Post-Trip Report: Virginia & Alex’s Disney and Universal Vacation (July 2026)

[00:00:11] Welcome to Where I Long To Be, a Magical Trip Report Podcast. My name is Virginia and I am your host. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. It's another busy week for me and this is coming off of a particularly busy weekend. I actually did three interviews between Saturday and Sunday and a lot of editing, of course. It was really productive but also kind of relaxing at the same time since I just basically stayed in the neighborhood. I did at one point wander out to my local French Boulanger.

[00:00:42] I had a little bit of lunch and some grocery shopping while I was out. So it was kind of a nice weekend in spite of just kind of sitting in front of my computer for a lot of it. This week, I also have a number of interviews that are scheduled and some choir rehearsal and I'm going to be actually celebrating the birthday of my beloved late mom, Cheryl. So I just want to shout her out. She was just absolutely the most amazing mom and had such a vibrant personality. Not a day goes by that I don't mind.

[00:01:11] I don't miss her. And I know just exactly how proud she would be. And I know just exactly how proud she would be of both me and my sister and all of her grandchildren. So if you are lucky enough to still have your mom or a mom figure in your life, please give them a hug and tell them you love them for all of us who can't anymore. It does seem appropriate at this point to transition over to our conversation between me as the mom and my son, Alex. We always have so much fun in these interviews and I hope that it's captured and that it really comes across.

[00:01:41] And I just love the fact that we have these preserved and we can remember this time of our life together and all the fun memories that we are blessed to be making together and as a family. Before we kick it off, I do want to remind you that the universal portion of our trip was planned by the one and only Molly Karpata. Molly has been on the show before and I have linked to her previous episodes on the podcast in the show notes along with a link to her website.

[00:02:08] She did an absolutely fantastic job with us. She answered all of my questions, which I did have a number of questions since it has been so long since we have been to Universal together as a family. She grabbed us dining reservations. She added on the Epic Express Pass when I had a change of heart and decided to go ahead and splurge for that. She also sent us all of our plans and itineraries in folders and typed out and all neat and organized in the mail.

[00:02:35] So we had it in writing. So for those of you who really like paper and that old school feeling of, you know, receiving your itinerary in the mail, you get all that with her. So I really can't recommend her highly enough. If you're looking for your own travel agent, I know 100% Molly will most definitely take care of you. And with that, it's go time. Please welcome back Alex to the co-host chair. Welcome back, Alex. Happy to be back, mom.

[00:03:03] We have a lot to go through because this was a 10 day trip, I think. Very long trip. We've taken longer trips, no? Yeah, I would say around 10 days is the longest we've been. But of course, it was because we were adding on Universal for the first time in a number of years. Wow. So let's get into all of the details and I'm going to let you start here with our departure day.

[00:03:33] Walk us through it, Alex. All right. Let's start off with Friday, July 3rd, which is actually my cousin's B-day birthday. So first we dropped Walter off at boarding his little doggy daycare thing for the 10 days. We left by 10.15 to head to Newark and we did have to deal with some traffic because of Taylor Swift's wedding. Woo! And the World Cup going on as well.

[00:04:01] So there was no time to lounge. So we had to grab a quick snack and stuff for lunch. And there were birds inside of the terminal. Yeah, I'm seeing this now. And I'm like, yeah, I remember that. That was a nightmare for you, wasn't it? It was because I think I've mentioned this on previous episodes, but I'm afraid of birds. So that was awful for me. She wrote on the note, there were birds inside the terminal. Nightmare. To make it more terrifying as if it wasn't already terrifying.

[00:04:32] So then we had our flight leaving around 2.15 p.m. And we arrived in Orlando by 4.15. We arrived in Orlando by 4.45. So then we grabbed a lift to pick up some water that we ordered and take us to the Hampton Inn, which was closest to Universal for our arrival night. And can't strongly recommend this hotel. It was because the bed was very noisy for any move you made. I remember that too. So yeah, it was like squeaky.

[00:05:02] You'd sit down and it was one of those things where like the three of us are in one room together. And I'm like, oh my God, if I even breathe, I'm going to be making noise in this bed. Yeah, but hey, I mean, we got like a free breakfast and it was a good deal at $120 a night. Well, we did not eat the breakfast, just to be clear. It includes breakfast. But we could have had breakfast if you wanted to. And we had an Expedia discount that brought that down to $65 for the night. After dropping our stuff off at the room, we grabbed a lift to Magic Kingdom for the day

[00:05:32] to ride Carousel Progress for one last time in its current form. So for those of you who have been keeping up with the Disney news, they are changing Carousel Progress. It's going to be, I believe, from the 60s up to the present and the future. That's correct. So, of course, we had to ride the originals, the original one more time. And by 7 p.m. or so, we grabbed lunch, not lunch. We grabbed Pecos Bill for dinner.

[00:06:00] And it was a nightmare trying to find a table. But some cool dude decided he's going to tell us and save us. And he was like, hey, there's a table at the back. It's completely empty. And so you and I got nachos. And I don't remember what Dad had as well. Yeah. And we were all excited to pass on the magic. And we were like, when we're done with this table, we're going to go find somebody and be like, hey, there's a secret table here at the back. But then by the time we finished our meal, there was no need for it. It had cleared out. Yeah. We're trying to be our own superheroes.

[00:06:31] Speaking of superheroes, who's seeing Spider-Man Brand New Day? Me. I would love to, but somebody's going to see it without me. Yeah. Sorry. So then we rode Pirates, then crossed the park to Carousel Progress. And by this point, it was 845. So the 4th of July fireworks that they do on both July 3rd and the 4th happen while we were in the ride. So as you can imagine, there was like a lot of noise inside the Carousel Progress.

[00:06:59] Oh, we also had, they had to restart the ride. Do you remember we had to watch the opening song again? Yeah, somebody kept standing up. I don't know what the deal was. They kept announcing, you have to sit down. It's like, yo, is it that hard? Yeah. Anyways. Wow. So then we stopped by the confectionery for some treats and we shared a 4th of July blue popcorn and dad got a Rice Krispie treat. The popcorn was pretty good. I don't think it was as good as the strawberry popcorn when they had for Valentine's Day, I think.

[00:07:28] Yeah, I definitely prefer the strawberry, but the blue raspberry was also very tasty. It was really good, yeah. And then we got a lift back to the hotel by 11 p.m. and then we got showers and went to bed. All right. This is your turn. It is my turn. Saturday, July the 4th, Independence Day. I wanted to get an early start at Universal because it's pretty expensive to add on a few days at Universal.

[00:07:55] Like Disney feels strangely affordable for us just because we have DVC, we have the annual passes, etc., etc. So I wanted to really make the most of these three days that we had at Universal. So we got up by 6.30 a.m. and we left the hotel by 7.15. We took a lift over to the Hard Rock Hotel to get checked in. And that was like a five-minute ride in the lift. It was super close. And surprisingly enough, even though we were there that early, our room was already ready. And so that was really nice.

[00:08:24] So they brought our luggage up and we were able to make it over to Islands of Adventure by just after 8 o'clock. 8 o'clock was early entry. So we were there like 8.05. The one thing that is not included in the Express Pass that comes with the Hard Rock Hotel was Hagrid's. So I wanted to make sure we did that right away so that we could get it at a low wait time. So we hopped into the Hagrid's line right away. It was a great ride. It was so good. And it was my first time going on it.

[00:08:53] I just, I loved it. I just wanted to put that in there. Yes, I forgot it was your first time. Yeah. Yeah, it was great. It was, the sign said 95 minute wait, which we were like, this is right at the beginning. We're like, oh my gosh, can we do this? But I was like, it's now or never. We're doing it. It ended up only being a 30 minute wait. And I love watching Alex do things for the first time or see movies for the first time. So of course you didn't tell me about anything. I did not. So, I mean, I don't want to spoil it for any listeners who haven't. I'd like to spoil it. I'll say this. Spoiler alert.

