.

[00:14:35] And of course, that is with baby quip. If you've ever traveled with kids before, you know that the hardest part is not always the flight. It's being away from all of the things that make your little ones feel at home. Every time we travel, I know there is always that first night where someone can't settle because they're not in their usual bed or things just feel off or a little different enough that people cannot get comfortable. We realized halfway through the day on that first day that we wish we had just brought some of our familiar things from home. And that's where baby quip comes in handy.

[00:15:05] Every time you think you're staring at a mountain of things that you just can't leave behind, baby quip can save the day. Even if you do leave something behind on accident, it's inevitable that your kids are going to decide that they need something you didn't even expect. And with everyone off of their routine and everybody out of sorts, your vacation that is supposed to be relaxing is going to become chaotic. And that's why we here on the podcast and in my family are huge fans of baby quip. The number one baby gear rental service across the U S Canada and beyond.

[00:15:31] They make it so easy for your family to have things that you actually need waiting for you. When you arrive, cribs, strollers, car seats, toys, beach gear, even pet gear. If you are traveling with your furry friends, it's delivered right to your hotel, Airbnb, or vacation rental, really wherever you're going home to make it extra convenient for you. The parent that's strategizing all of this chaos to begin with. What I love most is that you are renting from local quality providers.

[00:15:57] Often this is moms, dads, and grandparents who really understand what traveling families need. Everything follows strict cleanliness and safety standards, and it's insured. So you can focus on making memories instead of stressing about your forgotten gear. They're available in over 2000 cities. So whether you're heading to Disney or the beach or visiting family, any vacation destination you can imagine, head to babyquip.com. Use code magic for $30 off of any order of $150 or more. That's babyquip.com. Code magic.

[00:16:27] Pack light. Travel happy. Okay. We're going to talk about this dope scale. I'm going to share my screen. Okay. Let's see here. All right. Let's see. Here we go. Are we talking about all these things? There's a lot on here. I think we said we would talk about, I think we said we would talk about 10 or so, and then we would just kind of read the list of those that don't get mentioned. We're going to catch a vibe for how we're doing here. All right, here we go.

[00:16:58] All right. First thing we are doing park hopper plus. First of all, what is the park hopper plus? This is a very specific ticket type. Park hopper, of course, is what gives you the access to hopping from one park to the next. During your stay, you can go to Magic Kingdom in the morning, Epcot at night, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom in the morning. You can always go from park to park. And when you add that plus option, the park hopper plus, it means that you can also access

[00:17:27] the water parks, getting the added water park benefit to not only maybe your arrival day, but to all of the days of your trip. So I think this gets really confusing. It's best to understand that your water park access is in addition to your regular park access. So if you have a three day park hopper plus, that means you get three visits with hopping capability to the four main theme parks, but you also get three visits to the Disney water parks.

[00:17:55] So it matches the number of days in your ticket without taking a ticket a day away. So this ticket is for the guest that wants to go to the water park a lot. It's typically probably for a longer trip. And especially with Disney's free water park on check-in day for select days on select times of the year, it's hard to find a reason when this is a really important upgrade for your trip. I think that there are some situations where this is a no brainer. You absolutely should do it.

[00:18:22] It gives the most amount of flexibility because it's not just water parks. It's other options like the foot golf. Is that what they call it? And the putt-putt and just things like that. Water parks are probably what's used the most, of course. I actually just had a client. They were there for 10 days and they had the park hopper plus and they basically just went to the water parks every afternoon. They went to the theme parks in the morning, water parks in the afternoon, and it gave them that ability to do so. So much flexibility. They had the best time.

[00:18:51] But great because it is so little extra. That's the key. If you have the time to use it, it is so little extra money to add the plus. You know what though? I almost think, is this better for people to add when they're staying maybe at a value resort where the pool doesn't have slides and such? And then you're maybe on your hot afternoons or on your down days, maybe you don't want to just hang at that pool. Maybe this is the better upgrade. Because if I'm paying to stay at the beach club and I have Stormalong Bay, do I really

[00:19:21] want to leave? I don't know. Maybe this is... I've never really thought about it that way, but as we're talking about it now, you've got to understand your circumstances and how often are you going to want to be at the water park and what are you giving up to go to the water park? And so I would venture to give this probably on our diamond scale, like a two, two diamonds. That's what I was thinking too. Yeah. Yeah. It's a nice bonus if the budget allows and if you have the time for it.

[00:19:47] I just, I've worked with so many families at this point as a travel agent that I'm like, not a ton of them have focused on water parks, right? A lot of them take advantage of that check-in day water park, but it's a very specific circumstance when you're going to want five water park visits, you know? Yeah. And listen, I think if we were talking about just park hoppers in general, that our rating would be significantly higher. I think it's just that addition of the water parks that it's almost to me in my mind and

[00:20:14] the way I like to travel, it's almost overkill to think about going to, you know, the regular parks during the day and then to take the transportation potentially back to your resort to get dressed to go to the water park. The transportation to the water parks is a little wonky. All of the water parks do have bus access from the resorts, but I think what Carla is saying is depending on the bus route, how busy it is for the day, where your resort is, they may also have an additional stop. And sometimes that becomes less convenient.

[00:20:41] But I don't know that we're, I don't know that you can be certain ahead of time what the water park bus route's going to be. I think it might be something that changes based on time of year and things like that. I mean, I do feel like it's usually combined with something else. Like it is water parks and Disney Springs or something. But, so yes, you may, but, but they will take you there. You know how to travel. Yeah, no, for sure. I just, I just know it's not a straight shot. Yeah. Right. Or at least I don't believe it's a straight shot. And I do think that's very dependent on just what, what's needed at the time. Right. Okay. All right.

[00:21:10] Ready to spin again? So that was a two. Okay. Not so dope. It could be dope. Not so dope. Here's what's happened. All right, M&Ms. I have no idea how much of that you caught or what we're doing here, but my house was built in the early 1800s. So my walls are like six, I don't know, cause you know what? I'm bad with numbers, but they're very thick stone cement and you cannot run internet through them. So the internet in my house can sometimes struggle.

[00:21:39] So we were trying to do this new thing and share the wheel and include y'all, but it totally made my network and my computer freak out and maybe want to say a lot of curse words, but I refrained from doing all of that. And instead I have shifted the responsibility to Stacy now, who is going to be in charge of the darn wheel. And I'm just going to sit back and let my bad internet continue to be bad and hope that it doesn't make an impact. And not just that I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it on my phone. So it's going to be like this. We're so professional.

[00:22:08] We are professional podcasters, ladies and gentlemen. But the main thing is we're going to know what our next topic is. And that's what I'm going to push the button and it's spinning. And I'm going to tell you what comes up. It says that we're going to discuss campground things like horseback riding. What are those dope? When it comes to the campground, I think this is one of Disney's most underrated thing that people don't know about. Because at the campground, we've talked a little bit about the ranch here on the podcast.

