Pre-Trip Report: Heather’s All-Star August Adventure (August 2026)

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_03] Welcome to Where I Long To Be, a Magical Trip Report Podcast. My name is Virginia and I am your host. Thank you all for tuning in and I hope your week is off to a good start so far. If this is your first time joining me, I hope you like what you hear and if you do, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on the app that you are listening on now so that the latest episode will always be ready for you in your queue. If you are busy planning your own magical trip and want some inspiration, I have so many episodes in my back catalog there for you to enjoy.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_03] So if you're looking for something specific, you can head to my website, which is whereilongtopopodcast.com and in the episode list, use the search bar to look for specific travel month, destination or more to narrow down your options. If you're interested in being a podcast guest yourself, you can submit directly through the website. I'm currently looking for guests traveling in the first half of 2027 and the earlier that you submit, the better chance you have of being selected. And now let's get into today's

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_03] episode with someone new to the show. Please welcome to the podcast for the first time, Heather. Welcome to the podcast, Heather. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Where are you in this world? I don't think I even wrote down in my notes where you were coming to me from. So we are in a little town called Troutville, Virginia, just a little north of Roanoke. That's the biggest city close to us. Okay. I'm trying to think, is it anywhere near

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_03] I-95? It's a couple hours from I-95. We're about three hours from Richmond. Oh, okay. So we're Southwest Virginia, but not as far deep as like Bristol. So are you in the mountains? Yeah, you could say that. Okay. I am originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. So I've probably driven in your area at some point, although most of my Virginia driving.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_03] Virginia driving in Virginia has a double meaning. It has been I-95 just because of, you know, where I went to school and coming up to New York and all that. So tell me a little bit about yourself because I know nothing. I'm coming to you totally a blank slate ready to learn all about Heather.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02] Well, I was born and raised here in Southwestern Virginia. Grew up a diehard Disney fan with all of the VHS tapes and never made it to Disney as a kid. My dad is not a theme park person.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, and in, I guess it was about March of 2022. My husband had known that it had been my lifelong dream to go to Disney. So, uh, he planned a surprise trip, uh, for the four of us, for me and my daughter, Vivian, who's 13 and my son, Ethan, who's now seven. Uh, and we went for a week and stayed at Pop Century and I was hooked from there on. We've been multiple times since.

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_03] What is surprise? So I have to ask, like, was it a day of surprise? Like, get in the car, we're going? Or I booked this and now we have this to look forward to in a month?

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_02] He had booked it and we had it to look forward to, uh, I believe it was the end of January when he told me. And then we went that last week of March in 2022 for our kids' spring break time. So I had those, you know, about two months to start researching and getting ready.

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. How often do you go? How many times have you been since then?

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, so later that year I roped my mom into going with the kids and I to the Halloween party in 2022. And we just went for like a long weekend and I severely overestimated what we could achieve in that long weekend because we drive every time we go. We like, um, being able to pace ourselves and pack as much as we want and go at our own pace and not have to rely on flights being canceled and that.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02] So we drive, it's about a 12 hour drive, uh, with stops one way. So yeah, plenty of time there. But, uh, we, the kids, my husband didn't care for, uh, Disney when we went, he's not a theme park person. He's not a crowds person, which is fine. Everybody likes their own stuff. Um, and my mom hadn't gotten to go. So the kids and I went with my mom in October of 2022.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, we came in late on a Thursday, slept in on a Friday and did the Halloween party there in 2022. And then we did a two day park hopper Saturday and Sunday. So we did, um, animal kingdom and magic kingdom one day and Epcot and Hollywood the other day.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, and I was just so excited to show my mom everything we had experienced in a full week back in March of that year that, uh, my mom calls that trip, the Disney death march. Oh my gosh. She's like, you're trying to kill me. Those words came out of her mouth. Uh, yeah, but we still had a good time. And my mom got the bug for Disney too, that trip and wanted to go back and do more with us.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_02] So the following year she, uh, went with the kids and I to Disney. We went, um, went for the Christmas parties. That was the first year of Jollywood nights in 2023. So we did that. We did the Christmas party. Um, we did all of the parks. Um, we had two rest days and that was the first time I'd had rest days in a trip and they were glorious until mom got the flu there at the end of that trip.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00] Oh no.

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02] So she, yeah, she missed the Epcot day completely, including the, the candlelight processional and the festival of the holidays. So she's, she was bummed about that. Um, yeah. Yeah. And then, uh, we, we went for one day in January of this year, we drove down and drove back because, um, we follow all ears and DFB on YouTube a lot. And my seven-year-old caught wind that the dinosaur ride was closing.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_02] And at the previous trip in 2023, he wasn't tall enough to ride it. And he was just so upset that he wasn't going to get to ride it. And I don't need an excuse to go, but I was like, well, yeah, we have to make sure you ride dinosaur because it's closing permanently. Uh-huh. So I roped my mom into that one. Um, my mom and the kids and I drove down on a Friday at the end of January. It was when they had that bad Arctic blast in Orlando and it was freezing.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_02] Um, but we drove down on a Friday, stayed offsite that time, which I won't do again. Um, and we did a one-day park hopper. We did Animal Kingdom to ride dinosaur. He wrote it. I'll have to send you a picture. He was traumatized.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_03] Oh, no.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_02] So then I felt bad because it was like, you know, if I would have felt bad if he hadn't gotten to ride it, but then he did get to ride it and he hated it.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_03] Well, at least now he can say that he did it. And one day he'll look back on it nostalgically. I don't know if you saw the reel I posted, but I have the dinosaur puppet now. That's great. You need to go watch it. It's on my Instagram. It should be under my reels and it's, uh, Alex and I are sitting at a table together and I surprised him with it. And I laugh every time I watch that video. It's just hilarious. Like he was cracking up. He's like, this is so dumb.

