transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] In this episode of the Ear Scouts Podcast, we are joined by our friends from the Dis-List to help us list out our favorite park hopping strategies. So hop along with us as we head all around Walt Disney World. Welcome everyone, today is gonna be a little different over here on Ear Scouts. Rob and Eric are both taking some much deserved time off. So we are gonna get some help today here on the podcast. For those of you that are new, welcome. I'm Jessica, co-host of the Ear Scout Podcast and host of Jessica Scraps over on YouTube, coming to you live from Connecticut. With me from Indiana is the other co-host of Ear Scouts and our Disney history expert, Quizmaster Craig. Hi-ho, Craig.

Speaker 2:
[00:48] Hi-ho, everybody. Great to be here. Looking forward to tonight.

Speaker 1:
[00:52] Craig is going to be taking over for Eric and handling the Patreon Q&A today as well. So just a reminder, we're live on Ear Scouts Patreon, and we'll be fielding questions from our Patreons during the podcast. If you're interested in getting in on the live, or often our hilarious behind-the-scenes moments, or our exclusive podcast afterparty where we answer more questions and chat about the show and anything else we can think of, head on over to patreon.com/earscouts. And while you're over on Patreon, head over to patreon.com/dis-listpod to get information on our special guests. Straight from their studios in New York, it's Rob and Nick from the Dis-List. Many of you will remember Rob. He helped us kick off the podcast last year. I did. Hi, Rob. Thanks for me in here.

Speaker 3:
[01:40] Thanks for having me on the show so people can hear me. Normally, I play the evil villain in the chat.

Speaker 1:
[01:49] But don't worry, in my Dis-List mug, guess what I have?

Speaker 3:
[01:55] So Joffrey.

Speaker 1:
[01:57] Bourbon would be a very good guess.

Speaker 3:
[02:01] Perfect distraction. Nick, elaborate, please.

Speaker 4:
[02:04] No.

Speaker 3:
[02:05] No, everyone loves ripping on me.

Speaker 1:
[02:08] But actually, it's...

Speaker 4:
[02:09] Oh, your own beer.

Speaker 3:
[02:11] No, Joffrey's.

Speaker 1:
[02:12] I can also have my own beer. It's Joffrey's Coffee. Just for you, Rob, just for you.

Speaker 3:
[02:17] Part of me. Actually, I found Joffrey's Coffee today in my cabinet, and I was really excited to make it. I swear I was going to make it this morning and be like, here it is. But it was the 50th anniversary Joffrey's Coffee that I brought back. So do the math. It's probably old. So I decided to pass on it. Pass on it. Yeah. Anyway.

Speaker 1:
[02:36] Yeah. You should just cut that and scrapbook the paper. That's what I would do. And also joining us for the first time is Dis-List, Nick. Thank you for joining us. Hi-ho, Nick.

Speaker 4:
[02:50] Hi. Hey, everybody. This is such an honor, honestly. I've been looking forward to do this. When Rob reached out last week, I was really excited to be able to join you guys and say that Rob and I can come, Dis-List Rob and I could come on and bring a little bit of our flavor to this podcast. So I'm looking forward to it.

Speaker 1:
[03:12] Well, we're excited to have you. It's good for Craig and I to have a little bit of fun. And in honor of our Dis-List crossover, each of us today is going to be giving you our plans for our top three park hopping strategies. So we're going to do a list of our own. But I thought before we got started, it might be good if we described what park hopping was. So I'm going to turn it over to Craig. Craig, why don't you describe what we mean when we say park hopping?

Speaker 2:
[03:36] Sure, sure. It's pretty basic. So Disney World offers two different kinds of park admission. The one day one park ticket and the park hopper ticket. So with the one day one park ticket, obviously you can just go to one park for that day. But with the park hopper option, you can jump from one park to another as much as you like. So this option is about $90 to $95 to add on to the one day one park, if you're there for more than four days. So if you have a four day ticket, you pay an extra $90. If it's seven days or longer, it's $95. But your park hopping privileges are good for the entire length of that ticket. So and also if you purchase Lightning Lane multi-pass for one park, that automatically includes park hopping. So say you start your day in the Magic Kingdom, you get a multi-pass for Magic Kingdom, you want to go to Epcot. After you tap in at the Magic Kingdom, you are able to start reserving Lightning Lanes for your second park or third park, if that's what your day looks like. So but also just so you know, annual passes that park hopping is automatically included in those as well.

Speaker 1:
[04:49] I thought it would be good to clarify that park hopping is typically just the four parks, but you can purchase Park Hopper Plus, which you could do the water parks. Typically that's an extra cost. So but it is, I was surprised when you said it's only $95 because I've had an annual pass for so long. Is it really only $95 extra for the whole time you park hop?

Speaker 4:
[05:10] Correct.

Speaker 2:
[05:11] Seven days or longer, it's only, it's $95. Gosh, I remember it was $45. So yeah, it's always just like a flat fee demand, no matter how long your tickets are.

Speaker 4:
[05:20] It's actually if you don't purchase through Disney, so if you purchase through a partner, Unlock Magic, Undercover Tourist, any of those people. Because their stuff is a percentage off, it's a percentage off of the Park Hopper as well. And so you're actually up charges even less. Because I think I want to say I paid an extra $80 for my entire eight day ticket for Park Hopper this summer.

Speaker 1:
[05:45] Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
[05:47] I rarely would buy anything from Disney Direct. There's so many nice discounts out there and they're very easy and they're totally legit. So.

Speaker 1:
[05:54] Yeah, because that's what, so my mom and I are going in a few, in a couple of weeks. And I asked her, I said, Mom, you don't have to buy the Park Hopper. And she said, it's almost the exact same cost. And I thought, oh, she's just moming me. But it really is, it's not that much more to get the Park Hopper. So that's a good to know. I haven't bought tickets in a while because of the annual pass, so.

Speaker 3:
[06:15] Early on when we started doing this podcast and I was getting into Park Hopping, this is related. I remember talking with Nick and saying, okay, I think I'm gonna do four days, just like a single park. And then the fifth day, I'm gonna make a Park Hopper. He's like, dude, you can't do that. I'm like, why not? That sounds great. He's like, sure, it sounds great. Well, I just wanted to bring that up because early on I was thinking, let's mix and match, right? Because it sounds like, okay, I'm gonna get a little from this table and a little from this table. You can't do that. You have to get your entire lengthier stay. Credit to Nick. He's the one that explains to me. I didn't know. I just thought, okay, I'm gonna do one day Park Hopper, blah, blah, blah. So just so listeners know, here's a tip. If you get a Park Hopper, it needs to be for the duration of your, so if you're there for eight days, you have Park Hopper for eight days, you can't pick and choose.

Speaker 1:
[07:09] So now that we know what Park Hopping is and what it isn't, we're gonna get to our lists. But before we get up to our lists, each of us will give you just an idea of when we would Park Hop and maybe when we wouldn't Park Hop and how it works for our particular family. So let's get started and we're gonna start with Nick. Nick, what's your number three Park Hopping strategy?

Speaker 4:
[07:30] So, first off, as far as why I Park Hop, you know, to kind of get that out of the way, I am a fan of quality over quantity. So we just recently had a show where we talked about how Rob and I disagree. Rob loves the marathon days. Spend the whole day at one park, go from, you know, open to close. I like the quality of, okay, I can go back to my resort and then bounce over somewhere else. So for me and my family, it's an easier way to kind of not get burned out and not be locked in to having to go back to the same park that we came from. That also comes into play because I'm a DVC owner and my home resort is at the Polynesian. When you're DVC owner and your home resorts are on the monorail loop, having a park hopper is kind of a no-brainer because you're going to want to go into that magic kingdom some night. It might only be one night of your trip, but like Rob said, you can't pick and choose. So you add the park hopper for your whole duration. My number three park hopping tip is to have it for a day where you're going to kind of be relaxed. And by relaxed, I'm talking more along the lines of you're not going to get up for rope drop or you maybe don't have early entry. Okay. So if you're somebody who maybe wanted to slow roll the morning and you wanted to eat breakfast in your hotel room or maybe you're off property, so you don't have the early entry and it takes a little longer to get over there. I think starting over at the Magic Kingdom is the way to go. Okay. And when you're in there, you don't want to think about spending a whole day there where you maybe would go, let's say you're going to rope drop, you're going to go to seven dwarves. You have to think about what kind of day you're trying to have. Maybe a little bit more of a laid back day. Pick and choose the lands in rope drop day that you are in your park hop day that you want to accomplish and you want to get out of the way. So for me, on a relaxed day, I might think about going to Magic Kingdom, go left. So we're going to go and try and knock out some rides in Adventureland, go to Frontierland. We're not going to be fighting with that early entry crowd because we're not going, we're not worried about early entry. And then also maybe hit up Hotton Mansion, Rob's favorite, you know, hit up that area. But we're kind of just slow rolling it. We're going to take in the sights, kind of relaxed, and then up to you, how you want to do your food. But for me, what I would probably do at that point is if I'm not super hungry because maybe I ate a later breakfast or maybe a bigger breakfast, maybe that's why I wasn't there for early entry. Leave, get on that monorail and head to Epcot. Look, the World Showcase doesn't open with the rope drop anyway. So now you're going to go straight to the back of the park. And this will be your day to tour the pavilions, not your day for remis because you're probably not going to, unless you have lightning lane, you may be able to have pulled that off. This is about a relaxed family day. This isn't about this particular plan. This particular tip is more about if I'm not looking to just accomplish every single ride, go, go, go. But more like let's have a laid back day. Heading into that World Showcase to me is the way to go here. See those pavilions, see the shows, which are so underrated. Whether it's Circle Vision in Canada, whether you're just stopping and listening to the drummers in Japan, seeing those kinds of things that maybe you skip because I've got to get in line for Frozen. I've got to get to Remy. I have to get this new festival food. This is the day of relaxation. Take your time, slow roll the morning, go into Magic Kingdom, pick one or two lands on the left. I would say go to the left. That's going to be the easier ones to kind of knock out. And plus they're the better lands. And then you can come back and go to Epcot, knock out the stuff that wasn't even open when you woke up and ate breakfast anyhow. So you wouldn't have done anything. And go and do the World Showcase.

