Join Tony and Lauren for a lively discussion as they engage in a fun "this or that" game centered around Disney resorts and attractions. The episode features a variety of comparisons, from headliner rides like Rise of the Resistance and Guardians of the Galaxy to pool experiences at Typhoon Lagoon versus Storm Along Bay. Food choices are also on the table, with a debate over lunch at the Mexico Pavilion versus the UK Pavilion in Epcot. The hosts share their personal experiences and preferences, revealing insights into their favorite rides, pools, and dining options. Tune in for a delightful exploration of all things Disney, combined with engaging banter and valuable tips for planning your next visit.

Takeaways:

• Tony and Lauren engage in a fun 'this or that' game, focusing on Disney attractions and resorts.
• The discussion highlights the unique experiences of rides like Rise of the Resistance and Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Listeners are encouraged to consider the value of relaxing pool days during their Disney vacations.
• Food options at Epcot are debated, particularly between the Mexico Pavilion and the UK Pavilion.
• Tony expresses nostalgia for the monorail system, emphasizing its significance in his childhood visits.
• The podcast touches on the upcoming changes and closures at Disney, including the Muppet 3D attraction.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Disney
• Universal
• All the Magic Travel
• Epcot
• Typhoon Lagoon
• Storm Along Bay
• Disney Cruise Line
• Epic Universe

It's another episode of the Wands and Wishes podcast.

Your podcast for everything Disney and Universal.

Lauren Mallard of all the magic travel.

I'm Tony Doziri.

Oh, we got a fun episode today.

We are going to do a little bit of this or that.

As far as Disney resorts go.

How are you, Lauren?

Nice.

Good.

How are you weather here where we are in Tennessee?

It's cold.

It is cold.

It is cold.

It is.

It's very cold.

I was telling my wife there was only someplace we could go that was a little warm, warmer, and a little bit more fun.

Only some place that we could go if only we just had unlimited funds.

Then I would be there all the time.

Exactly, Exactly.

All right, so this or that, we're gonna have a little fun with some Disney resort and parks information house.

Are you gonna throw out some things?

Yeah.

Okay.

So I'm gonna throw some ideas at you and what I want you to do.

I don't care if you've been there before.

I don't care if you've stayed there before.

If you've ridden this ride.

I want to see if it were up to you, which one would you choose first?

Basically, even if you want to do both of them, I want to know which one you would choose first and then I'll tell you my answer with them.

So.

So, yeah, so first of all, I want to start with a couple of rides.

Okay.

So, you know, we've.

We've had some really big ones that have come on board in the last few years in the parks.

And so I want to know if you are.

If you only have one day for a park for like a headliner.

Okay.

Are you going to Rise of the Resistance or are you going to Guardians of the Galaxy?

Oh, that's such a good question.

Because when I rode Rise of the Resistance, I remember getting off the ride and saying, this is the best theme park ride I'd ever ridden.

Because it was just this combination of story.

It was a combination of different elements.

There was acting, there was a whole immersion aspect to it.

But when I went on Guardians of the Galaxy, I was like, this might be one of the coolest type roller coaster type rides I had ever been on with it sort of theming and spinning and just the way the.

The engineering went.

But I'm going to stick with the first one.

I'm going to stick with Rise of the Resistance.

Okay.

I never been on anything quite like the experience of going on a transport, having a show, then that show leading to this other awe inspiring thing.

And I.

I remember thinking, I've never been on a ride that incorporated so many elements, but.

But, you know, Gar, that was a good one, because Guardians, I felt.

I felt the same way when I walked off Guardians that I did on Rise of the Resistance.

Yeah.

You know, I.

I get motion sick.

So Guardians was a one and done for me.

Every time I'm there, I think, maybe I should try it again, but then I chicken out.

So I haven't tried it again.

But I think, honestly, if I could do Guardians, I did think it was really, really fantastic.

And since I'm not a huge Star wars fan, I would probably lean towards Guardians.

I think my family, Chris and Graham especially, probably still lean towards Rise of the Resistance.

Graham, absolutely.

Every time we're there, he's like, this is still my favorite ride, Mom.

And it just.

It really does encompass so much, and it reaches such a wide audience that I think it's just.

