Off to Neverland:Disney World Edition

Neverland

Dan: Welcome back to another meeting of the Gold Key. Adventurers Society. My name is Dan Leonard,

Jeff: Hi, Dan.

Dan: and joining me this week in the studio is Heather Straight and Mr. Jeff Williams!

Jeff: Howdy!

Dan: Our show, as always, is brought to you by a Key to the World Travel. Key to the World Travel is full service travel agency specializing in theme parks, cruising, and destinations around the world.

Heather: the whole world.

Dan: Every last bit of it, head to www.keytotheworldtravel.com for more details and a no obligation quote on the vacation of a lifetime.

Jeff: I'd like to teach the world to sing.

Heather: In perfect harmony.

 Wow. I would like to give the world a Coke

Jeff: To keep it company.

Heather: Uhhuh. That's right.

Jeff: Anyhow. Dan, you were saying

Dan: Oh, that was

Heather: In.

Jeff: the field report is over

Dan: good. Are you sure? Anymore? Lyrics you wanna share

Heather: good. All good?

Dan: Usually on the show we spend a lot of time telling people what we like to do when we visit Theme Parks,

 But this week we're gonna get a little crazy. That's right. We are often ever land for this episode. And I was wondering, what are some things that you've never experienced at a Disney or Universal Theme Park that you would love to try someday or.

Flip side of that coin, what are some things that you've never done? Never will do. And why is that a big no for you

Heather: Okay.

Jeff: do it. Huh?

Heather: Not gonna do it wouldn't be prudent. That was my best George Bush impersonation.

Jeff: That was

Heather: Kiss. You wondering,

Dan: George Bush of Dana car.

Heather: Yes, exactly.

Jeff: fall into the have never done, will never do category cause I am blessed enough to have done most everything that I had on my bucket list.

Dan: I had a feeling that was gonna be the case, to be

Heather: I I thought I wasn't gonna be able to come up with any, but I ended up with a pretty good list, and I'm actually the opposite. There's not too many things that I'm gonna say I don't ever need to do, although there are a few things. But I do have a lot of things that I would really like to do, and I'll start that off with,

Let's hear it.

Dan: really wanna see universal. At Christmas time,

Heather: Okay.

Dan: Celebrations look pretty awesome.

I've never seen it.

Jeff: Have I, I don't know if I have now that you're saying this.

Heather: I.

Dan: at least one of you did last year because we talked about it on the show.

Heather: Yes,

Dan: I swear Jeff was with Heather

Heather: Yes

Jeff: No. Yeah, that's right. We did a V I P tour Thanksgiving. Yeah.

Heather: Yes.

Dan: Yeah. It just looks, Their take on the holiday celebration looks amazing. I wanna

Heather: Yeah. And now that they've really gotten a little more into it in the Harry Potter areas is great because for a while it was just lame and they really didn't decorate them.

Jeff: Yeah, I feel like that was one of those. Joe said no things again,

Heather: Aha.

Jeff: but they have U in the Harry Potter

Heather: do. There's a U Ball,

Dan: Yeah,

Jeff: If I show you my U log, will you show me your U Ball

Dan: what happened to the other one.

Jeff: accident?

Dan: So that's the first thing I want I've never done and would love to do. Looks cool.

Jeff: I

Heather: I,

Jeff: Go right ahead. No, you, I just wanted to steal yours,

Heather: Sangria University at this, you've done

Jeff: I know I have.

Heather: I have, I've been wanting to do that one for a while and I just never seem to be able to fit it into my trips. But it

Jeff: You definitely do wanna do that. It's really, it's really good.

Heather: It's a little off the beaten track if you're not staying at Coronado Springs.

Jeff: And it's hard to find like when they do it and all that, but it's at

Heather: only on the weekends

Jeff: bridges bar or cafe or whatever they call,

Heather: Bar and Grill.

Jeff: Yeah, Three Bridges, Bar and Grill at the DeSoto Caverns. No, what is it called?

Heather: back behind the Grand Destin

Jeff: The grand? Yes. There it is.

Dan: Yeah.

Heather: It looks really cool and Jeff keeps telling me how fun it was

Jeff: Yeah, it's really good. They teach you, they teach. Yeah. , I'm a recent graduate. They give you a little diploma from Sangre University. You get to choose your you do one sparkling, one red, one white, and then you choose your base and all these different things, and they teach you how to make them and muddle your fruit, make the whole thing, and then they bring out a house specialty one.