[00:09:22] Yeah, spoiler alert. Say it beforehand. And the, what was it? The Vines. God, what are they called again? This is, let me think back to the movie. Devil's Snare. When we were in the Devil's Snare, she didn't tell me about the drop, right? And then we dropped. I was like, this is so fun. I was like, what? That's crazy. I didn't know there was a drop on this. It was same thing. Same thing. That was the same thing with Rise of the Resistance. You never tell me when there's a drop.

[00:09:51] And like, I love drops when I know it's coming. Well, you should know it's coming. Because when we got to that point, I just turned my head and stared at him. I didn't see it. It was really funny. After that, we were ready for some breakfast. And because we had Express Pass, we weren't too worried about the other rides. It was just Hagrid's that I was like, we have to go do this. Yes. So we went over to the Three Broomsticks. And I had a full English breakfast.

[00:10:19] Because that is what I loved when we were in London. So I was very happy to have a full English breakfast. I think I had the same thing. No. No, I had the American breakfast. No, both of you had the American breakfast. Which I was like, why are you doing that here? Yeah, good old American. All right, guys. From there, we went and we did, I can never remember what it's called, the ride that's in the castle. Saving Hogwarts or something.

[00:10:51] Why are you looking at me like that? Because I think you're going to think of it. Yeah. Okay. Well. No, I can do this. I don't think either of us are going to think of it. I can do this. Wait, are we keeping this in? Hold on. No, I'm probably going to edit this out. No, this is. Hold on. They need to hear my processing. Quality content? Yes, this is freaking quality content. Okay. In real time, let's hear how long it takes. Stop. Let's just move on, okay? Okay.

[00:11:20] Cut it out if you want. I don't care. Okay. If you think of it, let me know. But listeners know what I'm talking about. We did the ride in the castle. Then we went into all of the hurry. The Battle of Hogwarts. That's not what it's called. No, you're thinking of Battle at the Ministry. That's an epic universe. This is, okay, you're Googling it? No, I'm not. I mean, that says what is the Harry Potter ride in?

[00:11:52] Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. No, you can't say that. I was going to say it. Well, I'm sorry. You Googled it and I was able to see it faster. You hate me. No, not today. Oh, so you choose today of all this. Okay. Anyway, so that was fine. Then we looked in pretty much every shop in the Diagon Alley. Alley? Alley? Diagon Alley? Wait, it wasn't Diagon Alley. It was in Hogsmeade because we were in Islands of Adventure.

[00:12:20] Because Alex was on a quest to find gifts for his lady. Yes. And so... I did not. No, the gifts came away later. Well, but you were scouting out so that you could make a decision by the last day of our universal time. And what you found on this day, you actually ended up purchasing a couple days later. No, yeah. Yeah. You tried to convince me not to get it. No, I didn't try to convince you not to get it. She did. No. I just said, what if you see something you like better? This is going to be here. She's like, no.

[00:12:50] It's not going to sell out. Why don't you just wait? And so he waited and he stuck with his original idea. And that is fine. Yeah, I got her a... Her favorite color is purple. So I got her a purple stuffed pygmy puff. And for fun, I got her a little love potion because... Ha! Like, love potion. That's so crazy. Yeah. And he got her a couple other things along the way. But those were the things from that store that we had looked in. After that, it was time to ride Velocicoaster.

[00:13:19] And I was so excited specifically for Alex. I mean, I thought Charles would like it too. But specifically for Alex to ride Velocicoaster for the first time. What did you think? I loved it. I thought it was too short. But I loved it. You know what? It was shorter than I had remembered in my mind. In my mind, it was super long. But what did you think about that barrel roll over the lake that I've been raving about? Like chef's kiss. Yeah. Oh. So good. So good. So good.

[00:13:48] And then after that, we decided we would go ahead and purchase the refillable mugs from Universal that you can use in the parks. Because I thought with three park days, we will get our money's worth out of those. And you can use them to refill with ICs. And I was super excited about that. So after that, we decided to go back for a midday break and take a nap. Which is the best? How long did you sleep this first day? I slept four hours.

[00:14:18] Four hours. I don't even want to know how late you were up the night before that made you... I mean, did you go right to sleep when we went to the hotel the night before? No, of course not. Yeah. It's hard for you to go to sleep sometimes. I did about a two-hour nap. And then I got up to go to the pool. And then shortly after Charles joined me there, we really ended up just sitting at the pool bar most of the time. And I had a cocktail and some fish tacos. And Charles had a beer. And then eventually it was really hot. So we were like, let's get in the pool.

[00:14:46] But five minutes later, there was lightning. So we had to get out because they were like, pool's closed. So after that, I went back upstairs and got Alex up. And he and I went down to the Hard Rock store just to see what was there in terms of gifts he might consider. And then he needed a snack before we headed back into the park, which we headed back out around 5.30 p.m. So it was a good long break. We went back into Islands of Adventure.

[00:15:15] And it was still raining. It had been raining from the time when we had to get out of the pool. We made it all the way to security when Alex realized, I forgot my card. Yes, he forgot his lanyard back at the room. So Charles and I sat there and waited for him to run back. Which you guys loved. We loved it so much. But spoiler alert, this was not the first time this happened. Oh, that's a spoiler.

[00:15:44] That's a crazy spoiler, Madra. But this particular time, we didn't really know what to do other than to sit and wait for him. So he turned back around, ran down the sidewalk, got his lanyard. I went ahead and called because we were going to be late for our dinner reservation at Mythos. I'm not sure how to pronounce that. We ended up being like 20 minutes late. But we had called ahead and said we were going to be late. It wasn't a big deal. They just got us right in a couple minutes later.

[00:16:13] I thought this restaurant was really good. It was also really cool looking on the inside. Yeah, we liked the vibe of it. We shared the bread service and the calamari for appetizers. And Charles liked the bread service enough that we ordered a second one. And to be fair, the bread service was kind of small to be splitting between the three of us. It went pretty quickly. Alex, you had the salmon. Yeah, it was pretty good.

[00:16:43] And Charles had the scallops. And I had something I'd seen on the Internet that they were kind of known for, which was the fork knife spoon grilled cheese, which is essentially a grilled cheese that's sitting in tomato soup. It was good. It was just it was a lot. So I did not anywhere near finish it. But it was tasty. And I can imagine that that would be particularly good if it were a cold day in Orlando. After dinner, we filled up on our refillable mugs, had some drinks and did the Hulk.

[00:17:13] What did you think about the Hulk? The Hulk was really good, actually. I think I liked it just as much as Velocicoaster. No, I think it's really good. And I love that launch out of that tunnel with all the mist and stuff. And there's that other part where you go down through the mist. Here's the thing about Hulk, though, is that when you go out that launch, usually you hear like a Hulk, like, but you don't hear that when you're going out of it. It's really weird. I don't know. Oh, like you can hear it from the ground when other people are riding it. No, yeah. OK, got it.

[00:17:43] After we did the Hulk, we then rode the Spider-Man ride. And then we went back and did Velocicoaster again so that we could do it in the evening. From there, it was just towards the end of the Islands of Adventure park time. So we quickly got on the Hogwarts Express before that park closed and headed over to Universal Studios, which I think was open for like another hour. We wandered around the Harry Potter area again. We got some ice cream.

[00:18:11] Then we were back to the hotel and in bed by 1130. So that brings us to Sunday, July 5th. Alex, take it away. All right. Sunday, July 5th. So we were up by 730 and we were out the door by 815. Had Epic Universe, which is Universal's newest park. I haven't been to Universal in years. So this was like really new to me, even though it's like it's been here for what, like two years now? What? Epic Universe? Yeah. Maybe a year.

[00:18:41] A year, year and a half. So we made it to early entry by 845 and early entry starts at nine. And we had to wait for 15 minutes and a huge crowd of people. And you prioritized meeting Toothless first because there was no wait. And that's kind of like what How to Train Your Dragon Universe is known for. What did you think about that meet and greet? Because we're not normally like go meet characters. I don't like meet and greets just in general. But I thought that one was really cool.