It's really a good attraction.

Guardians of the Galaxy is really interesting to me because I remember when the movie came out.

I might be getting my dates wrong, but it's around.

It was around about 10 years ago.

Yeah.

When it came out.

And I remember I had been a comic book guy as a kid, but I never really remembered it.

And I remember, like, my brother and I were like, let's go see it.

Let's bring the kids to it.

And it was surprisingly fantastic.

Like, surprisingly good.

And I was kind of warped into it, and I really loved it, and I wanted to see it again when it came out.

And so I've always had this kind of affinity for the character and the sort of franchise.

Now, when we went there, we got a lightning pass through a beautiful thing of pixie dust that my wife got.

Nice.

I missed a lot of the queue.

We ended up right in the room and kind of went on the ride.

But I heard the Queue is really, really well done.

You know, I've never seen it either, because I do.

I opt for the Lightning Pass, so I prefer to not see the queue if I can.

But, yeah, it is.

It's supposed to be pretty well done.

Whereas Rise of the Resistance, the Queue does take you through things you recognize from the movies as you kind of weave your way through.

It's kind of interesting to be like, oh, I remember this scene from the movie.

I remember this aspect from the movie.

So there's a lot of.

There's a lot of those cool elements.

That's a very, very good one.

Two really good headliners, for sure.

All right, next, this one, we're going to think outside the box a little bit.

So there, it's not going to really be apples to apples.

It's going to be a little different.

So I'm thinking about pools.

Okay.

All right, so if you could spend a day at Typhoon Lagoon or at Storm Along Bay, which is the pool at beach and Yacht Club, which one are you choosing?

Well, I get lazy rivers with both.

Correct.

You do.

You get it on a smaller scale.

I'm a lazy river guy when it comes to water parks.

I don't know why I've dumped water parks out of my life completely.

Because 1.

Water parks have advanced so much.

I love a good water park.

I, I used to, when I was younger, there were some things I've never seen before in my life.

But I.

All I remember, all my waterpark experiences were lugging a tube up a flight of stairs.

Now they don't do any of that.

Yeah.

Like none of them, they're all advanced.

They're all got really great ways of doing that.

So I stick to just the lazy river.

Yeah.

But I have not been to the, the, the, the pool area.

I have not been at Stirling Bay.

I've heard great things about it.

So I would.

I think I'm going to lean towards that.

Okay.

You know, I think that that's a really good pick, and I think I would choose the same because.

So I love a good pool day at Disney.

Me too.

So don't sleep on that if you're going to Disney.

Don't like if you can pack in a rest day.

If the weather's going to be nice enough, pack in a rest day that you can just do the pool.

They've got great food out by most of the pools at any of the resorts.

And then at the end of the day at some of these resorts, you can almost see some of the nighttime shows from Hollywood Studios or Epcot from there.

So I would just really want to just kind of lay low and take it in for the day.

Just by the pool.

All right, that's a good one.

All right, so next we are going to go food, of course, because who, who doesn't love some good food at Disney?

Good little restaurant.

All right, so we're gonna go over to Epcot and we're going to say you have to have lunch somewhere and you're in the World Showcase.

Are you going to go to the Mexico Pavilion and get tacos or whatever your heart's desire is there, or are you going to go over to my favorite the UK and get fish and chips.

I'm going to go to the Mexico Pavilion.

Okay.

I'm not a huge fish guy.

Okay.

But I've gotten great, you know, great feedback on the fish and chips over in England.

But I'm going to stick with Mexico because one, I'll.

I'll eat the lunch.

I'll go on Grand Fiesta Tour before it ends up becoming a cocoa ride, which has been my prediction.

That's right.

Since D23.

I'm going to enjoy it while I got it.

That's right.

I'm going to stay in the Mexico pavilion.

You know, you can kind of make an afternoon of that, really, if you're.

If you're there for an early lunch and you get.

You get your tacos or whatever you want to get, you can sit.

So at the Mexico Pavilion, it's got such a pretty backdrop of just the lake, and you can see the spaceship Earth in the background and all of that.

So you can do that, and you can go inside and ride the boat, and then you can meet Donald right there, which a lot of people don't always see him.