So you leave. Feeling pretty good. Cause you get, you've had four full size sangs that you had a hand in making three of, and it's nice. I tell you, it's like a lot of these kinds of drink things. I've done a tequila one that was similar. They teach you all about the culture and where it comes from and all that.

And then you get to make it, and then you get to drink it. It's,

Dan: Yeah,

Jeff: I highly recommend

Dan: looks fun. I don't wanna jump on you. I know I already went, Jeff, but I have one that's similar, so I wanna put it in here right now. At Strongwater Tavern, at

 At the Universal's.

Heather: Chef Fire falls.

Dan: Sapphire Falls Hotel. Thank you, Heather. At Sapphire Falls the bar there, Strongwater Tavern, they have a rum tasting journey that I would like to

Heather: we have experienced it and it's pretty great.

Jeff: Yeah, you leave there pretty turnt. We were not able to do it at the rum captain's table there, but they did it for us over I would like to

at a seating area.

Heather: And I will say I learned that naval rums are not for me.

Jeff: Oh my word. It's just like gasoline,

Dan: Yeah.

Heather: It's

Jeff: grade room. That's what they swab the

Heather: it's swallowing fire. It's

Dan: Yeah. I

Heather: But it was interesting to, to, I never really thought there was all that much difference in rum. And it turns out there, there is. And we got to try this weird rum. What was that called? Milk something. It sounded.

Jeff: Yeah.

Heather: It was some drink that, I can't remember what it was,

Dan: milk punch.

Heather: something like, Yeah. Milk punch. And it on a, When they, when I read that on the menu, I thought that it sounded really gross. But it really doesn't have much to do with milk. It has lactic acid, right?

Dan: Yeah. The milk is treated without, It's clarified somehow.

Yeah, they take out all the stuff that makes

Jeff: Makes milk. Milk.

Heather: Yeah. Because the drink was clear, which I thought was odd,

Jeff: Yeah. I think they remove the lactic acid, which is what gives cream and milk. Its white creaminess. Weird, but really

One thing I have never done, and I don't know now if you can do it. I've never rented any of those little boats, so I think now you can maybe still do the pontoon boats and go tooling around on Bay Lake, but they seem to have done away with the little water mice.

Heather: I, I wonder if that's permanent or if it's just a it's a, one of those things that's taking too long.

Jeff: I hope that comes back. I always wanted to do one, and by the time I had any money to afford to do it, white and I were too big to ride in one, and he was too little to drive one on his own, and then we just never got around to it and,

Heather: those are some of those. Great extras that can it's just fun stuff to do outside of the parks, but still makes a cool,

Jeff: like they always had that. They haven't had that in forever.

Heather: I would love to do the para sale. They, the parasailing did go away before

Jeff: Yeah.

Heather: covid, so I have a feeling it's probably not

Jeff: But I always saw people out there doing

Dan: that left,

Heather: Yeah, but the little, those little water mice, and actually they used, they were called water mice way back in the day, and then they were sea racers. It's so fun, and actually you only had to be the minimum age to drive one by yourself was 11 years

 We did this when Owen was 11. And I gotta say, it was a little terrifying for me at first because I thought, Oh, he's 11.

He's never driven a thing. He's scared of go-karts. He's gonna be chill with this, right? Oh no. It turns out on the water. He was a little daredevil and he was like, it purposely hitting people's wakes so that he would jump over it. It was freaking me

Jeff: Oh, nice.

Heather: But he, we had a ton of fun. We did it a few times together and it was really, hope they bring that back because they still have all of the the slips for them at those resorts around Bay Lake and

Jeff: Do you remember back in the olden times before they put in three bridges, they had 'em out in in front of Corona or in the little lake at Corona. That's a very small lake to be tooled around in one of.

Heather: is too small. There's plenty of space in Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon though, so that needs to come back.

Dan: I really hope it does. That was on my list also. I've never gotten to do those, Always have wanted to since I was a little kid.

 And on the Disney Channel, they would always have these specials of like cool things to do at Disney that were really just half hour commercials, but they seemed more like a show.

And those things were always one of the highlights that they would really hit hard. It was, Oh, look at these cool tiny little boats that you can

Jeff: Yeah, they look so fun.

Heather: And I.

Dan: of mine forever.

Heather: weren't cheap, but I would also say they weren't really that expensive. They were a lot. There's bucks for a half hour or something

Jeff: Yeah, for some reason, like I used to be such a park warrior and I never was like time for these kind of extra things, but the one I always wanted to do too was that racing school they used to have, That's

Heather: way that's now a parking lot.

