Episode 265: The Electrical Water Pageant has been operating since 1971 and has been a favorite of ours for many years. This week Jon and I take a fond look back at this “water show” that takes place nightly (weather permitting) along the shores of the 7 seas lagoon and Bay Lake in the Magic Kingdom resort Area. The show has seen 3 significant revisions over the years but the current version of the show has remained mostly unchanged for the last 24 years. We take you through each version of the show and sample some of the music that makes this show so memorable. The Electrical Water Pageant holds a special place in our hearts as we grew up with it and we talk about how we even brought some of the magic of it home with us as kids. Let us know what you think of this show in the comments.
Here is a link to a video I made from a room at the Polynesian.
Episode 264: Today, Jon and I take a look at all of the future projects that were either underway or in development before the Covid19 pandemic. We discuss whether we think they will continue as is, change significantly, or will be outright cancelled. We give our best guess as to when these projects will be completed and if some of them we even get off the ground. As we all adjust to this new normal we need to prepare for some significant changes coming to at least a few of these projects. Thanksfully some of these project are very near completion and we will hopefully still be getting some new attractions at least for the next few years.
Episode: 263. Hey all you cool cats and kittens! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist). There’s no new episode this week but I thought it would be a good opportunity to dig into the show archives and put together some parts of older episodes that some may not have heard before. If you are like me, this isolation has made me appreciate the Disney parks even more! One way that I like to connect to the parks during this time away is to reflect on the sounds, smells, and of course the music that I love from the parks. I took 2 very old episodes (back when it was just me and Jon) and put them together where we discussed this very topic. If I closed my eyes while listening back to this I could almost feel like I was there. I hope this episode will help bring the parks a little closer to you during this time of social distancing. Stay safe everyone!
Episode: 263. Today is the exciting conclusion of our March Madness in April Walt Disney World attraction tournament! In our last episode we narrowed down the bracket to the elite eight attractions at each park. This week we pick up where we left off and narrow it down until we have one attraction left standing above them all. Which ride will it be? Be sure to let us know if you agree or disagree with our selection as the best.
Episode 262: We are back and what better way to celebrate April than with a little March madness! That’s right we used a complex algorithm to create head to head attraction match-ups at all 4 of the Walt Disney world Theme Parks. In this episode we narrow down the attraction match-ups to the elite eight at each theme park. We have some upsets and some obvious no brainier wins as well. We even have a possible Cinderella story brewing with one attraction. (see what I did there?) Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion! We also start off the show by discussing some Disney news and the Virtual Parkeology challenge taking place this weekend! If you are doing the challenge this weekend, good luck and we give some suggestions on some ride photos. I didn’t say that they are good suggestions but judge for yourself!
Episode:261 All of the Disney parks around the world are currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. So what are we doing? Well, we are social distancing and watching a lot of Disney+. We give you some recommendations of things to watch while you are isolating. We discuss what this could mean for the future projects at the Disney parks. I’m sure that everyone is sick of (pardon the pun) hearing about Covid-19 so we do break away from that and talk about creating a meal that includes and appetizer, entree, dessert and a specialty drink all from different food establishments and Walt Disney World. We pick different restaurants for each course. What would you pick for your Franken-Meal at Walt Disney World? Stay safe out there…and at a safe distance! See you next week.
Episode 260: We discuss Disney Moderate resorts! On our recent poll the Disney Moderate resorts won hands down. We begin the show with a news discussion. We Talk about Haunted Mansion’s continued problems, The opening of Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and we give our advice on how Disney can save money on construction projects during uncertain economic times. When then go into our main topic of the day, The Walt Disney World Moderate Resorts. We compare them by price, location, food & dining options, pools and amenities, and transportation. Which resort stands above the rest? It turns out the we all agreed on which 2 resorts stand out above the rest…Can you guess which ones? Tune in to find out!
Episode 259: Better late than never! This week we had a delay in our recording schedule because of our recent Disney trip but we have so much news to cover that this is a jumbo episode of Traveling with the Mouse! Disney has a new CEO and Walt Disney world has a very bad week full of ride issues. Spaceship Earth has an official refurbishment date and the Emperor is in fact a clone in Rise of Skywalker. Jason and I went to Disney World this weekend and Jason got to ride Rise of the Resistance for the first…and second time but it wasn’t without drama. We had some really good dining experiences and we survived the crowds and short park hours. This is a big episode…get ready!
Episode 258: On Today’s show Jason took an impromptu visit to Disneyland in California! He gives us a live trip report as he is experiencing Disneyland for the first time. Apologies in advance for the audio quality of this episode…We had to sacrifice some quality in order to bring in Jason live at Disneyland. We did discuss some news including the new Chewie mode for Smuggler’s Run that is breaking the Disney internet, Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride-through details and the New Disney Cruise-line Itineraries for 2021. Don’t worry, we will cover the big news that broke this week soon!