Speaker 1:
[11:31] Yeah, I love it. And just to clarify, because sometimes we forget that maybe somebody is listening to us who's a newer to Disney World. You're saying go to the left.

Speaker 4:
[11:39] Oh, sorry, of the hub, at the hub.

Speaker 1:
[11:41] Of the hub. And the reason you're saying that is because we have early entry and we have rope drop. And one of the questions I saw recently on a different forum was, what's the difference between early entry and rope drop? So, Rob, do you want to handle that one? What's the difference in early entry and rope drop? At Magic Kingdom specifically?

Speaker 3:
[12:02] Early entry and rope drop? Well, I guess that also has to do with what resort you're staying at. So if you're staying at a Disney resort, you get that early entry for a half an hour, but it also includes the Good Neighbor resorts. I had to remember the name of that place. The Good Neighbor resorts are the ones over by Disney Springs and the Swan and Dolphin. Rope drop just means you are there, and sometimes they have a physical rope, sometimes they don't. That's actually when you can get into the park, but early entry is actually something that's a bonus that you can get. Is that what you meant, or you want more than that?

Speaker 1:
[12:41] Yeah, well, just for Magic Kingdom specifically, Nick said he was going to go left. Yeah, because I assume...

Speaker 3:
[12:46] Oh, right. If you go to the right, that's the only way you can go. They're all going to funnel all the traffic over by, I call it the Merida area. You know what I mean there?

Speaker 4:
[12:54] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[12:55] Kind of by over by Mad Tea Party.

Speaker 1:
[12:58] Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[12:59] Yep. Yeah, so if you go early entry, that's the only way you can go. That's the only part of the park that's open. Tomorrowland and then, you know, you've got Peter Pan is technically open and Small World is open, right? And I believe...

Speaker 1:
[13:13] Fantasyland is typically open.

Speaker 4:
[13:15] Okay, the all of Fantasyland. For some reason, I thought some of the rides weren't.

Speaker 1:
[13:18] So Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, typically.

Speaker 4:
[13:21] And I probably thought that some of them aren't because a lot of times, Seven Doors Mine Train is down in the morning. You show up and it's down, and then you went that way for no reason. That's another reason why I rarely do early entry at Magic Kingdom, because to me, the only ride that really, if it's open, makes sense to worry about is that ride, because I can get into the line for Peter Pan later in night, because my kids are going to last later in night, and so that line dies down usually around, I say dies down, but you know what I mean, gets a little bit less, around the six to seven, somewhere in there.

Speaker 1:
[13:57] But so I think that's a great strategy, because like you're saying, if you get there a little bit later, and you avoid the Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, but you go straight to Adventureland, Frontierland. I think that's what we did, Craig, when we were there, with you and John and I. So that was really cool. So Craig, why don't you give us your number three strategy, and when do you choose to park hop?

Speaker 2:
[14:19] So yeah, park hop, I love park hopping. Just for the freedom. It just makes things a lot easier. You can do things on the fly. You can change your plans if you need to. That's my big thing. And it also gives you a chance to take a break. Almost forces you to take that break that I always recommend. Go back to your hotel, take a nap, take a rest, chill out, go have a nice dinner or lunch someplace, swim, take that break. And that's a lot easier with a park hopper that you can then go somewhere else. So my number three, and this is a three-park fun day. So we're going to start in Epcot because that's my favorite part. And we're just going to do that. So we're going to start in there. We're going to either rope drop or early entry if it's available. And we're just going to get the rides that we want to get. So this is all about getting in rides that you want to do, but you know you're not going to do everything, because you're going to try to get the three parks in. So, and when you're at Epcot, plan for a nice sit-down lunch at one of the wonderful restaurants they have, or if there's a festival going on, you can enjoy those festival booths. You can definitely fill up on the air. So once you started in Epcot, and if you do have Lightning Lane, you don't, again, you don't need it. If you want to do a lot of rides, get Lightning Lane. If you're not that interested in getting all the rides in, you probably wouldn't need it. But once you have entered Epcot and you started riding rides, you can stack up some Lightning Lanes for Animal Kingdom. And then after that, I would say that's when you take your break. Take a little resort break if you need one. Otherwise, just go ahead and head into Animal Kingdom. Take advantage of the lighter crowds that happen later in the day, in the afternoon. Animal Kingdom does open early, but also closes a lot earlier than the other parks. And people just basically consider it a half-day park. The majority of people, and we've talked about this before, the majority of people are going to show up at opening. And it's going to be very crowded at opening, but as the day goes on, people are moving to their next park. So this is my strategy to start in Epcot, then go to Animal Kingdom to take advantage of that. Getting in line for a flight of passage right before it closes, it's a great tip. Well, you can usually get a really short line, no matter what time you start in that line, even if it's a minute before closing, you're going to get to ride. And also, if you go in the cooler months, hopefully Animal Kingdom will be open up later when it's dark, because that's another big recommendation. If you've never been to Animal Kingdom in the dark, you've never seen Pandora in the dark, you need to. It's quite an experience, totally different. And I think hopefully once Tropical Americas opens, that will be the case, so hopefully we'll get more later evenings in Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 4:
[16:58] That's the rumor. That's the rumor.

Speaker 2:
[17:00] Fingers crossed. So then go ahead and have a nice dinner wherever at your resort, at a park, and then you're going to go watch fireworks. So you can go back to Epcot, you can go to Hollywood Studios to see Fantastic, or you can go to Magic Kingdom for Happily Ever After. Depends on what you want to do. Now, my alternative plan is to make dinner reservations at California Grill or Narcosis to see Happily Ever After in the Monorail Resort area, or Topolino's Terrace to watch Luminous. And you can also do a dinner package for Fantasmic too, if that suits your plan. But yeah, that's a great way to get in. You got three parks, you're not going too crazy. You get to see the fireworks, so you have a few nice meals planned in there, and a nice leisurely afternoon in Animal Kingdom.

Speaker 1:
[17:54] Yeah, I think that's great. I think I don't, I mean, spoiler alert, I don't usually think about going to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. So I think that's a great option for people. I love that. Rob, what about your third, your number three?

Speaker 3:
[18:06] My number three, I'm calling The Kingdoms. This is going to be an Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom. And I know what Nick's thinking, and I'll get to that. So we're going to start off the day at Animal Kingdom. We're going to go left again, because when you enter Animal Kingdom, you walk through this little area with animals, I call it the jungle. And then you go right to the Tree of Life, you take a left, do a flight of passage right away, do the safari early, because that's when a lot of the animals are active. Pro tip, another time that they're really active, and my wife and I experienced this, is in the rain. When it's rainy, they all come out. It was awesome. It was the best one we ever had because it was pouring rain, and those animals were ready to party. And then, got to do Everest, love Everest. Wish they'd fix the Yeti. I don't want to go too much back on that. Go back and do Navi River Journey, which I like, Nick hates. It's another one where we differ. My family loves to sing along. Shout out to my family, they're watching. Go Bills. And then eat at Satuli Canteen, which is probably one of my favorite restaurants in all of Animal Kingdom. But then here's the best part. Then you have to prepare yourself because this bus ride is long, right Nick? When you're anywhere from, and I looked this up, I said, I looked up when's the average bus, when's the average bus time to go from Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. It gave me 45 to 75 minutes. So I thought, all right, that might be a good time to take a nap. So take your wallet and tuck it under your armpit and just take a little nap. Show up at the Magic Kingdom.

Speaker 4:
[19:57] I'm worried about the other armpits. It's the other armpits, not the wallet.

Speaker 1:
[20:01] I'm not, I've never thought about hiding my wallet on a Disney bus, but I'm just like, it's not the place I'm sleeping.

Speaker 3:
[20:08] Well, I usually have it. I use my Magic Band a lot of times anyways, but anyway.

Speaker 2:
[20:11] And you're not actually on the bus for that time.

