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Episode 405: Welcome back to another exciting episode of the Traveling with the Mouse podcast. Today, we have an exhilarating lineup as we delve into our summer trip previews. Our first adventure takes us to the enchanting wilderness of Fort Wilderness, where our co-host, Jason, previews his memorial day weekend trip. We will hear more about that next week. Next, Jon is eagerly counting down the days until his visit to Orlando. With Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort on his itinerary, he will be staying at an Air bnb in the Windsor Hills area. I will also be returning in a few weeks with Jason back to Disney but this time we will be staying in a treehouse villa. Of course, we can’t forget the latest news from the ever-evolving world of Disney. In this episode, we’ll be discussing some exciting updates, including the upcoming VIPassholder days in June. This exclusive event is a fantastic opportunity for Annual Passholders to enjoy extra perks, unique experiences, and unforgettable moments within the parks. Star Cruiser is now sold out and the Pixar Place hotel concept art is interesting. So, fellow travel enthusiasts, join us on this episode of Traveling with the Mouse podcast as we embark on incredible journeys, discuss the latest news, and fuel our wanderlust. Whether you’re camping at Fort Wilderness, exploring the magical parks of Orlando, or eagerly awaiting your next adventure, this episode is sure to ignite your passion for travel and all things Disney.

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Welcome back, fellow travelers, to another exciting episode of Traveling with the Mouse podcast! Today, we have an episode packed with intriguing news from the magical world of Disney. In this edition, we explore the recent series of unexpected announcements that have sent shockwaves through the Disney community. Join us as we delve into the closure of the Star Cruiser, the cancellation of the Lake Nona project, and the mixed reviews for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Disney has decided to permanently close the Star Cruiser experience. While the closure itself may not be entirely surprising, what has caught everyone off guard is the decision to pull the plug by the end of September. The Star Cruiser, an ambitious and immersive Star Wars-themed hotel experience, was initially met with great enthusiasm and anticipation. Unfortunately, various factors have led to its demise, leaving fans disappointed. As we bid farewell to this unique venture, we reflect on the impact it has had on the Disney landscape and give our thoughts on what Disney should do with it in the future.

One of the notable decisions made during the Chapek era was the Lake Nona project which was going to move Imagineering to Florida. This week Bob Iger announced this project is now officially cancelled. The timing match up politically with what is going on in Florida but this project was most likely doomed the moment Chapek was fired.

With much anticipation, the last installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” has arrived. The Film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. The early reviews, however, present a mixed bag of opinions. Harrison Ford did receive a standing ovation at the premiere and it is also John Williams final film score. Do we think that these early critics are wrong and the film will deliver to the fans? We all know that critics are often not in line with audiences…we’re looking at you Last Jedi….

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Episode 396: Welcome back to Traveling with the Mouse, your one-stop-shop for all things Disney! On today’s episode, we’ve got an exciting lineup of topics to discuss, including the highly anticipated annual passholder preview of Tron Lightcycle Run and Jason’s upcoming trip to Disneyland Paris.

Let’s start with the big news, shall we? The annual passholder preview of Tron Lightcycle Run at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World has been generating a lot of buzz lately, and for good reason. The ride, which is set to open to the public in the coming weeks, promises to be an exhilarating experience unlike anything else in the park.

Now, let’s talk about Jason’s upcoming trip to Paris. Jason is visiting Paris this week and he is going to spend a day at Disneyland Paris. He purchased the premiere pass to skip the lines at the most popular attractions. Jason walks us through his plans for the day as he wants to get in as much as he can at both parks in one day. We can’t wait to hear all about it when he gets back.

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Episode: 395. In this episode, we’ll be discussing the most relaxing attractions at each park, and we’ll be inviting our listeners to share their opinions on what rides they think are the most calming. In particular, which attractions do you think are the most relaxing at Hollywood Studios? We found that to be the most difficult park to find a truly relaxing attraction. In other news, there’s been some drama surrounding the Florida governor and the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which oversees Disney’s land in Florida. We won’t go into too much detail here, but suffice it to say that there are some concerns about the governor’s influence over the district. On a happier note, the Flower and Garden Festival is in full swing, and guests are raving about the new topiaries featuring beloved Disney characters. And speaking of beloved characters, Mando and Grogu from The Mandalorian have finally made their way to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Hollywood Studios. Guests can now see the duo wandering around the land and posing for photos.

