Pre-Trip Report: Mike’s Nearly Perfect Polynesian Vacation (March 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. Thank you so much for joining me today. It is one day closer to your next Disney vacation and one day closer to mine. I head down a week from tomorrow after work for three quick days of fun with my friend Jeanette and it is getting me through April. No joke. I've been working like crazy late hours just, you know, back to back

[00:00:41] meetings, all of that sort of stuff. And the thought of a few days at Disney is helping keep me sane. We will be doing a podcast episode on that trip so I look forward to sharing it all with you in good time. Let's jump right into today's Trip Report guest, Mike, who is Disney dad of one on Instagram and TikTok. He's a fellow DVC member and annual pass holder and I am happy that Disney brought us together. So let's not delay any further. Please welcome Mike to the show.

[00:01:13] Welcome to the podcast, Mike. Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here. I don't really know much about you except that your Disney Instagram handle is Disney dad of one. So I want to know, who are you, Mike? Yeah, no, absolutely. So yes, it's Mike and the Disney handle is Disney dad of one or Instagram handle is Disney dad of one. I am a dad of one. I have a lovely three year old daughter who has become a Disney freak just like my wife and I. My wife and I met in college and we actually were married in Disney World. So it's holds a special place in our

[00:01:43] heart. She really turned me on to it. We started traveling together there in college and have gone every year since then. Now we're talking almost 20 years, probably close to it. Which is pretty crazy when you think about it. But yeah, we've, we've got every year, at least multiple times a year. We now own at the Polynesian or DVC owners of the Polynesian and annual pass holders. We head down probably two to three times a year. Or like I said, we have the three year old daughter who's already been down there. I think we're going on her fourth or fifth trip now.

[00:02:13] So Disney holds a pretty special place in our heart. And I started Disney dad of one about a little over a year ago back in January of 2025 and excited to just share our Disney world and meet some amazing people out there like yourself. Well, it's so nice to meet you. Where in the world am I speaking to you from? Yes. I mean, wait, I'm speaking to you from New York City that that came out phrased strange. Where are you? Yes. So I'm not too far. I'm in New Jersey. So just a little south of you. I worked 13 years in Manhattan. So I know it well.

[00:02:40] Okay. Are you, I mean, this is a New Jersey thing. Are you in Northern, Central, Southern? Central. There is a Central. It does exist. And I live there. Okay. So I was just in, I think it's considered Central Jersey yesterday in Whippany. A Central Jersey person would probably consider that North Jersey, but a North Jersey person may consider that Central Jersey. I know. It's like right on the line right there. Right. Yeah. That's, that's where my husband is from. So we were out there at my father-in-law's place. Very cool.

[00:03:09] And next follow-up question to all of that, you and your wife met in college. You said, where did you go to college? So we went to a school called Rowan University. Yes. It's in South Jersey. And so she was in a sorority. I was in a fraternity and kind of met through that. And I have together ever since. I have a very good friend who went to Rowan. Oh, nice. Very cool. Yeah. Yeah, it was a good time. Okay. And next follow-up question, you got married in Disney. Yes.

[00:03:38] It was a, I want to say like two days. You know, you had the rehearsal dinner, which we did actually at Ohana. The night before we had about 30-ish people, I want to say, down there with us. Mm-hmm. So we had two big tables at Ohana. The next day, we got married at the wedding pavilion at the Grand Floridian. Okay. So you can kind of see it from the monorail and all the water there. After that, we did a brunch at the Grand Floridian in one of their ballrooms there. And then at night, we actually did a cocktail and dessert party in Epcot.

[00:04:01] And so we got one of those, if you've been to the Italy pavilion, there's like those little spaces on the water where the gondolas are. And we rented out one of those and had the fireworks going behind us and had appetizers, desserts, and then just a brunch for people before they headed out the next morning. So really, really special. It was pretty amazing. That's so cool. Very cool. Did you go to Disney as a kid growing up? So yeah, we went a couple times when I was a kid. It wasn't really our big family trips. My family wasn't big Disney people. We were more cruising, islands, that kind of vibe.

[00:04:31] But I went a couple times. I remember being there the year Animal Kingdom opened and a couple things like that. But yeah, it was not until I met my wife did we really become Disney people. I mean, I was a Disney fan growing up. I watched the Disney Channel original movies, all that kind of stuff, all the renaissance era of Disney in the early 90s. But not until I met my wife did I really fall for the parks and really fall for Disney. Did she grow up going? Is that why she was so into it? Yeah. Yeah. She had family in Florida. Her grandparents used to visit every summer. So I always go to Disney a bunch of times and she grew up going there.