[00:22:36] And we've talked a little bit about archery. There are things you can do where let's say there's a person in your family typically, but not always. There's maybe a husband who will say, oh, theme parks are not for me. I want this woodsy type vacation. There are ways that you can balance it. I do think that if you're going to go to the ranch or explore archery or anything like that at the campground, you're going to be a very specific family and it's going to be on a very specific type of trip. Most people are not going to be able to make time to head to the campground. Number one, if you're not staying there.

[00:23:06] And number two, if you're planning on seeing all the parks and doing all the things, it's very hard to also make time to go ride a horse. Right. It is taking the idea of a campground and it's making it available to you and as an immersive experience while still at Disney World. And it's time consuming to do that. So agree that it is for a very specific type of guest. Super fun. Lots of really awesome things that you can give your kids that outdoorsy break away from

[00:23:34] a theme park noise and hustle and bustle and for adults as well. But another one of those situations where you kind of need just a longer vacation, longer time, or maybe you've been to Disney a lot before. You're not a first time visitor to Disney World. That might be the right kind of guest for this to kind of, you know, split your day. Like we're going to start our mornings at the campground and then end up in their evenings. We'll go to the park, something like that, because it's great. It's a great option, but not for everybody. This is for the person that's staying at Fort Wilderness, right?

[00:24:03] They're renting one of the cabins there. They have their own RV there. They're used to that life. They're probably traveling to national parks. They love the outdoors. They're getting their taste of the outdoors along with being in this imaginary theme park world, right? So I think it's just very niche in that it's for that specific person. I think it's a really cool experience that you can go to Disney and you can do archery. You can ride horses. Yeah.

[00:24:33] You can canoe. You can, you know, be out in the wilderness, right? And for that, I'm going to give it, I'm going to say it's a one. Yeah. I think it's a one diamond as well. That's where I'm at with it. I mean, my oldest daughter does do horse camp, ranch camp every year, and she does a week with the horses and she really loves them. And it is on our list of things to try to get over to the ranch and do. But we go to Disney multiple times a year and we've never done this. So all of that to say, I have a horse lover who does horse related things annually and we still haven't done it.

[00:25:03] And so because of convenience and cost and time. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody needs to know it's a thing. All right. Does that move us on to the next one? Yep. Oh, interesting. Cake decorating class at Amorette's Patisserie. Cake decorating. Are we cake decorating at Disney World? I'm loving that we're shining a light on some of these experiences that you can have at Disney World because people really don't know.

[00:25:30] And our one diamond is for that niche crowd, right? This is happening at Disney Springs. And I actually learned about this on our draft. Like I think I even said, I didn't know you could decorate a cake there. That was something I learned about along with our M&M's. Disney Springs can be very polarizing. Some people love it. I tend to be in the crowd that I love going for a good meal, but it does feel very much like a mall and outdoor shopping space, which is a little less magical to me.

[00:25:57] I struggle with that because I want magical immersion the whole time I'm at Disney World. So while I don't think this is a for everyone, I do think it's a very cool thing if you are taking the time to head to Disney Springs. Do you like the idea of cake decorating? I think that sounds so fun. Well, something I have wanted to actually take classes to do. But you know, I owned a bakery, right? Well, I don't always think about that. No, I had forgotten in this conversation. I owned a bakery. My wife and I owned a very successful bakery.

[00:26:27] We catered weddings and everything. So I have a bit of decorating. Did you decorate? Yeah. Okay. Well, I mean, I have not. I think that's super fun, but I don't know that I'm doing it at Disney World, but maybe there's an opportunity that I would take for that. I don't know. So here's what I think about it. I think it's very cool. And I love that Disney has this. It is very niche, right? What I think is even cooler and would be a couple more diamonds, if you ask me, is actually,

[00:26:52] I don't know if you've ever noticed when you book an ADR, it asks you if you want to have a cake delivered and they'll actually deliver cakes to the restaurant. And I believe 98% sure that the cakes are coming from Amoritz, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. I'm pretty sure too. Yeah. So to me, that is totally worth the upgrade and the little bit of splurge. And it's something just really special for your occasion. If you're celebrating something at Disney, I think that that's super cool.

[00:27:19] But to take the time out again to go over to Disney Springs and then to go around the corner, because it is kind of in a, it's not a very easily found spot. Is it right by the? I don't know for that. I'm probably. Is it right by the boathouse? Honestly, I get so mixed up, but I just know it's not like on the main strip. Yeah. I get so mixed up going to Disney Springs of all these times that I've been. I still don't quite know where I am. So I don't know. Regardless, I think it's probably going to be a one for me. Yeah, it's definitely a one.

[00:27:50] I love that Disney is finding ways to incorporate different interests and then make it Disney. You know what I mean? It's like, Alexa, make her respect writing Disney. You know what I mean? I like that you can do that and that you can really find that experience and lean into it. I don't think most people are doing this. I think it's a one. I think it's one diamond and I agree with Carla. Well, how dope do you think it is to add a cake to your dining reservations? Do you think if we had that on here? Because that's not on our list. You think that's, I think that would be a higher than a one.

[00:28:19] If you're celebrating a birthday or an anniversary or really anything, I think that's almost a five. It's easy to do. You do it right there. I mean, that's kind of like one of those no brainer things just to make your time there just a little more special. And a surprise cake. Yeah. That's Mickey shaped. A Mickey cake. And tasty. Yeah, really tasty. Okay. Yeah. Very cool. Next. I don't know, but you guys better pull something dope because I feel like this list is kind of not dope. We're not really dope yet. We haven't gotten to the dopest of the thing. Oh, oh, this is pretty dope.

[00:28:49] This is pretty dope. Savor the Savannah or any Animal Kingdom tour. Okay. These are pretty dope. These are very dope. These are very cool. And I feel like these are a little unknown. These are, there are a lot of different ones. I am not going to be able to probably from memory just name them all, but there's Savor the Savannah, which is for adults. And you get snacks and hors d'oeuvres and alcohol out on one of the savannas with a viewing deck. There are the Gentle Giants one. There's an Up Close with Rhinos one.

[00:29:17] There's the Wild African Trek where you get to actually put on the gear and walk on those ropes. They all have very specific age limits. They are not for everyone. I think the youngest these start at is maybe six or eight, somewhere in there. And they're pretty costly. I think that these are for sure a bucket list splurge. This is something you're going to do if you have the money. You don't have to do these things. You can still go to Animal Kingdom, still see animals, still have a really great experience.

[00:29:42] But these are for sure going to make your trip to Animal Kingdom way more dope, right? But with that comes a price point. So that's why it is such a splurge. And these are like to me, this is one of those bucket list Disney things, right? To go have lunch, to go have wine out on the savannah among the animals. I think that that's pretty dope in itself. So I'm going to give it five diamonds.