[00:19:11] It was different. Well, it was different because there was a dragon. But then we went on to Dragon Racers Rally and I had a 360 barrel roll almost like I was upside down for one of the turns. And then we went to Stardust Racers, which was in my I think I love I think Stardust Racers was my favorite ride here in Universal. I think so. Interesting. I think it was my favorite. It was so good. It's just, I can't.

[00:19:39] So then we went to the Wizarding World and Epic Universe and we went to Cafe Lair de la Sirene for crepes. Lair de la Sirene, I think. De la Sirene. For crepes. For crepes. Yes. Then I had butterbeer with strawberry mint tea and I had butterbeer with butterbeer frozen. And what I mean by that is we both had butterbeer crepes. Oh, we had like butterbeer. Yeah, butterbeer crepes. Those were really good.

[00:20:08] Oh, it was so good. So good. I would, yeah, would recommend. Dad had Oef en Cucot. Oef en Cucot. Oef en Cucot, which is a poached egg dish and pumpkin juice. Yay. I tasted the pumpkin juice. I did not care for it. I don't like pumpkins. Then we had the Ministry of Magic. It was mostly a 45 minute wait all day. And we went in at like 1045 with our express pass and we're out by just after 11 a.m. I thought it was a really great ride.

[00:20:40] I thought it was really cool. There were a couple of things that were not working. So the animal animatronic that's supposed to crash through the wall was not moving. It was just like sitting there. And then the Umbridge animatronic did not look like her at all, I thought. You're tweaking. And then Umbridge in the court scene, her face wasn't working. So she didn't have a face. Oh, that was weird. Yeah. But besides that, it was fun. I wasn't going to wait in line standby for it.

[00:21:08] Like we did it with the express and I was kind of like, okay, that's cool. Moving on. Okay. So then after that, we watched the Le Cirque Arcanos. And it was okay. I said it was underwhelming. I do remember saying that too. It was kind of underwhelming. Yeah. Honestly, it was just like, I didn't feel the magic. Yeah. They were just playing with bubbles. Spoiler.

[00:21:34] I did not feel that it was, I don't know. Like if you've never done it, do it. I would not go back and see it again. I don't think it's like worth seeing a second time. Yeah. It wasn't anything crazy. So then we headed to Dark Universe, which I was really excited for, to ride Monsters Unchained. We went on standby because it was really short, maybe like 10 minutes. I thought it was a great ride. I think Universal has a really weird thing with water.

[00:22:03] On every flipping ride, there's water. Like for no reason. Like this time, it was just at the most random part. Let's squirt them with water, guys. It was when somebody was like chopping some, like a body or something. I don't know what was happening. It was just straight up a monster like jumping at you and it, water. Oh, I don't know. But it got, it got to be so funny because then every ride that we were on where there was like a random spritz of water, Alex would be like, not the water again. It was just really funny. It became like a little inside joke.

[00:22:34] Yeah. I didn't get it though. So then after that, we had lunch at the Blue Dragon, which was actually really good. I really liked it. I thought, okay, the ramen there. I, if you have listened before, if we had mentioned this before, I'm a big ramen fan and I know the difference between good and bad ramen. This ramen just wasn't it. Like it felt like overcooked. So I thought the Blue Dragon was good. No, it was really good overall.

[00:23:02] It's just the ramen that I had a problem with. But yeah, I think, I think we're just very spoiled because in New York City, you can get like the top quality of basically any kind of, of food that you want. And we in particular have a really good ramen place right in our neighborhood. That's just top notch. So anyway, it was good though. I would definitely recommend it for people who are looking for a sit down meal at Epic.

[00:23:30] Then we rode Curse of the Werewolf Coaster with the Express Pass. It was way too short. I accidentally called 911. Oh my God. Yeah. It runs in the family. My phone was in my pocket. And of course it had to click the button five flipping times. And then, oh, 911's calling. So listeners, you may remember that I accidentally dialed 911 in the same way on Expedition Everest on a previous trip. That's a thing with us. I don't know what the deal is. Yeah. I don't know. If dad does it, we'll know that we are cursed. Just like the werewolf.

[00:24:00] Good one. So then after that, we decided to head out for a break and you wanted some ice cream. So you got a waffle cone with vanilla and Oreo from Frosty Moon. And we left by 2.15 and we're back in the room by about 10 minutes to three. So after we were arrested, we were back in the bus by 5 p.m. to go back to Epic Universe. And we went straight to Nintendo World and did Bowser's Challenge. And it was okay. The Yoshi ride was also okay.

[00:24:29] I thought it was cute and relaxing. The Donkey Kong mine cart was really fun. I thought it was clever. I thought it was really nice. And you said Nintendo World was overwhelming. I disagree. I love Nintendo World. I thought it was great. I thought I loved it. So I found it overwhelming because visually when you walk in, there's so much going on. There's so much color and motion. And you're looking up and down and you can't really see like what's where. And it was just a lot to me.

[00:24:59] So by the time we rode the three things, I was like, okay, I'm ready to leave here. And I've heard other people say that too. So it's cool. I disagree. But it feels a little tight in there. And it's not. It's just like because it's all enclosed. That's, I think, what made it feel small to me. Anyway. So then after that, we had dinner at Pizza Moon and it was really good, actually. I really like this place.

[00:25:27] We got the Nana Rosa, which was a fancy cheese and basil and a trip to Vesuvio. Yeah, that's right. The one with hot honey. And we had a Caesar salad, which you said was meh. I didn't have any Caesar salad. But yeah. Then you rode the carousel by yourself, which was weird. Hey. Weirdo. It was cute. I wanted to do it. And then we rode Monsters Unchained again with the express, which we didn't really need. Then we went on. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Pause.

[00:25:54] I just want to say that the second time that we rode Monsters Unchained, Alex was prepared for the water this time. Oh my God. Oh no. Oh my God. This is a crazy memory. Yeah. I was prepared for the water this time. So I decided it'd be a smart idea to cover my face whenever I thought the water was going to come at me. And just to my luck, I covered my face right when the picture was taken. So now I look like a scared little kid in the picture.

[00:26:21] I look like I am the most terrified dude on the planet. And my head's tucked in my lap and I just... It was so funny. I was like, guys, I swear, I swear. I was just covering my face because of the water. You believe me? Thank God. It was so funny. I have that photo now. So perhaps I will put it on with all the other trip photos. Oh, whatever, dude. So then after that, we rode a Hiccup's Wing Gliders, which was really fun.

[00:26:51] I loved it too. And I thought it was really nice. And then we used the Express Pass to ride Stratus Racers again at night, which was so much better than riding it during the day. So much better. And yeah, that was the end of that day. And then we went back to bed. All right. Monday, July the 6th, we were up at 845 AM for a breakfast in the kitchen. And the kitchen is the name of the restaurant there at the Hard Rock Hotel.

[00:27:17] We had to wait forever to be served to the point where I think they like comped us something. I can't remember. It was just like no one was paying attention to us. It was just very weird. I don't know what happened, but it was fine. I think they're mostly known for their buffet options, but you can order a la carte. We got the buffet. It was good. After we were done eating, we had to go up and get our stuff and get it taken down to

[00:27:45] Bell Services because this was the day we were checking out of the Hard Rock Hotel and moving over to Disney this evening after we had our final day of park time at Universal. So for whatever reason, the phone in our room was not working. So I ended up using the text feature on the Universal app and that was super easy. And they responded very quickly and just said, we'll send somebody right up. They came up and got our bags. And you know what I remembered after the trip, Alex, that we totally forgot to do that I said we should do? What?

