Episode 331: Today we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World! Jason and I just return from our last pre-50th trip and we have a report on what we saw there last week. At the time of our recording we just finished watching the Disney Enchantment fireworks show that is replacing Happily Ever After. We give our unfiltered feedback of it. We also give our review of Harmonious which just debuted at Epcot. We like one of them much more than the other. We experience Ratatouille Adventure and we dined at Space 220. We give our reviews of those as well. I purchased some of the 50th anniversary merch and I talk about what that experience was like. We also hung out at Trader Sam’s for the first time this trip. And experienced our first evac off of a ride. All in all a lot of new things that we experienced this week at Walt Disney World! What are you most excited about?

Episode 330: Jason and I preview our trip this weekend to Walt Disney World! We discuss some of the latest news including the latest from Space 220, the 50th anniversary merch is here, and the new flavors at Club cool. The CEO of Disney made some more comments this week about guest yield and how much he loves the reservation system. Rise of the resistance is temporarily pausing the boarding groups but for how long? Jon and Jason both made trips to Six Flags over Georgia this month. We finally have everyone awake and ready to talk about their experience there. We of course can’t help but compare it to Disney and there’s some interesting findings that Jon and Jason report. Also, see if you can guess why there’s a breaking bad character in this episode’s featured image?

Episode:329 In today’s episode we talk a lot about food! Space 220’s menu is released and we take a look through it and talk about what catches our eye. Jason and I try to decide if the menu is enticing enough for us to try and get in the walk-up line for it. Yes, that’s right there’s no reservations for the first week, it is walk-up only. We also have a debate over how popular this restaurant will be. Space 220 comes with an out of this world price tag on the prix fixe menu. In other culinary news, some more buffet style restaurants are re-opening soon and we quickly rank the best sit-down restaurants at Magic Kingdom. In some non-culinary news Primeval Whirl looks like it will finally get demolished and Finding Nemo will get a new show next year. We only hope that the new show will be a little bit shorter than the last one. To wrap the show Jon and I do a brief recap of our trip to Disney 20 years ago. We were at Disney just 2 days after 9/11 in 2001. It was certainly a surreal experience.

Episode 328: Today we discuss the latest Disney news and we tease a trip report from Jason! I say tease because don’t actually get to it. Why? well, Jason fell asleep while doing the show. See if you can spot when it happens. Before all of that excitement, we start the show by mancrushing on Josh D’amaro. (hence, the title of the episode) We also discuss the new additions to the parks for the 50th anniversary. Ratatouille had a bit of a fender bender that caused some delay during the passholder previews. Lightning Lane signs continue to replace the old Fast pass+ signs. Expedition Everest will undergo its lengthiest refurbishment next year. We hope it is to fix the yeti but Jason places a wager that it won’t happen. Let’s hold him to it but only if he’s wrong. Creations gift shop is suppose to open in a few days at Epcot but will Club Cool?

Episode: 327. The hits just keep coming! This week we discuss the new and not at all confusing Disney World Annual Pass program. But first we discuss some of the other headlines of the week. Space 220 has an opening date of September 20th but we are still skeptical. The swan reserve is delayed yet again. Lightning lane “stickers” have been place on the old Fast Pass plus entrances at certain attractions. Living with the land was down for 2 weeks. The bright spot that we found in the news this week was that we are all looking forward to the Le Creperie de Paris opening. The menu sounds delicious! We wrap the show by going through the new naming convention for the annual pass program and what perks have been removed from the old program that will now be add-ons for an additional fee (Boo!).

Episode 325: Disney finally let the Genie out of the lamp this week but is he working for Aladdin or Jafar? We break down what we think of the new paid fastpass service. Can we find a silver lining? We have known that this was coming for quite a while and now that it is here, we break down what we know about it. We are quick to say that it could certainly have been far worse in terms of the type of money grab that most people think that it is. That being said, we aren’t that happy with fastpass being a paid service now. We go through what attractions will be included in the lightning lane only upcharge for each park. Rumors are that there will be 2 attractions at each park that will require the per ride fee. We also, look at each park and decide would we pay the $15 per person fee for the Disney Genie+ service. Our answers might surprise you. In other news, I go through the list of construction projects and what we think will be the current opening time for each. We wrap up the show with a rapid fire of other news stories from the week.

Episode 324: Today we recap the latest Disney news and Jason weighs in with his thoughts on the Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser announcements. We cover some other news like the first Boo Bash and what we think of it compared to the Halloween Party. Is it worth the hefty price tag? We also start talking about some of the recent job posting that Disney has been hiring for at Walt Disney World. Some of those include Monorail cast members and Skyliner cast members. That got us thinking, if we could have any cast member job at Disney…What would it be? We give some updates to the Scarlet Johannsen Disney legal battle and we reveal that we scored a passholder preview for Remy’s Ratatouille adventure at Epcot. We wrap up the show by hearing from Jason on if he think the Galactic Starcruiser is worth it.

