Post-Trip Report: Celeste’s Crowded Christmas Trip (December 2024)

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ALEX: Welcome to Where I Long To Be, A Magical Trip Report Podcast.

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ALEX: Once again, I am stepping in from my mom to launch this episode.

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ALEX: A, I enjoy doing this from time to time, and B, I had to make sure that my episode appearance count stays above Jeanette, who doesn't even realize we are in a secret competition.

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ALEX: The gauntlet has been thrown, Jeanette.

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ALEX: Anyways, before we get into today's episode, I encourage you to visit the podcast website, which is whereilongtobepodcast.com.

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ALEX: There, you can see all the past guests, including me, linked to the podcast merch shop and search episodes for whatever you are looking for.

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ALEX: For example, if you are looking for an episode to hear about food and wine festival, you can find that just by using the search bar and find all the episodes that are related to that festival.

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ALEX: Don't forget, when you are on the site to leave a review, if you want, you can mention how much you like my episodes.

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ALEX: There's nothing wrong with that, right?

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ALEX: Alright, on tonight's interview.

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ALEX: If you didn't get a chance to listen to the pre-trip interview, our guest Celeste was traveling to Walt Disney World December 12th through 16th with her husband and her mother and father-in-law, while Celeste and her husband are annual pass holders and were heading down for their eighth trip of 2024.

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ALEX: Her mother and father-in-law hadn't been since their son was a young kid, so this was almost like a first-time trip for them.

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ALEX: Celeste got them a two-day, one-park-per-day ticket.

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ALEX: Their plans included a stay at the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs, dinner reservations at the Edison on their arrival night, enjoying the festival of the holidays and candlelight processional at Epcot, and a full non-park day at the end for shopping.

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ALEX: That should catch you up on everything you need to know.

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ALEX: Here's my mom, Virginia, and our guest, Celeste.

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VIRGINIA: Welcome home, Celeste.

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ALEX: I'm back.

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VIRGINIA: You're back.

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VIRGINIA: Normally, when you're welcome home at Disney, it's like a happy thing, but I'm saying welcome home to you and you're literally at home at this point.

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CELESTE: I am home.

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VIRGINIA: Yeah, but you have a lot to look forward to.

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VIRGINIA: It's December 20th, as we're speaking, so I'm sure there are lots of holiday plans you have up your sleeve, up your spirit jersey sleeve for the week.

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VIRGINIA: How are you and how was this trip overall?

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CELESTE: I'm doing good.

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CELESTE: A little tired after this.

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CELESTE: We had unanticipated crowd levels.

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CELESTE: I know that the crowd calendars aren't really always reliable, but I always look at thrill data before I go, just to see what they say that the crowd levels are going to be.

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CELESTE: And before we left, it said average.

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CELESTE: And then when we got down there, I realized that there was a like dance thing happening.

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CELESTE: And then also I think there were some pop Warner teams that were down there too.

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CELESTE: So, yeah, the parks were packed and it was probably, I will say, not my best Disney trip.

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CELESTE: And I was actually like looking forward to coming back to talk to you about it because, you know, I don't always like I try to keep it positive and I try to keep it happy.

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CELESTE: But this was one of those times where that just was a little impossible.

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CELESTE: Thanks to the company and the crowd.

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CELESTE: So, you know, it's a, it was, it was a Disney trip, so I'm not complaining.

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VIRGINIA: Sure.

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VIRGINIA: Sure.

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CELESTE: There were just some lessons learned.

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CELESTE: And that I will apply to future Disney trips.

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VIRGINIA: Yep.

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VIRGINIA: I think those of us who go frequently, we'll have those at some point and you're like, really have to shift and you know now.

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CELESTE: Exactly.

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CELESTE: Exactly.

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VIRGINIA: All right.

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VIRGINIA: Well, let's get into it then.

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VIRGINIA: So this, for listeners who did not get a chance to listen to the pre-trip, was Saturday, December 12th through Monday, December 16th.

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VIRGINIA: So the traveling party was yourself, your husband, your mother-in-law, and your father-in-law coming together in Alabama, where the in-laws live, and driving together.

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CELESTE: Yes.

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CELESTE: We all went together.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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VIRGINIA: So how did the initial meet up to begin your journey go?

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CELESTE: Pretty smoothly.

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CELESTE: For once, my husband and I were actually ready on time, which is something that we cannot do.

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CELESTE: So we were ready early enough for him to go get breakfast before we got on the road.

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CELESTE: And when my mother and father-in-law arrived, we were able to just sort of check everything into the car and hit the road.

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CELESTE: My husband did get to drive her fancy hybrid car, and he liked it, but also didn't because the economy mode just made it too laggy, he said.

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CELESTE: Yes.

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CELESTE: So he did get a little, he did get to drive the cool new space car.

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VIRGINIA: Cool new space car.

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VIRGINIA: It was not a Tesla truck, was it?

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CELESTE: No, it was not, fortunately.

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CELESTE: It was a Honda.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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CELESTE: Something trustworthy.

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VIRGINIA: Driving down the street, I'm just like, that looks like a trash dumpster driving down the road.

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VIRGINIA: I don't get it.

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VIRGINIA: I just do not get it.

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VIRGINIA: All right.

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VIRGINIA: So you were planning to arrive around three or four on that first day.

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VIRGINIA: Did that actually occur?

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CELESTE: It did.

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CELESTE: It did.

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CELESTE: We made great time getting down.

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CELESTE: We didn't really hit much traffic.

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CELESTE: We went straight to the hotel and we actually got there shortly before four and check-in was at four.

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CELESTE: So they had our room ready a little early.

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CELESTE: So we went ahead and like went in and got some rest before making our way to Disney, downtown Disney.

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CELESTE: Wait, Disney Springs.

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CELESTE: I forget which coast I'm on.

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VIRGINIA: I know.

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VIRGINIA: I know.

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VIRGINIA: You're a frequent Disneyland visitor.

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CELESTE: So we headed there for our dinner reservation at the Edison.

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CELESTE: And it was great.

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CELESTE: The little group that I couldn't remember the name of in the pre-trip interview is the Sound Society Radio Show.

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CELESTE: And there's a DJ, a keyboard player and a singer.

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CELESTE: And there's so much fun.

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CELESTE: And we honestly thought that my mother and father-in-law would get a kick out of it.

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CELESTE: And she was fine.

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CELESTE: She was amused.

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CELESTE: He was less than impressed.

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CELESTE: It was too loud and the food was not to his liking.

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CELESTE: And it was too expensive.

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CELESTE: And that was sort of the beginning of the downhill.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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VIRGINIA: That was your little preview.

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VIRGINIA: I know that you said your father-in-law, while a very lovely person, is also grumpy.

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VIRGINIA: And so I had that in my notes, actually.

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VIRGINIA: So I have a couple of follow up questions there.

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VIRGINIA: So first of all, I know that you and your husband have stayed at the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs a number of times and really love it.

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VIRGINIA: So how did your in-laws feel about the hotel?

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VIRGINIA: And what kind of room did you have?

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VIRGINIA: Because I don't think we ever got into that.

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VIRGINIA: Was it a room where all four of you were there, or did you have two rooms, or how did that work?

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CELESTE: We had two separate rooms.

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CELESTE: We're a family that's big on personal space.

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CELESTE: So we had two separate rooms.

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CELESTE: They were pretty impressed with how close it is to everything Disney related, and how nice it was, and the check-in process was very easy.