Speaker 1:
[20:13] I was going to say most of that's on a bus. You're in a queue.

Speaker 2:
[20:16] I do not recommend taking a nap at a bus stop.

Speaker 1:
[20:19] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[20:19] That can be tragic.

Speaker 3:
[20:20] No, don't do that either. So then you head back over to Magic Kingdom, which is great at night. It's usually open a little later. So Animal Kingdom closes early. Magic Kingdom stays late. Usually the latest park that's open. But one thing that I'm going to recommend, this may show up again too, is end your night. I mean, ride whatever you feel like riding. I have a whole list, but I want to keep the ball rolling here. End your night with timing it just right. And Nick and I tried this, but it closed on us. We tried to do this the time that we were there together is getting on Seven Dwarfs Mine Train while the fireworks are going off, which we did on accident during the day. Once we were riding through, we came around the corner over there by Bell's Castle, and the fireworks were going off while we were on it. And I haven't timed this perfectly. I may have another one that I'm going to mention later. But when you're riding on Mine Train, seeing those fireworks go off, it's got to be incredible. So again, I'm sort of paraphrasing a little bit, but we're going to call that one The Kingdoms, which leads number three over to Jessica. Hit it.

Speaker 1:
[21:28] It does lead number three over to me. So we were walking to dinner, and Belle, my daughter, who's named Belle, so her favorite princess is Mulan. So that's my life right there, just in case you wanted to know.

Speaker 3:
[21:43] I have a similar story.

Speaker 1:
[21:44] So she's Mulan. But we were walking, and she asked what the topic is. She always wants to know what our topic is. And I said, park hopping. And I said, when should we park hop? And she said, well, Mom, you told us. We only park hop if we don't want to do everything. In any park. Because you can't do everything in one park if you're going to park hop. And I thought that was an interesting kind of... Apparently, I've said this. But if you really wanted to do, in my family, if you want to do everything in Magic Kingdom, that is not a park hopping day. You just do the open to close, and you just hardcore it. But now, a lot of times we use park hopping when we have specific things we want to do at different parks, and we know we don't want to do everything at any park. So it's kind of a combo day. So my number three strategy is one that hits us quite often. One of the big reasons we got annual passes is because John and I wanted to be able to go to every festival at Epcot. The Epcot festivals are one of our favorite things. We love to do the festival activities. We love to do the festival food, the extras, the concerts. That to me means that I want to be at Epcot when the festival is in full swing. That doesn't start till 11 o'clock. The festivals don't start typically to 11, and a lot of the activities don't start till after lunch. One of our tried and true strategies for park hopping is we start, particularly if we have early entry at Hollywood Studios and we go directly to Rise of the Resistance. I have a real hard time paying for Rise of the Resistance because almost every trip I'm there, it's under 30 minutes. I can get it for under 30 minutes. So we go, yeah, at some point during the trip, it's always low and John will make fun of me because it's like I know I have a psychic connection. And I'll be like, we're heading to Rise of the Resistance and we'll drop away everything.

Speaker 4:
[23:39] It's the force, it's not psychic, it's the force.

Speaker 1:
[23:41] It's the force, that's true, it is the force. Much better, I should have said that.

Speaker 3:
[23:44] That's a layup.

Speaker 1:
[23:45] That was a layup, I love it.

Speaker 3:
[23:47] The midichlorians, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[23:50] So we usually start with Rise of the Resistance and then we start with our favorite, our favorite breakfast in all of the parks, breakfast rancho wraps.

Speaker 3:
[23:58] So good.

Speaker 1:
[23:59] Breakfast rancho wraps are particularly, although I'm not a vegetarian, I cannot eat pork or beef. So the vegetarian breakfast wrap is high protein, really good, very flavorful. And then John loves the regular sausage breakfast wrap. So those are the best breakfast on property. And I can get the cocoa puffs in a spiked coffee. So you've got it all, all there. So we usually start there, and then we will do Runaway Railway, because that's another one of our favorite rides. And then we hit the Skyliner. That is typically all we do in Hollywood studios on these days. Rise Resistance, Runaway Railway, depending on timing, we may hit Toy Story Mania, but may not. And then we're Skyliner over to Epcot, and we'll be in the back. And usually that's where all the festival magic happens. So we can start in the back, we can get festival food, we can walk around the festival, start seeing if it's festival of the arts, the artists, if it's festival of the holidays, we can start seeing the different holiday storytellers. If it's food and wine, we have food and wine, because that's all there is. That's all they do. That's all they do anymore. If it's, and if it's flower and garden, we get to see the topi areas, and sometimes they have some really cool people selling different plant-based kind of items. But for us, that combination allows us to do the things we really like to do in the morning, get my favorite ride on property, and get that done, and then really enjoy the festivals. And we probably, on a festival day, unless it's a music concert that we like, now Candlelight Processional, we'll try to get the dinner package or the lunch package, depending if we can, and then go to either the concert for the festival, that's typically not the day that we stay for Luminous. If we're doing a big festival day where we're walking around, we may do the concert at 545 or 630, but we probably will not stay the whole night on that kind of a park hopping day. So that's one of our tried and true is Hollywood Studios to an Epcot Festival. I would say we do it almost every time we go when there's a festival. So that's my number three. But Craig, are we hearing anything in the Patreon right now? Is there anything, anybody in the Patreon has?

Speaker 2:
[26:19] You should have asked Eric. Well, yes. So Sarah has, she says she's dying to see whether Craig's my strategy for Animal Kingdom will involve Nomad Lounge. And what I think about getting on the wait list a bit later. So I mean, you're taking a risk for that for sure. Unfortunately, you can't make reservations. But there's always that bar. I'm telling you, I've had, always had great luck just walking in and they're all going to be a bar seat or two if I need them. So but yeah, again, it's that's the great thing about park hopping. If something doesn't happen, you pivot and you have something else in mind. So yeah, just keep it open. If you don't get to Nomad Lounge, Satoole Cafe, another great place.

Speaker 1:
[27:06] So okay, well, we are on to number two. We're just we're doing great here. So Nick, we're going to throw it back to you for your number two strategy.

Speaker 4:
[27:14] My number two, like on our show, a lot of times what happens is Rob says something or I say something, and it's like a piggyback, like, hey, you just took my idea.

Speaker 3:
[27:25] So Jessica, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[27:28] So Jessica, you just took basically what my second one would be. Except for mine's a little bit different because what I would say is this. Oh, and Rob too. Rob's pointing at himself too. So for me, mine isn't about, like you said, it's going to be kind of our laid back day in the where you're going to just hit a couple of rides in Hollywood Studios and then you're going to go and do the festival stuff. And while that's great, the festivals aren't always, almost always, but aren't always active, right? So mine is not about a festival day. Although it could be applied to food and wine because food and wine might as well not be a festival day either. But that's a whole other, that's a whole other.

Speaker 1:
[28:13] I wore my food and wine ears just so we could talk about that.

Speaker 4:
[28:16] Yeah. So for me, I'm going to start at Hollywood Studios and I too, the very first thing I'm doing is I'm going to go rope drop and I'm going to do early entry and I'm going to head right over to Rise of the Resistance. And guess what? Even if it's down early in the morning, even if it's not open with the park, your weight is going to be less than later in the day. Do not, now I'm going to repeat this, do not spend the money for that lightning lane. To me, you don't need to. However, in my particular idea here, we are getting lightning lane multi-pass because this is a day for me that I'm going to hit the big hitters. Because the big hitter rides, with the exception of Tron, all reside right here at Hollywood Studios and Epcot. So we're going to do, for me, you're going to go and do your rise to the resistance. If the line's not horrible when you get off rise to the resistance, especially if you had early entry, perhaps you might want to jump in, especially if it's post-Mando being introduced. You might want to hop on to Smuggler's Run. If you have the lightning lane multi-pass, you're going to do whatever ride you prioritize. Because to me, you should have prioritized either looking at getting Slinky Dog, and if you were able to pull early morning Slinky, then obviously you're going to do that. And then sentimentally for me, I would actually prioritize also Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. I love that ride. It is probably my second favorite ride in that park. And it's borderline, because I've had some bad luck with Rise of the Resistance. So for me, something that's way more consistent in Mickey and Minnie's hits a little bit different.

Speaker 3:
[30:08] We need to do an episode on that park again, Nick. We should.

Speaker 4:
[30:11] We should.

Speaker 3:
[30:12] Both of us have had a lot of things change.

Speaker 4:
[30:14] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[30:14] We got to revisit.

Speaker 4:
[30:15] For me, after that, I'm going to jump out just like you did. I'm not even worried about the back half of that park going down the boulevard, because yes, Tower of Terror is great. Don't get me wrong. But I don't need to be scared that much early in the morning. I just ate some breakfast. I didn't eat Ronto Roasters. I stopped and got my favorite in that park. Even though I go to Ronto Roasters for lunch, because I love their Ronto, and I can't do them back to back with breakfast and lunch. But I usually get the pop tart. Yeah. The lunch box tarts.

Speaker 3:
[30:51] I knew you were going to say that.