Episode 323: Jon and I are holding down the fort while Jason is on vacation. We cover the flood of Disney Parks news that is coming out these days. We have major details on the Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser. We break down the sample itinerary and the pricing that was released. Spoiler alert, it aint cheap. DVC members and Passholders are getting a preview of Ratatouille before the October 1st opening (another spoiler, I got my preview booked). Disneyland announced their new passholder program which will be called the Magic Keys. We also discuss some of the news surrounding the Scarlett Johansson lawsuit against Disney. Could Chapek have avoided this? After, the news we do one of our attraction deep dives. This time we are talking about Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster! It recently celebrated its 22nd anniversary on July 29th. We go through the history of this attraction and give our thoughts on what we think the future will be.

Episode 322: I discuss my most recent trip to Walt Disney World to rekindle the magic. With all of the recent negative news about price hikes and money grabs I needed a good weekend at Walt Disney World to remind us why we love it so much. My weekend trip did just that! One of the often overlooked factors as to why Disney is so great is those special Cast Members that create magic for you. It may not happen every trip but in my experience there’s always at least one Cast Member that goes above and beyond to make a memorable experience for me. I tell about a few of those cast members that I came across this weekend. We do begin the Episode by discussing some of the news going on in the world of Disney. The big story of the week is the mask mandate returning for all guests indoors. This decision comes on the heels of the CDC guidance update in response to the delta variant. The Destination D23 event is already sold out but we preview some of the presentations and we can’t wait to hear from Josh D’amaro!

Eposide 321: Today is episode 321 and we are counting down to…something. We’ll figure that out as we go. We discuss the Disney news of the week and Jon talks about his latest trip to the Philadelphia area where he made some stops at Sesame Place and Hershey. In the Disney news, the Epcot monorail is back! The Hall of President’s is re-opening next month. The Polynesian is slowly re-opening but not everything is fully operational yet. Food and Wine Festival is going and Jason gives us his ranking of the Epcot Festivals while Jon considers renaming Epcot to Efcot. Jon then walks us through his trip to Pennsylvania. He gives a review of Sesame Place and breaks down what he liked and didn’t like about the park. He also walks us through the other stops he made on his trip including a stop in Amish country and Hershey PA. I’ll be at Walt Disney World this weekend to see if I can recapture some of the magic that the recent news has zapped out of us. I’ll report back next week!

Episode 310: We take a look back 50 years ago and discuss a few things at Walt Disney World that haven’t changed. (much) It was another slow news week, aside from the construction updates. We noticed updates to the Contemporary, Several things in Magic Kingdom are continuing to see a refresh, and Epcot has new things opening this summer. That’s right, club cool is returning as well as the new shop with a new name. Cast members can now show visible tattoos and wear visible jewelry and other accessories. Finally we get into our main topic…With the 50th anniversary looming we want to start peppering in some episodes dedicated to the occasion. We are starting by talking about a few things that were there over 50 years ago that are still around today. Some things have changed a little and others haven’t changed at all. Let us know if there’s anything you think we should talk about that we didn’t include on our list.

Episode 308: Today we finalize our 2021 March madness bracket and crown the champion of what believe is currently the best thing at Walt Disney World. Last week we started with 64 things in 8 different categories and we narrowed that down to 32. Today Jon joined us live from Walt Disney World from the business center of Art of Animation resort as we work to narrow down the top 32 all the way to the champion! Was Jon swayed by some of the things he experience on his trip this week? You be the judge! Oh, and look for his Orlando trip report next week. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our pick for this year’s champion as the best thing at Walt Disney World. I think we even surprised ourselves this year!

Episode 306: We interviewed our kids about what they love about Disney! Before we get to that we start by covering the big news of the week. The big story of the week is that Disneyland in California finally has a re-opening date! April 30, 2021 Disneyland will be open after an entire year of being closed. There will be some new things to see and do once the park re-opens. Snow White’s Enchanted Wish will debut and Disney is reporting that the Haunted Mansion has also gotten some upgrades. Meanwhile, over at Walt Disney World, Spaceship Earth is receiving some new nighttime lighting effects. Annual Passholders will be getting two (2) magnets in the mail this time. Alright, lets get to the main event…We interviewed our kids (and one best friend) for this episode, 6 in total! We start with the youngest and work our way up to the oldest. Our kids range in age from 2 years to 7 years old. We get a wide variety of responses and rabbit trails but we did manage to get some answers to a very pressing question…Are the Rafts a ride? You know how we feel about it but what do our kids think? We also asked the about the monorail, the skyliner and what their favorite rides are…All in all we had a great time laughing and enjoying what our kids had to say. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Episode: 305. After our week off we catch back up on the news. There’s actually some major stories to cover this week. Ratatouille has an opening date. Many weren’t expecting it but once you stop and think, the date that the chose does make sense…from a certain point of view. Disneyland finally has the green light to re-open with some major limitations. The new Moana themed rooms at the Polynesian look really nice and shiny! The question remains though, how much are they going to charge for these rooms? Epcot has some new entrance features including some new music. Be sure to tune in next week where we will have 6 special guests…Our Kids (and one best friend) will be joining us. You’ll get to hear straight from our kids what they love about Disney!

