Disneyland vs Walt Disney World runDisney: Family Travel Insights

Jason: Welcome to Castles to Cauldrons, where every journey starts with a little bit of magic. to episode 55 of Castles to Cauldrons. I'm your host, Jace Davis. I'm here with Micah and Terry. And joining us is Taylor. For her third time on the episode, welcome to Castles to Cauldrons, Taylor. Welcome Thanks for having me back. Yay. Rachel, once again, she has some personal issues she's going with and taking care of the kids tonight. So they had a split up. Supermom tonight. miss you again. So maybe next week we'll have her with Lauren. You know, maybe, I don't know. Maybe Lauren. She might show up this episode. Who knows? Who knows? I just got back from Disney World and Universal from a vacation. I think we're going to more hit on that next week on our episode, but spring break is definitely in session. I don't know how bad the lines were when you were there, Terry, but- They were not bad at all. Tea cups? What's a 25 minute wait? And it was like a 15, 20 minute wait to get on the carousel. I was like, oh my God. No, we like waited in line for those just because it wasn't over yet. And then for the next round we were on there. Yeah. We did not do them because I wasn't waiting 25 minutes to ride in a cup. Yeah. We did them as time killers. Like we had extra time and didn't have anything to do. So we rode them. Yeah. That's usually, Travis wanted to ride the teacups. He saw a video of it and he was like, daddy, can I want to ride the purple one? Cause they're the fastest. I'm like, okay. walked over there and it's 25. I'm like, no, sir. I could not imagine waiting for 25 minutes. You know, I did wait that long at Disneyland to ride. A little bit more iconic though. But it was also while the nighttime parade, like the electric, like the nighttime parade was going by. So we were on the teacups getting pictures while the floats were going by behind us. So it was worth, we were watching the parade while we were in line. So we felt like it really wasn't waiting in line. No, that's a good wait. I will say this about the trip. because I want to do more, we did more universal stuff so we can talk about that more next week. the Starlight Parade. So good. ⁓ I loved it. I was like so skeptical going in. Absolutely loved it. They were so big. floats were a lot bigger than I was expecting. Yeah, was, and the detail, like it was a lot of Paint the Night, remind me a lot of Paint the Night. But then it just like had the great music. I don't think the music's as iconic as Spectro or Paint the Night. or even Main Street, but bringing in some of those Main Street themes. I'd sit there and wait an hour for it, for sure. Well, we stumbled on it because we were coming out of Haunted Mansion, which is at the end, you know, of that route. And we got a front row seat. We just kind of like, it had already started. You could, you know, kind of hear it on Main Street. And so we walked to kind of across from like the Diamond Horseshoe and like stood there and where they had it taped off, there's a corner where a guy was standing recording. And I guess he didn't like. his view, so he moved and took like, he had like a bag and equipment, but it was enough space for me and my two kids to just move right up there to the front on the corner and watch the whole thing. was like perfect timing, perfect seats. It couldn't have worked out any better. I loved it. will say, confuses me. I knew what it was. I knew it comes down Main Street going toward the castle the first time and then it returns by coming back down Main Street toward Fire Station. So it was weird watching a parade go the opposite direction to start. I'm like, is so weird. I guess they do that for crowd purposes at the end to have, to not have everyone funneling to the end of the main street. it didn't work when I was there. Everybody watched the parade. I haven't seen it work either. Yeah. was like, everybody went straight to the hub and it's like, okay. Well, then no, was saying, I didn't, cause we wouldn't try more rides after it. So I would say maybe if, I didn't know what the whole reason of taking it in reverse was. think it's like you said, it's crowd control for people to leave out of the park. If they're watching the parade, they can just. leave out without worrying about backing everybody up. Yeah. But everybody's still trying to go out. So I guess maybe the sidewalks, people can get down the sidewalks and follow the parade up Main Street or something like that. don't know, but- People start standing there too for fireworks, you know? Like as soon as that's over, it's like people just settle in. And that's what we just moved up. stood next, we sat on the curb in front of the Emporium and then moved up to the hub and stood in the middle of the street. And that's the awkward part about it too, because now you're like part of the parade. Trying to get your spot for fireworks. You're like waving to everyone going by. The great thing was like 10 minutes before the parade was supposed to start, Travis looks at me and goes, dad, I gotta go potty. I'm like, awesome kid. No, you don't. So we ran to the bathroom by the fire station, used the bathroom. By the time we made it back, they had already cleared Main Street. So I was like, hey, stand right here. And I got a picture of him on Main Street by himself with the cast on the background. went back to his seat, but that was the, you know, the cool little thing for him. I'm sad that in May I won't get to see it because we're going to the banana ball game. So we won't be in Magic Kingdom while the parade's going on. Well, September, if we ever get the dates for Universal AEP, what we need to do is plan our... We'll do a not so scary night. Either, yeah, on a non not so scary night. A non not so scary night, yeah. Yes, or we just do not so scary. We won't see the parade, but... Yeah. that Wayne parade. Yes, which is a Booty U is so good. While I was on vacation, the Oscars aired, I mean, we talked about it last episode, a ⁓ bunch of movies and everything like that going on. The big thing that came out of the Oscars for us Disney fans was a Disney cruise line commercial, which really blew up social media. I just watched it and I don't know if you saw me over here, was like patting my eye. I'm like looking away because it really does make you tear up. I guess if you're a parent, maybe more than. Well, mean, Taylor, she said that she was kind of. was. Yeah. Disney does know how to pull all of the heartstrings. I think that's just always part of their marketing because they hit you with their nostalgia. That's such a big emotion. So they know how to do it well. One of the podcasts I listened to actually today on the way to work, they were talking about it and. They said that they actually completely missed something that would have been a huge marketing. They very much point the treasure as the ship that this is all happening on. But so if you haven't watched the commercial, it's parents taking their newborn and the newborn can't sleep. So the dad takes them out for a walk and then it's just playing the up music as it's going through and the kid's growing. And then finally it comes to the end where the now dad comes and knocks on his dad's door. because his son won't go or his child won't go to sleep. I don't know if it's a boy girl. can't remember. Thanks little girl. Yeah. So they, they go out and it's a tradition of walking at midnight on the cruise line. So this podcast, they were talking about, you should have started it with like the magic or the wonder, with them walking around and then fantasy and then to the newer ships, because it's like, it's not just something that happens on the one ship. It's you're making memories on all these ships and watching your kid grow through all the ships. I'm saying tailoring them to your kid as they grow or as their interest. them a really good segue for the intimacy of the smaller ships with the younger kids versus what all the bigger ships have to offer when it comes to your older kids. So I was like, I think it was an opportunity to end on the wish because they do the kiss good night at midnight. And so if they're out walking around at midnight, they should have shown that because I don't think enough people know that. And it's all those new ships have some similar version. I think the wish is probably the best one that I've, I haven't seen personally, but I've seen the videos of because the black Panther one is not, I don't, don't, I don't even know what the thing, what the kiss goodnight is there. It's just something marvelous. think ⁓ in a treasure. It's like jungle ask music. I'm not really into anything Marvel, so I don't know the backstory of it, but it's like green lighting and jungle music and things like that. then Treasure, think, is a whole new world or something to that nature with Aladdin. yeah, ending with A Dream Is A Wish would have been amazing for their kiss goodnight. ⁓ Great commercial. A lot of tears around the USA when that came through. I wonder if they showed it in the Oscars because ABC is owned by Disney naturally. ⁓ Kind of curious if, you know, some of the Leonardo DiCaprio was booking a Disney trip now because he saw the DCL commercial in the Oscar. I don't think Leo is going on Disney. I don't know. That's his age demographic though. I think it's