He's kind of tucked away just past the Mexico Pavilion.

And then, of course, you can stop at La Cava and get a handcrafted margarita as well.

But of course, I cannot stray from my favorite fish and chips.

I'm gonna get fish and chips with the malt vinegar and enjoy that for the day.

My mother gets it every time on her birthday.

Oh, it's so delicious.

So delicious.

Very good.

All right, so I want to go back to rides.

Okay, so I want to talk about a couple of smaller coasters.

Okay.

These are two of my favorite, and I want to know if you only can ride one of these.

Are you going to ride Slinky Dog Dash or are you going to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train?

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.

Oh, that was emphatic.

And I like Slinky Dog Dash, but I.

I love the Mine Train.

I.

It's not the best roller coaster in the park, and it.

And I could use a little more theming, but I really.

I love the queue there.

I love the queue.

Now, the queue at Slinky Dog Dash with the big toys making you feel like you're part of it.

That's.

That's really, really well done.

But I'm going to stick with Slinky Dog Dash.

I'm not.

I mean, Seven Dwarfs Mind Train only because I really am a Seven Dwarfs person.

Okay.

So I have a poster of it in my media room, and I.

I'VE liked that.

That movie for a very long time.

I really love that coaster.

I just wish that there was maybe, I mean, give us 20 more seconds, 30 more seconds if we can, because it's over so quickly, so fast, and it's such a fun ride.

I think everybody can really just laugh and have fun.

But I'm gonna go over to Slinky Dog because if I could ride one ride over and over all day, I think it would be Slinky.

And if I could hear Slinky's voice in the queue telling me to keep my hands and arms inside the vehicle, me and my kids laugh at that every time because he.

He has this, you know, country accent when he's doing it, and so it's funny.

But I love Slinky Dog Dash.

And it's still to this day, I mean, we're.

We're going on seven years, I guess, since Toy Story Land opened.

That's right.

And that ride consistently stays at a high wait time all day, all the time, every day.

My parents took everyone, all of us, to Disney for the day, right on Christmas Eve.

And the line was weaving all the way through, out of the area of Toy Story Land.

That's how, that's how long the line was.

But we had to stay in it because very simply, that was the ride we had to go on.

If there was one ride we were not going to leave that day with without, it was going to be that ride.

It was going to be the ride that we had to ride without question.

That's awesome.

So, yes.

So, yeah, so we've been through a few rides.

We've been through some food.

I want to go back to some resorts for a second.

Okay.

So I want to go to areas.

If you were to be able to stay in a particular area over another one.

Because, you know, you've got.

You've got so many conveniences now.

You've got the monorail and you've got the Skyliner and you've got different levels of resorts on those.

So let's say you had to choose an Epcot Resort over or a monorail resort.

Which one are you going?

I'm going to go with the monorail resort.

I've stayed at the Epcot resort.

I was at Port Orleans and I loved Port Orleans.

We.

The one problem we had was the bus.

The bus was.

It's a.

There's like there were four locations around that entire.

Just that resort with, with the, with.

River, How Coronado Springs Is too.

And I love Coronado.

But for the bus system, it's so hard there.

You're getting on, you're stopping, stopping again, stopping again, depending on where you catch it on its loop.

So to me, yes, no, I've all the Monal was the main reason as a young kid that I fell in love with the Disney parks.

Cuz I never been to an amusement park that required you to additionally travel to it once you were out of the parking lot.

And I just was in Enamor, this was, I mean again, 82.

There's so much nostalgia to it too.

I think it's still, I, I consider it something that you have to do on every vacation.

You have to take a ride around the monorail.

You know, if I'm gonna choose Magic Kingdom is my favorite park.

So if I have better access to Magic Kingdom, I'm gonna choose being close to the monorail.

That's right, every day, all day.

So I have a friend of mine who is a, the producer at the radio station I work for and he's from California and he has been a Disneyland seasoned pass holder for a very, very long time.

Never been to Disney World, doesn't know much about Disney World, always been sort of California based.

And he was blown away when I told him, yeah, no, you get to the parking lot and you're not even at Magic Kingdom yet.

It is still a boat ride or a train ride away.

And he was fascinated by that.

And I said listen, look, just Google Earth and you'll see it.