Speaker 4:
[30:53] And then we head out of the park, and we're going to get on the skyliner, just like you said, at this point, because we got, if we did it, if we did it right, we got Lightning Lane Multipass, and we're going to have a Lightning Lane, possibly for Remy's. If not, it's okay, because what we did buy, we didn't waste money on Rise of the Resistance, because we spent the cash on Guardians, for our later in the afternoon Guardians one. We're going to go and do our thing in Epcot. We're going to ride the rides we want. We're going to be okay with waiting in line. We're going to go in, wait for Remy's, if we don't have a lightning lane. We're going to wait in Frozen, if we don't have a lightning lane. And then we've always got in our back pocket, the fact that we have the lightning lane that we purchased for Guardians Cosmic Rewind. At the end of the night, you can choose what to do. You want to stay for the fireworks, great. If you don't want to, fine. Maybe you want to hop to a third park for fireworks, or go back and hit up Fantasmic. So you've got a lot of options there. This is one I've employed, one I've stayed at Beach Club. So if you're in those Beach Club area resorts, it's a great park hopping strategy because you can get much quicker to the early entry rope drop from Boardwalk, then you are from Boardwalk and from Beach Club, then you can from other parks or other resorts. Yeah, the buses and everything in the Ubers and whatnot are going to drop you off close, but that's Skyliner is running pretty early. You can get there pretty easily to get there for that rope drop. So that's my number two is going from Hollywood Studios to Epcot, hitting the big hitters.

Speaker 1:
[32:32] Yeah, I like how he did the same parks, but had totally different ideas. Totally different strategies. But we're always going to Rise of the Resistance because it's the best ride on property. Okay. So Craig, what's your number two strategy?

Speaker 2:
[32:46] Okay. You are not going to believe what my second park strategy is.

Speaker 3:
[32:51] No, all four of us?

Speaker 2:
[32:52] It's going from Hollywood Studios to Epcot. But, so basically, I built this strategy around staying at one of the Epcot area resorts, which is Boardwalk Beach Club, Yacht Club, Swan, Swan Reserve and Dolphin. So I'm going to start my days in Hollywood Studios, get there nice and early because you can walk there, you can get there, you don't even have to worry about the skyline, you don't even have to worry about the buses, you don't have to worry about Uber. You're going to walk, you're going to get there when you want to get there. So I'm going to start my day in the studios, get in there nice and early, and I do love to start my day on a thrill ride as opposed to Nick. Like, that's my coffee, that's my adrenaline rush. I want to get on Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror as soon as possible. Then I can get my coffee. But that's just a personal thing. It's just being on a roller coaster first thing in the morning, that's just love it, love it, love it, love it. So anyway, so then I'm going to take, after I do whatever rides I feel like doing in the studios, and I'm not doing multi-pass again, this is not a big ride plan day. So just get your faves in, see some shows as well. That's another thing I love to do in the studios. There's some great shows right now too. So then I'm going to go take my long break at my resort midday. And again, it's going to be right there. Just take the Skyliner back to Epcot, go hang out in my resort for a while, take a good nap, get some swimming in. So then I'm going to go to my favorite park, which is Epcot. So again, if there's any rides I want to jump on, if the wait times are short, we can do that. But, and I'm talking about getting there like five or six. And at this point, I'm going to enjoy World Showcase, because that is literally my happy place. For some reason, walking clockwise into Morocco, it gets me every time. It's the music, especially at night with the lighting, and it's just like, there's no place else I'd rather be than right here and right now. And again, at some point, you're going to want to catch dinner, wonderful sit-down restaurants, all over World Showcase, and some great places in the other lands as well. Or you can eat at the festival booths if a festival is going on. So at the end of the night, I'm going to head to Norway, which is one of my favorite spots to watch Luminous. It's usually not too crowded. Sight lines are generally good. There's like a tree there, but as long as you don't have that tree blocking, you're just a few steps to the side, you're going to be fine. And another reason I love Norway, especially if you're staying at an Epcot area resort, is the walk back is just so nice and calm. Like everyone else is fighting to get out. You're just relaxing, enjoying the vibes, enjoying the music. The fountains from Luminous are still going with the lights. It's beautiful. And then once you get out of the park, you can see that huge long line for the Skyliner. And all you have to do is just keep walking to your nice little resort. But that's my bougie look at Epcot area resorts.

Speaker 1:
[36:08] I like it.

Speaker 2:
[36:09] I like it. But I do love them so much.

Speaker 1:
[36:13] Excellent. Excellent. So hey, Rob, what's your number two strategy?

Speaker 3:
[36:19] My number two, I have a name for it. It's the Skyliner Scoot, okay? And this is from Hollywood Studios to Epcot. Mine still has a little bit of a different flavor than everybody else's. So you start off at Hollywood Studios. I'm probably going to start at Rock and Roller Coaster because I want to experience the new Muppets ride that Nick and I came up with the concept of and that they listened to us on our show.

Speaker 1:
[36:43] They stole it from you.

Speaker 3:
[36:44] They stole it. We came up with this way back in episode 11, and then like they heard us and they ended up-

Speaker 4:
[36:50] 35, I think, actually.

Speaker 3:
[36:51] Probably. I bet you he's right. He's the numbers guy. He's the math teacher. So I'm going to start there at Rock and Roller Coaster just because I want to experience it. I want to see, I'm hearing there's an animatronic scooter. And anyway, I'm just excited it's not Aerosmith. I'm going to do a couple of the thrill rides here. Rise, if the line is short enough. Slinky, I forget how good Slinky is. The last time we were there, we rode Slinky, and as I'm riding it, I'm like, this ride is so good. I forgot how good that ride is. So we're going to take our time. We're going to kind of do what we can do. And Nick has the strategy of just knocking everything off at lunchtime and then piecing out. But I'm going to do this one a little bit different as we're going to have a little bit of an earlier dinner and one of my favorite places. It's kind of a polarizing place. You love it or you hate it. The sci-fi dining. We love the sci-fi dining. See, he's shaking his head. Nick hates it. I love it.

Speaker 1:
[37:44] Change the menu there too, by the way.

Speaker 3:
[37:46] Does he still have a hamburger on the menu? Then I'm okay.

Speaker 1:
[37:49] I don't know. I didn't see what they made the menu. It was just one of the ones that had the menu change.

Speaker 3:
[37:53] So anyway, let me explain what it is. It's like a giant room that you're in that looks like you're in an old drive-in. I'm not saying the food is the greatest. I love the vibe and I just want a burger, and that's a great place to go. It's not bad. It's not good. I got like a bacon cheeseburger last time. It was fun. We stayed for that whole loop. So then what we're going to do is we did. We stayed and it looped all the way around. And I looked at my wife and said, okay, we can go now. And they were fine with it. They were good. The only weird part is arc. We have there's four people as me, my wife and my two kids. And then it was a car of six and there were two other people in the backseat behind my kids. It was a little weird. Anyway, so then we're going to get on the skyliner. We're going to go over to Epcot. Surprise, surprise, just like everybody else. But mine's a little different. We're going to walk off that hamburger. So we're going to get off the skyliner. We're going to walk over to Mexico. We're going to grab a margarita. And then no one said this yet. We're going to shop. We're going to go over to creation shop and look for mugs and look for t-shirts and look for magnets and pins and all the cool stuff that we like to go shop for. So I like that shop quite a bit. So then we're going to keep our eye on the app and we're going to look at what the line is and see if we can possibly see if we can get in for guardians or test track because we're in that general area. Then we get to see fireworks, we get to watch Spaceship Earth with the light show. So again, a little bit different than everybody else, but I think that would be my Skyliner Scoot. That's my number two.

Speaker 1:
[39:27] Yeah, I think that's a great. I think you mentioned the light show on Epcot. I think that on Spaceship Earth, I think that's something I forget about because a lot of the times I'm doing. At night, I'm in the back in World Showcase and I don't see the ball and I'm watching Luminous and I forget. It's funny because I go to Epcot all the time and I forget about the light on Epcot. It's great. Do we have anything else from the chat?

Speaker 3:
[39:53] Sure. Brittany had a great question. Would it scare a six-year-old? I've been curious. Fun fact, the entire thing is on YouTube. They mean sci-fi.

Speaker 1:
[40:03] Oh, sci-fi.

Speaker 3:
[40:04] That loop I'm referring to that has all the different trailers on it, it's on YouTube and you can watch it. So if you want to test the waters, Brittany, try it out. Put it on and see how it goes. If it's too scary, then you didn't waste your money.

Speaker 1:
[40:17] I can't imagine it would be, it's got to be all GE rated. I mean, it's Disney. I don't remember. I've been there a couple of times, but I don't remember.

Speaker 3:
[40:26] It's cheesy where the giant spider is crawling across, but they actually film a tarantula and then they like film everybody looking scared. It's that kind of thing. Ray and Lauren said the six-year-old would love eating dinner sitting in a car. I mean, that's fun, right? And they even have a car out front. If you want to try it out and you don't want to go inside, you can sit in the car.

Speaker 4:
[40:49] It's a car.