[00:05:00] So she kind of brought me into the fold. And I guess I've been there ever since. You said you go two to three times a year. When was the last time you were there? I was there in December. We usually go, usually have been going around the first week of December. It's just for us a great time. The crowd's usually low, but it's already decorated for Christmas. Christmas and the weather is perfect. It's not too hot, not too cold, but you still get that amazing feel of the Christmas in Disney World. So yeah, the last trip was December. I think the trip before that was the previous March.

[00:05:29] Okay. All right. So previous March. So it sounds like maybe you go sort of in March. Is that like a common time for you to go? We have. We usually do either somewhere in March, April, May. It really depends on, I mean, it used to go whenever we wanted, but now with my daughter's school, it's like we got to travel. So we are first trip ever traveling during spring break. So we'll see how that goes. But usually we try to go before it gets too hot. I know sometime in March, April, but like I said, not spring break usually. Those are usually the times we go. Yeah.

[00:05:56] This year we have three trips planned right now. So pretty excited for that. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. It gets more and more challenging the older they get and, you know, having to deal with, oh, we can only go during the school breaks. So I totally get it. I totally get it. And then you got the sports and all that other stuff that starts kicking in and it's, yeah, it's crazy. So what is your wife's name? My wife's name is Christina with a C-H. Okay. Christina. And your three-year-old, what is she? Okay. Madison. M-A-D-I-S-O-N. Madison.

[00:06:26] Okay. All right. And she is three. Tell me a little bit about Madison. What is she like? What's she into? She is into all things Disney. She is a princess at heart. She is a wild child, but is awesome. And she is, let's see what else. She actually just got diagnosed with celiac. Okay.

[00:06:46] And so this will be our first trip kind of navigating that. So we've been, you know, reading up on that and some Disney groups with celiac and gluten-free stuff. And so we're pretty excited. And I see her there. She's adorable. Yes. She's popping in the screen. She just popped in as she hears your name. She says hello. But yeah. So, you know, it'll be interesting to navigate that this trip. Yeah.

[00:07:05] So she's, you know, she's young enough where she doesn't understand it. But, you know, she understands that she needs to eat gluten-free, but she doesn't. Like, she doesn't know the difference between, like, a great sourdough bread and the bread she's eating. You know, she's not made that connection yet.

[00:07:18] So she also can't understand at this age things like cross-contamination, which is a big problem with celiac. And I know this because my sister has celiac. So I've actually been to Disney and my sister and my sister-in-law and their kids came down for a big trip a couple of years ago. And so that was my first time dealing with that in the parks.

[00:07:39] And I will say it was very easy to handle because they mark everything so well and you can ask questions and, you know, when everything comes out, it comes out with like an allergy identifier on it so that they know they're giving you the right thing. So hopefully you will also find it fairly easy to navigate that. And it's, I would say, you know, it's a challenge, but it's good that they found out so young.

[00:08:03] Like, my sister dealt with issues her whole life. And then finally, as an adult, they were like, oh, it's celiac. So I was like, that would have helped to know. Yeah, I feel like now it's being more diagnosed because people understand it better and there's tests out there that can easily test for. I mean, she was just having some stomach issues. And we're like, you know what, let's test for the gamut, see what it is. And it came back pretty positive. So we changed her diet and she's improved greatly.

[00:08:27] So, and everyone says Disney's amazing with allergies. I mean, we've seen it. We never had to experience it, but we've seen it now. And so it's, we're looking forward to the trip. All I hear about are the, what do they call it? The churros at Nomad Lounge in Hellwell Kingdom. So, I mean, I'm excited to try them myself. Yeah, I love them. They're my favorite churros. And I will say they're my favorite churros above the ones in Disneyland, which everybody says are really good. And I'm like, I don't know, there's something about those gluten-free churros. Listen, hey, if it works, it works.

[00:08:55] What about a travel planner? You know, you go so often and you have DVC. Do you use a travel planner to help with your trips? I don't. I do recommend it for those that don't go as often as I do, because I do think, you know, people can get overwhelmed with how much planning you need to do for a Disney trip. I mean, you can go there and wing it, but it's tough, especially with the dining reservations and lightning lanes and all that kind of stuff. So I don't use one, especially with like the DVC. I don't want to book the room for me and monitor like for deals and discounts. Right.

[00:09:23] But for like my friends and stuff who like don't go as often as I'm like, listen, use a travel agent. They are amazing. They do the work for you. They give you great advice. Like I can answer all your questions, but a travel agent is going to do the actual grunt work for you and make sure you have an amazing trip. So, yeah, I don't use one, but I definitely recommend them. Do you typically just travel as a family or do you have extended groups of people who sometimes come with you? Usually it's just the three of us. That being said, we've, you know, we've met friends in Disney. We're actually doing for the first time in a long time. Her parents have come before. For the first time in forever, you'd say?

