Katherine and Renie have returned to real life and are back to sit down with Virginia to talk about all the details of this trip. Special highlights include checking out Cirque du Soleil’s Drawn to Life, going on the legendary Keys to the Kingdom Tour in the Magic Kingdom, and doing a split stay between Pop Century and Caribbean Beach (which they hadn’t stayed at in more than 20 years).

  • Trip Dates: September 28 - October 2, 2024

  • Post Trip Interview: recorded 10/4/24

 

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Transcript Below

00:00:12.202 --> 00:00:16.662
VIRGINIA: Hello, and welcome to Where I Long To Be, a magical trip report podcast.

00:00:16.662 --> 00:00:19.242
VIRGINIA: My name is Virginia, and I am your host.

00:00:19.242 --> 00:00:25.122
VIRGINIA: Thank you all for listening today, whether it's your first episode, or if you've been with me for a long time.

00:00:25.122 --> 00:00:29.082
VIRGINIA: I really appreciate your support, and hope that you will keep coming back for more.

00:00:29.082 --> 00:00:37.662
VIRGINIA: Longtime listeners will remember that while I created a TikTok account a while back, just to lock down my username, I had not been posting there yet.

00:00:37.662 --> 00:00:46.802
VIRGINIA: Well, that all changed last week when I put together a reel for Instagram that I thought people might enjoy as a distraction from the election.

00:00:46.802 --> 00:00:50.282
VIRGINIA: So I posted it over on TikTok as my very first video.

00:00:50.282 --> 00:00:58.882
VIRGINIA: Since then, I have a couple more videos up now, so I hope that the next time you're on TikTok, you will make sure to give me a follow and engage with the things I'm posting.

00:00:58.882 --> 00:01:04.362
VIRGINIA: My hope is that by being active on TikTok, more people will learn about the podcast and give it a listen.

00:01:04.362 --> 00:01:07.362
VIRGINIA: You can find the link in today's show notes.

00:01:07.362 --> 00:01:09.902
VIRGINIA: Okay, now on to why you are here.

00:01:10.582 --> 00:01:27.742
VIRGINIA: In case you missed the pre-trip episode that accompanies this post-trip report, Katherine, who you may remember from previous episodes or perhaps because you listened to her parents on Disney Podcast, was heading down to Walt Disney World September 28th through October 2nd for a trip with her mom.

00:01:27.742 --> 00:01:36.642
VIRGINIA: This trip was a split stay between Pop Century Resort and Caribbean Beach, the latter of which they had not stayed in for more than 20 years.

00:01:36.642 --> 00:01:46.762
VIRGINIA: The biggest and most exciting agenda item for this trip was definitely the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, which I know many of you would love to do if you haven't already.

00:01:46.762 --> 00:01:54.462
VIRGINIA: I know it's on my list of must-dos the moment Alex is 16 and old enough to do it, since I did promise we'd do it together.

00:01:54.462 --> 00:01:56.722
VIRGINIA: That should be enough to catch you all up.

00:01:56.742 --> 00:01:59.922
VIRGINIA: Now, here are Katherine and Renie.

00:02:01.282 --> 00:02:03.802
VIRGINIA: Welcome back to Katherine and to Renie.

00:02:03.802 --> 00:02:05.482
VIRGINIA: How are you ladies doing tonight?

00:02:06.182 --> 00:02:07.222
RENIE: Okay.

00:02:07.582 --> 00:02:09.062
KATHERINE: I think we've recovered.

00:02:09.062 --> 00:02:12.202
KATHERINE: We've been back for a couple of days, so I think we're doing okay.

00:02:12.202 --> 00:02:13.182
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:02:13.182 --> 00:02:17.382
VIRGINIA: Are there any other future mother-daughter trips in the cards for you?

00:02:17.382 --> 00:02:19.462
KATHERINE: We talked about it a little bit, actually.

00:02:19.462 --> 00:02:30.282
KATHERINE: We have a family trip coming up in January that we have to get through first, but we did talk a little bit about what other things we would like to do that we didn't get to do the trip.

00:02:30.982 --> 00:02:31.562
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:02:31.582 --> 00:02:32.302
KATHERINE: I think so.

00:02:32.302 --> 00:02:33.622
KATHERINE: I would like to.

00:02:33.622 --> 00:02:36.002
VIRGINIA: A mother-daughter trip just sounds amazing to me.

00:02:36.002 --> 00:02:37.262
VIRGINIA: My mother is no longer here.

00:02:37.262 --> 00:02:44.742
VIRGINIA: So the thought of being able to take a trip with my mother, just like to be able to kind of live vicariously through you guys, is just so sweet.

00:02:45.342 --> 00:02:47.222
VIRGINIA: And I can't wait to hear all about it.

00:02:47.222 --> 00:02:50.662
VIRGINIA: So let's start at the very beginning.

00:02:50.662 --> 00:02:55.482
VIRGINIA: A very good place to start, as Julie Andrews once said, in The Sound of Music.

00:02:57.122 --> 00:02:57.582
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:02:57.822 --> 00:03:04.802
VIRGINIA: So we are starting out on Saturday, September 28th, which was, drum roll, please, Katherine's birthday.

00:03:04.802 --> 00:03:06.262
VIRGINIA: Happy birthday, Katherine.

00:03:06.262 --> 00:03:07.262
KATHERINE: Yes, it was.

00:03:07.262 --> 00:03:09.042
KATHERINE: Thank you.

00:03:09.042 --> 00:03:19.122
KATHERINE: There was a gentleman on the plane who, it was also his birthday, and the flight attendant had everybody, they turned the lights off and had everybody turn their call button on and then sync him.

00:03:19.122 --> 00:03:22.782
KATHERINE: And then I'll turn the call buttons off at the same time to blow with the candles.

00:03:22.782 --> 00:03:27.122
KATHERINE: And she was next to me like, and she said she'd kill me if I said something.

00:03:27.602 --> 00:03:32.982
KATHERINE: So then the lady that was seated next to us said, oh, is it your birthday?

00:03:32.982 --> 00:03:34.842
KATHERINE: And I said, yes, but please, I don't want them to sync to me.

00:03:34.842 --> 00:03:37.002
KATHERINE: And she was like, well, my birthday is tomorrow.

00:03:40.122 --> 00:03:42.522
KATHERINE: So I did not get outed, fortunately.

00:03:42.522 --> 00:03:44.242
VIRGINIA: Undercover birthday crew.

00:03:44.242 --> 00:03:45.402
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:03:45.402 --> 00:03:48.182
VIRGINIA: Well, I want to know, how did they know it was his birthday?

00:03:48.182 --> 00:03:49.382
RENIE: His family must have told him.

00:03:49.382 --> 00:03:56.022
KATHERINE: They must have because actually when we got to the airport, so I have TSA pre-check, but it was not on my boarding pass.

00:03:56.022 --> 00:04:00.762
KATHERINE: And I had tried to figure out why it wasn't on my boarding pass before we left.

00:04:00.762 --> 00:04:07.442
KATHERINE: And Southwest said that they already had my known traveler number on file because I've used it before with Southwest and everything.

00:04:07.442 --> 00:04:09.542
KATHERINE: So I wasn't sure what was going on.

00:04:09.542 --> 00:04:19.522
KATHERINE: So when I went up to the counter to speak to the customer service woman and she looked and found me and everything and verified my birthday and to make sure it was me.

00:04:19.782 --> 00:04:22.562
KATHERINE: And I was like, yeah, it's today.

00:04:22.562 --> 00:04:27.142
KATHERINE: And she did not care, did not say happy birthday, she was in business.

00:04:27.142 --> 00:04:29.782
KATHERINE: But so she didn't help me, fortunately.

00:04:29.782 --> 00:04:33.962
KATHERINE: But other than that, I don't know how they would have known other than your family.

00:04:33.962 --> 00:04:34.682
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:04:34.942 --> 00:04:37.302
VIRGINIA: Was this an adult they were singing to or was it a kid?

00:04:37.302 --> 00:04:38.682
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:04:38.682 --> 00:04:40.482
RENIE: I couldn't see.

00:04:40.502 --> 00:04:42.242
KATHERINE: I think so.

00:04:42.242 --> 00:04:45.982
KATHERINE: I mean, it was Jean, which I guess could be a little boy named Jean.

00:04:46.222 --> 00:04:47.782
VIRGINIA: I mean, that's a big assumption.

00:04:47.982 --> 00:04:49.162
VIRGINIA: I mean, Katherine.

00:04:52.862 --> 00:04:55.442
RENIE: Had I thought of it, I would have said something.

00:04:55.442 --> 00:04:58.882
KATHERINE: There were a lot of kids on the flight, so I guess it could have been.

00:04:58.882 --> 00:04:59.522
VIRGINIA: Perhaps.

00:05:00.782 --> 00:05:05.102
VIRGINIA: When you said it in my mind, it was automatically an adult.

00:05:05.102 --> 00:05:07.462
VIRGINIA: Then suddenly it occurred to me, I'm like, it could have been a kid.

00:05:07.462 --> 00:05:09.602
VIRGINIA: Maybe that's why they were making such a big deal out of it.

00:05:11.662 --> 00:05:12.102
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:05:12.542 --> 00:05:22.262
VIRGINIA: For your birthday, you flew to Disney and did everything go okay with that flight beyond being scared that you were going to be out for your birthday?

00:05:22.262 --> 00:05:25.162
KATHERINE: Took off a little late, maybe 15 minutes.

00:05:25.162 --> 00:05:27.722
KATHERINE: It just seemed like boarding took a long time.

00:05:27.722 --> 00:05:33.922
KATHERINE: There were a lot of families with kids, which going to Orlando Saturday morning, not surprised.

00:05:33.922 --> 00:05:45.022
RENIE: I think leading up to it, I was worried that the hurricane had hit a day or two before and that flights were backing up, and it was going to be just an overall mess.

00:05:45.022 --> 00:05:46.462
RENIE: But it wasn't bad at all.

00:05:46.462 --> 00:05:48.202
KATHERINE: It wasn't bad near by us.

00:05:48.362 --> 00:05:49.922
RENIE: I mean, just the flight wasn't bad.

00:05:49.922 --> 00:05:51.622
RENIE: The airport wasn't TSA.

00:05:51.622 --> 00:05:53.002
RENIE: I mean, it wasn't bad.

00:05:53.002 --> 00:05:53.882
KATHERINE: It was a full flight.

00:05:54.222 --> 00:05:56.862
KATHERINE: They did say that, that it was a completely full flight.

00:05:56.862 --> 00:06:05.822
KATHERINE: I don't know, maybe some people had been rebooked, but I think our airport, so we flew out of Raleigh Durham, and I don't think that they really had much in the way of cancellations.

00:06:05.922 --> 00:06:10.282
KATHERINE: I think Charlotte had more, but it was fine by us.

00:06:10.282 --> 00:06:11.362
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:06:11.362 --> 00:06:18.362
VIRGINIA: Now, for this particular trip, you all were going to be doing a little transportation experiment.

00:06:18.362 --> 00:06:25.822
VIRGINIA: Once you landed at MCO, you're gonna be trying to take the new Lynx Bus over to Disney Springs, and then maybe catch an Uber from there.

00:06:25.822 --> 00:06:28.842
VIRGINIA: So did that actually end up happening?

00:06:28.842 --> 00:06:30.122
KATHERINE: It did.

00:06:30.122 --> 00:06:31.482
RENIE: Yes, it did.

00:06:31.502 --> 00:06:32.842
VIRGINIA: How did that go?

00:06:32.842 --> 00:06:34.842
RENIE: It was great, except for the rain.

00:06:35.242 --> 00:06:42.062
KATHERINE: It did start to rain after we got on the bus, and it did get to be raining pretty hard while we were on the bus.

00:06:43.142 --> 00:06:45.702
KATHERINE: I was getting a little queasy and feeling a little green.

00:06:45.702 --> 00:06:51.022
KATHERINE: We sat in the back, which was maybe not the best choice.

00:06:51.022 --> 00:06:55.122
KATHERINE: The bus driver we had, the rain did not slow him down at all.

00:06:55.122 --> 00:06:56.142
RENIE: He had stops to make.

00:06:57.202 --> 00:07:05.282
KATHERINE: Yeah, I guess, but he, I don't know, it was a lot of like sort of abrupt stopping and trying to find a suitcase.

00:07:06.022 --> 00:07:10.142
KATHERINE: So I was very happy to be off the bus at the end of the hour.

00:07:12.182 --> 00:07:18.022
KATHERINE: But I mean, for $2 a person, the price is right and it only stopped.

00:07:18.022 --> 00:07:19.162
KATHERINE: How many stops did we decide?

00:07:19.162 --> 00:07:19.562
RENIE: Three.

00:07:19.562 --> 00:07:21.182
KATHERINE: We made three stops.

00:07:21.182 --> 00:07:22.602
RENIE: Yeah, we thought it was five.

00:07:22.602 --> 00:07:27.142
KATHERINE: Yeah, when you look at the map, I think there's five, but I think it's an express.

00:07:27.142 --> 00:07:31.282
KATHERINE: So I think he only stops if you pull the cord and let him know, hey, I want you to stop here.

00:07:31.282 --> 00:07:34.442
KATHERINE: But he did not stop at all the stops.

00:07:34.442 --> 00:07:42.782
KATHERINE: So there were a couple of people who did get off at the other stops, but the majority of the people were going to Disney Springs.

00:07:42.782 --> 00:07:44.022
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:07:44.022 --> 00:07:46.502
VIRGINIA: Did it very much feel like a city bus?

00:07:46.502 --> 00:07:46.882
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:07:46.882 --> 00:07:47.562
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:07:47.562 --> 00:07:48.542
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:07:48.542 --> 00:07:55.582
VIRGINIA: And when you got to Disney Springs, did you end up doing the Uber or did you end up taking the Disney transportation from there?

00:07:55.582 --> 00:08:08.922
KATHERINE: We did end up doing the Uber, partly because we didn't want to mess with the luggage on the Disney bus and just didn't know if that was going to be a problem or not, and partly because it was still raining.

00:08:08.922 --> 00:08:14.222
KATHERINE: And the ride share pickup spot was right next to where the bus had dropped us off.

00:08:14.222 --> 00:08:19.362
KATHERINE: So we could just get the Uber there as opposed to walking in the rain to where the Disney buses were.

00:08:20.342 --> 00:08:22.702
KATHERINE: And it was very quick to get an Uber from there.

00:08:22.702 --> 00:08:24.022
KATHERINE: They're all around.

00:08:24.022 --> 00:08:28.002
KATHERINE: So it took, I don't know, a minute for the guy to show up.

00:08:28.002 --> 00:08:31.202
KATHERINE: I think it cost, after the tip, maybe $12.

00:08:31.202 --> 00:08:32.982
KATHERINE: So that was worth it to us.

00:08:32.982 --> 00:08:33.482
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:08:33.482 --> 00:08:33.822
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:08:33.822 --> 00:08:38.362
VIRGINIA: So you saved at least 50% by doing it this way.

00:08:38.362 --> 00:08:38.502
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:08:38.502 --> 00:08:39.462
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:08:39.462 --> 00:08:39.922
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:08:39.922 --> 00:08:46.742
VIRGINIA: So what time did you actually end up pulling in to your resort, which was Pop Century, for the first half of the splits day?

00:08:47.222 --> 00:08:50.502
KATHERINE: Like I said, we were about 15 minutes delayed with the flight.

00:08:50.502 --> 00:08:54.442
KATHERINE: So by the time we landed at MCO, we were pretty hungry.

00:08:54.442 --> 00:08:57.702
KATHERINE: So we decided to just go ahead and eat lunch in the airport.

00:08:57.702 --> 00:09:03.962
KATHERINE: So by the time we then took the bus and did the Disney Springs transfer and everything, it was almost 2 o'clock.

00:09:04.562 --> 00:09:04.882
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:09:04.882 --> 00:09:07.222
KATHERINE: Pop Century was like 1.50, I think.

00:09:07.222 --> 00:09:07.662
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:09:07.662 --> 00:09:11.782
VIRGINIA: Well, that is exactly when you anticipated that you would get there, according to my notes.

00:09:11.782 --> 00:09:13.922
VIRGINIA: So you're right on schedule.

00:09:14.562 --> 00:09:23.782
VIRGINIA: And this was a night when you were going to be venturing out to enjoy Cirque du Soleil, Disney's Drawn to Life.

00:09:23.782 --> 00:09:37.602
VIRGINIA: So when you got back to your room, what was the transition like between, you know, we're getting here, we're arriving, we're getting settled, and we now have to turn around and go right back out to do Cirque du Soleil.

00:09:37.602 --> 00:09:42.622
KATHERINE: So when we got there, we decided that we would just go ahead and see if they had a room available for us.

00:09:43.502 --> 00:09:49.142
KATHERINE: So we went up to the front desk, spoke to a very helpful and friendly cast member, Miguel.

00:09:49.142 --> 00:09:50.002
KATHERINE: Shout out to Miguel.

00:09:50.002 --> 00:09:51.122
KATHERINE: He was awesome.

00:09:51.122 --> 00:09:57.242
KATHERINE: He told me, he said, well, we have 900 chickens today, so I'm not sure what I'll be able to do for you, but I'll look.

00:09:57.242 --> 00:10:01.762
KATHERINE: And so he got off his iPad and on the phone and looking.

00:10:01.762 --> 00:10:03.842
KATHERINE: And so they did find a room for us.

00:10:03.842 --> 00:10:06.862
KATHERINE: So we were able to get into our room early.

00:10:06.862 --> 00:10:08.022
KATHERINE: So we went over to our room.

00:10:08.102 --> 00:10:14.422
KATHERINE: We were in the 50s section in Building 1, so right next to the main hall and the bus stops and everything.

00:10:14.422 --> 00:10:17.042
KATHERINE: So that felt like we were in a really good spot.

00:10:17.042 --> 00:10:20.482
KATHERINE: We were on the opposite side from the pool over there.

00:10:20.482 --> 00:10:25.802
KATHERINE: So it was still quiet, but it was close to the buses and all the transportation.

00:10:25.802 --> 00:10:32.102
KATHERINE: And the walk to the Skyliner also was not bad from there because we were pretty central.

00:10:32.102 --> 00:10:37.402
KATHERINE: So we didn't have to walk to the back side of the resort, but it wasn't a bad walk at all.

00:10:37.502 --> 00:10:46.602
KATHERINE: But so we got there, we unpacked our suitcases and everything, got settled into the room, and then we headed out over to Disney Springs.

00:10:46.602 --> 00:10:48.182
RENIE: Back to Disney Springs.

00:10:48.182 --> 00:10:48.582
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:10:48.582 --> 00:10:50.422
RENIE: And by this time, it had stopped raining.

00:10:50.422 --> 00:10:52.822
RENIE: So it was good because it had stopped raining.

00:10:52.822 --> 00:10:55.142
VIRGINIA: That is very good.

00:10:55.142 --> 00:11:02.482
VIRGINIA: Did you get time to do anything at Disney Springs before it was time for you to actually go and try to get seated for the show?

00:11:02.482 --> 00:11:04.322
KATHERINE: We got an ice cream.

00:11:05.402 --> 00:11:06.262
VIRGINIA: From Salt and Straw?

00:11:06.862 --> 00:11:08.702
KATHERINE: No, from the Haagen-Dazs.

00:11:09.842 --> 00:11:10.922
KATHERINE: Was it the Haagen-Dazs?

00:11:10.922 --> 00:11:11.502
RENIE: Yes.

00:11:11.502 --> 00:11:13.222
KATHERINE: Yeah, the Haagen-Dazs little...

00:11:13.222 --> 00:11:14.922
RENIE: Buse or whatever.

00:11:14.922 --> 00:11:15.662
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:11:16.042 --> 00:11:19.422
KATHERINE: Little shop, like a $9 tiny ice cream.

00:11:19.422 --> 00:11:20.942
KATHERINE: But it's pretty good.

00:11:20.942 --> 00:11:23.522
KATHERINE: The Midnight Cookies and Cream flavor.

00:11:23.522 --> 00:11:29.102
KATHERINE: And then it started to rain again, but we had our umbrellas with us, so we sat under our umbrellas and ate our ice cream.

00:11:29.102 --> 00:11:34.862
KATHERINE: And then we just sort of, I don't know, we went in the M&M store and we went into...

00:11:35.682 --> 00:11:37.042
RENIE: I don't even remember now.

00:11:37.042 --> 00:11:38.742
KATHERINE: I'm trying to think what the name of it is.

00:11:38.742 --> 00:11:42.462
KATHERINE: I think it's like D-Zined or something like that.

00:11:42.462 --> 00:11:43.642
VIRGINIA: D-Style.

00:11:43.642 --> 00:11:46.102
KATHERINE: D-Style, that might be it.

00:11:46.102 --> 00:11:49.182
KATHERINE: We were just sort of making our way towards Cirque du Soleil.

00:11:49.182 --> 00:11:54.522
KATHERINE: Towards that end where Cirque du Soleil is, and so we were just kind of popping in to meandering.

00:11:54.522 --> 00:12:01.222
KATHERINE: Just go look in this store and just killed some time until we could get into the theater.

00:12:01.222 --> 00:12:03.642
VIRGINIA: What are your thoughts on Drawn to Life?

00:12:04.442 --> 00:12:05.482
RENIE: It was amazing.

00:12:05.482 --> 00:12:07.482
KATHERINE: We're very impressed, yes.

00:12:07.482 --> 00:12:08.482
RENIE: Yes.

00:12:08.482 --> 00:12:10.922
RENIE: Things that people can do are...

00:12:10.922 --> 00:12:11.722
VIRGINIA: It's amazing.

00:12:11.722 --> 00:12:12.802
VIRGINIA: It really is.

00:12:12.802 --> 00:12:13.742
VIRGINIA: It really is.

00:12:13.962 --> 00:12:21.942
VIRGINIA: I think sometimes you watch people doing it and you're like, I feel like had I been given the chance in life, I might have been good at that.

00:12:22.082 --> 00:12:23.722
VIRGINIA: Do you have that feeling about something?

00:12:23.722 --> 00:12:25.342
RENIE: Well, that's like watching the Olympics.

00:12:25.382 --> 00:12:25.582
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:12:26.722 --> 00:12:27.562
RENIE: I could do that.

00:12:27.562 --> 00:12:31.482
VIRGINIA: If I had only started early enough, I could have been a gold medal gymnast.

00:12:31.482 --> 00:12:33.502
RENIE: If my mother had given me lessons.

00:12:35.242 --> 00:12:38.742
VIRGINIA: Yeah, that's how I feel seeing things like that.

00:12:38.742 --> 00:12:41.602
VIRGINIA: But Drawn to Life, I felt, was pretty special.

00:12:41.602 --> 00:12:46.982
VIRGINIA: I love the animation that they do behind them and it's just a lot of fun.

00:12:46.982 --> 00:12:48.122
RENIE: The theater is beautiful.