[00:30:07] I'm not saying that like based on what our five diamonds, our five diamonds is a bucket list splurge. So you're splurging on this if you have the money to do so. And it's something that you are going to have to budget for. And unless you have a mega, mega animal lover, then you're probably doing each of these, you know, one time. It's that experience you get to do and you say you did it and you look back on that core memory that you created with the people you were with. And I agree that it's a five.

[00:30:36] To me, it's not something you're going to do on your first Disney trip. This is a seasoned Disney goer and they're looking for now ways to enhance. They already know how magical Disney is and they're just trying to enhance that with this next trip or whatever. So I don't know. What you got to say about it? I was wondering if the, with Animal Kingdom tours, I feel like they're a little different and that you almost could. I would say definitely no other parks. Do not take a tour in another park if it's your first visit.

[00:31:05] You need to experience the park. I feel like if you wanted to have a birthday surprise, an anniversary surprise for somebody at Animal Kingdom with one of these, this would be the one that maybe you skip the regular day at Animal Kingdom to do this instead, more so than the other parks. But I also agree. You still need your park ticket, though, to do it. That's an important thing we need to say for sure. But I do think because it's so animal heavy experience and so special of an experience.

[00:31:33] And, you know, yes, you might miss out on some time riding some of the rides and seeing some of the shows. But I feel like this would be a pretty equivalent experience as far as magic goes, you know, that you're not missing out so, so much on this park like you might some of the others. Yeah, I would love to. I mean, Xander doesn't listen. Xander doesn't listen to me at all anyway, so I can say this and it won't spoil the surprise. But I would love to look to Savor the Savannah tour as a surprise when it was just the two of us. I should start giving her a magic word and see how long it takes her to catch on because she would never.

[00:32:02] I'll be like, hey, if you were listening, here's your magic word, Xander. She's never listening. But I would give her the prize if you come with a magic word. I'll book Savor the Savannah tour. But I agree. This is a five and I will do these. It's hard because of the way we did our grading rubric is that it is still very niche. I agree, but it's bucket list niche. It is going to be an animal list, but it is bucket list material for sure. Yeah, I think being up close with the elephants or rhinos or just doing that wild African trek,

[00:32:31] I cannot wait to do that with my kids and they're finally all old enough. That is bucket list stuff. That's different than decorating a cake or going all the way out to the campground to ride a horse, you know. And then there's the night vision goggle tour at the resort. Yes. That's another option as well. I think that would be really cool because you could, you know, not have to be in the park time, not take away from your park experience and get to do that as well. So it's something else to check into. Very cool. Yeah. My friends did that one. They loved it. Okay. Spin it. All right, here we go.

[00:33:02] All right. Man, it really tricks you. Character dining experiences. This one seems easy. Yeah. Right? We don't even have to take a lot of time on this. No. This is a five. I mean, yeah, it's a five and it's not so difficult. Carla hates them. She doesn't want to do it. Oh, man. At one point in my life, it was important to me. It was very important. Yeah. When the kids were younger, for sure. I just think you're missing a massive opportunity if you don't at least do one.

[00:33:28] You don't need to do every one and you don't need to do one every day, but you have to at least do one. Right. You have to pick a great experience with characters that your family, it doesn't even have to be little kids, your family relates to and you have to go eat with them. It is such a uniquely Disney thing that I think we all take for granted because we have all done it a lot. And for those that have never done it, where their kids have never experienced it, it is one of those bucket list things that are, yes, I guess bucket list to me is harder to obtain than a character meal. Character meals are easy to obtain. Right.

[00:33:58] Like my bucket list is to see every castle in the world. So I guess when you look at it like that, no. And by castle, I mean Disney castles. But your kids need to have a meal with Mickey. That has to happen. Yeah. Yeah. It has to be a five diamond ranking here because, and for somebody who's never been here and your bucket list is Disney World, this just has to be included. You know, like you have to, you have to add it in. Just one. Just one. Squeeze it in. Budget for it.

[00:34:26] Every trip should include a character meal. Yep. Yep. Good stuff. All right. We agree on that. We can move forward. Yeah. Easy peasy. Next one we have is, ooh, goes right along. Disney dining plan. I think this is another pretty easy one. Yes, there are times maybe not having it, but. This is our first one on the list that you can add as a, no, that's not true. Park Hopper Plus you could as well. These are specific ones you can add to your package as a package enhancement and upgrade

[00:34:55] and dope moment for your trip. I have said it before and I will say it many, many times always. Anyways, I don't care if you're grazers that just want the quick service plan or if you're eaters that want the deluxe dining plan. Wherever your family falls, eliminating the surprise cost or like you get those payfolios when you're on your Disney trip to your email. Every night or every morning, those payfolios come and it is brutal. It kills me when I open that payfolio and it literally takes a little bit of my, like

[00:35:24] my happy magic away when I read it, even though I know, even though I've saved for it, even though the money's there. When I'm in the moment and I'm having the choice and then I'm seeing what I'm spending, it makes me think the next day, should I be spending less? Should I be rethinking that snack? Having it prepaid means you're not going to have to second guess your decision and you get to just enjoy the decisions you know you genuinely want to make, right? Yeah. And I think it allows you to enjoy some of those bucket list restaurants that you might

[00:35:53] not have without it. Yeah. And dishes. It's a dope upgrade. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm going to, I'm going to order the steak where instead of the chicken fingers, you know, like go in and have the nice meal and not order off the kids menu just because you're trying to save a buck here and there. I mean, it's, it's so freeing. This is such a dope gift of freedom for yourself to, and to budget along the way. You're making payments along the way.

[00:36:19] When you're not prepaid and you do not have the dining plan, it's coming out of your pocket right there or it's going on your credit card right then. I mean, and it hurts. It hurts. Yeah. Imagine it like this. Imagine it like this. Cause Stacy, you said you get the steak instead of the chicken, right? And that's a great visual. It's not that all of a sudden the steak costs less and maybe it does if you mathematically sort it all out, maybe. But imagine, you know, we have this restaurant in Cincinnati that my wife and I love. We go there special occasions, but every time we go, the bill is very high, even just for the two of us, right?

[00:36:49] It's one of those special things. We know we're about to go spend a lot of money. Imagine how many people don't go to that restaurant because in one sitting, it's really hard to drop that kind of money. But now imagine that for a year you could pay on that meal. If you could pay on that meal for a year, would you go eat it? Because if I could pay on Narcoossee's for a year, that would make it much easier to go eat there than trying to pay for it on the spot. And so it is so wildly undervalued, I think, just for that reason.