too young for his age demographic. It's right Dave. I mean, he's not the, no. 25 isn't 25 his age. think 22 to 25 is his demographic. You can get that there. mean, there's those college girls that are going. I was going to say, the little kids might be a bit too much for him. But I mean, if he believed in it, he could do it. Disney did announce their new cruise ship, which is the Disney Believe. That's all we know about it. So I figured with this time, we can kind of speculate what we want to see because the Wish is very much a princess theme with the fairy tales and then the treasure is the adventure type stuff. It's kind of a mix of Princess and Princess where you have, if you have both a boy and a girl kid that really lends itself to that. then the Destiny is naturally heroes and villains and very much more male themed to it when it comes to the heroes. So what would you want to see in the Disney believe when it comes to the statue in the middle, the hole, whatever? I think it should be Pixar themed, like have a Pixar themed cruise too. because I mean, it's all part of Disney. I feel like that's not represented enough. I know they have like the Pixar days at sea, but like it's still not as represented on the cruise line as the other stuff. It's like the, the sweet shops usually are the Pixar type theme stuff. I'm trying to think of a movie. When you said treasure in Aladdin, like in my head that I might click because you know, the treasure and everything. So that's why was like, And destiny makes sense for like heroes and villains because like that's destiny to do these things. Like they feel like that. I think believe is such a broad topic. It's almost harder to like nail down a specific movie of like. I'm just gonna throw it out there. The atrium statue, Kermit on the log, with a Christian knight in rainbow connection. Or on the whole you could have Gonzo and Fozzie trying to paint. That would be fun. Gonzo with the chickens or something like that. think that would be fun. There's no representation anywhere. Well, I think the Disney dream has the Muppet scavenger hunt, but there's no representation for the Muppets outside of that when it comes to the actual boats or ships. None of us are surprised that that's your answer. You know, like on the old timey ships where they would have like on the very front point, the bow, they would have like the mermaid like with her hair flowing in the... ⁓ I'm picturing now it's like Miss Piggy up there with like her hair flowing in the wind with her little blonde curls. With her seashells. Yes, I think that'd be cute. But believe, like, I mean, that's such a broad, like, like you said with Pixar, mean, I feel like a bunch of those are basically if you believe you can do it, you can do it situations. Well, whatever. don't know if it ties into the name at all, but I personally don't really want this, but I think because they haven't brought back these itineraries, maybe it's going to be heavily into Star Wars. Cause Star Wars Day at Sea was really big, just like Pixar Day at Sea is really big and they haven't brought back those itineraries and I know people are really missing them. So I'm not a Star Wars fan, so I can't say I would be absolutely stoked about that. But I wasn't really excited about the theming from the Destiny and I really, really enjoyed sailing on that ship. So I don't know. I try to keep an open mind, but maybe Star Wars. There's three ships right left. So they have this one and then two more. One's supposed go to Japan with the People who I can't remember the name of the company that owns Tokyo. Oriental Land Company. I was thinking like International Land Company. I'm like, that's not it. So I wonder, I think that would be a good idea to do a Star Wars one and a Pixar one. Like that would actually make sense because you could have Rey. They'd probably be stupid and put Rey as the, I'm not saying, I don't like Rey just as a character. I'm not saying you can't have a female Star Wars character and it's the statue. But I would put like Han and Luke and Leia as your statue. Yeah. feel like Chewie, because he kind of crosses over into like the old and the new. But at the same time, you have all the Star Wars fans who didn't go to hyperspace or whatever it was called. think it gives, if Disney does different themes like that, it makes people go, now I need to go on that ship to experience that theme and those things that they have for that. feel like if they do like a Pixar one, there's going be people who are like, well, I need to go so I can experience like, I don't know, go. stay in an up room and see the up show, know, like whatever they're doing with it. Like, I feel like it makes people want to do the different ships. Maybe this will be a Fox themed ship because they haven't done that anything with, well, this 20th century, should say, since it's not Foxy. they can put Titanic on here. That's terrible. I think that'd be a good idea. Terrible marketing. And that'll be like your Alaska cruise. You can be tight. ⁓ my God. can be Titanic, Alien, Predator. This is your adult song. Brawl Style show is Titanic. Alien versus Predator at sea. Yeah. You turn off all the lights in this ship for one night instead of your pirate night, it's your alien versus predator night and everybody hunts each other. It's like that game kids play in high school where they have like the water guns and they like- ⁓ Yeah. They've had to stop that in a lot of high schools. Ours were like, one of the girls was wearing a floatie to- Church the other day. I'm like, are you doing? She's like it's some game I'm playing for my senior year and then I rebrand into one of the other kids in Magic Kingdom He had his goggles swim goggles on and I'm like, what are those? He can't be shot if they're yeah by their things They're baseball games like they'll have something on during games shot. I don't know. I just That's that would just be like somebody just get me just get this over with I don't want to keep playing this dumb game Besides pride, what do you win in the end? Nothing probably. Yeah, ego boost. According to chat GPT, if y'all want to hear what believe themes for Disney are, the classic ones are Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Dumbo. Dumbo would be good. mean we all know. Dumbo and Peter Pan. That's why say Peter Pan because of flying and stuff like that. And you have to believe to be able to fly. ⁓ Cinderella's on the wish, so you can't really use her. Peter's on one ship. Isn't he on treasure? on the back of Treader. So you can use them on the inside. Modern Disney, they said that it was Frozen, Moana, and Encanto. There you go, Frozen. It'll be Frozen or Encanto, guarantee it. Yeah, definitely Encanto. could really, that show. The whole house. I feel like Moana would fit really well for adventure though too, because her entire story is an adventure. That's what she's feel like that's more, like you that's more adventure. I feel like the whole theme of that is not like a- Believe, I feel like believe is kind of flowy. Yeah. Conto for the, the, uh, atrium. And then the show, the dinner show, which is Lion King and Coco, that would be, uh, Moana. Yeah. Because it has more of the recognizable songs and everybody knows them and whatnot. got the new, they got three movies by the end of this year. And in Conto I feel like it'd be a pretty theme, you know, because you're already staffing at Tropical. I feel like inconto would be a fun dinner show too. Yeah, I could see them doing inconto more for the dinner show, especially with like the scenery that they could do in the restaurant with all the flowers and everything. And like even just the whole like sequence that they have in the movie of where everyone's singing their different parts and the stuff's moving on the table. Like they almost could recreate that. cast. Yeah. Did any of y'all see Disney on Ice that traveled through this year? This year's? Well, they had bunch of this. The particular one that came through here had, and Kanto was a big part of that one, you know, they have songs. And the donkeys that danced for this Disney on Ice, they got down. And if they could do something like that for show, the donkeys were the best part. Like these girls were basically, I mean, they weren't twerking, like dirty twerking, but they were, they were on all fours because they were donkeys. They're best, I mean, we could not stop laughing. It was the most. Like just entertaining part of the whole show. so if they, like you said, I could see that for like a dinner show kind of thing. Cause there's such a big cast of characters and the theming and songs and things like that. one thing I think would be fun on a Disney ship. don't know if they would ever consider it. And I, probably can't do it because of licensing, but the ice shows they have on Royal Caribbean, they were cheesy and fun and good. Like all at the same time. If they could do a small Disney on ice show on the ship. I would be awful. That would be pretty cool. It could be as cheesy as you want it to be. No one's expecting it to be great. Right. But let Disney do it and it would probably be one out from what the company that does it now on touring. It probably would be really cool. Cause aren't some of those people like ex Olympic skaters that do that show? Yeah. And I don't know why. Like you're an ex Olympian. are