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CELESTE: We actually stay in the pool view side, which is sort of in the back of the hotel.

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CELESTE: But when you step out on your balcony, you can see the balloon from Disney Springs, out in the distance.

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CELESTE: And when they were doing the drone show, we could see the drone show from there.

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CELESTE: And also, I think it is the Epcot fireworks we can see.

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CELESTE: Like, I think from the balcony, you can actually see luminous from there.

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CELESTE: So it's a pretty good spot.

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CELESTE: The price is pretty reasonable.

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CELESTE: We do rather like it.

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CELESTE: I think actually we're planning another trip or we'll be staying there soon.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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VIRGINIA: And did you have connecting rooms or did you really want your personal space?

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CELESTE: We did have connecting rooms, but we did not use them.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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VIRGINIA: Well, it's nice when you're at least in some kind of close proximity, even if your rooms aren't connecting just because of meeting up in the morning to go and that sort of thing.

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CELESTE: Yes, made it so much easier.

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VIRGINIA: Okay, next follow up question.

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VIRGINIA: For your dinner at the Edison, you all had been there.

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VIRGINIA: What do you have to recommend for those of us who have never been and are planning to make a visit at some time in the near future?

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CELESTE: So the power plant salad is huge.

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CELESTE: I get it with chicken, usually.

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CELESTE: I did not get that this time because it was cold.

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CELESTE: And so I wanted something warm and delicious.

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CELESTE: So I got the tomato soup and grilled cheese.

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CELESTE: And the fancy thing about this grilled cheese sandwich is that it's like fancy cheese.

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CELESTE: It's like provolone and some other stuff.

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CELESTE: But instead of slicing the bread like this slicing, they slice it this way.

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CELESTE: And so it's a really long grilled cheese.

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VIRGINIA: Oh, okay.

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CELESTE: Yes, and it is wonderful.

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CELESTE: And the tomato soup is delicious.

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CELESTE: And that is what I get.

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CELESTE: And I also get I get one of two drinks.

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CELESTE: If I am drinking, I get a drink called Adama Stingia.

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CELESTE: It's like lemon, honey, ginger.

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CELESTE: It is wonderful.

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CELESTE: And they have an appley non-alcoholic version of that, too.

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CELESTE: And that's what I get when I'm I'm not drinking.

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CELESTE: So I have I have suggestions, but the power plant salad and that tomato soup and grilled cheese, those are the those are the way to go.

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VIRGINIA: Oh, especially if it was chilly out there.

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CELESTE: It was so chilly.

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VIRGINIA: Nothing more comforting than tomato soup and grilled cheese, in my opinion.

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CELESTE: Oh, it's so it's so good.

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VIRGINIA: OK, well, let's get in to the rest of the trip.

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VIRGINIA: Did you do anything after dinner because you were at the Edison and already in Disney Springs?

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CELESTE: We did.

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CELESTE: My father-in-law wanted to walk around and see Disney Springs, and my husband wanted to show my mother-in-law the Christmas tree stroll.

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CELESTE: So we headed around and I wanted to go to town center so that I could see it snow.

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CELESTE: And we got out of dinner just in time to walk over there and catch the snow.

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CELESTE: And I'm one of those Disney criers.

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CELESTE: The music and the sound and all the lights and stuff always are going to get me.

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CELESTE: And so I got to see it snow and cry, and then explain to my mother and father-in-law why I cry at Disney all the time.

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VIRGINIA: But do they get it in any kind of way or are they still just baffled by it?

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CELESTE: So the funny thing was, is my father-in-law acted like he totally didn't understand.

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CELESTE: And then the next day we went to see The American Adventure.

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CELESTE: In the American Pavilion at Epcot and he cried during that.

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CELESTE: So yeah, so he wanted to act like he didn't get it, but I think he got it.

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VIRGINIA: Oh, that's sweet.

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VIRGINIA: That is sweet.

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VIRGINIA: I can't say I've ever cried in The American Adventure.

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CELESTE: No, no.

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VIRGINIA: And I'm a crier.

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VIRGINIA: I am a crier.

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VIRGINIA: So, okay.

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VIRGINIA: So after all that, did you head back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep?

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CELESTE: We did.

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CELESTE: It was chilly.

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CELESTE: And my father-in-law has bad knees.

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CELESTE: So we were like, you know what?

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CELESTE: Let's just call it a night after we did a little perusing at Disney Springs and then we headed back to the hotel.

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CELESTE: We didn't start very early on Saturday.

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CELESTE: Or I'm sorry, what day was it?

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CELESTE: Friday.

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CELESTE: We didn't start very early on Friday.

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CELESTE: We wanted to make sure that they had plenty of time to roll out of bed and have their nice morning coffee quietly.

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CELESTE: So they actually wound up going downstairs and eating breakfast at the restaurant at the bottom of the Holiday Inn.

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CELESTE: So yeah, there's a little breakfast buffet in there.

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CELESTE: So they ate there and we did our normal morning Disney protein bar in Red Bull.

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VIRGINIA: Oh my gosh, Celeste.

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CELESTE: Yes.

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VIRGINIA: I did not know you were a Red Bull person.

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CELESTE: We are, unfortunately, it's probably not the best for us, but unless it's Magic Kingdom Day, I like to save room for all the things that I'm going to eat.

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CELESTE: A Magic Kingdom Day, we always do a breakfast reservation somewhere because we don't love the food there.

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CELESTE: So we always go somewhere for breakfast first thing in the morning, but on a regular day, any other park, it's Red Bull and a protein bar to get the day started.

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VIRGINIA: Oh my gosh.

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VIRGINIA: I mean, I'm done with the protein bar.

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VIRGINIA: I frequently on a quick day like that, I'm just fine with just a granola bar or something.

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VIRGINIA: It's the Red Bull, I can't get behind.

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VIRGINIA: I just don't like the way it tastes, I just don't.

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VIRGINIA: But to eat their own and you each got what you wanted.

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VIRGINIA: So you ate a quick breakfast and they got their more leisurely breakfast.

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VIRGINIA: Okay.

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VIRGINIA: So this day, which was Friday the 13th.

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VIRGINIA: So I hope it was not an unlucky day, but it was an upcut day.

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VIRGINIA: So that's off to a good start, in my opinion, better than a regular day.

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VIRGINIA: We love upcut.

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VIRGINIA: I know that you are especially looking forward to enjoying all the festival, the holiday offerings and the storytellers and the food.

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VIRGINIA: We talked about in the pre-trip that you are a big user of the food and wine app, just like me and listeners know it is one of my favorite.

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VIRGINIA: So I was thrilled that you already knew what it was.

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VIRGINIA: So in terms specifically of festival, the holidays, what did you enjoy that day?

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VIRGINIA: And what would you want others to maybe check out the next time they're down in Disney during the holiday season?

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CELESTE: So I didn't do much of the holiday food because I kept watching the all ears and Disney food blog reviews of all of the food stuff.

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CELESTE: And I knew I had a very big dinner very early.

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CELESTE: So I went with an old standby for my midday snack and that is nachos from Cantina at the San Juan Hill because the nachos and the guacamole there are just phenomenal.

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VIRGINIA: So you can't go wrong there in my opinion.

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CELESTE: You really can't, you really can't.

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CELESTE: And we have great Mexican food here in Columbus, where I live.

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CELESTE: And for some reason, that is always my first stop when it comes to food at Epcot.

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CELESTE: And my husband loves the just the regular old margarita from there.