[00:28:15] What I did was after we came back to get our bags later that night, I really wanted to do the turn your key card into a guitar pick. No, we didn't do that. We totally forgot. And that's something free that you can do at Hard Rock. When you leave, you just walk up to the front desk and ask if they can make it into a guitar pick. And they have basically a hole punch that will, they'll customize like where they punch it for you so that like what's showing on the guitar pick is what you want.

[00:28:44] And I'm really sad that we forgot to do that. But anyway, neither here nor there. After that, we walked over to Universal Studios Park and we entered around 1130 AM. So this was like a kind of a leisurely morning. And our plan this day was just to do anything we had not yet done or if we wanted to do something again, we would. So we wanted to do The Mummy. And so we used our Express to do that.

[00:29:11] I had no memory that it was four people per row for some reason. I think because when you and I rode it the very first time years ago and neither of us knew it was going to be a coaster and you were so little and I was like, oh my God, what am I doing to my child? I do remember going on it and being scared. Yeah. It felt like it was just the two of us because I was so locked into your experience. So we got there and I was like, four per row? That's okay. Memory is just really funny how it will change on you.

[00:29:38] When we came back to our lockers, because you put everything into a locker at Universal before these rides. Which was really annoying, by the way. Yeah, it's frustrating because especially in the original parks, the lockers are not very big. Now over at Epic Universe, the lockers were bigger and could fit like a normal size bag. But I had to, every time I put my bag in, like take some stuff out of the front pocket and you know, then put it in separately and it was just like this whole little game of Tetris.

[00:30:08] But after the mummy, we went back and my ticket would not open my locker. And so I asked for help from the person who was working that was closest to lockers, which happened to be outside because there was nobody inside. And he's like, oh, there's somebody inside. Go and talk to that person. So I went and finally found that person. I don't know where they were hiding before. And they said, no, the only place to get it fixed is at guest services.

[00:30:38] And they said, I said, where is it? And they said, oh, it's at the front of the park. And they kind of like directed me past the minions and turned left and whatever. And I said, are there no other guest services places closer by? You know, thinking like at Disney, we've got the blue umbrellas. And he was like, no, that's the only one. And so I went there and they helped me. But there was a line. So I had to wait in a line for that. And I posted it on my story. So I think it might be in my highlight bubble. It might not.

[00:31:07] But I waited in line. I got up. They helped me. They fixed it. And then while I was standing there, I said, are there no other guest services places in the entire park? Because the person told me this was the only one. I had to come to this one. And she was like, no, there's two others. There's one over by Harry Potter. And I can't remember where the other one was. But I was just I felt really frustrated that the person had led me astray like that because probably the other locations wouldn't have had a line because the one I was at was at the very front of the park.

[00:31:36] Anyway, they got it fixed. I did not have the problem in any other rides this day. So it was fine. We went and got in line for Gringotes with our express pass. And while we were waiting in line, it went down. So we decided to abandon the line. And this was we had not ridden Gringotts on this trip yet before this. So we're like, oh, we really want to ride it before we leave. So we're like, all right, let's just go get snacks. And so we went into sort of the Simpsons area.

[00:32:06] And I think you both got a donut or something. And then I was like, I want to go to the crepe stand, the Central Park crepe stand. So I did that. And then one of the things that was on my must do list for this trip was to go watch The Bourne Stuntacular because I had never done that before ever. And so we went in and for some reason, I thought that The Bourne Stuntacular was like an outdoor sort of arena type show.

[00:32:33] And so I think in the past I have not done it because I'm like, I don't want to sit outside in the heat and sun or whatever. Like it's totally an indoor experience. I don't know why I thought that. Um, it was super cool. Oh, I thought it was really cool too. I thought what they did with the giant screen was really cool because it looks like everything looks like 3D. Mm hmm. And I don't know because I've never done it before whether this was built in, but they ran into an issue at one point. And so the show sort of stopped. You heard over the loudspeaker for them to stop.

[00:33:02] And a stage manager type person came out and explained that they were resetting for safety. And while they were doing that, he gave a little bit of a history about the show. And I think about the movies and stuff like that. I mean, it lasted maybe five minutes. Um, and so I thought it was handled really well. Again, I don't know if that happens every single time.

[00:33:28] Like, you know, if you've ever been to Indiana Jones at Hollywood Studios, like they always stop in the same place. That's part of the show. So perhaps, perhaps this is just part of the show. But if it was part of the show, I'm telling you as somebody who is an actor, uh, with Alex here currently, who, uh, I guess I'm always an actor. I usually refer to myself as a former actor, but I'm still a card carrying member of Actors Equity. Like they did a good job with it. Like I was like, I don't know.

[00:33:58] It was great. I don't know if this is like real or not, but they, they did it well. So anyway, I would totally go see that again. After that, we decided to get some dinner in the Simpsons area. Um, Alex and I both got, uh, crusty burgers and Charles got a chicken sandwich and I found the whole Simpsons food area to be very dirty and messy. It was disgusting. I'm sorry. It was disgusting. Yeah. It was like they were not cleaning up.

[00:34:28] Like, I don't want to go back there ever. The floor was messy. The burgers were dry. The burgers were fine. I thought the food was okay. It was whatever. It was just like, nobody cleaned the place. Yeah. It just didn't feel great. And to be fair, nobody raves about the Simpsons food court area. It's not something that people talk about. Like you have to go eat in the Simpsons. I think the only thing you hear about in the Simpsons is like, oh, go get the pink donut, donut, which fine.

[00:34:57] But it's the same donut, like literally the same donut as Joffrey's because they're made by the same company. So, uh, anyway, whatever. We're not going to eat in the Simpsons area again. That was a mistake. Um, yeah. Then me and dad rode the Simpsons ride. Yes. And that is the one ride that I know makes me not feel great. I've done it plenty of times. It's okay. I don't need to do it again. And I was like, I'll just sit out here and relax, which is exactly what I did.

[00:35:25] Then you and I rode Men in Black and dad got another, well, not another. He just got a Duff beer because he wanted one. Yeah. Um, and then we went and got in line for Green Guts again and it almost didn't make it again. We were held in the elevator area and at the last second, like we were about to abandon the ride again. And at the last second it started going. And so we were like, okay, here we are. We're going to do it. We did it.

[00:35:53] And then after that, it was raining pretty hard. We had wanted to do transformers on the way out just like to do it as our last thing. Cause we had not done it yet. Um, but because of the rain, we were, it was raining hard enough that we had ponchos on or I had a poncho on or no, no, you had a poncho on. I was using my umbrella. Dad had a poncho on. It was just the, we were like, all right, we're ready. So we went back over to the hard rock, got our stuff, forgot to get guitar picks made

[00:36:24] and grabbed a lift. And, um, that was around seven and we arrived at animal kingdom lodge at about 8 20 PM. Alex, first impressions of animal kingdom lodge. It was, this is my new favorite resort at Disney. What did you love about it? Everything. Alex literally, when we walked in said, I think this is the nicest hotel we've ever stayed at. Yeah, ever. Yeah. It was that good. And you could barely even see the end. It was dark out.

[00:36:54] So, no, it was amazing. But, um, but we did see, we saw giraffes that first night. Giraffes, saw zebras. It was awesome. Um, yeah. And, um, and I liked the space too. Like our room was really, really nice. You had your own bathroom. It was a one bedroom suite. Um, but it was nice having that second bathroom. And what else? We had the full kitchen. The space was super nice.

[00:37:22] My bathroom was as big as a bedroom. Pretty much. It was insane. So, I thought the space was beautiful. I loved how big our balcony was. The bed situation worked out well for us because you had the Murphy bed in the living room. Um, so, I would 100% stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge and I would 100% stay at Kidani Village again. I did not mind being in that separate building.

[00:37:50] Um, I thought it was wonderful and I loved it. And I, I have to, I need to think on where I rank it among other Disney resorts. So, more to come once I figure that out. Uh, Tuesday, July the 7th. This was our rest day because we had gone so, you know, fast and furious. Universal. That was hilarious, Mom. Give me five. Thank you. And we gave her a fist bump. And we did not even ride the fast and furious ride because it's terrible.