[00:09:52] There you go. It is for the first time ever. Sure. But we're doing a big family trip with my wife's family, her parents, and then my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their two kids. And we're staying actually at a three bedroom at the Grand Floridian in December. So we're doing the Grand Villa. So we're really excited for that. What a dream. So, yeah, that's our big family trip. So we're looking forward to that in December. But usually it's just the three of us. And, you know, if friends are down there, we'll meet up with them. Or I think we did one trip where we all kind of planned and we were overlapped like four or five days with a bunch of friends.

[00:10:21] So we did, you know, Christmas party together and things like that. Okay. Is it just the three of you this time? Yes. So this trip, it's just the three of us. Yeah. And where have you decided to stay? So we're going to our home resort, which is the Polynesian. So we fell in love with that resort the first time we stayed there. And we're like, all right, this is what we're buying when we're ready. And so going back to the Poly and we stay in a studio, a deluxe studio. Okay. So the original ones or the tower? In the original ones. Okay. We usually stay there. We haven't stayed in the tower yet. It's beautiful.

[00:10:51] We just like the location of the original ones because the building we stay at is we always request Tokelau. Oh, me too. And we do that because you're 10, not even a five minute walk to the Epcot monorail and then a five minute walk to the Magic Kingdom monorail. So you get the best of both worlds to park access with the monorail. Yeah. So yeah, that's our bread and butter where we like to go. Yeah. And I love the old school look to it. There's just something about it that speaks to me.

[00:11:20] That being said, I will be looking forward to staying at the tower at some point. We have DVC as well. And our home resort is Wilderness Lodge, the Copper Creek section, which is my favorite resort. But we are working our way around to all of the resorts. And I think the only ones we have not gotten to of DVC. Okay. So I think so this summer we're checking off Animal Kingdom Lodge off of our list.

[00:11:47] My husband and son are checking Boardwalk off of their list, though I have stayed there. And then after that, I think they will only need to stay at Riviera. I've stayed there. They haven't. Because sometimes I go down without them and leave them behind and just take off and go do Disney Funny either by myself or with my girlfriends. How many have you stayed at? Are you also trying to work your way around? We just became members in the end of 2024. So we only really had it for like a full year. Oh, you're a newbie. Yeah, we're newbies. Okay. I'm a 2018.

[00:12:17] Nice. Yeah. We've always rented points beforehand. We used a third-party service, rented through it. We've only stayed at a handful, if many at all. We stayed at the Polynesian. We've stayed at – oh, my God. Is it really just the Polynesian? I'm trying to think of where else we've stayed. I think you can count when you've rented points, not just – Yeah, but even through there, I feel like we've always – oh, Saratoga Springs. I'm sorry. Before we did the Polynesian, we were heavy into Saratoga Springs, especially without our daughter. It's a quieter resort.

[00:12:46] It's got a lot of pools, and it was easy access to Disney Springs, which we loved. We used to walk to Disney Springs every night. We'd end at Disney Springs just through whatever. We'd get dinner, dessert. But yeah, Saratoga Springs and the Polynesian, I think, are the only two DVC resorts we've actually stayed at. Before that, we were doing moderates and things like that. Yeah. So you have a lot of things to check off your Disney bucket list. Yes, absolutely. A lot to look forward to. Okay.

[00:13:13] So you have annual passes, so you don't have to buy separate tickets or anything. But are you considering lightning lanes, multi-pass? Yes. So we always get lightning lanes when we go. I just – I'm not someone to wait in lines. I just rather by trip. If I'm going, do it easy. Go do what I want to do. And so I'm not – we do – we'll probably – I think we're there for five days. So we'll get lightning lanes probably for four to five days, like one day at each park really. Maybe we'll skip Animal Kingdom just because there's less there right now. Yeah.

[00:13:43] And do like a second day at Magic Kingdom or something because that's where most of the rides that my daughter can go on are. Okay. She may hit 40 inches this trip. We're like right at that cusp. Oh, okay. If she puts on the shoe, she hits that 40-inch mark, which gets us into that next tier of rides. But on our last trip, she fell in love with Slinky Dog. Like she is a roller coaster junkie. Like she already loves the big rides. So that's definitely a lightning lane that we have to book this trip. We'll be Slinky Dog. But yeah, we're definitely lightning lane people. I'd rather just not have to worry about waiting in lines and try and get in as much rides as I can.

[00:14:12] Do you think if she is 40 inches that she will be riding most anything that you put in front of her? I don't think she'll say no. Okay. Yeah. She's the kind of person like – she's the kind of person that won't say no. She'll be like, yeah, let's do it. I think she's like ready to ride. Like she sees like a huge – I want to ride that one. Like Everest she points down. Oh, wow. Okay. So she's ready to go. Okay. Thrill seeker. Love it. Oh, yes. All right. Let's talk through all of the different plans.

