Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Mouse Ears podcast, where we talk about all things travel, but mostly Disney, brought to you by fairy tale journeys. Travel.
Hello, everybody. Welcome back. Or welcome in another episode of the Mouse Ears podcast, a podcast about all things travel, but mostly Disney. My name is Kelton. I'm one of your hosts for today's or tonight's episode. It is Thursday.
We are back, actually, we just got off of a live in the Facebook group. So if you're not following or joining the Mouse Ears podcast Facebook group, highly recommend you do. We're trying new things. We're gonna try to get involved there a little bit more with some videos, so hopefully it'll turn out pretty cool. But I'm not alone, so you don't just have to listen to me today on your commute with me, I've got Steph. Steph, good evening.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: Hello. Hi. I'm so excited.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: You always are. And that's what we like to hear on the podcast.
[00:01:09] Speaker B: I honestly look forward to Thursdays every week.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: And with Steph Brooks over there in the corner. Brooks, good evening, good evening.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: Whenever you're listening to good afternoon, good evening, good morning, and good night.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: A little bit of the Truman show making its appearance, but no, we've got a, we've got a kind of a good episode. We're kind of. This topic was brought to us by Steph. She wanted to inform the guests, inform our clients, inform our listeners of what a package is at Disney Disneyland, Disney World. So we're gonna be diving into that. It's gonna be fun. So. But there's only one way to kick off a mouse ears podcast episode. And that's right, folks. It's with new news going on over to the new news desk. We've got Brooks over in South Carolina. Brooks, take it away.
[00:02:11] Speaker C: Why, thank you, Kelton. And welcome to the new news not brought to you. Bye. Red Bull gives you wings. So with the new news, we have had a just say again, they seem to always seem to release a ton of news right before we have our podcast this week. No different. So Disney finally, and we talked about this some on our live, finally released halfway to Halloween announcements on Monday, May 6, and some of the highlights where they finally, finally released Mickey's not so scary Halloween dates.
They also released the prices and some updates. Prices did go up a little bit from last year, but not too bad.
So, Mickey, it's not so scary. Halloween party will be on select nights between August 9 and October. 3138 parties in total, ranging from, ranging in prices between one, nineteen dollars to one. Ninety nine dollars per ticket. So if you want to hit the cheaper ticket prices, you might be sweating a little more. Your sweat might be a little bit colder than a hot Florida weather, but as you get closer to Halloween, that's when the tickets will start going up a little bit, but you also be a little cooler. You can maybe wear a more elaborate Halloween costume if you are staying on property.
Resort guest ticket sales opened on Wednesday, May 8, so they're already available if you're staying on property.
General ticket general public tickets are going on sale Wednesday, May 15. So if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, contact your favorite fairytale journeys agent and book today.
Also, oogie boogie bash dates, prices and updates were revealed. This is a very, very, very popular Halloween party at Disneyland. Those will sell out very quickly. Again, we will have all these, all this information on our Mouse Ears podcast Facebook page. And if you need help getting those tickets, contact your, your favorite fairy tale journeys agent.
And also, Disney announced that Halloween on the high seas are returning to Disney Cruise lines this fall.
That is going to be a blast.
And then also new concept art was revealed for the haunted mansion parlor on the new Disney dream.
Yes, we have a question in the back of the room.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Thank you, Brooks, being that I will be fortunate enough to go on the Disney treasure in August of next year.
Yes, that is several months after the inaugural sailing happening this December.
I cannot wait for this haunted mansion parlor.
So if you haven't seen our Facebook post yet, because I did post about this when it was announced this past Monday because I was so stoked.
The concept art that was revealed was basically a concept that was created by a past imagine imagineer Raleigh Crump. And his concept was to create an aquarium. He wanted to have a room of weird things, basically. And one of the items that was extracted from the Disney vault resurfaced by imagineers. Now, to potentially use on the Disney treasure for the haunted mansion parlor was an aquarium of. It was like aquarium of.
Oh my gosh. Ghost jellyfish. Ah, crap. Now I'm forgetting specifics. Well, anyways, it's on the Facebook post.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: It's creepy.
[00:06:43] Speaker B: Oh my God. But I, I feel like, I feel like it's just such a cool, like add on because we already have the Donald Duck chair that was removed from Walt Disney World that's gonna be added in there. And to add this element from the Disney vault, which. Hello. So cool.
And then to tie it in with the story behind the, the missing captain and his bride is just so cool. So if you haven't read up on it, I highly recommend it because, wow. I feel like if you read, if you saw it, you would understand my excitement for this.