[00:37:17] It's not that it necessarily costs less in the moment. I definitely don't think it costs more in the moment, but it's that you budgeted for it and you paid on it over time. Yeah, it's beautiful. I think it's a five diamond. I mean, yeah, for sure. I think it is too. Okay, great. I feel good about that. Add the dining plan, even if it's just the quick service one, even if it's just prepay for your food. Stop making yourself sick with the payfolios. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. The Disney Cruise payfolio really hurts. That one is really bad. That one is painful.

[00:37:48] It's because of the alcohol. They don't have packages. Can we drink how much? Oh! All right, I spent again. We have cabana rentals at your resort or water park, and I would like to add, or on your cruise, since we just mentioned that. Get that cabana on your cruise. Man, talk about a dope luxury. So, on the cruise, we're talking about Walt Disney World Day. On the cruise, I think it's a five, hands down. If you can get a cabana, good luck getting one, first of all.

[00:38:16] You have to be a high castaway club or concierge to probably get one. That is true. Although my friend, one of my very best friends in the world, who's a gold castaway club member, and I'm gold now as well, on his first ever gold sailing, he got a cabana. So, it's possible being gold, which is when you take five Disney cruises. You do have to pay attention to your open dates and be on it for your request, all that kind of stuff for sure. But man, that's a nice little splurge. Yeah. But specifically for Disney World. And then what about at the resorts? Yeah.

[00:38:44] They have cabanas, not at every resort. These are at deluxe resorts and only at select deluxe resorts. They are private spaces where you get usually shade, a mini refrigerator with kind of a concierge service that's going to restock it for you, bring things to you, cooling towels, sometimes maybe a TV. I will say, I think this depends on where you are because the cabana at the Polynesian, not as nice as the cabana at the Yacht and Beach Club, like by a lot.

[00:39:12] Oh, I thought when you said where you are in my head, you were talking about kind of where you are in life. Well, that too. Also true. But I find myself now, the older I am, is I'm kind of relishing in that shade and relishing in having cold drinks and maybe service, right? And whereas if I had little ones and I'm out, out, out doing all the slides, you know, in the pool, then I'm probably not going to splurge on it. So to me, it's a nice bonus if the budget allows.

[00:39:41] So it'd be a two diamond, but it just kind of depends on your family and what you're looking for when you're at the pool. It's interesting that you said it like that because that's always been my drawback is my kids have been so little that they need all of my attention when we're at the pool. So I have felt we wouldn't get our enjoyment. Your sit down time in the shade. Right. And now that my kids are really old enough, I mean, they can go and they can just be at the pool by themselves. I mean, we're there, but we don't have to be on top of them.

[00:40:08] I think it's probably, I would give it more than a two. I would, I would personally probably label this a three diamond experience. It's pretty unique. And what about at the water park? Our little, our little category does include water parks, which I kind of think that's really nice. Yeah. But again, at the water parks, aren't you, aren't you hopping from slide to slide and lazy river? I think it's less important there. Okay. Interesting. Because there's always somebody that's not riding all the rides.

[00:40:34] And so I think it, again, it just depends on the dynamic of your family. Definitely. If you're a mom breastfeeding and you have a baby and, and, you know, the rest of your kids are out and about, then you need that home base. And that might be really nice to have that shade or to even have like a pack and play set up would be awesome. So I think it really, I think it really just depends on, on where you're at. If, if you're really going to find the benefit from that.

[00:41:00] I had also mentioned how difficult, you know, when you're at the Polynesian, how difficult it is to find chairs, but at the Riviera, we found them so easily. Just even for that fact, like if you're at the Polynesian and they do have cabanas and you need to check with your resort because they do not all have them. It may just be worth it. So you have that, like Carla said, home base, whereas, you know, the five of us have had to pile onto one chair before because that's all we could find at the Polynesian. You know where my home base is going to be? My home base is going to be in the zero entry laying there with a painkiller in my hands.

[00:41:30] Oh yeah. I don't need a cabana. Yeah, it's the best. So what do we give it? How many diamonds? I could see the two that Carla said, but I tend to say lead three. I think this is a really dope experience. Very high-end relaxation. Dizzy can be so overwhelming and overstimulating. I think this is a great opportunity to really scale yourself back a little bit. So I think I'm more in space. Yeah. That's such a gift. I'm okay if we want to give it three stars. Okay, let's do that. Three diamonds. Three diamonds.

[00:41:56] I mean, the reality of these are that all of them are dope experiences if it's, you know, right for you and your family. Yeah. I mean, honestly, even one diamond is valuable, right? Yeah. I mean, any diamond is valuable. These are all diamond experiences. One diamond is still dope, right? Yeah. Give me a diamond all day. Yeah. I'll take one. I'll take a diamond. All right. We're spinning again here. Oh, this is another easy one, guys. Party tickets. Party tickets.

[00:42:23] If you've listened to even any of our other episodes, you know we're big fans of the parties. And I think that is a must do. Make it a five right out because just for the fact that you don't want to have FOMO, you need to have this. Yeah. I totally agree. And just to be clear, this is separate from after hours events. So we are talking- This is a holiday party ticket. Party. Yes. 100% five diamonds. So we definitely say, yeah, this is 100% five diamonds. I want to be clear on what we're including here.

[00:42:52] Mickey's very merry Christmas party. Mickey's not so scary Halloween party. Jollywood Nights. Also H2O Glow. I mean, why do you have to go there? Because I think it's important to say it. I think H2O Glow is freaking dope. Well, to me, that's more of an after hours event. Okay. Let me tell you why- I would put H2O Glow in after hours. Let me tell you why I disagree with you. After hours events are not themed at all. It's just extra paid for time in the parks. H2O Glow follows a theme, right? It's not a holiday theme, but it is leaning into the water park element.

[00:43:21] It's H2O. It's summer. It's summer. And it's Glow. It's the summer equivalent. And you're leaning into what that park is. And you're really getting a very enhanced themed experience with things that are happening specifically during that party that are not happening at other times. And with after hours events, it's just kind of the park being open longer hours. So I think H2O Glow is also in that conversation. And the reason I want to shed light on it is not a lot of people know about it.

[00:43:48] And I think if you have water babies, people that love to be out late and you're splashing with glow, like glow lights and stuff, that's a very, very dope experience. And your preteens and teenagers are going to get such a good idea. Yeah, it's like a water club. It's a party. It's a party. I have a weird thing about swimming at night. Me too. I don't like it. Oh, but I love swimming. We have our pool, obviously, that you guys spent time in this summer. And we'll come home some nights and my family will be like, do we want to do a night swim? And it just kind of cringes me.

[00:44:18] What's the hang up? Do you know? Like, can you figure out what it is? Wet during dark and cold? I don't know. Yeah. I agree with Carla. It's pretty warm here still at night. I don't know. I just don't like getting in the water here at night. That's what I like about it is it's not sunny and it's the water temperature feels really good. That's what it is. You just said it. You just nailed it for me. It's that I can't get a tan. So what's the point? Do you know what I mean? I don't like swimming just to swim. I'm in the pool because I'm getting sun. And then when you pull that away, I have no reason to be in there.