[00:38:17] Um, but, and, and by fast and furious, I should just clarify because right now people are riding that fast and furious coaster. What I'm talking about is the old thing. The old ride that was awful. Um, so, anyway, I had made purposefully our first full day at Disney to be a rest day just so that we could chill. So, I had intended to sleep until nine and Charles accidentally had an alarm set for eight. So, guess who got up at eight? Me.

[00:38:46] Because once I'm up, it's kind of hard for me to go back to sleep. So, since I was up, I went ahead and started my day by getting a lift to go to the outlets. I went to Character Warehouse. Um, I bought some things for myself. I now am the proud owner of a villain spirit jersey, which I had eyed before and just never purchased for myself. But it was like $30.

[00:39:08] Um, and I picked up the prize for Jodi for, um, answering that thing. I had people answer a while back of where they heard the horn sound or whatever it was. I don't know. Um, but I just had a grand old time over there looking at everything. I literally looked at everything in that store. And then after that, I went ahead and got a lift over to Disney Springs and I was there before noon. So, I did some shopping in the Marketplace co-op area and World of Disney.

[00:39:38] I had to look for some things for Charles. Um, I stopped for lunch at Polite Pig, which is always good. I ended up getting the Southern pulled pork sandwich and some potato salad, which are both like phenomenal and definitely remind me of North Carolina and my upbringing and the kind of barbecue and stuff I would eat there. And then I did my quest for cookies from Summer House on the lake and my peanut butter cold brew from Gideon's, which I made some reels about.

[00:40:07] So, those are on my Instagram and I will link to those in the show notes so you can go back and watch them. And then I took a back, a lift back over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and I have absolutely no idea what Alex and Charles did during this rest day. What did you do? I actually, I think I just slept. Yeah, I slept the whole time. Like the entire day? Yeah, mostly. I didn't really do anything. Do you know what dad did? No. Because you were sleeping. He was chilling too.

[00:40:33] Anyway, um, after I got back, we had a dinner reservation for Gico and Charles had the steak and I had the short rib and I know that we both liked ours. You had the seafood tangier, I think is how you say it. Um, do you remember how your meal was at Gico? I don't remember actually, unfortunately. Okay. But we had the corn thing for the appetizer. No, I do. It was pretty good actually. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:41:03] It wasn't fantastic, but it was good. I thought it was very good. And I will say like the service was amazing. Our waiter was just really nice and was on top of things and recommended things and was very knowledgeable about the menu. Um, so I really, really appreciate it. And then we shared two desserts and you had picked one because you had your eye on it and we got the one that the server recommended and they were both really, really good.

[00:41:32] And I wish I could remember what they were. After dinner, we just went back to the room and we, we chilled and it was great. Um, Wednesday, July the 8th, we started our morning with breakfast at Boma because when you're in a resort, you should, you know, try all the things at the resort. And I've heard such good things about Boma breakfast. Um, Alex had forgotten to put his clothes in the dryer, even though he said he would put

[00:42:01] them in the dryer because... So I did that at like 1am. Uh, yeah. So when, when you're in a DVC one bedroom or larger, you have a washer and dryer in your unit. So it was fantastic because every time we, you know, we're getting undressed or whatever, we just like throw our clothes into the washer. And when it was full enough to wash, we did. And that's what we did the entire week. And on, on this particular evening, you know, we had all of our universal clothes that, that

[00:42:28] needed to be washed because it was real hot on the strip and we were very sweaty. Um, but we got up in the morning for breakfast and Alex was like, uh, I forgot to put my stuff in the dryer. And so I said, just go to breakfast in your pajama pants. It's fine. And he did. And did anyone notice? It was really comfortable. No one noticed, did they? Um, the breakfast was great. I loved Boma breakfast.

[00:42:56] Like it is getting rave reviews all over the place for a reason. They have a number of African inspired dishes that I made sure to try because I wanted to try the unique things, but they also have plenty of traditional offerings. You're going to see your Mickey waffles. You're going to see oatmeal. You're going to see eggs, uh, potato barrel, like all that kind of stuff. Um, so it is a great mix for everyone.

[00:43:26] We also got the pitcher of the pog juice, which was amazing. The coffee there was excellent. 10 out of 10. Loved it. Uh, after that, we headed back to the room to get Alex's jorts, which we were hoping would be dry by that point. And they were. Um, and then we got on a bus and we headed over to animal kingdom for the day. We started out with Zootopia, better zoo gather, the new thing in the tree of life.

[00:43:56] I liked it. I, I would say I enjoyed it. Uh, an equal amount that I liked a bug's life. Um, it was entertaining. It was fun. Um, I thought it was cute. So I actually liked it too. Yeah. Then we headed over to Everest because that's usually what we do first thing in the morning, but this was not a rope drop morning for us. We weren't trying to ride it a billion times. We just went over and did it one time.

[00:44:25] And then Alex just wanted to sit and chill. And so Charles and I decided to do Cali river rabbits cause it was hot and we like wanted to get splashed. Um, so that was nice. After that, we headed back over to animal kingdom lodge to take a pool break. The pool at animal kingdom lodge is really, really good. At least the one at Kidani. I cannot speak to Jumbo house cause we did not go over to that pool, but at Kidani the, the slide was amazing.

[00:44:52] The splash area for the kids looked like so much fun. If you had been there when you were little Alex, you would have just been having a ball. Like it looked like a full size playground, but with all the splash stuff, I will say it was fairly easy to find a chair with some semblance of shade. I did the water slide. I really liked that pool. So that was nice. And the pool bar there was really nice to have access to so close.

[00:45:17] Um, after our pool break, we took a bus over to magic kingdom and there was, uh, lots of lightning in the area. So I was a little worried about how that was going to go. Um, but it was fine. We got there in time for our beacon barrel reservation. And this was, uh, Charles and Alex's first time at beacon barrel. What did you think about beacon barrel? What was beacon barrel again? The pirates bar. Beacon barrel was really cool.

[00:45:47] I just thought it was kind of stupid that we can only be there for 40 minutes, but I thought, um, 45, the food was okay. But you know, I just liked the vibe of the whole place. I liked the vibe of the whole place, but I will say I really did not like where we were seated. Literally like when you walk in the front door, just to your right, there is like some high top bar type seating right against the wall in the corner.

[00:46:14] So it's just like a little bit of like a table ledge and then these, these stool type chairs. And so you're sitting there facing the wall, like facing the entrance and you kind of have to turn your whole self around. And then if you're sharing appetizers, which we were, you know, it's awkward to share them at in like a counter situation like that rather than sitting at a table together across from each other. So I wasn't too pleased with the location, but I wasn't going to ask to get, you know,

[00:46:43] move to somewhere else because it was fine. After that, we had wanted to do Big Thunder, but it was down because of the lightning. Charles decided to get a turkey leg while I was shopping in Memento Mori looking for the Haunted Mansion pajamas that I've been on the hunt for, for the past couple of trips. They had some Haunted Mansion pajamas. They are not exactly the same as the ones I had wanted, but these were also very cute. So I did end up getting them. So I'm happy with those.

[00:47:11] But once he texted me that he wanted to get a turkey leg, I was like, you do that. I'm going to sit over here. You join me when you're done. That was kind of random. I was like, I, I don't, I'm sorry. I don't want to watch you eat a turkey leg. I don't know. Like to each their own, right? But to see somebody chowing down on a turkey leg in the park is an ick for me. An ick? Yes, it's an ick. From there, we had a lightning lane for Haunted Mansion.

[00:47:40] And after that, it was going to rain. So I said, let's go get some Dole Whips and stuff and find a place undercover so that if it does rain, we're, we're good to go. So we grabbed I Lava You Floats. And then we took them over into Tomorrowland and ended up sitting sort of outside Monsters, Inc. under the cover. And just kind of people watched and sat against the wall and ate our snacks.