If you haven't booked your trip for the Disney treasure, get on it. Between that and lookout key, that's also going to be opening up for the general public this summer. There's a lot going on with Disney Cruise line that is well worth spending some time looking into on Halloween on the high seas. I experienced that last year. So much fun. Who doesn't love an excuse to dress up and have fireworks while in the middle of the ocean? Hello. So cool. So just their decorations and seeing all the characters again dressed up. Yes, you can absolutely do that at Mickey's not so scary Halloween party. But if you don't want to wait in a 70 minutes line to see some of these characters dressed up, Disney Cruise line, have those characters dressed up with a much less shorter line. So just wanted to put that out there. Thanks, Brooks. Appreciate it.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: Thank you, Steph for the wonderful treasure update and then also going back to Disneyland. The Disneyland forward final vote happened on Tuesday, May 7 and went through. So what does this multi year plan mean? New hotels, rides, entertainments and more.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: So I don't think we even know. I don't even guess.
[00:08:54] Speaker C: I, well, I, I feel like they now, I know they announced at one point in Disneyland that they were bringing in Avatar, so Tron was thrown in.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: The, in the air.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: Oh, what is that going to take another seven years to build, right?
[00:09:12] Speaker B: They did.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Hopefully we don't have another pandemic in between.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
They did mention tangled, but I'm gonna.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Let you tank will be more than just bathroom. Tangled will be cool.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Mm hmm. And we'll talk more about that shortly.
[00:09:31] Speaker C: Literally. Was actually just watching that before the podcast tonight.
So keep on going with the news. Fantasmic premium dining package at Blue Bayou restaurant is now available to book for the return. But this long awaited night spectacular on May the 24th to Disneyland park, that is a huge news. Um, I know that they have been real.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: It's a real hot item.
[00:10:03] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: If you ask me, burning.
People are burning to get it. To get those.
[00:10:09] Speaker C: I feel like it's going to be a, I feel like it's going to be a fire sale on those dying.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Oh, it's going to be a fire sale for sure.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: So just, just follow, just follow the smoke to the new show.
[00:10:24] Speaker A: Dragon at Walt Disney World.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: But if you, I mean, if you see, if you see smoke patterns going up, I would go away from the show. But anyway.
And then just going a little bit across the seas. The fantasy springs expansion at Tokyo Disneyseas officially opens on June 6. But this past week, we got a sneak peek from some exclusive media previews. We got a glimpse of the new tangled, frozen, and Peter pan attractions.
Guys, this gave me goosebumps. Gave me gooseies.
And then the fantasy Springs hotel. Have y'all seen that?
Talk about smoke. Holy smokes.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Cool.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: So that.
And then I. This is just.
Can you imagine just being just fully immersed in that fairy tale story? Just encrypt. So I think. I think this might be a bucket list trip for the Mouse Ears podcast.
[00:11:32] Speaker B: Without a doubt. And I, as fairytale journeys travel agents, we don't sell Tokyo Disneyseas.
But my gosh, as mouse ears podcasts, the people want to see this. The people want to know about this and what all there is.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: Even if the people are just the three of us, we want to go.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: Well, you know what they say when two or three are gathered, so real.
[00:12:01] Speaker B: Quick, they have a bunch of new rides in this, you know, fantasy Springs area. I'm hoping you guys saw some of them. Which one would you be most excited to see in person or experience, I should say.
[00:12:20] Speaker A: I'm gonna be honest with you. I don't know if I could actually.
I don't know. I don't know.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: It's a tough choice. There's so many good options.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: I don't. I don't know. I mean, with. With all. With. Between all the lands, it's like the fact that you're gonna actually give us a full on, you know, Peter Pan type attraction. I like, besides what we have at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, I don't know. It's.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Well, even the frozen one, people were saying that they had. They had lower expectations for that one because of the ride that we have here in Walt Disney World. Right. Frozen ever after. And if you've seen videos and pictures, you're literally experiencing the entire first movie of Frozen in this attraction. And just the special effects and the animatronics that this imagineer they knocked out of the park and out of this freaking out of this hemisphere, out of.
[00:13:20] Speaker A: This stratosphere, it is going to wipe the frozen attraction in Norway off the mountain. I mean, they might just bring back Maelstrom at this point.
[00:13:34] Speaker B: Couldn't have said it better myself.
[00:13:36] Speaker C: So, I mean, I will throw in a little bit of a hot take. So the, like, looking at some of the rides that they have that Tokyo Disney. Tokyo Disney sees, I feel like they need to bring some of those imagineers over the seas and work on some of the rods over here.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: I get very jealous of what they have over in Tokyo.
So they have some cool stuff.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: They need to do whatever magic they did there and bring it over to animal kingdom for what they're planning to do with, you know, the. The Americas, tropical Americas or hot take.
[00:14:16] Speaker C: Just give them a whole new fifth gate and just let him run free.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: You heard it here for. You heard it here first. Oh, gosh, that would be amazing. That being said, I would love to see Tinkerbell because she's my favorite character, so her having her own ride.
Wow.
Tears.
[00:14:41] Speaker A: Tears.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: So, yeah, anyways, that's. That's what I would look forward to the most. Is fair, is, uh. Oh, my gosh. I'm saying fairy tales is Tinkerbell just because she's my favorite character and she does not have her own right anywhere else that I'm aware of.
Brooks, do you have one that you're looking forward to the most, by any chance?