you skating for Disney? Because that's the sport they play. It's not always the job that they have. They have like other jobs that they do. What's up? It's Tara Lipinski and I don't know the dude's name. I had a huge crush on Tara Lipinski. That's the only reason. anyone watch Traders? Could you imagine if they decided, we're going to Disney on ice instead of being commentators for NBC? But I don't think it's... They're like top top Disney. I mean ice skaters. Well, yeah, she was like a gold medalist or something like that. And I don't know what, like I said, I never paid attention to him. I was... Can I just say I felt like I just showed my age because I said Scott Hamilton, who was one of the older ones. I didn't even think about Johnny Weir. That didn't even cross my brain. Let's move over to a little bit of rumor news that I heard ⁓ before we move into our main topic. We mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. Avatar has been put on hold at Disneyland in California Adventure. They're going to close Monsters in 2027. One of the recent rumors I heard was that it's actually because Avatar's box office hasn't been doing as good. The first movie made like two billion dollars. The second movie made close to two billion, but not as much. This third one crossed over, I think, at 1.5 billion. So it's slowly going downhill, which makes Disney second guess if they want to build a second theme park attraction based off of land that is slowly losing popularity and then having to pay James Cameron on top of it for the royalties to his property. The rumor is, that Zootopia might be coming to Disneyland because the footprint that they have for Avatar land, which is that Hollywood area of California adventure is slightly bigger or smaller one of the two than the Zootopia land in Shanghai. And it's the same ride system that Mickey and Minnie uses for their ride out there. So you wouldn't have to bring people up to date on how to maintain these versus the Avatar ride, which would be using the Pirates of Caribbean from Shanghai. What are y'all thoughts? Like I personally think this is would be amazing if it's true because I don't want to go from Disney World to California and do Avatar, even though it's a different ride. I would rather go to for a different experience. I was going say the same thing. Both parks shouldn't be almost identical to each other. You have no incentive to go to the other ones then. No, I love the idea of Zootopia. I feel like they could do so much with that. Like with all the different areas, especially with Kova watched Zootopia 2 where we met the reptiles and stuff and Kova's like, did you know that in movie number three we're gonna meet birds? He just has his whole idea set where you can do these different things with the animals. I just really love that idea. Yeah, I'm all here for it too. I also think about how at Animal Kingdom, the Zootopia show that they did constantly has a 30, 35 minute wait. It's his show. I did so good. I don't go to Animal Kingdom often, but when I do, I have to go see it because I love it. It's tough to be a bug was never more than 10 minutes. Yeah, I had been there forever. I loved that show. I think if a show can do that well for Zootopia here, if they build out an entire land for it and have an actual ride attraction, definitely down. I like that a lot better than Avatar anyway. I've seen both Zootopia's, never seen an Avatar movie. Same here. I've seen all of Zootopia's and all of the avatars and I would love Zootopia. I also think like my complaint with DCA right now is Guardians of the Galaxy. When you walk in that tower looks so out of place when you have the 1920s Hollywood, LA as the entrance. That if you put an alien planet on the other side of it, while it might fit the theme for that portion, it still kind of takes you out of the 1920s. But if you put Zootopia back there and you have their cityscape. Yeah, it's a mini city. Yeah, you still have kind of a consistency of like, this is the old area of Hollywood and then here's the newer stuff back here. So you kind of flow a little bit better. And like you said, it's Disney IP, so they won't have to pay a James Cameron or someone like that for rights and everything. Who knows how much, I mean, it's probably somewhere, if I Googled it, we could probably find out how much they owe. mean, thanks to Spielberg still gets like 2 % of the gate fee for Universal at this point. So James Cameron probably getting like at least that for Avatar. think that's actually what happens because I feel like it would be hard to top like, fly to passage because that's such a good ride. Even people who don't like Avatar, like that's a really good ride. And I feel like for the newer movies, it would be hard to come up with a ride that's like as good and like everyone wants to go ride it. Now, and we, what was it? I think it was Eiger at this, at this point of us recording, Eiger has been out of the CEO position for two days. and tomorrow has been in. But I can't remember if it was, which one it was that said that Avatar is still a go in Disneyland, but they never really concrete said this is where it's going. with Disneyland forward, they could put Avatar and Disneyland forward, really flesh it out a little bit more, make it more seamless to where it needs to go, than right there next to the Hollywood area. I just don't like, you know, Star Wars and Land has a... ⁓ And I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but I feel like that was an established fandom that they like... I just don't think there's that fandom out there for Avatar. I mean, I don't really know the people going to see these movies, honestly. I mean, they're out there, but I don't see them as like... ⁓ Comic cons and things like that, people dress up for Star Wars and there's hardcore fans that talk about it. I never hear anyone talk about Avatar. Or obviously see in the movies, but... You have a big convention once a year, Star Wars celebrations. That's like all, I mean, Star Wars comic-con. But then what Disney screwed up with Star Wars was putting it at the sequel trilogy that no one really cared for. nerds like me. We wanted to see the Luke, the Leia, the Han, the Chewie, all those guys. We didn't care anything about Rey, Pylo, Flynn, Finn, not Flynn, Finn. So you just took us away from that. And if you do that with Avatar... You know, the way they fixed Avatar though was they put it so far in the future. I think it's 30 years past the last movie that Cameron was supposed to make. it's all aged out and that's why it looks the way it does with all the moss and rust on the machines. the humans have left the planet at that point. We're just coming in there as visitors. So I don't know how you do that over in Disneyland. Speaking of Flynn, who they cast as the live action Flynn Rider was a perfect casting, think. Milo, what's his name? Yeah, his name is Milo. He's from the zombie movies. Yeah. I don't know. You haven't seen it? I mean, I've seen it, but I don't know who He's going be a good Flynn Rider. When he was at the Oscars and he did the glam bot, he did the smolder at the end and he did a really good job. Who was rumored to play Rapunzel for that? They cast her, I thought. It was rumored to Sabrina Carpenter. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's not it. And I thought she would be like, I like her singing voice. So think she would have been good. I think she would have been a good one because she's campy. Like she's very like... I guess I'm just not a Sabrina Carpenter. I also think that her appeal right now isn't the full on Disney look. Right. She makes a better Miss Piggy. Yeah. Counter-report than she makes Rapunzel. I'll put it like that. She does the great when she did the Muppets thing. Like I said, she's very campy, theatrical. Yeah. Big eyes, big makeup, little body. They cast Teagan Croft. from the Titans as Rapunzel and Milo Mannheim as Flynn Rider. then what's her name? Catherine, what's her name? Yeah. She's going to be a great mother Gothel. Yeah, she is. I feel like right now though. Hahn. Yeah, I feel like right now the casting is actually really good for that movie as much as we're all tired of live action remakes, but I think they do better when you don't know the actors. Yeah. Because once you know the actors, I think you have an expectation and they don't meet it. But if you don't know the actors, kind of like, kind of going into low expectations almost. And then you're like, ⁓ they really nailed that. And then they also have rumors that Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi are going to be the king and the queen, Rapunzel's parents. Like come in to- a no-brainer. ⁓ It's kind of like when Adina Mizell and Kristin Chenoweth showed up in the first Wicked movie. They don't have a huge part, but here you are. Here's your homage to the people who created these characters. When the Little Mermaid was announced, I was very much on board for Zendaya because Disney did announce they wanted to hire a black actress to play Ariel. I was like, Zendaya, we know she can do the hair color because she did it in Greatest Showman with the hot pink hair. You just tone that down. I mean, she's fantastic in general. But then they went with, what was it, Hailey Berry? Hailey Bailey. Bailey. Hailey Bailey. I don't know. I want to say Halle Berry, but I know that's not, think she's Halle Bailey. Like everybody was like, you cast Halle Berry? I'm like, no, that's She's not a teenager? Yeah. I didn't care for Little Mermaid that much. Just like I probably won't care about Moana. