Mallory's theater group WDW trip

WDW Prep To Go - a Disney World planning podcast

Mallory shares her family's unique Disney World trip centered around her daughter's theater group performing at Disney Springs and attending

Key takeaways

• Balancing large group logistics with individual family experiences is achievable through flexible planning and trust in older teens.

Main topics

• Theater group performance at Disney Springs
• Multi-resort stays during a family trip

Notable quotes

"We're hoping that the crowds, you know, won't be too bad in mid-August. So we're going to try to do it without [Lightning Lanes]."

Conclusion

Mallory's family successfully blended a unique theater-focused Disney

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Today we'll have Mallory's theater group trip to Walt Disney World. That's coming up on this episode 529 of WWF Prep To Go. Speaker 1 (0:25) Hello and welcome to WWW prep to go retalk strategy and ideas for people planning their Disney trips. I'm your host Shannon Albert from WWW prep school.com. Thank you for being here for episode 529. Today is another trip report. This time it is with Mallory, who has a daughter in a theater group who was just recently invited to Disney World. And so they incorporated that into a bigger Speaker 2 (0:46) overall family Speaker 1 (0:47) trip. I'll have my conversations with her in just a moment. As always, a reminder to follow my social media. And also a reminder that if you want to be a guest like Mallory, the only way to do that is using SpeakPipe. You go to speakpipe.com slash wjprep2go, leave a voicemail. And then if it works out with our schedule, then somebody on my team will schedule it so that I can get the pre-trip and post-trip recorded with you. Also a reminder that the only way to listen to these episodes completely ad-free is to do that. through Patreon. I upload the exact same podcast that is on the main feed to Patreon, except Patreon, it has no ads. And the other way is if you have YouTube Premium, you can listen through YouTube and the ads will not be there either. So those are two of your options. I know we get some DMs and emails about the ads. I don't have control over the content of the ads. I mean, the amount of control that I can exert I have. And so sometimes the quantity and the quality of the ads is not to your liking. And there's only so much I can do about that. But you can completely get around that if you do one of the methods that I suggested. Speaker 2 (1:55) So I just wanted to throw that out there. Speaker 1 (1:57) I think that's it for the intro. Let's jump into my chats with Mallory. Welcome to the podcast, Mallory. Speaker 2 (2:04) Hi, Shannon. How are you? Speaker 1 (2:06) I'm great. We're talking on Tuesday, August 11th, and I understand you're going to Disney World. I am. Speaker 1 (2:15) When is that? Speaker 2 (2:16) We are leaving tomorrow, August 12th, and we'll be there till Friday, August 21st. Speaker 1 (2:21) Oh, nice long trip. Who's we? Yeah. So in my travel Speaker 2 (2:24) group, it's my husband and I and our two daughters who are 14 and 11. But we're actually traveling with my daughter's theater group, and they're going to be performing at Disney Springs. So we've got about, I think about 40 people total in the larger group. Speaker 1 (2:39) All right. And I know that you're a pro because you and I have, I've seen you many times at Disney World, I think at this point. But does that make you the travel planner for the group or are you just following someone else's plans? Speaker 2 (2:54) No. So the leader kind of of the people that head up the theater group handled a lot of the travel plans, which was kind of challenging to give up some of that control. But they booked the resort for the group part of the trip. They did, they handled all the ticket purchases because we had, we had a group made at the resort and we got some discounted tickets. And then they managed all of the, like, logistics surrounding the performance and the different, like, theater stuff that they're doing. And then I made, you know, all of our family's plans. Speaker 1 (3:24) Yeah. And for the theater group, did you say it's a group of 40? Speaker 2 (3:29) I think there's about 20 kids. I think about 40 people total. Okay. So Speaker 1 (3:35) then does that mean that not every student or child's family is going, but some are? Speaker 2 (3:46) Yeah, there's a couple, I think, kids traveling with other families. A lot of our whole family is going. A lot of the families, it's just like mom and daughter going or mom and son. So and I might be underestimating the actual number of people, but I like 18 to 20 