[00:15:05] Speaker C: All of it. All the above.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Yeah. You're on the same boat as Kelton.
[00:15:10] Speaker A: It's hard.
[00:15:11] Speaker C: Yeah. It's really hard to just pick one.
[00:15:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Especially when we just have a bathroom. Tangled tower. I mean.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: Best bathrooms in Walt Disney world.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Magic kingdom at this point.
[00:15:22] Speaker B: But there's so much potential there. It was just.
That's all we got, a bathroom.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Can we get a fox in the hound land?
Anyway, how do you.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: That is not one of my favorites.
Ox and a hound is not a hard one. It's not one of my favorites.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Does it make you cry?
[00:15:48] Speaker A: We had to wheat.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: I mean, it's.
We didn't grow. I just didn't grow up really watching it that much. So I don't have the emotional tie to it as several of the others. I much rather watch Robin Hood.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: I love Robin Hood.
Bambi.
[00:16:10] Speaker C: Oh, I'd rather watch. Rather watch fox and the hound there. Bambi.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: So funny story, actually.
Last week, my last set of days off, we sat down and we did. We watched Bambi, the three of us, and Kenny asked where the mommy reindeer went.
Mom, Casey did not like my response to that, so.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: Well, you know that venison burger you had the other night?
[00:16:45] Speaker B: Stop it. Stop it.
[00:16:48] Speaker C: Okay, sorry. Sorry.
[00:16:51] Speaker A: Because. Because my. I think my. My comment was, well, it's in your uncle Johnny's freezer in the garage.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: No.
[00:17:01] Speaker C: So if you would like to know a little bit of trivia, they did, like, American Films Institute did a survey of, like, the top 100 movie villains number nine, I think it was. Number nine is the winter was man from Bambi man?
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:17:23] Speaker C: And it was the only one you never saw on screen? You never saw him.
[00:17:29] Speaker B: I like that trivia. I mean, it's a hundred percent. I think it's frolo number one.
[00:17:37] Speaker C: I don't remember what number one was up there.
[00:17:41] Speaker B: Anyway.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: No, it wasn't Disney villains. It was just like villains among all movies.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Fact that man is number nine. Wow.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: Because of Bambi.
So wait, I have to know, how did Kenny react to your unbelievable response to his question?
[00:18:03] Speaker C: Was it unbelievable though?
[00:18:05] Speaker A: Anyway.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Well, uh, I feel like I probably would have softened the blow a little bit. Like, hence what you're eating for dinner.
[00:18:14] Speaker C: Boys. Got learned.
[00:18:16] Speaker A: Was not thrilled with my response either.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: So what did he say?
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Was he pretty sure he said, oh, oh, mommy reindeer. Okay. I said, sure, buddy. Mommy reindeer's just fine.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:30] Speaker C: That reminds me of, I'll tell this story real quick and then go into the last piece of news.
So I remember when toy story three came out, we took one of our friends kids who was four or five. Fun fact, she just turned 18 and I has a scholarship now to play lacrosse in college.
Well, who feels old? Yeah. Me. So we took her to see toy story three and her dad asked her later, how did you. Did you like the movie? No.
What was the movie about?
Trash.
Because the toys kept referring to themselves as garbage.
So she thought the whole movie was just about trash.
But.
So, moving on, go. Staying in some kind of movie news.
This was just recently announced and this is, this shocked me when I first heard it. I thought it was a joke, but Disney Entertainment and Warner Brothers Discovery announced a new streaming bundle that will include Disney plus Hulu and Max coming this summer.
[00:19:49] Speaker A: Let's go.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: I so excited.
[00:19:52] Speaker C: I seriously thought this was a joke.
Like, what's this leftover from April Fools?
So.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: Nope, April Fools is dead and gone.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Happy May 9, fools, y'all.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: So I also read a little thing that Disney is going to be adding an ESPN tab as well to Disney plus this summer. Don't know if that's me, a permanent fixture because ESPN is supposed to get its own platform anyways, even though it has one. But I guess they're getting something new. Don't know.
I'm way more concerned about this new bundle. This is going to be awesome.
I just hope that with Max kind of integrating into Disney that they're going to be dropping things as you would expect them to if you were just independent HBO Max, you know what I mean? Because I still feel like, we'll get Disney stuff a little bit later sometimes on the platform. Then we can get it elsewhere. So, like, for instance, the documentary epcot becoming the transformation of Epcot. I recently watched it. It was on National Geographic. But you can only watch on ABC.
Sorry, it was. And it was a National Geographic documentary. You could only watch on ABC.
That happened last week someday. I can't remember. It was last week Monday, and it won't be on Disney until July.
Why? Like, it's a Disney content.
I was able to find it through the ABC app, but. Well, I'm point is, I just hope that we get things with Macs when they're supposed to be coming out and not, like, super delayed. Other than that, super excited.
[00:21:46] Speaker C: I mean, do y'all. So let me throw this question at y'all. Do y'all think that Disney potentially could be making a play for Warner Bros. Discovery?