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Episode 383: It finally happened. Somebody wished upon a star and now Bob Iger is back as Disney’s CEO. We had already recorded an episode for this week but we recorded a new segment just to cover this major story. At first is was hard to believe it was actually true. We try to be realistic about this news and not get too excited even though we agree that this is good news for Disney fans. Also, in other news we did previously record a discussion on Festival of the holidays starting soon. Fantasmic is getting 2 shows per night through early 2023. Mando has interrupted the timeline at Batuu in Disneyland but we don’t care. Disney is acquiring a new partially built cruise ship to add to its fleet. Walt’s dreamers statue has arrived in Florida. We also do a mini review of Andor; the Star Wars series on Disney Plus.

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Episode 359: This week we are all traveling to Disney in different ways. We have a cruise, a land and sea cruise and we have Walt Disney World trips. Between the four of us we have a lot of Disney travel this month! Jon and I first discuss the first two episodes of the Obiwan series. This was the most watch premiere of a Disney Plus show ever. We discuss some other parks news and then we go into our trip previews. This is my first cruise so I have a lot to learn but the biggest hurdle right now seems to be getting cleared to get on this ship. Once I make it on the ship with Cape Canaveral behind us, then I’ll share that sentiment. Jon talks about his upcoming trip and how he used a crowd calendar as his guide for selecting which parks he reserved for each day of his trip. Look foward to trip reports in the coming weeks!

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Episode 358: Today we take a trip down memory lane and discuss our favorite things about Disney’s Polynesian Village resort. James joins us as we talk about the resort that where we have spent the most of our nights at Walt Disney World…especially during our childhood years. We do discuss some of the news as well like that today, May 27th is a big day. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind has officially opened to the public and the first two episode of the Obiwan series on Disney+ premiered. We all have Disney trips coming up over the next few weeks so there will be plenty of new content coming but for now we take a look back and we had a really fun time discussing our Disney roots. Most of them took place at the Polynesian resort.

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Episode 356: We have a full house in this episode as we have Jason and James join us this week! We discuss the latest news. Which includes Tron testing at full speed and Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic rewind is in passholder previews. Meanwhile the Disney CEO is touting the Q2 earnings for the company. He points to things like Genie Plus, Disney Plus and Galactic Starcruiser as the reasons for the increase in revenue. In order to help Bob out more, we pulled a list of every Disney movie made and we randomly selected some to come up with attraction ideas from the existing Disney IP database. We found some hidden gems that I think Bob would be proud to have made into new attractions or an overlay to existing attractions. It was a fun game for us to play.

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Episode 355: We mostly discuss the news this week. Most of the news in centered around Epcot. The previews have started for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. The World Celebration area of Epcot and for Moana: Journey of Water. The new Comunicore Hall is a very scaled back version of what was originally in the plans for a new festival center. The new trailer for Obiwan Kenobi series was released and it got me excited. Also, could Tarzan’s Treehouse turn into an Encanto attraction out in Disneyland?

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Episode 348: We are joined again this week by James as Jason is currently in Walt Disney World. We discuss the latest Disney news. The CEO has made a lot of headlines this week. We have updates on Tron and Guardians. Disney is adding more lightning lane capacity with meet & greets and the Festival of Fantasy parade. The first trailer for the Obi-wan series was released along with the first visual of Darth Vader. There is also a new record for the Every Ride Challenge that happened this week.

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Episode 347: Today we discuss our initial thoughts about the Galactic Starcruiser. There’s a lot to cover but the early reviews are generally positive. We discuss what we liked and disliked. Also, we try to answer the question, what would it take for us to book a star cruise. Jason is going to be in Walt Disney World next week so he also gives us a little preview of his trip. We also honor my Mom with a Give Kids The World fundraiser. Thanks to those that have already given. We have almost reached our goal already but why not go for more? If you would like to contribute, the link can be found here: https://give.gktw.org/fundraiser/3737394

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Episode 345: Jason is back this week and we talk about maximizing Genie Plus! With the Q1 earnings call happening this past week, we know for sure that Genie is here to stay. We give our thoughts on how to improve it and how to best use it for your next trip. We also discuss more about the Q1 earnings call and what more we can expect Disney and CEO to do as a result. We also talk about some Genie Plus news. Jon and I have finished watching Book of Boba Fett and we try to talk about our feelings on season 1 without spoiling the ending for Jason. Another big Star Wars story in the news was the release date for the Obiwan Kenobi series on Disney Plus. I talk about how excited I am about it until I see who all is involved with the production and then I start getting nervous. How do you feel about the Obiwan Series?