Jeff: that was an extra parking lot. But all that stuff seems to have gone by the wayside and that was the fun.

Of an extended Disney vacation was having these non-par days where they'd still get your money, but you could go do extra fun stuff like that.

Heather: And honestly, that also is something that can take up some of the crowds from being into park If you've got other things that you can do around your resort that are worthwhile and a ton of fun.

Dan: And when they originally opened, the Walt Disney World was the vacation kingdom and they really hit hard. All of those other activities.

Heather: those extras

Dan: deal. I've got a couple more of those on my list, so I'll just throw 'em out here. Now the campground has a bunch of activities. I wanna go shoot bows and arrows at the campground.

I wanna ride horses at the

Heather: Yeah. I had horseback riding on my list, horseback riding at the fort. Both of my kids have done it and I have not.

Dan: if they still do it, I wanna do that segue tour out at

Heather: Oh yes.

Jeff: They had that at Epco hours. Wanted to do that. I never had, and now that.

Dan: Another one of those activities that not a lot of people know about, and I think you can do this included in your magical extras that come with if you book a hotel package So they give you either a free or a discount on a round of golf. You can also do foot golf golf.

at the golf course.

So they have holes that are big enough for a soccer ball, and you kick a soccer ball around the golf course.

Jeff: I noticed that when we were driving by there from our storage unit the other day, we were driving by the, whichever golf course is right across from the Grand Floridian. And it was like foot path, what? The golf.

Heather: Yeah,

Dan: like a ton of fun. I want to do that.

Heather: we do. We do the mini golfing a lot.

Jeff: I've never done that. That was on my list.

Heather: And I like the winter, summer land course. It's cute and a ton of fun.

Jeff: I would do that like in January or something, but every time I think of it or it comes up, it's 155 degrees and I don't wanna do

Heather: as a tradition for us on our Christmas trip,

 As hot. We have done it in the summer and I don't like it as much because it's way too hot.

Jeff: It's so hot. I did it down at the beach recently, like what am I doing out here? It's just hot. Panama City is very hot in the summertime. I wanna do the characters in Flight Balloon at Dizzy Springs and no one will ever go with me cuz it's hot Air balloon and

I feel personally attacked there.

Heather: Yeah. It might be a little

Jeff: You always hit me up with that when I'm like in the air conditioning, I'm comfy and I'm at Hangar Bar

Heather: That's fair.

Dan: It's tethered. I think I'd give that a.

Jeff: It. We got in line for it. One time we had reservations and we were waiting a long time. Do you remember this? And then we

Heather: I do. We bailed because it was hot. We were standing in the sun.

Jeff: I actually had a group on for it that Yep. And you had your 360 camera and it was gonna be great photos, but it was too hot for how long we were waiting,

it got unfun really quickly.

Heather: Similarly, I wanna do the Amfi cars, but I think I always bring that up when we're You're happy to be drinking in Hangar bark

Jeff: I think it's probably still illegal to drink and drive even on water. No, you just

Heather: you don't get to try 'em. It's a, Yeah. Actually they're very expensive.

Jeff: Let me tell you, when you have offered this to me is again, when it's hot as balls

Heather: Too hot.

Jeff: and who wants to sit out there and baking the sun on a floating car?

Heather: I need to find a, the one cool day of the year

Jeff: You gotta hit me at a sunset or something.

Heather: Yeah, that's a good idea. It is very expensive. I think it's 125

Jeff: Yeah, it's $130 for 15 minutes or something. Yeah.

Heather: but they're cool.

Dan: Yeah, those cars are incredibly rare. They're incredibly difficult to keep running apparently. So

Heather: Okay. That's why it's so expensive.

Dan: they're real vintage cars. They're

Jeff: They're really cool. It looks fun.

Heather: It does look fun.

Jeff: Yeah. Characters in flight is definitely one. Both of those are ones I would like to try. Here's a shocking thing. I have never stayed at Portofino Bay Resort at the Universal Studios.

 I've stayed at.

Dan: like to, or would you

Jeff: No, I would definitely like to, Yeah, it's looks not exactly my speed, but now that I've stayed at the others, they do a great job with their deluxe resorts and I'm sure

Heather: They do. It's a beautiful resort,

Jeff: I also have not tried the two newest value resorts and I definitely would try that. I'd take my family there.

Heather: endless summer.

Jeff: Yeah, both of those look equally the same.