kids, probably 40 to 45 total. Speaker 1 (4:06) OK, I'm just trying to get a sense for like. The dynamics of the group, like, is it mostly kids and a few families or is everyone going and their families are going? Just not sure how that works. Speaker 2 (4:16) I think it'll be pretty even like kids and adults. Speaker 1 (4:19) Okay. So this is like a nine day trip. So a lot to pack in. I can't remember. Have you been in August before? Speaker 2 (4:29) We have. We went in 2021, and we did fine. I probably wouldn't. I obviously didn't choose these dates. I probably would not have chosen August again. But I think we were okay last time, so I think we'll be okay. Speaker 1 (4:42) Yeah. I mean, there's good reasons to choose August. I mean, the crowds will be low. The prices are a little bit lower. But, you know, there's some tradeoffs, as you know. Okay. So do you want to talk about the first day then, August 12th, Wednesday tomorrow? What is your plan? Speaker 2 (4:59) So tomorrow we have a flight. We're in Detroit or just outside Detroit. So we're flying at 2.15 from Detroit to MCO. And then we have, we booked cast and crew transportation to pick us up at the airport and take us to Animal Kingdom Lodge. So we are just doing one night at Animal Kingdom Lodge with rented DVC points. And that was a recent addition because for some reason the flights were just like dramatically cheaper on Wednesday. We originally planned to go on Thursday, August 13th. Speaker 1 (5:30) Okay. So you will be spending a night there. And any plans on this day other than just arriving? Speaker 2 (5:38) No, we're just going to enjoy the resort. We've never stayed there. We've always wanted to, but I'm always reluctant because it's just buses. So I figured this was a good chance to just go and check it out. And, you know, we'll just enjoy the pools and do a quick service dinner. Speaker 1 (5:52) Okay. Then what is your plan on the next day, August 13th, which is Thursday? Speaker 2 (5:58) So Thursday, we moved to Port Orleans, Riverside, which is where the bulk of the group is staying. We weren't obligated to stay there. So a couple of people are staying in different places, but I think the vast majority is there. We're going to go over there, kind of hang out during the day because I think a lot of people are arriving on Thursday. Not everybody's travel dates are the same. We had to... We have to guarantee to be there Saturday and Sunday. But other than that, everybody had some flexibility. So we've got people kind of arriving and leaving at different times. But a lot of people come in that day. So the kids will be excited to greet their friends as they're coming. And then later in the afternoon, we're going to go to Hollywood Studios. Speaker 1 (6:33) Okay. All right. And when you say we're going to Hollywood Studios, is that just your family of four or is that also part of the group? Speaker 2 (6:40) Part of the group. Speaker 1 (6:41) So Speaker 2 (6:42) I think quite a few people are planning to go Speaker 1 (6:43) that day. Okay. All right. And I'm obsessed with the logistics. I'm going to keep asking about it. So does that mean that there are lightning lanes that are booked? Speaker 2 (6:55) So we talked a lot about how we wanted to handle that. And ultimately, and I can't speak for everybody in the group, but the majority of us, I think, have said that we're not going to buy lightning lanes for the days that we're going as a group. So we expect that. you know, our kids are old enough that they can go up and do things on their own and they're going to want to hang out with friends. And the idea of trying to book things, you know, every parent trying to manage for their kid and overlap times just seemed impossible. And we're hoping that the crowds, you know, won't be too bad in mid-August. So we're going to try to do it without. And then, and they're theater kids, so they want to do a lot of shows too. So that, you know, that part will be pretty easy. Speaker 1 (7:34) Okay. So you bring up a good point about how, like, you know, teenagers can do stuff on their own. So then as the parents that are there, how do you balance that? Like once you're at Hollywood Studios, is your teenager staying with you? Is your teenager going to be with other kids? Speaker 2 (7:51) So it's Speaker 1 (7:51) a Speaker 2 (7:51) little tricky because, like I said, so my girls are 14 and 11, almost 12. So I think the 14-year-old, we're definitely comfortable with her going off with friends. And we know all the kids, you know, the other parents pretty well. And they're, you know, they're good kids. We trust them to do that. The 11-year-old, we're a little bit more, you