I mean, that, to me, that's huge. That the fact that they're merging their streaming services.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: I mean, there's a lot of competition when it comes to the streaming services. Now.
I can't keep up with all of them in the sense of, like, going, switching. What am I gonna watch today? Who has what, whatever.
I feel like this is gonna give a lot of exposure to max and potentially up the subscribers for Disney.
You know, I just, I don't know. I feel like this is more of, like, sorry, Kelton. I feel like this is more of a way to increase both of their subscribers more so than a potential merger. But what I would like is for there to be, like, a clean division, like the platform between each of the apps. I not a fan of going to Disney plus and just being inundated with Hulu stuff.
I would like to see, like, my Disney stuff. I would like to find my hulu stuff. And I feel like I'd like to find my Mac stuff. I wouldn't want. I don't like.
[00:23:10] Speaker C: Or have the option. If you want it all integrated, have it integrated into.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:15] Speaker C: Separate.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
I feel like it's just mixed match too much. And I was like, no, it's. No, but that's my two cent. That's what I think. Sorry, Kelton, I don't. You finish your thought.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: Um, see, I don't know if it's gonna be as popular as people think, because when you add in, you know, Max, what comes with that?
A price increase.
[00:23:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Again, people are already sick and tired of all of this, because when you add everything together, because I have cable, DirecTV and Dish are looking a heck of a lot cheaper.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Mmm.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: So, you know, or even, like, who has Hulu plus, you know, Hulu vibes.
[00:24:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Or like, the YouTube tv.
[00:24:09] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:24:09] Speaker C: So.
But I mean that.
With that, we're conclude our new news segment that doesn't cover all the news that was released. And we hope you enjoyed this segment of the podcast. If you're a fan and want to be informed of more news, let us know in the Facebook group. And now back to you, Kelton. 24 minutes in.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: So, this happens all the time.
I can't get my mouse over to my laptop, and this is really making me mad, y'all.
[00:24:44] Speaker C: Like, Kelton, what. What is that like, to have technical problems? I don't know what that's like. Or audio problems. What is that like?
[00:24:56] Speaker A: It's horrible. Absolutely horrible.
[00:24:59] Speaker C: But I can only imagine.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: I can only imagine.
Song of my heart when. When I see people traveling or going places, that's all I hear. I can only imagine playing in my head anyway.
[00:25:15] Speaker C: Which, by the way, mercy me, will be playing at a garden. Art garden rocks. I think they're the last.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: I think the last group. Last group coming through.
So I'd love to go to flower garden, too, but that's not gonna happen this year. That's okay, because we're talking about Disney packages tonight, y'all. So you may be asking, why Disney packages? What is a Disney package? Tell me more. Tell me more.
[00:25:45] Speaker C: I will tell you. Bring your car.
[00:25:47] Speaker A: Like, I could. We could. If you wanted to drive to Disney, you could bring your car. That way you would not have to ubere and use. Or, you know, use mirrors, connect, or the superstar shuttle if you're staying over at universal, but anyway.
[00:26:01] Speaker C: Or pay for parking at the resort if you are staying at a resort.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Which Disney does not charge anymore.
[00:26:08] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:26:10] Speaker A: So happy about that.
[00:26:11] Speaker B: We love those parks.
[00:26:13] Speaker C: Oh.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Oh, God. It's so nice.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: So, like, real quick, that's like, recently, I stayed at one of the, uh, good neighbor hotels, which does offer complimentary transportation to the parks.
However, they still charge a resort fee and a parking fee.
So.
[00:26:36] Speaker A: Just don't tell me. I don't want to see it. Build it into the price.
[00:26:39] Speaker B: But you don't see it until, like, after your trip or when you're checking in. It's so you're like, oh, yeah, I'm saving money. And then you get there, you're like, wait, what's all this?
[00:26:50] Speaker C: Yeah, we have a $30 parking fee and a $35 resort fee, right? So that's an extra $65 a night.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: And then the housekeeping pop century.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Well, even, even a home vacation rental. Oh, yeah. $120 a night. And then they're adding cleaning fee. They're adding whatever taxes and whatever.
[00:27:17] Speaker A: $50.
[00:27:19] Speaker B: Yeah. Then they add, what is the incidentals? And then all of a sudden it's like $600. Just a single night. You're like, wait, what?
Again, making memories.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: I saw a thing where much cheaper. I saw the same with this person. Like, literally, if they wanted to, there was a pool table at the, at the Airbnb, but they want to use the pool table. It was $5 a game.
And if they wanted to use the washing machine, which they had to wash the towels anyway, before they left, it was $5 a load. And now, like, all this stuff.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: No, no.
[00:27:59] Speaker C: So $10 a day.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: So talk about Disney parks. You do get your wi fi included. You don't pay for parking. You don't have cleaning fees. And depending on where you stay, you and how long you stay, you'll get, you know, sprooms, cleaning ladies that come, or cleaning ladies, like housekeeping. Thank you. I was forgetting the word housekeeping. And all you pay is, like, taxes at the end. That's it.