00:12:48.122 --> 00:12:48.982
RENIE: It was comfortable.

00:12:48.982 --> 00:12:50.182
RENIE: It wasn't too crowded.

00:12:50.182 --> 00:12:53.582
RENIE: I mean, the place was not sold out by any means.

00:12:54.602 --> 00:12:55.182
RENIE: It was great.

00:12:55.182 --> 00:12:56.242
RENIE: It was a great show.

00:12:56.242 --> 00:12:59.062
KATHERINE: And all the seats we felt like would be good seats.

00:12:59.062 --> 00:13:01.322
RENIE: It's like you said, there's no bad seat.

00:13:01.622 --> 00:13:03.922
KATHERINE: Like an intimate sort of theater.

00:13:03.922 --> 00:13:09.422
KATHERINE: Wherever you were, you would feel like you were part of it, see everything and be part of the show.

00:13:09.422 --> 00:13:09.862
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:13:09.862 --> 00:13:10.762
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:13:10.762 --> 00:13:11.722
KATHERINE: We would recommend.

00:13:11.722 --> 00:13:13.342
VIRGINIA: I definitely would go see it again.

00:13:13.342 --> 00:13:19.022
VIRGINIA: And it made me very curious about the other Cirque du Soleil shows that they have around the world.

00:13:19.022 --> 00:13:22.302
VIRGINIA: Because you always hear about these amazing shows.

00:13:22.562 --> 00:13:28.482
VIRGINIA: And when you finally see one, I think it kind of makes you want to go see what all the others are about.

00:13:28.482 --> 00:13:35.022
VIRGINIA: Because I've heard that the one, I think it's the one in Vegas that the people, the performers enter through the water.

00:13:35.022 --> 00:13:36.682
VIRGINIA: Like they're not there.

00:13:36.682 --> 00:13:44.282
VIRGINIA: Somehow they get into the pool from the bottom and suddenly are there performing for you.

00:13:44.282 --> 00:13:44.662
VIRGINIA: I don't know.

00:13:44.662 --> 00:13:46.122
VIRGINIA: It's magic.

00:13:46.162 --> 00:13:47.902
VIRGINIA: It's all magic.

00:13:47.902 --> 00:13:48.602
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:13:48.602 --> 00:13:53.422
VIRGINIA: So your Cirque du Soleil show was at 5.30.

00:13:53.422 --> 00:13:59.502
VIRGINIA: So you had time to do things in the evening after that was over if you wanted to.

00:13:59.502 --> 00:14:03.882
VIRGINIA: So what did you get into after the show?

00:14:03.882 --> 00:14:07.482
KATHERINE: So after that, we went and had dinner at Pizza Ponte.

00:14:08.322 --> 00:14:11.262
KATHERINE: We felt like maybe we ordered the wrong thing.

00:14:11.262 --> 00:14:12.942
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:14:12.942 --> 00:14:14.542
KATHERINE: It was fine.

00:14:14.542 --> 00:14:22.502
KATHERINE: We ordered, we got a slice of the mushroom pizza and a salad and we both sort of split and had like a Caesar salad and this pizza.

00:14:22.502 --> 00:14:28.662
KATHERINE: And it felt like afterward that we probably would have been better off getting just sort of a regular slice of pizza or pepperoni slice.

00:14:28.662 --> 00:14:29.802
RENIE: Which is huge.

00:14:29.962 --> 00:14:38.662
KATHERINE: They were very big and they looked fresher, that they were turning over at a faster rate where maybe the mushroom pizza had been sitting here for a little while.

00:14:38.662 --> 00:14:40.262
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:14:40.262 --> 00:14:44.342
KATHERINE: I would recommend trying it, but maybe just don't the mushroom pizza.

00:14:45.882 --> 00:14:47.302
KATHERINE: See what looks fresher.

00:14:47.302 --> 00:14:50.662
VIRGINIA: Where in Disney Springs is Pizza Ponte located?

00:14:50.662 --> 00:14:53.882
KATHERINE: It is by Maria and Enzo's.

00:14:53.882 --> 00:14:54.442
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:14:54.442 --> 00:14:55.722
KATHERINE: Connected to it.

00:14:55.722 --> 00:14:56.602
VIRGINIA: Got it.

00:14:56.602 --> 00:14:57.062
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:14:57.062 --> 00:15:07.382
VIRGINIA: Well, I also think that probably based on the fact that the two of you are originally from Long Island, you probably have pretty high standards when it comes to pizza, I'm guessing.

00:15:07.382 --> 00:15:07.642
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:15:07.902 --> 00:15:09.042
VIRGINIA: You're right there.

00:15:09.042 --> 00:15:10.902
RENIE: You're right.

00:15:10.902 --> 00:15:13.502
VIRGINIA: So people take it with a grain of salt.

00:15:13.722 --> 00:15:19.042
VIRGINIA: You've got three people on this interview that are all very picky about pizza.

00:15:20.982 --> 00:15:21.342
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:15:21.342 --> 00:15:25.162
VIRGINIA: Let's get into Sunday, September 29th.

00:15:25.162 --> 00:15:29.562
VIRGINIA: This was your first Park Day and it was a Hollywood Studios Day.

00:15:29.562 --> 00:15:30.962
VIRGINIA: Did you make it over for rope drop?

00:15:30.962 --> 00:15:34.942
VIRGINIA: Because I know you had goals to get your day started early.

00:15:34.942 --> 00:15:47.582
KATHERINE: We weren't the first people in line, but the park opened for the extra half-hour at 8.30, and I think we were in the park at, I don't know, 8.20.

00:15:47.582 --> 00:15:55.602
KATHERINE: The first thing that we had on our list was to go into Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, and so we were in line waiting for them to open the ride.

00:15:55.602 --> 00:15:56.062
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:15:56.162 --> 00:16:00.502
KATHERINE: In a way, we sort of rope dropped, but there were certainly plenty of people in front of us.

00:16:00.502 --> 00:16:00.762
RENIE: Yes.

00:16:00.762 --> 00:16:00.962
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:16:00.962 --> 00:16:01.742
RENIE: Yes.

00:16:01.742 --> 00:16:02.362
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:16:02.362 --> 00:16:06.422
VIRGINIA: Now, Renie, when we spoke before, you could not remember Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway.

00:16:07.522 --> 00:16:09.962
VIRGINIA: Once you started, did it come back to you?

00:16:09.962 --> 00:16:10.582
RENIE: Nope.

00:16:10.582 --> 00:16:12.022
VIRGINIA: It was like a brand new ride all over again.

00:16:12.022 --> 00:16:13.942
RENIE: It was like a brand new ride.

00:16:13.942 --> 00:16:15.742
VIRGINIA: So how did you like this new ride?

00:16:15.742 --> 00:16:16.482
RENIE: It was great.

00:16:16.482 --> 00:16:17.062
RENIE: I loved it.

00:16:17.062 --> 00:16:23.502
RENIE: I mean, I wish I could remember having done it because I came home and I talked to my husband about it and described it.

00:16:23.502 --> 00:16:25.922
RENIE: He said, I don't remember doing that ride.

00:16:25.922 --> 00:16:31.982
RENIE: And now that I think about it, I think maybe we did it when we went with your son last August, that that was when-

00:16:31.982 --> 00:16:48.842
KATHERINE: No, no, no, we didn't do it with him last August because when we took him on it, the first time when we went November of 22, the first time with him, I remember my husband was there with us because he, during the tornado scene, he was not quite free at the time.

00:16:48.842 --> 00:16:51.702
KATHERINE: Completely freaked out.

00:16:51.702 --> 00:16:57.262
KATHERINE: So I don't know, maybe you just weren't with us, but I don't know what else you would have been.

00:16:57.262 --> 00:17:03.042
RENIE: I didn't remember it and I described it to my husband and he swore that he had never been on it.

00:17:03.042 --> 00:17:04.602
KATHERINE: Maybe you weren't, I don't know.

00:17:04.602 --> 00:17:05.582
VIRGINIA: Maybe not, maybe not.

00:17:05.582 --> 00:17:06.422
RENIE: But it was great.

00:17:06.422 --> 00:17:07.582
RENIE: I loved it.

00:17:07.582 --> 00:17:08.622
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:17:08.622 --> 00:17:20.622
VIRGINIA: Some of your other priorities for your Hollywood Studios Day were to ride Toy Story Mania and then you also said you had a lunch reservation that was part of the Fantasmic dining package.

00:17:21.322 --> 00:17:26.562
VIRGINIA: So was Toy Story Mania your next move after Mickey and Minnie's?

00:17:26.562 --> 00:17:27.902
KATHERINE: It was.

00:17:27.902 --> 00:17:28.642
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:17:28.642 --> 00:17:30.162
VIRGINIA: How did you do?

00:17:31.482 --> 00:17:39.042
KATHERINE: Well, so when we were in line for the ride, there was a couple behind us who had shirts on.

00:17:39.042 --> 00:17:41.422
KATHERINE: They were doing all four parks in one day.

00:17:41.422 --> 00:17:42.342
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:17:42.342 --> 00:17:48.622
KATHERINE: They were both on their phones researching what the highest points were for each game and everything.

00:17:49.582 --> 00:17:53.522
KATHERINE: So I was thinking like, oh man, I really hope they're not going to be in our vehicle because we're just going to get crushed.

00:17:53.522 --> 00:17:57.962
KATHERINE: And so of course they were on the other side of our vehicle and crushed us.

00:17:59.882 --> 00:18:00.942
RENIE: It was fun anyway.

00:18:00.942 --> 00:18:01.782
KATHERINE: But it was fun.

00:18:01.782 --> 00:18:02.302
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:18:02.302 --> 00:18:03.542
KATHERINE: You know, we-

00:18:03.542 --> 00:18:05.602
RENIE: I don't expect to do well on those things.

00:18:05.602 --> 00:18:10.182
KATHERINE: No, I think our accuracy, I think we both had like under 30% accuracy.

00:18:10.182 --> 00:18:14.262
KATHERINE: We were just letting it fly, but it's fun.

00:18:14.682 --> 00:18:17.322
KATHERINE: I like that ride better than Buzz Lightyear and the Magic Kingdom.

00:18:17.462 --> 00:18:24.682
KATHERINE: I like that you can actually see splat that you're hitting and get that sort of instant feedback and know that, okay, I did it.

00:18:24.682 --> 00:18:25.062
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:18:25.062 --> 00:18:26.182
RENIE: I hit it.

00:18:26.182 --> 00:18:28.242
KATHERINE: So that was always fun.

00:18:28.242 --> 00:18:28.682
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:18:28.682 --> 00:18:29.262
VIRGINIA: I agree.

00:18:29.262 --> 00:18:29.702
VIRGINIA: I agree.

00:18:29.902 --> 00:18:37.702
VIRGINIA: I feel like it's easier in a lot of ways to do the Toy Story Mania than to deal with a laser pointer thing.

00:18:37.702 --> 00:18:39.162
RENIE: And you don't know where it's going.

00:18:39.182 --> 00:18:39.642
RENIE: Right.

00:18:39.642 --> 00:18:43.442
VIRGINIA: It may or may not be pointing in the direction that you're pointing.

00:18:43.442 --> 00:18:49.042
VIRGINIA: So anyway, I think the question that we all want to know the answer to, Renie.

00:18:49.042 --> 00:18:49.262
RENIE: Yes.

00:18:49.262 --> 00:18:52.662
VIRGINIA: You were on the fence about Rise of the Resistance.

00:18:52.662 --> 00:18:54.802
VIRGINIA: So did you do it?

00:18:54.802 --> 00:18:56.922
RENIE: Well, here's what happened.

00:18:56.922 --> 00:19:03.082
RENIE: Rise of the Resistance was down all day Saturday, I guess, when we got there, right?

00:19:03.082 --> 00:19:06.622
KATHERINE: Katherine, it was down all day, but it was down on Saturday.

00:19:07.782 --> 00:19:10.962
RENIE: It was down for a lot of the day on Sunday.

00:19:10.962 --> 00:19:16.082
RENIE: And by the time we checked it out again, the wait was, what, 130 minutes?

00:19:16.082 --> 00:19:21.922
KATHERINE: By the time it reopened, it reopened and the wait was immediately two hours and really only went up from there.

00:19:21.962 --> 00:19:23.142
RENIE: Oh, no.

00:19:23.142 --> 00:19:23.442
RENIE: Right.

00:19:23.442 --> 00:19:25.082
RENIE: So we did not write it.

00:19:25.082 --> 00:19:26.202
RENIE: We did not write it.

00:19:26.202 --> 00:19:29.982
VIRGINIA: But it sounds like you were going to be willing to write it.

00:19:29.982 --> 00:19:30.682
VIRGINIA: I was ready to do it.

00:19:30.682 --> 00:19:31.242
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:19:31.242 --> 00:19:36.502
RENIE: I was going to do it, but we just didn't get the opportunity because we weren't going to stand on line that long.

00:19:36.502 --> 00:19:36.982
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:19:36.982 --> 00:19:37.562
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:19:37.562 --> 00:19:41.762
VIRGINIA: So did you get anything else done in the morning before your lunch reservation?

00:19:42.262 --> 00:19:45.582
KATHERINE: We went and saw the Muppets.

00:19:45.582 --> 00:19:46.442
VIRGINIA: Love the Muppets.

00:19:46.442 --> 00:19:48.362
KATHERINE: We got to check in on the Muppets.

00:19:48.362 --> 00:19:56.642
KATHERINE: Then we went and saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, first show of the day.

00:19:56.642 --> 00:20:02.182
KATHERINE: Then we went and had lunch at Sci-Fi Dining for our fantastic package.

00:20:02.182 --> 00:20:03.862
VIRGINIA: How was lunch at Sci-Fi?

00:20:03.862 --> 00:20:05.022
RENIE: It was good.

00:20:05.022 --> 00:20:05.602
KATHERINE: It was dark.

00:20:05.802 --> 00:20:06.182
RENIE: It's dark.

00:20:06.402 --> 00:20:07.342
RENIE: It's dark.

00:20:07.362 --> 00:20:13.722
KATHERINE: I was just, it wasn't as dark as I was worried it might be because they do have a little strip of light.

00:20:15.102 --> 00:20:17.002
KATHERINE: We were in one of the cars.

00:20:17.002 --> 00:20:18.902
KATHERINE: So yeah, we were in a little dashboard.

00:20:18.902 --> 00:20:26.862
KATHERINE: They do have a light so you can see, but it's dark like walking, I'm trying to walk and I don't know how the people who work there.

00:20:26.862 --> 00:20:27.402
KATHERINE: I don't know how they-

00:20:27.402 --> 00:20:28.802
VIRGINIA: I think their eyes just adjust.

00:20:28.802 --> 00:20:29.242
RENIE: I think.

00:20:29.242 --> 00:20:29.962
KATHERINE: I guess they must.

00:20:29.962 --> 00:20:33.122
KATHERINE: I think they get used to it.

00:20:33.162 --> 00:20:34.302
KATHERINE: I thought the food was good.

00:20:34.322 --> 00:20:38.082
KATHERINE: I had a citrus chicken salad.

00:20:38.402 --> 00:20:47.062
KATHERINE: You had a chicken salad croissant sandwich and we did a lot of sort of like, I'll get this, you get that, and then we'll eat half of it and switch type of deal.

00:20:47.062 --> 00:20:47.542
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:20:47.542 --> 00:20:51.162
VIRGINIA: No, that's perfect because then you don't have to commit to one thing.

00:20:51.162 --> 00:20:53.742
VIRGINIA: You get to taste a little of multiple things.

00:20:54.322 --> 00:20:55.222
KATHERINE: Yep.

00:20:55.222 --> 00:21:00.422
KATHERINE: Then the package came with an entree, a drink, and a dessert.

00:21:00.422 --> 00:21:05.842
KATHERINE: We were stuffed by the time we were doing our entrees, but we couldn't pass up a free dessert.

00:21:05.962 --> 00:21:15.902
KATHERINE: We got the Red Planet and we got the caramel cheesecake brownie something.

00:21:15.902 --> 00:21:19.102
KATHERINE: We actually surprisingly liked the Red Planet better.

00:21:19.102 --> 00:21:34.022
KATHERINE: That was an almond cheesecake with a blueberry compote, ram cracker crust, and some sort of matcha, I don't know, powder, red glaze sort of dome on it.

00:21:34.022 --> 00:21:36.582
RENIE: That surprised me because I'm the chocolate girl.

00:21:36.582 --> 00:21:38.742
RENIE: If it's not chocolate, I don't eat it.

00:21:38.742 --> 00:21:41.162
RENIE: But I really like that.

00:21:42.302 --> 00:21:44.822
KATHERINE: That was quite good.

00:21:44.822 --> 00:21:47.282
VIRGINIA: What did you do in the afternoon?

00:21:47.382 --> 00:21:47.902
KATHERINE: Let's see.

00:21:47.902 --> 00:21:55.002
KATHERINE: After lunch, we went and saw the Beauty and the Beast stage show.

00:21:55.002 --> 00:21:57.342
VIRGINIA: Had you both seen that before?

00:21:57.342 --> 00:21:57.462
VIRGINIA: Yes.

00:21:57.462 --> 00:21:58.602
KATHERINE: Oh, yeah.

00:21:59.922 --> 00:22:08.502
KATHERINE: That's one of the few things I remember from our very first trip in 1995, going and seeing that show in there forever and ever.

00:22:08.502 --> 00:22:13.622
KATHERINE: And very few little things have changed throughout the years with that show.

00:22:13.622 --> 00:22:14.702
KATHERINE: But it's fun.

00:22:14.702 --> 00:22:16.082
KATHERINE: So we went and saw that.

00:22:16.182 --> 00:22:23.482
KATHERINE: And then we were kind of, we had been, rise had come up, like I think after we got out of lunch, we saw that it had come back.

00:22:23.482 --> 00:22:25.942
KATHERINE: And so we'd been checking it and the time was just going up and up.

00:22:25.942 --> 00:22:33.602
KATHERINE: And but then we saw that Tower of Terror was only a 15-minute wait.

00:22:35.222 --> 00:22:40.642
KATHERINE: And so we decided that we would, we would be brave and do that.

00:22:40.642 --> 00:22:41.722
KATHERINE: I like it.

00:22:41.722 --> 00:22:43.502
KATHERINE: That's one of my favorite rides.

00:22:43.502 --> 00:22:50.182
KATHERINE: Hadn't done it in a while just because the last two times we'd been with my son and so just had done it in a while.

00:22:50.182 --> 00:22:52.202
KATHERINE: I don't know when the last time was that you did it.

00:22:52.202 --> 00:22:58.162
RENIE: But oh my gosh, years and years and years ago, years ago, you decided that you would give it a try.

00:22:59.342 --> 00:23:01.522
KATHERINE: But I don't think, I don't think it was too bad.

00:23:01.522 --> 00:23:03.142
RENIE: No, no, it was, it was fine.

00:23:03.162 --> 00:23:06.182
VIRGINIA: It was, it was good for you.

00:23:06.182 --> 00:23:07.422
VIRGINIA: I love that ride.

00:23:07.422 --> 00:23:08.282
VIRGINIA: So much fun.

00:23:08.282 --> 00:23:08.822
RENIE: It was good.

00:23:08.822 --> 00:23:09.882
RENIE: It was very good.

00:23:09.882 --> 00:23:16.562
KATHERINE: We did that and we went to Lightning McQueen's Racing Academy because it is closing forever.

00:23:16.562 --> 00:23:19.102
KATHERINE: I think the 7th is the last day of operation.

00:23:19.102 --> 00:23:20.442
KATHERINE: And I had never seen it before.

00:23:20.442 --> 00:23:24.442
RENIE: So I just, so we had taken, we had taken your son, right?

00:23:24.442 --> 00:23:27.462
RENIE: When we went, my husband and I had taken him.

00:23:27.462 --> 00:23:32.062
KATHERINE: We were attempting to get on Rise of the Resistance and you, and you took him over there to see it.

00:23:32.082 --> 00:23:36.982
KATHERINE: It's like any red-blooded American four-year-old boy loves carcasses.

00:23:36.982 --> 00:23:39.142
KATHERINE: Very happy to see Lightning McQueen.

00:23:39.142 --> 00:23:40.062
VIRGINIA: Of course.

00:23:40.062 --> 00:23:48.082
VIRGINIA: Well, once they do the renovations in Magic Kingdom, Lightning McQueen will have some more representation, so.

00:23:48.082 --> 00:23:49.242
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:23:49.242 --> 00:23:55.422
KATHERINE: Lightning McQueen is going to be gone from the parks for a little while, but he's going to be back bigger and better.

00:23:55.422 --> 00:23:59.642
KATHERINE: There will be getting a villains show over there, so I think that will be really cool.

00:24:00.122 --> 00:24:01.722
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:24:01.722 --> 00:24:07.382
VIRGINIA: I am a little sad that we're going to be losing Tom Sawyer Island.

00:24:07.382 --> 00:24:14.542
VIRGINIA: I know it sounds so silly, but we've really enjoyed being able to go there and take a break from people.

00:24:14.542 --> 00:24:20.702
VIRGINIA: It's been a really great place to just go and sit on a bench, and Alex loves to run through the caves and stuff.

00:24:22.242 --> 00:24:29.322
VIRGINIA: He was a little sad when they said it was going away, but I trust that we will get something amazing.

00:24:31.142 --> 00:24:34.342
VIRGINIA: The parks were not meant to stay exactly the same forever.

00:24:34.342 --> 00:24:35.502
VIRGINIA: That was not the intention.

00:24:36.422 --> 00:24:41.802
VIRGINIA: All right, so then, did you get anything else in before Fantasmic?

00:24:41.802 --> 00:24:46.462
VIRGINIA: Because I think you were trying to go to the earlier Fantasmic showing, right?

00:24:46.462 --> 00:24:46.922
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:24:46.922 --> 00:24:57.022
KATHERINE: At that point, we had done everything that we reasonably wanted to do, so we decided to just go back to the resort and relax for a bit.

00:24:57.022 --> 00:25:02.202
KATHERINE: So we took the Skyliner back, we went to the pool, hung out.

00:25:04.622 --> 00:25:10.262
KATHERINE: We got dinner at the food court at Pop Century.

00:25:10.262 --> 00:25:14.742
KATHERINE: They were supposed to be done with the food court renovation that day.

00:25:14.742 --> 00:25:24.702
KATHERINE: It was supposed to reopen on Sunday, and then we got a message on our in-room phone the night before saying, sorry, it's not going to be open.

00:25:24.822 --> 00:25:26.502
RENIE: I think.

00:25:26.502 --> 00:25:34.682
KATHERINE: So it was all either mobile order or they had grab-and-go stuff in the arcade, which we didn't attempt to check that out.

00:25:34.682 --> 00:25:41.382
KATHERINE: But so the way that they had the mobile ordering set up was kind of confusing.

00:25:41.382 --> 00:25:48.182
KATHERINE: And so I don't know, maybe that was on us, but the pasta, I don't know, maybe it sat.