Speaker 3:
[40:50] I know. Try out what it's going to be like when you're eating your dinner.

Speaker 4:
[40:53] There is a reason. I'm just going to say there's a reason I've never eaten there and never will. Uh-oh. No. Like, I've said this to you many times. When I have dinner, I have dinner to speak to people and to converse and to enjoy my company. I suppose if I hated two of the people that are with me, or if they're teenage kids, I get, okay, maybe Rob, you're on to something.

Speaker 3:
[41:14] I don't hate my kids.

Speaker 4:
[41:15] My kids are fun. No, but like after a full day at Hollywood studios, maybe they're not. So I don't know.

Speaker 3:
[41:23] Maybe I'm the problem.

Speaker 1:
[41:25] So my number three was everyone else's number two. So my number two is a little bit different. And my number two is when you really want to make sure that you see the fireworks. And I think one of the things that I love about park hopping because I've already said that I'm a morning person. So staying up for the fireworks is really hard for me. And one of the other things that I struggle with is I have a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of sensory overload. I can get a little, I'm on the spectrum, you could say. I get a little sensory overloaded. So for me, doing a full day at Magic Kingdom and then standing in that crush and waiting for those fireworks after a full day, it can be overwhelming. Now, on the flip side, I love the fireworks. I love them so much. And the Happily Ever After is probably one of my favorite things ever. So what I like to do is plan a park hopping day that allows me to kind of prepare myself to be at the fireworks and then makes the fireworks a special event at the end of the night. So what I typically do when I know I want to see Happily Ever After, and this is specific for Happily Ever After, Luminous doesn't have the crowd crush that Happily Ever After does. So it's not nearly as difficult for me. That might be why I prefer Luminous over Happily Ever After. But if I know that I want to see Happily Ever After, a lot of times I will start with Animal Kingdom. Because to me, Animal Kingdom is the earliest park. It allows me to kind of do the things that are relaxing, because usually we do the safari. It'll surprise no one. We always do Zootopia, because it's the best show at the park right now. Sometimes we'll do the Lion King, Festival of the Lion King. We'll do Navi River. Maybe we'll do Flight of Passage. We may get Lightning Lanes if we really want to do some of those rides. But we'll kind of do a full ride morning at Animal Kingdom. So we really will go hard at Animal Kingdom in the morning. And we'll do all the things that we want to do. And then I'm going to take a break. I'm going to take a break in the afternoon. I may go to a resort. We may go to the pool. We may go to a nice dinner. We may even do a dinner off property to get away from the crowds, to get away from the kind of the stress.

Speaker 3:
[43:36] The reset.

Speaker 1:
[43:37] Yeah, to reset. And then I'm going to go back to Magic Kingdom just in time to see Starlight. And then happily ever after.

Speaker 3:
[43:48] So good.

Speaker 1:
[43:49] So I'm going to walk in the back. I haven't tried to stand around for an hour to beat the crowds, to try to do all this stuff. Instead, I'm going to go in. I'm going to go to the confectionary. I'm going to get my specialty popcorn with the chocolate and the M&Ms and the pretzels. And I'm going to have that popcorn and we're going to go find a seat. A lot of times what we will do is we will just sit in the back. I will watch happily after back by the train station. So we're going to hang out in the back. Maybe right by where you meet Mickey and Town Square Theater. We'll watch Starlight go by. And then depending on which direction Starlight goes, if it's the Starlight that starts on by the train station, fun fact is you can usually go meet Mickey and then catch happily ever after. Most of the time you have enough time when Starlight finishes, go in the line, meet Mickey Mouse with probably a 20-minute wait, come back out and stand right in front of the flagpole. So in front of the flagpole, you see all of Main Street, you see the castle, you get, you see, believe it or not, you do see Tinker Bell fly, but you haven't stood in the crush for an hour. I think the fireworks are worth seeing, but this kind of a park hop day lets you see it without, you know, what I call is the fireworks meltdown. There's a happily ever after meltdown that you hear. If you're standing there, you hear it. You can hear the kids having that happily ever, ever meltdown. And this really avoids it. And it's something that I did with my kids. It's something that I do for myself. And I think if the fireworks, having a positive firework experience is important to you, think about doing a park hop day that allows you to make the fireworks special and an event, but you're not overwhelmed, you're not overheated, you haven't been dealing with people all day, and you can really make it something special. So that's my number two strategy.

Speaker 4:
[45:48] I would argue, Jessica, that your vantage point that you mentioned for the fireworks may be better than the people who camp out closer to the castle for the fact that you now have the projections on Main Street. So I've experienced that area exactly where you're talking before, too, to watch it. And I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, because I got to see... I didn't have to turn around and miss the fireworks to see the projections that are on Main Street. So, and, like you said, I was... I had elbow room. I was in the middle of Main Street with elbow room, nobody's around me. And I was back out of the park a lot quicker, too. Now, we were sitting at Bay Lake, so I wasn't worried about, like, you know, hitting up transportation. But still, it was easier to get out of the park.

Speaker 1:
[46:31] Nick, end us out. What's your number one strategy?

Speaker 4:
[46:33] So I told you that I maybe cheated. I told you this, you know, often. I maybe cheated a little bit.

Speaker 3:
[46:41] Oh, my lord.

Speaker 4:
[46:42] All of mine up till now have been just easy, typical, two-park-a-day park hop. So this is my number one strategy that I think is actually getting all of the things I really like, which is the quality, but also accomplishing the quantity. Okay. So there's ways for you to modify what I'm about to say into a four-park day. However, I'm doing it as a three-park day. And I'll tell you where you can modify what I'm going to do. So first off, I'm a DVC owner at The Poly. So for me, on Wednesday, this is an important part of my plan.

Speaker 3:
[47:23] Oh, I see where you're going.

Speaker 4:
[47:25] On Wednesday. Okay. On Wednesday, I am going to go to Animal Kingdom, because Animal Kingdom is the very first park that opens up. And because I'm on property, I'm going to go for early entry. And I know that that'll be problematic potentially later on. You'll see, but it's okay. So we're going to go to Animal Kingdom for early entry. We're going to do all the things that I talked about with my first one. So I'm not going to reiterate all the things we need to do that first one. But this time, I'm probably maybe going to go actually over to do like Expedition Everest. And I'm going to do those things. I'm not going to worry about Flight of Passage. I'm not going to worry about that at all. I'm going to do that partially because I don't really care for anything. But I like Flight of Passage, but Navi River Journey is just... I don't like it. Yeah, right. So we're going to go into do Expedition Everest. We're going to walk through a trail or two. Then at that point Kilimanjaro could we're done with the opening rush there. And now Kilimanjaro as far as is probably running because it's not open with early entry typically and many times not open with rope drop just because they're clearing and making sure the animals are good to go. You're riding Kilimanjaro Safari is during a time that is quite honestly the best time of day to ride it is in the morning or after rain. I don't disagree with you on that.

Speaker 3:
[48:48] Yeah, but you can't always plan.

Speaker 4:
[48:50] You can't plan rain, but you can plan. You can plan that.

Speaker 3:
[48:53] You can plan it for the morning.

Speaker 1:
[48:55] It's Florida. You can pretty much count on rain.

Speaker 4:
[48:57] True.

Speaker 3:
[48:58] Four o'clock in August.

Speaker 4:
[48:59] That rain might have thunder and lightning and they do tend to run away from the thunder and lightning, but not the heavy rain. So I'm going to do the Safari. I'm going to do Tree of Life. Go see Zootopia. I'm going to take my time. No big deal. I know you're thinking, how are you going to get to four parks? How are you going to get to three, you know, even three parks if you're taking your time? I'm going to enjoy Animal Kingdom for what it is at this point. At this point, you can accomplish almost everything that you want to do in that park in a half day. And I know that's going to pain some people to hear.

Speaker 3:
[49:30] But until they change soon.

Speaker 4:
[49:32] Right, when they open up Rivers of America, I'm going to say no, like, that's not the case. And I could still play it.

Speaker 3:
[49:37] Tropical America.

Speaker 4:
[49:38] Tropical America, sorry. I could still spend two full days in that park as is.

Speaker 3:
[49:45] Oh, absolutely. But anyway, most listeners of this podcast love it too, for that reason.

Speaker 4:
[49:50] But anyway, we're going to leave Animal Kingdom at this point, and this is where things can change. If you want to hit four parks, okay, you can do it if you don't go to where I'm going to go. I'm going to say go Animal Kingdom to Epcot. If you are looking to do a four park day, skip this, do your thing in Hollywood Studios, and then when you're done doing your thing in Hollywood Studios, start back where I'm at right now. But for me, this is around, say, noonish, maybe one o'clock. You're going to head on over to Epcot. When you get to Epcot, you're going to concentrate on the front of the park. There's too much, in my opinion, to do at the back of that park. You're going to want to concentrate at the front of the park, knock off the things that you know are probably going to have short rides. You're going to go on Living with the Land. You're going to go on Figment. You might even go, I don't know why you do it to yourself, but you might even go and ride a space shuttle in a centrifuge. Go to Mission Space, I don't think you should do that.