That is it. There is no hidden fees. It is awesome.
[00:28:31] Speaker C: But, Kelton, tell me, what are Disney packages?
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Brooks, I am so happy that you asked. Let me tell you about them. So we have two, two main ones. You have your regular package, and then you have what's called a basic package. And I'm gonna be very honest with you, 26 years living in the great state of Florida, how much I miss you. Florida.
I never knew that there was a thing called a basic package. So real quick. Anyway, your regular package is going to be made up of your theme park tickets and a on property or a good neighbor resort hotel, that's going to be your regular package. So when you call either, you know, one of us, your FTGA agent or a travel agent with another travel agency, and you be like, hey, I need my theme park tickets. I need to stay at, you know, on property. I got to stay in the bubble. Get me on that bus or Skyliner or monorail, we're going to book you as a regular package. If you don't, you know, if you don't have, like, an annual pass or, you know, maybe you are living in Florida, and right now, you know, Walt Disney World is selling some, you know, some great discounts for tickets. Or if you're living over in California for our friends over, you know, in California at Disneyland and Anaheim, they've got great ticket deals going on for the locals, you know, you're not gonna really want regular package. Well, boom. That's where this basic package comes in for you. So your basic package is really just made up of a hotel resort reservation. And with the packages, what you get, really, is it's a $200 deposit, no matter what. And it's a refundable deposit. That's the big thing.
And so it doesn't matter if you're, you know, entire package is a $1,000 or $100,000. It's still a $200 deposit, which is really nice. And then along with that, you just have to be paid in full 30 days before your check in date, so it gives you plenty of time. I mean, it's the packages, I think, now that I've learned about, because actually. So for our September trip, I did. I. We booked under a basic package because I'm still trying to figure my life out with these tickets. You know, am I gonna do the.
The four day, one park per day for $99 for each one, you know? Or am I gonna do, you know, just the three day? Because we've talked about doing not so scary for that. So maybe we won't do magic kingdom, which I'm not sure how, can afford those yet.
I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Still got a four wheeler. You know, I. I got some ideas from my four wheeler that, you know, gonna put some lights on. It's gonna be real cool. Yeah, gonna be really cool.
But. But no annual pass. Like, that's. Woof. Anyway, so that's kind of what I would guess, the very outer edge. These packages are. Those are your two main ones, but there are plenty of things that you can add into these packages.
[00:31:58] Speaker C: Real quick, I would like to say, with the basic package, with the regular package, you do have the dollar 200 deposit. With the basic package, you pay for your first night stay as a deposit.
No, whenever I've booked. Whenever I booked just my room, it was. You pay the first night.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: That's if you do, jet, if you book just the room. The basic package.
Yeah, I'm. I have to go back and look at my credit card statement now.
[00:32:33] Speaker C: That's what I thought. That's what I was saying. Basic. I say regular. I thought I said basic package, where you just book in the hotel reservation. You paid the first night.
[00:32:43] Speaker B: You have to call it in for the basic package.
[00:32:47] Speaker A: So let me tell you what I did for my. Our September trip. So I talked Casey into it. You know, we were only going for three nights, staying at animal Kingdom lodge because that's where she wants to buy DVC points from.
But, you know, she wants to do Hollywood studios because we've never actually taking pictures in front of the Millennium Falcon like she's wanted to for two years. We just, we discussed this one on our May 4 post, and, and she was not happy with me. But that's okay. I mean, she was right. We haven't. We need to do it.
So I did convince her. We ended up dropping down a couple of categories. So now we're staying at pop century. And I booked this under a yemenite basic package.
It was a $200 deposit. The. We stayed at pop century. So we're on the skyliner for Epcot, the international gateway, and to Hollywood studios.
And for the first time since I left, since we left is. And we, you know, no longer being cast members, we're getting the old dining plan. So I'm pretty excited about that. So that's kind of why maybe the basic package may work for, you know, maybe some of our Florida residents who have annual passes or different things like that. Because you can add on, if you, if you don't need tickets, you can add on to your basic package. You can do memory maker if you want to, you can do the dining plan. Now that the dining plan is back, get that quick service or Disney dining plan. So there's a lot, there's a lot of good things that do go with that basic package.
But on top of that, there's, there's even more that you can, you know, when you're talking about some of the extras you can add to your packages. Does anybody want to talk about what those are?
[00:34:54] Speaker C: I can talk about them. So some of the extras that you can add on, if it's a hot summer day, you can add on the water park and sports option.
And with the water park and sports option, you can visit one theme park each day to take it. Plus, you get a certain number of visits to other Walt Disney World Fund based on the length of your ticket.
And with that, for example, for a three day ticket allows three visits and a four day ticket allows four visits.
And this includes the Wild Warlos sports complex, the golf course, oak trail, foot golf at Oak Trail, the wonderful mini golf courses.
So.
And then I did not, you know.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: I didn't know, you know, about that sport option, I should say.
[00:36:02] Speaker C: Yeah.