[00:44:48] Yeah. Am I just getting all wet just to be wet at night? That doesn't make any sense. Yeah. I'm with you. All right. So. Oh, so sad. Yeah. Five diamonds. Sure. Throw H2O glow in there. We can give it five diamonds. Yeah. Super dope. Great. Because it really is an experience more so than just hanging out at the water park. It is a party. And it will, you know, you're going to have your DJs and it's like glow sticks. And I mean, it will be an event. It's an event. There's nothing more dope than glow sticks, right? Let's spin again. Okay. There we go.

[00:45:18] Let's see what we got. I love this one. Drawn to life at Disney Springs. Love. Womp, womp, womp. I mean, this is going to be high for me. This is going to be high for me. What about y'all? It's so funny because it'd probably be high for Allie too, I'm assuming. But for me, it's low. It's super niche. Not interested. Been to one Cirque du Soleil. Been to all. Okay. That is the most untrue thing I've ever heard in my life. First of all, what Cirque?

[00:45:47] Did you see like the traveling Cirque du Soleil in the tent show? I can't. No. No. I saw the actual. Well, I guess technically. Yeah, I have. Yeah. It was a traveling. Okay. In a tent. Okay. In a parking lot. Oh, that's not the same. Carla. Typical Cirque, you know, where they set up the tent and they travel and it's acrobats. It's beautiful. And I respect the art. You know, especially me. I very much respect it. That is very different, I will say, than a heavily themed Cirque show like you would

[00:46:16] see in Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, if you ever had the opportunity, it closed now. But if you ever had the opportunity to see Love, which was the Beatles Cirque show. I wanted to see the Elvis and the Beatles. So one of my very best friends in the world was opening cast of Elvis. It had too short of a life. I'd love to see that. Yeah. And he was so good at it. He was so good at it. Hmm. The Beatles themed Cirque show, borderline changed my life.

[00:46:43] It is, I can't express to you what Cirque mixed with a theme and then running with it. There was a Criss Angel magic show that was merged with Cirque. As soon as you start crossing worlds with Cirque du Soleil, you really do enter a new realm. So while I respect, respect all Cirque shows, and I think all of it's beautiful, I do not on any level agree with you that one, you've seen one Cirque show, you've seen them all. When they cross worlds thematically and they integrate their art with another, it's the

[00:47:12] most breathtaking, unbelievable thing you can see. And I fear for drawn to life because I fear that too many people will think like you, Carla. When you take Disney animation. Don't think like me. I never said to think like me. When you take Disney animation. I actually highly recommend you don't. You cross it with the beauty of Cirque. Like, Disney and Cirque? Are you kidding me? That's two of the best crossovers you could possibly have. Yes. It is. Are you guys giving it a five diamond?

[00:47:39] I mean, it does sound like a bucket list splurge, but it's also so very niche to me. I could give it a four. I could even lower one diamond. I could lower it a diamond. That's fine because I know. Here's the thing. Here's why five is easy for me because there's not anybody I would say it's not for you. There's not anybody I would say it's not for you except for very grumpy Carla. I'm bringing in my own bias here with my love for life performance and dance and art. And so I don't want my own bias to push it into the five.

[00:48:06] If you think it should be like a four, I'm okay with that. But I'm also fine with it. No, you guys rock the five. Rock the five. I think of a party and a tour and those things are five. I think it's fair to call Drawn to Life a four. I really do. Yeah, don't let me yuck your yum. I really think a four is fair though when you look at the comparisons of what we gave a five. I mean, four is a lot of diamonds. Yeah. Four is a lot of diamonds. Yeah. And it is a little expensive. If you're heading to Disney Springs, add Drawn to Life. Don't add cake decorating.

[00:48:34] It's a more magical enhancement, which is why I think it gets more diamonds. Yeah. It's really great. Really beautiful. It does take up a little bit of your time and scheduling on a trip to Disney Springs. But don't you think it sounds better to think we're going to Disney Springs for dinner and this beautiful show? Not we're going to Disney Springs to go to Zara and dinner. Like I love Zara. Don't get me wrong. But we shop online at Zara every freaking week. You know what I mean?

[00:48:59] It does make Disney Springs more appealing to some because so many people think that all Disney Springs is is an outdoor mall. And it can be if you don't do some of the special things. Yeah. The talent within that circus tent is out of this world. I think you guys keep it out of five because it's bucket list material in my opinion. Okay. All right. Spin that wheel. All right. Landing on the guided tours with, now this one says a group or a non-private tour.

[00:49:29] She has it as a guided tour group non-private. Like Keys to Kingdom. Keys to the Kingdom. Behind the Seeds. These are probably a five. These are dope. These are completely different experiences than you would just get on a daily park visit. I would say these are kind of in the same categories what we talked about with the Animal Kingdom tours, but in the different parks. Keys to the Kingdom at Disneyland is what I did with the Walt's behind the scenes where I got to see his apartment. It's more of a sign up for a time slot and you meet up with other people.

[00:49:57] Once again, probably not on your first and only, you know, if it's your one and only Disney trip, wouldn't do it that way. But if you are a lifelong Disney fan, you like the behind the scenes type things. And some of them are not very expensive. I think about the behind the seeds, which we're saying S-E-E-D-S, it's living with the land. Not a very expensive tour. Such a great way to just add some magic to your day. Yeah. Can be pretty dope. Very. I think it's easily a five. These are really cool things.

[00:50:23] Anything you're getting yourself out of just your normal park day and you're seeing a very enhanced version. Keys to the Kingdom was such a fun day when I did it. It was long and exhausting, but it was so much fun. And I could not recommend it more to a Disney lover. Although some of the magic is revealed in it and that's tough. You know, if you're somebody that doesn't want any behind the curtain stuff. These are very, very fun. Very bucket list-y. These are five. I mean, dope day. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Okay. So that was 10. That was 10.

[00:50:51] We want to keep spinning and do more or do we, you know, at some point we're just going to list the ones we didn't get to because there are so many add-ons we can do to our park visits. Yeah. Go ahead and spin. How do we want to close that out? We'll do 12. Let's do 12. So we'll do two more on the wheel and then we'll just talk about the ones we didn't. All right. We've got one that we've talked about a decent little bit is the droid build and now the new Batuu Adventure Buddies, which are really new. Seeing that on social media. We can build an Ewok. Are you kidding me?