Speaker 3:
[50:48] I don't know, the space race is heating up right now. I think that ride is going to get more popular. No joke, I really think.

Speaker 4:
[50:58] Go over to Nemo, do Nemo, go to walk through the aquarium area. But basically, my concentration when I'm over at Epcot on this kind of a day is going to be spent in that front part of the park. I'm going to maybe grab a bite to eat in Epcot at either a stand, like the best of the fest stand, so that you can taste the festival, even if the festival is not there, or you can go in to Connections Cafe. It's one of the best quick service stops on property, in my opinion, certainly in a park. And kind of do your thing there, right? And the reason I'm at Epcot is because now, I'm going to get on the monorail, okay? If it's a four-park day, you're gonna get on the monorail, and you're gonna go straight, you're not gonna pass go, you're not gonna collect any $200, you're gonna go straight to Magic Kingdom. If you're me, it's probably five, maybe six o'clock, and so you're gonna go back to your resort, the Polynesian, and you're going to relax. And you can take a nap, and you might think, how can you take a nap? Well, guess what? If you're at a deluxe resort, on Wednesday at Magic Kingdom, you have your deluxe, extended-even magic hours, whatever they call it right now. And so what I will do is wait, head into the park whenever I feel like it. I might even head into the park and not even watch the fireworks. This is not a fireworks night. While people are all busy watching the fireworks and watching Starlight, I'm gonna head and do rides. And I'm gonna do the rides that are typically big hitters, but everybody else is watching the fireworks. And then when the fireworks end, and there's like an hour left, but everybody believes that the park is closed, you know, and you're staying. I'm gonna stay, because it is open much later for Deluxe Resort Guests. Now, this is obviously the caveat is, you have to be a Deluxe Resort Guest to get that extra magic hour. But to 1 a.m., Nick, we were there until 1 a.m. then. We were there until 1 a.m. And so you could easily pull four parks that day. But I went back to the Poly, went to Tamboo Lounge, had a drink and some pot stickers, then jumped in the pool, cool off, and then went to the park. So I'm going to say three parks, not four, because to me, that's the way to go. Because you can't go wrong with Tamboo. No way you can go wrong with Tamboo Lounge and a back scratcher or anything, any drink there could be that for that much. And then pot stickers there. Don't go to Ohana, go to Tamboo. Order the food from Tamboo. It's a lot better.

Speaker 1:
[53:30] Totally agree.

Speaker 4:
[53:31] So anyway, that's my magical day of getting as much as you can possibly imagine. You could make it for, I'm going to relax by going back to my resort for a little bit. It has to be on Wednesday. You have to be staying at a deluxe resort. And it's probably easier if you're staying at a deluxe resort on the monorail. But that's my idea.

Speaker 3:
[53:53] Shari has a comment for Nick in the chat. Shari says, Nick, 100%, I always try to go where the people aren't. So good. It's a good strategy too.

Speaker 1:
[54:03] That's excellent. Well, I enjoy your three parks day. You might be seeing something similar coming soon, coming soon from this bat channel. Anyway, but Craig, what is your number one strategy for park hopping?

Speaker 2:
[54:17] Well, my number one strategy for park hopping is very similar to Nick's, but also the opposite. So like my number two was about staying near the Epcot resorts or in the Epcot resort area. So this is about staying in the Magic Kingdom Resort on the monorail. So I'm getting up early, no matter which resort I'm staying at, the Polynesian, Grand Floridian or the Contemporary, I'm going to walk to the Magic Kingdom very much for the same reasons that I wanted to walk to the studios, because you can guarantee what time you're going to get there. You don't have to worry about any kind of transportation. So I'm going to spend the morning in the Magic Kingdom. We can do Lightning Lanes if you want or not. It just depends on what your day is, how you're feeling that day. Do you want to get a lot of stuff in or do you just want to chill? But what I'm going to do for lunch is either I'm going to walk to the Contemporary and have a stack burger at Steakhouse 71 in the lounge, which you don't need reservations for. You can almost always find a seat or two. You know that. Or I'm going to do the Wayfarer Burger at Wylulu at the Polynesian. Those two burgers, gosh, they're both so good. I can't pick one. So I highly recommend both.

Speaker 4:
[55:30] It's a 50-50 as to which one is the best on property. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[55:33] Say what?

Speaker 4:
[55:34] I said it's a 50-50 as to which one is the best on property. So yeah, I agree.

Speaker 1:
[55:37] All right.

Speaker 2:
[55:37] Well, someone else will say it. I can't remember the name of the one at Geyser Point, but that's another very popular one.

Speaker 1:
[55:44] John loves that Geyser Point one because it's bison though.

Speaker 2:
[55:46] Right. So then I can, like Nick said, take a break at my resort, whatever it was, but then I'm going to take that monorail ride because that's a wonderful little monorail ride from the Tickleton Transportation Center to Epcot. Such an easy way to jump over there. And then you're just going to finish up my day in Epcot, pretty much like I did in my number two strategy, where I'm going to hang out in World Showcase, do some festivals, maybe have a dinner, sit down dinner, and then watch Luminous. So that is my number one strategy.

Speaker 1:
[56:24] I like that your number one strategy has the mid-day food though, at the resorts, because I think that's important.

Speaker 2:
[56:30] That's one of my favorite things to do if I'm having a Magic Kingdom day, and I'm looking for lunch. It's just so easy just to pop over to the contemporary and have a really good burger.

Speaker 3:
[56:39] Craig has a question in the chat. Taylor wanted to know if you can walk or if you walk to Walulu from Magic Kingdom, is it too far?

Speaker 2:
[56:49] It's about a 20-minute walk. So it just depends on like, I walk a lot now. So if you'd asked me that two years ago, I might have said something different. But now it's totally doable. It just depends on your stamina, I guess.

Speaker 1:
[57:05] And the heat. I would say it would depend on the time of day and the year. I mean, it could be super hot.

Speaker 4:
[57:11] If you're somebody who doesn't stay regularly over at Polynesian, I would suggest actually taking one of the boats across, one of the smaller boats, because it's a unique form of transportation that you may have never taken because you never had a reason to. So jumping on one of those might be a unique way to do it.

Speaker 2:
[57:27] Right. And if you're going from Magic Kingdom back to the Polynesian, then yeah, take transportation. It's not like you're in a rush. I just suggest the walking because first thing in the morning, if you want to get there for early entry and or road drop.

Speaker 1:
[57:38] Excellent. So Rob, what is your number one strategy?

Speaker 3:
[57:42] My number one strategy, I'm calling the WDW Classic. Okay. And what this one is, is we start off the day in Epcot, and then we head over to Magic Kingdom. Let me explain. So this has the best full Disney feel for me. So growing up, I went to Walt Disney World every year from about 1980 all the way through. I had a family member who worked there, and we have a family who live in Orlando and who go every year. So for me, that's part of my nostalgia is going to those two parks. And for what I would like to do for this day, is start off with something brand new. I know I just said nostalgia, but I always love to start with Guardians of the Galaxy. That is my favorite. I could go with the best because I know Jessica is going to argue this. And Nick's with me on this. My favorite is Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. I have to check that off my list first. It's my favorite thing to do in all of Walt Disney World. You said all of property. What did you say was your favorite, Jessica? Rise. It wasn't this. Rise. And that's in my top five for sure. So we start off at Epcot. We do all the classics at Epcot. I love to eat at the Mexico Pavilion. I've eaten, I've had margaritas there. We've eaten, my wife and I had our anniversary dinner inside, and then we'll grab lunch outside there. So it's a great place to eat all the different places in Mexico Pavilion. And I talked about Epcot a little bit, but we're going to travel the monorail over to Magic Kingdom, Magic Kingdom at night, because there's some things at Magic Kingdom at night that are so special to do at that park once it gets dark out. So in the middle, I take a break, kind of do whatever. But I want to talk about nighttime at Magic Kingdom. First one I want to do there is I want to do Tron Light Cycle Run at night. I've done it during the day and at night. So much cooler at night. I went there when it was the red one, when they have the Nine Inch Nails music. So cool. We did that at night. That was great. Then Haunted Mansion. We're going to walk over, do that at night, which is always fun to do at nighttime. And then that Starlight Parade is fantastic. If you haven't seen it yet, and actually better yet, if you've seen the Main Street Electrical Parade, there's so much nostalgia that comes back from that. The end of the whole parade, I won't give it away. Nick, don't call me the spoiler. We'll just say that the end of the parade brings back a lot of memories from people who knew the Main Street Electrical Parade. But here's my grand finale. Okay. Nick knows this. He was with me when we did this. We're going to watch the fireworks from a different perspective. We had this idea when Nick and I were there, we said, let's hop on Tiana. And we're, well, it wasn't Tiana at the time. It was actually Splash Mountain at the time. And we watched the fireworks from on Splash Mountain. It was incredible. You know, I like fireworks, but I like fireworks from different vantage points. And that's kind of the fun thing about going to Disney World is you can kind of create your own day and do things differently. If you stood in front of the castle and you've had that viewpoint for a long time, or maybe you're annoyed because someone just put an umbrella in front of your face, Nick, and you're annoyed.