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_03] But it was a good time. Now I have heard off and on as we've been talking a little bit of tittering in the background. And so I know that Vivian is nearby and at the ready to say hello for a moment. So we'll just get her up into the chair with the headphones and the microphone. Sounds good. Here's Vivian. Hi, Vivian.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_01] Hi.

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_03] Tell me a little bit about what you love about going to Disney World with your family and in particular with your mom.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_01] Um, I love riding Tower of Terror and Slinky Dog and Guardians of the Galaxy and trading pins is like my favorite thing to do.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_03] Oh, really? Okay. You're a pin trader. So I guess I have two follow-up questions to that. Um, for Guardians of the Galaxy, what is your favorite song to get?

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_01] Um, probably September.

[00:08:54] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. And number two, if you're a pin trader, what size is your pin collection?

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_01] Um, it's pretty big.

[00:09:03] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. How many, how many are we talking here?

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_01] Can you go get my pins? Yeah. Yeah. It's in the bucket. Um, like probably like 80. I don't know. It's not that much. But.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_03] I mean, that's a lot to me. I probably, I'm trying to think my, my bulletin board. I probably have like 15 pins because I only, I only buy pins when I stay at a new resort or if I just see a pin that I absolutely love and I can't turn down. Yeah. I live in New York City, so we're, we're limited on space, but, and I'm right now I'm sitting in my son's room and he's got like, which direction am I pointing?

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_03] Like annual pass magnets here on the, on the board you can see behind me. Um, so we're definitely a Disney family, but you have to, you have to look, it's like hidden Mickey's everywhere. Right. Yeah. Um, what is your favorite pin that you own?

[00:09:55] [SPEAKER_01] Um, I got this one. I got one on our January trip. That's Walt Disney and it like opens and it's really big and I really love that one. I also have a lot. I also have a full lanyard of all stitch pins. I really love stitch. And I have a Tower of Terror stitch pin. That's probably my favorite.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. If you have listened to the podcast, you might know that I am not a stitch fan. I don't know. He's too chaotic for me. He's not, he's not my favorite, but I, it's like now it's like a funny, you know, whatever. I'm just like, oh, stitch. But I know lots of people love him. So, um, do you, do you, uh, really like the movie Lilo and Stitch or is it just stitches a character that you're, you're into all this merch?

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_01] I've always loved the movie. I used to watch that all the time.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_03] Is it your favorite?

[00:10:47] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Um, my favorite Disney movie is either Lilo and Stitch or Tangled.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_03] Mm-hmm. Okay. What are you looking forward to specifically on this upcoming trip?

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_01] Um, trading pins and riding Tower of Terror.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. All right. I love Tower of Terror myself. It is probably my favorite ride in Hollywood Studios. If I'm thinking about it, it's just so much fun. All right. Well, pass me back over to your mom. All right. Let's talk through all of the plans that you have. Cause I know that you've had, I'm going to say a couple of pivots at least, but I'm thinking

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_03] that it's almost like a domino effect with what's happened to your trip because you were originally supposed to be going down on August 1st. And then you reached out to me to say, oh, we've had a change of plans. So you want to talk about, um, you know, how you decided to travel at this time of year and then what your pivoting was and why that happened.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_02] Well, mom and the kids and I knew that we wanted to return as soon as possible, but because of, of scheduling conflicts, um, this week in August, the 1st through the 10th was the only thing that was going to work for everyone. Um, or so I thought, um, my daughter is an athlete. She does basketball and the school just does not come out with the schedule for these activities and the open gyms and stuff until closer and closer to school starting.

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_02] Um, and I, I couldn't make any other times in June or July work. So this was it. I had to work with it. So I booked the trip for August 1st through 10th to have a nice long relaxing trip with multiple rest days. Um, and then the schedule came out. So we cut the trip in half. Um, we will now be leaving on the 5th. We're going to drive to Savannah and stay at a hotel with credit card points and drive in

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_02] as early as humanly possible the next morning because we have tickets to Magic Kingdom for that evening. Uh, we'll be staying at All-Star Movies this time, which is our last of the All-Stars to check off our list. We're kind of on a quest to try to stay at each Disney hotel at least once. Uh, so this will be, um, finishing off the All-Stars for us. Uh, so we're going to check into All-Star Movies, drop our bags, head straight to Magic Kingdom.

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_02] We have a dining reservation at night for the Plaza restaurant, which we've never been to. Um, and I know it's not one of the big fan favorites, but we hadn't been there before. And now I'm excited because Disney has announced their special menus for the fall season and the Halloween party. And they have a couple of spooky dishes at the Plaza available on the non-Halloween party night. So hopefully we'll get to sample a couple of those.

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_03] What time is the dinner reservation?

[00:13:45] [SPEAKER_02] It's pretty late. I want to say it's like 840.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Um, this is very early in August. Are you mentally ready to think about fall?