[00:14:38] So your trip is Wednesday, March 25th through the 31st, which means we have not hit your week out mark to be able to make those lightning lanes. Correct. So when we talk about each day, you can tell me what you're aiming for for those. So Wednesday the 25th, what time are you flying? Yeah. We take like a late-ish morning. I think we have like a 9 a.m. flight out. I guess that's like mid-morning. Mm-hmm. You know, we sleep in a little bit but get there early enough where hopefully the whole day is not delayed if a flight gets delayed.

[00:15:08] Mm-hmm. So we think we land at like Orlando around 12, 12.05, something like that. And what we usually do after we land is we will head to Disney Springs and get lunch. Usually the room's not ready at that point. So we get a rental car, just easier for us. Okay. Get the rental car, head to Disney Springs, and usually park and head right to the Polite Pig. That is one of our favorite spots. Okay. They have an amazing salad there. My wife is actually a vegetarian, but she likes going to barbecue spots because they usually have good side dishes. Mm-hmm. So we'll go to the Polite Pig.

[00:15:38] She'll get a salad. I will get some kind of meat platter, ribs, or brisket or something, and my daughter will eat whatever's safe at this point now. But I think a lot of the meats actually are safe when I've seen. And then head to the resort and just kind of relax. Get the room set up. And then if there's time, since we have the annual passes, we can even just pop over to the Magic Kingdom and just like walk the shops or grab a snack or go on a ride if the wait times aren't long. And that's usually kind of our first day. A little slower, but still get right into the Disney vibe. Okay. Okay.

[00:16:04] That is one of the beauties of having the annual pass is that you can just pop over. I have even popped over literally just to make a custom popcorn. I love that. And popped right back out. No, absolutely. I mean, I think I've taken her like, hey, let's go ride the Barnstormer real quick. It's a two-minute wait. I can just literally pop in, go to the Barnstormer and come back out. And being on a monorail loop, it's just so easy. It's two stops. You're at the front of the park and two stops back. It's great. Okay. So Thursday, March 26th, that's your first full day. What is your plan for that day?

[00:16:34] Yes. So Rope Drop Magic Kingdom. That's usually what we do the first day, unless there's some reason not to, but Rope Drop Magic Kingdom. What do you want to Rope Drop? It's a great question. I'm not sure. It'll probably depend on what lightning lanes we get to see what we Rope Drop. But usually we will head to like the circus area and do like the Barnstormer or Dumbo, like get those out of the way because they're smaller and those are like her favorite rides. But at some point late morning, we will, what is it? Pre-order. I can't think of the term right now, but pre-order. Mobile order. Thank you. Sleepy Hollow.

[00:17:04] Get some waffles and berries or waffles and chicken or something. And that'll be like a brunch for us. And then I think we have two options for dinner where when we plan, so I'm a planner in terms of just for our trips. I have a spreadsheet that I plan with. And so I think we have two reservation options right now, either Tony's Town Square, if we want to just do appetizers and stuff, or the Grand Floridian Cafe, I think is the other option. For dinner? Yes, for dinner.

[00:17:33] It'd be like probably like 540, 545, I think are the two options. And just gives us two different things, kind of still close to the park, but somewhere to get some actual dinner. Yeah. Do you go back after dinner for fireworks if you happen to have left the park? Yeah. We actually, we don't usually watch fireworks in the park. We will go back to the Polynesian and watch them from the water. I have a spot that I watch them from at the Polynesian. It's kind of off the beaten path where there's no one is, but you still hear the music and have amazing views of them.

[00:18:02] So I kind of go to that little spot. Usually maybe like 10 people, a couple of benches. It's really nice. So usually we'll watch them from there. That way we're already back in the room. My daughter goes to bed like nine o'clock-ish. Okay. She's getting older now, so we can definitely keep her up a little bit later. But usually fireworks are back at the resort because of that. Because by the time you get back and fight the monorail crowd, it's an hour later. Sure. So, but we definitely try. She loves the fireworks. She loves Happily Ever After. She can sing the song for you. So that's usually something that we definitely try to watch. Okay. All right.

[00:18:31] That's a nice first day. Friday, March the 27th. What are you thinking? Oh, wait. Hold on. We got to pause. We got to go back because you said you're going to have multi-pass. What are the three you're aiming for? Yeah. So for that first day at Magic Kingdom right now, I'm looking at Barnstormer, Jungle Cruise, and Pirates, I think. Barnstormer, kind of that throwaway first thing in the morning and then can then use that hopefully to get something a little bit better in the afternoon.