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back with Taylor because we're going to talk about Run Disney and Disneyland. Are you dreaming of your next adventure but overwhelmed by planning? Magical Travel has you covered. With over 24 years in the business, we specialize in Disney destinations, Universal Studios, cruise vacations, and all-inclusive resort getaways. Our services are 100 % complimentary when you book a vacation package with one of our knowledgeable agents. Request a free quote. to start the planning process at www.magicaltravel.com. Mention our podcast to be connected with one of our agents you were listening to. we're back. We're going on some random stuff during that commercial break. Every time it's just completely random. So Taylor's with us this week because she's done run Disney out in Disneyland. We want to talk about that some. Unfortunately, those races are concluded for the time being because Disney is looking at expanding out there. So to help with that, they want to make sure that they give The runner is the best experience possible and with all the instruction that's fixing to happen, they can't do that. But before we get really into the running, I want to let Taylor talk a little bit about something that she's involved with. That's pretty cool. We hear a lot about this company called, ⁓ not company, it's a charity, it's Give Kids the World. They do a lot for Make-A-Wish Kids. It's where they all go and they can get the need they want. But while they're staying at completely free vacation for Walt Disney World, Universal, Sea World, Legoland. All those people bring those characters into the village. There's stuff for them to do. Anybody can go volunteer to be there. It's a great thing. Taylor does something with another group with Gary Sinise. The name's completely going past me, but it's for more families that have lost members, families with kids that have lost members for military and first responders. So Taylor, can you give us a little bit of information about that just so people are aware about this and... If they want to volunteer, maybe help if you know how they can get into it. So I have for the last three years now been on the mental health team specifically for the Disney in December event that the Gary Sinise Foundation puts on. So I am a licensed mental health counselor by day and a travel advisor by night. But anyone is able to volunteer for this event. And essentially what it is, is it's an all expenses paid. Disney World vacation for family members of Gold Star families, essentially. So in military terms, that would mean that you have lost someone to military action. And just within the last few years specifically, they have added a second week for families of first responders who have fallen. And so it's a really meaningful trip. It's mushing my two worlds together, obviously being a Disney lover and also a mental health counselor. And we are in the parks. are at the resort. We all stay at Coronado Springs Resort because they have the big convention center there. And it's just an opportunity for these kids and teenagers as well, and mostly moms as we can assume it, but dads as well I've seen. Just get to have that sense of community and make new memories. And the reason why it's in December is obviously that's a really difficult time for these families because that's when a lot of the holidays are that we celebrate. So it's just an opportunity to connect and have a good time, make some good memories. It's very, very heavy. I will say I have to keep myself in check throughout every day, especially during the morning that we're in Magic Kingdom by about 430 a.m. 5 a.m. for what we call the Walk of Gratitude. So there's a bunch of Disney cast members that line up on Main Street and I've always done the first responder week so you'll have policemen and firefighters and they clap and they cheer and it's snowing down Main Street and we all make our way up to the castle and the kids release letters up to heaven. to their fallen family member. So it's very emotional. That sounds like lot. It's a lot. It's a lot, but it's truly amazing. If anyone is interested in volunteering, you're able to, even if you are not a mental health counselor like I am, you can be non-mental health related and still volunteer just to be there for support, kind of watch over the kids and the activities. But yeah, look into the Grace and East foundation every December, first and second week of December specifically. Also the most like on top of being what it is and why you're going around Christmas and the holidays like that. That's probably the best time to go to Disney because of how decorated it is. Like my very, my very first trip with, with Beth was over Disney, was over Christmas because I wanted her to have that memory of how beautiful the place could be. So what could go wrong when Disney, when the castle looks as beautiful as it does, when Hollywood Studios looks like it does. mean, those are all going to be really good memories that you can keep. with your family and just remembering the fallen family member that you're there to remember. I would love to do it. would, if I can figure out a way to do it, I probably will. Give Kids of Worlds a great, great organization itself. And it's heart-wrenching because you're dealing with kids who are fighting a whole different fight than the kids that are going with the Gary Sinise. I can relate more with the Gary Sinise kids because I lost my dad at such a young age. Not to the same thing, but I can see what they were, I could relate to what they were going through. not having those memories. So the Give Kids a Village, seeing these kids fight a fight with their health, it's just so crazy. either one, great organizations. I very much recommend trying to get involved or donate to one of them. I don't know, can you donate to the Gary Sinise Foundation? Do you know of that? Or is it just strictly volunteer type stuff? I don't know off the top of my head in terms of like... financial donations, but what I do know popped up last year is that specifically for the first responder week, they build a patch wall for the kids. And essentially, patches are really big within the first responder community. You get a patch for your fire department, your police station, your department of corrections. And they were looking for more patches last year. So that way they could find representation from all 50 States. And so I know they were looking for donations for those last year. I know I posted that actually in our magical travel agents page. Cause I know a lot of you guys are service connected in some way, but I do know specifically for the first responder week, are typically looking for patch donations and the kids get to make a little leather vest out of them and they put them on display and stuff. I did just Google it and you can just donate to the Gary Sinise Foundation. It's right on the website. It says donate and it gives you options like for a one time or monthly donations. That's cool. They also have a podcast I know as well. haven't personally listened to it quite yet, but they have the Gary Sinise Foundation podcast and it's like actual Gary Sinise by the way too. the Gary Sinise Lieutenant Dan and that's the last night of the event as well. They have the Lieutenant Dan band. come into play and oftentimes Gary is there and they throw stuffed animals out for the kids at the end and it's just the best experience. It's a tough one. You definitely have to be prepared going into it and recognize what you're there for. But it's the most rewarding and the best Disney trip that I get to do every year. And obviously it's all of us do. I do a lot of them. So it stands out. you for going and doing that. That's an amazing thing. I know I'm not affected by it. And I probably will never be affected by something like that. It means a lot to those kids that you're there for them, whether they talk to you or not. They see somebody that's there to love them. that means a I hate to get this segment started on such like a ⁓ low note, but like I said, I want people to know that this happens. see it on- I didn't know it happened until you just told us about it. And as much as we talk about Disney and we get updates, I feel like every day there's tons of emails coming through from multiple sources and you're- feeds, your Instagrams, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and I've never heard of that. So it is nice to see people give back and like that's such a great time to go. And like you said, and there's nothing to take away from like Make-A-Wish Kids or different charities of kids, but you know, I will say it never occurred to me that children of vets or, you know, service people, like you said, you know, to take care of them because, know, they might be quote unquote healthy and normal, but they're not. You know, losing a parent is huge, huge deal. That's really cool that they do that. And it's one of those things that we need to know as a guest of the parks at that timeframe. You know, there's a lot of these families that will be there those first two weeks of