Episode 257: We discuss the recent price increases and cover the other news of the week. We then give our thoughts on the Ever Ride Challenge’s new Points Challenge! We start with the news of ticket price increases and I discuss how it happened right before renewing my annual pass 🙁 We then then continue with the somber news by discussing the ride performance of Rise of the Resistance over the past week. We try to cheer ourselves up by discussing some new details on Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and the new Makeover coming to Cinderella Castle. After the news we discuss the new Points challenge from the Every Ride Challenge.
Episode 256: We discuss the Disney news and we speculate on a point system for the Every Ride Challenge. We begin by discussing the Oscars where Toy Story 4 brought home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. (Thanks to my reverse Psychology) We also give some updates on stories we covered in previous episodes like Big Top Souvenirs has re-opened, as well as Muppet Vision 3D. A new Marque has been installed for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and it looks really cool at night! Fast passes are now available for Smuggler’s Run and Runaway Railway which has caused some crazy glitch in the system, We discuss that in detail. We wrap up the show by giving our thoughts on a possible points system coming the the Every Ride Challenge.
Episode 254: With the news of Smuggler’s Run adding fastpass soon we thought it would be a good time to do a refresher on the Disney World Fastpass plus system. A few things have changes since our last episode and we wanted to go over everything all in one episode. We do start by going over the most recent news as there were several stories that caught our attention this week. The parks in China are currently closed, Disney is now selling sporks in Galaxy’s Edge and Disney much more.
Episode 253: Jason recently returned from his first Disney Cruise! He walks us through his experience on a 3 night cruise with a stop at Castaway Cay. We get into a review of the food and entertainment on board the ship. He talks about his experience on Castaway Cay and how to have adult time on a cruise with Kids! He also book ended his cruise with some stops at Walt Disney World. He did a pre-cruise attempt at Rise of the Resistance with a tight window of time. After the cruise he went to Epcot to check out some of the new shows and to experience Festival of the Arts.
Episode 252: Today we just have a random Disney discussion. We discuss the latest Disney news and have some random things mixed in. For example, Jason has an idea for a Magic Kingdom challenge where you would ride every ride multiple times…but how many times do you think you could ride each ride in a single day? We also discuss some potential strategies to complete this challenge. We also talk about ride closures, construction updates, a roaming R2D2, Festival of the Arts, and Disney Oscar chances this year. Later this week Jason will be embarking on his first Disney cruise but he is also going to try and make it on Rise of the Resistance before his cruise. Will he make it in time? Stay tuned to find out!
Episode 251: We discuss some Disney news and we decide which rides we would marathon at each park. We narrow it down to one ride at each Walt Disney World Park that we would be willing to ride over and over again in a single day. If all goes to plan, we will actually go to the parks together and do this in the near future. Just for fun we also discuss the rides that would be the worst to Marathon at each park. In the news we talk about the latest discounts, Issues with Rise of the Resistance, upcoming ride refurbishments, and reduced bus services at the skyliner resorts.
Episode 250: I just returned from visiting Walt Disney World during Christmas week. It was certainly crowded but we were still able to ride all of the major rides with minimal waiting. I talk about how we navigated the parks during the busiest time of year and how we were able to ride Rise of the Resistance with a group of 10 people. I proved that even when the parks are busy that Fast Passes can still be acquired and used to your advantage. Also, since today is the start of a new year we take a look at what we are most looking forward to in 2020. Here’s to another great year of Traveling with the Mouse!
Episode 249: As 2019 draws to a close we take a look back at some of our favorite moments of the year. We took some clips from our favorite and most popular episodes of 2019. From our one ride short Parkeology run to Jason’s dramatic parkeology completion. We also picked out a few news stories and some trip report segments from episodes that were popular this year. We hope you enjoy this look back as we prepare for 2020! Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at Traveling with the Mouse….And go see Rise of Skywalker.
Episode 248: This episode is all about Star Wars! As we prepare for the release of Rise of Skywalker in theaters we take a look back at all of the Star wars films. We pick our best and worst moments, best and worst lines, and We each rank them in order. We also discuss some of the latest news surrounding Rise of the Resistance and how there are now backup boarding groups. During the episode we discover that I can do a pretty good Sebulba impression. Who Knew? We also rank our favorite light saber battles. There’s also a lightning round where we answer questions like what is our favorite light saber color? Rise of Skywalker is in theaters this Friday. When are you going to go see it?