[00:18:56] And then we probably will also do the single pass and get Seven Dwarfs Mine Train because my daughter loved that last trip. So probably pay a little extra and just get that one as well, assuming it's available because usually that might not be available that early in the trip because people obviously have the seven days before me. We have another Magic Kingdom day later on that we can hopefully get it for them. Yeah. But I'm wondering how much in terms of crowds you're going to run up against because I think a lot of people's spring break is actually the week after. That's what I'm hoping.

[00:19:25] I'm hoping they're like the week after Easter, like, you know, that everyone has off that Monday through Friday the following week. I just feel like the crowds are already there. I don't know. Like I said, I've never really gone spring break time. We try to avoid it at all costs, but hey, you got to do what you got to do. Yeah. I only say that because, you know, my son, he's in 10th grade and his spring break is the first week of April. So that makes sense. I think that's what New Jersey is too, is like right after Easter that first week. Yeah. Cause they do it in, but they have to, they have to make it work for both Easter and Passover.

[00:19:55] Right. And I haven't even looked at the calendar to see how that aligns. All I know is that I can never go anywhere at spring break time because my work gets really busy at that time of year. I'm sure. Usually Alex is just sort of hanging out, doing his own thing. But this year he's very lucky. He's going to trip to Greece. That's awesome. Very cool. School trip. So, okay. So Friday, March the 27th, what park this day? Yes. So that we are doing is Epcot.

[00:20:22] And so we'll start in Epcot and we will do, we'll probably stop at the French bakery at some point because we love just getting a baguette for the day to munch on. My wife likes their croissant breakfast sandwiches. And then we also, I think have a reservation at Akershus. That is our princess breakfast. We love that more than CRT. It's just. CRT for anyone who doesn't know. Sorry. There we go. We just, it's, you get more bang for your buck. We feel like, you know, you get a lot more food for your buck there.

[00:20:51] Granted, you're not eating in the castle like that, but you know, but you get to meet the princesses and she loves it. I haven't done that one yet. I have done Cinderella's Royal Table. But Akershus is one that honestly, I don't think of it that much. And I think it's just because I really enjoy just like snacking my way around the world. Absolutely. But I want to do it at some point. I really enjoyed my Cinderella's Royal Table experience because I did it. It was one of those things where like, it's such an expensive meal.

[00:21:21] And that's the other thing is I think Akershus costs a little bit less. So I did it on my birthday trip because I was like, it's my birthday. I'm going to treat myself to a princess lunch. And that was fun. I don't need to go do it again, but it was fun. But Akershus, I need to remember to get around to that one. Are the princesses different there? They are. You can get. Wow. But it's pretty cool because you don't know exactly who you're going to see every time. But, you know, it's Ariel, Belle.

[00:21:50] We've seen Mulan in there. Tiana, Rapunzel, Aurora. So it's really a great mix. And I've actually even, I think one time we even saw Cinderella in there. She doesn't usually come, but I feel like it was, you know, like whatever. They needed to fill a day or something. Yeah. It's pretty cool. We've seen a lot of great princesses there. It's pretty good food for, you know, breakfast food at least. I can't speak beyond that, but it's solid. Okay. Do you know if it's a character meal the entire day? I believe it is. I don't know if they do lunch. They may only do breakfast and dinner. I don't recall. But it is princesses all day. Okay.

[00:22:20] All day, every day. Exactly. All right. What else do you have planned for Epcot? And maybe do you have any lightning lanes? Yeah. So the plan there is Remy, Nemo, and Figment. Remy, we tried last trip to get on Remy. My daughter has never been on it. We haven't been on it in years at this point, but it always breaks down. It's the biggest issue. So we have that. Nemo, she just likes it. And Figment just says, you know, it's Figment. Yeah. And then we'll bounce around from there.

[00:22:48] But otherwise, we just, we make our way around the countries, you know, stop in, get snacks throughout the day. We always get, what is it called? My wife loves, it's in Germany at the Caramel Shop. The Caramel Kusch? No, she gets, what is it? It's like a gingerbread cookie with caramel. Oh, no, no, no. Sorry. I meant that the name of the German place is called Caramel Kusch. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. That gingerbread cookie is amazing. Yeah. She loves it. I've literally like used a personal shop before and had it shipped to us for her birthday. Like it is her favorite thing in the world.

[00:23:18] So yeah, we will go there. I mean, we get some caramel popcorn. She likes the maple popcorn in Canada. So she'll get some of that. And especially with all the festival booths, we'll eat around for a little bit for lunch. So really excited for Flower and Garden there. So yeah, it's just making our way around Epcot. We'll bounce between some rides. And then for dinner that night, I believe we have Yachtsman or Beaches and Cream. So we'll probably end up doing like Yachtsman for dinner. And I have like, I think two reservations at Beaches and Cream.