December. So just keep that in mind when you see these big parents that are trying to deal with the crying children. You know, the other half might be just completely gone from their lives. We are all easily recognizable too. So if you are visiting during those first two weeks of December and you see someone who's in a red t-shirt or sweatshirt is a hundred percent someone who is with the organization. And specifically that red shirt means that they're a family member of a fallen hero. So everybody gets a different colored t-shirt within my team. We all wear purple. So the kids call us grapes. They know to look for a grape if they need a fidget or a Kleenex or whatever it is. That's cute. But yeah, you'll see a lot of red and I'm talking like thousands of people as well. Like these are really, really big events that are taking up a lot of space at Coronado Springs. So if you're ever looking for availability, do keep that in mind. It's going to be slim to none unless you're in the tower, because they don't assign any of us to grandestino. ⁓ But yeah, the availability will be a little hard to come by even though that's a really big resort. And it also shows you no matter what Disney's. always think about the family first. they could have easily said, now Gary's probably paying, like the foundation is paying for a lot of this for the park be closed out and all that stuff or there's their little events like the walk and everything, the rooms. But Disney is probably giving them a good deal to be able to do a lot of this stuff because they understand this is family. The experience is worth it. I mean, it would be easy for a corporation like Disney to just stroke a check and never have to like... interrupt other guests that are paying to use. You know, they do have to account for they can't sell as many tickets that day and they can't, you know, like you said, sell those rooms at premium prices during Christmas and things like that, you know. So it's easy for corporations to like stroke a check and be like, we did our, you know, we did our, our donation for the year, give us our tax write off. So it's really cool that. The experience there is what matters, not really the money that they're raising. And even like American Airlines, for example, is the partnership that they get for air. And so they're all chartered flights and every single flight attendant, every single pilot that's flying one of those planes is doing so voluntarily to be able to get these kids to MCO. And they'll do, you know, like the big spray overs with the fire trucks when they land and they charter them right off onto motor coach buses. We cheer when they arrive. It's... It's a huge deal. And the other thing that I think is cool about it is there's no cap on it. So these kids can go every year up until they turn 18. And then they can become alumni kids and they can still come back and now they're serving and giving back in a different way. So it's really cool. There's a very strong community within it. And they remember you. I have kids who now look for me every year and they're like that girl with the long brown hair. She's always wearing mini ears. Is she here? And you know, my colleagues will be like, yep, she's here. Let me go get her. And the grape. Yep, exactly. So that's the downer moment. It's a great thing. I'm not trying to bring us down in a time, but like I said, I wanted to be made known of something that Taylor does. mean, it's an amazing thing. She's taken out time of her year, out of her week at a time to spend with her family to make sure other families are having a great time and don't have to focus on such loss. Just consider doing what you want to with that information. volunteer, donate, do what you can. great organizations down there and Disney supports them. that's the other thing is that we're supporting these families as well. So let's get to a little bit lighter note now. So run Disney. Taylor has been on two podcasts before. Her first one was her very first trip to Disneyland in California with Universal and then her next one was run Disney. So now we're going to take them and mash them together and say, what's it like running in Disneyland? So first and foremost, what race did you run? did the Disneyland 10K solely because the theme was Sorcerer Mickey. And this is my favorite version of Mickey. I'm a big, phantasmagirl, so as soon as I saw those medals and those themes come out, I like, I've got to go back to Disneyland and I've got to go to run. think I texted you or messaged you on Instagram because when you signed up for it, I'm like, I have to do this too. And I just couldn't make it work. But Sorcerer Mickey is my favorite Mickey as well. I wish I would have made it though. Let's just start with the big thing is like, what's the biggest difference when it comes to Walt Disney World event and the Disneyland event? Like what, where's the expo at? Like, it easy to navigate that type of stuff? So the expo, actually liked a lot better in Disneyland than I prefer at Disney World. So I have done run Disney twice now. Yeah. Twice now on the East coast and once on the West coast. And so I specifically went out of my way to make sure I stayed at Disneyland Hotel. for the race weekend because they hold the Expo at the Disneyland Hotel Convention Center. And so it's all in one building. There's a bottom floor, there's a top floor. It's a lot smaller than what you would find at ESPN Wide World of Sports here on the East Coast for Run Disney. But I did not mind that because it is incredibly overwhelming. It's almost like its own little theme park day when you go to Wide World of Sports to get your bib and your shirt and your merch and all of the things. So. I really liked that. think that was one of the biggest things that I like, I wish that they would take an open Disneyland and do it over here. Cause it was just one stop shopping. You're not in three different buildings. You're not doing a thousand steps, you know, to get from one spot to the other because every step counts. Obviously if you're in Disney, if you're in Disney. So the expo was the biggest difference for sure. it virtual queue? to get into the expo like it is in Walt Disney World? if you were interested in any of the actual Disney merch that they had, it was Virtual Queue. Just for the first day though, which is also when you want to go ideally if you're there because then there's the best availability. They also did have a separate Virtual Queue for the Brooks Ren Disney collection as well. Side note, the Brooks you can still buy online if you're a member of the Brooks website. A lot of those you can get. I just looked at the 70th anniversary shoes today and I was like, do I really want these or no? I'm like really close to buying a pair of those Brooks. When we were in Disney World and they were doing run Disney Disney World, I felt like every fifth person I saw had the Minnie Mouse, red and white polka dot. And I did make a point to compliment most of them when I saw them. like, I like your shoes. I like your shoes. See, I have those. We're making new book, new balance shoes that are absolutely horrible. Have the Disney princess vans and they're great. So when it came to race day itself, I know that Disneyland, we all know, we've all been to Disneyland, that Disneyland is very much very opposite to Walt Disney World where you don't have much space to actually do anything. know from reading stuff, the half marathon goes all the way out or used to at least go all the way to Angel Stadium and then back. So you're running a lot of off road, quote unquote off road, off property stuff. What was the 10K like? Were you off property a lot? Were you on property or was it about the same? So I feel like the 10K would be the longest distance that I would ever want to do in Disneyland for that exact reason. I feel like if you're paying the money for run Disney, which is significantly more than if you do a non run Disney race, you want to be in the parks, right? That's the experience that you're paying for. And that's not to say that they don't kind of fluff up for lack of better words, what the street running looks like. They'll have music, they'll have choirs, they'll have characters. But they can't really do that even on the streets in Anaheim like they can in Orlando. And that's because it's not Disney property. The Disney property in Disneyland is just the parks and that's it. Whereas in Disney World, yeah, you have four parks, two water parks, but you also have all of the acreage in between that Disney owns. And so they can shut the roads down for any length of time. And yeah, it's inconvenient to everyone who's driving around. But it doesn't really matter. Whereas the city of Anaheim is saying, listen, we need our roads open by a certain amount of time. And so I know that was a big concern that I had was what if I get, you know, a really far back corral? I'm not the fastest runner. I'm just here for a good time because they're very strict about getting swept out there because they only can have the roads open. closed, should say, open to runners for a certain amount of time before the city has to reopen them because it's a whole city. So that was a little stressful, I will say. I was far from the back and I was far within the pace requirement, so it was okay. But there was a lot of complaints about that from other