[00:48:05] And from there, we did Buzz Lightyear with an anytime lightning lane that was converted, I think, from Big Thunder being down. And then we went and did a Space Mountain lightning lane and then back to the hotel. And that was all before the fireworks started because I think they were starting on a delay. So we were leaving at a time when normally there would be fireworks going off, but there weren't. It did start raining pretty hard while we were on the bus, but we were on the bus. So we didn't care.

[00:48:35] We made it. All right. That brings us to Thursday, July the 9th. Alex, why don't you tell us how that day ended up going? All right. So we were up by 8.15 and out the door by 9. And this was the day that we did the Caring for Giants tour, which was really cool. My only complaint is that we stayed in the same place for a long time, but at least we got to see all the elephants up close. So that was cool. I loved it.

[00:49:03] Then we had a Safari lightning lane immediately after that and we got to see the elephants yet again. But on the truck. And we were able to call them by name by that point. Exactly. Which is really cool and fun to do. So then we had a, they had a drink at like a bar by Everest. I had like a pink lemonade thing, I think. Yeah. And I was actually wearing, I was wearing a vintage Grateful Dead shirt from one of their tours in the 90s.

[00:49:33] And one of the ladies at the bar like asked me my favorite song. I think she wanted to see if I was a LARPer or not. And I said, wait, wait, wait, hold on. What's a LARPer for those who don't know what that stands for? Live action role player. Like were you basically a fake Grateful Dead fan? Yeah. And she asked me my favorite song and I said Althea. She was like, yeah, usually people just, you know, wear the shirts. Yeah, yeah, I guess so. Don't ask me anything past that. Yes.

[00:50:01] But Charles is a Grateful Dead fan and he's passed on some of the love of the songs to Alex. Yes. Then we had an Everest line, Elaine. And then we had lunch at Satooli. And then we had a Navi River Journey lightning lane where dad recorded the back of my head, squishing my head. Like, you know, when you like put like your two fingers like in front of your eye and you pretend to squish somebody. He did that and he sent that to me for no reason. Then we had a Flight of Passage lightning lane. This was really funny.

[00:50:32] So there was these like kids on the ride and one kid was like crying. He's like, oh, it's so tight. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. And the other kid, you told me this. I'm sad I didn't hear this. I wanted to hear this. Here's how it went. The one kid goes, it's tight. I can't breathe. And the second boy goes, it's supposed to be tight. Do you want to die? It was hilarious. I was dying. I was literally dying. So then after that, we grabbed some night blossoms and the Navi size pretzel with the

[00:51:01] beer cheese, which is chef's kiss. We love the beer cheese. And we love the combination specifically of drinking the night blossom while you eat the pretzel with the beer cheese. Like those flavors are amazing together. And then we headed back to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a midday break and some naps. And then we headed out at 6 p.m. to go to Hollywood Studios, rode rock and roller coaster with the Muppets. And then we went to- Hold on, hold on. It was literally nothing.

[00:51:29] They just slapped stickers everywhere. Okay. Yeah. He felt about it. And I'm like, yes, Muppets are getting representation. Could it have been better? Yes. I would have loved to have seen Stadler and Waldorf, you know, making fun of us at the end of the ride or something like that. But, you know, I will accept what I can get. I do want more Muppets. And I think I speak for a lot of people.

[00:51:55] Like I know I speak for Jeanette and for Maren and for Maria and for Nancy and so many of my friends who just all we want is more Muppets. So, Disney, if you're listening, more Muppets, please. Yes. And then we had Oga's Cantina and then Tower of Terror, Lain Elaine. Yeah. I was trying to think back to see if anybody was covering my face this time. I think that did happen. I think I got Mike Wazowski'd. Again? Again.

[00:52:25] And it was late and we hadn't had dinner yet. So, we went to Roji's All-American Cafe. And we both had the spicy chicken strips. And Dad had the footlong chili dog, which was like, wow, okay. Then we had a lift back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. And that was the end of the day. All right. Friday, July the 10th. This was a big day for me, at least. I don't know how you felt about it. But it's the day, the long-awaited day, that I finally got to do the Keys to the Kingdom tour

[00:52:52] because I had made a personal vow to not do it until you were old enough to do it too. So, Keys to the Kingdom. I'm not going to spoil anything. All I'm going to say is it is well worth it. 100% do it if you are able to afford to do it. And if the people in your group are old enough to do it, I think it's definitely repeatable because it can vary from what I'm told based on who you get as your tour guide.

[00:53:18] And I will definitely be doing it again, especially now that I don't necessarily have to wait to do it with Alex because we've done it together now. And I can just do it on a solo trip or whatever when I feel like doing it again. We learned so much. It was so cool to be able to go backstage, to go into the Utilidors. It was cool. It really was cool. I absolutely loved it. We did have lunch at Columbia Harbor House, which they told us before we were starting the tour, that's where we'd be having lunch and we got to pick out exactly what we wanted to eat.

[00:53:48] And when it was lunchtime, we showed up and our food was sitting there with our name next to each of our plates. It was so well organized. And then after we were done with our tour, we sort of ended up in that kind of corner area where you would enter that backstage section that gets opened just for parties. I want to talk about this part. Okay. All right. All right. So we were leaving. We were leaving. We got to like the very end of the tour and there was this guy and his wife and his kid just kind of standing in the corner there with their stroller.

[00:54:16] And this dude was trying to smoke a cigarette like right there. Like, oh, let's smoke a cigarette in Disney World. Right. And so as our entire group kind of took over that area in the shade because we were ending our tour and it was so obvious that we were on a tour because we had like our tour guide like right in front of us. And he's like, okay, I guess the F not. And then we were like, okay. Well, I heard this. Nobody else heard this. Which is really weird to me. I saw it because his body language said, I'm mad that I can't smoke here.

[00:54:46] So then he like moved and he was just like, he's like, yeah, thanks guys. And like trying to talk at us and nobody was paying attention to him. So he just looked. He looked ridiculous. He looked like a not nice word. Because we were all paying attention to our tour guide and doing like the end thing where she was like giving us some little treats and stuff. So anyway. So yeah, then me and dad went back for a break and you did some Emporium shopping. Yes, I did some Emporium shopping.

[00:55:11] I got an All-American Sunday with extra peanut butter as Greg recommends from the That Park Life podcast. I also got a Coke slushie. It was so cold. It was so, excuse me. It was so hot that I needed a Coke slushie after my Sunday. Like I was just like, I don't care. I just need something cold. I rode Dumbo by myself. I did PhilharMagic.

[00:55:36] I walked over to Tiana's to do our lightning lane that we had, even though they were still on their break. But it happened to be down. It was late. So I just canceled it and ended up picking some other things for later. We did or I did some photos in front of the castle by myself. I got a really cute one where it looks like I'm taking a selfie. So I'll make sure that that is on my Instagram in a way that you can see it. And we got back together at that point.

[00:56:05] So Charles and Alex rejoined me at the park. We'd had an individual lightning lane for Tron, which is always fun. Too short, but fun. And then we did a buzz lightning lane because I am trying to get better at it again. Okay. No, don't talk about how mean I was. You were so mean. Oh my gosh. I just remembered. I was going to say, I find this new buzz very challenging. It was so easy. It's so easy if you know what to do. I'm not revealing the secret. No, don't reveal the secret. Okay.

[00:56:34] I won't. But I found it very challenging. And Alex was like, I know what to do because we'd already done it once by this point. And I was gatekeeping. And he was gatekeeping. And I said, Alex, I've never gatekept from you. I've only gave. I had to. I have to win. I play to win. And he refused. He was like, no, just watch me. Just watch me. And I was like, I can't watch and shoot at the same time. It's so easy. Just watch what I'm shooting. And I was like, I don't see well enough. No.