know, we'll probably, I could see us like, if we're in a section, like she could go with a friend to go do a ride without parents. I don't know that we're going to just let her like go free. But we'll kind of play it by ear and see like how comfortable she is. And my kids have been, you know, quite a bit. So, I mean, they know their way around for sure. My younger daughter's closest friend that's going has never been and their family has never been. So I think their parents, they might be a little bit more, you know, cautious because they don't know their way around as much. But I think we'll kind of just feel it out and see, you know, how everybody's feeling once we're there. But the older one, I think we'll definitely, we're kind of. So we kind of have the trip split into two parts because the theater group's not going to be there the whole time. So the expectation is kind of that we're not going to get to spend a lot of time with Amelia the first half of the trip because she's going to be kind of doing her thing. And we're going to let her do that and then know that we have some family days like on the back end. Speaker 1 (8:56) Okay. So you're doing a mix, really? Yeah. All right. So Hollywood Studios, most people are not going to have lighting lanes, some shows. Anything else you want to mention about this? Nope. I think that's it. Okay. Let's talk about Friday, August 14th then. So Friday, Speaker 2 (9:15) we are going to Magic Kingdom. It is a Halloween party day and we are definitely not doing a Halloween party. I don't think, I haven't heard that anybody in the group is planning to, but a good amount of people are planning to hop to Epcot later in the afternoon. We have a 720 reservation at Teponado. I'm not sure if we're going to keep that. We have one of the kids' birthdays. The mom, one of the moms booked a reservation for like her and a bunch of kids because that was like the max she could get for her daughter's birthday dinner. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to play out. There's still kind of some things up in the air. If we're going to try to go to and just kind of be like adjacent to them or if we're just going to let the kids go. So that's kind of at some point we're going to eat dinner somewhere at Epcot, basically. Not really. I love. Speaker 1 (10:03) One of my favorite things in groups is something you just mentioned, and I hadn't thought about it in a while, which is just make a big reservation. Whoever wants to come can come. Especially there. It's like it's a big table. Everyone can sit around. And if, you know, you make a reservation for eight and four come, it doesn't matter. They're not going to charge you. Speaker 2 (10:22) Yeah. And there's a couple other times where like a bunch of people made reservations for like four or five. And we figured like if they let some of the kids sit together or some of the, you know, we can kind of just. As long as someone shows up, you know, we can kind of figure it out as we go. Speaker 1 (10:36) Yeah, it feels like a great compromise for, like, not having table service for everybody, which would be kind of complicated, but just whoever wants to come can come. Yeah. Okay, so it's a split day. Magic Kingdom, Hop Stepcot, maybe Eat It's That Potato. Yep. Okay. Anything else to chat about? Again, no lightning lanes, right? Speaker 2 (10:58) No lightning lanes. I might cave and buy an individual for Guardians, but we'll see. Speaker 1 (11:05) Yeah. It's hard not to. It's hard not to. I know. It is. It is. It's hard not to. Okay. All right. Saturday, August 15th. Speaker 2 (11:13) So this is the day that the kids are performing at Disney Springs. So we're very excited. So it's interesting because they treat them like they're real performers. So they can't just show up. and like go on stage. Like they have to take a bus from Port Orleans to like a backstage performance area. And I think that's at Saratoga. And then they will, so we'll say goodbye to them at Port Orleans and they'll get on this bus. And then we will go to Disney Springs and they perform on that, the stage out in front of World of Disney at 12 o'clock. So it's going to be very hot, but I mean, the performance isn't super long and they'll be under the awning. So they'll at least have some shade. We will not, but that'll be okay. And then they can't like come out to us in the audience after because they're still like, you know, they're still performers. So they have to exit and go back. And then Disney was very intense about like, we don't want them wearing, they have just like cute little, these like little like overall costumes. And they're like, we don't want them