[00:51:21] That is adorable. Yeah. These are fun. And the droids are so cool too. I think this is high up there. Yeah. A great. And this is a, because this is not just an experience. It's also a great souvenir. And you know, we know everybody's investing in souvenirs from their trips. This is a combination type of situation. So you're paying some money for an experience that's really fun, really special, really magical. And you're having a truly dope souvenir to take home. Absolutely. It's true. Yeah. You're getting an experience and you're getting a memory and you're getting something to take

[00:51:51] home, which they actually last. And my kids love them. My kids played with them for years and now you have them, right? We built droids. I have them. Yeah. So I've passed them along to Stacy and her grandchildren. So for the Star Wars lover, and you can include the lightsaber in this experience that you can build lightsabers in Galaxy's Edge. This is a totally dope experience for a Star Wars lover. Yeah. Absolutely. It's a five. This is the no brainer.

[00:52:19] This is often the equivalent that people think about for, you know, they have the Bibbidi Boppity Boutique experience for your sons and daughters in Magic Kingdom. And I really wish every park had something like that. This is Hollywood Studios version of that. Does not get as much love. The reservations are much easier to get. They can get kids and adults in and out much faster. But you get this, like you said, dope souvenir to take home. You do get a cute cinch sack with like Bibbidi Boppity Boutique. But this is high level souvenir building an experience layer. Yeah.

[00:52:48] Bibbidi Boppity, you're washing that hair out though. You know, you're taking that dress off. I don't know. I made my girls, my son's hair just kind of like was done. But my girls wore that Bibbidi Boppity bun for at least two days. That's nice. Get 10 money's worth. That's good. All right. We want to do one more spin here. Yeah. So there are five and we'll do one more spin and then we'll just kind of list some of the other ones we didn't rate today. All right. Let's see if we have a good one here. All right. This one's an easy one too, I think. A fireworks cruise. This is a splurge.

[00:53:16] This is a bucket list for sure. It's still on my bucket list. I actually don't even really consider this that much of a splurge. In the grand scheme of like all some of these other things that we've talked about. Yeah, you're right. This is what? This is $450. I don't even think I paid that when I did it. I don't remember. It's actually. For up to, is it up to eight people or up to 10 people? Up to eight people? And it includes snacks. And it's, it's your own personal space and experience of getting to watch Happily Ever

[00:53:46] After. So I surprised a group of people. We took 10 guests, including myself. And I surprised everybody with this. We went to dinner at the Grand Floridian. And then after dinner, I surprised everybody and we boarded the boat. Hands down one of the coolest, most unique experiences we've ever done at Disney World. Hindsight, wish I would have brought a blanket or warned everybody to bring sweatshirts. We were, we did this in March and it was very windy and cold on the water. But this is such a unique experience and you get a boat ride, like an hour long boat ride

[00:54:15] in the lagoon where you kind of go around all the resorts and they give you a little history. Very fun. And then they park you right in front of the park with all the other boats. They pipe the music in. It's a beautiful view. You can see Tinkerbell. You don't see the projections, but that's okay. So unique. Great way to experience Happily Ever After or a holiday firework show. Luminous or at Epcot. Or Luminous or Luminous at Epcot. I forgot about that. Uh-huh. Or Enchantment at the After Hour, you know, events, Magic Kingdom.

[00:54:44] So lots of different shows you can see traditionally and typically Happily Ever After though if you're in the Magic Kingdom area. I know we're giving a lot of fives, but these are dope experiences. And these are experiences for everyone, in my opinion, you know? And, and so for me, I think Fireworks Cruise is an easy five. This is such a VIP experience to not have to get out of a park after the fireworks and go through that mass exodus, which I hate. Horrible. To just have to, you know, get off your boat. Are you kidding me? Yeah.

[00:55:14] Yeah. I'm with you. Avoid the crowds altogether. Nobody's saying you're in my way. Nobody's saying you're in it first. But here, listen. This is, it's to be said that you're not, this isn't your only viewing experience of Happily Ever After. You still have to go into the park and experience it in person. Don't forego this by not being in the park. This is for somebody that's already seen it in person and, you know, has just an off night on your rest day and enhance your trip with this.

[00:55:42] Another five diamond experience to consider that's not even on this list would be a dessert party at Magic Kingdom or Epcot. Yeah. So your experience inside the park, your five diamond dope experience beyond just the traditional one is to add that dessert party for your viewing. Okay. Let's review the 12 that we rated on diamonds. And then I'm just going to do a brief list. But before we do, we've talked all day about these deluxe experiences. And I just want to say we need to take a moment to talk about Disney luxury.

[00:56:12] Have you ever wondered which Disney resort would be best for you? Especially which Disney deluxe resort would be best for you? Or maybe which dining experiences are worth splurging on like we've talked about today. You can learn all of that and more in our friend Maureen's Facebook community, Doing Disney Deluxe Style. When you join her community, you can get a free guide with recommendations of all of the best ways to luxuriate on your next magical vacation. Don't miss out.

[00:56:38] Join the Doing Disney Deluxe Style Facebook community and get your free guide today. We're going to talk about all of these things and more inside Maureen's group. So check out the link in today's show notes and join Doing Disney Deluxe Style on Facebook. Of course, as always, if you're planning Disney with a big family, maybe you have a toddler who needs naps and a teenager who's chasing thrills at the same time. Or you're just tackling the park solo with multiple kids. That's exactly the type of family dynamic that they are helping inside family vacations with Kayla.

[00:57:08] Disney, Universal, Cruises, Hawaii, and more. She loves to help everybody figure out how to make every family dynamic work on their vacation from picking the right time to go to picking the right things to do. If you join her Facebook community, you can get a free guide for the best time to visit Disney World. You don't need to wonder. You can have all of your questions answered when you join Kayla's Facebook group. You can skip the biggest crowds, avoid the common mistakes, and plan a trip that's actually

[00:57:35] enjoyable for everyone when you join Family Vacations with Kayla, Disney, Universal Cruises, Hawaii, and more. Okay, a review of our list. Dope upgrades for your vacation. The ones that we spun on the wheel and we actually gave diamond ratings to. And there are so many that aren't even on this list. But I'm glad we get to shed some light on some unique things today. Because we always talk about some really regular things in our takes. But hearing some of these side-off things that people don't even realize exist has been really fun. So number one, cabana rentals at your resort or water park.

[00:58:04] We gave it three diamonds. Cake decorating class at Amarette's Patisserie in Disney Springs. We gave one diamond. It's a 90-minute class. I don't know if we said that. The character dining experiences at Disney. Good for photos and autographs. A five. The Disney dining plan upgrade to your package. A five. Drawn to life at Disney Springs. Not just if you've seen one Cirque show, you've seen them all. We gave it a five. A five. Droid building at Batuu with your new adventure buddy. A five.

[00:58:33] Fireworks crews for private viewing for you and a group, family, friends, whatever it's going to be. Typically up to 10 people with dynamic pricing. A five. A guided tour like behind the scenes or keys to the kingdom. Things like that. A five. We said party tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween, Jollywood Nights, and H2O Glow. These are by far some of the greatest things you can add to your vacation. A five. Park Hopper Plus.