folks that were in the Facebook group with me that came from Disney World Racing. It was like, I got swept, I was at a 16.02 pace, what happened? And they're like, well, there is a 16-minute pace requirement. And you were... two seconds behind that. And so they have to remove you. I do think that's really tough. the balloon ladies out there to help you keep pace? Yeah, they are. And like I said, they are like on it. Like two with T. Because I know plenty of people that have done run Disney, like starting at Epcot, like they always do, and well beyond a 16 minute pace. But because they had a really good corral, it didn't matter. They never caught up with the balloon ladies, but they will catch up with you. because there's not multiple waves out in Disneyland. My first half marathon for Run Disney was Star Wars half and I almost got swept. That was my real one. My first first one was the blast wine and dine at night, but that was half of a half because it stormed an animal kingdom. And I remember coming out of animal kingdom for that Star Wars race and the balloon ladies passed me like, gotta get going faster or you're gonna get swept. ⁓ It was like two miles later. I'm still going and passing the mile marker, I think 12 and the police let the bike, ⁓ police on bikes were like, you're fixing to get swept, but if you can make it to this turn, which was a dirt road into ESPN, you'll be good. And I made it. I mean, I finished it. That was like a four and a half hour, five hour half marathon, but I was anxious the entire time. Like who's miles I'm like, I can see the bus behind me. I'm trying to like, ⁓ my God. Yeah. And you have that little bit of a buffer because they're a bit more lenient, but there is no leniency out there because there can't be. so, you know, I understand the frustration, especially for folks that have done Red Disney over here before. They're like, this has never been an issue. I trained the same, I trained at the same pace and I got swept. And that even was happening for the 5k. And that's a like kind of little hidden gem about the 5ks at Walt Disney World. You're not going to get swept. mean, realistically, yeah. you're to project it to take hours. Yeah. Like technically it's still a 16 minutes, but there are no balloon ladies. There's no timing done for the 5k. So you can absolutely crawl the entire thing. Whereas you cannot do that in Disneyland. Cause even that, they still need a little bit of road access. They need to be able to like at Disney with Epcot, the, well, Disney World Epcot, the 5k is the parking lot in the theme park. Everybody's going to run the 5k or walk the 5k before the theme park opens so they can get people in and out before they have to and clean the parking lot before they start letting in the first guest versus Disneyland like Taylor was saying you know they have to have some roads closed and their people have to go to work on Friday morning. Yeah and it was a Friday for the 10k specifically. And you don't start inside the park, which was no shocker for me, because you don't start inside of Epcot. You start in the parking lot. But because you're on the street, again, you're dealing with city limits. So for example, like there's no fireworks to start at the starting line. know, everyone's waiting with their phones out for the fireworks to go off and there's a countdown, but there's no fireworks because who wants fireworks going off in their backyard at five o'clock in the morning? for eight groups of runners to start. On a work day, nonetheless. So if you're wanting the big fan fair and things like that, you definitely want to stick with the Walt Disney World races. I think the Disneyland run Disney crowd is definitely the people like myself who just wanted to have that experience over there, or the people who are locals, which we know are most of the Disneyland crowd anyway. It's like the serious crowd. You're there for a reason, crowd, more than just like me. I would not want to do this in a million years. So there's no way I would go there. But like you said, the 5K, if you wanted just to say you went and you weren't training in Disney World, you could do that one because like you said, it would be a much more relaxing process. It won't be easy because none of it's easy. So are you planning on doing a half marathon in Walt Disney World so you can get the castle to coast to coast medal as you've done the 10th? The coast to coast is like now null and void because I didn't do a half in Disneyland. And so even if I did one over here, I wouldn't qualify because you have to have a half on both coasts, half or more. Even if they don't offer it? No, I mean, I would like to do a half marathon at some point because the longest distance I've done so far is a 10 K, but I would not be able to get coast to coast because it has to be the half. I could have sworn. It was a 10K and then a half. can do the 10 miler at Disney World and the half over there, but it can't be the opposite. I was kind of looking forward to you saying you're going to get it. No. I feel like you should just for the effort alone. Like that's a lot. You know, back in the day when the cruise line was quote unquote not doing so well right after marathon weekend, they would do the castaway challenge. So you'd run any of the races in Walt Disney World, get on a ship. And go run the Castaway 5k and you'd get that medal. Just ran on the ship for 5k? No, you run on the Castaway. You do it on the island. Oh, I thought they had like run around a ship like there's like a trail set up. I was like, there's poor people on that boat. Get those runners. Castaway 5k, it is so boring. You are like in the middle of foliage for all three miles. And I also did it in July when I went last year. Would not recommend doing a 5 point Bahamas in July. We're doing that in July. We're going to run the Castaway 5k so we can just say we've done it. Bethany has. first cruise we went on it was the hard plastic Mickey's and now it's the nice rubber ones that like the kids get. ⁓ For the entertainment you kind of touched on it but what was it like on the road when it came to like did you have characters? what character there type stuff. I think another really big difference, again, I think Disney world has the upper hand is the pre-race entertainment. So there's a lot of hype that goes on when you're in Disney world and the Epcot parking lot. Cause again, you're in Epcot parking lot. have characters out there. That's typically where like the actual metal theme character will be. So. For example, it would have been Sorcerer Mickey for me out in Disneyland in the parking lot, but there is no parking lot. You're on the street. So there really isn't any pre-race entertainment aside from Karissa Galloway, who is wonderful and very motivational. If anyone knows who she is, she announces all of the run Disney races on both coasts. They did have Sorcerer Mickey come out and they, you know, put the camera on him so you could see him helping count down for each corral to go out. But. That in terms of characters was very different. There was very little to do aside from stand around and be cold because it was California at 4.30 in the morning in January. So that was pre-race. During the race, there wasn't a hole in the streets. But what was cool is just all of the people that live in that area that came out and had cowbells and signs and were cheering and clapping. And so that was cool just for something a little bit different. Because you wouldn't expect, know, they're not cast members or anything. These are just random people that decided to come in and cheer you on. So that was cool. And I feel like that's probably what people get, you know, for the Boston Marathon or things like that. So that was nice. That's one of my favorite things when I would run the half cure in town was you're running through the neighborhoods and there are people with donuts or something like if you're, if you're wanting to try to eat donuts from strangers running down the right, they'd have signs in the neighborhoods. Hey, you go, you know, good for getting up at least trying that type of stuff. Disney and then you have that, or Disney World, when you go through some of the parks, but most of the time, by the time I made it into the theme park, as a fat guy running, the people who were in the theme park also were actually in the theme park to go to the theme park. No one was turning on. They were walking past like, y'all are in our way. We're trying to get to Everest. We're trying to get to You know, there were the Terrys that if you listened last week were- Go run in a treadmill. Get out of my way. So I mean- I kind of like that having being able to like the business owners, the home owners and all that stuff standing out there cheering you on. Yeah. happens. They're happy to see you come back. The kind of like the setup of it was cool too. So the beginning and the end were very road heavy and then the middle was through both of the parks. So that was another big draw for me as someone who hasn't done anything longer than a 10 K yet. When you're at Disney World, you're only ever running through one park. if you're doing a 10K or less. like, I really want to run through more than one park. Like I'm getting tired of Epcot and the Boardwalk Resort area. And so again, because of Disneyland's tiny size, you get to run