[00:57:02] And I was pointing at places to shoot at during the ride. You're like, that's not helpful. Yeah. It was not helpful. I couldn't watch what he was doing and be shooting myself. And it was just, it was entirely. You're shooting yourself. Stop. It was so frustrating. You should have after a shameful game like that. Stop. It was, it was so frustrating. And I was like, legit mad at him for like an hour after. Like, was I not?

[00:57:31] Yeah, you were really pissed. I kept like bringing it back up again. And then. Yelling at me. Like, finally, it was just like, he was like, please forgive me. And I was like, okay, fine. I forgive you. I still won. So. It was. It was worth it. See, my thing is, it was not about you winning. Because I am very competitive with myself. I want to always improve. I was mad because you were keeping the secret that was preventing me from seeing whether I

[00:57:59] could do better than I had done before. That's it. Let's move on. Okay. Moving on. What did we do after that? Oh, no, no, no. Dad was desperate to go to French Quarter because he loves the food there. French Quarter. So instead of getting on a bus to go to Animal Kingdom Lodge, we hopped on a bus to French Quarter and we had dinner there in their quick service, which was fantastic. As always, I had a po' boy. And I think dad had like dambalaya or something.

[00:58:30] I can't remember what you had. And then we got some beignets. And then you and dad stayed for some jazz. We did. It was really good. Well, no, it actually. Okay. The bed was really good. But the food was good. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They wanted to stay for some jazz. And I do like staying for jazz as well. But I was like dead set to enjoy the bathtub at Animal Kingdom Lodge. So I said, you guys stay for jazz. I'm going to go ahead and take a lift back.

[00:58:56] And I had brought some like bath bombs to put in that giant bathtub. And I was just like so excited to sit back. I was watching something on Netflix and it was fantastic. It was such a relaxing evening. After that, when they got back, I just sat on the balcony for a little bit to enjoy the peace until someone kicked me off the balcony. Which I did to talk to my girlfriend. Whatever. I was sitting there enjoying the company of the giraffes. Okay.

[00:59:27] After that, it was too bad. It was a good day though. And yeah. Okay. Saturday the 11th. Woo! I don't remember what happened this day. So I'm going to read it. So we were kind of slow to get up this morning and packed for our resort switch from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Boardwalk. Which I was upset about because I loved Animal Kingdom Lodge. And we wanted to leave by 10 a.m. But that was when we were calling bell services. So we were out by like 10.30 on a bus to Hollywood Studios.

[00:59:56] Then I... Oh my god. I did do this. We went on Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios. And I actually won like over both of you for the first time in the family because I'm the GOAT. Well, you've beat me plenty of times. I feel like. I beat both of you. But not dad. And yeah. So I won. So I'm superior. I'm the genetically superior one. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. So then we had... Hold on, hold on. Genetically superior, you are my son. Exactly. So that means you're superior because of me.

[01:00:26] I still won. You're just mad. Stay mad. No, no, no. I'm not mad. I never expect to win Toy Story Mania. Exactly. And you shouldn't in the future either. Because here's Alex like kicking your butt. Swooping in for the win. Swooping in for the win. Yeah, boy. So then we had some Joffries for some morning coffees and moved up to a Brown Derby. We moved up our Brown Derby lunch reservation to an earlier time because we were very hungry earlier than expected.

[01:00:54] Then you and I went on Tower of Terror because dad opted out. And we looked at some stores for your friend Maria's PES dispenser who has been on the show before, I assume. Yes. Love Maria. She has been on the show. And I'm like... Hi, Maria. I can't remember what the PES dispenser was that she wanted so badly. I don't remember either. But then we walked to Boardwalk. Walk in the dying heat. Yes. We were dying in the heat. Oh my God. That felt like the longest walk ever. It was. Even though it's not a long walk. But it was just so flipping hard.

[01:01:23] And I kept taking her umbrella that makes everything cooler and kind of making myself cooler. And what I would do is I would take the light of the sun and aim it at her like a laser. Be like... Yeah. Okay. I have a really good UV umbrella. And I will link to the one that I have on Amazon in the show notes, even though I don't get any kickbacks from it or anything. It's just one that I purchased and I enjoy. And it actually does feel cooler when you use it. So yeah. Then we got back.

[01:01:51] And you had some quiet pool time for an hour or so. And I waited in the kind of cool arcade area kind of thing. And I played some Red Dead Redemption on my phone. Because Netflix decided, hey, let's release some Red Dead Redemption on mobile phones. So I did that. Yeah. Because our boardwalk room was not ready quite yet. And it was ready by 3.45-ish. We then called for bags and they brought them up right away. And we all had ourselves a nice nap.

[01:02:20] And at about 6.30, we discussed what to do for dinner. So we decided to make a last minute reservation for Beer Garden in Germany at Epcot. And so we had our 7.30 dinner, which was fantastic. I love Beer Garden. Really good. Me too. And I think it's Dad's favorite. Yeah. It is Dad's favorite. Then we had a Guardians of the Galaxy individual lightning lane. And we got Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which is what I predicted we were getting again. Always. And we're always happy to get that song. It's a curse and I'm happy with it. I love it.

[01:02:49] I love my curse. Yeah. And that was the end of our day on the 11th. Mom? All right. This was our last full day. So Sunday, July the 12th. We slept until 9. And then, well, I slept until 9, I should say. Because then I went and got some breakfast at the Cake Bake Walk-Up. And you and Dad went ahead and slept in. I made it over to the pool by about noon. And this was just going to kind of be an easy day for us.

[01:03:19] We headed into Epcot by about 2 p.m. And we made it just in time to be a storm that was coming in. Like the clouds were so dark. And I was like, we got to go now. If we don't go now, we're going to be stuck in this rain. We went and did our Soarin' Lightning Lane and our Living with the Land Lightning Lane and all of that while it was raining outside. We skipped Spaceship Earth Lightning Lane and headed straight over to Guardians of the Galaxy

[01:03:47] where we had another individual lightning lane this day. And we got Everybody Wants to Rule the World again. And so that was fun to have it a second time. On this day, we did have a Shiki Sai dinner reservation. And this was the first time that all three of us have tried Shiki Sai. And I thought this is another case to me. I'll be interested to hear what you think, Alex. But where we are blessed with so many good restaurants in New York

[01:04:16] and even just blessed with good restaurants right here in our own neighborhood that I thought Shiki Sai was fine. It was good. I don't think it was like amazing, amazing. I'll tell you what was amazing was the table we got seated at and our view. We just had the best view from that restaurant. But it was good. I enjoyed Shiki Sai. I would go back again if I wanted to get sushi, if we were in the mood for that or whatever. So definitely recommend it.

[01:04:44] But, you know, I'm just, again, I'm comparing it to restaurants that we can go to anytime here. And as I'm saying this, I'm like, you sound like such a snob, Virginia. But it's just a fact when you live in New York City that you have access to good restaurants. But that view was so good. It was so good. We could see the Japan arch right there. We're looking straight onto the water. It was just amazing. What did you think about Shiki Sai? Shiki Sai was really good, actually. I really liked it. I don't know.

[01:05:13] I think, I guess kind of my food. They had this like weird fish thing that was like moving because it was like technically still alive. And I didn't really like how it tasted. But I loved the noodles and I loved the broccoli and stuff. And it was really good. I totally forgot about that. Yeah, Alex was looking at his plate. It was kind of freaky. I was like, is this moving? He was like, what is, what's going on? I didn't know what's going on because you told me it was like some kind of like plant or something. I was like, why is my plant moving? Okay. Yeah.

[01:05:43] So after that, we had a Remy lightning lane that we did in place of trust test track. And sadly, because of the lightning and everything and rides being closed. Because we're just so lucky. We've walked away and Alex and Charles have still not tried the new version of test track. Yeah. And I really wanted them to be able to try it. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Another time. We went back to the hotel from there and we just chilled out and packed.