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_02] Yes and no. I love fall, but when it's a hundred degrees and swampy down there, it's a little hard to get harder to get into the spooky spirit, I guess.

[00:14:12] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. I personally cannot even begin to start thinking about Halloween until after Labor Day, at least. I don't know. That's just me. I'm also the same with pumpkin spice. Don't even try to make me have a pumpkin spice before Labor Day. I'm not going to do it.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_03] I would say even October 1st, maybe even for, for pumpkin spice, if I'm really thinking about it.

[00:14:35] [SPEAKER_02] I agree with you. I think that pumpkin spice season can be too long sometimes. I love fall and the spooky stuff, but as far as actual pumpkin spice goes, I can, I can tolerate it for about 30 days and then I'm ready to move on to peppermint.

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_03] Oh, that's true. Yep.

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_03] Um, what are you doing after that dinner reservation?

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_02] We are hoping to catch the starlight parade either before or after. I can't remember how the times line up for that, but we have not seen the starlight parade yet. And we are hoping to catch happily ever after because we've, out of our trips, we have never seen happily ever after. Wow. How have you managed that? Um, well, we've, you know, been to the Halloween party and the Christmas party. So we've seen those firework shows.

[00:15:24] [SPEAKER_00] Mm-hmm.

[00:15:25] [SPEAKER_02] And then in 2022, we saw the fireworks show at Magic Kingdom, but I think it was enchantment maybe.

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_00] Mm-hmm.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_02] Um, it was before they switched it back to happily ever after and it was fantastic. We loved it, but we've never gotten to see happily ever after. And I've heard so many great things about it.

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_03] You are going to love it. And I am, uh, willing to bet you will shed at least one tear.

[00:15:51] [SPEAKER_02] No doubt. I'm a big crier at all fireworks. But yeah, we are also hoping to knock out as much of non-party things as we can that night. Um, so Enchanted Tiki Room. My daughter's a huge fan of that. My son is really excited about the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger spin refurbishment and reopening. So he's excited to ride that. Uh, and Hall of Presidents is one that I've never gotten to do. So my mom and I are excited about that.

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_02] I know the kids will probably be bored, but my mom and I will really enjoy that one, I'm sure. Um, we are wanting to try, and this is a lot of food, but we love to snack. Um, we're wanting to try the fruit and Nutella waffle from Sleepy Hollow and the creme brulee croissant from Gaston's.

[00:16:40] [SPEAKER_00] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:41] [SPEAKER_02] So hoping to cover that. And this is our first trip doing the dining plan, so this will be a little bit different for us. Oh, okay. A little bit more planning.

[00:16:51] [SPEAKER_03] My tip for you about the Nutella waffle is go all out and splurge and add on the extra cup of Nutella for a dollar. Definitely. Will do. You need extra Nutella. They used to have plenty of Nutella on there, and they've really cut back, and, uh, I say you, you need the extra to add onto it to make it somewhat like it used to be. So it's really good.

[00:17:20] [SPEAKER_03] Really, really good. Um, all right. Let's move into Friday, August the 7th. Which park do you think you will head to on this? Oh, wait. Before we go on, I didn't even ask you what kind of tickets you ended up getting. So, did you do a package?

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_02] We did do a package. So we have tickets to the first Halloween party of the season. They're on Friday, August the 7th. And then we have, um, I guess a four-day base ticket. Okay. So no park hopping.

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. So no hopping. So Magic Kingdom on Thursday, and then, I'm sorry, which park are you going to on Friday? Now we're ready for that question. Yeah.

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_02] So the plan for Friday had originally been to sleep in after a late night at Magic Kingdom and, uh, have a late, late breakfast at Chef Mickey's and then mosey on over to Magic Kingdom for the party. However, my seven-year-old is a massive Bluey fan and caught wind of the Bluey experience that's come to Animal Kingdom. Um, and so I said, well, I guess we have to add on Animal Kingdom tickets too.

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_02] So we added on Animal Kingdom tickets, um, and that's making it the four-day base now. Um, so we are going to rope drop Animal Kingdom to get into the Bluey experience. They're the conservation station in Animal Kingdom. Um, I'm going to take my son to do that while my mom and daughter, I'm going to buy them, uh, uh, single pass lightning lanes for Avatar Flight of Passage.

[00:19:01] [SPEAKER_02] And then I told my mom, I said, I'm, I think we're going to need a break, uh, between the little bit of Animal Kingdom in the morning and the party because we are rope drop to close type folks. And especially with the party, those tickets are not cheap. So we like to get our money's worth and it's not often that we get to be there. So we try to make the most of it.

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_03] Right. And especially if, if you're talking about rope dropping Animal Kingdom and like, you really truly mean rope dropping and not, that's just the first thing we're going to do. It's a really early opening. So I think, uh, the, for the onsite guests, it's 7 30. So do you think you will actually be there then? Or do you think you'll just get there and, uh, you know, on the earlier side and it will just happen to be the first things that you do?

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, I would like to be ambitious and go with the first one, but I know my family and I know how tired we will be. So it'll probably be the latter. But again, with Animal Kingdom, our only goals are to see Bluey and, um, for mom and Vivian to do the Avatar Flight of Passage. And we have to try the new cookie dough brownie ice cream sandwich that is so talked about.