wearing their costumes around like Disney Springs or the parks afterwards. Because, you know, we can't have somebody seeing them perform and then just walking around, you know, that would ruin the magic. So they go right back to Port Orleans and they'll change. And then at that point, we'll probably need a break because I think that'll be an exciting morning. And then a lot of people are going to Typhoon Lagoon that afternoon. Speaker 1 (12:33) Okay. Does that include you? Speaker 2 (12:35) Yes. So we're going to Typhoon Lagoon. And I would say we're about half and half. About half the group is doing Hoop-Dee-Doo and half the group is doing Typhoon Lagoon. I wanted to do Hoop-Dee-Doo, but I got outvoted by the kids. Speaker 1 (12:48) Okay. Speaker 1 (12:51) All right. I always see these, you know, groups performing at like the stage that you're talking about and some other ones. How does an opportunity like this happen? Like, do you contact Disney and apply or does Disney contact you? How does that happen? Speaker 2 (13:06) So this theater group that they're part of is incredible. It's not affiliated through school. It's like a community theater program. And they do both like kids shows and full like full like. Broadway-length shows where they cast adults, too. And they've gone... maybe like three times before. I would say every like four or five years-ish, maybe they go. But there's a process where they contact Disney and then there's a whole, I think because they've done it before, they've, like Disney will recognize your group has been here before and we didn't, you know, they did well, we didn't have any issues, you know, whatever. But they have to send, they have to like tape them and send it. Then there's like a whole like process they have to go through. And then the rules are very strict about like how many, you know, kids they can have, like how they need to be dressed. Like these kids have done this performance like locally and they dress like as characters because there's a lot of Disney songs in it, but they cannot dress as characters at Disney, which is kind of obvious. But so we we knew that they were going like maybe six months ago, but it wasn't like official. Like Disney hadn't officially approved it yet. But the group, you know, the people that run this group knew like they know us. We've been there a few times. They know we're professional. You know, we anticipate that we'll get the green light. And then they eventually did. Speaker 1 (14:22) Okay. All right. Just curious how that all worked. Okay. So on this day, they're performing. And then afterwards, some people are doing Typhoon Lagoon and some are doing Hoopty D review. Anything else on this Saturday? Speaker 2 (14:34) Nope. I think we're just, we expect it to be a busy day. So probably not out too late and probably just a quick service dinner at the water park. Speaker 1 (14:43) Okay. Then let's talk about Sunday, August 16th. Speaker 2 (14:49) So this day, they have a workshop with cast members that's at Saratoga Springs. So they have to be at Saratoga at 10 o'clock and the workshop's 1030 to 1. And this is different from the performance in that we have to, for the performance, they have a bus coming to get them and bringing them back to Port Orleans. But for the workshop, we have to get them to and from Saratoga. And a lot of people, we had a big parent meeting and a lot of people were very concerned about the new rules, like they might not let us into Saratoga. I can't imagine, like, because we have this booked, I can't imagine that they're going to turn us away at the parking thing. So people were talking about, like, taking a bus from Port Orleans to a park and then another bus to Saratoga. Or, like, if you had a car, like, parking at Disney Springs and walking over. And I'm like, I don't think it's going to be, like, I think it's going to be fine. But I don't know. People were just nervous because the rules have changed so, you know, recently that people don't, you know, people that have been before don't really know what to expect, I think. But I assume it'll be okay. Speaker 1 (15:46) Yeah, you have an event there. So it makes sense. But it would help if Disney gave you something like a credential or something. Yeah. I don't really say Speaker 2 (15:55) anything. Just like be here at 10. I'm like, okay. Speaker 1 (15:58) Okay. But this is also really cool that the theater kids are doing this workshop with the performers. So do you know anything about like which performers it is or anything like that? Speaker 2 (16:11) I don't know anything about who they'll be working with. We did find out just recently that they're doing something