00:25:48.182 --> 00:25:49.482
RENIE: Yeah, it was a little dry.

00:25:49.502 --> 00:25:50.182
KATHERINE: Yeah, it was dry.

00:25:52.462 --> 00:25:59.302
KATHERINE: And just we've gotten the pasta from the All-Star Movies Food Court a couple of times now.

00:25:59.302 --> 00:26:00.522
KATHERINE: My son is a big fan of it.

00:26:00.522 --> 00:26:01.862
KATHERINE: So we've had it a few times there.

00:26:01.862 --> 00:26:04.022
KATHERINE: And it's been, I think it's been good.

00:26:04.022 --> 00:26:07.522
RENIE: But I was surprised that it was not that good.

00:26:07.522 --> 00:26:07.882
VIRGINIA: Not that good.

00:26:07.882 --> 00:26:09.522
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:26:09.522 --> 00:26:13.302
KATHERINE: But I did see that the food court has completely reopened there now.

00:26:13.302 --> 00:26:15.022
KATHERINE: So I guess they just needed a few extra days.

00:26:15.022 --> 00:26:19.202
KATHERINE: Because on Saturday, when we got there, we had walked by it.

00:26:19.202 --> 00:26:22.382
KATHERINE: And then they still had all these big plastic sheets up.

00:26:22.382 --> 00:26:23.482
RENIE: Partitions.

00:26:23.482 --> 00:26:28.262
KATHERINE: The outside entrances into the food court seating area were all gated off and everything.

00:26:28.262 --> 00:26:30.862
KATHERINE: And we said, doesn't it look like they're going to open tomorrow?

00:26:30.862 --> 00:26:32.982
KATHERINE: And then it did not open while we were there.

00:26:32.982 --> 00:26:33.842
VIRGINIA: So.

00:26:33.842 --> 00:26:34.402
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:26:34.402 --> 00:26:37.662
VIRGINIA: Is it going to look totally different or would they just upgrade?

00:26:37.662 --> 00:26:38.582
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:26:38.582 --> 00:26:39.982
KATHERINE: I saw a couple of pictures today.

00:26:40.142 --> 00:26:48.002
KATHERINE: I think they, like, redid, I guess, like, the tile, like, designs on the walls and I don't know.

00:26:48.002 --> 00:26:52.582
KATHERINE: They had, they did have some seating open when we were there.

00:26:54.142 --> 00:27:05.342
KATHERINE: So I'm not sure if maybe the actual food preparation areas were, if anything happened there, but it's done now.

00:27:05.622 --> 00:27:06.162
RENIE: So.

00:27:06.162 --> 00:27:07.222
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:27:07.222 --> 00:27:08.522
VIRGINIA: Good to know.

00:27:08.522 --> 00:27:13.182
VIRGINIA: And you went back and saw the first showing of Phantasmac.

00:27:13.182 --> 00:27:13.942
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:27:13.942 --> 00:27:14.502
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:27:14.502 --> 00:27:17.482
VIRGINIA: How long had it been since either of you had seen Phantasmac?

00:27:18.662 --> 00:27:20.582
RENIE: When we were there last shows.

00:27:20.582 --> 00:27:21.122
RENIE: Okay.

00:27:21.122 --> 00:27:23.262
VIRGINIA: So it's a regular thing for you.

00:27:23.282 --> 00:27:25.902
VIRGINIA: It's not something that you go a long time between shows.

00:27:25.902 --> 00:27:27.162
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:27:27.162 --> 00:27:27.602
KATHERINE: All right.

00:27:28.342 --> 00:27:31.442
KATHERINE: That's as far as the nighttime entertainment.

00:27:31.442 --> 00:27:34.322
KATHERINE: That's probably number one on our list.

00:27:34.322 --> 00:27:35.042
VIRGINIA: A must do.

00:27:36.142 --> 00:27:36.922
VIRGINIA: I love it too.

00:27:36.922 --> 00:27:37.902
VIRGINIA: I love it.

00:27:37.902 --> 00:27:43.162
VIRGINIA: After that show was over, it was probably fairly close to closing time.

00:27:43.162 --> 00:27:47.822
VIRGINIA: Did you have any time to do anything else or you just headed back to the resort after Phantasmac?

00:27:47.822 --> 00:27:48.062
KATHERINE: No.

00:27:48.322 --> 00:27:49.422
KATHERINE: We were trying to get back.

00:27:49.422 --> 00:27:55.702
KATHERINE: So Saturday night, the night before, after we left Disney Springs, I had wanted to go to the boardwalk.

00:27:55.702 --> 00:27:57.762
KATHERINE: Just to see it at night, I had never been there at night.

00:27:57.762 --> 00:28:14.022
KATHERINE: So we took the bus from Disney Springs to boardwalk, and then walked down the boardwalk over to the Epcot Skyliner Station, which was not one of my better ideas because it was about half an hour after Epcot had closed.

00:28:14.302 --> 00:28:15.282
VIRGINIA: Oh no.

00:28:15.282 --> 00:28:16.722
KATHERINE: The line was tremendously long.

00:28:16.902 --> 00:28:23.722
KATHERINE: So we waited, it took, I would say, about an hour for us to get from Epcot back to Pop Century.

00:28:23.722 --> 00:28:30.662
KATHERINE: So we were bracing ourselves that we were going to have a wait in Hollywood Studios.

00:28:30.662 --> 00:28:32.502
RENIE: On Sunday after.

00:28:32.502 --> 00:28:33.102
KATHERINE: On Sunday.

00:28:33.102 --> 00:28:38.942
KATHERINE: So we tried to just get out as fast as possible.

00:28:38.942 --> 00:28:44.542
KATHERINE: With the dining package seating, we were in the middle of the theater, we were in the Sorcerer Mickey section.

00:28:44.542 --> 00:28:46.162
KATHERINE: But we were pretty close to the top.

00:28:46.162 --> 00:28:52.962
KATHERINE: We had chosen purposefully not to go further down because we wanted to be as close to the exit as possible.

00:28:52.962 --> 00:28:55.942
KATHERINE: And I would say that's the fastest we've ever gotten out of Fantasmic.

00:28:55.942 --> 00:29:05.482
KATHERINE: Because usually I feel like you're in sort of the cattle call and you're all getting sort of squeezed and pushed towards the exit.

00:29:05.482 --> 00:29:09.142
KATHERINE: And we got up and up the stairs and out.

00:29:09.142 --> 00:29:10.722
RENIE: Plus we didn't have to look for a stroller.

00:29:11.122 --> 00:29:12.382
KATHERINE: That also helps a lot.

00:29:12.742 --> 00:29:13.742
KATHERINE: That makes a big difference.

00:29:13.742 --> 00:29:16.122
VIRGINIA: It definitely helps.

00:29:16.122 --> 00:29:17.722
RENIE: It made a lot of difference.

00:29:17.722 --> 00:29:21.542
KATHERINE: So I think it took us maybe 30 minutes from...

00:29:21.602 --> 00:29:22.962
RENIE: It wasn't bad at all.

00:29:22.962 --> 00:29:25.002
KATHERINE: Getting up and leaving and getting back to the resort.

00:29:25.002 --> 00:29:29.382
KATHERINE: Like we were very surprised at how efficient it was.

00:29:29.902 --> 00:29:30.162
VIRGINIA: All right.

00:29:30.162 --> 00:29:36.682
VIRGINIA: So Monday, September 30th, big day, big day, you had Keys to the Kingdom Tour.

00:29:36.682 --> 00:29:42.402
VIRGINIA: You were taking advantage of multi-pass and you had a dining reservation for dinner.

00:29:42.402 --> 00:29:44.102
KATHERINE: And it was 94 degrees.

00:29:44.102 --> 00:29:44.622
VIRGINIA: Oh, wow.

00:29:44.622 --> 00:29:45.542
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:29:45.642 --> 00:29:47.142
VIRGINIA: Yeah, it was very hot.

00:29:47.142 --> 00:29:48.202
KATHERINE: It was hot while we were there.

00:29:48.202 --> 00:29:49.522
KATHERINE: It was very hot.

00:29:49.522 --> 00:29:52.022
KATHERINE: Not as hot as August, but it was...

00:29:52.022 --> 00:29:52.642
RENIE: Close.

00:29:52.642 --> 00:29:53.162
RENIE: It was close.

00:29:53.242 --> 00:29:54.882
KATHERINE: It was hot, yes.

00:29:56.062 --> 00:29:59.262
VIRGINIA: So tell us all about the Keys to the Kingdom Tour.

00:29:59.262 --> 00:30:04.282
RENIE: Well, we got there early because we were concerned about getting there early.

00:30:05.342 --> 00:30:07.462
KATHERINE: And so you had called...

00:30:07.462 --> 00:30:08.922
KATHERINE: Called or did you go to the front desk?

00:30:08.922 --> 00:30:10.842
RENIE: I called the front desk.

00:30:10.842 --> 00:30:13.262
KATHERINE: And you asked what their advice was?

00:30:13.262 --> 00:30:16.062
RENIE: As far as getting there early enough.

00:30:16.062 --> 00:30:18.182
KATHERINE: Because our tour was at 8.30.

00:30:18.182 --> 00:30:19.162
KATHERINE: We had picked...

00:30:19.162 --> 00:30:21.802
KATHERINE: So the tours are at 8, 8.30, 9, and 9.30.

00:30:22.022 --> 00:30:24.842
KATHERINE: And we had picked the 8.30 tour for purpose.

00:30:24.842 --> 00:30:29.562
KATHERINE: Because I have a friend who had done the 8 o'clock tour back in May.

00:30:29.562 --> 00:30:33.122
KATHERINE: And she told us that they ate lunch at 10.30.

00:30:33.122 --> 00:30:35.482
KATHERINE: And we did not want to be eating lunch at 10.30.

00:30:35.482 --> 00:30:37.442
KATHERINE: So we said we'll do the 8.30 tour.

00:30:37.442 --> 00:30:42.582
KATHERINE: Well, Magic Kingdom was set to open at 8.30 for short guests.

00:30:42.582 --> 00:30:49.802
KATHERINE: And in the instructions for the tour, they tell you to check in at the theater on Main Street 15 minutes before your tour time.

00:30:49.982 --> 00:30:56.402
KATHERINE: So we were not sure how we were going to be able to check in at 8.15.

00:30:56.402 --> 00:31:04.302
KATHERINE: And then we also were worried about how long it was going to take bus ride from Pop Century over to Magic Kingdom.

00:31:04.302 --> 00:31:07.202
KATHERINE: So you spoke to the front desk and they told you.

00:31:07.202 --> 00:31:09.782
RENIE: Get on line early, as early as you can.

00:31:09.782 --> 00:31:12.842
RENIE: She said the bus will start running at 7.30, did she tell me?

00:31:12.842 --> 00:31:14.022
RENIE: I think it was 7.30.

00:31:14.022 --> 00:31:15.722
KATHERINE: I thought she said 7.

00:31:15.722 --> 00:31:17.402
KATHERINE: Because that was what we aimed for.

00:31:17.902 --> 00:31:19.522
RENIE: Yeah, we aimed to get there at 7.

00:31:19.522 --> 00:31:22.002
RENIE: But I think the bus didn't actually come until maybe quarter or 20.

00:31:22.002 --> 00:31:24.062
KATHERINE: We were there before, we were there at like 6.40.

00:31:24.062 --> 00:31:26.982
KATHERINE: Well, first of all, you were up at 5.

00:31:26.982 --> 00:31:27.702
KATHERINE: That was up a lot.

00:31:27.722 --> 00:31:32.002
RENIE: That's just my usual math.

00:31:32.002 --> 00:31:33.402
KATHERINE: Yeah, she was up early every day.

00:31:33.402 --> 00:31:35.182
RENIE: I'm old, I don't sleep.

00:31:35.462 --> 00:31:36.542
KATHERINE: She was up at 5.

00:31:36.542 --> 00:31:39.582
KATHERINE: I got up, I think it was like 5, I don't know, quarter to 6 maybe.

00:31:39.582 --> 00:31:42.762
KATHERINE: So we ate our oatmeal in the room and got dressed and ready.

00:31:42.962 --> 00:31:49.882
KATHERINE: And we got on line for the bus at around 6.40, 6.45.

00:31:49.882 --> 00:31:51.882
KATHERINE: And there were already people online.

00:31:51.882 --> 00:31:55.482
KATHERINE: Yeah, there were people online, maybe like four or five groups in front of us.

00:31:55.482 --> 00:31:59.362
KATHERINE: And then we waited and the bus came at 7 o'clock on the dot pretty much.

00:31:59.362 --> 00:32:02.182
VIRGINIA: And so were they waiting for the Magic Kingdom bus too?

00:32:02.182 --> 00:32:02.922
VIRGINIA: Yes.

00:32:03.622 --> 00:32:04.162
KATHERINE: Yep.

00:32:04.162 --> 00:32:11.562
RENIE: So I think they were, I think it looked like they were maybe doing the breakfast, you know, Cinderella's Stable or one of those.

00:32:11.562 --> 00:32:12.642
KATHERINE: Yeah, that would make sense.

00:32:12.642 --> 00:32:14.442
RENIE: That they were getting there that early for that.

00:32:14.442 --> 00:32:19.162
KATHERINE: So we were on the very first bus of the day to Magic Kingdom.

00:32:19.162 --> 00:32:25.502
KATHERINE: And we were some of the first people to get there, I would say, because we went through security.

00:32:25.502 --> 00:32:27.922
KATHERINE: They let us through security pretty much immediately.

00:32:28.342 --> 00:32:33.242
KATHERINE: And then we were in line to actually go through the tax office.

00:32:33.242 --> 00:32:37.962
KATHERINE: And we saw them pick out the first family of the day to come into the park.

00:32:37.962 --> 00:32:43.542
KATHERINE: And they were like two lines over from us and maybe, I don't know, three or four groups ahead.

00:32:43.542 --> 00:32:44.962
KATHERINE: So we got to see them go through.

00:32:44.962 --> 00:32:48.402
KATHERINE: And then I think they started letting us all in at like quarter to eight.

00:32:48.402 --> 00:32:49.842
RENIE: It was before eight o'clock.

00:32:49.842 --> 00:32:55.562
KATHERINE: Yeah, so we got to go in and you can just go in and Main Street is open.

00:32:55.602 --> 00:32:58.842
KATHERINE: And so we went and walked around in the Emporium.

00:32:58.842 --> 00:33:02.042
KATHERINE: We went and used the bathroom over by City Hall.

00:33:02.042 --> 00:33:06.342
KATHERINE: So we actually had time to kill before we had to go and check in for our tour.

00:33:06.342 --> 00:33:09.522
KATHERINE: And then we went over to the theater to check in for our tour.

00:33:09.522 --> 00:33:17.722
KATHERINE: We were actually, we were early for check in because the eight o'clock tour was just still getting together and getting ready to leave.

00:33:17.722 --> 00:33:24.942
KATHERINE: So we got there, we checked in, we had to show our driver's licenses to prove that we were the people that we said we were.

00:33:25.602 --> 00:33:28.142
KATHERINE: That we were supposed to be there for the tour.

00:33:28.142 --> 00:33:31.362
KATHERINE: They don't want anybody coming in and saying, oh yeah, that's me.

00:33:31.362 --> 00:33:32.702
KATHERINE: So they do check.

00:33:32.702 --> 00:33:45.002
KATHERINE: So make sure you bring your ID because there was a couple in our group who watched this transaction between them and the cast member where they had not brought any ID with them, didn't think they would need it.

00:33:45.002 --> 00:33:52.102
KATHERINE: And so they were trying to find anything that they could that had their names on it to prove that they were them.

00:33:52.102 --> 00:33:56.142
KATHERINE: So I think what they ended up doing was pulling up bank statements on their phones and showing it.

00:33:56.142 --> 00:33:57.262
KATHERINE: This is me.

00:33:57.262 --> 00:33:58.882
KATHERINE: And they accepted that as proof.

00:33:58.882 --> 00:33:59.922
RENIE: They weren't from here.

00:34:00.602 --> 00:34:01.462
RENIE: I think they were from Australia.

00:34:01.462 --> 00:34:02.702
KATHERINE: Was that the Australian couple?

00:34:02.702 --> 00:34:04.742
RENIE: I think so.

00:34:04.742 --> 00:34:18.882
VIRGINIA: I mean, you would think that if every person who was trying to go all had their own My Disney Experience account, that simply by pulling up your My Disney Experience account and showing, see, I'm logged in as myself, that would count.

00:34:19.142 --> 00:34:22.762
KATHERINE: Or Disney has your fingerprints on file.

00:34:27.362 --> 00:34:31.262
VIRGINIA: If you're going to take the tour, make sure you have your ID on you.

00:34:31.422 --> 00:34:31.522
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:34:31.522 --> 00:34:34.422
VIRGINIA: I don't know how the technology works.

00:34:34.422 --> 00:34:37.702
VIRGINIA: I'm not into that kind of thing like that.

00:34:37.702 --> 00:34:41.802
VIRGINIA: Probably all my friends who are into true crime would know.

00:34:41.802 --> 00:34:45.122
VIRGINIA: But it's not actually your fingerprint when people get worried about that.

00:34:45.122 --> 00:34:46.862
VIRGINIA: They don't have it saved.

00:34:46.862 --> 00:34:51.242
KATHERINE: Well, if you're going to take the tour, make sure you have your ID on you.

00:34:51.242 --> 00:34:51.802
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:34:51.802 --> 00:34:52.002
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:34:52.742 --> 00:34:57.662
KATHERINE: So we checked in and then they gave us a menu to put in our lunch order.

00:34:57.662 --> 00:35:04.682
KATHERINE: So it was like, I don't know, six different things you could pick from at Columbia Harbor House and a drink.

00:35:04.682 --> 00:35:07.622
KATHERINE: They gave you free bottle of water, free.

00:35:07.622 --> 00:35:08.342
VIRGINIA: Yes.

00:35:08.342 --> 00:35:10.582
KATHERINE: Bottle of water included in the tour.

00:35:10.582 --> 00:35:12.842
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:35:12.842 --> 00:35:15.002
KATHERINE: So we got our bottle of water and then-

00:35:15.002 --> 00:35:16.242
RENIE: Our little headsets.

00:35:16.402 --> 00:35:21.982
KATHERINE: Our headset and our name tag so that you have to wear your name tag so they know that you are part of the tour.

00:35:21.982 --> 00:35:27.182
KATHERINE: So if they see you, some winger, they know that you are supposed to be there.

00:35:27.182 --> 00:35:34.562
KATHERINE: And an earpiece, just one ear, and then a little pouch with the, I don't know.

00:35:34.722 --> 00:35:35.802
RENIE: Battery pack or whatever.

00:35:36.102 --> 00:35:41.602
KATHERINE: The receiver, yeah, the receiver in it so that you could hear the tour guide even if she was-

00:35:41.602 --> 00:35:42.602
RENIE: She's way in front of you.

00:35:42.602 --> 00:35:46.622
KATHERINE: And you're at the back that she would still be able to hear her.

00:35:46.622 --> 00:35:47.882
KATHERINE: So then we met our tour guide.

00:35:48.102 --> 00:35:49.122
KATHERINE: Shout out to Melina.

00:35:49.122 --> 00:35:50.362
KATHERINE: She was wonderful.

00:35:50.362 --> 00:35:55.602
KATHERINE: And she started out just by telling us about her history with Disney Company.

00:35:55.602 --> 00:36:03.322
KATHERINE: She has started as an intern in the costuming department and has worked for the company for 15 years.

00:36:03.322 --> 00:36:06.302
KATHERINE: And she's worked in all four parks.

00:36:06.302 --> 00:36:15.622
KATHERINE: She worked at Pop Century and she had worked in costuming and then made her way over to working on the guest relations side of things.

00:36:15.862 --> 00:36:17.942
KATHERINE: And now she works guest relations in the Magic Kingdom.

00:36:17.942 --> 00:36:20.182
KATHERINE: And she said she does about one tour a week.

00:36:20.182 --> 00:36:23.942
KATHERINE: And she was from Arlington Heights, Illinois.

00:36:23.942 --> 00:36:26.582
KATHERINE: So from the Chicago area.

00:36:26.582 --> 00:36:34.482
KATHERINE: She was telling us about, she used to come when she was a kid with her family and her brother and fell in love with Disney and then decided to do this internship.

00:36:34.482 --> 00:36:44.842
KATHERINE: She was a theater major in college and that was what she had expected to do was to get into more of like the entertainment and the theater sort of side of things, but then really liking guest relations.

00:36:44.962 --> 00:36:49.062
KATHERINE: And so she's been on 18 Disney cruises.

00:36:49.062 --> 00:36:50.182
VIRGINIA: Oh, wow.

00:36:50.182 --> 00:36:50.982
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:36:50.982 --> 00:36:54.682
KATHERINE: She she said after COVID, she went on six in one year.

00:36:54.682 --> 00:36:58.802
KATHERINE: She hadn't done any traveling and had had money burning a hole in her pocket.

00:36:58.802 --> 00:37:00.302
KATHERINE: So she did six cruises in one year.

00:37:00.302 --> 00:37:01.782
VIRGINIA: Money burning a hole in your pocket.

00:37:01.782 --> 00:37:06.302
VIRGINIA: And also if you're working for Disney, I would assume that they get a nice discount.

00:37:06.302 --> 00:37:07.162
KATHERINE: That's what we said.

00:37:07.342 --> 00:37:09.002
KATHERINE: She must get some nice discounts.

00:37:09.002 --> 00:37:13.882
KATHERINE: And she was also saying that she is planning a trip to go to Tokyo and go to Tokyo Disneyland.

00:37:14.022 --> 00:37:15.862
VIRGINIA: But she was a lot of fun.

00:37:15.862 --> 00:37:16.702
KATHERINE: She was very sweet.

00:37:16.702 --> 00:37:19.302
KATHERINE: But so we started the tour.

00:37:19.302 --> 00:37:25.582
KATHERINE: The first hour or so was on Main Street, starting in front of the theater and then working our way down.

00:37:25.582 --> 00:37:31.742
KATHERINE: And a lot of talk about the windows and whose names are up on the windows and what they mean.

00:37:31.742 --> 00:37:37.982
KATHERINE: We have what they did for the company and why they were chosen for the window and the spot that they were chosen for.

00:37:37.982 --> 00:37:42.162
KATHERINE: And then after the first hour, I do have to get first credit.

00:37:42.262 --> 00:37:50.902
KATHERINE: Also, she was very good about trying to stop us in shady places because it was at this point of the morning, it was already very hot.

00:37:50.902 --> 00:37:51.542
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:37:51.542 --> 00:38:00.002
KATHERINE: She was very good at finding little like out of the way, the places to stand in the shade and then also moving through the crowd.

00:38:00.002 --> 00:38:01.942
KATHERINE: When you have a tour guide, it was amazing.