through both of the parks and that still is only about half the mileage because if you do the Disneyland 5K, you're throughout both of the parks and then you're pretty much done. So they do get fireworks for their start because they start inside the park, which is cool. But. So you're getting the Anaheim action, so to speak, from all of just the random people coming to be, you know, the cheerleading squad at the beginning and at the end with the parks in the middle. So you kind of keep the adrenaline going throughout, which is nice, except there's one part towards the end that I told my best friend who went out and was my spectator in my cheer squad. It was like the hill of death. No lie. I swear this thing was on a 45 degree angle down, a 45 degree angle back up. ⁓ It was right underneath the Disneyland monorail. was at mile like four and three quarters. And I was like, I don't think I'm going to make it out of this thing alive. I was rough. Everything else was very flat, which was great. That's what I'm used to as a Florida resident. Everywhere I run is flat. But this one hill tunnel thing, I don't even know what you want to call it. I think I blacked out. It was rough. There's no way around it. And I don't even know where it's at. I just knew it was under the Montreal somewhere. I was fixing to ask, do you know exactly where it is so I can know where it... But if you're going down and back up, it's got to be the backstage, right? It was definitely backstage. Yeah. Okay. And it was, like I said, more of like a tunnel. Yeah. So there's a tunnel that connects DCA to Disneyland backstage stuff on, I think the bus side. So that was probably where you were at. I'm not completely positive. I've never written... That sounds about right, honestly. But it was funny because my best friend was like tracking my time because the 10K is time. So you got, there's a chip in your bib and so you can give people your bib number and they can kind of track where you're at. And he's like, where are you at? And I was like, I don't know. I'm just in this tunnel thing. And he's like, did you slow down? Like what's going on? And so when I finished, I was curious. I looked at my split times and my split time for that mile was so much slower. than the rest. I would have walked up the hill. did. Yeah. was honestly worse going down the hill. I had my momentum going and then I'm like, I don't think I'm going to make it back up. yeah, so watch out for the tunnel of death. If and when they ever bring back the Disneyland races towards the end. mean they put at the end. Yeah. That's mean at the end. You'll be surprised at what the race planners do to put you through torture. Like the Montgomery half, you take a turn, you're at like mile 10 or 11 of a half marathon and you turn onto this road as the governor's mansion is on it. And you look and it's just this huge hill and it's steep and it's like, my God. And you get to it in the, um, run like a girl. They're usually stationed at the bottom of the hill and one lady just running up and down at all, all the race. And she's like, you can do it, you can do it. I'm like, look, I know you've been running up and down this hill for a while. But I've ran up and down all these hills and plus 10 miles. So I'm exhausted. Can you not like rub it in my face that you can run up and down these hills? They're being encouraging. Rubbing it in your face. When you're that far into a half marathon. It's rubbing it in your face. It kind of feels like rubbing in your face. I was just about to say, as someone who's never trained for a half marathon or... A 5k, 10k. You don't know the scale, I don't know if you know this, but I signed up for a 5k and then forgot and then the day came and I had to run it. And I was like, as a non-runner, it was terrible. But anyway, like when you are training for that, do you train with Hills? Like I know the couch to 5k thing people have on their phone or, so I had never thought about it. just assumed it was like treadmill running. you just. run almost flat. So when you train, you train with hills in mind? Like you said, you're in Florida. So. Yeah. I was going to say, I mean, I don't really have a choice because I live in Tampa, like actual Tampa. So I live in the city and there are no hills. ⁓ so you like outdoor run, not treadmill run. Yes. Yeah. I'm not a, I'm not a treadmill runner. ⁓ I like to be outside, which is also tough in Florida for humidity reasons, obviously. But yeah, but because. Mostly like I am into the run Disney races. There is a 5k that I do every year at the Tampa International Airport actually that's out on one of the runways, which is cool. It's how I got into my running journey was by doing that. And that's flat Disney's flat. So I was like this tunnel of death, like this is the end of me like curse you. I will never do this again. Fun fact. I don't trade for them, but realistically speaking, I'm sure that people do if they know that they're training for a race with Hills or if they have Hills accessible to them at home. No. In fact, about the airport races, they don't have a timeline to be either. So you can just keep running up and down that tarmac all you want. And if a plane comes, it's just going to run over you. So you just, you just move out of its way. You said you would like to go back out there and do a Disneyland race. Anything you would like to see Disneyland do differently for their run weekends? I do think something that was really strange to me was the corral pacing in terms of like releases. And so at Disney World, there's a lot more people, like a lot, a lot more people. So there might be corrals A through H and that's the group that you go out and run with, but they're broken up. into like five different groups per corral. So if you're in Corral D and they are starting the race with Corral A at 5 a.m., you still might not be going out until after 6 a.m. Whereas in Disneyland, there's so few people because there's no space, obviously. They let the whole corral out at once. And so it's like rapid fire. so because I knew there wasn't any pre-race like entertainment or festivities, I didn't get there super early. And so I felt like I was really rushed for time. So was like, ⁓ my gosh, like I'm in corral E or whatever it was. I need to stretch. need to get ready. I need to, you know, get my energy up and going. And then before I knew it, I was out on the course. And so I do wish that they would maybe pace things a little bit slower again, just because. You're so squished out there. think that was really tough too. I like had this thought in my head, I'm going to go to California and I'm going to PR because it's Sorcerer Mickey and this is going to be my best race. And there were so many times where I had to basically stop because there was just no space to be able to run. And so I think they need to spread things out a little bit more people-wise just because they can't like space wise. Very, very tight, the course out there. ⁓ Also ask this, just because we lost Jeff Galloway a few, was the the Wednesday or Thursday before the princess half was just a couple of weeks before your race. Did they do anything special for Jeff out there like they did for Disney World? So Jeff's last race weekend was my race weekend. So he was there. I think that's really special just because I love the Galloway method. So to know that I was at the last run Disney race weekend that he was a part of before he passed is really special. So the timing was, was fortunate for me, really unfortunate, obviously for everything that happened thereafter. was thinking about the marathon weekend and then the Disneyland. thought vice versa those. Yeah. Yeah. was flip-flopped. Yeah. It's like, so just to mention if those who listening that don't know Jeff Galloway is like the ambassador to run Disney. He really, he was an Olympic runner. took joking about the Olympians who went to do ⁓ know, ice. here's a marathoner coming over and being the ambassador for Run Disney. And he did this Galway method, which was the run walk. That's what I use. That's why I started doing it. That's what he used a lot of when I was running. A lot of us looked up to him. He lost his life. I think it was, had some type of neural thing that happened like right before Princess. So his daughter is still the, I think it's his daughter. either his daughter or daughter-in-law is the racing out. for the run Disney stuff. she's still there. And the big thing for the end of the half marathon at a princess was that the Pacers all got together and crossed the finish line. That's the first time that a non racer finished the race last. And they made it big to do because it was for Jeff and they put a, put his chair out at mile 13 so that you pay respects. Big loss to the run Disney community for that. I've been meaning to bring that up, but I figured this was the best podcast to do it in since it run Disney themed. And we started on a side note with Taylor with the Run Disney stuff and Gary Sinise. So why not kind of bring it back down right before we get out of this thing? Way to go, Jason. So anything else you want to share about the Run Disney out there in Disneyland? you would, for anybody listening to this in the future when Disneyland has re-announced the runs in maybe five to 10 years. Hope that they bring them back. I definitely want to go back and do it