And then also, we've, we've talked about it as well, park Hopper.
So with the tickets, you can either do, you can either just do one park per day, or if you do park Hopper.
If you wanted to, you could do all four parks in one day. It gives the ticket holder the ability to go to any park once they've entered their first park. So beforehand you would, you know, they.
You would previously for like.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: Yeah, the dumb theme park reservation.
[00:36:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
So. And I do think it's correct me, isn't it? Like, there is a time that park hopping opens, isn't it?
[00:37:02] Speaker A: Like, I think it's eleven.
[00:37:03] Speaker C: Yeah, ten or eleven.
But when they had reservations, it used to be 02:00 so which would eliminate you trying to join in, really try to get some of the other virtual queues because those open back up at 01:00 but with this, now you can have the ability to go to as many parks as you wish.
That could be Disneyland or California adventure, or all four Walt Disney World parks.
[00:37:40] Speaker A: Try to do the four park challenge with that part. Hot park hopper.
[00:37:45] Speaker C: Or you can even get the park hopper plus, which is park hopper as well as water parks.
So you could do. So you could do all five parks, go to all four of the main parks and do a water park, which I think if you do that, you also have to do Cali river rappers at Animal guard, animal kingdom. So if you're going. If you're going to water parking, you do Cali rappers as well.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: But do you think, do you think at some point, like, Disney is going to, you know, like, maybe for like a week or two, that Disney will keep both Blizzard beach and typhoon Lagoon open at the same time?
Uh, I'm not sure if they have enough water on property to do that.
[00:38:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't know. I, I think maintenance wise, I think it's been beneficial for them to have one close and be able to work on it and then have the other one open.
So maybe if the demand asks for it, then they'll open up both parks.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: But it's all about that demand.
[00:39:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:04] Speaker A: So, no, I think, yeah, that's, that's great. Like, so you got your, you know, your park hopper, your water park here. And for those that, I mean, don't know much about ESPN's, why, world of sports down there off Osceola Parkway, they've got a lot of things that kind of happen all the time, but they've got, you got some different soccer academies, these special Olympics of flora, the state of Florida summer games, you know, happen there.
You've got soccer tournaments, you got basketball tournaments. There was.
Yeah, the, the NBA played down there.
[00:39:42] Speaker C: And they're in the bubble.
[00:39:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. They play, they put all of the players in Coronado, just for a little tidbit that nobody probably really cares too much about, but that's okay. And then. But the big one. The big one is spring training, and I don't know who's gonna be there for 2025, but. So spring training for 2025 is gonna be March 10 through April 20.
I do believe that. I think it's, the Atlanta Braves have been there.
They, I think they're there most of the time.
[00:40:22] Speaker C: They are.
[00:40:23] Speaker A: So.
And I think that'd be pretty cool. So all of you brave fans down there in the central Florida area, you don't have to drive up to Atlanta. Now, did you know that's actually the same song for FSU, which we don't talk about. They're almost like Bruno. We just don't talk about them.
So there are, as, as a person who's been going to, you know, to Disney for a while, there are a lot of reasons that a package is, you know, beneficial to, to the people going so on our end, the fact that, you know, when you book a package with a, with a travel agent, really what you're having said, I try to tell all my, my clients when we're talking about Disney, it's like, look, you know, my, my mother in law is, is one of the, you know, she's very hands on. You know, I'm fine with that.
I'll do what I can, you know, when I'm, you know, when I'm asked her. But she does a lot of the bookings, you know, herself with theme park reservations or dining reservations or different things like that. So, you know, we can be as hands on or as hands off as you want us, you know, to, either way, when you're booking with a, a travel agent. And of course, you know, here at the, the podcast, we always recommend you book with somebody, you know, who, if, who is an authorized, you know, Disney plant. And, I don't know, apologize for, I don't know the exact words of it, but when you go to their website, you'll see it there. I think it's authorized.
[00:42:11] Speaker B: Disney vacation planner.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: Thank you, stepsy. Somebody will come in and save the day.
So always book with somebody like that.
Our sponsor, fairy tale journeys travel, is a platinum agency. So what goes along with that is the fact that, you know, if you booked on your own and, you know, you, maybe you saw that a really cool promo had come out, and so you want to try to add that. Well, then you have to call in and talk to those special people, you know, at the call center to try to get that. But if the promo has been out for, you know, 48, 72 hours up to, you know, a couple of weeks, what you may want may not be there because the promo only, you know, is only for a select number of rooms. However, we don't know what that, what those are for. So if, you know, you're staying at a, I don't know, standard room at pop century, but nobody likes to walk far to the skyliner. The buses were to go get that cup of coffee in the morning. So you want to be closer, right? So you're waiting for that discount to drop. But it was a busy week at work and you missed it.
So you try to call in, well, all the preferred rooms on that discount are now sold out, so you can't. But when you book with a travel agent, well, that travel agent, you know, may dial you and go, hey, you know, this discount came out. I can get you a preferred room for maybe the same price. This, you know, a higher price, lower price. What do you want to do? You got somebody that we're, we are there as travel agents to, you know, price monitor for you. It's actually, it's in our contracts when we sign them with agencies.