00:38:01.942 --> 00:38:05.142
KATHERINE: It was like people just get out of the way.

00:38:05.142 --> 00:38:07.002
KATHERINE: All of a sudden you're just walking through the crowd.

00:38:07.002 --> 00:38:09.162
KATHERINE: And so that was very nice.

00:38:09.162 --> 00:38:09.742
KATHERINE: Nice feeling.

00:38:10.822 --> 00:38:19.942
KATHERINE: So we got done with Main Street and then she took us over into Adventureland and talked about Adventureland and how it was decided that they were going to build Adventureland and everything.

00:38:19.942 --> 00:38:28.442
KATHERINE: And then typically you get to go on the Jungle Cruise as part of the tour, but Jungle Cruise is closed for a couple more weeks.

00:38:28.442 --> 00:38:36.122
KATHERINE: And we were really hoping that we would get to go on Pirates and get the backstage sort of Pirates experience.

00:38:36.122 --> 00:38:37.322
KATHERINE: We went to the Tiki Room.

00:38:38.842 --> 00:38:40.442
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:38:40.442 --> 00:38:42.522
KATHERINE: Which was fine and...

00:38:42.522 --> 00:38:43.562
RENIE: It was in the air conditioning.

00:38:43.562 --> 00:38:44.002
RENIE: It was good.

00:38:44.002 --> 00:38:44.802
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:38:44.802 --> 00:38:46.582
KATHERINE: You know, it was...

00:38:46.582 --> 00:38:47.482
KATHERINE: I like the Tiki Burrants.

00:38:47.482 --> 00:38:47.822
KATHERINE: It was fun.

00:38:48.102 --> 00:38:49.082
KATHERINE: But I was kind of...

00:38:49.082 --> 00:38:49.442
KATHERINE: I don't know.

00:38:49.442 --> 00:38:54.282
KATHERINE: I was a little disappointed that it wasn't something a little bit more special.

00:38:54.282 --> 00:38:55.682
KATHERINE: A little bit more.

00:38:55.682 --> 00:39:01.882
KATHERINE: But she did show us how the thatched roof of the Tiki Room is not actually thatched.

00:39:01.882 --> 00:39:03.022
KATHERINE: It's made of metal.

00:39:03.022 --> 00:39:03.782
RENIE: Made of aluminum.

00:39:04.642 --> 00:39:05.642
KATHERINE: So we learned that.

00:39:05.642 --> 00:39:08.662
VIRGINIA: So were you in the Tiki Room by yourselves as a group?

00:39:08.662 --> 00:39:09.622
VIRGINIA: Or there were other people in there?

00:39:09.622 --> 00:39:10.042
VIRGINIA: We were not.

00:39:10.042 --> 00:39:10.742
KATHERINE: No, there were other people.

00:39:10.742 --> 00:39:12.522
RENIE: Just regular other people.

00:39:12.522 --> 00:39:12.882
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:39:12.882 --> 00:39:17.362
VIRGINIA: So she's sort of off to the side talking quietly into her microphone so that you can hear it?

00:39:17.362 --> 00:39:18.542
RENIE: Not during the show.

00:39:18.542 --> 00:39:19.142
KATHERINE: Not during the show.

00:39:19.142 --> 00:39:20.642
KATHERINE: She talked while we were...

00:39:20.642 --> 00:39:25.162
KATHERINE: We waited for, I don't know, eight minutes or something in the pre-show area.

00:39:25.162 --> 00:39:38.082
KATHERINE: And so she did talk about how back in the old days when Disneyland first opened that the Jungle Cruise skippers were all men and the cast members in the Tiki Room, the hostesses were all women.

00:39:38.102 --> 00:39:40.302
KATHERINE: But now anybody can work anywhere.

00:39:40.302 --> 00:39:54.262
KATHERINE: And so the very beginning of the show, the first line is the cast member comes in and wakes up Jose and Jose says, Oh, Senorita, my cestas are getting shorter and shorter because they used to be all women, but they haven't changed the dialogue.

00:39:54.262 --> 00:39:59.662
KATHERINE: So she said, you might notice if we have a male cast member, which we did, they will sometimes like say something to Jose.

00:40:00.022 --> 00:40:05.602
KATHERINE: So the cast member for our show, he said, Oh, don't call me Senorita this time.

00:40:07.122 --> 00:40:08.262
KATHERINE: And he said, Oh, how rude.

00:40:08.262 --> 00:40:09.902
KATHERINE: And then he stormed off.

00:40:11.022 --> 00:40:14.302
KATHERINE: But so we watched the show and it was fun as it always is.

00:40:14.302 --> 00:40:22.782
KATHERINE: But then we took the first bathroom break of the day, because she was also very good about making sure that the bathroom breaks were built in.

00:40:22.782 --> 00:40:27.662
KATHERINE: And then we went to the first backstage area.

00:40:27.662 --> 00:40:28.962
KATHERINE: We got through Adventureland.

00:40:29.302 --> 00:40:39.442
KATHERINE: So between Adventureland and Frontierland, there is a little wooden nondescript sort of fence off to the side.

00:40:39.442 --> 00:40:43.362
KATHERINE: You're walking from Adventureland to Frontierland on your left.

00:40:43.362 --> 00:40:45.922
KATHERINE: And so she just kind of pulls us off to the side.

00:40:45.922 --> 00:40:48.362
KATHERINE: And then she takes two poles down out of the fence.

00:40:48.362 --> 00:40:49.542
KATHERINE: And it's like, okay, come around.

00:40:49.582 --> 00:40:51.322
KATHERINE: She's like, oh, all right.

00:40:51.322 --> 00:40:54.862
KATHERINE: So it's not like locked or like scan a badge or anything.

00:40:54.862 --> 00:40:56.182
KATHERINE: It just take these two poles down.

00:40:57.542 --> 00:41:00.842
KATHERINE: So you kind of walk around this fence.

00:41:00.842 --> 00:41:02.362
KATHERINE: And then she had us all stop.

00:41:02.362 --> 00:41:03.922
KATHERINE: And she kept counting us.

00:41:03.922 --> 00:41:05.202
KATHERINE: So we had a full group of 20.

00:41:05.202 --> 00:41:11.942
KATHERINE: So counted the 20 to make sure there were no hangers on that nobody joined the group that wasn't supposed to.

00:41:11.942 --> 00:41:12.802
KATHERINE: So she counted us all.

00:41:12.802 --> 00:41:18.562
KATHERINE: And then she said, okay, you know, come around and you cross over the train tracks.

00:41:18.742 --> 00:41:24.282
KATHERINE: And then once you've crossed over the train tracks, then you're like officially backstage.

00:41:24.802 --> 00:41:28.582
VIRGINIA: So this is just to the left of Tiana.

00:41:28.602 --> 00:41:29.582
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:41:29.682 --> 00:41:29.942
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:41:29.942 --> 00:41:33.202
KATHERINE: If you're standing and looking at Tiana, it would be to the left of Tiana.

00:41:33.202 --> 00:41:33.542
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:41:33.542 --> 00:41:35.182
VIRGINIA: So where the parade comes out of.

00:41:35.182 --> 00:41:36.802
VIRGINIA: It's the Great Gates.

00:41:36.802 --> 00:41:37.202
VIRGINIA: Correct.

00:41:37.202 --> 00:41:38.302
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:41:38.542 --> 00:41:38.962
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:41:38.962 --> 00:41:43.942
VIRGINIA: I've actually been back there before because I was in a Disney parade at one point in my high school career.

00:41:43.942 --> 00:41:46.702
KATHERINE: Oh, we saw where the bands line up.

00:41:46.702 --> 00:41:49.122
KATHERINE: She did show us that area.

00:41:49.122 --> 00:41:53.722
KATHERINE: So that was mainly the parade storage.

00:41:54.042 --> 00:41:58.742
KATHERINE: So we got to see the floats parked in their various locations.

00:41:58.742 --> 00:42:04.402
KATHERINE: So depending on the float and the size of the float, they have different areas where they park them.

00:42:04.422 --> 00:42:15.562
KATHERINE: And as many chairs as you probably will ever see in your life at one place, they had every chair from every restaurant and every bench in the Magic Kingdom just stacked piles of them.

00:42:15.582 --> 00:42:17.722
VIRGINIA: Just in case they needed subs?

00:42:18.662 --> 00:42:21.682
KATHERINE: In case they needed them or some of them look like...

00:42:21.682 --> 00:42:27.122
KATHERINE: Right, that they were in various stages of being repainted or repaired.

00:42:27.122 --> 00:42:31.162
RENIE: And then boats from the pirates just stacked up.

00:42:31.162 --> 00:42:37.242
KATHERINE: Yeah, so the show building for pirates is...

00:42:37.242 --> 00:42:49.522
KATHERINE: When you go on the ride and you go over the drop, that was taking you over the berm that separates the on-stage area of the park from the backstage area.

00:42:49.522 --> 00:42:50.082
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:42:50.082 --> 00:42:57.182
KATHERINE: Because pirates was not an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World, but the people came and said, Where are the pirates?

00:42:57.182 --> 00:43:01.502
KATHERINE: And so the Disney company said, Okay, we got to find somewhere for the pirates to go.

00:43:01.502 --> 00:43:06.502
KATHERINE: But they didn't have enough room for the whole show building to be...

00:43:06.502 --> 00:43:07.062
VIRGINIA: Within the stage.

00:43:07.062 --> 00:43:07.822
KATHERINE: Within the stage.

00:43:07.822 --> 00:43:08.302
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:43:08.302 --> 00:43:21.582
KATHERINE: So they had to figure out a way to take you over the berm, which is basically like the hill, the wall, dirt surrounding the park, which is blocking off your view in the park from the backstage areas.

00:43:21.582 --> 00:43:29.302
KATHERINE: So in order to get you off stage, they have this drop that takes you over the berm to the other side.

00:43:29.302 --> 00:43:31.682
KATHERINE: And then the actual show building is in the backstage area.

00:43:31.682 --> 00:43:36.042
KATHERINE: So when we went back there, we saw all these boats up on the side of the building.

00:43:36.042 --> 00:43:38.442
KATHERINE: And she said, Oh, that's the Pirates of the Caribbean show building.

00:43:38.442 --> 00:43:39.842
KATHERINE: And those are like the spare boats.

00:43:40.642 --> 00:43:41.502
KATHERINE: So the boats are out there.

00:43:41.502 --> 00:43:47.002
KATHERINE: And then they also had one of the magic carpets from the Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.

00:43:47.002 --> 00:43:52.222
KATHERINE: One of the carpets and one of the arms that holds the carpet on to the ride.

00:43:52.222 --> 00:43:53.702
KATHERINE: And she said, Oh, that's just back here.

00:43:53.702 --> 00:43:55.982
KATHERINE: You know, that's just being repaired.

00:43:55.982 --> 00:44:06.742
KATHERINE: But so she took us around, she showed us all the floats, and she talked about some of her different experiences when she had worked in costuming different parades and things that she had worked on and different things that she had seen.

00:44:06.982 --> 00:44:12.982
KATHERINE: She was telling us that they used to do at night, it would be like, you know, come in to work at like 2 a.m.

00:44:12.982 --> 00:44:18.142
KATHERINE: and we're going to do a dress rehearsal of this new parade in the park at night when nobody's here.

00:44:18.142 --> 00:44:21.522
KATHERINE: So she was telling us about seeing that and how special that was.

00:44:21.522 --> 00:44:30.382
KATHERINE: And she had actually made a dress for Minnie Mouse for, I forget what parade she said it was.

00:44:30.382 --> 00:44:42.082
KATHERINE: She was telling us about she was trying to lay out this pattern for this dress, and she couldn't figure out a way to cut the fabric so that none of the polka dots would be cut.

00:44:42.082 --> 00:44:47.282
KATHERINE: And so she was really stressing, making Minnie Mouse's dress really stressing out and everything.

00:44:47.282 --> 00:44:50.562
KATHERINE: And her boss was like, it's fine, just cut the polka dot.

00:44:50.562 --> 00:44:52.302
KATHERINE: Like nobody is going to notice her care.

00:44:52.302 --> 00:44:58.282
KATHERINE: So she was like, so if you see, forget where she said the costume is now, but she can tell which one is the one that she made.

00:44:58.282 --> 00:44:59.002
KATHERINE: But she was like, got it.

00:44:59.002 --> 00:45:03.842
KATHERINE: You see Minnie Mouse and there's a polka dot, that's like a half polka dot under her like left arm.

00:45:04.002 --> 00:45:06.342
KATHERINE: That's the one that I made.

00:45:06.342 --> 00:45:07.522
VIRGINIA: That's so funny.

00:45:07.522 --> 00:45:09.382
VIRGINIA: God, that'd be so stressful.

00:45:09.382 --> 00:45:09.582
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:45:09.582 --> 00:45:14.722
KATHERINE: Well, if you see Minnie Mouse in a dress with the half polka dot under her left arm, that was no way in a stress.

00:45:14.722 --> 00:45:20.842
KATHERINE: But so we saw the parade floats, and then she showed us where the bands lined up.

00:45:20.842 --> 00:45:21.442
RENIE: Do their thing.

00:45:21.442 --> 00:45:23.282
KATHERINE: Do the parade and everything.

00:45:23.282 --> 00:45:29.102
KATHERINE: And then she walked us around where they have the water pageant.

00:45:29.102 --> 00:45:30.622
VIRGINIA: The electrical water pageant?

00:45:30.622 --> 00:45:36.602
KATHERINE: The electrical water pageant where they have all the lights up on these little boats basically.

00:45:36.602 --> 00:45:38.562
KATHERINE: She showed us where they had them all parked.

00:45:38.562 --> 00:45:42.622
KATHERINE: And then we walked around and came back on stage.

00:45:42.622 --> 00:45:50.142
KATHERINE: There is a path comes around backstage and then back on stage, and there's all these arrows on the sidewalk.

00:45:50.142 --> 00:45:57.742
KATHERINE: And so we're walking down the sidewalk and she said, oh, you might be wondering why all these arrows are here, because it was just like arrow, arrow, arrow, arrow, one right after the other.

00:45:57.742 --> 00:46:00.842
KATHERINE: And she said, this is actually evacuation path.

00:46:01.462 --> 00:46:16.362
KATHERINE: For parents, if they have to do an in show exit, just in case people are hard of hearing, or they don't speak English, or that's very clear, like this is the path and you have to stay on this path and do not go anywhere else.

00:46:16.362 --> 00:46:24.402
KATHERINE: So we walked down the path and then we came back on stage, and then we came back to where we had started from, this little gate.

00:46:24.402 --> 00:46:30.102
KATHERINE: And so then we were back between Adventureland and Frontierland, but we didn't do anything in Frontierland.

00:46:30.102 --> 00:46:34.662
KATHERINE: We just walked through because at that point it was time for us to get to lunch.

00:46:34.662 --> 00:46:37.282
KATHERINE: So she did talk some while we walked.

00:46:37.282 --> 00:46:41.682
KATHERINE: There are a few points in Frontierland where the audio just cut out completely.

00:46:41.682 --> 00:46:49.182
KATHERINE: And my friend who had done the tour before had told me, like, oh, buy the popcorn stand in Frontierland, the audio cuts out.

00:46:49.702 --> 00:46:52.642
KATHERINE: And so then when it happened, when we were doing this, oh, OK.

00:46:52.642 --> 00:46:53.442
KATHERINE: I know it's not just me.

00:46:53.442 --> 00:46:56.542
KATHERINE: I know everybody's just going out now.

00:46:56.542 --> 00:47:10.862
KATHERINE: So then we walked to Columbia Harbor House, and they let us in the little sort of side door, took us upstairs, and they had a roped-off area for our group, and they had already set out our food that we had ordered, and we had little name tags so we would know where to sit.

00:47:10.862 --> 00:47:16.502
KATHERINE: So we sat with a very nice couple from Miami who were there for their 21st wedding anniversary.

00:47:17.822 --> 00:47:21.322
KATHERINE: They also gave us these little Oreos.

00:47:21.322 --> 00:47:22.142
RENIE: I haven't eaten mine yet.

00:47:22.142 --> 00:47:24.282
RENIE: They're still in the box.

00:47:24.282 --> 00:47:24.962
RENIE: I'm saving them.

00:47:24.962 --> 00:47:26.342
RENIE: I don't know why.

00:47:28.082 --> 00:47:30.002
VIRGINIA: A special occasion.

00:47:30.002 --> 00:47:36.482
KATHERINE: They have the castle on them, and they're also rolled in sprinkles.

00:47:36.482 --> 00:47:40.622
KATHERINE: And I'm looking at the box now and it says, that's by September 30th, 2024.

00:47:40.622 --> 00:47:42.882
KATHERINE: So I guess they really wanted us to eat them that day.

00:47:44.582 --> 00:47:46.202
KATHERINE: I still have them, but.

00:47:46.202 --> 00:47:49.882
VIRGINIA: I mean, September 24th, that was before your tour.

00:47:49.962 --> 00:47:51.962
RENIE: No, September 30th.

00:47:51.962 --> 00:47:53.382
KATHERINE: So the day of the tour.

00:47:53.382 --> 00:47:56.682
KATHERINE: So they must have gone through and said, all right, put out the September 30th ones.

00:47:56.682 --> 00:48:00.182
KATHERINE: But so that was our dessert.

00:48:00.182 --> 00:48:05.942
KATHERINE: But for our lunch, we again did the, you eat half, I'll eat half.

00:48:05.942 --> 00:48:10.422
KATHERINE: I got the shrimp salad, and mom got the lobster roll.

00:48:10.522 --> 00:48:12.402
KATHERINE: It was good.

00:48:12.402 --> 00:48:13.122
KATHERINE: They were both good.

00:48:13.802 --> 00:48:15.202
RENIE: We were hungry.

00:48:15.202 --> 00:48:16.682
KATHERINE: We were hungry by that point.

00:48:16.682 --> 00:48:17.062
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:48:17.062 --> 00:48:20.882
KATHERINE: We had breakfast at 6 o'clock, so we were ready to eat.

00:48:20.882 --> 00:48:23.022
KATHERINE: So that was about half an hour.

00:48:23.022 --> 00:48:24.082
KATHERINE: They gave us lunch.

00:48:24.102 --> 00:48:27.762
KATHERINE: So everybody ate their lunch and took another bathroom break.

00:48:27.762 --> 00:48:34.842
KATHERINE: Then she took us back outside next to where you get on the Liberty Boat, the steamboat.

00:48:34.842 --> 00:48:37.202
KATHERINE: Yes.

00:48:37.202 --> 00:48:39.702
KATHERINE: So she sets us up there.

00:48:39.702 --> 00:48:45.582
KATHERINE: The cast member with the end of the line sign for Haunted Mansion is inching closer and closer to us.

00:48:45.582 --> 00:48:46.322
KATHERINE: So we're having to move.

00:48:46.322 --> 00:48:50.442
KATHERINE: It's longer and longer, and we're moving, and he's coming closer and closer.

00:48:50.442 --> 00:48:53.482
KATHERINE: She's talking about, primarily she's talking about the Haunted Mansion.

00:48:53.482 --> 00:49:08.042
KATHERINE: She had talked some about the Hall of Presidents and the Liberty Tree and other things in Liberty Square, but she was mostly talking about the Haunted Mansion at this point, and she kept saying things like, oh, the next time you go on it, look for such and such thing.

00:49:08.082 --> 00:49:11.822
KATHERINE: We were kind of like, are we going to go on it?

00:49:11.822 --> 00:49:16.522
KATHERINE: Because that's the other ride that typically you do when you take the tour.

00:49:16.522 --> 00:49:22.442
KATHERINE: So she got to the end of her whole Haunted Mansion spiel, and she said, well, why don't I just take you on it now?

00:49:22.502 --> 00:49:24.882
VIRGINIA: Oh, big surprise, guys.

00:49:24.882 --> 00:49:25.862
VIRGINIA: I'm taking you on this ride.

00:49:26.162 --> 00:49:27.362
VIRGINIA: Okay.

00:49:27.362 --> 00:49:34.182
KATHERINE: So we got to go in through the exit, and our group had our own stretching room.

00:49:34.182 --> 00:49:39.062
KATHERINE: And she, again, a lot of counting and making sure everybody was there who was supposed to be there.

00:49:39.062 --> 00:49:49.082
KATHERINE: And so she led us in through the exit door, and then she actually told us once we got off the ride, she said, there were two people who tried to come in with us, and I had to tell them, no, no, this is a tour group.

00:49:51.102 --> 00:49:53.022
KATHERINE: So then we went on the Haunted Mansion, and same thing.

00:49:53.622 --> 00:49:55.162
KATHERINE: She didn't talk during the ride.

00:49:55.242 --> 00:49:57.302
KATHERINE: She just rode the ride with us.

00:49:57.302 --> 00:50:10.702
KATHERINE: So we rode the ride, and got off, and then we proceeded on into Fantasyland, where we had another bathroom stop at the Tangled Bathrooms, and she talked a little bit about the Tangled Bathrooms and why they were there.

00:50:10.702 --> 00:50:23.642
KATHERINE: And then in the meantime, while we were kind of doing these little bathroom breaks and stuff, people would come up and ask her different questions about things, and then when the group came back together, she would tell them, like, oh, I was asked a question about why are there no bugs in the park?

00:50:23.982 --> 00:50:26.922
KATHERINE: You know, and stuff like that.

00:50:26.922 --> 00:50:33.182
KATHERINE: Basically, there are no bugs because they have a whole team dedicated to pest management.

00:50:33.182 --> 00:50:40.062
KATHERINE: And so she told us about a story of when she was working at Pop Century, they had a turkey who took up residence on the grounds.

00:50:40.062 --> 00:50:45.362
KATHERINE: So the first the turkey showed up, her manager told her, call the pest control department.

00:50:45.362 --> 00:50:49.362
KATHERINE: And they said, is the turkey bothering anyone?

00:50:49.362 --> 00:50:52.102
KATHERINE: And she said, no, she's just kind of sitting there.

00:50:52.762 --> 00:50:55.502
KATHERINE: And she said, is she in the way?

00:50:55.502 --> 00:50:59.082
KATHERINE: No, okay, well, basically call us when there's a problem.

00:50:59.082 --> 00:51:00.242
RENIE: When there's a problem.

00:51:00.242 --> 00:51:06.882
KATHERINE: She, you know, the animals live here, they have a right to live here, we're not gonna come in and bother her.

00:51:06.882 --> 00:51:11.782
KATHERINE: So this turkey just lived on the grounds of Pop Century for like six months, I think she said.

00:51:11.782 --> 00:51:12.342
VIRGINIA: Oh my gosh.

00:51:12.342 --> 00:51:17.362
KATHERINE: It's like, she just, she's just here, she's just, you know, nobody feed her or anything.

00:51:17.362 --> 00:51:22.142
VIRGINIA: I'd be like, excuse me, can I cancel my reservation and move somewhere else?