Dan: One slightly more pastel than the other. I think Kendra stated one and she, she loved it. She liked it a lot. So

Jeff: Yeah, it looks fun. I love Cabana Bay. I know someone else on this podcast does not care for it, but I actually, I really like it.

Heather: Who's that? I like Cabana

Jeff: No, you do not.

Heather: I do. I

Jeff: we'll stay there next time we go.

Dan: I liked it just fine. Other than the fact that we were down at the very far end of a hallway that was, that wing must have been under construction or something that was not very

Jeff: My ideal. So Cabana Bay, I have stayed at. But I would like to go stay in one of those Tower view, Tower ones that looks over Volcano Bay. And I have never been to Volcano Bay. And that's what I want is the view of the thing. And then you can come out of those, that tower and walk, right? Basically just down and across the little pathway there, right into the water park.

I have toured Volcano Bay. It looks awesome. I have never been. I want to go there and get a Cabana one time and chill.

Dan: I'm a dummy. I was thinking of the Skyline rooms at a Ventura, not the Volcano Bay rooms Oh yeah. I've never been in a Ventura, but I have toured it enough to know that I don't wanna stay there. That was in my don't want to skyline or what.

The skyline room there was nice for

Jeff: that bar up top where you slept that night.

Dan: I never made it up to the bar there. I went and slept in the room for that. I paid for. I

Jeff: Dan had a very later, very early flight and was planning on not having a room and just, What were you gonna do? You were gonna just sleep in the bar or something. There was something weird you were gonna do.

Dan: room. I had the room, but then I was like it's of stupid for me to try to sleep for two hours, and then I

Jeff: Oh yeah.

Dan: for two hours because the pickup is the superstar shuttle pickup is ridiculously early

Jeff: Hey, there's a never done, never will.

Heather: Same

Dan: well.

Heather: I have never seen any of the concerts at Universal and would love to. These are the ones that they have down in City Walk or in the park at studios or in the lobby at the Hard Rock.

Jeff: I've seen part of one and all of another. I saw a psychedelic first play in the lobby of the Hard Rock, and that is so cool how they do, they transform that whole thing in about three hours into they call it the Velvet Lounge or the velvet something. They extend the look of the velvet bar there.

They just have a full on, huge band set up. The next morning, you'd never know that it ever happened. It's amazing what they do, but I always think it's funny when like grandma, grandpa are checking in and the psychedelic furs are playing literally like 30 feet from where you check in. But for anybody that's never been there, the main part of the lobby.

Seating area is sunken down, so they put little fencing around that looks like like those fake hedge vines. So you can't get past without buying a ticket, but it's a very intimate setting. There's probably maybe 200 people they allow into that space, standing room only, and have pretty major bands play in there.

Usually a lot of like eighties new wave retro kind of things. The Go-Go's have played there and. Sammy Hagar, of course, he'll play a Kmart opening. He doesn't care. But yeah, those are fun.

Heather: I've also never ridden on one of the Mardi Gras floats, which is a thing that you can do at Universal.

Jeff: Yeah. How does one do that? I know we were offered that one time and then the timing didn't work out. That was for a group of our travel agents.

Dan: You show up and you find there's an area that they have people with a clipboard and you get your name on

Jeff: And so when women show you their naked breasts, you throw beads at them.

Heather: Yes, that's exactly how it works in the family park.

Dan: upon at the Theme part. But yeah,

Heather: I think. Yeah.

Jeff: you're talking about it universal. Okay. I thought you meant down in New Orleans.

Dan: I can't remember exactly. I think I've read that they hang out around where the back to the future locomotive is in that area is where they have the people signing up to, to get on the floats. And then you are just told be back at a certain place at a certain time and you get on a float,

Heather: It's cool. I'd like to do it. And you get to throw beads, but no one has to flash you in order for you to throw the beads.

Jeff: Oh, okay. I'll just throw beads out willy-nilly then I guess I have never been to the live band karaoke bar they have there at the

Heather: Rising Star karaoke.

Jeff: I think that sounds like a ton of fun. I don't necessarily like to perform karaoke, but I do like to see others do it.

Dan: Yeah, I've never been there. It does sound like.

Jeff: Most of the, I've never been in most of the like nightlife stuff there at City Walk.

I've been in a lot of the restaurants, but all the other stuff, when I was there, I had a kid or I was exhausted, or I'm in a hotel bar and don't walk all the way over to City Walk. So I haven't actually done a lot of the, there's a lot of stuff there that City Walk covers. I did the dueling piano bar at the, What's the New Orleans?