Speaker 1:
[60:55] For a kid on their shoulders right in front of you.

Speaker 3:
[60:58] And you want to do something different. You know what? I want to watch the fireworks from this place or that place. And it's just cool to be there and do something a little bit different. So that was my number one. It's the WDW classic. And I'm going to hand it over to Jessica for her final number one to cap us off here.

Speaker 1:
[61:15] That's right. So my final number one. And here's the deal. This, my number one is for people like, I know like me and maybe like Craig and like you guys, that we're not doing our once in a lifetime trip. We're not doing our once every five year trip. My number one strategy is for people that go to Disney a lot. These are Disney veterans. These are people that are looking for something new to do with the park. And that is a four park scavenger hunt. To me, the best park hops are when you pick something, and there are actually some you can find on Etsy, that you can do, that you can buy. Or what John and I do is we sit down and we say, we're going to do in every park, we're going to find a cast member with either John or Jessica as their name. We're going to take a picture with a character. We're going to have a Mickey shaped item, and we're going to ride at least one, if not two rides. That's going to be this time. One time, it was, we're going to have an alcoholic beverage in every park. So we had to get a reservation at Magic Kingdom to make it work. One time it was doing one of the extra free events. So whether it's play Disney app, whether it's a scavenger hunt, whether it's something else, take a picture of a Disney duck. Make something that you can do. And these are the ways that you can find a little bit of fun, a little bit of whimsy. And you can see all four parks in a different way. This is the day of, this is the day for us typically where we laugh the most. We, they're the longest days. These are our 25 to 30,000 step days because we are doing a lot of stuff in every park. But we are having the most fun. It's the days that we do something that we've never done before. It's the day we find the Sangria Bar. It's the day we find a random place that we've never walked in Animal Kingdom. And that's the kind of thing that I really recommend people that go to Disney a lot, is challenge yourself to do something you've never done before. And a four-park scavenger hunt, to me, is the way to do it. Typically, the order we do it is Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and then Magic Kingdom, typically because of the transportation. The bus ride from Animal Kingdom to anywhere is the longest bus ride in the planet. I just don't understand why. But we bus ride from Animal Kingdom to Hollywood Studios, then you can Skyliner, and then you can monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. So it kind of takes advantage. We have tried to do every form of transportation on one of these four-park days. So we had to do bus, boat, monorail, skyliner, I'm missing, what am I missing? Bus, boat, monorail, skyliner. That's it, right?

Speaker 4:
[64:13] You didn't have too many then, did you?

Speaker 1:
[64:15] No, we did car. We drove to the park. We drove car. So we actually have that one day. So my four-park strategy, I would say, or my park hopping strategy is also kind of a cheat. So I will say a little bit in honor of Nick there is a cheat, but it's not so much about park hopping, but it's about remembering that Disney is about whimsy, remembering that Disney is about imagination, and really finding that thing that you want to do. And these are the days that John and I laugh the most. So that's my number one strategy, is to park up to all four parks, but don't just do it about Lightning Lanes or rides or shows, but do it about something fun for you and make it special for you and your party.

Speaker 3:
[64:55] Very cool, I love that.

Speaker 1:
[64:57] If you don't have it right off top of your head, go to Etsy, get the scavenger hunts. They're like $15, you can get them. All different kinds of people sell them. You can even laminate them and have like a little check off. We've done it where you can get the arm tattoos, that you can then check them off on your arm. So you can make it a really fun day. That to me is my number one strategy.

Speaker 3:
[65:18] Great way to end. That's awesome idea.

Speaker 4:
[65:20] That's a fantastic strategy.

Speaker 3:
[65:22] Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[65:23] So do we have anything else from the chat? From Patreon?

Speaker 2:
[65:26] Yeah, actually, Jen, when we were talking about going outside of Magic Kingdom for lunch, and Jen says, number one reason to park up is to avoid eating a meal at Magic Kingdom. To which Ray and Lauren responded, Jen, buy a bunch of spring rolls, problem solved. Now, I would add to that, you better have a whole roll of tums with you as well.

Speaker 4:
[65:47] I don't like those spring rolls. I'm not a fan of those spring rolls. I love them.

Speaker 2:
[65:50] I just can't eat more than one. That just tears up my stomach, but they're so good.

Speaker 4:
[65:57] Everybody's hating on the food over there. I like Skipper Canteen. I think Skipper Canteen is really good.

Speaker 2:
[66:01] Skipper Canteen is fine.

Speaker 3:
[66:02] If you know the food is better 10 minutes away, think of the distance. If you're right in front of the castle, you could walk all the way over to Pecos Bills or get on the monorail and hop over to the Contemporary.

Speaker 4:
[66:21] We're talking about Park Hopper Day anyway, so you're leaving the park. You might as well. I mean, my thing is, I really wish, because to me, the two best restaurants on the loop, on the Monorail loop are both at Grand Floridian, and unfortunately, they're not open for lunch, because Narcosis and Citricos are the two best non-Victoria Alberts, Victorian Alberts, they're the two best restaurants on the loop, especially since now California Grill is that silly prefix stuff.

Speaker 2:
[66:52] Yeah, that's sad.

Speaker 1:
[66:53] I know it is sad. But we haven't talked about Wilderness Lodge. I will say, there's some really good, Geyser Point has amazing, we eat at Geyser Point more than anything else.

Speaker 3:
[67:04] Even the quick service was fantastic there. That was one of the best quick service burgers.

Speaker 1:
[67:09] Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:
[67:10] Well, I should say it's a boat ride from Magicina, but I think right now it's not. I think the dock is still closed.

Speaker 1:
[67:17] Yeah, that's really gonna put a damper on my weekend. Just let you all know. So now that we've talked about our perfect park days hopping around, we do have time for one question. So Craig, what is the question this week that we're answering from our Patreon?

Speaker 2:
[67:36] Yes. Actually, this is from Discourse from Sarah Mao, who asks or says, last time we went to Magic Kingdom, we did a dessert party, the pre-party. This is for the fireworks. It was pricey but worth it for the great fireworks view and a space for the kids to dance. Love that. We're coming back in August for my 40th. Congratulations. And I want to do it again. But I'm wondering how the Starlight Parade fits in. Can you see it from the reserved grass area or we need to leave that area to find a different spot? Not sure the kids will last for a second parade.

Speaker 1:
[68:12] I think you can see it from the... The good thing about the Starlight is it's tall. I mean, it's tall now. From the even from the grass, you might be blocked or maybe people standing in front of you. But I think you can see the tops. You're looking up.

Speaker 2:
[68:25] Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1:
[68:26] Yeah. But you'll be looking up to see the tops of the floats. If you're... You may not see the... I can't... People, the dancers and the walkers that are between the floats. The street-mosphere, you might not see the street-mosphere performers walking, but you'll definitely see the floats from that location. And you won't have the crowds. I will say, the last couple of times I've been there, the Starlight crowd is tough. They take it very real serious for that first parade. So I think you should be fine. It's super good. Yeah. I think you should be fine in the area for the dessert party. It is a little bit back, but because the parade is so high, you're going to see it, you're going to hear it. I think your kids will still love it because they can also still dance around and play and they'll see the lights. So I think you'll be fine.

Speaker 4:
[69:15] I'm trying to think if you'd be able to see it better, if you, instead of doing the one where you're sitting in the lawn, you do the actual terrace seating. You know what I'm talking about?

Speaker 3:
[69:25] Nick, you've done the dessert party, what was yours?

Speaker 4:
[69:28] But I did not do in the terrace. Both times I've done it, I've sat in the grass.

Speaker 1:
[69:33] Me too.

Speaker 4:
[69:34] I'm trying to think if you were sitting, because that's an elevated position, depending on what your seat was in the terrace seating, that might be a way to go.

Speaker 1:
[69:45] I just don't know the timing of the sitting, the seated, the terrace seating dessert party. Is it seated early enough that you could see the parade?

Speaker 4:
[69:54] When I was there last time, people were seated at the same time as I was eating from the buffet up above.

Speaker 1:
[70:02] Okay.

Speaker 4:
[70:02] The last time I was there, but that might not be always. It's not necessarily always. I'm just saying it's something to think about and check into. I personally would prefer, based on the vantage point of the fireworks, I would prefer to be in the grass anyway. And I do think that with the height of those things, that you probably are going to be fine.

Speaker 2:
[70:24] My whole thing is I don't do desserts, but going back, this still cracks me up. When I was there in, I think it was the late 80s, and we watched the fireworks from Tomorrowland Terrace, and there was nobody there. We just happened, it's like, oh, maybe we can see it from here. And now they're charging people an arm and a leg to watch from there.

Speaker 3:
[70:43] So we have some comments from the chat too. Heather says, we love the dessert party. It was pricey, but especially for our first fireworks, it was worth it. Diana just chimed in and said, same, did it in 2025. Food was terrible. And Diana was in the terrace. Diana would not do it again. Celebration at the top is a million times better.