00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:58.080
CELESTE: So we always have to make a stop.

00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:03.720
CELESTE: But so that was my that was my my food for the day, really.

00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:06.960
CELESTE: And I'm actually I'm on an ozempic, so I don't eat that much.

00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.100
CELESTE: And so I have to sort of ration my eating.

00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:12.660
CELESTE: Yeah, so that I don't feel bad.

00:15:12.680 --> 00:15:16.540
CELESTE: And also so that I have room for everything that I want to eat.

00:15:16.540 --> 00:15:25.640
CELESTE: So as far as the Festival of the Holidays food stuff went, I didn't do much of the food, but I did do two of the beers.

00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:30.580
CELESTE: I did the caramel apple hard cider from the Refreshment Outpost.

00:15:30.580 --> 00:15:31.860
CELESTE: And that was wonderful.

00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:34.820
CELESTE: It tasted exactly like a caramel apple.

00:15:34.820 --> 00:15:37.420
CELESTE: And it was so good.

00:15:37.820 --> 00:15:40.380
VIRGINIA: That sounds really good, and I'm not a beer drinker.

00:15:40.380 --> 00:15:41.380
CELESTE: It was so good.

00:15:41.380 --> 00:15:50.600
CELESTE: And then I also did the pecan pie hard cider from, I think that was at Favorites of Festivals past, like the booth up there in Communicore.

00:15:50.600 --> 00:15:51.960
CELESTE: That one was really good too.

00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:55.120
CELESTE: So those were my two Festival of the Holidays leanings.

00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:00.500
CELESTE: I actually got super excited that I saw they already released the dates for Festival of the Arts.

00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:06.720
CELESTE: So I'm like, just now it's time to start obsessively checking the food and wine app every day to wait for those menus.

00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:11.920
VIRGINIA: Yes, and I was just looking that up the other day too, because we always go Presidents Week.

00:16:11.920 --> 00:16:20.040
VIRGINIA: And typically in previous years, we get down there for our Presidents Week trip, and there's maybe one or two days left of the Festival.

00:16:20.040 --> 00:16:24.600
VIRGINIA: And so I feel the need to just try to cram everything into that day.

00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:28.020
VIRGINIA: And this year, it is going for our entire trip.

00:16:28.020 --> 00:16:29.320
VIRGINIA: I just can't believe it.

00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:34.300
CELESTE: I know we're actually, we, we talked about how we're always usually down there too.

00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:42.160
CELESTE: And we're usually there at the last day or like the day after the last day of a Festival of the Arts.

00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:51.540
CELESTE: But jumping ahead to a tiny bit, since this trip was bad, we've already scheduled a makeup trip for 31st of January.

00:16:52.760 --> 00:16:55.960
CELESTE: So I'll be there smack in the middle of Festival of the Arts.

00:16:55.960 --> 00:16:58.820
CELESTE: So I'm really looking forward to that.

00:16:58.920 --> 00:17:00.140
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:17:00.140 --> 00:17:01.500
VIRGINIA: You got to do a makeup trip.

00:17:01.880 --> 00:17:08.960
VIRGINIA: And when you live within driving distance and have an annual pass, I should say, there's really no excuse because you can go down for a weekend.

00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:09.280
VIRGINIA: There is.

00:17:09.280 --> 00:17:11.080
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:17:11.080 --> 00:17:11.760
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:17:11.760 --> 00:17:15.000
VIRGINIA: So did you check out any of the storytellers?

00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:15.700
CELESTE: We did.

00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:20.040
CELESTE: We saw La Befana in Italy and she is so much fun.

00:17:20.040 --> 00:17:21.820
CELESTE: My mother-in-law really enjoyed her.

00:17:21.820 --> 00:17:25.340
CELESTE: Her story is a little silly, but it's also pretty touching.

00:17:25.340 --> 00:17:27.620
CELESTE: And so my mother-in-law really enjoyed that.

00:17:27.740 --> 00:17:29.400
CELESTE: And then I caught the barn Santa.

00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:36.700
CELESTE: I actually had to take a minute and sort of run back to the locker and grab some things.

00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:40.500
CELESTE: And so I stopped and caught the barn Santa in Norway by myself.

00:17:40.500 --> 00:17:44.600
CELESTE: And he's actually my favorite because he's just so silly and so funny.

00:17:44.600 --> 00:17:50.440
CELESTE: Like in the girl that is with him, I can't think of what her name is, but she's she's real cute, too.

00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:52.640
CELESTE: Like they're probably my favorites.

00:17:52.640 --> 00:18:01.280
VIRGINIA: I have not been able to catch any of the storytellers because I've only been down during Festival of the Holidays once and we just didn't have that kind of time.

00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:03.780
VIRGINIA: And it was raining like crazy.

00:18:03.780 --> 00:18:07.660
CELESTE: So I went last year and it rained on us the whole day in Epcot.

00:18:07.660 --> 00:18:14.180
CELESTE: So yeah, it is smack in the middle of Orlando's wetest season.

00:18:15.660 --> 00:18:17.620
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:18:17.620 --> 00:18:22.800
VIRGINIA: Your dining package for the Candlelight Processional was at Garden Grill.

00:18:22.800 --> 00:18:28.540
VIRGINIA: And I don't think I caught when we spoke before whether it was a lunch or dinner reservation.

00:18:28.540 --> 00:18:31.200
CELESTE: So it was a dinner reservation, but it was early dinner.

00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:43.980
CELESTE: We sat down probably at about 415 with the intention of eating and then jumping in line for living in with the land before we needed to be back across the lagoon for the Candlelight Processional.

00:18:43.980 --> 00:18:49.880
CELESTE: But living with the land, you know, at Christmas time jumps up ridiculously quickly.

00:18:49.880 --> 00:19:00.300
CELESTE: Like we looked at the wait time, like one second and it was 20 minutes and we were like, all right, well, by the time we get our checks back and get down there, we'll be able to hop right in line.

00:19:00.300 --> 00:19:05.040
CELESTE: And then as soon as she put the checks on the table, I looked at the wait time and it was 50 minutes.

00:19:05.040 --> 00:19:06.820
VIRGINIA: And I was like, oh, my word.

00:19:06.820 --> 00:19:07.520
CELESTE: Oh, man.

00:19:07.520 --> 00:19:08.060
CELESTE: All right.

00:19:08.060 --> 00:19:12.520
CELESTE: OK, well, we're going to miss living with the land, which is a bummer because that's my favorite ride in Epcot.

00:19:12.520 --> 00:19:15.600
CELESTE: And I really wanted my mother-in-law to see the greenhouses.

00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:17.940
VIRGINIA: Yeah, you said she was a big plant person.

00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:24.600
CELESTE: And as you're rotating around the garden grill, you do get to peek inside of some of the parts of the ride.

00:19:24.600 --> 00:19:30.080
CELESTE: So I got to show her all the little things and tell her what we were looking at.

00:19:30.080 --> 00:19:31.500
CELESTE: But dinner was great.

00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.160
CELESTE: It's served family style.

00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:40.420
CELESTE: And so it's like beef and roasted turkey with vegetables and mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese.

00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:44.660
CELESTE: And they just continuously bring skillets of the food to the table for you.

00:19:44.660 --> 00:19:47.180
CELESTE: We had so much and I thought it was great.

00:19:48.120 --> 00:19:52.660
CELESTE: My father-in-law also complained about how expensive that was as well.

00:19:52.660 --> 00:19:55.380
CELESTE: Well, it is, right?