from Tangled. So I don't really know. I don't really know what that means or what that looks like. But we get to, they tell the parents that you can come for the last 15 minutes and they'll do kind of just like an informal performance in that rehearsal space just for the parents. So they're going to like prepare something, I guess. But they, and they gave them like some music and. like some prep stuff. And I think like maybe a script, I don't know. So maybe they're doing like a scene, but we're kind of, yeah, we're kind of going in a little bit blind on that, but I'm sure it'll be cool. Speaker 1 (16:49) Yeah, no, I love it. I love that they're just, you know, they're being treated like performers. Like, you Speaker 2 (16:55) know, Speaker 1 (16:55) that's great. Speaker 2 (16:57) It sounds very much like, yeah, they treat them like your professionals coming in to work in this professional space. So that's pretty cool. Speaker 1 (17:03) And like, frankly, they're teenagers. So it makes sense to get them ready for, you know. adult life, if that's something they want to pursue. Speaker 2 (17:11) Yeah. Speaker 1 (17:11) So, okay. So then what do you plan on doing after the workshop? So then we'll probably Speaker 2 (17:17) go back to... Speaker 2 (17:20) Oh, we actually are moving this day to Riviera. I Speaker 1 (17:24) almost forgot about that. That's important. Speaker 2 (17:26) So this is really our last day with hanging out with the theater group. But we are going to switch resorts. We're switching to a one-bedroom villa at the Riviera. So I think what we will do is one of us will probably take Amelia to Saratoga for the workshop, and the other will work on getting the luggage up to Bell Services. And I think we're just going to have them transfer the luggage. So after the workshop, we'll just go straight to Riviera. Speaker 1 (17:53) Okay. Then to Riviera. Okay. So then what's your plan there? Speaker 2 (17:59) So then we'll get settled in there. Hopefully, you know, get into our room at a decent time. And then our last, like, big thing with the theater group is we're meeting at Magic Kingdom in the late afternoon. And no lightning late. Speaker 1 (18:13) You know, it's making me twitchy. It's like, how do you Speaker 2 (18:15) do this? I'm looking at the list and I'm like... Speaker 1 (18:18) But I also understand how difficult the logistics of that have been, which is why I asked, because I think that would be just really hard to coordinate. Yeah. Like, with people that don't know the parks as well, and you have to figure out if everyone can afford it and all that. So... Okay. Okay, so you are checking into Riviera, but you're meeting Magic Kingdom in, did you say late afternoon for the last meetup? Speaker 2 (18:42) Yes. And we have a 6.05 reservation at Be Our Guest. And a lot of people have reservations kind of like around, not that exact time, but around there. I'm not sure if we're going to keep it because I have a feeling the kids aren't going to want to spend that much time, devote that much time to a sit-down meal. So we have it. We'll think about it as we get closer. But I have a feeling that they would rather use that time, you know, in the park in another way. So we'll see. Speaker 1 (19:09) All right. And then you say goodbye to the group. Yep. And then part two, I assume, starts at that point. Okay. So then Monday, August 17th. Speaker 2 (19:21) So that's going to be a rest day because we got a lot going on in the days leading up. We're going to enjoy Riviera. And then my husband and I have an 1130 DVC tour. So I'm pretty excited for that. Speaker 1 (19:35) And is that tour at Riviera or somewhere else? Speaker 2 (19:37) Yeah, it's at the Riviera. Speaker 1 (19:40) I was going to ask you earlier, are you DVC owners? But you said you had rented points for Animal Kingdom Lodge. So are you really thinking about becoming DVC owners? Speaker 2 (19:48) I don't know. I've listened. I've done a lot of research. And I listened, you know, when you interviewed all the DVC owners. I've never really been able to make the math work for us in a way that made sense. Up until this trip, we've always stayed in like a studio or a regular hotel room. And this time we're going to try the one bedroom. So we'll see. It's like I want it to make sense for us. I have a Speaker 1 (20:12) feeling it's not Speaker 2 (20:12) going to, but we'll Speaker 1 (20:15) check it out. Okay, let us know how it goes. All right, what's after the tour? We're just going to do the pool at Riviera, Speaker 2 (20:22) and then I think we're going to take the Skyliner over to the boardwalk in the evening. And I have the only dining reservation I