00:51:22.142 --> 00:51:24.422
VIRGINIA: Turkeys can be a little scary to me.

00:51:24.422 --> 00:51:30.102
VIRGINIA: I'm afraid of birds in general, but turkeys, they can get violent.

00:51:30.102 --> 00:51:33.442
RENIE: There's a big problem with them on the east end of Long Island now.

00:51:33.542 --> 00:51:37.182
RENIE: There's a big turkey population and they're a problem.

00:51:37.182 --> 00:51:38.362
KATHERINE: But yeah.

00:51:39.062 --> 00:51:42.582
KATHERINE: This one, I guess, was just happy to sit and just kind of watch and hang out.

00:51:42.582 --> 00:51:45.082
KATHERINE: So they didn't have to move her.

00:51:45.562 --> 00:51:46.682
KATHERINE: She moved on on her own.

00:51:46.682 --> 00:51:50.142
KATHERINE: But I guess if they have...

00:51:50.142 --> 00:51:51.342
KATHERINE: She just needed a Disney vacation.

00:51:51.342 --> 00:51:54.402
KATHERINE: The famous bear in the Magic Kingdom.

00:51:55.082 --> 00:51:59.462
KATHERINE: So we have bears and snakes and raccoons.

00:51:59.462 --> 00:52:09.322
KATHERINE: And so they do have people who handle those types of critters, but also as far as mosquito control and all that stuff, they monitor that very closely.

00:52:09.322 --> 00:52:09.482
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:52:09.562 --> 00:52:12.282
KATHERINE: They make sure that mosquitoes are not bothering anyone, but...

00:52:12.282 --> 00:52:14.482
VIRGINIA: Which is very much appreciated.

00:52:14.482 --> 00:52:15.862
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:52:16.242 --> 00:52:17.022
KATHERINE: I don't know how they do it.

00:52:17.022 --> 00:52:18.262
KATHERINE: It must be...

00:52:18.262 --> 00:52:20.242
KATHERINE: They must come out and spray.

00:52:20.242 --> 00:52:21.122
VIRGINIA: I think they also...

00:52:22.422 --> 00:52:30.882
VIRGINIA: I had also read somewhere that they are particular about the different plants that they have in the parks.

00:52:30.882 --> 00:52:38.222
VIRGINIA: And so they will try to intersperse plants that naturally discourage mosquitoes and that sort of thing throughout the park.

00:52:38.382 --> 00:52:41.402
VIRGINIA: So it's probably a combination of tactics.

00:52:41.402 --> 00:52:44.242
KATHERINE: They power wash everything every night.

00:52:45.802 --> 00:52:48.002
RENIE: All the sidewalks and everything.

00:52:48.002 --> 00:52:48.802
VIRGINIA: Wow.

00:52:48.922 --> 00:52:51.422
VIRGINIA: I mean, that explains a lot.

00:52:51.422 --> 00:52:51.962
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:52:53.642 --> 00:53:04.982
KATHERINE: And like standing water, she said, there's any sort of water feature or anything that you see, there's always like a fountain or the water is always moving so that the mosquitoes don't make a home there.

00:53:04.982 --> 00:53:05.262
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:53:05.542 --> 00:53:15.222
KATHERINE: So we stopped at the Tidal Bathrooms and then we kept on walking through Fantasyland and then she said, okay, now it's time for what I know everybody is here for.

00:53:15.222 --> 00:53:17.662
KATHERINE: Do you want to go in the Utila doors?

00:53:17.662 --> 00:53:19.282
KATHERINE: We've each here and said, yes.

00:53:19.282 --> 00:53:22.662
KATHERINE: So the door, again, it's just a door.

00:53:22.662 --> 00:53:27.542
KATHERINE: Nondescript, like if you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't know it was there.

00:53:27.542 --> 00:53:31.062
KATHERINE: It was next to Winnie the Pooh.

00:53:31.062 --> 00:53:32.762
KATHERINE: Off to the side of Winnie the Pooh.

00:53:32.762 --> 00:53:33.302
RENIE: Just a door.

00:53:33.822 --> 00:53:38.422
KATHERINE: Just this little door and you go in and like, okay, here you are.

00:53:38.422 --> 00:53:39.942
KATHERINE: So where to begin?

00:53:39.942 --> 00:53:41.702
KATHERINE: I think that was my favorite part of the tour.

00:53:41.702 --> 00:53:42.702
KATHERINE: I don't know about you.

00:53:42.702 --> 00:53:43.382
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:53:43.382 --> 00:53:49.422
KATHERINE: I like seeing the floats and everything, but I don't know, it just felt like you were kind of in the heart of all of it.

00:53:49.422 --> 00:53:53.122
RENIE: Well, you come through the door and then you go down two flights of stairs.

00:53:53.582 --> 00:53:56.122
RENIE: Now you know that you're under something.

00:53:56.122 --> 00:53:56.382
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:53:56.382 --> 00:53:57.322
RENIE: You know you're underground.

00:53:57.322 --> 00:53:57.722
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

00:53:57.722 --> 00:53:58.002
KATHERINE: Yeah.

00:53:58.002 --> 00:53:59.542
KATHERINE: So you go down the stairs.

00:53:59.542 --> 00:54:00.362
KATHERINE: It's a maze.

00:54:00.362 --> 00:54:05.742
KATHERINE: It's amazing that people don't just get lost in there forever, but they try to.

00:54:05.742 --> 00:54:11.282
KATHERINE: They have a lot of signs on the wall, you know, pointing this way to Tomorrowland, that way Adventureland.

00:54:11.282 --> 00:54:18.282
KATHERINE: And then they also paint the stairwells are themed to the area that it takes you to.

00:54:18.282 --> 00:54:26.082
KATHERINE: So when we went down, it was Winnie the Pooh themed, you know, painted, you know, the silhouettes and everything.

00:54:26.082 --> 00:54:29.902
KATHERINE: And then when we came back up later, we came back up in a different spot.

00:54:30.302 --> 00:54:34.442
KATHERINE: And that was all like Mickey painted.

00:54:34.442 --> 00:54:39.822
KATHERINE: But when you're actually in the Utilidors, they depending on which land you're in, they're different colors.

00:54:39.822 --> 00:54:43.642
KATHERINE: So we started out in fantasy land and the walls were like pink and purple.

00:54:43.642 --> 00:54:48.282
KATHERINE: And then when we got back to like the Main Street area, it was red and blue.

00:54:48.282 --> 00:54:54.262
KATHERINE: So you can tell generally which part you were under some of the colors the walls were.

00:54:54.262 --> 00:54:58.102
KATHERINE: So let's see, what do we see down there?

00:54:58.102 --> 00:55:01.262
KATHERINE: I saw Jasmine walk by on her phone.

00:55:01.262 --> 00:55:03.622
KATHERINE: That's probably my favorite.

00:55:03.622 --> 00:55:15.102
KATHERINE: And she was, you could see her coming down the hallway and she was like texting and then she's walking and then she kind of like looked up at us and kind of like realized that, oh, guests are here and they see me.

00:55:15.542 --> 00:55:17.422
RENIE: And then she kind of like sped up.

00:55:17.422 --> 00:55:21.962
KATHERINE: I was like, no worry, this is what I wanted to see, like in your natural contact.

00:55:21.962 --> 00:55:24.302
RENIE: Some band members getting ready for the parade.

00:55:24.302 --> 00:55:25.402
KATHERINE: We did see the marching band.

00:55:25.402 --> 00:55:29.262
KATHERINE: We actually walked past the music rehearsal room and heard some of them in there.

00:55:29.262 --> 00:55:34.702
KATHERINE: And then later on we did see them, you know, walking down with their trombones and stuff in their uniform.

00:55:34.702 --> 00:55:40.082
KATHERINE: She walked us through the costuming department and it was very like, do not talk to them.

00:55:40.082 --> 00:55:41.862
KATHERINE: Do not like look at them.

00:55:41.862 --> 00:55:42.922
RENIE: Don't touch anything.

00:55:43.102 --> 00:55:49.822
KATHERINE: You know, you wouldn't want somebody to be like walking through your workplace and staring at you while you work.

00:55:49.822 --> 00:55:53.362
KATHERINE: So like just we're just going to walk through and walk out.

00:55:54.422 --> 00:56:06.462
KATHERINE: But that was pretty cool because it was just like the wall line was like, here's six Rapunzel dresses in a row and here's you know, so just lined with every costume you could think of.

00:56:06.462 --> 00:56:15.142
KATHERINE: And then when you came out of the costuming department, there was a mannequin with the full Cinderella's dress just there to look at and appreciate.

00:56:15.142 --> 00:56:25.402
KATHERINE: And then we all got little snippets of fabric from Mickey's 50th anniversary costume, like the purple sort of iridescent fabric.

00:56:25.402 --> 00:56:26.202
KATHERINE: So that was cool.

00:56:26.202 --> 00:56:29.822
KATHERINE: So we have a little Mickey fabric now.

00:56:29.822 --> 00:56:37.142
KATHERINE: She told us about the trash removal, which I think is one of those sort of like myths that gets around, but is actually true.

00:56:37.142 --> 00:56:41.582
KATHERINE: When we had gone to the backstage area where the parade floats were, she had pointed this building out to us.

00:56:41.582 --> 00:56:46.722
KATHERINE: And she said, I'm not going to tell you what this building is now, because it's going to be much cooler when I tell you about it later.

00:56:46.722 --> 00:56:47.802
KATHERINE: So we got down there.

00:56:47.802 --> 00:56:50.022
KATHERINE: She said, Oh, you remember that building I told you about?

00:56:50.022 --> 00:56:52.722
KATHERINE: See these pipes up here in the wall?

00:56:52.722 --> 00:56:54.262
KATHERINE: This is where the trash goes.

00:56:54.262 --> 00:57:03.302
KATHERINE: And she said, before Tron was put in to the Magic Kingdom, this was the fastest ride, the Magic Kingdom, because the trash gets sucked down at 35 miles an hour through these things.

00:57:03.422 --> 00:57:04.202
VIRGINIA: Wow.

00:57:04.202 --> 00:57:08.982
KATHERINE: And out to this building, the backstage area.

00:57:08.982 --> 00:57:10.022
VIRGINIA: It's fast trash.

00:57:10.022 --> 00:57:12.022
VIRGINIA: OK.

00:57:12.022 --> 00:57:12.382
KATHERINE: Yep.

00:57:12.382 --> 00:57:17.902
KATHERINE: So that's how they keep it so clean that they are just sucking the trash out at 35 miles an hour.

00:57:17.902 --> 00:57:33.122
KATHERINE: But it reminded us a lot of if you've ever been on a naval ship and it's just like pipes and wiring and just a very utilitarian because it's the utilidor, it's utilitarian corridors.

00:57:33.122 --> 00:57:33.402
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:57:33.402 --> 00:57:42.262
KATHERINE: And it is like that because it was designed by Admiral Joe Fowler, who worked for Walt Disney and helped with the design of the park.

00:57:42.262 --> 00:57:56.982
KATHERINE: And it was based on his naval experience that if you need to fix a pipe or fix an electrical line or something, you don't want to have to tear down a wall, a hole in your sheetrock and then take this out.

00:57:56.982 --> 00:57:58.722
KATHERINE: He just wanted it all to be accessible.

00:57:58.722 --> 00:58:01.842
KATHERINE: So it's a guest facing area.

00:58:01.842 --> 00:58:03.662
KATHERINE: So it's just all out there.

00:58:03.662 --> 00:58:04.262
VIRGINIA: Right.

00:58:04.262 --> 00:58:06.022
VIRGINIA: Now he has a ferry boat named after him.

00:58:06.022 --> 00:58:06.662
KATHERINE: He does.

00:58:06.662 --> 00:58:08.442
KATHERINE: He does have a ferry boat named after him.

00:58:08.442 --> 00:58:09.982
KATHERINE: She talked about that.

00:58:09.982 --> 00:58:14.062
KATHERINE: And then she walked us down under the castle.

00:58:14.062 --> 00:58:20.022
KATHERINE: There is a wide sort of ramp that goes down under the castle.

00:58:20.022 --> 00:58:25.482
KATHERINE: That was where we had seen some of the band members coming and going and getting ready for the parade.

00:58:25.482 --> 00:58:35.422
KATHERINE: And then she stopped us and they had up on the wall, pictures of the castle sort of throughout the years and different changes and talked about the construction of the castle.

00:58:35.422 --> 00:58:39.142
KATHERINE: And then we continued on and went into a different corridor.

00:58:39.142 --> 00:58:42.722
KATHERINE: And then they had a similar setup, sort of with pictures of Walt.

00:58:42.722 --> 00:58:52.902
KATHERINE: And she talked about him and his life and the development of the park and his death and then Roy coming in and taking over and so talked about sort of general history of the park and everything.

00:58:52.902 --> 00:58:58.242
KATHERINE: So then we kept walking and we got to where we were about to come back above ground.

00:58:58.442 --> 00:59:02.702
KATHERINE: And she said, does anybody have any last questions?

00:59:02.702 --> 00:59:20.182
KATHERINE: Because she had warned us at the start of the tour, some questions, if you ask me while we're on stage, you might get a different answer than when we're backstage because certain things that they don't want to talk about and ruin the magic potentially for people.

00:59:20.182 --> 00:59:24.222
KATHERINE: So it's like, this is like your last chance, like ask me any of your questions.

00:59:24.982 --> 00:59:27.922
KATHERINE: So somebody asked, is there a jail in the Attila Dores?

00:59:27.922 --> 00:59:29.862
KATHERINE: That is a myth.

00:59:29.862 --> 00:59:31.282
KATHERINE: There is not.

00:59:31.282 --> 00:59:43.922
KATHERINE: She said, I've worked in the Magic Kingdom for six years, and there are only two times that I can remember since I worked here where Orange County Sheriff has had to come and escort somebody out of the park in handcuffs.

00:59:43.962 --> 00:59:46.822
KATHERINE: So we try very hard to avoid that.

00:59:48.022 --> 00:59:53.082
KATHERINE: We try to de-escalate and we will give people a lot of chances because we don't want to have to do that.

00:59:53.222 --> 00:59:57.102
KATHERINE: But if it gets to that point, like we are not bringing you down here to keep you in our jail.

00:59:57.102 --> 01:00:00.422
KATHERINE: Like we are just calling the sheriffs and they are coming to get you.

01:00:00.422 --> 01:00:01.762
KATHERINE: So there is no trouble.

01:00:01.762 --> 01:00:08.702
KATHERINE: But there is a Subway sandwich shop in the employee cafeteria under the Magic Kingdom.

01:00:08.702 --> 01:00:10.402
VIRGINIA: Interesting.

01:00:10.402 --> 01:00:12.022
VIRGINIA: OK.

01:00:12.022 --> 01:00:12.562
KATHERINE: Yep.

01:00:12.562 --> 01:00:13.702
KATHERINE: So we did not get to see that.

01:00:13.702 --> 01:00:15.542
KATHERINE: We did not see the cafeteria.

01:00:15.542 --> 01:00:16.102
KATHERINE: But she did.

01:00:16.102 --> 01:00:17.602
KATHERINE: She did say that they do.

01:00:17.602 --> 01:00:18.302
KATHERINE: They do have one.

01:00:19.302 --> 01:00:24.202
KATHERINE: And she also she showed us they had a map on the wall of Magic Kingdom.

01:00:24.202 --> 01:00:25.302
RENIE: Mm hmm.

01:00:25.302 --> 01:00:28.762
KATHERINE: Because somebody had asked her about like, how do you get here to get to work?

01:00:28.762 --> 01:00:29.762
KATHERINE: Right.

01:00:29.762 --> 01:00:32.962
KATHERINE: And she said, oh, well, I park and then I have to take a bus.

01:00:32.962 --> 01:00:35.442
KATHERINE: So she said, you know, here's here's where we are.

01:00:35.442 --> 01:00:36.682
KATHERINE: Here's the Magic Kingdom.

01:00:36.682 --> 01:00:37.122
KATHERINE: Here.

01:00:37.122 --> 01:00:38.182
KATHERINE: This parking lot.

01:00:38.182 --> 01:00:39.462
KATHERINE: This is where the executives park.

01:00:40.382 --> 01:00:42.402
KATHERINE: The parking lot where I park.

01:00:42.402 --> 01:00:45.142
KATHERINE: She pointed like off the map and over the railing of the wall.

01:00:45.142 --> 01:00:48.122
KATHERINE: And someone was like, this is where we park.

01:00:48.122 --> 01:00:48.722
KATHERINE: So they park.

01:00:48.722 --> 01:00:51.842
KATHERINE: I think she said that they park like half a mile away.

01:00:51.842 --> 01:00:53.542
KATHERINE: And then they have to take the bus.

01:00:53.542 --> 01:00:59.262
KATHERINE: They have to get there very early to get to work on time because they just never know with traffic and how the bus is going to be.

01:00:59.262 --> 01:01:04.442
KATHERINE: And it's like, you just have to be really committed if you want to work in the Magic Kingdom.

01:01:04.442 --> 01:01:06.882
KATHERINE: That was the end of the utility door section.

01:01:07.042 --> 01:01:12.542
KATHERINE: So then she took us back up above ground and we were still backstage at that point.

01:01:12.542 --> 01:01:19.742
KATHERINE: And we got to see where Tinkerbell makes her landing at the end of Happily Ever After.

01:01:19.742 --> 01:01:29.042
KATHERINE: And so she explained to us how that all works, which is Tinkerbell basically has to climb a ladder to get up to the turret.

01:01:29.042 --> 01:01:33.382
KATHERINE: And then she gets to make the call if she feels comfortable flying or not.

01:01:33.482 --> 01:01:38.282
KATHERINE: Like she cannot be forced to go if she doesn't feel that conditions are safe.

01:01:38.282 --> 01:01:42.442
KATHERINE: So once she gets up there, she decides.

01:01:42.462 --> 01:01:53.862
KATHERINE: And she said that one of the questions that she gets regularly is like, is that Tinkerbell the same Tinkerbell that like we see at the parade or that we see in the character being great?

01:01:53.862 --> 01:01:55.462
KATHERINE: And she said, no.

01:01:55.462 --> 01:01:59.162
KATHERINE: She said they are all women because she does get that question too.

01:01:59.162 --> 01:02:01.762
KATHERINE: Is Tinkerbell ever a man in the fireworks show?

01:02:01.762 --> 01:02:02.542
KATHERINE: Tinkerbell was a woman.

01:02:03.322 --> 01:02:06.282
KATHERINE: I think she said there are three or four of them.

01:02:06.282 --> 01:02:06.822
RENIE: Yeah.

01:02:06.822 --> 01:02:08.642
RENIE: And they have an acrobatic background.

01:02:08.882 --> 01:02:09.242
KATHERINE: Right.

01:02:09.242 --> 01:02:11.262
KATHERINE: Acrobatics or gymnastics.

01:02:11.262 --> 01:02:21.102
KATHERINE: She said they are all petite women, but they are all very muscular, strong, and so they don't look like the traditional little fairy Tinkerbell.

01:02:21.102 --> 01:02:22.082
KATHERINE: So they do not.

01:02:22.082 --> 01:02:26.562
KATHERINE: That is their entire job is to just come down that zip line.

01:02:26.562 --> 01:02:28.622
KATHERINE: And she said one of them has been doing it for 20 years.

01:02:29.262 --> 01:02:30.682
KATHERINE: So, wow.

01:02:30.682 --> 01:02:32.722
KATHERINE: I guess, I guess likes it.

01:02:32.722 --> 01:02:39.442
KATHERINE: And she said, it's a pretty good paycheck to just go down this wire once a night.

01:02:39.442 --> 01:02:40.302
KATHERINE: A little scary.

01:02:40.302 --> 01:02:41.042
KATHERINE: Yes.

01:02:41.042 --> 01:02:44.422
KATHERINE: She said they're all kind of adrenaline jumping type people and they really enjoy it.

01:02:44.422 --> 01:03:03.702
KATHERINE: But so they come down the zip line and then she has, I guess, like a crash pad type of set that if she comes in too fast, comes in too fast that the people will catch her, like kind of like with a blanket and grab her and slow her down.

01:03:03.702 --> 01:03:06.762
VIRGINIA: I mean, that's the way it is when you do regular zip lining too.

01:03:06.762 --> 01:03:17.022
VIRGINIA: Like I've done it a couple of times and they typically just have like a bunch of padding wherever you're going and you kind of just crash land every time.

01:03:17.022 --> 01:03:17.502
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:03:17.502 --> 01:03:42.222
KATHERINE: Well, so that can be an issue, but she can also have the opposite issue that if the wind is pushing her out of the way, and she gets stuck, so when she climbs up there, she has a little backpack with her and in the backpack is like a rope that if she has to like throw the rope over and kind of like use the rope to pull herself down the rest of the way.

01:03:42.222 --> 01:03:45.262
KATHERINE: So she's prepared for every possibility.

01:03:45.262 --> 01:03:53.662
VIRGINIA: Do you mean getting stuck when you're basically nearly to the finish anyway, or has she, she's never gotten stuck like halfway down the rope?

01:03:53.662 --> 01:03:56.062
RENIE: I got the impression that that could have happened.

01:03:56.182 --> 01:03:59.222
VIRGINIA: Can you imagine watching that show?

01:03:59.222 --> 01:04:09.622
RENIE: I thought the rope, the thing with the rope was that she did it hand over hand and then when she got closer, she threw the rope to somebody and they pulled her in.

01:04:09.622 --> 01:04:10.242
KATHERINE: You're right.

01:04:10.242 --> 01:04:10.762
KATHERINE: You're right.

01:04:10.762 --> 01:04:11.422
VIRGINIA: That makes sense.

01:04:11.422 --> 01:04:13.182
KATHERINE: It was that, that she throws them the rope.

01:04:13.182 --> 01:04:13.602
KATHERINE: That's right.

01:04:13.662 --> 01:04:30.042
VIRGINIA: That's hard to do because the first time I did, I think it was the first time I did zip lining, I got to a point where I was probably, I don't know, seven feet out from the landing and I had to do the hand over hand thing.

01:04:30.042 --> 01:04:34.142
VIRGINIA: That takes such upper body strength and I did not have it.

01:04:34.162 --> 01:04:37.082
VIRGINIA: I was struggling.

01:04:37.082 --> 01:04:47.542
VIRGINIA: So yeah, now I'm imagining this little muscular woman who is just all arm muscle, ready to do it.

01:04:50.022 --> 01:04:50.622
VIRGINIA: Wow.

01:04:50.622 --> 01:04:55.802
KATHERINE: So that was the last thing that we saw, because then she brought us back on stage.

01:04:55.802 --> 01:05:08.742
KATHERINE: And if you have ever done a Halloween party or a Christmas party where you've come in to the party, where you haven't already been in the park, they kind of bring you off to the side, kind of behind the plaza restaurant.

01:05:08.742 --> 01:05:15.502
KATHERINE: There is, I have done this in the Halloween party, and I remember walking down at me and being like, where am I?