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Episode 343: Today we welcome James back to the show! James is Jon’s brother and although he has technically been on the show before, this is the first time we have properly had him on the show as a guest. James just returned from Walt Disney World after a week long trip! He and his family did a split stay and Caribbean Beach and the Polynesian. They rented DVC points for their stay at Polynesian and he talks about that process and why it works well for them. This was their first trip since the pandemic started so they experienced several firsts for them. They did try out Disney Genie on multiple days of their trip and he gives and honest opinion on it. They also experienced several different dinning experiences including a character meal. We also find out that James is the first one of us to actually go see the Hall of Presidents in this century and that his dream job would be to do maintenance work on the monorails.

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Episode 341: This week we talk about some news and we give some reviews of some of the recent things we’ve watched on Disney+…We also go through some park strategy from a listener’s email. We get started with some news…We don’t talk about Chapek, no, no, no. (but we kinda do, a lot) The CEO recently talked about the 3 pillars for success in the Walt Disney Company and we go through each one. We cover some of the other recent news and then move into our Disney Plus reviews of Encanto and Book of Boba Fett. We wrap the show by going through a listener’s email about park strategy in 2022. We weigh in with our thoughts on a 2 day strategy for fitting in all 4 parks.

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Episode 333: In this episode, Jon walks us through his most recent trip to Walt Disney World. With the 50th anniversary in full swing, he lets us know what the crowds were like and his thoughts on seeing the new nighttime spectaculars in person. He also enjoyed a meal at Steakhouse 71 and gives us all of the details! I personally can’t wait to eat here. Jon also finally made it on Rise of the Resistance. He gives us his review. Meanwhile, Jason is out this week because of a back injury but we plan to all be back next week to discuss the roll-out of Disney Genie. Jon and I wrap up this episode by discussing the attractions that will be pay only. Some are good and some are bad. It will be interesting to see what the lines will be like once this goes live next week.

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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.

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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.

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Episode 313: This week we have a lot of Disney news to cover…From Disneyland to Cruise line and Star Wars! We begin with the re-opening of Disneyland and talk about some of the things that have changed like having to shorten Rise of the Resistance, The secret entrance to Haunted Mansion and the new Snow White attraction. It’s good to see Disneyland open again. We move on to the Disney Cruise Line news and cover the new info on the Disney Wish and Jon talks about whether or not he want to book this ship for his next cruise. Next we discuss some of the updates at Walt Disney World like the upcoming removal of the temperature screenings and the return of some more character meals. Lastly, we cover the Star wars news of the week. The new lightsaber that everyone want but probably isn’t anywhere near ready to sell made its debut this week in a short video. The Star Wars cruiser looks to be delayed until next year but we got to see some new concept art. Is anyone going to book this as soon as it is available?

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Episode 292: After a week off we are back to discuss the latest Disney news & rumors and give a quick review of the Mandalorian Season 2. We also do a preview on Jon’s upcoming Walt Disney World trip! In the news this week we talk about a price increase for DVC fees that will take effect in 2021. The Grand Californian will re-open to DVC guests in early December. We got a first look at the new roller coaster trains for the Guardian’s of the Galaxy coaster at Epcot. The Muppets are back at Liberty square in the Magic Kingdom and we give a construction update on the various projects that are still ongoing at Walt Disney World. We discuss some start wars news before diving into our review of the first 2 episodes from season 2 of the Mandalorian. Finally, we preview Jon’s upcoming trip to Walt Disney World. He talks about his strategy and expectations about going to Walt Disney World during this pandemic.

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Episode: 284 The 2020 Christmas (party) at Disney World has been cancelled. We talk about all of the recently announced changes to the holidays at Walt Disney World this year. Which includes no Christmas parties, no candlelight processional, no gingerbread houses, and no lights on Cinderella Castle. People have gone crazy for the new Madame Leota sipper cup, Daisy Ridley spills the beans on Rey’s lineage in Star Wars, which also causes outrage. There’s a new documentary coming out called The Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Also, Jason got to see the new live action Mulan on Disney+. He gives us his review. Speaking of Disney+ reviews. We are starting a new segment where we watch something on Disney+ that has fallen through the cracks or is something older that some people may not have seen yet and we are going to give our review on it. We are coming up on the 1 year anniversary of Jason’s epic challenge completion and to celebrate on September 20th we will have a special review of that run on Twitter. Be sure to follow us if you aren’t already @twtmpodcast