couldn't, I didn't make a ton of reservations, but the only one I couldn't get was Beaches and Cream I wanted to do that evening. So I have a mouse dining alert set, and I have a feeling. Like they'll probably come up as it gets closer. But if we can't do that, we'll probably just do something like quick service on the boardwalk. Speaker 1 (20:46) All right. Then what does Tuesday, August 18th look like? Speaker 2 (20:50) So we are going to go to Animal Kingdom in the morning and we have lightning lanes. So we've got an 8.05 for Kilimanjaro, a 10 o'clock for Navi, 11 for Flight of Passage, and then 12 for Cali River Rapids. Speaker 2 (21:06) And then the plan is we'll do a midday break. So as soon as we book our first or as soon as we scan in for our first Lightning Lane Animal Kingdom, we'll start trying to book for Hollywood Studios. And we'll go there in the evening. Well, like late afternoon, early evening. Speaker 1 (21:21) Okay. And with the ages of your kids, would it be safe to assume Bluey's not a priority? Speaker 2 (21:29) Bluey actually is a priority. So we love Bluey. Yeah, my kids were like, my younger one was kind of like right on the tail end of, but we all four of us, like my husband and I will find ourselves watching it and we'll be like, the kids aren't even in the room. So it's not. Like if we didn't fit it in, you know, it's not like the number one priority, but my kids definitely want to do it. So we'll try. You know, I've kind of explained to them what it is. Like, I'm like, I don't know if it's going to be super exciting for you, but they're like, well, Speaker 1 (21:58) we Speaker 2 (21:58) want to go. So we'll see. I don't know if they'll prioritize that over, you know, some of the rides. But there's also not a ton at Animal Kingdom right now. So Speaker 1 (22:06) it's like we Speaker 2 (22:07) want to do it, but if we don't get to it, it's not the end of the world either. Speaker 1 (22:10) I know you guys are show watchers, so there's shows too, I guess. Speaker 2 (22:14) That's true. Speaker 1 (22:17) All right. And then Hollywood Studios in the late afternoon and evening. What are your top priorities there? Speaker 2 (22:24) We have a 445 reservation at Roundup Rodeo. And I'd love to move that back more to like 630-ish, but I couldn't find an availability. So I have an alert set for that too, because I'd like to have a little bit of a longer break and then head there kind of more like evening. So we'll see if we can move that reservation a little. And then we have... an individual lightning lane for Rise. And then, like I said, we'll start trying to book some other ones at Hollywood Studios once we start using the Animal Kingdom ones. Speaker 1 (22:52) Yeah. All right. Then Wednesday, August 19th. Speaker 2 (22:57) So this is like a half rest day because it was supposed to be a rest day. But then somehow we ended up with like an extra park ticket that we hadn't allocated to a day. So we're going to hang out at the resort and, you know, have some downtime, but then head to Epcot like in the afternoon. So we have lightnings, lightning links booked for living with the land, Soarin', Frozen. We have Guardians. And then we have a 730 reservation at Via Napoli. Speaker 1 (23:27) Yeah, I mean, the nice thing about this is that during the group part of the trip, if you guys don't get to go on rides, it doesn't matter. You're going to have another chance. Speaker 2 (23:36) For sure. Speaker 1 (23:36) It feels lower stakes. That helps the anxiety a little bit, hopefully. Speaker 2 (23:41) Yeah. And like we've been on everything, you know, it's not, I think for the individuals that have never been before to have this kind of trip, it'll be very fun, you know, with a big group, but that's, it's a lot, you know, for your, if you don't, you know, you're not familiar, you feel like you want to get to certain things. That's a lot. Speaker 1 (23:58) Yeah. You're right. It's more pressure on other people that don't get to do it. It's often. You're right. Okay. So then let's talk about Thursday, August 20th. Speaker 2 (24:09) So we're definitely going to do Magic Kingdom like in the afternoon and evening. And I'm kind of playing it by ear. If we feel like we didn't have enough time at Animal Kingdom or really any of the other parks, we might do a different park in the morning and then hop to Magic Kingdom. Or we might do Magic Kingdom just all day or might do Magic. It's kind of open, but we know we want to finish at Magic Kingdom in the evening. So I have like afternoon lightning lanes booked at Magic Kingdom. If we decide to do it all day, I might try to pull them back, you know, book something in the