[00:59:02] That includes the water park in addition to your park hopping days. We gave that a two. Not for everyone, but certainly right for the right trip. And campground experiences. We gave that's like horseback riding and archery. Those are very niche things. Now that we've talked through everything, we gave that a one. They are perfect for the perfect person, but that perfect person isn't in every single family. And then Animal Kingdom tours, you have gentle giants up close with rhinos, the wild African trek, the savor the savannah. That is bucket list style stuff.

[00:59:31] We gave that a five. I feel pretty good about all that. Those are dope experiences that people just typically don't think about or package add-ons that people contemplate way too much. Some other things that we did not mention. And I don't know. I mean, we're not going to dive deep into these, but you can throw a number out at me if you want. But after hours events that are not themed or parties. These separate ticketed events where you can enjoy extra park hours with lower crowds, but it's not a party. I gave it a two. Yeah. Campfire sing along with s'mores. A lot of resorts do this where they have fires and s'mores.

[01:00:01] Resort-based evening activities. A lot of people do it. Costs about seven bucks. I actually give that a four. I think it's highly recommended. It's so accessible. And Becky specifically put strong memory per dollar value. What do you guys think about that? Yeah. I think our ranking system, it can be relative, you know? Like, it's just a tough thing because I agree with you. It's a, it's such an easy add on. This is a one. This is not a dope experience. This is like a grab a piece of chocolate on your way through your, on your way through

[01:00:30] your resort walk. See, it's so subjective. You get a s'more. It's so subjective. Because it's the price per magic. Campfire s'mores are close to the same as a firework cruise. Okay. That's what's tough. That's what's tough about our ranking. Okay. It's tough. That is not a dope upgrade. It's a fun thing to do at your resort. Capture your moment, a private 20 minute photo pass session with an iconic background, dedicated photo pass photographer. The pictures aren't included. I think that's pretty dope. I'd give it five diamonds.

[01:00:57] I would give it like a three because I, some photographers of them are amazing and get really great shots. Others. And I also think 20 minutes is not very long. It's kind of expensive for 20 minutes. But one of Becky's daughters or both at this point did their senior pictures this way. That was really cool. I think Macy did. Yeah. They were great. And that was cool. So like imagining something like that is really neat. It's just the pictures, I don't think they're included unless you buy the memory maker. So just keep that in mind with this. But it's like a four or five probably. Surely. Is that true? Look it up. The pictures aren't included.

[01:01:27] That can't be true. I don't know. You can't pay for capture the. No. Yeah. Are you checking? You can't pay for that and then not get your pictures. You lie. You lie like a dog. No. Digital downloads or prints of the photos are not included in the base price of $99 for Disney's Capture Your Moment photo session. The fee covers the 20 minute. Yes. How to get your photos. Shoot. Memory maker. If you already purchased memory maker or memory maker one day, all digital photos taken during your session are included at no additional charge. Annual pass holders and then the individual purchase. Dang Disney. Missed up.

[01:01:56] Told you. Okay. See that's important to know, ladies and gentlemen. That's important to know. So Epcot dive quest, scuba diving experience like you saw in Boy Meets World. Super niche. I literally put huh? What? I knew that this existed, but I mean, my goodness. Go to the ocean. It's a one. It's a one. Not for the average. Yeah. Stop it. But for the one. Who did it? Did Uncle Jesse do it or Corey Matthews or both? I have no idea. I don't know. I did not watch all that. Well, okay. Yeah. I don't know. Fishing excursion. You can do this at different resorts.

[01:02:26] Port Orleans, Riverside. Yeah. It's a one. A lot of these things I feel like are for the person who, I think you mentioned it before, like maybe the dad who doesn't really want to come to Disney. And you have to convince them. This is for the person who you've had to talk into coming. Yeah. Or that they're not interested in the theme park rides. They're not interested in doing all that. And you're like, you know what? You don't worry about going with us. You go do your thing over here. Yeah. These are perfect for that. I mean, like these are five diamonds for those very few people. But pretty awesome.

[01:02:56] Golf is a one. The golf. Yeah. Yeah. Golf is a one. That's, you know, if you've got a golfer in your family, they have these really high end. There are four of them, I believe, golf courses. Putt-Putt mini golf is included in your package. So I would give Putt-Putt probably maybe a three. I mean, I have good memories of doing that with my family. It's just a little inconvenient. You've got to make time for it. And where, I mean, we don't have a lot of Putt-Putt courses around here where I live anymore. So a really good fun Putt-Putt course. They're all gone. In the real world, they're gone. Yeah. So maybe that's a three.

[01:03:24] As no surprise, I hate Putt-Putt. I hate it. Putt-Putt. It was a surprise. Carla, we should go Putt-Putt together at Disney World. I apparently am just not fun. No, I wouldn't do it. I hate Putt-Putt. I'm so embarrassed to say that when I was little, Putt-Putt is like a regular thing my family did. And my brother and I would get so competitive. I mean, I threw a few. I think I don't like it because I'm not good at it. And I, to stand out there in the heat for 18 holes and I have to do it 18 times over and suck every single time. Not for me.

[01:03:51] My brother and I both definitely threw a few golf clubs in our day. Made it not very enjoyable for my parents, I'm sure. Bless them. Lightning Lane Premier Pass. Interesting. No. It's a bucket. It's five diamonds. Why is that interesting? Yes, exactly. Yeah. No, interesting because it is so expensive. Oh my goodness. But if you can do it, what an amazing day. But why can't it park hop? And why isn't there an option to just say Premier Pass Plus and then you can park hop? Yeah. Why can't this park hop?

[01:04:21] I don't understand. It's a four because it can't hop. I really think that. No. I'm okay with that. It's not a four. It's a five diamond. It's five diamonds, you guys. If somebody tells you, you know, they had the Premier Pass, I'm like, oh, that's dope. That's dope. For sure. Yeah. Okay, fine. That's dope for sure. Yeah. Yeah. The minivan service, it costs a lot of money. It's like six times more than a regular Lyft. It's a nice budget. Oh, but it's so cute. Bonus if the budget allows. It's a two diamond for me. I wanted to use it the other day because it totally made sense and the bus was taking

[01:04:51] forever and it was raining and whatever. But it was like five times the price of a regular Uber. It is. It really is. That's a little mouse gouging right there. It is. I agree. It's ridiculous. Private VIP tour. Come on now. Five diamonds. Five. That's a bling bling. Listen, my friends and I booked a VIP tour for our spring break trip. We ultimately ended up canceling it. We didn't take it. But, you know, he and I had been talking about how excited we were to take, you know, we were like, we're in our VIP tour era. We got to make this happen. Let's do it.