[00:20:20] [SPEAKER_03] Do you think there will be any other attractions that you will try to get in if you have time? So if you're like looking at your watch after you've done these things that you specifically wanted to do, do you have like a goal in mind for we want to leave for our break by this time so that you can kind of fill it with other things before you head out?

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_02] I would like to be out of there by 11, 1130. Um, potentially grab lunch there at the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_00] Mm-hmm.

[00:20:51] [SPEAKER_02] My kids love that. I know it's just a glorified Applebee's, but the kids love it. Um, but yeah, we're hoping to, to be out of there 1130-ish, uh, grab a lunch at Rainforest Cafe Animal Kingdom and then head back to the room to get off of our feet for a little bit before we change clothes and head to Magic Kingdom for the party.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_03] Do you have a reservation for Rainforest Cafe? Okay.

[00:21:16] [SPEAKER_02] We don't, but I do have the Landry's card, so I'm not going to sweat it. Okay, perfect.

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_03] I also have the Landry's card and I always forget to use my discounts. I'm terrible about it. In fact, one year I lost out on it, but you can put your, your membership or whatever on hold and hold on to it. And I can't remember if I'm talking about like your, I think it's your, your birthday thing.

[00:21:42] [SPEAKER_02] Oh yeah. Oh, I didn't know I could put that on hold. That's, that's good to know.

[00:21:46] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. I, it's, it's one of the things that you're earning, but if you log into the website, you can, you can hold onto it so it doesn't expire. Um, okay. First Halloween party of the season. We've already established it's going to be hotter than the face of the sun, likely based on the date that you're going. Will you be wearing costumes? Are you going to bound? What are your thoughts?

[00:22:10] [SPEAKER_02] We have discussed this a bit and I think it's just going to be too hot. I think we're all going to be miserable. So right now we're leaning towards foregoing the costumes, but that's definitely open to change.

[00:22:25] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. I mean, you could always do like a nod to a costume, you know?

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah.

[00:22:30] [SPEAKER_03] Like a shirt with some, like a headband or something.

[00:22:32] [SPEAKER_02] Well, one thing I forgot to mention is my mom is incredibly crafty. Um, she, she made a lot of my Halloween costumes growing up. Um, she went all out for my birthday parties and now in this phase of our Disney life, she makes these wildly elaborate window displays that I will share photos of with you.

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_02] Um, so she is very crafty and would love to make us some kind of wild costumes for this, but you know, we're, we're coming up on the time to go. So she's, she's put a lot of energy into the window displays. I don't know if there'll be time for costumes too.

[00:23:13] [SPEAKER_03] When you're saying windows displays, do you mean to decorate your window at all-star movies? Correct. Okay. I mean, people aren't going to hear this till you're back anyway. So how about letting us know what this display will look like? What's it, what's the theme? What is all the work going towards?

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_02] So there are multiple, um, and I'll, I'll back this up a little bit to say that, to talk about the ones she did in the past. She did a really, really elaborate snow white one that had the magic mirror and everything. Um, she did a Pocahontas one. She's done Rapunzel. She's done all kinds of them. This time for this specific trip, she's doing three. Um, she has picked a, a well-loved movie or TV show for me and each of the kids.

[00:24:02] [SPEAKER_02] So she's doing one day of the display that's bluey for Ethan. She's doing, I have to say this quietly. Vivian did leave the room, but, um, this is going to be a big surprise to her. Vivian's favorite ride is Tower of Terror and her favorite character is Stitch. So my mom has made this elaborate Tower of Terror Stitch, uh, window display. It's going to light up. Um, yeah. And then for me, she has made the Rescuers Down Under. Oh my gosh. Throwback.

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah. It's very niche, but it's, it's one of my favorites and it's got Frank, um, his lizard gills, whatever you want to call it, you know, spread out and, and Bernard and Bianca. And, um, I've gotten to see little pieces of it. I haven't seen the finished product yet, but I'm, I'm so excited. So that's, that's another reason that we like to drive is because to try to fly all of this stuff down. I mean, she uses these crazy lights. Um, it's, she goes all out and we love them.

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_03] What is she using for the windows? Is it, is it like cutting out cling things or is it like three dimensional things that she's attaching to the window?

[00:25:11] [SPEAKER_02] Three dimensional. So she starts, I think she typically starts out with like one of those, uh, trifold poster boards of the foam core. That's really, really thick.

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. That is something that you would not want to pack on an airplane.

[00:25:23] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah. Um, but she's been trying to make them, uh, pop up, um, so that, you know, it's like a pop up book. Right.

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_03] Okay.

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_02] All right. Yeah.

[00:25:35] [SPEAKER_03] Wow. This sounds really ambitious.

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_02] It is. But if anybody can pull it off, it's my mom.

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Well, you will absolutely have to take photos of each of those so that we can show them to the listeners who will be listening to this and be very curious as to what we're talking about. Okay. All right. So yeah, I have faith that maybe she would be able to pull something together quickly. Just, you know, like a nod to a costume. Again, you don't have to go all out and it's going to be too hot anyway, but just something, even if it's just Halloween themed, like not even necessarily a character. Like, yeah, I don't know. You'll figure it out.

[00:26:10] [SPEAKER_02] She always has some tricks up her sleeve.