morning. But then I have a three o'clock, uh, YLULU reservation that we may or may not keep. It's kind of a up in the air day. Speaker 1 (24:47) Okay. Catch all, if you will. Speaker 2 (24:50) Yeah. Kind of see, you know, it's such a long trip that I feel like we have a lot of bases covered. But if we get, you know, towards the end and we feel like there's something we didn't get to do, you know, that gives us some warning to do that. Speaker 1 (25:01) All right. Friday, August 21st, departure day. Do you have anything else going on? Speaker 2 (25:07) We're doing it on 1130 Topolino's breakfast. Speaker 1 (25:10) So Speaker 2 (25:11) that will be nice timing because we'll, you know, get out of the room. Right at 11, go there, and then we have a 4 o'clock or 4.05 flight home. Speaker 1 (25:21) That is good timing. And your commute is just an elevator ride up. All right. Speaker 2 (25:31) My husband and I have done the Topolino's breakfast, but my kids have never been, so I'm excited to take them. I think they'll like it. Speaker 1 (25:38) Yeah. Okay. Okay. Well, this is going to be a nice long trip. Yeah. Fingers crossed for, you know, weather. Speaker 1 (25:48) As much as possible. Speaker 2 (25:50) Yes. I'm ready for the heat. I just hope we don't get a lot of storms. It doesn't look like it's supposed to be too bad. So we'll see. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Speaker 1 (25:59) All right. Is there anything else we didn't get a chance to talk about then? No, I think we covered it. Okay, great. Then I hope you guys have a good time and I will talk to you in a couple of weeks to see how it went. Okay. Thank you, Shannon. Speaker 1 (26:15) Welcome back from your trip, Mallory. Thank you. We're talking on Monday, August 24th, so that means you've been back for a few days. How did your trip go overall? Speaker 2 (26:26) It was really good. It was a good long trip. So we were, you know, still a little bit of Disney blues, but we were also kind of ready to come home. Speaker 1 (26:35) You posted some stuff in the patron group, so I've been able to see some of the performances. So I'm excited to hear how it went from your view. So Wednesday, August 12th, let's start there where you're flying from Detroit. Yes. So Speaker 2 (26:50) we had easy flight, no problems. We'd left around noon in Detroit. We had TSA pre-check. Everything was very smooth. So we got to Orlando around three o'clock. And this was the first time we'd ever used like private transportation. Speaker 1 (27:04) So Speaker 2 (27:04) we went down to where you would meet ground transportation, but went out like the back, kind of like the exit direction. So we were almost walking out of the airport into like a parking garage. And then the vehicle was there to pick us up. So that was... like super easy it would be hard to this was kind of like a meant to be like a splurge just this time but it's gonna be hard to go back to anything else after that I think yes Speaker 1 (27:30) you feel a little bit spoiled now yeah Speaker 1 (27:34) Okay, so the transport took you to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Speaker 2 (27:38) Yes. So that was cast and crew transportation. And our driver's name was Edwin. And he was like, I asked him if he was ever a cast member because that's how he came off. Like it was like having like a minivan driver is how it felt because he like knew so much and was just really friendly. So he was great. Wait, Speaker 1 (27:56) the name of their business implies that maybe they had been cast members? Speaker 1 (28:02) Yeah, he said he had not. And I didn't even Speaker 2 (28:05) think about that, that that does imply that. So he said, yeah, he had never directly worked for Disney, but had just been doing this for a really long time. Speaker 1 (28:13) All right. So then was your room ready at Animal Kingdom Lodge or no? Speaker 2 (28:18) It was. So we, right when we were leaving the airport, I got the text that it was ready, which, so I don't know if they knew somehow, because we weren't on property yet. But I mean, literally as we were entering Orlando, I got the text. So we went straight to our room. We were in room 7848 in Kidani Village. And it was, it wasn't. like as far of a walk as it could be, but it was kind of like right at the end. So the rooms are kind of in like a U and we were kind of like at the end of the U. So it was a decent walk, not terrible. But I think because we were kind of at the end of the savanna, we didn't get a ton of the animals. So we saw some zebra, some... I don't know. I think like Impala. But I think I had this image in my head that there were just going to be these like