00:19:55.380 --> 00:20:02.200
CELESTE: And also we had a minor disagreement.

00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:08.220
CELESTE: He called me silly because Chip came to the table to hang out with us for a minute.

00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:11.460
CELESTE: And he said to Chip, it's so hot in here.

00:20:11.460 --> 00:20:13.620
CELESTE: I don't know how you can stand it in that suit.

00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.880
CELESTE: And I said, that's not a suit, that's a chipmunk.

00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:21.420
CELESTE: He's a chip, he's a chipmunk.

00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:22.400
CELESTE: What?

00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:24.380
CELESTE: He's not wearing a suit.

00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:25.960
CELESTE: He's a chipmunk.

00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:28.100
CELESTE: He's a real chipmunk.

00:20:28.100 --> 00:20:33.160
VIRGINIA: Join me here on this adventure that we're on where we believe these things are real.

00:20:33.160 --> 00:20:39.900
CELESTE: There were also kids around and, you know, they hear like little ears hear everything.

00:20:39.900 --> 00:20:44.840
CELESTE: And I wasn't trying to crash anyone's vacation at dinner.

00:20:44.840 --> 00:20:48.640
CELESTE: So I'm like, he's come on, man.

00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.560
CELESTE: And so he told me I was being silly.

00:20:51.560 --> 00:20:56.660
CELESTE: But at that point, I was exhausted and he was exhausted and everybody was exhausted.

00:20:56.660 --> 00:21:01.200
CELESTE: And it was time to make our way back around the World Showcase to go get our seat.

00:21:01.220 --> 00:21:03.040
CELESTE: See Ralph Macchio.

00:21:03.040 --> 00:21:03.740
VIRGINIA: Yes.

00:21:03.740 --> 00:21:04.940
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:21:04.940 --> 00:21:05.940
VIRGINIA: So perfect.

00:21:05.940 --> 00:21:10.020
VIRGINIA: When there's a little bit of tension, go someplace where you can just sit and stare forward.

00:21:10.020 --> 00:21:11.000
VIRGINIA: Right?

00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:11.720
CELESTE: Wonderful.

00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:12.840
CELESTE: Perfect timing.

00:21:12.840 --> 00:21:19.540
VIRGINIA: Like we can just stop talking for a little bit and then and resume talking when we are cooled off and ready.

00:21:19.540 --> 00:21:20.020
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:21:20.020 --> 00:21:25.040
VIRGINIA: So Ralph Macchio, the karate kid, how did he do?

00:21:25.040 --> 00:21:25.580
CELESTE: So great.

00:21:25.580 --> 00:21:26.540
CELESTE: He was so fun.

00:21:26.540 --> 00:21:32.480
CELESTE: He told a couple of little stories about his kids in Disney and how he grew up as a Disney kid.

00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.740
CELESTE: He wanted his kids to have that same experience.

00:21:35.740 --> 00:21:41.160
CELESTE: He was just fun and he was very just sort of engaging.

00:21:41.160 --> 00:21:47.540
CELESTE: And he made you just want, even though it's a story you've heard a million times, he made you just want to lean forward and listen.

00:21:47.540 --> 00:21:49.660
CELESTE: And it was wonderful.

00:21:49.660 --> 00:21:52.260
CELESTE: The cast member choir sounded great.

00:21:52.300 --> 00:21:54.980
CELESTE: And the Voices of Liberty sounded great.

00:21:54.980 --> 00:21:57.340
CELESTE: I'm a former band nerd.

00:21:57.340 --> 00:21:59.360
CELESTE: I was a band person in high school.

00:21:59.360 --> 00:22:07.040
CELESTE: So it was really cool to see all the orchestra people playing and everybody just doing their thing.

00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:23.840
CELESTE: Like I just, when I sit there and I watch stuff like that at Disney, that gets me emotional in and of itself just because I think about how hard they work on it and how much thought was put into it and how some of those cast members probably like called their parents and said, I made the cast member choir.

00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:26.820
CELESTE: I'm so excited and I get to meet Ralph Macchio.

00:22:26.820 --> 00:22:29.200
CELESTE: Like I just, that stuff just, it warms my heart.

00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:40.000
CELESTE: And so I'm not the biggest Christmas person in the world, but that was a great experience because it just, it's nice to just sort of think about everything that went into it.

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:41.660
VIRGINIA: I am the same way.

00:22:41.660 --> 00:22:45.080
VIRGINIA: Like I cried at the end of the Wicked movie.

00:22:45.080 --> 00:22:48.680
VIRGINIA: I mean, it's a touching story and there's a lot to be inspired by.

00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:51.300
VIRGINIA: And that kind of starts it.

00:22:51.300 --> 00:23:04.520
VIRGINIA: But at the end, I realized what I was really crying about was because I was so happy for everyone involved in the movie, because I was just like, they did so well with the acting and the singing and the costumers and the choreographers.

00:23:04.520 --> 00:23:07.940
VIRGINIA: And I just get emotional thinking about the work they put in.

00:23:07.940 --> 00:23:23.220
VIRGINIA: And so to go to something like Candlelight Processional and see how many moving parts there are, like what it takes to put that kind of show on and then seeing all of that talent coming together at the same time, it warms my heart.

00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:24.860
CELESTE: Yeah.

00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.980
VIRGINIA: And Ralph Macchio has not aged today.

00:23:27.980 --> 00:23:29.220
CELESTE: Not a day.

00:23:29.220 --> 00:23:30.500
CELESTE: Not a day.

00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:32.080
CELESTE: I was so excited.

00:23:32.080 --> 00:23:32.920
CELESTE: He was great.

00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:41.380
CELESTE: Like there are some others that were on the list that when I saw the full list, I'm like, oh man, I wish we had been there for this or I wish we'd been there for that.

00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:42.780
CELESTE: But he was great.

00:23:43.300 --> 00:23:45.440
CELESTE: I'm glad we got to see him.

00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:46.740
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:47.040
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:50.880
VIRGINIA: Was there anything else that you got to do after that?

00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:58.980
CELESTE: Actually, after that, we headed towards the front because I wanted to go to the creation shop.

00:23:58.980 --> 00:24:06.580
CELESTE: I had a grail item on my list for this trip and it was this goofy sweatshirt.

00:24:06.580 --> 00:24:11.920
CELESTE: Oh, I had seen it online and I just had to have it.

00:24:11.920 --> 00:24:15.660
CELESTE: It's got it, like, it's got goofy on the back, but it's, like, backwards.

00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:16.520
CELESTE: Yeah.

00:24:16.520 --> 00:24:18.120
CELESTE: I'd seen it online.

00:24:18.120 --> 00:24:21.600
CELESTE: So I was like, I know they're going to have it at creation.

00:24:21.600 --> 00:24:27.100
CELESTE: So we headed up front and I got my sweatshirt and then we hit the road for the evening.

00:24:27.100 --> 00:24:31.540
CELESTE: We just headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

00:24:31.860 --> 00:24:44.600
CELESTE: They're usually pretty early bedtime people and we are early-ish bedtime people when we're at Disney because we are in our 40s now, so we have to have our eight.

00:24:44.600 --> 00:24:54.480
CELESTE: So we headed back and went to bed because we had a pretty early breakfast reservation at Boma.

00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:55.060
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:24:55.060 --> 00:24:55.560
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:24:55.560 --> 00:24:55.980
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:24:55.980 --> 00:24:59.940
VIRGINIA: No, things change when you get into your 40s.