So that's probably my biggest beneficial benefit to having a travel agent, you know, book your package to, you know, to Disney in a world they're gonna stick with Disney.
[00:44:13] Speaker B: But, and more to that point, specifically, Kelton, you know, regarding the price monitoring, let's say you already booked, let's say you put down your $200 deposit.
Maybe you're not aware of all the different promotions, discounts and anything that Disney drops on a dime.
We do, we're aware.
And we, if applicable, will always try to make sure.
Can we apply this promo to the XYZ reservation? Yes. No. We can make those adjustments and hopefully save you some money.
It happens often.
So I really wanted to circle back around and mention why it is important to have a package for your Walt Disney World trip. So you'll think, why do I really need a basic package for a room only?
Beyond just having a $200 deposit to secure your room with a basic package, you do get accommodations such as free mini golf, free luggage tag.
And again, you've already created your package for you to be able to add on other items such as, like we've talked about memory maker or for instance, the dining packages.
There is so much more ease in working with a package than if you were just doing a room only. Now these freebies sort of say, also are applicable to a regular vacation package. But I just want to emphasize like, let's say you are only getting a room, only vacation because you're an annual pass holder like myself.
Well, I'm gonna make myself a basic package for a room and get myself that free mini golf because maybe I'm going on whatever a Tuesday, but I don't want to go to the park that day. I want to have a more chill night. Well, hello, mini golf. Don't have to pay anything and then I can start fresh the next day and I don't. It's all included. And you're still getting this wonderful experience with Disney.
Let's say you're staying on property and you get a bounce back offer. You want to be able to utilize, you have your package. That's what you're going to use before your week after checkout ends. Apply it and get an up to 35% discount on a future stay at Walt Disney World.
So many benefits, guys. It's really, and it's not a hassle. It is not a hassle because I have clients who think who come to me and be like, is it worth it going through you? Like, why don't I just book it myself? You know, isn't it quicker? Well, honestly, no. Like Kelton said earlier, we work with you, we help whatever level you need from us. Okay? But beyond that, and I'll speak specifically with fairy tale in regards to fairytale journeys travel agency. We're an elite travel agency that is earmarked with Disney.
So being platinum, we have a more direct and more exclusive call line to Disney's guest services. We're nothing using the same like guest services phone line that everyone else uses, the general public now don't believe me. And how big of a difference that makes in time in getting things done and securing, especially on a promo day or discount or something, because things do sell out and get grabbed pretty quickly. I had and this is for Disney cruise line, so a little bit different, but it's still, I want to emphasize the importance of working with an agent to get things done and get things moving.
So I had called Disney to secure a reservation on a when Disney cruise line opened up for 2025 and for whatever reason I called and the person who I was working or the operator didn't understand me and dumped my call to the general public rather than working with the Disney cruise line elite line.
I'm not even kidding you. I was on the phone waiting for over 2 hours and counting when I decided to contact another agent friend and ask if they're having any issues getting through with Disney through the special earmarked phone line?
They were through within five minutes. So I cancelled my call, called back, went through the elite special phone line, got my stuff booked within 10, 15, 20 minutes.
Not exaggerating. That is the difference. Huge. Huge it is. And again, we've not mentioned this at all, but working with a travel agency, that again, I told you what it was, Kelton, before. Now I'm drawing a blank. We are an earmarked agency.
Disney vacation authorized Disney vacation planner. That was I was looking for. Sorry.
Because we are, you don't pay us for our services. Our services are free. So again, we help you as little or as much as you want. You're not paying us. Disney is. Whether or not you use an agent. Whatever money you are allocating to your Disney trip, Disney's already in their budget, expecting people to use an agent. So whether or not you use it, you're already paying for one. So why not work with an agent? Get your basic package. Get your vacation package. Build it to however you want to get that dream vacation. For my Florida resident peeps who have annual pass holders, let me help you get basic packages out of staters. Get those vacation packages and build them up. Take advantage of that because, holy cow, again, so, so many benefits just to wrap it up. Again, why are packages beneficial? I mentioned some of the add ons.
I mentioned how they can help with future, you know, discounts and promos like the bounce back offer. And again, it's what we do, right?
Snow skin off our back. We love what we do and we can help get you the best prices.
So.
And we'll do it pretty, pretty quick too, I'll be honest. For the most part, you know, once we narrow down what it is that you want and what works with your family for your trip, for your I, whatever it is that you're trying to get out of the Disney trip once it's narrowed down, it's a pretty quick process. So it's not like, oh my gosh, all these back and forths. Because once the trip is planned, then you get to all the fun stuff, then you get to do, hey, what dining, hey, are we gonna do any extra experiences? Hey, are we gonna do whatever else? And then we can help you with that. But anyways, enough of that.
Kelton, you are correct.
[00:52:05] Speaker A: I mean, that's my biggest thing is you see it on the Facebook groups.