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. Sounds like it. All right. When you are at the Halloween party, are you going to be trying to ride any rides or will you be only focusing on the party specific offerings?

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_02] Well, we are overly ambitious and we'll try to do it all in one night, which we've learned is impossible. But yeah, we'd love to see one of the firework shows, one parade, one stage show with the Sanderson sisters. And the kids, of course, are excited about trick or treating. Um, but yeah, we love the typically lower crowds on those nights and use those lower, those smaller lines, uh, to our advantage for riding the rides.

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_02] So definitely hoping to hit the big thunder refurb, um, Tiana's, um, get, getting some of the heavy hitters done during the party. We hope, except for space mountain, because they do an overlay for that. That's completely in the dark at the party. And that just sounds like a nightmare to me. I need a chiropractor visit anytime I ride space mountain to begin with. And then adding in the element of doing it in the dark is just too much.

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_03] I will, I will tell you that. I mean, I I'll read most anything. Um, but the scariest time I've ever had on space mountain was with the lights fully on. Um, because you can see exactly how close you are to things. So yeah, maybe that should be the overlay for the Halloween party is the lights on. I think so. I mean, and then maybe like have something where it involves the headless horseman and

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_03] it's like revealed that that's how he lost his head was by riding space mountain, like running into something. I don't know. I love that. Yeah. I'm, I'm an imaginary heart, I guess. All right. Saturday, August the 8th, which party at which party? No, we're talking about parties. Uh, which park are you going to on that day?

[00:28:10] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, we are hoping to rope drop Hollywood studios. Um, I'm going to at least buy the lightning lane multi-pass, if not splurge for the premier pass because we have such. Yeah. Yeah. I've never done that one before, but we don't, we have such a short amount of time and we're trying to get, there's been so much added since we were last there. We haven't seen the villain show yet. We haven't seen the little mermaid show yet.

[00:28:37] [SPEAKER_02] Um, my mom has never seen the Indiana Jones show, the beauty and the beast show. And you know, my son, the last time he saw those shows, he was like a four. So he doesn't remember a lot of those. So, um, and we love that, that park is the hardest for rides for us because they're all just heavy hitters.

[00:29:00] [SPEAKER_03] So question, when are you going to decide which one you're going to do?

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_02] Well, my time to book is Thursday morning, so I'm going to have to make a decision tomorrow. Okay.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_03] Do you have a sense of which way you're leaning?

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_02] I, I looked at the prices and I think I'm going to do the regular, um, multi-pass for Hollywood studios on Saturday. But I think for Epcot on Sunday, I might, I think I'm going to do the premier pass.

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Um, yeah, I think you can, I think you can honestly, I, I, I would say you can do multi-pass for both and be fine, especially if you are rope drop to close family. So you've got the entire day. I would say the only thing that would probably get in your way is weather, shutting things down. So like weather getting in the way of riding test track or something like that.

[00:29:59] [SPEAKER_03] And that's probably going to happen regardless of whether you have multi-pass or premier pass. Like even if you had premier pass, if test track is down, it's down and you're not getting it done. Um, so I'll be interested to see what you actually end up deciding. It's just, it's such a price difference. I would say what I would recommend if you wanted to give yourself a better chance. So I used, um, have you ever used, uh, one of those services like standby skipper or weight magic?

[00:30:29] [SPEAKER_03] I have not.

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_02] I've heard of them, but I'm, I've always been too afraid to take the plunge on those.

[00:30:34] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. So I had used standby skipper in the past when I was, uh, it was like the genie plus days. Right. And I had not used it since. And I recently was thinking about getting a service like that. Again, somebody on the, the podcast that I was talking to had used weight magic and recommended it. So then I went down a rabbit hole, a la Alice and did some research to see what weight magic was all about.

[00:31:02] [SPEAKER_03] So in doing my research and comparing the two things, I started to see people saying that they really preferred weight magic. And so I gave it a try for this last trip that we were on in July. And I, I sort of more than I gave it a try because I took the research and was like, I'm an annual pass holder. I'm just going to buy it for the year. Um, so we used it and I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It was, I was not on my phone nearly as much.

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_03] And again, it's been a long time since I've used standby skipper. I don't know what the product is like now, but I did a whole lot of getting things through standby skipper in the past where I would get it and then like have to move things and like, you know, shift things around and constantly be kind of kicking something. I had to get things exactly where I wanted. And I felt like with weight magic, because of the way it's able to search and you can

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_03] search on individual rides or you can just put a group of rides in and like whatever it gets first. Um, I didn't feel like I had to do that. It would find me things and it would find me things at the times I was asking it for. And I only had like one or two things on a day that happened to be really busy where it did not get everything I was asking it to. And so I would recommend that you check it out at least and see what you think about it.

[00:32:28] [SPEAKER_03] Um, not sponsored. I don't get anything by telling you about this. Um, but just look into it. It is not as flashy a product. Like standby skipper has like a better interface. Uh, but I think the product itself, I really liked how I was able to be so specific about what I was looking for. And, um, and so just check it out, see what you think. And you can even, if you have multi-pass and you go ahead and you book your, your three

[00:32:56] [SPEAKER_03] for, for the day, if you buy the one, like there's different levels, but if you buy the one that's like, I think for, it might be for the week or for the month. Cause you can buy it for the day. You can buy it for a week or you can buy it for a month or for a year. And I don't remember how much the prices are on all of them. The year was $75. So that should give you a sense. So it's probably going to be like, if you bought for the month, even, I think it's like 30 to $45.