Restaurant, the Pat O'Brien's. That was fun. That was very short. We had a dinner and then went in there briefly after. That's about it for the nightlife there.

Dan: Must be the exception that proves the rule on our anti piano bar science, Then

Heather: Yeah,

Jeff: I wasn't until I was with my wife. That's why and it was short lived. Oh, and it's free here. It was when I went in.

Dan: You your cover is included in your stay as a

Heather: Hotel guest.

Jeff: Oh, there it is.

Heather: That is not the case at that piano

Jeff: Jelly

Heather: Jelly rolls. It's very expensive.

Jeff: mind the idea of going into one, but I'm usually with people when I'm traveling like that, like groups of friends that I want to talk and it just sounds so loud and crazy in there. And then they, when they were like $25 cover charge Get outta

Dan: And that's crazy. Like especially when it's like I'm paying through the nose

Jeff: gonna buy $300 worth of drinks.

Dan: and then I'm expected to throw a tip at the piano guy to get him to play a song

Jeff: Yeah.

Dan: like pick one or two other.

Heather: Correct.

Jeff: Not to get too far down piano alley here, but if if anybody likes that kind of thing, a much easier get is they do a piano brunch at the boathouse

Dan: Ooh,

Jeff: at Disney Springs, and it's great.

Heather: it is great

Jeff: It's real casual. It's not super loud. They just play everything and you don't have to pay

Heather: and their food is

Jeff: have a really wonderful brunch.

And then on Sundays they have the piano guys, and I think it might be the guys from Jelly Roles.

Heather: I had one last thing on my list that I don't even think is a thing. I want it to be a thing, so I'm gonna throw it out there. And that's taking a tour of the Flavor Lab. I would like them to make this a tour and I will pay for it. Good money. 20 American dollars. Okay. Probably more than that,

Jeff: They had, didn't they have for a while, a thing where it was like backstage in restaurants where you could see

 That? I wish that was a thing

Heather: There was a thing at the Animal Kingdom Lodge that you got to see the restaurant at Chico and get some tastes of things.

Jeff: did that

Dan: had two different ones. They had a food where they gave you like a lesson about the Food of Africa, and then they also had a wine experience with that too. And I think one of those was,

Jeff: Yeah, I did the free thing. They show you around the theming and the inside of MoMA and Chico and then you taste some little things there. That was pretty good. There's, I love that kind of free. And a lot of the, at least the deluxe resorts had tours that they would show you about the theming of everything I, if they do.

Dan: Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. The wilderness lodge, they would do they have a tour or had a tour that would show you the decoration around the theming around. Lobby and a lot of the artwork and carvings. I had a couple of tours on my list of things that I would like to do, really just about any tour that they offer at Disney

Heather: Yeah,

Dan: I would love to do, but especially that Africa,

Heather: Wild Africa Trek

Dan: Wild Africa

Heather: really cool. I highly recommend.

Jeff: man. I wish I'd thought of those. Yeah,

Heather: it is amazing and it's worth the price and the access is so cool.

Dan: Yeah. Also Disneyland has, I don't know the exact name of it, but there's like a Walt's Footsteps

Heather: Walking

Jeff: in Walt's footsteps.

Dan: Yeah, that one that one looks pretty awesome. I think, does that one go in the apartment?

Heather: It's hit or miss. There have been times when, Yes, it did. And then there have been other times where it didn't, and there was a while that they took you into the Dream Suite. I think I recently read that there is a tour back that you do get to go into the apartment that, that's back on the menu.

Dan: Whatever tour that is, is the tour that I want to go on. And also any tour at Walt Disney World that will get me into the utility doors

 Is something that I'd be very interested in doing.

Heather: keys to the kingdom. That's the one you want. With that one. You have to be 16.

Jeff: That's a really good one.

Heather: Yep. Or actually coming up on when my youngest is old enough to do that,

Jeff: Hey, I would do that again. So if we're ever there on a work thing, we, now that Dan can travel with us,

Heather: Oh yeah, that's true.

Jeff: we can we can go do

Heather: happen. I'd love to do that. Backstage magic when you did that, I think has been gone for a while, but even pre covid.

Jeff: was. That was part of like the testing of A B, D before they had a b, D.

Heather: Could be, yeah.

Jeff: I think that's what that was. That was their test module for what is what they're doing at Disneyland now.