00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:00.560
VIRGINIA: I hear you.

00:25:00.560 --> 00:25:02.180
VIRGINIA: I hear you on that.

00:25:02.180 --> 00:25:02.900
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:25:02.900 --> 00:25:08.220
VIRGINIA: Well, Saturday, December 14th, like you said, you had breakfast at Boma.

00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:12.080
VIRGINIA: And so you said it was one of your favorite breakfasts, I think.

00:25:12.080 --> 00:25:18.180
CELESTE: It is and it remains one of my favorites on on property.

00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:19.740
CELESTE: We had a great waiter.

00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:22.300
CELESTE: The waiters at Boma are always really great.

00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:24.120
CELESTE: They always just are so chatty.

00:25:24.120 --> 00:25:31.600
CELESTE: And if they are from another country or another culture, they like always like share that with you and they share some things with you.

00:25:32.100 --> 00:25:38.320
CELESTE: And always, they always share like a something on the buffet that you need to try.

00:25:38.320 --> 00:25:41.440
CELESTE: And it never fails that it's always good.

00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:46.040
CELESTE: And this time it was like this Turkey Quiche stuff that they have.

00:25:46.360 --> 00:25:47.200
CELESTE: It was really good.

00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.180
CELESTE: Turkey Baboudi, I think it's called.

00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:50.960
CELESTE: Yes, that was the recommendation.

00:25:51.000 --> 00:25:59.500
CELESTE: And then they have All You Can Drink Pog Juice, which is one of my favorite parts of the breakfast as well.

00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:07.080
CELESTE: So we, that was the, I think, only meal that my father-in-law didn't have any complaints about.

00:26:07.080 --> 00:26:08.240
CELESTE: He really enjoyed it.

00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.360
VIRGINIA: I think it is well known that that is many people's favorite breakfast.

00:26:12.360 --> 00:26:18.120
VIRGINIA: So I think I would be surprised if he found something to complain about because it gets so many rave reviews.

00:26:18.120 --> 00:26:26.220
CELESTE: The stuff on that buffet, even the simple stuff like the Mickey Waffles and the Tater Tots are just the best.

00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:32.020
VIRGINIA: Well, that was an early breakfast and I know that you had a big Magic Kingdom Day ahead of you.

00:26:32.020 --> 00:26:34.480
VIRGINIA: So what did you do?

00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:37.620
VIRGINIA: Did you get straight to the park or did you kind of pace yourself?

00:26:37.620 --> 00:26:41.680
VIRGINIA: Because I think you said you wanted to show them around Animal Kingdom Lodge too.

00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:42.500
CELESTE: We did.

00:26:42.500 --> 00:26:48.600
CELESTE: We walked out and took a look at the little section of the savanna that's just off the lobby.

00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:53.520
CELESTE: They had some fun birds out there just hanging out that morning.

00:26:53.520 --> 00:26:54.740
CELESTE: They were eating.

00:26:54.740 --> 00:26:55.740
CELESTE: They were feeding them.

00:26:55.740 --> 00:26:58.220
CELESTE: So we got to see that.

00:26:58.220 --> 00:27:04.480
CELESTE: And we just sort of walked the grounds a little just so they could see how pretty the lobby was.

00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:12.840
CELESTE: There at Animal Kingdom Lodge for Christmas, they have gingerbread animals and not a gingerbread house.

00:27:12.840 --> 00:27:15.520
CELESTE: So they had a zebra and a giraffe.

00:27:15.520 --> 00:27:17.960
CELESTE: And I think, was it a warthog?

00:27:18.420 --> 00:27:22.100
CELESTE: Like made out of gingerbread and coated in chocolate in the lobby.

00:27:22.100 --> 00:27:24.580
CELESTE: So that was pretty neat.

00:27:24.580 --> 00:27:25.960
CELESTE: So we did that.

00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:30.040
CELESTE: And then we headed over to Magic Kingdom to get the day started.

00:27:30.040 --> 00:27:32.580
VIRGINIA: Where was your first stop in Magic Kingdom?

00:27:32.580 --> 00:27:36.760
CELESTE: First stop in Magic Kingdom was actually the people mover.

00:27:37.560 --> 00:27:50.560
CELESTE: We wanted to sort of, we wanted to focus on things that were sort of slow moving and gave you a good view, so you could kind of get your bearings and see multiple areas of the park at once.

00:27:50.560 --> 00:27:52.300
CELESTE: So we did the people mover first.

00:27:52.300 --> 00:27:59.080
CELESTE: And we also tried our, a different strategy than the one that we usually use, which is chase the way time.

00:27:59.080 --> 00:28:01.060
CELESTE: That's usually what we're doing.

00:28:01.060 --> 00:28:05.280
CELESTE: Like we'll see that something has a low way time.

00:28:05.340 --> 00:28:11.720
CELESTE: And even if it's on the other side of the park, we'll debate like, when we get there, will it actually be this way time?

00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:12.020
CELESTE: Yes.

00:28:12.020 --> 00:28:12.960
CELESTE: Okay, let's go.

00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:15.000
CELESTE: So that's usually how we do it.

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:20.180
CELESTE: But we decided to like max out Tomorrowland and then max out Fantasyland.

00:28:20.300 --> 00:28:22.080
CELESTE: And then max out Liberty Square.

00:28:22.080 --> 00:28:29.860
CELESTE: Just to keep the walking to the minimum, because my father-in-law's knees and he had been complaining that Epcot is a lot of walking.

00:28:29.860 --> 00:28:39.060
CELESTE: So we did Space Rangers Spin, which is a very that and Toy Story Mania are like head-to-head competition for my husband and I.

00:28:39.080 --> 00:28:41.080
CELESTE: He always gets me on Space Rangers Spin.

00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:43.600
CELESTE: I always get him on Toy Story Mania.

00:28:43.600 --> 00:28:45.320
CELESTE: So that didn't change.

00:28:45.560 --> 00:28:46.920
CELESTE: He came out on top.

00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:48.660
VIRGINIA: Do you ride together?

00:28:48.660 --> 00:28:49.640
CELESTE: We do.

00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:50.060
CELESTE: Okay.

00:28:50.060 --> 00:28:50.840
CELESTE: We do.

00:28:50.840 --> 00:28:54.640
VIRGINIA: I can't give up control of the turning.

00:28:54.700 --> 00:28:55.340
VIRGINIA: Oh, no.

00:28:55.340 --> 00:28:56.360
CELESTE: No, that's me.

00:28:56.360 --> 00:29:00.580
VIRGINIA: But I am a family with other people who can't give up control of the turning.

00:29:00.580 --> 00:29:04.160
VIRGINIA: So we do individual riding every single time.

00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:05.620
CELESTE: Oh, well.

00:29:05.620 --> 00:29:07.820
VIRGINIA: Single rider.

00:29:07.820 --> 00:29:10.060
VIRGINIA: I don't know them.

00:29:10.060 --> 00:29:11.200
CELESTE: Who are these people?

00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:12.460
VIRGINIA: I know.

00:29:12.460 --> 00:29:14.900
VIRGINIA: So what did your in-laws think about it?

00:29:14.900 --> 00:29:15.840
CELESTE: They have fun.

00:29:15.840 --> 00:29:17.240
CELESTE: They have fun.

00:29:19.180 --> 00:29:22.720
CELESTE: Just get the standard grumpy complaint.

00:29:23.060 --> 00:29:24.060
CELESTE: It's too loud in there.