[00:23:46] One like dinner time and one later, like eight o'clock to get like dessert. So I think we'll do probably Yachtsman for dinner and then Beaches and Cream for dessert. And Yachtsman is my favorite steakhouse on property. I was always Selyere until I ate a Yachtsman. And that changed me completely. And now it is the best filet mignon that I've probably had in almost anywhere. It is very good. Might I recommend if you like a filet mignon going to Topolino's for dinner? That we will talk about in just a second. It is on the list. Absolutely. I do like Topolino's. Okay.

[00:24:15] And I did not hear you mention Guardians. Are you going to do any individual Lightning Lane action for that? Potentially. It's a thought. I've been on it. It is a phenomenal ride. Just because my wife doesn't do huge rides. She would not like that. And my daughter's too small. I don't usually like to leave them just sitting around while I get to ride something. So we'll see though. It's definitely on my list. I went on it, I think two trips ago or right when it opened when my mother-in-law came. So at least they weren't alone. They were walking around with my mother-in-law.

[00:24:45] But yeah, no, Guardians is a phenomenal ride. I would definitely like to get on that again. Okay. Anything else planned for this day? Not really. Just all Epcot. If we bounce somewhere else, maybe, but probably just all Epcot. Okay. Saturday, March the 20th. So we usually do a rest day on Saturday. It's a good spot in the middle and usually parks a little bit more crowded on a Saturday. But we always start that Saturday. So our favorite breakfast spot, it's on property, but it's not something that most people think about is actually Ravello at Four Seasons.

[00:25:15] So you have to take either an Uber or a car there or something. But it is a character breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. And it is probably one of the best breakfast buffets I think I've ever been to. The food is just next level. I mean, the omelet station alone has like 30, 40 toppings you can choose from. And the food is just so good. And so we'll go there, probably like 9 a.m. breakfast or something. And this is also, I guess, a more relaxed day during my daughter. Sometimes she'll take a nap, sometimes she won't. But assuming she'll take a nap that day.

[00:25:44] I got my wife for her birthday. I booked her a spa appointment at the Grand Floridian Spa. Oh my God. Mike. Yeah. You're getting hubby points there. Trying. Yeah. So I'll be back with my daughter napping. She'll head to the Grand Floridian Spa for a bit. We'll drop her off on the way back or something. Then we'll pamper herself a little bit. And then that night, you know, the afternoon we'll probably spend by the pool or just the resort hopping or something. Just relaxing day. And that night we have Cake Bake Shop for dinner, which is one of our favorite spots. We'll share a slice of cake for dessert.

[00:26:12] I have not been to Cake Bake Shop. I have a reservation for it for May. Nice. So what do you recommend there? I mean, obviously I feel like I should get cake. But I think there's different flavors to choose from. Do you have one that you recommend? So the Millionaire Cake is like their go-to signature slice. It is delicious. It's caramel, chocolate, all the good stuff. What's amazing about their cakes is like the cake itself is so moist and like fresh. That's just absolutely delicious. And then the food itself is really good too. Like don't sleep on the food.

[00:26:42] Like yes, the desserts are great. But like my wife, again, vegetarian. So she gets like this salad that I swear could feed a family of like 12. Oh, really? It's huge portions there. I get a great burger and fries. My daughter, she was getting her grilled cheese. And I do think that actually, I checked with them and they do have gluten-free bread. So she will be able to get like a gluten-free grilled cheese there, which is awesome. Okay. But like every food, like we would watch the food coming out of the kitchen. Everything just looks so good. And their bread, like I think we've ordered like just their bread as an appetizer.

[00:27:10] And it's like fresh, hot baguette with, you know, butter, like salted butter. So good. But yeah. So the cakes are phenomenal. I understand they had a lot of backlash when they came out with the price. But the cake slice literally feeds like three to four people easily. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen the photos and I'm like, I mean, it's expensive, but I'm not going to eat that by myself anyway. Right. Exactly. It's a shared experience. Every month, I think they also come out with like a cake of the month kind of thing, like a new flavor. So I think actually in March, there's like a peanut butter chocolate one. My wife loves peanut butter chocolate. So we'll try that probably.

[00:27:41] Your daughter can't eat this, but I cannot remember if I talked about this in the podcast. So I'll just tell you about it and then people can look it up. So for Thanksgiving, we ordered what's called a pie cake in. Have you heard of pie cake in? I have not. No. Okay. So there's this bakery called the pie cake in bakery. And I can't remember where it's located, but they sell the cakes through this app called Gold Belly where you can order, you know, like fancy things, whatever. Yeah. New York. Yes. It's yeah.