Dan: And then I had a few things. I just have a couple of things on my list that I've never done that I'd never feel the need to

Heather: I got quite a few

Dan: Oh, okay. Then we can go through those around Robin again, and I'll start it off with I have never stayed in an all star resort and at this point

Heather: That is number one on my list. Yes.

Jeff: We both look me too. Look, it's literally like number one.

Dan: and I don't feel the need to ever do it. If I have to stay at a value, there's two perfectly good options, but.

Jeff: I've stayed at a lot of pop century and a lot of art of animation.

Dan: yeah I'll stay at pop century all day long or I'll fork over. It's not that much more expensive to go to maybe a riverside or something as compared to art of animation. Similar vein. The second one on my list was I have never camped at Fort Wilderness. I have stayed in a cabin there. But I have never camped and I have no desire to do yeah, that's

to do that.

Heather: I knew you would Dan.

Jeff: you would.

Dan: to me that's a thing that you can do. And I like to camp, so it sounds like fun

Jeff: you want a tint camp or,

Dan: Oh yeah.

Heather: Oh God, no.

Dan: great.

Heather: In Florida, Dan, it's Florida.

Jeff: go and just sweat all day and then come lay down on the ground in the hot.

Dan: Yeah,

Heather: Oh, thank

Dan: It's.

Jeff: This sounds horrible.

Dan: Yeah, but you're talking to a person who, like

Heather: likes to do that. Yeah.

Dan: carried 50 pounds through the mountains of New Mexico for a week and a half.

Heather: Why did you do that? Jan

Jeff: wait, what was 50 pounds? You smuggling drugs.

Dan: no, I had a tent and I, clothes and backpack and food to share with the group and cooking gear.

Heather: look, I have done that. I have done the backpacking tent camping thing where you carried everything on your back. Your we, this was a long time ago, and I'm, I've outgrown it, but I've done it on

Jeff: I'm more of an indoor

Heather: up and down the sand dunes with ev 50 pounds on your back.

Jeff: Now I would do a cabin out there or one of the The cabins are

An RV or something cuz there's a lot of fun like wholesome crap to do out there at

Heather: Yes. Wholesome crap.

Jeff: yeah. The only thing I've done out there is Hooptie D review.

Heather: I love hoop. Di do.

Dan: yeah,

Heather: would like to

Jeff: The on my list of we never do was ridden a horse at Fort Wilderness. The next one below that was done anything at Fort Wilderness It's not my

Heather: I know about the archery thing. Actually, Dan, I'll go with you If

Jeff: She's a shark. Don't

Heather: I That's right. I'm pretty good at it.

Dan: Yeah, that'd be fun.

Jeff: One of my things on my have never done and will never do is mission space.

Heather: Oh,

Dan: Oh, I like mission

Heather: I do

Jeff: I know a lot of people do. There's two things that are on my no can do, claustrophobia and

Heather: It's spinning you.

Jeff: the two of those,

Heather: just makes it never gonna

charmer. I have a series of rides on my never done will, never do, and it's all those water rides at Universal duly do, right Popeyes build barges. No thank you. I will

Jeff: You just have to be prepared. You can't just do that and then expect to spend the rest of your day there. You need to do what W and I have done is to hit those rides boom, do Jurassic Dudley and Popeye, and then am spray out of there and just go to the hotel pool.

Heather: I put on a poncho to ride the Jurassic Park River Ride. Yes, cuz you're wearing normal street clothes and then you're ready to walk the rest of the day in the park of you to go there knowing you're

walk around

Jeff: and then

Heather: in a bathing suit.

Jeff: No, I just get wet and then change or get wet and then leave. I did that at what's the one in California

Heather: Grizzly River

Jeff: the greatest.

If you're staying at that hotel, you can go right in the

Heather: you can stay at Grand California and then you don't have to trek all the way to the front of a park and get on a boat and go to your hotel.

Jeff: cha.

Heather: Yes. Grizzly river Run, I can I could handle that

Jeff: I've never done Cali River Rapids for that reason,

Heather: same the one time my family convinced me to do it, I, of course, was in the position that got dunked under the damn waterfall, not doing it ever

Jeff: It's so weird. You can come outta there fully dry or fully wet. Not a lot of in between, but with Popeye's bilge barges, you are coming out wet. Nobody,

Heather: I know. Ugh,

Dan: universal water rides, all three of 'em, they like specifically designed them to, because Jurassic Park's not that much different from from Splash Mountain. Would you

Heather: It's a little more intense,

Dan: You get orders of magnitude more wet off of that

Jeff: You like it that much,

Heather: that is why I will never do them. Also have never done Dr. Doom's free fall. And I mean I've done the power tower at Cedar Point and, but I don't, I think, Nah, especially after that kid fell out of the one recently in Orlando, I just, Universal of course is much more strenuous on the safety

Jeff: duct tape on their rides.