again. Like I said, I would only ever max do a 10K out there because I'm not flying all the way across the country to run on streets when I have a city that I live in and can run here. I think the biggest thing that was hard for me that's kind of, kind of not related is, well, Disney World, you know, isn't super exciting for me just because I live an hour away and I'm- time and so when I go and do run Disney weekend, I have no problem staying at my resort and going to the pool and having a movie night with whoever I'm with and saving my feet. But when you've only been to Disneyland once before, it doesn't matter if you're going out there to run. And so I learned my lesson the hard way and I was nonstop for the first two, three days that I was out there. And my last day at Disneyland was the day of my brace. And so I finally, the day before, stopped myself and I said, I need to go put myself away. I need to save my feet. So that is my fair warning to everyone who is more of a Disney World local. You can't go to Disneyland expecting to have a Disneyland vacation if you're going to Disneyland for a run Disney because you will regret it. I did just fine. My feet survived. My pace was right where I was hoping for it to be. But it is very hard to go out there and not want to be in the park. Even so much so as Paint the Night returned the weekend that I was out there and I chose not to go watch it because I knew I had to go to sleep. And Fantasmic, and that's really saying something for me, for anyone who knows me and my love for Fantasmic. So. A 2.30 AM wake up call comes way too fast to be able to go in and watch Fantasmic the night before. So yeah, that's warning. Take it from someone who knows and learn the hard way. Well, we hope that you can come out with us to the Disneyland training in June and you can see Paint the Night. Hopefully they're still doing it. They haven't announced anything yet. I know. feel like it's not going anywhere. I think they need to keep it. It's really a staple out there. Well, we very much appreciate you coming on and talking about Run Disney and Disneyland and the Gary Sinise Foundation. Everything very, very much appreciated because, especially Gary Sinise stuff, we know about Run Disney and Disneyland. Educating people home with the Gary Sinise Foundation is doing is a great thing for our listeners and even for us. And hopefully we can all get out there and do a run Disney race at Disneyland. do a Castle Stacauldron 5k, 10k? Come on, Terry. I'll be a balloon lady. No, you have to keep pace then. There you go. I'll be the balloon lady in the back to encourage. I want to do a 10k or a half. So it'd probably have to be Princess because as we're recording this, the Disney World Marathon weekend just went on sale last week. and sold out like within two hours like usual. So it had to be Princess weekend next year. I kind of want to do the 10-miler like the springtime surprise 10-mile one. Man, those are okay. I want to run through the Cal... I've never run through Magic Kingdom. So I want to run through I would love to run through Magic Kingdom. So the 10K or the half marathon are the only ways you can run through the Magic Kingdom. think I've run through Magic Kingdom a lot. Yeah, but not like this. I think I've run through there a lot. I will say that was my favorite part of the Disneyland 10K was... You didn't run through the castle, but you ran by the castle. And so I finally have my castle picture from Run Disney. It's just the baby castle and not the big castle. It's a better castle to me than Cinderella castle. But, uh, I do think we should all get together and try to run a, run a f**king game at least so we can get a Magic Kingdom shot. Terry's face. Or find Rachel and Terry. I know why you love shopping when Terry. I literally like have a list of things that I hate. Scary movies are up there. Running is up there. Lots of seafood. And Jason, you put our favorite things in order and they're inverse. He's like, let's go to Hollywood Horror Nights. Let's run. Let's wake up at 2 30 AM to run. I hate waking up early in the morning. This is the opposite of anything I want to do. someone who also hated to run and started training back in July to do my first 5k in November, I thought I was going to hate it. But then like I would find myself like on my days off, like at from going to the gym and like running, going like, oh, I actually feel so much better after I run or doing these things. So I don't know. all the fitness classes you want. I will do anything. How about this? But run. They do the A speed walk. It's their old ladies mall walker club that Disney gives them metal out for. I'll join them. They do their Sunrise yoga. You can be our sponsor for that. can go and tell us how that was. Heather and Renee did that this past, well, I think at Princess Weekend. Yeah, they always do it for princess weekends. So you can go do that and you can tell us how the yoga was and we'll go and run the race. We don't have to run together. mean, I'm a fat guy, so I'll probably be further behind with a corn dog or something chasing. I want to do, I want to do a 10K. I'd ready for June. run Disney. I would love to do a 10K. So we'll make that happen. We'll get, we'll just sign Rachel up. without her knowing. guess what she likes to run either. She already said her and Terry would be like just cheering us on from the finish line. Moral support there for you. We'll have everybody else. Bethany will be running with us because I told her if we're doing Princess she'd run. So, and she's worked so hard to be where she's at. And the next day when your like toe jaws are falling off and your like muscles are seizing, then Rachel and I can go out and do like content while you guys are resting. Well, thank you again, Taylor. Where can we find you if anybody wants to get a hold of you? Thank you guys for having me back on. was such a long time. Thank you. Yeah, of course. If anyone is looking for me, you can find me on Facebook. I'm most active there, Taylor O'Rourke with Magical Travel, or you can email me at Taylor at MagicalTravel.com. And I'll say this, Taylor is up there with Heather and Allison and all those that, she travels a lot. does, been on what, two cruises already this year, the Disney one. And then there's also, you know, she lives in Tampa, like she said, so she's right there at Walt Disney World and Universal. You never know when she's just going to start randomly posting stuff there. Go follow her and you'll get some really good updates at random times. Magical travel in general, we always have agents traveling somewhere, but someone who, Taylor's the closest, right? To the theme parks. I think. Feel like it. So you're, you're a Blair, right? Yeah. I think I'm probably a tiny bit closer than her, but we're both in the Tampa area. You're going to get some up to date random stuff when Taylor shows up in town and where she's always doing a staycation too. So you get good content on the resort she's at. For the rest of us, you can find us at pop up in random places all the time. ⁓ huh. I'll pull up Facebook and Taylor's like, I'm checking into art of animation today. And I'm like, must be nice. Not art of animation. No, at least put me in a better resort. Just like. Riviera. Perfect, that works. I'm all about an adults only vibe, know. Don't call me an art of animation. I don't need that family suite. A family suite is great though for an adults only because it's a lot of room where you can just kick back, relax, and actually have a separate space to sleep and then relax. the family suite's at All Star ⁓ Music's better. I've stayed at It keeps me away from that pool with other kids in it. Yeah, and that's thing music. For the rest of us, you can find us at MagicalTravel.com. Any of us will be glad to help you with any of your family vacations. If you want to find us, Castle Cauldron on any of the social media platforms, Terry's doing a great job throwing out our random TikToks out there. I'm Taylor Swift. I don't know what else is up. Hannah Montana. Just come in back. filmed a little thing of driving on the Tomorrowland Speedway and sent it to her and she said, what is this? No, I said, what is this? Is this content for the word ride in Disneyworld? So I was like, I figured you can find something to do with it, but maybe you'll see it. Maybe you won't. It might be the biggest thing that will ever happen on our TikTok. You never know. We don't know how to work the algorithms. Random videos with 42,000 views. we're like, what? Yeah. How did that happen? Next week we'll be talking to Universal because we've been talking a lot about Disney the past few weeks. So maybe Lauren will be with us. Who knows? Probably not. it's Universal. For sure won't be there, but until the next time we will see you on the next episode. Bye. Bye. Are you dreaming of your next adventure but overwhelmed by planning? Magical Travel has you covered. With over 22 years in the business, we specialize in Disney destinations, Universal Studios, cruise vacations, and all-inclusive resort getaways. Our services are 100 % complimentary when you book a vacation package with one of our knowledgeable agents. Request a free quote to start the planning process at magicaltravel.com. Mention our podcast to be connected with one of our agents you're listening to if you like what you hear.