You know why travel agents are a dying breed.
You may be right. That's okay. You're paying for a service that you're not. I mean, you're paying for it anyway. If you're not going to utilize it, like, Disney is already expensive enough, why not just have somebody go through an authorized Disney vacation planner and now you have somebody who's just kind of watching your back when those. Those type price drops. I had a. I got a client going in September, a week after, you know, we're there, and something will drop and he'll text me my responses. I'm already on. I mean, I'm already looking at your dates. You know, we're seeing. He did. When the free dining promo came out, he said, hey, can we apply this? And my response was, I was just looking at it. And no, because it's two weeks before you guys go. So if you wanna change dates that we need to look at it now. So Disney does drop things quickly, and sometimes they drop things quietly. So you, as the general public, may not know about it. So all in all, if you've never used a authorized Disney vacation planner before, give it a shot. One time. Just see what happens.
[00:53:38] Speaker B: Same with the package. Haven't done a package before. Give it a shot. Promise you, you won't be disappointed if.
[00:53:45] Speaker C: You haven't done the dining plan before. Give it a shot.
[00:53:48] Speaker B: Facts.
[00:53:49] Speaker A: So, looking forward to the dining plan?
I am.
[00:53:53] Speaker C: Oh, I love it.
[00:53:55] Speaker A: I can. That's. So when we go, I don't know if you guys are, you know, planning to get the dining plan. That's something we can talk about as soon as we get back from that trip. So that'll be. And it's food and wine season. Oh.
[00:54:10] Speaker C: Everyone loves food and wine.
[00:54:12] Speaker A: So, any final wrap up thoughts before we move into the closure?
Last little tidbits?
[00:54:25] Speaker B: My last, actually.
As long as you're booking 30 days, more than 30 days in advance.
If you book a package, you only have a $200 deposit, right.
Fully refundable up until those 30 days. So risk free, even if you're on the fence, make it into a basic package with your agent, because you never know if you want to add something or what might come about, what deals, what promos, what anything.
Put in those $200, and if life happens, which life happens. Right. And you need to cancel it, you get those $200 back and refund it directly back to whatever card you use, whether it was a gift card, credit card, you name it. And again, that is before the 30 days.
Risk free.
[00:55:30] Speaker A: Very good.
[00:55:30] Speaker C: Steph Brooks, you.
I would just say, you know, booking Disney trips before being an agent. Uh, I booked on my own. I have booked, uh, with an agent, the amount of stress booking with an agent takes off of you is well worth it. And plus, anyone, we said before, it's free. There's no charge. And then, and also, I would say, even the person that, you know, we had to use before I became an agent, became a friend, you know, and became mentor sorts when I first became an agent. And it's again, if nothing else, you talk. You get to talk to a person that's knowledgeable in it and, you know, help you plan out your best trip.
Kelton, do you have any tips?
[00:56:38] Speaker A: It's always, it's the vacation, the fact that you, you can, as long as you're, you know, before your 30 day pay in full period, you know, you can get that money back. Do you know how many Disneyland trips I have booked and cancelled without Casey knowing? Four. The number is four is how many I've done because I want to go to Disneyland so bad. But so there's. And then on top of that, the free mini golf, I mean, it's built into the price, you know, use it. We're going to be utilized in hours when we go in September. I am so excited. I have not played mini golf in.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: It is fun and it's open till super late. Well, I think it's like, yeah, so, um, you have quite a bit of time to. It's like if you're doing an animal kingdom day and you don't go to Disney Springs, you wanna go mini golf. It's a great option. And they do sell adult beverages there, too.
[00:57:36] Speaker A: I go back to saying, go to bed.
[00:57:38] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:57:40] Speaker A: You got a rope drop. The magic kingdom the next day, 07:00 a.m. at the touch points. Ready to go.
[00:57:48] Speaker C: Hopefully you don't hurt your knee like I did the last time I played pup putt.
[00:57:51] Speaker A: I'll do my best. I will do my best.
[00:57:54] Speaker C: So, fun fact, I have hurt my knee twice playing putt putt on two separate occasions.
[00:58:00] Speaker B: What are you doing?
[00:58:02] Speaker C: It's a dangerous sport.
[00:58:06] Speaker A: Well, folks, that just about does it for this week's episode of the Mouse Ears podcast.
Make sure to join us next week as we bring on another special guest host to help us break down the Universal Orlando resort packages. So just like this, except Universal. So you don't. Definitely don't want to miss that episode. Like I said earlier, don't forget to join our Mousers podcast Facebook group and follow. Follow us along. Wow. Follow along with us on TikTok for more episode details. If you're interested in having one of a fairytale journeys agent book your next trip. Please visit fairytalejourneys.com and let them know that the podcast sent you. Lastly, if you've enjoyed listening to us over the last year, we'd love for you to leave us a review at wherever you get your podcast used.
Until next episode, everybody. Thanks. Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, and good news.
[00:59:16] Speaker B: Bye everyone.