Speaker 1:
[71:09] Maybe it's changed then. So I mean, like I said, I want to say 2022 is when we did it. Maybe it's gotten worse.

Speaker 4:
[71:16] One of the big things for me too, and the only reason I actually did it this last trip is because my brother guilted me into it. But once you're 10, you're an adult, right? Well, the price for the dessert party includes unlimited beer and wine. So I have a problem with these prefix things like that, where my son's being charged the same, and now my daughter would be too, the same as an adult who's 21, and they can make that money up a little bit better. So for me, that was my brother guilted me into it. It's like, come on, it's not that much more. And I was like, well, I get it, but I don't want to throw money at somebody. Because I have a fundamental issue with the whole, at 10, you're an adult. I think there should be child, tween, adult, you know? Because especially when alcohol is involved, like this is ridiculous, that it's the same price for a 10 year old as it is for the 21 year old. And one of the major benefits of that, all you can eat package is also an all you can drink.

Speaker 3:
[72:16] In the chat, a lot of people are agreeing. Disney pricing for 10 year olds is ridiculous from Beth. Pre and post 21 is very different from Ray and Lauren. Absolutely hate how a 10 year old is an adult from Kelsey. And then Heather says, plus my 11 year olds really want to food off the kids menu anyways.

Speaker 4:
[72:36] Great point. They can still get food off the kids menu a lot of times. Most places that's not an issue.

Speaker 3:
[72:41] To be fair, Michelle, who is one of our patrons too, hi Michelle, says, and non drinkers over 21, let's say you don't drink, you're paying this extra money, which includes alcohol, maybe just do a wristband or something too. I mean, a lot of people don't drink.

Speaker 1:
[72:57] I think just to give a shout out to Rob and Eric, I think they did their next dining plan video, which should be the next video that comes out on their channel is the dining plan with no alcohol. So they've actually run the numbers for the dining plan for no alcohol at all. Just to kind of, to, because there are a lot more people that are not, you know, that either have the kids or they're driving or whatever it is and they can't partake. So is the dining plan worth it? And spoiler alert, I think we're all going to be surprised at what they, what they find out. So I think he's, he's putting that video together. So if you're really interested in the dining plan aspect of not drinking, I think it'll be interesting to watch that video. Heather Miller is asking us, what if you decide while you are there to add park hopper? If you add it after a few days that you are already using your single day ticket, is that possible and have any of you tried that? Curious because we are AP, but our friend just got single day tickets for our trip this summer. So I believe that when you're there, it's just the one price. So just like Nick said or Rob said at the beginning, it's like $90 or $95. So if you decide on day two of a seven day ticket, it's $95. If you decide on day six of a seven day ticket, it's $95. So there's no pro-rated pricing. But you can add it on.

Speaker 2:
[74:23] Yeah, you can always upgrade a ticket, but it's going to be the cost of that ticket had you bought it originally.

Speaker 3:
[74:29] For the whole time, right?

Speaker 2:
[74:30] Instead of the ticket that you bought.

Speaker 4:
[74:31] Yeah, for the whole time.

Speaker 3:
[74:32] Correct.

Speaker 1:
[74:34] Yeah. Now, my big advice, this is the one that I get a little bit. And if mom had done this, she would have saved money. But if you're there, and it's the second to last day of your trip, and you say to yourself, I really want to come back in six months, go ask what the cost of an annual pass would be to upgrade your ticket. Because it may be that it's less money than those tickets would be if you bought them six months from now. So you may actually be spending a total amount less. That's the one thing that I will say is always go ask. If I were to upgrade to an annual pass, how much more would I have to give you today? And that much more may be less than the tickets you would buy six months from now. Ask about the cost of an annual pass. Well, guys, we have made it through our Dis-List. We've made it through our question of the week. And now it's time for my favorite segment every week. And the thing that keeps a lot of us coming back. And that is our happy thoughts. So I'm going to go around the horn and ask everybody what their happy thought for the week is. And we'll start once again with you, Nick. What's your happy thought?

Speaker 4:
[75:45] So I'm going to throw Rob. Rob and I have already kind of tag teamed this, but that's okay. Because I'm going to throw Rob a curveball and say, Rob, you're going to say the thing that we talked about. I'm going to say something else. All right. So here's my happy thought. My happy thought. My happy thought is this, that I am thankful to have great friends in this community, who welcomed us from the very early on. We've got Jessica, who is one of, she's a day one patron of our podcast. Rob, who, we were Episode 7, we invited Rob to be on our podcast. We were nobodies, and Rob was like, yeah, sure, and Rob was starting to blow up. Trust me, he was starting to blow up, and came on our podcast and-

Speaker 3:
[76:37] He was very gracious.

Speaker 4:
[76:38] He was very gracious. So I'm thankful for that, and I'm very happy for that. That's a happy thought of mine. And it kind of leads in and ties into what Rob's going to say later, because here we are still doing this thing with you guys today.

Speaker 1:
[76:51] Excellent. Well, I'm going to go to Craig, and then I'm going to go to Rob. So we're going to go to Craig next.

Speaker 2:
[76:57] So my happy thought actually has to do with merchandise, which is a new one for me, because that's something you usually don't pay much attention to. But they'd have a King Triton football jersey out now. And I've mentioned before, I played King Triton in a stage production of Little Mermaid, and actually there's a picture of me for those who are watching. And they're also beautiful in my life, long flowing gray hair was just incredible.

Speaker 3:
[77:24] I've been requesting the singing in the chat every week here.

Speaker 2:
[77:28] Oh, yeah. We'll see.

Speaker 3:
[77:29] I'm not putting on the spot. Finish your thought.

Speaker 2:
[77:32] But no, but it's so hard to find that kind of, or any kind of King Triton merchandise. So when I saw those, I was like, finally, hey, something I'm actually excited to go get.

Speaker 3:
[77:42] Cool.

Speaker 2:
[77:42] The only thing that's more difficult than King Triton is Frolo. And that's another I have, if anyone ever, anyone, all of you, if anyone ever sees a piece of Frolo merchandise, I will buy it, get it, and I will pay you back. So that's my happy thought.

Speaker 1:
[77:56] I love your happy thought. Okay, Rob, we've had a lot of buildup. What's your happy thought?

Speaker 3:
[78:01] My happy thought is, the Dis-List Podcast is coming up to episode 200. So my happy thought mainly is for Nick, and also a lot of the listeners of Ear Scouts also cross over to Dis-List. So big thank you to everyone. My happy thought is, I can't believe we've been doing this for this long. We appreciate our listeners so much. It's great that they come back and they put up with our garbage week after week and our bad jokes and me trying to be funny all the time. And Nick sent me straight. So my happy thought is, Nick, thank you so much. It's been so much fun. Let's do 3,000 more of these things. Thank you to, well, obviously, all of our patrons, including Jessica and Craig and Rob and Eric. And I'll end with thank you to everyone listening for getting this far into the episode. If you've made it this far, we appreciate it. You know, listening to, we're basically subs right here. We appreciate it. But I don't want to think of it as subs. I loved what you said earlier is you said it's the crossover episode. And that's the way I want to look at this is it's Ear Scouts, it's Dis-List, it's both. So I think that's a cool way. My happy thought is thank you to everybody that made it this far. Thank you for listening. Thank you to our patrons. And if you haven't listened to our show yet, check us out. OK, I think you'll enjoy it. It's just as wacky as what you're seeing right here. And yeah, please check us out. And thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening. I'm not the villain you all think I am from the show.

Speaker 1:
[79:35] You're not the villain. You're not the villain. Sometimes. So my happy thought this week, and I've had a lot of really good things happen, and we'll talk a little bit in the after party about some of my really fun things, but I will just say the reason I'm doing a podcast is because I found Dis-List. So my happy thought is, I don't know if you all realize, but I was Dis-List before I was Ear Scouts. So I am one of your first day one Patreons.

Speaker 4:
[80:00] Day one. Day one.

Speaker 1:
[80:01] Day one Patreons. You came up with Patreons, I was like, well, yes, I'll do this. But the idea of people that didn't live in Florida, being able to talk about Disney, kind of adults talking about Disney, I think that was something that was really interesting to me. And I was really looking forward to hearing what you guys said every week, and it brought me to Ear Scouts. It brought me into this, and it kind of made me think that somebody like me that doesn't live in Florida, that doesn't get to go to the parks every day, might have something that people want to hear and want to be able to talk about. So my happy thoughts is actually being able to talk to you guys today. It's been a bucket list of mine for a while to be here with you. And I enjoy the Dis-List a lot, and I will say, listen, subscribe to them. It's a great crossover from what we do at Ear Scouts. It's very different than what we do at Ear Scouts. There's two different approaches to the parks, and I think that's what's really cool about it. So that's my happy thought. I'm really glad that you guys are here. I'm glad we were all able to get through this. Very exciting. Thank you for joining us this week, and thank you so much to Rob and Nick from the Dis-List for joining us. Ear Scouts Rob and Eric will be back next week from celebration for another episode of the podcast. But until then, bye-bye and keep thinking. Happy thoughts.