[01:06:12] And then I was on a quest to try a really good espresso martini. And I had gotten some feedback and people were recommending the Bellevue Lounge right there at Boardwalk. And I said, that's perfect because I want it to be an espresso martini and I want it to be convenient. Charles decided to go ahead and join me. So I had gone down and gotten my drink and got a seat and he said, I'm going to come down too.

[01:06:34] So he had a drink and we just sat there in Bellevue Lounge and enjoyed our last drink and our last evening here at Disney. Yes. And unfortunately, that brings us to Monday, July the 13th. The last day of our trip. We were up by 6.30 a.m. and we got into a lift by 7.25 and we were at the airport by 8. So we had breakfast at the airport McDonald's because who doesn't love a McDonald's breakfast? And it was not good at all.

[01:07:04] Then we had one last walk through the Disney store. I didn't really pick up anything, but yeah, still. I browsed. And then we had our flight, which landed on time 20 minutes early. And yeah, then we picked up Walter, our baby. And I have a cute reel on Instagram. It's so cute. Of him being picked up. He was so excited. I favorited that on TikTok. It's so cute. It was so cute. So that is the end of this epic trip.

[01:07:33] Get it? Because Epic Universe. So briefly, let's talk about just overall thoughts about Universal since it's been, so long since you've been. And it's been, I think, five years since I've been. I wrote down just a couple of thoughts. I do not like the paper tickets and having to do lanyards and all that kind of stuff. I just, I find that to be really frustrating. I absolutely love the freestyle machines all over the park and the cups.

[01:08:02] Um, that was such a good deal if you're somebody who's going to drink sodas and Powerade and Ices and stuff. And when you buy multiple cups at one time, it gets less expensive per cup. So for three of us, I think it was like $15 a cup since we got them all at the same time. What I did not love is that they were not great about refilling the ice in the freestyle machine. So you'd go to refill your drink and there'd be like no ice.

[01:08:29] But if they could keep the ice filled, I love that feature. Um, I wrote down no blue umbrellas, but I, this was before I knew that there were other locations I was just not aware. So I would like them to be better identifiable throughout the park if you need help of who to get help from and something that is easy to spot. I love the Express Pass. I love that it comes with their deluxe hotels. I think that's fantastic.

[01:08:56] And I don't particularly care for the Universal app. I did use that chat feature while we were there and that worked well. Um, but I just find the app hard to navigate and it could partially be because I'm not used to it and I'm used to Disney. And so Disney is easy for me. Um, but I think it also is leaning more towards like the app is just not as good over there as at Disney. Alex, what were your overall thoughts on Universal? What did you like? What did you not like? Overall thoughts. I thought it was a really pleasant experience.

[01:09:25] I thought, uh, I thought it was really nice because I, I love thrilling rides. So there's a lot of nice thrilling rides. I loved some of the stuff you could get there. I loved just, I just loved everything about it. It was great. There was, um, I don't know. I, I wasn't, I didn't think Epic Universe was as amazing as, you know, Isle of Adventure and stuff like that and just Universal Studios. But I thought it was great. I loved everything about it. Awesome. That's my whole take.

[01:09:52] I feel like, uh, I will look forward to going again in a few years. I've said this before. Universal's fun. Disney's magical. So I will look forward to going again in a couple of years. I can't wait to ride that Fast and Furious coaster. But I don't think I need to go back in the next year or even the next two years. I think I would probably wait like three years and then go back to Universal. Unless somebody gave me a free ticket or something, which of course. Come on guys, help us out.

[01:10:22] Um, and then just in terms of our Disney time, I think, you know, we talked at the end of the trip because it was time for us to renew our annual passes. And it's time for Alex. Big announcement. Alex has a big announcement for everybody. Um, I think I have decided to take a little break from Disney for a little bit. Um, probably for a year or so because I'm not one. I'm not going to be able to for most of the school year because I am going on quite a few

[01:10:51] trips with my school. I'm going to London in February and I'm going to Paris in January. Um, but yeah, um, big year for me. But also I just think, uh, um, I'd like to wait a bit because I feel like for a while now, this is just me. I think for a while now there hasn't been much new stuff at Disney to get excited for. So I'd like to wait for some time. And eventually when all the new stuff builds up, I'll be, uh, I'll be happy and excited

[01:11:21] to go, uh, in about a year or so. And yeah, it's just that too. Plus I am very lazy. What? Yeah. I'm just really lazy. Like it's just the moving, like getting up at like 6 30 in the morning. It's just, oh, so I'm taking a break from that too, but I'll be back to it in a year. Yeah. And when we thought about his schedule with everything he has going on with school and baseball

[01:11:48] and all his theater stuff and it's a lot and the trips, it was like, well, you're not really going to be able to go for like a year anyway. Like the only time it's fine. The only time you could potentially go would be spring break, which is in April, which is the time I can't go. So that would not have worked. So we decided to save, save that money, not renew Alex's annual pass. I go enough that the annual pass is a hundred percent worth it for me. And then I said to Charles, Alex has decided that he needs to take a break anyway.

[01:12:17] It makes sense based on his schedule, et cetera, et cetera. Do you want me to renew yours? And I honestly, I fully expected him to be like, no, I'll take a year off too. And he shocked me and said, no, go ahead and renew mine. I like the idea of just popping down for a weekend and like staying at French Quarter because it's his favorite hotel of all the Disney hotels. He's French Quarter's where he wants to be. So he was like, we can just get like an annual pass holder deal, go down for a weekend, go to Epcot.

[01:12:46] And so I was like, say less. So I renewed the two of ours and we will look forward to the time that we can get down there this year. In fact, I've already booked us a trip for the normal president's week when Alex will be in London anyway. And so dad and I are going to go down and stay at the Polynesian and have just a two of us trip for that week. So that'll be fun. That is about it.

[01:13:15] I do want to, I want to say though, I want to ask because you are so beloved by the listeners. I know. Don't blush. I was just blanking out. Just staring at the wall. But people love it when you're on the show, Alex. People always write in and ask for more Alex or like, we're so glad to hear him back. We love to hear the two of you together.

[01:13:44] So I'm here before you on bended knee, not literally, because we're sitting in chairs next to each other. Yes, we are. Asking you, would you occasionally make an appearance on the show, even if you're taking a break from your trips this year? I'd say I do like intros and outros if you want me to. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I would love that. I just feel like it's like, I'm not really doing much. Well. The whole episode. Maybe I'll talk about some of my trips that I'm taking during the school year.

[01:14:14] That's what I was going to say. Maybe I'll do that. Okay. And for listeners. You might hear from me. For listeners who are like, Virginia, we know you recorded with Alex about his Greece trip. Where has that been? Well. Oh, right. I've been really busy. But that is going to come out. I'm not just like shelving it. I will put that out sometime probably in the next month or two. That will be an off the monorail episode. So you can look forward to that if you have not already heard it by the time you hear this, which I don't think you will. It'll be after this. Greece was fantastic. Yes.

[01:14:44] Greece was the word. I loved it so much. You guys are going to hear good stuff. Yes. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to sharing that with everybody. So you're not going to not hear from Alex this year, but just know that he's taking a little bit of a break. You won't hear experiences from Alex, but you will hear Alex's voice. I'm talking in the third person. Sorry. You could also come and help me interview somebody and ask questions. I could do that too. That does sound fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:15:14] Okay. That concludes this episode. Okay. All right. I love you. I love you too. Thanks for having me. And thank all of you for begging for me coming back on the show. Like I get it. I'm a busy guy, but I just really appreciate it. The love. Thanks guys. And you'll hear from me. Maybe. Not maybe. Yes, you will. All right. Good night. Good night. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good evening. And good night. And yeah. Bye.

[01:15:43] Thank you again to Alex for being open to being on the show. I love you so much. And I know the listeners love you too. And now it is time to close this out, but not without reminding you to keep daydreaming about where you long to be. ��とか And this Приment It's time to focus on people So Someone So You Off I