drafts, you know, when we walked into our room. And that was maybe a little bit, a little bit of a lofty hope. Speaker 1 (29:13) But you saw some. Yes. Okay. And then your plan was to enjoy time at the resort. And that was like your main thing. So what did you have a chance to do on this day? Speaker 2 (29:24) Yes. So we went to the Kidani pool and we did the pool bar there for dinner. That was nice and super easy. It was very hot. So we were, you know, kind of acclimating to that. Then we went back to the room. I mobile ordered dessert from Sanaa and went and grabbed that and took it to the room and we just kind of hung out for a little bit. And then we wanted to check out Jumbo. We had never been over there. So we went over there. We took the internal shuttle to there and then we swam for a little bit. But we did not know the shuttle stops running at 1030 and we were not aware of that. So we walked up at like 1035 to go from Jumbo back to Kidani and they were like, oh, you just missed the last bus. So we had to walk back. It wasn't bad at night. I think it would have been a little rough if it had been sunny out, but it was like less than a 10 minute walk. It wasn't as far as I had thought it was going to be. So that was easy. And then we just went to bed. We were tired. Speaker 1 (30:16) Can you talk about, did you say that you swam at Jumbo? As well as Kidani? Yes. We Speaker 2 (30:22) spent more time at Kidani and the kids did the slide there. I don't think they did the slide at Jumbo. When we went to Jumbo, it was more like we kind of got in a pool for a little bit just to say we did because we were there. But I mean, both pools were really nice. Like we would have been happy using either one if we were doing an extended stay there. Speaker 1 (30:42) All right. So all about swimming on this day and checking out both sections of the resort. And then the next day was Thursday, August 13th, and you were heading over to Riverside. Speaker 2 (30:54) Yes. So we got up that morning and I mobile ordered breakfast from Sanaa. And we took that back to the room and kind of packed up to switch. The theme of this trip, as you'll see, is going to be that like sleeping in. We were not early risers on this trip at all. So on this day, we had a slow morning after our travel day. And I did not know that you had to have your bags down to Bell Services by 1130. And obviously checkout was at 11. We were not out of the room by 11. I did not ask for a late checkout. We just kind of didn't leave until a little bit later because that wasn't really the goal. It was kind of just what happened. But we got down there a little bit past 1130 and they were like, oh, you're too late for us to take the bags. So we had planned to just do like a regular Uber or Lyft to Port Orleans Riverside. But then because we had all the luggage, we ended up calling a minivan. And then we... did that to Port Orleans. And that worked out really well because she helped us, you know, we loaded everything up. There was plenty of room. And then while we were driving over there, we got the text that our room was ready, which was pretty early. But I think maybe because the whole group was kind of all in the same section, you know, and some people were already there, I think everything was ready pretty early. Speaker 1 (32:06) Okay. So then the minivan dropped you off close to your room then? Speaker 2 (32:10) Yes. So we were in Magnolia Bend in Building 80. So she was able to drop us off kind of like right there in that parking lot. We went straight to our room. We noticed at that point that I think one of my kids tried to open the room door and it didn't work. So I was like, oh boy. But mine worked. So we went into the room and dropped all our stuff. We started meeting up with friends because we were kind of just like running into people as we were going to our room because everybody was in the same section. So that was really fun. And then the kids were really anxious to... Some people had been there earlier, so they were heading to the park. So we left for the park. We took the bus to Hollywood Studios at 1.40. And the... bus station was like right outside of where our room was. So that was Speaker 1 (32:55) really great. Speaker 2 (32:57) But then we got to Hollywood Studios and we went to scan in. We realized we did have some magic band issues. So we do Disneyland a lot because we've got family in L.A. And our last I've noticed that whenever we go back and forth between the two, there's always a problem with the magic bands. And apparently their systems like don't connect. I don't know. And I don't know how this happened. But for some reason, my husband scanned