In this week’s episode, Chris discusses the 5 lessons we learned from Spring Break at Disney and how we’ll change things on our next trip. Kelli gets into the science behind our favorite Disney smells and then ranks the top 10.
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All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
For more things DISNEY (and Disney food reviews), check out our website: https://scfadp.com
Show Notes:
Top 10 Disney Smells: “Scent-evoked nostalgia”
https://phdprincess.com/blog/disney-smells
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-scents/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/aromas-disney-magic-behind-smellitizers-marketingmindin/
https://dvcshop.com/the-scents-of-disney-resorts-and-attractions/
- Main Street
- Today’s Topic(s)
- A recent topic proposed on social media (aka DisTwitter), was effectively – are Disney fans too hard on the Park Experiences leaders for either not bringing on new experiences fast enough, or for making changes to beloved experiences, or not making certain changes to beloved experiences.
- It’s what they are discussing on Main Street, so let’s talk about it.
- I think, at least in part, there is some insight built into the question:
- Yes, the Disney rabble are not happy if we change existing rides, we are not happy that Universal is adding more right now than WDW, we aren’t happy when new stuff comes to a park other than the park we visit most, and we just aren’t happy in general.
- But we are also super quick to ignore the work that has been done:
- Galaxy’s Edge at WDW: August 29, 2019 (May 31, 2019 at DL) – not even 5 years old
- The auto-negative response – yeah but Smuggler’s run sucks!!
- Pandora – the World of Avatar: May 27, 2017 – not even 7 years old
- Tron in Shanghai, June 2016, construction started 19 months later in Orlando, and in just over 2 weeks it will hit it’s first anniversary.
- Tiana’s Bayou adventure has been the subject of MUCH consternation. Lord knows we didn’t see the level of backlash when Universe of Energy was replaced by Cosmic Rewind – I wonder why?
- Speaking of Cosmic Rewind – it’s a tremendously cool ride, hugely innovative, $500m to build, May 22, 2022 (not even 2 years old)
- Remy’s Rattatoulle Adventure opened Oct 1, 2021 (delayed in part due to Covid), it’s only been around 2.5 years
- Let’s talk about the HUGE SWING that Disney took with the Halcyon (Galactic Starcruiser) experience – at WDW. That was an ENORMOUS investment ($400 Million just to build the physical space), not to mention the time to create the storylines, hire and train actors, etc. (opened March 1 2022, and closed just a year and a half later in Sept 2023)
- They’ve completely rebuilt a HUGE portion of Future World at EPCOT and rebranded the entire park which more to come
- Which includes the Journey of Water – again new and innovative, but maybe not everyone’s cup of tea. Only 5 months old
- Frozen Ever After – June 21, 2016 – less than 8 years old.
- New experiences on Star Tours, with more coming. I haven’t had the same experience twice on that ride in years.
- Galaxy’s Edge at WDW: August 29, 2019 (May 31, 2019 at DL) – not even 5 years old
- Today’s Topic(s)
- Tomorrowland
- We learn things with every trip, and this time was no different. Some of these are things that maybe we knew, but have never implemented for ourselves until now.
- Purchasing Disney Gift Cards ahead of time is so worth it, especially if done so in a way that takes advantages of discounts (Target Red Card for example.
- I have half a mind to build $100 into the monthly budget to buy a gift card for whenever the next trip is.
- I’m also glad we made the switch to the Disney Visa card. The redemption points from that paid for lunch and dinner for 4 people at EPCOT (Sunshine Seasons, and Via Napoli).
- Don’t schedule shows or highly anticipated meals for the travel day.
- For the second time we’ve missed Drawn to Life that was scheduled for our travel day.
- We also missed reservations at Homecoming, and shopping at World of Disney / Disney Springs.
- As a result, we missed our chance to dine with Snow White or enjoy the DVC lounge at Bay Lake as our entire schedule was shaken up.
- Going forward, whatever we get to do on travel day will be seen as a bonus.
- Plan down day, no matter the length of stay.
- This trip was a couple of days shorter than our usual trip. We had 4 full days and without thinking about it too much, we just scheduled 4 days in the parks, and told ourselves the Animal Kingdom day would be short and we could use the evening to relax.
- But then Wednesday happened… 16.5 hours in Magic Kingdom (technically) was an absolute killer. EPCOT was super abbreviated as a result because we just needed some sleep.
- In the future, on we will prioritize down days even if it means we don’t get to all the parks. I’m not willing to have a day at EPCOT that is super limited, because I was overly tired.
- Done differently, I think we would have eliminated our day at either HS or AK, moved EPCOT to one of those days, knockled out MK the same way we did on this trip, and our last day would have been a down day – which opens the door to Disney Springs stuff we ultimately missed out on.
- Extended hours for the deluxe resorts is what Extra Magic Hours used to be and I can’t say it’s worth the expense of staying in the Deluxe Resorts, but it is a nice perk.
- I was skeptical. I remember being a kid and taking part in the extra magic hours, which meant literally staying on rides to re-ride them over and over. And I just couldn’t imagine a world that allowed that kind of things again.
- But between Lightening Lane stacking and the immensely reduced crowd – and franky the Tron ride pulling a lot of guests, we rode Seven Dwarfs, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion for a second time, Pirates for a second time, Dumbo, and Tron, all within the 2 hours allotted.
- And frankly, if this had been our first park day, and we were approaching it with more vigor, we could have also ridden Peter Pan (and if you know about the lines for Peter Pan, you know that’s really saying something), Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.
- A WONDERFUL way to end your day at EPCOT is to NOT fight the crowds for Skyliners, Busses, and Monorails. Instead, walk over to Boardwalk for a bit.
- The general store there is MUCH better than the average Resort store.
- They do a wonderful job of scheduling street performers to start their shows just as folks are leaving EPCOT.
- Between that and the people leaving EPCOT, the Boardwalk atmosphere is really lively and fun.
- We stopped into Abracadabar for the first time ever, which was lively, but not crowded, and had just a great time with fun drinks, meeting new friends, great service, and a delightful atmosphere.
- Then we used a short uber ride to our resort. Perfect way to end the evening.
Transcript: Coming Soon!