01:05:15.502 --> 01:05:20.662
KATHERINE: It's not typically open, but they use it for sort of traffic control when they're writing for the parties.

01:05:20.662 --> 01:05:30.822
KATHERINE: There's this little walkway and they had, when we walked down, you can see they had set up little Halloween statues like Minnie and her princess costume, and these different statues.

01:05:30.822 --> 01:05:32.522
KATHERINE: Like, oh, okay, we're back here.

01:05:32.522 --> 01:05:38.102
KATHERINE: So it's technically considered on stage, but it's not open to the public all the time.

01:05:38.102 --> 01:05:45.162
KATHERINE: But we walked through there and then we were back out on stage for real, off to the side of the plaza.

01:05:45.162 --> 01:05:47.982
KATHERINE: And then that was the end of the tour.

01:05:47.982 --> 01:05:53.002
KATHERINE: And that was when she was telling us about all her cruises and Tokyo.

01:05:53.002 --> 01:06:00.102
KATHERINE: And so she said, you know, if anybody wants to stay and ask questions, like, you know, we can stay as long as you like, but you're free to go.

01:06:02.122 --> 01:06:08.502
KATHERINE: We had to give her back the audio pack and our, we got to keep our name tags.

01:06:08.642 --> 01:06:15.002
KATHERINE: We had to give back the audio pack and then in the audio pack, they had these little cards that said, you know, the name of the tour and the time.

01:06:15.002 --> 01:06:16.822
KATHERINE: And she was like, make sure you give those cards back.

01:06:16.822 --> 01:06:17.902
KATHERINE: People steal them all the time.

01:06:17.902 --> 01:06:20.982
KATHERINE: I don't know why, but she's back.

01:06:20.982 --> 01:06:22.022
KATHERINE: So we had to give her that back.

01:06:22.022 --> 01:06:27.362
KATHERINE: And then she gave us, we all got these little key pins, Keys to the Kingdom pin.

01:06:27.362 --> 01:06:29.082
KATHERINE: And then that was the end of the tour.

01:06:29.082 --> 01:06:36.122
KATHERINE: And it was about 1 1.30, not quite 2 o'clock at that point, because the parade hadn't started yet.

01:06:36.122 --> 01:06:38.842
KATHERINE: But it was between 1.30 and 2 o'clock.

01:06:38.842 --> 01:06:40.062
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:06:40.062 --> 01:06:41.402
VIRGINIA: Wow.

01:06:41.402 --> 01:06:43.242
VIRGINIA: That sounds so amazing.

01:06:43.242 --> 01:06:45.242
VIRGINIA: I cannot wait for my turn to come.

01:06:45.282 --> 01:06:47.622
KATHERINE: I'm excited for you.

01:06:47.622 --> 01:06:49.322
KATHERINE: You will love it.

01:06:49.322 --> 01:06:50.482
VIRGINIA: I'm sure I will.

01:06:50.482 --> 01:06:51.062
VIRGINIA: I'm sure I will.

01:06:51.062 --> 01:07:00.042
VIRGINIA: I know some people who have done it, who do it fairly frequently, because they said that depending on who you get, you get different paths.

01:07:00.902 --> 01:07:01.282
RENIE: Yeah.

01:07:01.282 --> 01:07:03.062
RENIE: I can imagine that you get different.

01:07:03.062 --> 01:07:03.802
RENIE: Yeah.

01:07:03.802 --> 01:07:04.142
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:07:04.142 --> 01:07:18.062
KATHERINE: She said that too, that she, because her background was in costuming and entertainment and stuff, that she talks a lot about her experiences and what it's like working with the performers and doing the costuming and all that stuff.

01:07:18.062 --> 01:07:29.242
KATHERINE: She was saying another one of the tour guides came from more of a ecological background and talks a lot about the conservation effort and different things that Disney does for the environment.

01:07:30.922 --> 01:07:35.102
KATHERINE: She said that, that you will get a different experience depending on who your tour guide is.

01:07:35.102 --> 01:07:35.922
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

01:07:35.922 --> 01:07:37.262
KATHERINE: So I would do it again.

01:07:37.262 --> 01:07:41.842
KATHERINE: I would like to get the Jungle Cruise part of the experience.

01:07:41.842 --> 01:07:43.182
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

01:07:43.182 --> 01:07:43.582
VIRGINIA: All right.

01:07:43.582 --> 01:07:46.942
VIRGINIA: Well, we still got a little bit more to go for the rest of this trip.

01:07:46.942 --> 01:07:49.742
VIRGINIA: So let's try to get through all of that.

01:07:50.002 --> 01:07:55.562
VIRGINIA: So this was the day you had multi-pass and you had pre-booked Tiana's Winnie the Pooh and Pirates.

01:07:55.562 --> 01:07:57.502
VIRGINIA: Did you make it on to all three of those?

01:07:57.502 --> 01:07:58.342
KATHERINE: Yes, we did.

01:07:58.342 --> 01:08:03.002
KATHERINE: So the first thing we did after the tour was the parade was at two o'clock.

01:08:03.002 --> 01:08:08.542
KATHERINE: So we went and got a spot on Main Street towards the Adventureland side because we knew that we had to get to our...

01:08:08.882 --> 01:08:11.182
RENIE: Wanted to get over to Pirates right away.

01:08:11.182 --> 01:08:14.722
KATHERINE: So we just sit on the sidewalk, watch the parade.

01:08:14.762 --> 01:08:17.242
KATHERINE: The parade was great, as always.

01:08:17.242 --> 01:08:17.922
RENIE: Right.

01:08:17.922 --> 01:08:21.762
KATHERINE: And then the parade went by and we were into Adventureland.

01:08:21.762 --> 01:08:24.942
KATHERINE: So we went on Pirates.

01:08:24.942 --> 01:08:27.502
KATHERINE: And then we picked up a fast...

01:08:27.502 --> 01:08:29.602
KATHERINE: I guess we're not calling it Fastpass anymore.

01:08:29.602 --> 01:08:34.462
KATHERINE: We picked up a light lane reservation for Small World.

01:08:34.462 --> 01:08:40.742
KATHERINE: So we took the railroad from Frontierland over to Fantasyland.

01:08:40.742 --> 01:08:43.362
KATHERINE: We had a little time to kill before Small World.

01:08:43.402 --> 01:08:47.722
KATHERINE: And so we went on the Little Mermaid undersea adventure.

01:08:47.722 --> 01:08:48.942
VIRGINIA: Adventure, yeah.

01:08:48.942 --> 01:08:49.742
VIRGINIA: Whatever it's called.

01:08:50.642 --> 01:08:51.942
KATHERINE: So we went on Ariel's Ride.

01:08:51.942 --> 01:08:52.782
KATHERINE: So we did that.

01:08:52.782 --> 01:08:56.702
KATHERINE: And then it was time for our Small World lightning lane.

01:08:56.702 --> 01:08:57.822
KATHERINE: So we went and did that.

01:08:57.822 --> 01:09:00.422
KATHERINE: And then we went back to Frontierland.

01:09:00.422 --> 01:09:04.622
KATHERINE: We just walked to go to Tiana, which was so cute.

01:09:04.622 --> 01:09:07.742
KATHERINE: And we were very concerned about getting wet.

01:09:07.742 --> 01:09:10.702
KATHERINE: But we were in the back of the flume.

01:09:10.702 --> 01:09:12.622
KATHERINE: And so we just got sort of a little refreshing...

01:09:12.742 --> 01:09:13.602
KATHERINE: A little mist.

01:09:13.742 --> 01:09:15.062
KATHERINE: A little mist.

01:09:15.062 --> 01:09:15.762
KATHERINE: And that was it.

01:09:15.762 --> 01:09:17.022
KATHERINE: It was perfect.

01:09:18.582 --> 01:09:22.722
KATHERINE: So I guess that would be advice is that if you can sit in the back of the flume.

01:09:22.722 --> 01:09:22.962
KATHERINE: Yes.

01:09:22.962 --> 01:09:24.682
KATHERINE: Maybe get totally soaked.

01:09:24.682 --> 01:09:25.982
VIRGINIA: What I have heard.

01:09:26.402 --> 01:09:27.102
KATHERINE: Yes.

01:09:27.102 --> 01:09:27.942
KATHERINE: It was perfect.

01:09:28.642 --> 01:09:30.502
KATHERINE: So we did that.

01:09:30.502 --> 01:09:35.882
KATHERINE: And then we went and saw the updated Country Bear Jamboree.

01:09:35.882 --> 01:09:36.162
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:09:36.162 --> 01:09:37.142
VIRGINIA: How'd you like it?

01:09:37.142 --> 01:09:38.142
KATHERINE: I liked it.

01:09:38.142 --> 01:09:38.742
KATHERINE: We liked it.

01:09:38.822 --> 01:09:39.642
KATHERINE: We missed.

01:09:39.642 --> 01:09:42.422
KATHERINE: We missed the original certain things.

01:09:42.422 --> 01:09:45.442
VIRGINIA: But yeah, you missed Blood on the Saddle.

01:09:45.602 --> 01:09:47.502
KATHERINE: We missed Blood on the Saddle.

01:09:47.502 --> 01:09:50.742
VIRGINIA: And all the men who, what is it?

01:09:50.742 --> 01:09:52.642
VIRGINIA: Turn me on, turn me down.

01:09:54.242 --> 01:09:55.842
RENIE: And then a little Buford.

01:09:55.882 --> 01:09:56.762
VIRGINIA: Oh, yeah.

01:09:56.762 --> 01:09:58.182
VIRGINIA: Poor little Buford.

01:09:58.242 --> 01:10:02.982
VIRGINIA: Do they still have the little baby, the small bear holding a tiny teddy bear?

01:10:02.982 --> 01:10:03.742
KATHERINE: Yes, they do.

01:10:03.742 --> 01:10:06.142
KATHERINE: And he's holding a stuffed big owl.

01:10:06.142 --> 01:10:07.562
VIRGINIA: Oh, okay.

01:10:07.562 --> 01:10:17.402
VIRGINIA: Because when they were said, they were going to do the renovations originally, I was like, please just let this little bear holding a bear still be there at the end of the day because I just think he's so cute.

01:10:17.402 --> 01:10:20.582
RENIE: They're all nice and clean and shiny and sparkly.

01:10:20.582 --> 01:10:21.422
KATHERINE: New costumes.

01:10:21.422 --> 01:10:22.922
RENIE: New costumes.

01:10:22.922 --> 01:10:24.042
RENIE: Yeah, they look good.

01:10:24.042 --> 01:10:25.202
RENIE: They look very good.

01:10:25.202 --> 01:10:25.522
VIRGINIA: Good.

01:10:25.802 --> 01:10:26.242
KATHERINE: Let's see.

01:10:26.242 --> 01:10:31.302
KATHERINE: And then after that, I think we went back to Fantasyland.

01:10:31.302 --> 01:10:32.462
RENIE: Winnie the Pooh?

01:10:32.462 --> 01:10:33.422
KATHERINE: We did Feel Her Magic.

01:10:33.422 --> 01:10:33.722
VIRGINIA: All right.

01:10:33.722 --> 01:10:35.122
RENIE: First.

01:10:35.642 --> 01:10:36.862
KATHERINE: And then we went to Winnie the Pooh.

01:10:36.862 --> 01:10:44.222
KATHERINE: We were trying to get on Peter Pan, but by the time we were able to book stuff later in the day, it was already gone.

01:10:44.222 --> 01:10:53.522
KATHERINE: And the wait was 45 minutes, which isn't bad for Peter Pan, but there's just so much other stuff that we wanted to do that we skipped it.

01:10:53.522 --> 01:10:54.622
KATHERINE: We'll try again in January.

01:10:54.762 --> 01:11:01.362
KATHERINE: But so we did the Philher Magic, and then we went on Winnie the Pooh, and then we...

01:11:01.362 --> 01:11:02.562
RENIE: Did we do Buzz?

01:11:03.602 --> 01:11:12.982
KATHERINE: We went to Tomorrowland, and we did Buzz, and we did the Carousel of Progress classic.

01:11:12.982 --> 01:11:13.762
KATHERINE: Got to do that one.

01:11:13.802 --> 01:11:19.082
KATHERINE: And then we had dinner at the Plaza for the first time.

01:11:19.082 --> 01:11:20.042
VIRGINIA: How did you like it?

01:11:20.042 --> 01:11:26.102
VIRGINIA: Because I know that one of your big goals for this trip was to try some food that you had not had before.

01:11:26.102 --> 01:11:29.742
VIRGINIA: So that was the point of some of these reservations.

01:11:29.742 --> 01:11:32.942
KATHERINE: Yeah, this one we actually did not split.

01:11:32.942 --> 01:11:43.802
KATHERINE: I think we were hungry because we had lunch at 11 o'clock, and our dinner reservation, they were a little delayed, so we didn't get seated until it was like 7 o'clock.

01:11:43.802 --> 01:11:47.642
KATHERINE: And we did have an ice cream at one point in there somewhere, but nothing else.

01:11:47.642 --> 01:11:48.522
KATHERINE: So we were pretty hungry.

01:11:49.462 --> 01:11:57.362
KATHERINE: I got the pot roast stack, which was toast, topped with mashed potatoes, topped with pot roast, topped with onion rings.

01:11:57.362 --> 01:11:58.282
KATHERINE: Wow.

01:11:58.282 --> 01:11:59.662
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:11:59.662 --> 01:12:01.522
KATHERINE: The pot roast was very good.

01:12:01.522 --> 01:12:02.542
KATHERINE: The potatoes were good.

01:12:02.542 --> 01:12:03.462
KATHERINE: The onion rings were good.

01:12:03.462 --> 01:12:08.342
KATHERINE: The toast was just sort of a mushy mess, so I just didn't bother with the toast.

01:12:08.342 --> 01:12:10.322
KATHERINE: But the pot, I love a good pot roast.

01:12:10.322 --> 01:12:11.742
KATHERINE: The pot roast was good.

01:12:11.742 --> 01:12:12.362
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:12:12.362 --> 01:12:16.082
RENIE: I had the, what, the turkey BLT on black bread.

01:12:16.082 --> 01:12:17.682
KATHERINE: It was, yeah, special Halloween.

01:12:17.922 --> 01:12:19.222
KATHERINE: Halloween black bread.

01:12:19.222 --> 01:12:21.442
RENIE: And the bread was black.

01:12:22.562 --> 01:12:23.482
RENIE: It was good though.

01:12:23.482 --> 01:12:23.922
RENIE: It was good.

01:12:23.922 --> 01:12:24.622
RENIE: I enjoyed it.

01:12:24.622 --> 01:12:25.282
RENIE: I enjoyed it.

01:12:25.282 --> 01:12:27.862
KATHERINE: And then, let's see, what did we do after that?

01:12:27.862 --> 01:12:29.502
RENIE: At some point, we were on the people mover.

01:12:29.502 --> 01:12:29.882
RENIE: I know.

01:12:29.882 --> 01:12:30.822
KATHERINE: That was later.

01:12:30.822 --> 01:12:42.862
KATHERINE: So after we finished dinner, because dinner had been sort of pushed back later than we wanted it to, we went and got our spot for the fireworks.

01:12:43.142 --> 01:12:44.622
RENIE: They have to find a better way of doing that.

01:12:45.402 --> 01:12:47.622
RENIE: That's all I could say.

01:12:47.622 --> 01:12:48.842
VIRGINIA: It's like the Hunger Games?

01:12:48.842 --> 01:12:49.182
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

01:12:49.182 --> 01:12:51.302
RENIE: I guess.

01:12:51.422 --> 01:12:53.382
RENIE: It just, I don't know.

01:12:53.382 --> 01:12:55.382
KATHERINE: So the fireworks were at 830.

01:12:55.382 --> 01:13:02.602
KATHERINE: And I think it was about, I don't know, 750 or so, when we had come out and we're trying to find a spot.

01:13:02.602 --> 01:13:08.882
KATHERINE: We ended up in the hub to the left and a little in front of the partner statue.

01:13:08.882 --> 01:13:10.362
KATHERINE: So we had a pretty good spot.

01:13:10.602 --> 01:13:15.242
KATHERINE: It was just full, just people, you know, being people.

01:13:15.602 --> 01:13:22.902
KATHERINE: I'm standing there for 40 minutes and people don't listen to the cast members and follow the directions.

01:13:22.902 --> 01:13:27.002
RENIE: Well, the biggest problem I had was people sitting on the ground.

01:13:27.002 --> 01:13:29.742
RENIE: And it's dark and you can't really see.

01:13:29.742 --> 01:13:37.562
RENIE: And I was afraid of stepping on someone, tripping over someone, breaking my leg, falling over someone.

01:13:37.562 --> 01:13:41.522
RENIE: I mean, the fireworks were great, but there's got to be a better way to do this.

01:13:41.522 --> 01:13:45.122
RENIE: I guess the thing would be to, what is it, the dessert thing that you get?

01:13:45.122 --> 01:13:46.302
KATHERINE: The dessert party, yeah.

01:13:46.302 --> 01:13:48.762
KATHERINE: I heard that that's not really worth it because...

01:13:48.762 --> 01:13:50.022
RENIE: You can't really see it.

01:13:50.022 --> 01:13:51.482
KATHERINE: Yeah, you're off to the side.

01:13:51.482 --> 01:13:55.402
KATHERINE: Because we had walked through Tomorrowland Terrace where they have the dessert parties.

01:13:55.402 --> 01:13:56.062
RENIE: Right.

01:13:56.062 --> 01:14:01.442
KATHERINE: And first of all, it's expensive for what you get as far as the desserts themselves.

01:14:01.442 --> 01:14:07.342
KATHERINE: And then, yeah, the view, you can see the fireworks, but so much of the show is happening on the castle.

01:14:07.342 --> 01:14:07.782
RENIE: On the castle.

01:14:08.362 --> 01:14:11.402
KATHERINE: And if you want to see those projections, I think that's probably not.

01:14:11.402 --> 01:14:14.042
VIRGINIA: Well, there's multiple versions of the dessert party.

01:14:14.042 --> 01:14:18.302
VIRGINIA: So there's the one where you watch from the Tomorrowland Terrace.

01:14:18.302 --> 01:14:29.382
VIRGINIA: And then there's one where you go and you eat your dessert beforehand, and then you go sit on the hub grass in the Roped Off special VIP area.

01:14:29.382 --> 01:14:35.802
VIRGINIA: And then there's the opposite, I think, where you go watch the show from the hub grass, and then you go eat your desserts after.

01:14:36.202 --> 01:14:39.722
VIRGINIA: So I think technically, there's three versions of the party.

01:14:39.722 --> 01:14:45.402
VIRGINIA: So yeah, I've never done the one where you're over at Tomorrowland Terrace, but the one where you are on the hub grass, I have done.

01:14:45.402 --> 01:14:53.702
VIRGINIA: And that's nice because not only do you know you have a spot, but even if there's a lot of people signed up for the dessert party, it's not packed.

01:14:53.942 --> 01:14:56.022
VIRGINIA: You have some space to move.

01:14:56.022 --> 01:14:59.282
VIRGINIA: I mean, I think it's worth doing once.

01:14:59.702 --> 01:15:04.962
VIRGINIA: Or if you just really love having a reserved spot, I suppose.

01:15:05.682 --> 01:15:23.182
VIRGINIA: Or if you're going to do a VIP tour anyway, my understanding is if you do a VIP tour, if you're spending that kind of money for a VIP tour anyway, that if you do it where your tour ends at the firework time, then they will, for your last thing, put you into that area before they say goodbye to you.

01:15:23.182 --> 01:15:23.582
KATHERINE: Okay.

01:15:23.582 --> 01:15:25.662
KATHERINE: Well, maybe we'll have to look into it.

01:15:25.662 --> 01:15:28.302
RENIE: I couldn't imagine doing it with your son there.

01:15:28.302 --> 01:15:34.242
KATHERINE: No, yeah, he has never been to the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom just because it's chaos.

01:15:34.242 --> 01:15:37.642
VIRGINIA: You have to like dessert to go to that dessert party, I will say.

01:15:37.642 --> 01:15:42.482
VIRGINIA: We've done a dessert party at Hollywood Studios, which we ended up really enjoying.

01:15:42.482 --> 01:15:45.802
VIRGINIA: It was the Star Wars themed one eons ago.

01:15:45.802 --> 01:15:48.342
VIRGINIA: What I liked about it was that it wasn't just all dessert.

01:15:48.342 --> 01:15:59.622
VIRGINIA: It was also hummus and vegetables and little things like that, because I'm more of a savory person, and the dessert party in the Magic Kingdom is primarily dessert.

01:16:00.362 --> 01:16:06.302
VIRGINIA: If you don't have a huge sweet tooth, you can't go into it looking to get your value out of the food.

01:16:06.302 --> 01:16:10.982
VIRGINIA: The value is you get a reserved spot for the fireworks and you happen to get some desserts with it.

01:16:11.282 --> 01:16:12.302
KATHERINE: Okay.

01:16:12.302 --> 01:16:16.822
KATHERINE: We'll have to look into that because we were talking about that while we were standing there.

01:16:16.962 --> 01:16:21.782
KATHERINE: When we come in January, I can't imagine him standing here for half an hour with all these people.

01:16:24.522 --> 01:16:26.922
KATHERINE: I don't want to stand there with them for half an hour with all these people.

01:16:30.322 --> 01:16:31.082
KATHERINE: We enjoyed the show.

01:16:31.082 --> 01:16:37.262
KATHERINE: It was very good and then the park was open until 10, so we did have some time.

01:16:37.262 --> 01:16:46.702
KATHERINE: We went from there back to Liberty Square because we had to go to the Christmas Shop, one of our traditional stops.

01:16:46.702 --> 01:16:58.242
KATHERINE: We had gone to the Christmas Shop at Disney Springs, the night that we were at Disney Springs, and hadn't seen anything that really had captured our interest.

01:16:58.242 --> 01:17:05.982
KATHERINE: So we knew that probably the stuff in the Christmas Shop was going to be the same, but we figured we would just wait and check there too.

01:17:05.982 --> 01:17:13.782
KATHERINE: So we went back there, shopped around, and then the last thing on my list was I wanted to go on the People Mover.

01:17:13.782 --> 01:17:23.362
KATHERINE: So we went back to Tomorrowland, got on the People Mover, rode around, got to see everything at Tomorrowland all lit up, which I think that's the best time to go to Tomorrowland.

01:17:23.362 --> 01:17:26.442
KATHERINE: In my opinion, is it night when it's all lit up?

01:17:26.442 --> 01:17:30.122
KATHERINE: Then we fought our way back to the front of the park to get on the bus.

01:17:30.122 --> 01:17:32.782
RENIE: It was a 12-mile day.

01:17:32.782 --> 01:17:35.042
KATHERINE: Well, it was a lot.

01:17:35.042 --> 01:17:36.662
KATHERINE: I don't know if it was 12, but it was a lot.