Episode 301: In this episode this we discuss the latest Disney news and give a construction update on the various construction project going on at Walt Disney World. Jason, points out that his favorite attraction, The Tom Sawyer Island Rafts. The Soul of Jazz exhibit is now open at Epcot and Annual Passholders will get a 30% discount on merch again for the next month. The park hours have been extended for the President’s Day holiday week. There has been a new record for the Points challenge this past week. Can someone beat the new record next week with the longer hours? We wrap the show by giving a collection of the different tips that we have learned over the past several months traveling to Walt Disney world during Covid-19.

Episode 298: This we are catching up after a week off with the Disney news and we preview a possible Disney trip for this week. We say possible because these days anything can happen to ruin the plans for a Disney Trip. Keep an eye on our social media channels to see if we made it to the parks! In the Disney news we talk about Disney’s response to the terrorist attack on the U.S. capital last week. Will Ratatouille open at Epcot this week? We give our thoughts on the Disney/Pixar film Soul. The Festival of the Arts is in full swing. There’s also some big changes to things like extra magic hours and the Disney magical express service. Lastly, Jason and I preview the trip the we hope to take to Walt Disney World over the next few days…

Episode: 286 Today we talk about the latest Disney news and we have our first Disney+ movie review! In the news, we discuss the re-opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, and the landlock situation that the resort finds itself in. Epcot is testing fireworks for Harmonious and there’s some mystery construction going on at the Italy Pavilion. Out in California, Josh D’aMaro is voicing his frustrations with the state of California about the lack of guidance on re-opening the Disneyland resort. Meanwhile at Walt Disney World, the Swan and Dolphin resort is about to layoff over a thousand workers because of struggling occupancy. At the Magic Kingdom, the Tron coaster construction is moving along nicely. Finally we wrap up the news by discussing the amazing new Beauty and the Beast attraction the just opened at Tokyo Disneyland resort. This ride look incredible and we are wanting to go to Tokyo right now. After the news we give our first Disney+ movie review. We hope to make this a regular segment as we have a pretty long watchlist of Disney movies to watch! This week we give our review for The Emperor’s New Groove!

Episode 282: Today we have a super sized episode for you! We start by discussing the latest Disney news. Josh D’amaro made headlines during an interview where he said that the recent technological advancements that have been implemented in the parks are “here to stay” many believed that to mean that the parks reservation system is not going away. We listen to that part of the interview and our interpretation is very different than the click bait headlines. We also discuss the NBA walkout, the guest that was arrested for assaulting a security cast member over the mask policy, and the potential for Disney to increase park capacity.

We move on to discussing what we think are the best attractions to be housed in a particular show building. For example, the building that is the current home for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin was also home to other attractions in the past. We decide which attraction, past or current is the best one for each location in the parks. We go through Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom has only had one that we could think of so we left it out.

Finally, we talk about the recent Every Ride, tag team challenge that was completed this week. The four masketeers completed the challenge and we dissect their run to see just how this unique challenge was done and how the rules work.

B66EA619-B4B7-417B-B72B-F64BC2DA5A6FEpisode 280: In today’s episode we get an update on how Jon is doing with Covid-19 and Jason went to Florida! We also cover the Disney news of the week. We talk about the latest project at Walt Disney World to get the Axe. We also discus lightning striking near Rise of the Resistance which caused the ride to be down for an entire day. Epcot has something new that reminds of the Epcot of old. Someone tried to drive down the stair in their car at Wilderness Lodge and the People Mover is going to be down for quite a while for a much needed refurbishment. We also talked about what DVC resort we would pick as our home resort if all of the sudden we could pick from any of them.

3ACC24F1-1C1F-4ABE-858D-C3E1FB9BDF4DEpisode:279. Today, we reveal that one of us has tested positive for Corona-virus. We also discuss the latest Disney News. The movie release of Mulan is coming to Disney+ for an additional fee. The Disney 3rd quarter earnings call happened this week and there’s some good and bad things that came out of it. Annual Passholders are continuing to see some extra love and attention these days with extended discounts and of course a new magnet! (one per household). The average wait times for 3 of the 4 Walt Disney world parks has gone up week by week since re-opening but one park has seen wait times go down. Could you guess which one? Splash mountain had a boat sink as well this week and had to close for a couple of days. Isn’t that the attraction to have a boat sink this year?