[00:28:10] It's an amazing, amazing service. And pie cake in, they have different products that are, you know, for different points in the year. Like I, I know that there's a St. Patrick's day one, et cetera, et cetera. But we, the one we got for Thanksgiving was, I think it was like an apple cake on the bottom topped by like a pecan pie topped by a pumpkin, maybe like a pumpkin cheesecake or something. Oh my God. And it's like all three, like when you cut it, you can see the layers.

[00:28:39] It was so good too. It's like, you think, Oh, this is just like a novelty or whatever. No, it was delicious. That's amazing. I remember the one for, for St. Patrick's day. It also has like a, a pecan pie layer, but it's like a bourbon pecan pie to fit with the St. Patrick's day theme. Um, they make one for 4th of July. There's all these, it's pricey. I want to say it was like $125 for this cake or something. You splurge once in a while.

[00:29:07] But it feeds a lot of people because it's such a tall cake. So yeah, I a hundred percent recommend that if you're looking for a bougie cake experience at home. Just have to get that in. And I will put the link in the show notes for anybody who's, who's interested. Cause it's, it's really cool. That's pretty cool. That's not, not a sponsor, but pie cake and bakery. If you want to sponsor the podcast, I would love that. There you go. Okay. Anything else happening after cake bake? I don't think so.

[00:29:36] I think that, you know, again, either we'll go back to the resort, maybe watch the fireworks from the resort, just hop to another, probably walk the boardwalk since we're right there, go to the shops and stuff. But otherwise just a relaxing day. All right. Sunday, March the 29th. Yes. So we're probably, let's see that morning, we'll probably rope drop Animal Kingdom. Mm-hmm. That's a shorter park for us, especially now that it's under refurbishment a bit. Mm-hmm. But we'll head there. My daughter loves the Nave River journey. She likes the shaman that you get to see and sing.

[00:30:06] Mm-hmm. So we'll probably do that. I love doing the safari. Maybe like check out, we have, I haven't done it in many years. My daughter's never done it, but like the Lion King show, I think she might be able to sit through now. Mm-hmm. And just, you know, spend the morning at Animal Kingdom. I know we have probably a backup reservation at Ockerfus that morning in case it's a horrible rainy day or something on the Tuesday or whatever day that was, Thursday. But yeah, we'll spend the morning at Animal Kingdom. Like I said, we won't do Lightning Lanes for that. But in the afternoon, we'll probably head to Hollywood Studios where we'll have Lightning Lanes hopefully booked.

[00:30:36] And for that, probably stay in like Toy Story Land area, Slinky Dog, Toy Story, Midway Mania, and Alien Swirl. Mm-hmm. And then for dinner that night, I think we have the options of Topolino's Terrace or Roundup Rodeo. My daughter is a huge Roundup Rodeo barbecue fan. She loves the Forky cupcake, but unfortunately she won't be able to eat that anymore. Mm-hmm. But we did check in most of the meats are gluten-free. They have their own gluten-free bread and some gluten-free desserts. So at least she'll still be able to experience and enjoy that with us. Mm-hmm.

[00:31:06] So we'll probably end up there that night and then, you know, maybe finish with Fantasmic or do some more rides around there as we jump around. So that's usually what we do is we split Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. All right. So that brings us to Monday, March the 30th. Yes. So our last full day here, we will probably go to Magic Kingdom again, rope drop that. We were rope drop people, so we're usually at the parks early. It also happens to be that's a Tuesday, so it'll be a pin release day. So I do collect Disney pins.

[00:31:33] So depending on what the pin drop is, maybe try to- Oh, wait. Monday, March the 30th. Oh, it's Monday, March the 30th. Yeah, it's not a Tuesday. Oh, my goodness. I have to change my schedule. This is horrible. So you're a pin collector. I am a pin collector, yes. I say this and I say in the very top corner of your screen, I can see the beginning of a pin collection poking through. Yeah, that's our Marie pin board. My daughter likes Marie, the cat from Aristocats. So that's hers. And I have Toy Story and Up as my main collections. I have a bunch of pin boards on the other side of the room.

[00:32:02] But yeah, so then it's Rope Trap Magic Kingdom. Do like lanes again, probably Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Haunted Mansion thinking. And then again, a backup Mine Train potentially, if we don't get it on that first day. And then for lunch, I think we have a Grand Frutting Cafe booked as another option if we want to pop out of the park to grab lunch somewhere. And then dinner that night, again, a backup Yachtsman or Topolinos. And assuming we get to Yachtsman that first night, we'll probably end up at Topolinos that night.

[00:32:31] And then it is also extra magic hours for deluxe resorts that night at Epcot from 9 to 11. So depending on my daughter's temperament, maybe we head to Epcot and see if we can get on a ride or two or just walk around the countries or something at night. So a couple options there. What ride are you going to Rope Drop at Magic Kingdom? So Rope Drop would probably be Dumbo. Well, if we're doing Dumbo Lightning Lane, I don't know. Maybe Barnstormer again or figure out some ride to Rope Drop. I haven't figured out the Rope Drop strategy, I guess you'd call it yet.