Heather: But I don't know. No thanks.

Jeff: that one doesn't interest me. We had a similar thing called the space shot at the Space in Rocket Center in Huntsville, and I wrote that a couple of times and Nah, it's just the following thing. No,

Heather: Yeah. I like the tower of chair. Yeah.

Jeff: or some guardians of the galaxy.

Heather: Yes.

Dan: it's a little different. My one ride that I have on the list that I'll, I've never done and never feel the need to do is fast and the furious.

Heather: Oh, good. No,

Jeff: gotta do it.

Dan: I'll just take, I'll just take a pass on

Heather: It is dumb. So dumb, but it is the only ride at Universal or really any Theme Park that has hookers. So

Dan: That's true.

Jeff: What about Jim Fallon? Have you ridden that?

Dan: Oh yeah. I like it. It's fine. It's.

Jeff: yeah. No, I like it too, but I like Fast and Furious too. I liked it when it was called King Kong.

Dan: you, and it actually had a unique and interesting ride vehicle Yeah. Not a city bus.

Heather: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah.

Heather: Hey, what about the crazy gondolas on the Ferris wheel out at Disneyland? Would you do that?

Dan: Oh, 100% yes,

Heather: Now I know who I have to take with me because no one will go on that with me. I convinced my family one time and I think Owen refused to speak to me for at least a day.

Jeff: I went on the non-moving ones and didn't care for.

Heather: Yeah, he was not

Jeff: I don't know what it, I don't get the appeal of a Ferris wheel. You're in a, especially that kind, Cause it's a closed in box, so you're just like in an animal kennel and you stop and they load and you stop and they load and you go up and they, And what is the fun of this?

Just in a cage?

Dan: I like the closed in box better than one of the wide open ones, especially the wide open ones that are like the two side by side

Heather: Oh yeah. You're rocking back and forth. Those are.

Dan: interested in that kind of Ferris wheel we have at, we have this hokey, tiny little amusement park near where Heather and I live that's deemed to Oldtimey Dutch Village.

Heather: Yes.

Dan: It's a wooden shoe factory. They have one of

Jeff: is it a shoe that goes around that you sit in?

Dan: it's just one of those, like straight off of the carnival

Jeff: missed opportunity.

Heather: together by Carney's. No thank you.

Dan: it sits right next to the highway.

Jeff: Did they raise it like a barn?

Dan: Yeah. And just not interested in that. I wrote it once with the one of my children

Jeff: Yeah, I don't dig on a Ferris wheel.

Dan: I like the bigger closing ones though.

Jeff: I would do The one in London or the eye in Orlando or any of that. I would do any of the big

Heather: The London eye, you could get in a bar car and yes.

Jeff: That's where I was going. I've never been to any of that. I drive live or any of those things there in Orlando. I don't ever feel the need to.

Dan: I have never. Tried the new menu at Be Guest, and this is my backdoor way into saying that I never need to eat a Be

Heather: Ugh.

Jeff: Did you ever eat there? Besides the time we all ate there together? Yeah. Me neither.

Dan: we the two, we all

Heather: Oh, Wyatt was just a tiny little guy.

Jeff: My why it was younger then than your why it is now

Heather: Yes. Oh,

Dan: That's crazy.

Heather: just made me feel real old.

Jeff: Yeah.

Dan: me too. My

Heather: Oof.

Dan: was all of six.

Heather: Six months old.

Dan: months old at the time, and that was when they had just opened and I haven't been back since.

Jeff: I did a breakfast one time, Heather and I had to. It's like a quick serve order at the counter style breakfast thing. That was the only other time I went there, and that was decidedly mediocre.

Heather: was decidedly medium. Now. If they did lunch the way they used to, where it was.

That was okay. Yeah, I had lunch there.

Dan: I would do

Jeff: I never did the lunch.

Dan: but I don't ever need to have dinner there.

Heather: Nope, that's not on my list. Act all. That's all. That was all of my things that I've never done and do not need to do.

Dan: Like I said, there's not much that I'm, not, that I won't do at the Theme parks, but there's a few things.