[01:05:19] He went on a family trip in July and he took the tour without me. He took it with his family. I know. So. Man, choosing family over Allie? What in the world? Come on. I know. I know. I know. And he paid for the whole thing. Took his whole family. I'm like, really? The time I wasn't there? Come on now. Well, I think we need to make a VIP pod tour happen. Just like. I think that. Yeah. One hundred percent. So. And the difference between this versus some of these other guided tours is this is like including your rides.

[01:05:49] Like you are skipping the line. Oh, yeah. You're getting the backstage. You're getting the shortest route for everything. You're getting a coffee. Like. Getting the snacks. You're getting the. Like. It is bougie plus. And absolutely as dope as you can go. I kind of want to be a VIP tour guide in my retirement. Yeah. I. Yeah. I think it's pretty cool. I think it would be so fun. I probably have to deal with some pretty entitled people though. So for that. You might have to. But also. I feel like I can win. I can really win people over. I think I'd be really good at that job.

[01:06:19] I don't know. It's kind of like a glorified babysitter. It would be fun. That's fine with me. I think it'd be great. Nanny granny right here. Cook me up. I'm right there. The granny nanny. All right. Do we have a game or something? Are we done? Yeah, we do. We do. We do. Wait, there's two more. Surrey bike rentals. That's a one. That's silly. Yeah. That, yeah. Paying to have to exercise and drag my heavy people around. You know what that is? That's like the kids are napping and, you know, some older kids are still up and you have to get them out of the room. Go.

[01:06:47] Well, I guess if you don't want to go in the pool. I've had two Surrey bike rentals in my history of life. Actually three. And all three times we did end up like cry laughing. All three experiences I can remember we ended in tears. We were laughing so hard. So maybe there's more to it. Yeah. This is a fun uncle thing. This is the funcle thing. You send the funcle out with the kids. Let them have, like, they're going to be the coolest thing ever taking the kids on the Surrey bike ride. But I agree. Mama ain't doing it. Mama ain't doing it. Grandma ain't doing it.

[01:07:16] And last but not least, signature dining. That's a five. Disney has some really unbelievable. Yes. Put your money here. I think all of these dope experiences are things people didn't know about. Hopefully we sparked, like, even just a thought process of you wanting to try something new at Disney World. There are so many things. And even if we gave something one diamond, you might be that perfect person that wants to decorate a cake. And you should. And our magic word today is going to be diamond. Bling bling. Okay. Let's do a lightning lane really fast. Stacey then Carla.

[01:07:45] What would you choose? Keys to the kingdom or caring for giants? Keys to the kingdom. Keys to the kingdom. Yeah, me too. Fireworks dessert party or fireworks cruise? I like being in the action, so I'm going to say fireworks dessert party. I'm actually going to say dessert party as well. That's surprising. I just need my space, okay? But I want to be in the action. The champagne and dessert being included in the dessert party is very helpful. Memory maker or capture your moment? Memory maker. Well, don't you have to have one to pick the other one? So there's only one right answer here.

[01:08:14] Memory maker. Yes. Quick service dining plan or Disney dining plan? Why are we even asking? Disney dining plan. I mean, come on. Disney dining plan. Okay, here's a good one. Bippity Boppity Boutique or Droid Depot? Now it's like, is it for me or for my kids? You know. I think overall I like the droid. I think droid is so fun and cool. And like I said, the souvenir part of it is really dope. I don't know. To have a little girl at Disney and to be a princess for a day, you have to go. It's an impossible choice.

[01:08:44] I know. It is a tough one. This has been an impossible choice. My girls would absolutely love the droid also. I just love that the droid is a take home forever thing. I do love that part about it. You know, my brother's family built a droid on their first trip and they have their droid on display in their cool room. Exactly. You know. Lightning Lane Premier Pass or Disney VIP tour? VIP. Come on. I want the VIP tour. Yeah. Come on. All right. That was fun. Hi ho. Hi ho. Go make your trip as dope as possible. We only have one of these left.

[01:09:12] I can't wait to incorporate some of our M&Ms and bring our very final dwarf to light here. Bashful coming at you. And next week, if you're not caught up on the other episodes, make sure you go back and listen to the previous five so you can have all seven and have the very best Disney vacation possible. That is going to do it for us on another episode here on The Moms Behind the Magic. And until next time, we're sending you a fun love and joy and we'll see you real soon. Word. Word. We made it through somehow. Sorry. Go ahead. Somebody.

[01:09:43] This is ****. I can't say that. This is bad. Hold on. I just accidentally clicked the wrong thing. I heard clapping but I couldn't see it. What's it called? Wheel something. Spin the wheel. You want to watch how fast I can type? No. Here. I'm just going to send you the list. Stacey. Stacey. Yes. Paste that in. I can't paste it in because I don't have a phone. Stacey. Just so you know, I think you're yelling at me. She's not using an apple. I don't hear you guys responding. She is yelling at you. I hear it.

[01:10:11] We think we're yelling because we think you're ignoring us. I know. That's my point. It's funny on my end because I come back to yelling and then it goes away. I don't know if you're the problem. I'm not saying you are. Are you talking to me? Oh, this is so bad. Yep. Now, how do I make that go away? Yes. But now you made Allie go away. Okay. You hurt her feelings. Are y'all hearing that? What are you hearing? You're not hearing that? No, can you hear us? That is so loud. This is fun. Do you hear that? It's like every time we talk.

[01:10:40] Should we try no screen sharing? I can't hear it all. I think it's really. Try it without the wheel. I think. We'll be right back. What are we doing? Can you hear me, Allie? No? I can hear you guys. Okay, I can hear you too. I can hear Stacey typing. Should we just try not screen sharing? Half that sound is still happening in her ear. You're gone. Did you step away to cry for a minute? Never too early to start drinking. Can you hear me? Yeah. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? It's when you talk, but it's making the noise.

[01:11:09] Well, actually, not just you. It did it for me too. I hear three Stacys. We may be there. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Allie? Yeah. I have it. The Wheel of Doom. Why am I feeling so stupid? Oh, Lordy mercy. Ain't this something? Just when we start getting professional. I got it. Alexa, stop. I was like, what is happening? I've heard it. 90s jams? Can you guys hear me at all? Yeah. We can see you dancing. Sometimes.

[01:11:38] Oh, I was talking a ton during all that. I'm pretty sure you didn't hear any of it. So you guys are probably conversing. And I'm over here giving my own insight. I think we did hear it. Oh, you're just ignoring it? We'll see. Maybe. No, I'm not ignoring you. Maybe you're just tuning me out. You might just tune me out. That's fine. No. You know what? At this point, it might be fair even. Okay. No. No. It's just normal. You can't say that. You can't say that. Okay. We're not. Stacey, cut that out. Okay. Are you there? Anybody? Are you there? God, it's me. Sorry.

[01:12:08] Yeah, I'm here. I'm here. You're. Okay.