01:17:37.162 --> 01:17:45.302
KATHERINE: And then waiting for the bus at the end of the day, when we had gotten sort of spoiled by the skyline, where it was a little bit of a downer.

01:17:45.302 --> 01:17:53.482
KATHERINE: But I do think they've gotten a lot better with the buses because a bus would come and there was two buses there basically at all times.

01:17:53.482 --> 01:17:57.482
KATHERINE: So there would be a bus in the front where people were getting on.

01:17:57.482 --> 01:18:02.402
KATHERINE: And then there would be a bus behind it where they were loading people in wheelchairs and their families.

01:18:02.402 --> 01:18:06.662
KATHERINE: So they would load up the first bus while they're getting the wheelchairs on the second bus.

01:18:06.662 --> 01:18:09.082
KATHERINE: First bus moves out of the way.

01:18:09.082 --> 01:18:13.762
KATHERINE: Second bus has the wheelchairs all secured, moves up to the first spot.

01:18:13.762 --> 01:18:15.142
KATHERINE: People start getting on that bus.

01:18:15.142 --> 01:18:16.042
KATHERINE: Second bus pulls in.

01:18:16.042 --> 01:18:17.102
KATHERINE: It was very efficient.

01:18:17.102 --> 01:18:24.582
KATHERINE: So the buses were moving through constantly and the line was moving pretty much all the time, but it was still like, oh, we're so tired.

01:18:24.582 --> 01:18:26.582
KATHERINE: Please just let us in this bus.

01:18:27.662 --> 01:18:28.482
KATHERINE: But we made it.

01:18:28.662 --> 01:18:29.182
KATHERINE: We did.

01:18:29.182 --> 01:18:30.042
KATHERINE: We did finally make it.

01:18:30.042 --> 01:18:32.902
KATHERINE: But it was a long day for us because we were up before six.

01:18:32.902 --> 01:18:37.542
KATHERINE: And I don't think we got back to the room until 11.

01:18:38.542 --> 01:18:39.742
KATHERINE: So we were pretty tired.

01:18:39.882 --> 01:18:41.542
VIRGINIA: We were ready to crash.

01:18:41.962 --> 01:18:45.342
VIRGINIA: Just like Tinker Bell and her padded landing.

01:18:47.942 --> 01:18:48.662
VIRGINIA: All right.

01:18:48.662 --> 01:18:53.122
VIRGINIA: So Tuesday, October 1st, this was an Epcot Day.

01:18:53.122 --> 01:18:57.342
VIRGINIA: So is this the morning that you moved over to Caribbean Beach?

01:18:57.402 --> 01:18:57.722
KATHERINE: Yes.

01:18:57.722 --> 01:18:58.942
KATHERINE: This was transfer day.

01:18:58.942 --> 01:19:04.382
KATHERINE: So we took your advice and we had Bell Services move our luggage, which I think was the right call.

01:19:05.142 --> 01:19:06.382
RENIE: It worked out fine.

01:19:06.982 --> 01:19:15.242
KATHERINE: So we packed up all of our stuff, said goodbye to our room, dropped off our two suitcases and one backpack with Bell Services, told them we were transferring.

01:19:15.242 --> 01:19:16.142
KATHERINE: They said, where are you going?

01:19:16.142 --> 01:19:17.222
KATHERINE: We said, Caribbean Beach.

01:19:17.222 --> 01:19:24.422
KATHERINE: They stamped our, I don't know, little pass, handed it back to us, said, okay, you know, when you get there, give this to them.

01:19:24.422 --> 01:19:27.862
KATHERINE: She said, you're going to be in Building 36.

01:19:27.862 --> 01:19:28.682
KATHERINE: Oh, okay.

01:19:28.682 --> 01:19:31.222
KATHERINE: So as we were walking away, I got the notification on my phone.

01:19:31.222 --> 01:19:32.182
KATHERINE: Oh, your room is ready.

01:19:32.362 --> 01:19:35.262
KATHERINE: And this was at, I don't know, not even eight o'clock yet that morning.

01:19:35.262 --> 01:19:36.442
VIRGINIA: Wow, okay.

01:19:36.442 --> 01:19:40.642
KATHERINE: I don't know if you are doing a transfer, if they try to do that.

01:19:40.642 --> 01:19:41.662
VIRGINIA: I've never had that before.

01:19:41.662 --> 01:19:42.282
VIRGINIA: I signed you earlier.

01:19:42.702 --> 01:19:47.262
VIRGINIA: I've never had someone tell me what building I'm gonna be in when I've dropped stuff off.

01:19:47.262 --> 01:19:51.062
KATHERINE: She didn't say the room number, but she said, I guess it was in the system already.

01:19:51.922 --> 01:19:52.542
KATHERINE: So that was cool.

01:19:52.542 --> 01:19:56.122
KATHERINE: So then we knew where we were going, which was nice for later.

01:19:56.122 --> 01:20:00.622
KATHERINE: But we left Bell Services, we walked back to the Skyliner, we took the Skyliner to Epcot.

01:20:01.062 --> 01:20:05.222
KATHERINE: We were running a little behind schedule that morning because we were tired.

01:20:05.222 --> 01:20:13.942
KATHERINE: So Epcot, I think it was not, park had not opened, I think park opening for all guests was at nine.

01:20:13.942 --> 01:20:18.602
KATHERINE: So it was before nine, but they were already letting in resort guests.

01:20:18.602 --> 01:20:23.462
KATHERINE: We had taken the Skyliner there, so we came in through the back entrance by France.

01:20:24.902 --> 01:20:34.162
KATHERINE: We booked it over to Frozen, which was already, by the time we got there, a 30-minute wait, and it went up to 40 while we were in line.

01:20:34.162 --> 01:20:35.622
KATHERINE: But it wasn't a bad wait.

01:20:35.622 --> 01:20:39.202
KATHERINE: Once you get inside, it was fine.

01:20:39.202 --> 01:20:46.982
KATHERINE: So we did that first, and then we went and rode the three Caballeros, because we were right next door to Mexico, so we figured we might as well.

01:20:47.022 --> 01:20:50.882
KATHERINE: So I did that, and I think we're going to go up to that.

01:20:51.902 --> 01:20:54.682
VIRGINIA: While you think about that, I have a follow-up question from your pre-trip.

01:20:55.122 --> 01:21:16.082
VIRGINIA: So there was some debate on Renie's quest for French onion soup about whether you would keep a Grand Floridian Cafe lunch reservation or head to Chefs de France, and based on the reservation cancellation schedule, I'm guessing by this point in the morning, you had decided what you were going to do.

01:21:16.082 --> 01:21:18.302
VIRGINIA: So what was the decision?

01:21:18.302 --> 01:21:22.222
KATHERINE: We had decided, I think, like, day one when we got there.

01:21:22.222 --> 01:21:22.982
RENIE: Saturday, yeah.

01:21:22.982 --> 01:21:23.662
KATHERINE: What are we doing?

01:21:25.342 --> 01:21:31.042
KATHERINE: And we decided, we took your advice, and we kept the Chefs de France reservation, and we canceled the Grand Floridium.

01:21:31.042 --> 01:21:31.822
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:21:31.822 --> 01:21:32.562
VIRGINIA: All right.

01:21:32.562 --> 01:21:47.262
KATHERINE: So I think after we did the three Caballeros, we went to Club Cool and got our sodas at like, I don't know, 9.30 in the morning or something, but we were over on that side, and so we said, we'll just make a little stop over here.

01:21:47.262 --> 01:21:51.302
KATHERINE: A man tried to trick me into drinking the Beverly, and I said, no, I will fit her.

01:21:51.302 --> 01:21:52.742
KATHERINE: He's like, oh, you gotta try this Beverly.

01:21:52.742 --> 01:21:54.342
VIRGINIA: I'm like, no, thank you.

01:21:54.342 --> 01:21:56.402
VIRGINIA: This is not my first rodeo.

01:21:56.402 --> 01:21:58.002
VIRGINIA: Thank you very much.

01:21:58.002 --> 01:22:01.262
KATHERINE: Yeah, I know what I'm looking for here.

01:22:01.262 --> 01:22:13.702
KATHERINE: So we went and did that, and then we went on Spaceship Earth, and then we went and did the Moana Journey of Water walkthrough, stayed on the dry paths.

01:22:13.702 --> 01:22:18.102
KATHERINE: We were not interested in getting wet, but it's cute, it's fun.

01:22:19.522 --> 01:22:24.562
KATHERINE: Then Soarin, we saw Soarin was a 15-minute wait, so we went right over to the land.

01:22:24.562 --> 01:22:25.982
RENIE: Jumped right on that?

01:22:25.982 --> 01:22:27.922
KATHERINE: Got right on Soarin.

01:22:27.922 --> 01:22:34.242
KATHERINE: After we got off Soarin, you might as well go across the way, go to the land, which was a 30-minute wait.

01:22:34.242 --> 01:22:38.542
KATHERINE: So we waited longer to get on the land than we did to get on Soarin.

01:22:38.542 --> 01:22:40.242
VIRGINIA: That is insane.

01:22:40.242 --> 01:22:43.282
RENIE: That was the first time I've waited to get on that first time.

01:22:43.282 --> 01:22:43.522
VIRGINIA: Wow.

01:22:44.962 --> 01:22:49.102
KATHERINE: At that point, when we got off of Soarin, it was up to 45 minutes.

01:22:49.102 --> 01:22:56.202
KATHERINE: So I think a lot of people had seen that it was a short wait and then came over there and then said, we'll go on the land first, we'll wait.

01:22:56.202 --> 01:22:59.502
KATHERINE: Or they were doing the same thing we were doing, which was going on Soarin and getting off.

01:22:59.502 --> 01:23:03.062
KATHERINE: I don't know what people wanted to go on the land.

01:23:03.062 --> 01:23:04.422
RENIE: But we did it.

01:23:04.422 --> 01:23:05.562
KATHERINE: We did that.

01:23:05.562 --> 01:23:10.242
KATHERINE: Then we went and had lunch at Connections Eatery.

01:23:10.242 --> 01:23:11.502
KATHERINE: I don't know, we couldn't decide what to do.

01:23:12.082 --> 01:23:15.002
KATHERINE: We said, let's just go over there because we know that will be good.

01:23:15.002 --> 01:23:21.742
KATHERINE: We had looked at the food booth menus before the trip, and there wasn't anything that had really stood out to us.

01:23:21.742 --> 01:23:23.522
KATHERINE: We said, we really have to have this.

01:23:23.522 --> 01:23:24.922
KATHERINE: We go and get this.

01:23:24.922 --> 01:23:26.282
KATHERINE: We went there.

01:23:26.282 --> 01:23:31.382
KATHERINE: I got the Korean barbecue fried chicken sandwich.

01:23:31.382 --> 01:23:32.002
KATHERINE: It was good.

01:23:32.002 --> 01:23:33.002
KATHERINE: I liked it.

01:23:33.002 --> 01:23:33.742
RENIE: I just got a hamburger.

01:23:35.462 --> 01:23:36.462
KATHERINE: Boring little hamburger.

01:23:36.462 --> 01:23:39.382
KATHERINE: We were just hungry and we just needed something to eat.

01:23:40.422 --> 01:23:47.762
KATHERINE: We did that, and then we went and rode Journey into Imagination, because that's my son's favorite ride.

01:23:47.762 --> 01:23:51.122
KATHERINE: We had to do that in his honor since he wasn't with us.

01:23:53.202 --> 01:24:00.282
KATHERINE: Then at that point, we had seen and done everything that we wanted to see and do.

01:24:02.842 --> 01:24:08.002
KATHERINE: Remy was like a 45-minute wait, something like that.

01:24:08.002 --> 01:24:14.362
KATHERINE: We decided to go and get some gelato and see if it came down at all, because it had been up and down throughout the day.

01:24:14.362 --> 01:24:17.102
KATHERINE: We went over to Italy and got some gelato.

01:24:17.102 --> 01:24:21.502
KATHERINE: We also went and did the American Adventure in the American Pavilion.

01:24:21.502 --> 01:24:29.742
KATHERINE: Then we just decided, well, we'll just go and we'll just wait for Remy, because we really don't have anything else right now that we want to do, so we'll just do that.

01:24:29.942 --> 01:24:45.762
KATHERINE: The Remy queue, we were outside for a little while, and then we were inside and it was cool inside, but because they are psychologically shrink you down to the stories of a rat, parts of it are very claustrophobic.

01:24:46.162 --> 01:24:46.702
VIRGINIA: Agreed.

01:24:46.702 --> 01:24:55.122
KATHERINE: When you're in there and you're like, if something happens and all these people have to get out of here in a hurry, we're going to have a bad time.

01:24:55.122 --> 01:25:00.322
KATHERINE: We were a little like, I hope this moves faster because I really don't feel good about being here.

01:25:00.322 --> 01:25:07.922
KATHERINE: But eventually, you do get to part in the queue where it opens up and you're in Paris and you see the sign for Gusteau's restaurant and everything.

01:25:07.922 --> 01:25:11.862
KATHERINE: After that point, it was fine and gone on the ride and did the ride.

01:25:11.862 --> 01:25:20.482
KATHERINE: Then we decided, let's go over to Caribbean Beach and see where our room is in the daylight.

01:25:20.482 --> 01:25:26.222
KATHERINE: We knew that finding our room might be a bit of a challenge there.

01:25:27.962 --> 01:25:29.062
VIRGINIA: It's a big resort.

01:25:29.062 --> 01:25:30.182
KATHERINE: Yes, it's a very big resort.

01:25:30.182 --> 01:25:37.162
KATHERINE: We learned it is the same size as the Magic Kingdom as far as the acreage.

01:25:37.162 --> 01:25:39.362
KATHERINE: We wanted to go find it in the daylight.

01:25:39.362 --> 01:25:47.562
KATHERINE: We went over there and took the Skyliner, walked from the Skyliner to we were in the Trinidad section, so it was making like a 10-minute walk.

01:25:47.562 --> 01:25:48.462
RENIE: Yeah, it wasn't far.

01:25:48.462 --> 01:25:49.742
RENIE: It wasn't bad.

01:25:49.742 --> 01:26:05.922
KATHERINE: Yeah, once we found the right building, the right room was, so we were in Trinidad on the first floor in a corner room, which was really nice because we had two big windows in the corner right across from the Spyglass Grill.

01:26:05.922 --> 01:26:06.482
KATHERINE: Okay.

01:26:06.482 --> 01:26:07.702
KATHERINE: So the pool in Trinidad.

01:26:07.702 --> 01:26:10.022
KATHERINE: So it was a nice location.

01:26:10.022 --> 01:26:14.422
KATHERINE: We ended up not eating there or using that pool, but it was nice.

01:26:14.422 --> 01:26:18.962
KATHERINE: So we found the room and then we decided, okay, let's go see where our luggage is.

01:26:19.062 --> 01:26:20.102
KATHERINE: Our luggage is here.

01:26:20.102 --> 01:26:28.662
KATHERINE: So then we walked from Trinidad to Old Port Royale, which is the main lobby in the main building.

01:26:28.662 --> 01:26:31.682
KATHERINE: And that was also probably about 10 minutes, I would say.

01:26:32.002 --> 01:26:36.222
KATHERINE: But we are both very directionally challenged.

01:26:37.322 --> 01:26:40.922
KATHERINE: And we felt like the signage could have been better.

01:26:40.922 --> 01:26:45.622
KATHERINE: Was not the most helpful that there needed to be more.

01:26:45.622 --> 01:26:55.562
KATHERINE: They had maps, like sort of, you are here, and you could see sort of generally the direction that you needed to go to, but just so many sidewalks and kind of like we went in and out of buildings and stuff.

01:26:55.562 --> 01:27:01.322
KATHERINE: And so we did eventually find our way over there, got to Bell Services, they did have our luggage.

01:27:01.522 --> 01:27:04.762
KATHERINE: And then they offered to drive us back over to our room.

01:27:04.762 --> 01:27:07.422
RENIE: So we said, you betcha.

01:27:07.422 --> 01:27:14.182
KATHERINE: So a very helpful, strong cast member loaded our stuff into the back of a van.

01:27:14.182 --> 01:27:15.682
KATHERINE: We got in, he drove us over there.

01:27:15.682 --> 01:27:17.822
KATHERINE: He offered to bring the luggage to our room.

01:27:18.062 --> 01:27:19.542
KATHERINE: We said no, we got it.

01:27:19.542 --> 01:27:20.722
KATHERINE: Thank you.

01:27:20.722 --> 01:27:24.182
KATHERINE: So we brought our luggage back into the room.

01:27:24.202 --> 01:27:38.262
KATHERINE: And at this point, we were starting to get concerned about the weather because we had been watching like all week had been looking at the forecast and it was like Tuesday afternoon was going to be a mess.

01:27:39.442 --> 01:27:44.502
KATHERINE: So we got back to our room and pretty much immediately it started raining.

01:27:44.502 --> 01:27:49.062
KATHERINE: So we were unpacking and trying to figure out, okay, what, you know, what are we going to do now?

01:27:49.062 --> 01:27:53.202
KATHERINE: Because we needed to give back for our dinner reservation at 6.30.

01:27:53.202 --> 01:27:54.902
RENIE: And at this point, we heard thunder also.

01:27:55.402 --> 01:27:56.862
KATHERINE: Yes, it was thundering.

01:27:56.862 --> 01:27:59.382
RENIE: So we knew the skyliner was not going to be running.

01:27:59.382 --> 01:28:01.262
KATHERINE: Was going to be questionable.

01:28:01.262 --> 01:28:04.082
KATHERINE: So once again, we called the front desk and they told you...

01:28:04.082 --> 01:28:05.282
RENIE: Said, what do we do?

01:28:05.282 --> 01:28:06.182
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:28:06.182 --> 01:28:07.362
KATHERINE: And they said...

01:28:07.362 --> 01:28:08.242
RENIE: Take the bus.

01:28:08.242 --> 01:28:10.382
KATHERINE: And we said, okay.

01:28:10.382 --> 01:28:11.762
KATHERINE: So we went to the bus stop.

01:28:11.762 --> 01:28:15.862
KATHERINE: Each of the island villages has its own bus stop.

01:28:15.862 --> 01:28:19.302
KATHERINE: We went to the Trinidad bus stop and we waited and we waited.

01:28:19.762 --> 01:28:27.282
KATHERINE: And in the app and on the TV at the bus stop, it will tell you for the buses...

01:28:27.282 --> 01:28:35.762
KATHERINE: So like if you were going to Magic Kingdom, for example, it would say, okay, Magic Kingdom, next bus, whatever time they expect the next bus to arrive.

01:28:35.762 --> 01:28:41.842
KATHERINE: Or Epcot and Hollywood Studios, under normal circumstances, it would just say, use Skyliner.

01:28:41.842 --> 01:28:42.942
KATHERINE: Skyliner is running constantly.

01:28:43.202 --> 01:28:44.322
KATHERINE: Just go over there, you go.

01:28:44.322 --> 01:28:46.622
KATHERINE: So now it just said, use bus.

01:28:46.622 --> 01:28:49.502
KATHERINE: Didn't have a time, use bus.

01:28:49.502 --> 01:28:51.042
KATHERINE: Okay.

01:28:51.042 --> 01:28:55.582
KATHERINE: So we sat there and the Animal Kingdom bus came.

01:28:55.582 --> 01:28:57.022
KATHERINE: Magic Kingdom bus came.

01:28:57.042 --> 01:28:58.322
RENIE: Hollywood Studios bus came.

01:28:58.322 --> 01:28:59.822
KATHERINE: Hollywood Studios bus came.

01:28:59.822 --> 01:29:01.542
KATHERINE: So we said, okay, well...

01:29:01.542 --> 01:29:08.522
KATHERINE: And we could see if we walked kind of around the side of the bus shelter, we could see the Skyliner moving.

01:29:10.122 --> 01:29:11.622
KATHERINE: So we were there and we were waiting.

01:29:11.622 --> 01:29:14.042
KATHERINE: And there's more and more people coming and waiting.

01:29:14.042 --> 01:29:15.962
KATHERINE: And like, oh, are you trying to get to Epcot?

01:29:15.962 --> 01:29:17.382
KATHERINE: Yeah, we're trying to get to Epcot.

01:29:17.382 --> 01:29:19.002
KATHERINE: Finally, you asked...

01:29:19.002 --> 01:29:20.882
RENIE: The next bus that pulled up.

01:29:20.882 --> 01:29:25.062
KATHERINE: Yeah, I guess the internal loop bus.

01:29:25.062 --> 01:29:27.762
KATHERINE: Because at that point also, the Skyliner had started running again.

01:29:27.762 --> 01:29:28.822
RENIE: We could see it moving.

01:29:28.822 --> 01:29:30.402
KATHERINE: It had started to move.

01:29:30.402 --> 01:29:35.762
KATHERINE: So you asked the bus driver, when we were waiting for the Epcot bus, what are we supposed to do?

01:29:35.762 --> 01:29:36.602
KATHERINE: So then he said...

01:29:36.942 --> 01:29:40.562
RENIE: Get on and I'll take you over to the Skyliner stop.

01:29:40.562 --> 01:29:42.422
VIRGINIA: So how long did you end up waiting?

01:29:42.422 --> 01:29:44.102
RENIE: At least 15 minutes, I think.

01:29:44.242 --> 01:29:45.362
KATHERINE: I think longer than that.

01:29:45.782 --> 01:29:47.402
RENIE: At least 15 minutes.

01:29:47.402 --> 01:29:54.962
KATHERINE: So what I think the procedure is, as best as I can tell, and this was not communicated well.

01:29:54.962 --> 01:29:56.502
RENIE: At all by anybody.

01:29:56.502 --> 01:30:13.562
KATHERINE: Needs to have, I don't know, maybe some signage up in those bus shelters or something that says, you know, if the Skyliner is not running, what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to go to the Skyliner station and the bus picks you up there.

01:30:13.562 --> 01:30:14.442
RENIE: Nobody said that.

01:30:14.442 --> 01:30:16.182
KATHERINE: They just said, get on the bus.

01:30:16.182 --> 01:30:20.782
KATHERINE: They didn't say go to the Skyliner station and get on the bus.

01:30:20.782 --> 01:30:24.862
KATHERINE: At that point, it was all moot because the Skyliner was running again.

01:30:24.862 --> 01:30:27.402
KATHERINE: So he dropped us off at the Skyliner station.

01:30:27.402 --> 01:30:29.442
KATHERINE: We got in line to get on the Skyliner.

01:30:29.442 --> 01:30:41.322
KATHERINE: And then we waited for half an hour in line at the Skyliner station because the Hollywood studio side was running, but the Epcot side was running, but they were not putting anybody on them.

01:30:41.322 --> 01:30:43.122
KATHERINE: Nobody said why.

01:30:43.122 --> 01:30:46.762
KATHERINE: At one point, one cast member made some sort of announcement.