Jeff: I had thought I was . I thought I hadn't stayed at most of the moderates, but then I just realized I have stayed at both of the Riversides,

Heather: You

Jeff: now I have not stayed at is Caribbean Beach.

that one

Dan: And will you?

Jeff: I'd stay there. Sure.

Heather: Sure. They're getting a little, they're getting a refurb too. So the rooms are gonna be

Dan: Oh yeah,

Jeff: I'm not like dying to when Riviera is right next door for my money. I'd rather, or for Heather's money, I'd rather just go next door.

Heather: And he knows that's where I'm gonna book anyway. I thought French Quarter was cute and I really liked it. I liked their lobby bar and the food court had some good selections and all that. I finally stayed there and it was for one night before an

The wish.

Jeff: that we went to for the wish, and I thought it was real cute.

Dan: Yeah, they're both. They're

Heather: I think they're perfectly fine. I would certainly stay there over a REU in Mexico, I can tell you that. I've never stayed there. Never

Yeah, it's not good. It's not good. It's marketed as being much better than a moderate at Disney and it is not.

Jeff: That is a story for another

Heather: no, I'm just saying. Yes. Yeah.

Jeff: We're better

Heather: I digress. But

Dan: That might be they should give that a shot.

Jeff: That's a funny tagline.

Dan: Yeah,

Jeff: try the reu. Cancun we're better than quarter.

Heather: No, I just came up with their new marketing scam.

Dan: Yeah. So if they would like to send a check to Heather at Key, to the

Jeff: Yeah. After those wonderful words we said about their lovely resort.

Heather: Yeah, maybe not.

Dan: Yeah,

Jeff: I'm lucky. We're all lucky to have done so many of the things they're offerings there at the parks that I didn't think about. Disneyland. There's probably tons of stuff I hadn't done out there.

Dan: No. Yeah, I'm sure there's a lot more on that list for me there too. I'm definitely. Definitely glad that I've gotten to the point where I don't feel the need to be a park warrior anymore, so those days are behind me.

Jeff: Here's a funny thing I've never done in a Disney Park is park.

Heather: Oh, at least not when you were the driver.

Jeff: Correct. Yeah. I have driven to Disney property and then I use their transportation or Ubers or whatever around there, but I've never driven and parked at a park myself, nor do I care if I ever do. Yeah, no

Heather: you have a driver to do that for you.

Jeff: That's right. Daddy drinks a lot.

Dan: I was gonna say, especially Magic Kingdom, the Mass of humanity on that. Ferry boat all

Heather: Oh yeah. I don't have to park where I have to get on that ferry boat.

Jeff: I like riding on the Joe Johnson or whatever that is.

Dan: and the once in my life I've ridden on that parking lot tram, and that was plenty of times for me.

Jeff: I think I've only been on

Dan: at Disney Landers. I've been on a parking lot tram. So this is something you can't say anymore.

Heather: Are they still not back at Disneyland?

Dan: I don't know.

Jeff: No, they came back at Disneyland.

Dan: They did

Heather: Oh,

Jeff: They are not, They're only at two of the parks in Disney World.

Dan: God, I'm a

Heather: O that's terrible.

Dan: It goes that whole, they're helping guests with their waistlines by cutting down on the portion size and making 'em walk to their

Heather: Yes,

Jeff: don't wanna pay people $26 an hour to drive a tram is what they do.

Heather: That is correct.

Jeff: Which is what they'd have to pay these days.

Heather: Yeah, that's true. You ain't wrong.

Dan: No

Jeff: if people stop coming because of it, they might

Heather: It hasn't looked like it's slowed down at all.

Jeff: not at all,

Dan: No, they're doing just fine.

Jeff: and that my friends, is America

Heather: That's right.

Dan: Thanks for hanging out with us again this week. If you are excited to fly off to Neverland, or explore anywhere else around the world, Key to the World Travel has a fantastical flying pirate ship full of expert travel planners who are ready to make your vacation dreams a reality. Head to www.keytotheworldtravel.com to get started with the no obligation quote.

Word of mouth is the best way to help us grow our show. If you have a friend or two who you think would appreciate our special brand of Globetrotting Jack-assery, tell them what makes our show so great and send them our way. You can find links to subscribe to the show on your favorite apps and all the latest updates at www.goldkeyadventurers.com.

We can't wait to hang out with you again next week, and we'll see you real soon.

Heather: Bye everybody.

Jeff: Thank you for having us.