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_03] So even if you're only going to use it two days, it might be worth it to just buy the month's worth. And when you do that, if you didn't get the times that you liked with your three initial ones with that level, I think the month and above, you could tell it now what you want and it will start looking out to, for changes to those. Like if a better time closer to what you wanted comes available, it will switch things for you.

[00:33:51] [SPEAKER_03] And so it might be worth looking at to really maximize those days. And, you know, it's doing two days of multi-pass and purchasing a service like that will certainly be a lot less than, than Premier Pass would, but you will do exactly what you want to do. And I will support your decision no matter what.

[00:34:11] [SPEAKER_02] That sounds awesome. I didn't know it was that intricate. And I mean, it sounds like it would save a lot of money. Yeah. That's, that's awesome. Thank you for letting me know. I will look into that one tonight. Right.

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. Yeah. And I think standby, the difference between the two also, and standby skipper might've changed at this point because of competition or whatever. I think standby skipper has an app and weight magic, which is, um, through thrill data. And I can send you the link after we're done if you want, um, is not an app. It's a website. So like you just bookmark the website on your phone and you go there to make the selections, but it sends you notifications when it gets something.

[00:34:50] [SPEAKER_03] So it was pretty easy to use. And I would get like a text message and it's like, weight magic booked you big thunder. Weight magic booked you tower of terror. And it's, it's nice. I just, I spent so much less time on my phone. I was like, I'm really glad I got this for the year since I'm an annual pastor. Cause then it doesn't matter if it's a one day trip versus a week trip. I've now got this service for the year.

[00:35:11] [SPEAKER_02] That's awesome. Um, yeah, I, I'm a little anxious about the amount of time I'm going to have to spend on my phone for this trip between booking lightning lanes and being new to the dining plan and checking the app for what's included. And, you know, I'm a little worried. I've heard people say, oh, if you add a cup of cheese sauce to your corn dogs at Casey's, they'll count the cheese sauce as a snack credit. If you don't, you know, specifically tell them not to. So it's, it's, you know, that piece is new to us.

[00:35:37] [SPEAKER_02] So if I can eliminate a little bit of not having to be on my phone, any chance I get while I'm there, I will definitely take advantage of that.

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER_03] And this is the quick service dining plan you have, correct?

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_02] No, the regular full service. Oh, the regular. Okay.

[00:35:52] [SPEAKER_03] Um, and is this your first time using a dining plan?

[00:35:55] [SPEAKER_02] It is.

[00:35:56] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Uh, what is your goal with the dining plan? Because I have two philosophies on the dining plan. One is that you try to give yourself an all inclusive feeling so that you don't have to think about what you're paying for because it feels all inclusive. And the other is to try to beat the system and maximize your dollar. So which one are you?

[00:36:20] [SPEAKER_02] So the second one.

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_03] Okay.

[00:36:22] [SPEAKER_02] However, so I've made these spreadsheets. I've spent an embarrassing amount of time on the Disney website looking at prices and trying to see how to beat the dining plan. And it looks like this regular dining plan, or maybe even both of them are, it's, it's better if you're drinking alcohol, uh, that adds a lot of value to it. A hundred percent. But not only do my mom and I not really drink, I mean, it's so hot.

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_02] I just, if I drink a bunch of alcohol and eat a ton of food and try to run around one of those parks in the August heat, I, it will just, it will end badly for everyone. Um, so I, I, I'm a little anxious about beating the dining plan, but, um, we're going to do the best that we can.

[00:37:07] [SPEAKER_03] Uh-huh. Do you drink like mocktails or, uh, things like that, that might be a drink that would cost a little bit more?

[00:37:14] [SPEAKER_02] Um, I think on a regular day and time I would, but in that heat, we are going to be guzzling water and Powerade a lot. So I don't know. I, I will say there's one thing there's, um, the Woody's, the grownup lemonade at Woody's lunchbox. That's the one thing that I love. It's the one time I will have a drink. Um, so we, we love that.

[00:37:39] [SPEAKER_03] All right. I mean, I, I think if your goal is to beat the dining plan, you will do the best you can at it. But at the end of the day, the money's on the table and it's out the door. So you'll enjoy what you want to enjoy and throw away the things you don't want to. And we'll see where you land on how you feel about it after your trip is done.

[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_02] So the only reason I considered doing it this time was because they're doing the kids eat free dining plan for this. I think it's through the year. Um, but my son is a really, really picky eater as in when we go to Disney, it's Mickey waffles, Mickey pretzels, um, maybe some fries. Like he's a very, very, very picky eater. So the only reason I considered the dining plan was because his stuff's going to be free.

[00:38:26] [SPEAKER_02] So when we do character dining or whatever, that will be included in that cost.

[00:38:31] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Before we move on from, from the dining plan, um, I think you said you booked this as a package, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. I don't think we have shouted out that travel agent yet. Who did you use?

[00:38:48] [SPEAKER_02] Not yet. We have used Megan Cahill of Magic in the Sun Travel. Uh, this is, I believe the third time I've used Megan for a trip and she has been fantastic. She has put up with my many, many, many changes. She's booked my dining reservations for this trip at least twice now from having to move these dates around and I just, I couldn't recommend her enough. Uh, and she also puts up with my silly, silly Disney things.