01:30:46.762 --> 01:30:52.342
KATHERINE: The only thing we could pick out was sorry for the delay, but it was so loud in there that we couldn't hear anything else.

01:30:52.342 --> 01:30:54.502
RENIE: Meanwhile, the line was...

01:30:54.502 --> 01:31:01.382
KATHERINE: Oh, they were having to put out more, you know, barriers for the line so that people would get in the line.

01:31:01.382 --> 01:31:02.942
KATHERINE: It was crazy.

01:31:02.942 --> 01:31:06.842
KATHERINE: So I don't know what the issue was because they were running them.

01:31:06.842 --> 01:31:07.922
KATHERINE: It just...

01:31:07.922 --> 01:31:08.842
RENIE: Pretty people on it.

01:31:08.842 --> 01:31:12.402
KATHERINE: But once we got on it, it was fine.

01:31:12.402 --> 01:31:13.182
KATHERINE: We got over there.

01:31:13.462 --> 01:31:16.922
KATHERINE: We got to our reservation actually half an hour early, and they ended up...

01:31:16.922 --> 01:31:20.662
KATHERINE: They seated us basically right away because the restaurant was not full.

01:31:20.662 --> 01:31:23.102
KATHERINE: So they had room for us.

01:31:23.102 --> 01:31:24.262
KATHERINE: So it worked out.

01:31:24.602 --> 01:31:28.402
KATHERINE: And the rain was kind of like off and on at this point.

01:31:29.942 --> 01:31:30.742
KATHERINE: But we had our dinner.

01:31:30.742 --> 01:31:31.502
RENIE: Had my soup.

01:31:31.502 --> 01:31:34.402
VIRGINIA: Where did it rate on the Renie French onion soup scale?

01:31:34.402 --> 01:31:35.082
RENIE: It was a 10.

01:31:35.082 --> 01:31:36.122
RENIE: It was a 10, no doubt.

01:31:36.122 --> 01:31:36.722
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:31:36.722 --> 01:31:37.402
KATHERINE: All right.

01:31:37.402 --> 01:31:37.722
VIRGINIA: Good.

01:31:37.722 --> 01:31:38.582
VIRGINIA: I'm glad.

01:31:39.082 --> 01:31:40.162
RENIE: It was very, very good.

01:31:40.162 --> 01:31:40.922
VIRGINIA: Very good.

01:31:40.922 --> 01:31:41.082
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:31:41.082 --> 01:31:42.942
KATHERINE: We both had the soup and a salad.

01:31:42.942 --> 01:31:47.062
KATHERINE: We got two appetizers instead of dinner.

01:31:47.262 --> 01:31:48.202
KATHERINE: It was a lot of soup.

01:31:48.202 --> 01:31:48.922
KATHERINE: It was a big soup.

01:31:49.562 --> 01:31:50.282
RENIE: It was a lot of soup.

01:31:50.282 --> 01:31:51.362
RENIE: It was a lot of salad.

01:31:51.362 --> 01:31:54.282
KATHERINE: Deep, deep bowl.

01:31:54.282 --> 01:31:54.562
RENIE: Crock.

01:31:55.782 --> 01:31:56.062
KATHERINE: Crock.

01:31:56.062 --> 01:31:58.002
KATHERINE: Yes, a crock.

01:31:58.002 --> 01:31:59.002
KATHERINE: So it was good.

01:31:59.002 --> 01:32:00.362
KATHERINE: We had never eaten there before.

01:32:00.382 --> 01:32:04.662
KATHERINE: It was a lot fancier than our usual.

01:32:04.662 --> 01:32:07.602
KATHERINE: We felt a little out of place.

01:32:07.602 --> 01:32:17.022
KATHERINE: But our waiter was very nice, but hard to understand with because he had a very thick French accent, which you would expect, but it was also very loud in the restaurant.

01:32:17.022 --> 01:32:25.342
KATHERINE: So he was trying to talk to us and just sort of nod and smile and say, okay, very good butter.

01:32:25.342 --> 01:32:25.982
KATHERINE: Oh, yeah.

01:32:25.982 --> 01:32:30.242
KATHERINE: Can I get some butter to start?

01:32:30.242 --> 01:32:32.142
KATHERINE: So get the butter, try the butter.

01:32:32.142 --> 01:32:36.422
RENIE: So then we decided after we ate that I decided that I had had enough.

01:32:36.422 --> 01:32:42.782
KATHERINE: Well, I had told you, if you want to go back to the room, it's fine because it was just-

01:32:42.782 --> 01:32:44.782
RENIE: It was kind of rainy and not rainy.

01:32:44.782 --> 01:32:46.842
RENIE: And were the fireworks going to go on?

01:32:46.842 --> 01:32:48.102
RENIE: Were they not going to go on?

01:32:48.402 --> 01:32:50.402
RENIE: And just the ordeal of getting there?

01:32:51.522 --> 01:33:00.242
KATHERINE: We had had the experience of waiting in the Skyliner line at EPCOT previously, a few nights before.

01:33:00.242 --> 01:33:06.822
KATHERINE: We were just kind of just ready to go in our nice big room.

01:33:08.662 --> 01:33:13.182
KATHERINE: So we went back and we could hear the fireworks.

01:33:13.182 --> 01:33:14.742
RENIE: They did go off.

01:33:14.742 --> 01:33:15.342
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:33:15.342 --> 01:33:17.102
KATHERINE: So they did end up having them.

01:33:17.102 --> 01:33:24.062
KATHERINE: And I think it probably if we had walked, there are certain parts of Caribbean Beach I think where you could see them, watch the fireworks from.

01:33:25.262 --> 01:33:28.882
KATHERINE: But we at that point were already in our jammies.

01:33:28.882 --> 01:33:34.262
KATHERINE: Watching Everybody Loves Raymond and we just, we were just kind of relaxing.

01:33:34.262 --> 01:33:35.582
VIRGINIA: You were cozy.

01:33:35.642 --> 01:33:36.542
KATHERINE: We were cozy.

01:33:36.542 --> 01:33:38.062
KATHERINE: We were.

01:33:38.062 --> 01:33:39.582
KATHERINE: And it was a nice room.

01:33:39.582 --> 01:33:40.722
KATHERINE: We did like we liked the room.

01:33:40.942 --> 01:33:43.862
KATHERINE: We ended up with a fifth sleeper because that was when we had booked.

01:33:43.862 --> 01:33:44.762
KATHERINE: That was what was available.

01:33:44.762 --> 01:33:46.222
KATHERINE: They didn't have any standard rooms left.

01:33:46.402 --> 01:33:52.622
KATHERINE: But very big room, colorful, double sinks, and then backwards.

01:33:52.622 --> 01:33:53.842
KATHERINE: That was nice.

01:33:53.842 --> 01:34:01.102
KATHERINE: Two marks against it, which I don't know if this is true for all of Caribbean Beach or if it was just the room that we were in.

01:34:01.102 --> 01:34:04.422
KATHERINE: The air conditioner was extremely loud.

01:34:04.442 --> 01:34:05.602
RENIE: Very, very loud.

01:34:05.602 --> 01:34:09.502
KATHERINE: And it ran basically all night because it was hot.

01:34:09.502 --> 01:34:12.322
KATHERINE: And it was just it was struggling.

01:34:12.322 --> 01:34:14.242
KATHERINE: So that that was a mark against it.

01:34:14.402 --> 01:34:17.802
KATHERINE: And then also it was not a smart TV in the room.

01:34:17.802 --> 01:34:21.042
KATHERINE: And we had had a smart TV at Pop Century.

01:34:21.042 --> 01:34:24.062
KATHERINE: And I had started watching a couple of nights before.

01:34:24.062 --> 01:34:29.282
KATHERINE: They had an on demand special about, I guess, the 100th anniversary of the Disney company.

01:34:29.282 --> 01:34:32.582
KATHERINE: And I had started watching it and I wanted to finish it.

01:34:32.582 --> 01:34:37.462
KATHERINE: Then we got there and looked at the TV and said, oh, this is not.

01:34:37.462 --> 01:34:40.162
KATHERINE: This is just a regular dumb TV.

01:34:40.162 --> 01:34:41.142
KATHERINE: Watch regular TV.

01:34:41.822 --> 01:34:44.142
KATHERINE: So, it was fine.

01:34:44.142 --> 01:34:52.442
KATHERINE: But I was just surprised that Pop Century, and I know that All Stars too, because we've certainly stayed there enough, that those have smart TVs.

01:34:52.442 --> 01:34:55.282
KATHERINE: And I was surprised that Caribbean Beach didn't have one.

01:34:55.282 --> 01:34:55.822
KATHERINE: So.

01:34:55.822 --> 01:34:58.502
VIRGINIA: Yeah, they've all had fairly recent renovations.

01:34:58.502 --> 01:34:58.842
VIRGINIA: So.

01:34:58.842 --> 01:35:00.862
KATHERINE: Yeah, Caribbean Beach was just a few years ago.

01:35:00.862 --> 01:35:07.622
KATHERINE: So, like I said, maybe it was just our room, maybe just got an old TV.

01:35:07.822 --> 01:35:08.282
KATHERINE: I don't know.

01:35:08.282 --> 01:35:10.462
KATHERINE: But other than that, we liked the room.

01:35:10.802 --> 01:35:12.662
KATHERINE: It was very, very comfortable.

01:35:12.662 --> 01:35:16.462
KATHERINE: So we went to bed a little early that night.

01:35:16.462 --> 01:35:18.142
VIRGINIA: That brings us to your last day.

01:35:18.142 --> 01:35:20.662
VIRGINIA: So Wednesday, October 2nd.

01:35:20.662 --> 01:35:21.522
VIRGINIA: How was the last day?

01:35:21.522 --> 01:35:22.962
VIRGINIA: How was the travel home?

01:35:22.962 --> 01:35:26.822
KATHERINE: We got up in the morning, took our stuff to Bell Services.

01:35:26.822 --> 01:35:28.522
KATHERINE: Then we did the monorail loop.

01:35:28.522 --> 01:35:31.002
KATHERINE: So we took the bus to Magic Kingdom.

01:35:31.022 --> 01:35:35.402
KATHERINE: We walked from Magic Kingdom to the Contemporary.

01:35:35.402 --> 01:35:37.222
KATHERINE: Walked around a little bit in the Contemporary.

01:35:37.222 --> 01:35:44.502
KATHERINE: The Contemporary, I don't really care for personally, it's cool that the monorail goes through it, but other than that, it doesn't thrill me.

01:35:44.502 --> 01:35:49.462
KATHERINE: So we just basically walked around, went up to the monorail.

01:35:49.462 --> 01:35:58.502
KATHERINE: Got up at the Polynesian, and we went to Captain Cook's, and we got a guava scone, which we shared and was pretty tasty.

01:35:58.502 --> 01:36:02.882
KATHERINE: And sat and just kind of, I don't know, enjoyed the view of the pool area.

01:36:02.882 --> 01:36:09.342
KATHERINE: And then we just went outside, just kind of walked around and looked at the little bungalows over the water and all that stuff.

01:36:09.762 --> 01:36:11.502
KATHERINE: And they were also power washing.

01:36:11.922 --> 01:36:14.322
KATHERINE: We saw the sidewalks.

01:36:14.322 --> 01:36:16.002
KATHERINE: So we just kind of walked around outside for a little bit.

01:36:16.002 --> 01:36:18.262
KATHERINE: And it was, again, it was very hot.

01:36:18.262 --> 01:36:21.322
KATHERINE: So it was just kind of like, okay, we've seen it.

01:36:21.322 --> 01:36:22.822
KATHERINE: Let's go back inside now.

01:36:22.822 --> 01:36:23.302
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:36:23.302 --> 01:36:24.922
KATHERINE: So we went back in.

01:36:24.922 --> 01:36:25.982
RENIE: Went to the Grand Floridian.

01:36:25.982 --> 01:36:28.502
KATHERINE: Wrote over to the Grand Floridian.

01:36:28.502 --> 01:36:31.282
KATHERINE: And sort of same thing.

01:36:31.282 --> 01:36:34.662
KATHERINE: Kind of walked around a little bit in the lobby area.

01:36:34.662 --> 01:36:35.862
KATHERINE: Went outside.

01:36:35.862 --> 01:36:38.502
KATHERINE: We had lunch at Gasparilla Island Grill.

01:36:38.962 --> 01:36:42.322
KATHERINE: We both had a caprese sandwich with chips.

01:36:42.322 --> 01:36:45.562
KATHERINE: And it was a big sandwich.

01:36:45.562 --> 01:36:46.982
KATHERINE: But it was tasty.

01:36:46.982 --> 01:36:48.542
KATHERINE: Went back to the Magic Kingdom.

01:36:48.542 --> 01:36:50.982
KATHERINE: Took the bus back to Caribbean Beach.

01:36:50.982 --> 01:36:54.622
KATHERINE: We had left our suitcases with Bell Services that morning.

01:36:54.622 --> 01:36:57.022
KATHERINE: And we had just taken like a backpack.

01:36:57.022 --> 01:36:58.602
KATHERINE: So we had our bathing suits.

01:36:58.602 --> 01:37:01.742
KATHERINE: Went to the pool for half an hour or so, I guess.

01:37:02.322 --> 01:37:06.822
KATHERINE: Got changed, went to Bell Services, got our stuff, got the Uber.

01:37:06.822 --> 01:37:10.062
KATHERINE: He was there immediately because he was just dropping somebody off.

01:37:10.062 --> 01:37:14.022
KATHERINE: So it worked out real well for him because he dropped somebody off and they picked us up.

01:37:14.022 --> 01:37:15.222
KATHERINE: And then took us to the airport.

01:37:15.222 --> 01:37:17.182
KATHERINE: And so our flight was at 4.30.

01:37:17.182 --> 01:37:22.462
KATHERINE: We got to the airport about 2.30, 2.30, something like that.

01:37:22.462 --> 01:37:24.062
KATHERINE: I had figured out my whole pre-check thing.

01:37:24.482 --> 01:37:26.282
KATHERINE: So we got the security.

01:37:26.282 --> 01:37:27.402
KATHERINE: I went right through.

01:37:27.402 --> 01:37:33.842
KATHERINE: I sat there and waited for you because I feel like the regular line there is, there's always something.

01:37:35.222 --> 01:37:36.482
RENIE: But we got through.

01:37:36.482 --> 01:37:37.682
KATHERINE: We made it through.

01:37:37.682 --> 01:37:43.782
KATHERINE: We had been again watching the weather because the weather had been kind of questionable.

01:37:43.822 --> 01:37:44.502
RENIE: It worked out.

01:37:44.942 --> 01:37:49.542
KATHERINE: It was kind of like prime summertime storm time.

01:37:49.542 --> 01:37:59.962
KATHERINE: So we had been watching, but we did get lucky and there had been some rain sort of around FCO, but it didn't actually rain there.

01:37:59.962 --> 01:38:02.362
KATHERINE: So we took off on time.

01:38:02.362 --> 01:38:08.022
KATHERINE: We had a much emptier, well, I guess it wasn't really emptier.

01:38:08.022 --> 01:38:15.422
KATHERINE: The guy who was loading the flight, every once in a while, I feel like you have somebody who is a comedian who works at the airport.

01:38:15.422 --> 01:38:17.182
VIRGINIA: But he wants to be a comedian.

01:38:17.182 --> 01:38:17.642
VIRGINIA: Yes.

01:38:17.642 --> 01:38:19.242
KATHERINE: Yes, an aspiring comedian.

01:38:19.242 --> 01:38:24.322
KATHERINE: But he had mentioned, he said, usually on our flights, we have 20 to 30 children.

01:38:24.322 --> 01:38:29.242
KATHERINE: And he said, you only have 11 on your flight today, so be excited.

01:38:29.242 --> 01:38:30.642
VIRGINIA: Okay.

01:38:30.642 --> 01:38:38.742
KATHERINE: So I do feel like the boarding was much smoother going home, that everybody lined up and did what they were supposed to do.

01:38:38.742 --> 01:38:43.122
KATHERINE: And so I think we even ended up landing like five minutes early.

01:38:43.122 --> 01:38:43.702
RENIE: Right.

01:38:44.422 --> 01:38:45.162
KATHERINE: And then that was it.

01:38:45.662 --> 01:38:46.902
RENIE: Back to reality.

01:38:46.902 --> 01:38:48.442
KATHERINE: Back to reality.

01:38:49.682 --> 01:38:51.562
KATHERINE: But we're going back in January.

01:38:51.562 --> 01:38:51.922
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:38:51.922 --> 01:38:53.842
VIRGINIA: You don't have too much longer to wait.

01:38:53.882 --> 01:38:54.302
KATHERINE: Yeah.

01:38:54.302 --> 01:39:00.222
KATHERINE: So I think that helps, too, that especially like with Peter Pan, like we miss Peter Pan or we miss the fireworks at F-Projects.

01:39:00.222 --> 01:39:02.462
KATHERINE: It's like, we'll just do it then.

01:39:02.462 --> 01:39:04.582
KATHERINE: I think it takes some pressure off of it.

01:39:04.582 --> 01:39:04.782
VIRGINIA: Yeah.

01:39:04.782 --> 01:39:07.982
VIRGINIA: And it will be a different but also magical trip.

01:39:08.702 --> 01:39:09.102
RENIE: Yes.

01:39:09.102 --> 01:39:09.702
RENIE: Yes.

01:39:09.702 --> 01:39:10.582
VIRGINIA: Hoping it will be much more.

01:39:10.582 --> 01:39:12.542
VIRGINIA: Back to the land of strollers.

01:39:12.542 --> 01:39:13.742
KATHERINE: Well, yeah.

01:39:13.742 --> 01:39:14.742
KATHERINE: He's going to be five.

01:39:14.742 --> 01:39:21.602
KATHERINE: So we were talking about that while we were there, like, we really like for him to just walk because it's just so much easier with no stroller.

01:39:21.602 --> 01:39:23.382
KATHERINE: And it's like, you're a big boy.

01:39:23.382 --> 01:39:25.622
KATHERINE: And we're like, you can do it.

01:39:25.622 --> 01:39:30.082
RENIE: The first time that we went, that we took the kids, Katherine was four and we did not have a stroller.

01:39:30.082 --> 01:39:31.382
RENIE: That was not an option.

01:39:31.382 --> 01:39:34.902
VIRGINIA: The first time I took Alex, he was five and he had a stroller.

01:39:35.542 --> 01:39:43.022
VIRGINIA: And I did that because I knew with all the walking that I knew just based on how he is that he would fall asleep and nap in the stroller.

01:39:43.202 --> 01:39:46.822
RENIE: I like the idea of a stroller because you can put all your stuff in it.

01:39:46.822 --> 01:39:48.242
KATHERINE: That's a plus.

01:39:48.242 --> 01:39:50.682
KATHERINE: Then there's the parking it.

01:39:50.682 --> 01:40:00.142
KATHERINE: There's the getting in, if you don't rent one, if you're bringing your own, getting in on and off the bus and just the navigating and not trying not to bump into anybody.

01:40:00.142 --> 01:40:03.162
KATHERINE: And then you always have to make sure that you're taking the ramp and not the stairs.

01:40:03.162 --> 01:40:04.422
KATHERINE: And it's just like, I don't know.

01:40:04.522 --> 01:40:09.062
KATHERINE: But I also know that he is going to want us to carry him everywhere.

01:40:09.062 --> 01:40:15.562
KATHERINE: If there's no stroller, I don't want to do that either because I'm tired enough.

01:40:15.562 --> 01:40:17.342
KATHERINE: So I don't know.

01:40:17.342 --> 01:40:18.942
KATHERINE: We have some time to think about it.

01:40:18.942 --> 01:40:23.182
KATHERINE: But hopefully, hopefully the weather will be much more cooperative in January.

01:40:23.182 --> 01:40:24.482
RENIE: Cooler, at least.

01:40:24.482 --> 01:40:25.142
KATHERINE: Cooler, at least.

01:40:26.022 --> 01:40:26.562
VIRGINIA: Right.

01:40:26.562 --> 01:40:31.002
VIRGINIA: In January, it will it will not nearly be as as hot.

01:40:31.002 --> 01:40:33.882
VIRGINIA: In fact, you might find yourself wearing jeans or sweat.

01:40:33.922 --> 01:40:34.802
RENIE: And sweatshirts, definitely.

01:40:34.802 --> 01:40:35.662
VIRGINIA: For a January trip.

01:40:36.022 --> 01:40:36.762
VIRGINIA: Oh, yeah.

01:40:36.762 --> 01:40:38.262
VIRGINIA: Well, it has been a pleasure.

01:40:38.262 --> 01:40:43.642
VIRGINIA: And I hope that we will get to talk to each other another time at some point.

01:40:43.642 --> 01:40:46.482
VIRGINIA: And I hope that you have a wonderful trip in January, too.

01:40:46.482 --> 01:40:49.182
VIRGINIA: I can't remember when you're going in January, but it's possible.

01:40:49.182 --> 01:40:49.802
KATHERINE: I might see you.

01:40:49.802 --> 01:40:51.962
KATHERINE: Yeah, we are going the last weekend in January.

01:40:51.962 --> 01:40:54.202
KATHERINE: So I think we determine that we are by day.

01:40:54.202 --> 01:40:56.582
KATHERINE: We'll have a laugh with you by day.

01:40:56.582 --> 01:40:58.122
VIRGINIA: OK, we'll remember that.

01:40:58.122 --> 01:41:02.102
VIRGINIA: And then we'll try to make a point to say, say hello on on our overlapping day.

01:41:02.382 --> 01:41:03.042
KATHERINE: Sounds good.

01:41:03.042 --> 01:41:05.862
VIRGINIA: Have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

01:41:05.862 --> 01:41:07.262
VIRGINIA: And thank you both so much.

01:41:07.262 --> 01:41:08.022
KATHERINE: Thank you.

01:41:08.022 --> 01:41:09.902
KATHERINE: Always fun to talk to you.

01:41:11.082 --> 01:41:14.642
VIRGINIA: Thank you to Katherine and Renie again for joining me on the show.

01:41:14.642 --> 01:41:21.682
VIRGINIA: Please make sure you check out Katherine's previous episodes of the podcast, as well as her own podcast, which is called Parents on Disney.

01:41:21.682 --> 01:41:29.962
VIRGINIA: If you click the Parents on Disney link in the show notes, it will take you right to the episode where I was a guest and we discussed the value of Disney.

01:41:29.962 --> 01:41:31.202
VIRGINIA: That is all for today.

01:41:31.782 --> 01:41:35.362
VIRGINIA: Thank you all so much for continuing to listen and support.

01:41:35.362 --> 01:41:42.522
VIRGINIA: It's so much fun for me to get to talk to the guests on the show and to get to interact with all of you on the socials.

01:41:42.522 --> 01:41:45.062
VIRGINIA: So thank you from the bottom of my heart.

01:41:45.302 --> 01:41:48.842
VIRGINIA: Don't forget, keep daydreaming about where you long to be.

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