[00:33:00] But yeah, well, maybe, I don't know. I have to think about that one. I don't have one picked yet. It's a good point. I need to figure that out. All right. Extra magic hours at Epcot. What is going to be your focus if you do take advantage of those extra magic hours? Because what I have found about extra magic hours at Epcot in particular is you get the sense of like, oh, there's not that much to do. I should be able to get a lot done. But in reality, I never get a lot done when I'm at Epcot for extra magic hours because of the distance between things.

[00:33:30] Right. Right. Yeah. If you're trying to get from Remy to test track, that could take at least half hour, 45 minutes and there goes most of her extra magic hours. Yeah. I think, you know, for Remy would be a priority. Again, I think if it's not too long of a line or test track, if she is at 40 inches. So it depends. Well, either, like you said, we'll either have to spend the time in the front of the park or the back of the park. She's not going to be able to get to both. But, you know, it'll be fun either way, whatever we decide to do there and get some dessert or something. Yeah. All right. So that brings us to Tuesday, March the 31st, which is your departure day.

[00:33:59] But also I'm learning a pen release day because I am not a pen collector. So what time are you leaving? Will you have time to grab a pen if this is your departure day? Yeah, unfortunately probably not now that I realize that. Yeah. We probably leave for the airport like 930, maybe do like Kona Cafe to go kind of thing for breakfast or quick serve for breakfast and kind of head to the airport. I think our flight's midday or so. So we try to fly over my daughter's nap time. So maybe she'll sleep on the plane. But yeah, so I probably won't get to pen day.

[00:34:27] It'll just be a, you know, finish packing up, grab some breakfast and sort of head to the airport. Okay. All right. So what time is your flight? You said midday? Yeah, probably 1230, one o'clock, somewhere in there. Okay. What time does that put you back in New Jersey? Four o'clock, 430, somewhere in there. Maybe a little bit. Probably a one o'clock flight, probably land around four or 430. At home, grab a pizza on the way home or something and call it a night. Yeah. Grab a good slice of pizza after being in a place where you can't get great pizza. Does not exist in Florida. No.

[00:34:58] It doesn't. It really, the only place I've had like halfway decent pizza, I would say is like Via Napoli. Yeah. That's where I, that's as best as you're going to get. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. I have a lot of information here about your trip. So I think we're good to go. But is there anything else that you didn't share that you wanted to about this trip, about decision making, about any special plans you have, anything like that? I don't think so. This trip, I guess, has to be a little different because it's during spring break.

[00:35:26] So we're going to see how this looks and how crazy or not it is and kind of just go with the flow a little bit more. Being annual pass holders and being DVC owners, it does allow us multiple trips a year. So it's not like, you know, this is our one and done kind of thing. We can change it up, go with the flow and not be as, you know, crazed to get on things as some others, thankfully. Yeah. I found that even having DVC and being an annual pass holder, which I think at this point, I've been an annual pass holder through the pandemic, I think.

[00:35:55] So ever since then, it's taken me a long time to get to a point where I didn't feel that sense of urgency of like, oh my God, like it took a while. I thought that maybe it would happen faster than that. But there's a transition period where you still have that scarcity mindset when you go where you're just like, oh my God, I got to get everything in and run around. And over the past couple of years, I finally have gotten to a place where I'm just like,

[00:36:23] yeah, I'll roll up and ride one thing and leave and relax a little bit more. But it did not happen as instantaneously as I thought it would. Yeah, no, it takes time for sure. I still, when I'm in the parks, I still tend to think like, all right, we got to get to everything, but we don't have to. Yeah. You have to force yourself. You're like, relax, come on. Yep, exactly. All right, Mike, it has been so much fun chatting through all of your plans. And I can't wait to talk to you when you get back and hear how all this went.

[00:36:50] And in particular, I'm really looking forward to hearing how you and Christina and Madison handle this food allergy for the first time, you know, for this big trip. So very much looking forward to that. And I will ask you if when you come back, if you have any special websites that you found particularly helpful for celiac, for food allergies in general, I would love to hear about those when you come back so that we can help others. No, that sounds great. Looking forward to sharing that.

[00:37:20] And thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. All right. I will talk to you again very soon. Sounds good. Take care. Thank you, Mike, for being a part of the podcast this week. Listeners, please don't forget to give him a follow on both Instagram and over at TikTok. The links are in the show notes. That is all for the pre-trip portion of your day. I hope you have some time set aside for the post-trip report as well. It's waiting for you now, so don't go too far.

[00:37:48] And as always, keep daydreaming about where you long to be.