[00:39:16] [SPEAKER_02] I'll just send to her kind of randomly because I know she can relate to.

[00:39:20] [SPEAKER_03] You're pebbling her. Do you know that term?

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_02] No.

[00:39:23] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Okay. So it's a term that they use, uh, basically, you know how in the animal world, the penguins will bring a rock to somebody that they like and they'll like leave them a little pebble and that's like their currency or they're showing, you know, how much they like somebody. So I've heard that term used and I sort of adopted it because I was like, that's so cute. When you send like a meme or things like that to a friend where you're like, oh, they're really going to get this.

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_03] They're going to enjoy this. And I call that pebbling because you're showing affection for the person that you're sending the things to because you're like, I know you, I know you're going to like this and it's connecting with them. And I just like fell in love with the term pebbling. So you're pebbling her. That's so cute.

[00:40:09] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, she, um, she's in Indiana and of course I'm in Virginia, but yeah, if we lived a lot closer, I would, I, I know we'd be grabbing coffee and talking to me.

[00:40:17] [SPEAKER_03] For sure. You can just tell when somebody is that person, especially in this Disney community, like when you make connections and you just feel like, no, seriously, if we lived in the same place, we would see each other all the time. You just know. So, all right. Um, so we just talked about the dining plan. Where were we? Oh, I did want to ask if you end up doing multi-pass lightning lane for your Hollywood

[00:40:43] [SPEAKER_03] Studios day, you do have the tiering system for deciding what those top three will be. What are your ideal three individual, not individual, multi-pass lightning lanes that you would pre-book for your Hollywood Studios day?

[00:40:57] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, Slinky Dog Dash is that top one that I feel like is the hardest to get. Um, and then for the other two, Tower of Terror. Mm-hmm. That's Vivian's number one favorite and one of my favorites too. Mm-hmm. And then, uh, for the other tier two, maybe Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. Um, that might be one that maybe just my mom and Ethan go on this time because something about it just shook me up really hard the last time.

[00:41:26] [SPEAKER_02] Mm-hmm. Um, I love it, but yeah, I guess the older I get, the harder it is on me.

[00:41:34] [SPEAKER_03] I mean, that's true of a lot of rides.

[00:41:36] [SPEAKER_02] It really is. It really is.

[00:41:39] [SPEAKER_03] Yeah. Okay. What, what do you think you might do if you don't want to do that one? Would you book a separate one or book that one and then just tap into it and not use it?

[00:41:48] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, probably tap into it and not use it.

[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_03] All right. Any dining reservations for your Hollywood Studios Day?

[00:41:55] [SPEAKER_02] Yes. Uh, we have a dining reservation at Roundup Rodeo Barbecue. This will be our first time there. Um, this one was specifically requested by Vivian. I've heard mixed reviews on the food, but we're going to give it a chance. We love trying new restaurants at Disney, so. Is it lunch or dinner you're planning? It's an early dinner. Okay.

[00:42:18] [SPEAKER_03] I liked the food there. I thought it was, I thought it was good. I really like all the sides. Sides are usually my favorite anyway. And then, yeah, I'm trying to remember what kind of bread it was specifically, but they have like some. The cheddar biscuits? The cheddar biscuits. Yes. And they bring, oh God, I got, you saw me get excited. I'm such a foodie. Um, a jalapeno, like jam or jelly or something on the side. It is so good. Oh, I can't wait.

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_03] And it's like a sweeter. It's not like a, oh my God, this is so hot. Um, so definitely, definitely give that a try. All right. Anything else on your Hollywood Studios day? Yeah.

[00:43:00] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah. Um, so we have a enchanting extra booked, uh, for my son. He's majorly into Star Wars. So he is going to build a lightsaber that night.

[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Who's going to be his partner going in to watch him build this lightsaber?

[00:43:16] [SPEAKER_02] That will be me while mom and Vivian go to Oga's cantina.

[00:43:21] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. Have, have any of you built a lightsaber in the past?

[00:43:26] [SPEAKER_02] We have not. Uh, both kids built droids there on our first trip, but we have not done the lightsaber yet.

[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_03] Okay.

[00:43:34] [SPEAKER_02] Are you a Star Wars fan? We are. All of us are. Yes.

[00:43:38] [SPEAKER_03] Okay. You said earlier that you thought you'd cry during Happily Ever After. I kind of just based on, you know, our, our vibe here, I'm thinking maybe it's not exclusive to Happily Ever After that you might cry that you probably get verklempt about a lot of things, uh, like me. Uh, so I'm going to just warn you that when they play the swelling John Williams music as

[00:44:01] [SPEAKER_03] they're like putting the force into the lightsaber, it made me tear up a little. So just prepare ye. I can't wait.

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_02] I can't wait for it.

[00:44:13] [SPEAKER_03] Oh my goodness.

[00:44:14] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah. So, uh, that's at the end of the day because I didn't want to have to worry about lugging the lightsaber around the hot park all day. Yeah. So right after that, uh, hopefully we will be able to catch Fantasmic.

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_03] All right. Let's talk about Sunday, August the 9th. This is, I'm presuming, an Epcot day.