00:29:24.060 --> 00:29:25.660
CELESTE: I didn't understand what was going on.

00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:27.920
CELESTE: It's happened too fast.

00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.480
CELESTE: That part made me sick, the little tunnel.

00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.460
CELESTE: That part made me feel sick.

00:29:33.460 --> 00:29:35.660
CELESTE: But it was fine.

00:29:35.660 --> 00:29:40.860
CELESTE: So after that, we did the carousel progress because I figured maybe we needed like a brain break.

00:29:42.060 --> 00:29:48.540
CELESTE: So that was about it for Tomorrowland because we did not want them to have to get in and out of Space Mountain.

00:29:50.260 --> 00:29:56.120
CELESTE: I didn't think they would enjoy Tron the way that I do, so we skipped that too.

00:29:56.120 --> 00:30:03.200
CELESTE: And headed to Fantasyland to try to knock some of that stuff out, because the wait times were not that bad up to that point.

00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:07.260
CELESTE: It was about noon by the time we finished with Tomorrowland.

00:30:07.260 --> 00:30:14.060
CELESTE: So we headed to Fantasyland and knocked out a lot of stuff in Fantasyland, actually.

00:30:14.060 --> 00:30:16.360
CELESTE: We did Peter Pan.

00:30:16.360 --> 00:30:20.660
CELESTE: I did not do It's A Small World because I had to run back to the locker and take some meds.

00:30:21.320 --> 00:30:23.880
CELESTE: But I left them to do It's A Small World.

00:30:25.840 --> 00:30:28.440
CELESTE: We did Winnie the Pooh.

00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:37.620
CELESTE: And we were going to attempt Seven Dwarfs, but that wait time, that was about the time.

00:30:37.620 --> 00:30:43.500
CELESTE: By the time we were ready to do that, it was about the time that those sort of crowds started rolling in.

00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:47.080
CELESTE: And so it jumped up to 75 minutes.

00:30:47.080 --> 00:30:49.880
CELESTE: And so we were like, okay, maybe not.

00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:51.940
CELESTE: We moved on to Liberty Square.

00:30:51.940 --> 00:30:55.500
CELESTE: We did Haunted Mansion and actually rode the Liberty Bell.

00:30:55.500 --> 00:30:59.780
CELESTE: That was my second time on the Liberty Bell and my husband's first time on the Liberty Bell.

00:30:59.780 --> 00:31:06.100
CELESTE: And that was actually, I've been sort of following all the stuff about the expansion plan.

00:31:06.100 --> 00:31:14.600
CELESTE: So it was cool to sort of point out like what's going to be new part of the park once you get around to the back of the river.

00:31:16.280 --> 00:31:30.580
CELESTE: And then we headed towards Pirates and while they were in, actually while they were lying at It's A Small World, the one o'clock virtual queue for Tiana happened and I got my husband and I, Tiana.

00:31:30.580 --> 00:31:37.840
CELESTE: So we, by the time we were done with Liberty Square, it was time for us to head over and get our, our virtual queue for Tiana.

00:31:37.840 --> 00:31:45.460
CELESTE: So we did that while they just sort of roamed around and ate cause they were not interested in a 50 foot drop or possibly getting wet.

00:31:45.460 --> 00:31:50.760
VIRGINIA: That's what I was going to ask you cause I know in the pre-trip, you said that you were hoping to get them on Tiana's.

00:31:50.760 --> 00:31:51.100
CELESTE: Yeah.

00:31:51.100 --> 00:31:55.660
VIRGINIA: So did they get a look at it before they said, no, this isn't for us?

00:31:55.660 --> 00:31:56.320
CELESTE: Oh, they did.

00:31:56.320 --> 00:32:03.760
CELESTE: We sat there and watched, we watched the boats come over the hill for a few minutes and they were like, no, no, no, no.

00:32:03.760 --> 00:32:07.320
CELESTE: And actually kind of glad because we did get pretty wet.

00:32:07.320 --> 00:32:14.680
CELESTE: We got, we got in the front of the log, which was our first time and we like just didn't count on that.

00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:20.540
CELESTE: And so we threw our ponchos on like as the log was taking off.

00:32:20.540 --> 00:32:23.660
CELESTE: But yeah, and it was starting to get chilly too.

00:32:23.660 --> 00:32:28.100
CELESTE: Oh man, it was a particularly splashy day in the bayou.

00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:30.440
VIRGINIA: Oh my goodness.

00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:33.420
VIRGINIA: What was the temperature like this day?

00:32:33.420 --> 00:32:45.600
CELESTE: It was probably in the mid 70s, like during the warmest part of the day, but sort of as it started, as the sun started to set, like probably about four, it started to drop rapidly.

00:32:45.600 --> 00:32:51.160
CELESTE: And so it was like, by the time we got off Tiana's like, I needed sleeves.

00:32:51.160 --> 00:32:51.700
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:52.260
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:32:52.260 --> 00:32:54.480
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:32:54.540 --> 00:32:56.360
VIRGINIA: All right, what was up for that?

00:32:56.400 --> 00:33:01.440
CELESTE: Yeah, after that, we went on Pirates.

00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:06.320
CELESTE: And that weight actually was pretty swift.

00:33:06.320 --> 00:33:10.100
CELESTE: Like it said 30 minutes and we might have waited 30 minutes.

00:33:10.440 --> 00:33:12.440
CELESTE: I don't know if it was 30 minutes or not.

00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:13.820
CELESTE: It was really quick.

00:33:13.820 --> 00:33:20.320
CELESTE: We did Pirates and then we grabbed some spring rolls and dole whip and headed to the Tiki Room.

00:33:20.320 --> 00:33:21.500
CELESTE: I love the Tiki Room.

00:33:22.120 --> 00:33:26.920
CELESTE: It is my favorite like show thing at Magic Kingdom.

00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:28.500
CELESTE: I just love the Tiki Room.

00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:32.120
CELESTE: So I was really excited to show my mother-in-law that.

00:33:32.120 --> 00:33:33.620
CELESTE: And she thought it was super cute.

00:33:34.600 --> 00:33:39.240
CELESTE: When the masks behind you started singing, she was just like, oh, what was that?

00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:40.300
CELESTE: Oh my goodness.

00:33:40.300 --> 00:33:42.980
CELESTE: She was just so excited about it.

00:33:43.340 --> 00:33:44.740
CELESTE: It was real fun.

00:33:44.740 --> 00:33:51.800
CELESTE: And by then, we had just enough time to hopped into the Country Bear Jamboree.

00:33:51.800 --> 00:33:55.420
CELESTE: And then it was time to go grab a spot for fireworks.

00:33:55.420 --> 00:34:07.940
CELESTE: So my plan was, because of how crowded the park had gotten, was to head down Main Street and watch sort of near the train station.

00:34:07.940 --> 00:34:13.000
CELESTE: Because then once the fireworks are over, we could just turn around and walk out.

00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:13.260
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:34:14.520 --> 00:34:22.540
CELESTE: But we came back up the back, because I wanted to stop into Memento Mori again before we left to get a pen.

00:34:22.540 --> 00:34:37.660
CELESTE: So we came back up Liberty Square and up through Fantasyland and as we were headed around the castle, they made the announcement that Main Street was at capacity, and they weren't letting anymore people on for fireworks.

00:34:37.660 --> 00:34:41.820
CELESTE: And so I was like, okay, it is a very crowded day.