[00:44:34] [SPEAKER_02] It sure is. It's our last day. It's our Epcot day. And during the, for the original trip that would be August 1st through 10th, I originally had two Epcot days booked. I like to treat Epcot as a figure eight and I want to spend one full day in the world showcase and one full day and, you know, world discovery, world nature, all that good stuff. But unfortunately, since the trip got cut in half, we are trying to cram Epcot in one day.

[00:45:01] [SPEAKER_02] Um, this is the one time I'll say, luckily there's no festival because it's less pressure. Uh, there's, there's less, a little bit less to do and try to accomplish in the one day. Um, so that's why I'm considering the premier pass for Epcot because to try to zigzag all over Epcot like that is just, is just going to be too much to try to hit Remy and then test track and then, you know, back to three Caballeros and back to Soarin. It's, it's just too much.

[00:45:29] [SPEAKER_02] So the luxury of tapping in, in order as we please is very appealing, but very expensive. So we'll see.

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_03] All right. If you do end up getting multi-pass lightning lane instead of premier pass, what are your three options that you're going to go for?

[00:45:48] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, Frozen will be number one this time. We love Frozen. Uh, on our one day trip back in January, we did not get to ride Frozen. We did get to do Remy's. So Frozen's the priority this time. Uh, and then Soarin and the other one is probably to be determined. And there's, there's not a lot of other heavy hitters for Epcot in that tier two.

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_03] Right.

[00:46:12] [SPEAKER_02] Nemo versus Figment, you know, it's, they're all kind of on the same playing field after that.

[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_03] And it's Soarin' Across America right now. Yes. I'm so excited. Did you see that one? I don't think it was running since you've been last, right? Yeah.

[00:46:29] [SPEAKER_02] Correct. I saw the regular Soarin' back in January. Okay. But I have not seen Soarin' Across America yet. We're very excited. Okay.

[00:46:39] [SPEAKER_03] Uh, anything else in Epcot? Any dining reservations or anything specific that you're just aiming to make sure you see, even if it's not a ride?

[00:46:48] [SPEAKER_02] Well, um, we've got to hit Guardians of the Galaxy, even though that's one my mom might sit out on. Um, Club Cool, we love sampling the sodas from around the world. Um, The Voices of Liberty, I have never gotten to see. Um, so that's, that's a priority for me on this trip. We have a dining reservation at Tepin Auto. This will be our first time at Tepin Auto in the Japan Pavilion.

[00:47:14] [SPEAKER_02] And then we're hoping to catch Luminous at the end of our day because we also have not seen Luminous in person yet. So we did see, I guess it was Harmonious, um, during our first trip, but we haven't gotten to see Luminous yet. So hopefully we can get all that in.

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_03] I absolutely love The Voices of Liberty and my not so secret goal is one day when I retire to just go and be one of the Voices of Liberty. That would be the dream. That would be the dream. All right. Uh, after Luminous is over and, uh, you head out, you will presumably have to pack up the car and everything for your journey home. What time are you planning on leaving on Monday? The 10th.

[00:48:04] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, we don't typically like to put a hard time on it. It always happens the same way. We're exhausted because we go pretty much rope drop to close every day of our trip. Um, so the last time we did this, we squeaked out of there right before checkout at like 10, 10 or 11, um, and hit the road. We won't get back home until probably midnight. I would guess with, with stopping. Okay.

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_03] So you think probably around checkout for this, this as well. Probably.

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_02] We have to pack up those window displays.

[00:48:38] [SPEAKER_03] You got to pack up the window displays and you want to stretch out that last moment at Disney where you're just kind of, you know, delaying the inevitable where you're hitting the road and give yourself the opportunity to remember if there was anything you wanted to grab from the gift shop first.

[00:48:57] [SPEAKER_02] Absolutely. Absolutely. We typically will grab Mickey waffles for the road and eat them in the car. Very sad leaving Disney.

[00:49:07] [SPEAKER_03] Well, you'll have the dining plan. So you might have some credits left to grab some of those Mickey waffles for your way out the door. What is your plan as far as the driving goes? Are you stopping at all? Or are you driving that 12 hours in one stretch?

[00:49:22] [SPEAKER_02] Uh, we're going to drive the, we call it cannonballing it. So we're going to drive the 12 hours and in one stretch, um, as, as, as much as we can. Now we tried to do that in January, but it was, um, it was so cold. We ended up having to stop in Florence, South Carolina and get a hotel because the ice on the roads was so bad. Really? But yeah, it was, yeah, it was like January 31st, February 1st.

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_02] Um, when we did that and it was that, that one was a little rough, but with the summer, we shouldn't have to worry about that.

[00:49:55] [SPEAKER_03] You're not going to have that problem. Okay. All right. Well, I cannot wait to hear all of the details of how this all actually plays out because we know those of us who have been to Disney multiple times, you can have the best laid plans and there will be pivots. And the question is just how you react to them. And it sounds like you're very well prepared and it sounds like you also have a really good travel agent who will probably be responsive should you have questions along the way.

[00:50:22] [SPEAKER_03] Um, so take good notes and we will talk after your trip is over.

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_02] Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:50:31] [SPEAKER_03] Thank you, Heather, for being on the show and to Vivian for popping on to say hello. The post-trip episode is up next. That's all for this pre-trip fun. Until next time, keep daydreaming about where you long to be.