00:34:41.820 --> 00:34:42.360
CELESTE: You know what?

00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:42.840
CELESTE: Look at there.

00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:46.540
CELESTE: A bench right here in front of Pinocchio's Village House.

00:34:46.600 --> 00:34:48.760
CELESTE: We'll watch the fireworks from here.

00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:53.720
CELESTE: And so we got a bench and we watched the fireworks from the back of the castle.

00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:58.140
CELESTE: And I, of course, cried.

00:34:58.140 --> 00:35:03.320
CELESTE: Again, I could barely even see Tinkerbell, but there's just something about her taking off from that castle.

00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:05.780
CELESTE: This makes me swell up.

00:35:06.140 --> 00:35:07.840
CELESTE: And me too.

00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:08.660
CELESTE: I love it.

00:35:08.660 --> 00:35:12.240
CELESTE: And so my mother-in-law, she had a really good time.

00:35:12.240 --> 00:35:16.600
CELESTE: She was amused that I knew all of the words to the fireworks music.

00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:28.260
CELESTE: We also had the cutest seven-month-old baby next to us, who was so unimpressed, like was not scared of the fireworks, didn't jump when they popped.

00:35:28.260 --> 00:35:32.520
CELESTE: He just had this look on his face like, what are we doing here?

00:35:32.520 --> 00:35:38.440
CELESTE: His mom and dad, it was their first trip together as a family to Disney, and it was so sweet.

00:35:38.440 --> 00:35:45.200
CELESTE: But like every time a firework went off, he'd just, like he was just so unabused.

00:35:45.200 --> 00:35:51.640
CELESTE: And so I always bring something to give to people that I chat with in line.

00:35:51.640 --> 00:35:54.580
CELESTE: So I had stickers and Christmas ornaments that I made.

00:35:54.580 --> 00:35:57.640
CELESTE: So I gave them a little Christmas ornament.

00:35:57.640 --> 00:36:05.180
CELESTE: And then we thankfully were able to sneak around the castle right as they were opening the Main Street Bypass.

00:36:05.180 --> 00:36:08.800
CELESTE: So we did not have to go down Main Street to get out of the park.

00:36:08.800 --> 00:36:09.460
VIRGINIA: Good.

00:36:09.460 --> 00:36:13.820
CELESTE: And we got out of there so fast and got on the ferry.

00:36:13.820 --> 00:36:21.760
CELESTE: And I guess, I mean, it was an all hands on deck kind of crowd because they had all three of the ferries running.

00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:31.080
CELESTE: And the line for the monorail was so far back into the plaza in front of the park.

00:36:31.080 --> 00:36:31.660
CELESTE: Oh my goodness.

00:36:32.640 --> 00:36:36.280
CELESTE: I've been there on crowded days, but I've never been there on a day like this.

00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:41.500
CELESTE: This just proves to me that I don't need to go on those high crowd days like I used to think.

00:36:41.500 --> 00:36:43.560
CELESTE: I want to go on New Year's Eve.

00:36:43.560 --> 00:36:44.240
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:36:44.240 --> 00:36:45.220
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:36:45.220 --> 00:36:53.640
VIRGINIA: And I know you specifically picked these days because you thought that it would be before kids were out of school and it would be far enough away from Thanksgiving.

00:36:53.640 --> 00:37:00.160
VIRGINIA: And this is a surprise to me because I was right there with you when you said your reasoning for picking the dates.

00:37:00.240 --> 00:37:01.720
VIRGINIA: I was like, oh, good points.

00:37:01.720 --> 00:37:04.120
VIRGINIA: Yes, that's that's going to be right.

00:37:04.120 --> 00:37:13.940
CELESTE: Yeah, I have found that I just don't understand the crowds or the way they distribute themselves in Orlando.

00:37:13.940 --> 00:37:29.560
CELESTE: I watch a lot of I think I probably mentioned it in the pre trip interview that I watched a lot of Brush Baked, that guy, David from Disneyland, because he just covers the park in such a like data driven methodical way.

00:37:30.560 --> 00:37:32.760
CELESTE: My husband's like, he sucks all the fun out of Disney.

00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:33.740
CELESTE: I'm like, no, he doesn't.

00:37:33.740 --> 00:37:36.700
CELESTE: He makes you understand it better.

00:37:36.700 --> 00:37:47.160
CELESTE: And I feel like I can whip out some data and figure out what kind of crowd I'm going to be walking into if I go to California.

00:37:47.160 --> 00:37:52.260
CELESTE: But I have no idea at the parks in Orlando.

00:37:52.300 --> 00:37:54.280
CELESTE: I just don't understand.

00:37:55.720 --> 00:38:10.320
CELESTE: Because you never know when some school district is on vacation or when the international travelers are coming, or when some huge event is occurring at the park, and there will be a lot of people there for it.

00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:17.560
CELESTE: And honestly, if I had known that it was going to be a high crowd time, I probably wouldn't have changed it.

00:38:17.560 --> 00:38:19.580
CELESTE: I probably still would have gone.

00:38:19.580 --> 00:38:23.280
CELESTE: I think that we're pretty good at navigating the parks now.

00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:33.940
CELESTE: And we were able to still have a good time and still get things done that we wanted to do without stressing, but that crowd, that was a crowd.

00:38:33.940 --> 00:38:39.220
VIRGINIA: I mean, it just goes to show that the people who run the crowd calendars don't really know either.

00:38:39.220 --> 00:38:42.960
VIRGINIA: They're basing on last year and the year before and that sort of thing.

00:38:42.960 --> 00:38:47.200
VIRGINIA: But things change every year, so you just can't count on it.

00:38:47.200 --> 00:38:49.740
VIRGINIA: And so you just have to be prepared to be flexible.

00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:58.740
VIRGINIA: And I think that when you are a frequent goer, and especially if it's just a couple of people, it's easier to navigate that situation.

00:38:58.740 --> 00:39:21.740
VIRGINIA: Where it gets a little harder is when it's a big group, or if you're sort of like you were, I mean, you were able to make it work, but carrying people with you, not literally carrying them, but you have people in tow that are not used to it, and trying to make it go smoothly for them, because your tolerance is going to be slightly higher than them anyway, just because you know where you're going.

00:39:21.740 --> 00:39:27.680
CELESTE: And if it had just been us, they had one part per day tickets.

00:39:27.680 --> 00:39:37.300
CELESTE: If it had just been us, we probably would have taken off and gone to Hollywood Studios, or gone to Epcot, or just left and gone to Disney Springs or something.

00:39:37.300 --> 00:39:41.540
CELESTE: We probably would not have stayed around for fireworks at the Magic Kingdom.

00:39:41.540 --> 00:39:53.000
CELESTE: But I like to view every trip as a lesson, and this was certainly a lesson in expectation management and flexibility.

00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:54.860
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:39:54.860 --> 00:39:55.340
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:39:55.340 --> 00:39:57.960
VIRGINIA: Well, you have one full day left of this trip.

00:39:57.960 --> 00:40:01.880
VIRGINIA: So Sunday, December 15th was a relaxing day.

00:40:01.880 --> 00:40:13.180
VIRGINIA: So you were planning to do some shopping at Character Warehouse and at Penn Headquarters in Winter Garden, which I had never heard of until you told me about it.

00:40:13.180 --> 00:40:16.280
VIRGINIA: So how did this day pan out?

00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:18.440
CELESTE: Sadly, not the way I planned.

00:40:20.240 --> 00:40:27.980
CELESTE: My father-in-law was just, he was done and I was done with him.

00:40:29.860 --> 00:40:39.080
CELESTE: So we just decided that instead of staying that extra day, we would check out a day early and just come home on Sunday.

00:40:39.080 --> 00:40:40.140
VIRGINIA: Oh, wow.

00:40:40.140 --> 00:40:41.160
VIRGINIA: This is a twist.

00:40:41.160 --> 00:40:44.180
VIRGINIA: That's not what I was expecting you to say.

00:40:44.180 --> 00:40:49.940
VIRGINIA: We decided that they would hang around the hotel and I would go do my thing and just kind of split up for the day.

00:40:49.940 --> 00:40:52.440
VIRGINIA: But wow, okay, a whole day early.

00:40:52.440 --> 00:40:53.700
CELESTE: Yeah, we just came home.

00:40:53.700 --> 00:41:00.360
CELESTE: We just decided to come home and we had boarded the dogs and we wanted to get back to them anyway.

00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:02.440
CELESTE: So we were just like, you know what?

00:41:02.440 --> 00:41:03.360
CELESTE: We're exhausted.

00:41:03.360 --> 00:41:06.300
CELESTE: My husband was actually starting to feel a little sick.

00:41:06.300 --> 00:41:09.620
CELESTE: He caught a bit of the Disney crud while we were down there.

00:41:09.620 --> 00:41:12.520
CELESTE: And so he was already not feeling great.

00:41:12.520 --> 00:41:14.740
CELESTE: So we just tapped out.

00:41:14.740 --> 00:41:18.400
CELESTE: And I think it was best for everybody.

00:41:18.400 --> 00:41:31.680
VIRGINIA: Well, now you have the opportunity to do a makeup trip with just the two of you, where you'll have that flexibility that if something is too crowded or whatever, you just park hop or do whatever you want to do.

00:41:31.720 --> 00:41:32.560
CELESTE: Exactly.

00:41:32.560 --> 00:41:34.760
CELESTE: And we already have things planned.

00:41:34.760 --> 00:41:36.920
CELESTE: He'll be in Tampa for work.

00:41:36.920 --> 00:41:43.420
CELESTE: And so he's just going to drive over from Tampa on the 31st, and I'm flying down.

00:41:43.420 --> 00:41:57.140
CELESTE: But I'm getting there early so I can go to the Grand Floridian and get my hair braided and then have brunch at the Grand Floridian Cafe and do a full time in the Magic Kingdom before he'll arrive probably around 4 or 5 o'clock.

00:41:57.140 --> 00:41:59.100
VIRGINIA: Do you do that at the spa?

00:41:59.100 --> 00:42:00.040
CELESTE: Yes.

00:42:00.040 --> 00:42:01.640
VIRGINIA: I didn't know they did that at the spa.

00:42:01.640 --> 00:42:02.180
CELESTE: Yes.

00:42:02.180 --> 00:42:10.660
CELESTE: And it's, I mean, it's expensive if you are a person with nimble fingers and can braid your own hair, but I am not.

00:42:10.660 --> 00:42:15.900
CELESTE: So it's $45 and somebody else braids my hair and it lasts the whole trip.

00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:20.760
VIRGINIA: Do you also get to take advantage of some of the spa amenities?

00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:22.140
CELESTE: I can.

00:42:22.140 --> 00:42:28.060
CELESTE: When you book a spa service, you can do the sauna and the little soaking thing.

00:42:28.060 --> 00:42:29.960
CELESTE: Yeah, you totally can.

00:42:29.960 --> 00:42:43.020
CELESTE: So I probably won't because I have brunch scheduled already at the Grand Floridian Cafe, and then I'm going to just hop on the monorail and head over to the Magic Kingdom and get a little Magic Kingdom time in before he gets there.

00:42:45.100 --> 00:42:51.680
VIRGINIA: Well, I hope that that trip goes exactly the way you want it to, and then you have another one in February anyway.

00:42:51.680 --> 00:42:54.920
VIRGINIA: So I'm not worried about you, Celeste.

00:42:54.920 --> 00:42:57.360
CELESTE: No, no, no.

00:42:57.360 --> 00:43:06.220
CELESTE: I would have been more upset if this was my one and only trip for the year, but I'm planning on burning a hole in my annual pass again in 2025.

00:43:06.220 --> 00:43:09.300
CELESTE: So not upset.

00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:10.940
CELESTE: There's another trip coming along.

00:43:11.760 --> 00:43:14.580
VIRGINIA: And this was trip number eight for 2024, right?

00:43:14.580 --> 00:43:15.280
CELESTE: Yes.

00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:15.860
CELESTE: Yes.

00:43:15.860 --> 00:43:16.420
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:43:16.420 --> 00:43:18.460
VIRGINIA: So hashtag goals.

00:43:18.460 --> 00:43:20.340
VIRGINIA: You're going for nine or higher.

00:43:20.340 --> 00:43:21.340
CELESTE: I am indeed.

00:43:21.340 --> 00:43:22.320
CELESTE: I am indeed.

00:43:22.540 --> 00:43:28.860
CELESTE: The goal is always to get my average daily price in the park, like somewhere around 70 bucks.

00:43:28.860 --> 00:43:38.460
CELESTE: And I think this year I think about like $58 a day for how much I paid for the annual pass versus how many days I went to the park.

00:43:39.060 --> 00:43:39.500
VIRGINIA: Wow.

00:43:39.500 --> 00:43:40.380
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:43:40.380 --> 00:43:41.400
VIRGINIA: Well worth it.

00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:42.320
VIRGINIA: Well worth it.

00:43:42.360 --> 00:43:43.220
CELESTE: I think so.

00:43:43.220 --> 00:43:44.580
CELESTE: I think so.

00:43:44.580 --> 00:43:47.040
VIRGINIA: Well, Celeste, you are so much fun.

00:43:47.040 --> 00:43:50.460
VIRGINIA: I cannot wait to see all of the photos from the trip.

00:43:50.460 --> 00:43:52.820
VIRGINIA: And I hope that you come back again someday.

00:43:52.820 --> 00:43:54.080
CELESTE: I definitely will.

00:43:54.080 --> 00:43:56.180
CELESTE: We'll have plenty of opportunities.

00:43:57.760 --> 00:44:03.720
VIRGINIA: I wish you all the best in the new year, and I hope you have a good holiday season.

00:44:03.720 --> 00:44:06.460
VIRGINIA: And I will talk to you some other time, I'm sure.

00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:08.180
CELESTE: Yeah, same to you, Virginia.

00:44:08.180 --> 00:44:09.300
CELESTE: Happy holidays.

00:44:09.300 --> 00:44:11.480
VIRGINIA: Thank you.

00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:14.780
ALEX: Thank you again to Celeste for being on the podcast.

00:44:14.780 --> 00:44:21.000
ALEX: If you enjoyed today's episode, please make sure you rate and review the show on the podcast platform you're listening on now.

00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:26.040
ALEX: Or you can leave a rating or review directly on our website, which again is whereilongtobepodcast.com.

00:44:27.460 --> 00:44:34.240
ALEX: Next week is the final episode of Season 3, where I will be joining my mom to share the details of our London trip, so you don't want to miss that.

00:44:36.100 --> 00:44:38.580
ALEX: Season 4 will launch on February 3rd.

00:44:38.580 --> 00:44:42.260
ALEX: Thank you for tuning in, and don't forget to keep daydreaming about Where You Long To Be.