And he did.

And it was fun to watch his expression.

I thought everybody sort of knew this, but I guess that's not really the case because the first time I went to Disneyland it was right there.

I mean it was, you know, you went to Disneyland, there was the parking lot and there's Disneyland and it's right like there's a Denny's right across the street from the park.

So the monorail to me has always been like super, super fascinating on the method of transportation around the theme park.

Okay, so I've only got like two more that I'm going to.

Okay.

All right, so next we're going to go over to Disney Cruise Line.

All right, so I'm going to ask you about a couple of sailings, particularly not about which boat you want to go on.

But let's say you can only do one sailing.

Are you going to do an Alaskan sailing, or are you going to do.

Let's call it the Eastern Caribbean?

Okay.

Alaska sailing?

Okay.

All right.

Because I have this thing.

I've been all over the country covering sports or personal travel.

Yeah, I've never been to Alaska.

Yeah, I was very close to going to Alaska with a hockey team once, many years ago.

Really Very close.

But they didn't want to bring broadcasting to that game because the games are going to be on late.

So I didn't get to travel with the team.

But we've always.

My wife and I have always wanted to go to Alaska.

Okay.

So we've done the Caribbean a number of times with different cruise lines.

And the Alaskan cruise people tell me, look, it's very different.

It's.

It's unique.

There's a lot.

You know, there's different ways.

You got to sort of enjoy it with weather and all that stuff.

But I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I would love to do a.

An Alaskan cruise.

I absolutely would love also to do an Alaskan cruise.

The only challenge from me is if I have my kids with me, then the weather is going to be such a challenge because they think about a cruise and they're thinking about beach time.

Yeah, that's the one.

That's the one thing I have to be careful about with that because I.

I'm.

I'm in for fun in the sun on a cruise boat and not.

And not necessarily jackets and looking at icebergs.

I don't love cold weather, but I think that the trade off for seeing the things that you get to see on an Alaskan cruise would be totally worth it.

Yes.

And, you know, my.

My biggest thing on an Alaskan cruise is I don't.

I don't think I would enjoy going from point A to point B.

That's a long flight.

I think you'd leave out of Seattle, some places, Vancouver, some places.

That's a long flight from where we are.

Yeah.

And you can kind of make it, though.

Like, you could kind of make it a mini trip beforehand.

You could go out there two or three days beforehand and go ahead and see some of those cities.

If you're out in Vancouver.

I know I've never been out there.

Vancouver is wonderful.

And so I would love to see some of that and kind of make it two vacations in one.

Absolutely.

All right, so we both agree on the Alaskan cruise.

Okay.

So I've got one more for you.

Okay.

And since.

Since it's the last one.

Or at least for me, if you have any you want to throw out there, you're welcome to do so.

But since it's the last one, I decided to go with the End of the Day.

Okay, so you're at Walt Disney World, it's the end of the day and you can only see one show.

Are you going to go to Hollywood Studios to see Fantasmic or are you going to go to Magic Kingdom and see Happily ever After?

Oh, goodness.

I like Fantasmic.

I think it's more of a complete show.

Sit down, really enjoy the whole thing, the sort of anticipation of it.

Yes, I've always, I've always enjoyed that part of it.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm gonna go Fantasmic.

I love that like that.

I love Fantasmic.

And I probably would have always chosen Fantasmic in the past.

Since we've had kids, we.

We very rarely make it to any of the nighttime shows.

And that's kind of a sticking point sometimes with Chris because he wants to see the fireworks from inside the park.

And by that time of night, our kids are usually done, at least the younger ones.

And so no longer have we done Fantasmic because it's so hard with there being only one entry point and one exit point, that if you're not sitting in just the right spot to be able to get out quickly, then it can be kind of a long time to get back to the buses.

But it's a fantastic show.

If you've never seen it before, the way that they do it, it's really unique.

It's not your typical fireworks show.

It's really, really something to see if you've never seen it.

It's got so many characters in it.

There's almost everybody's.

Absolutely.

It's great.

All right, I got one for you.

Oh, good.

You're looking for that sort of 20 minute air conditioned relaxation, possibly a nap.

Okay.

Carousel of Progress or Hall of Presidents.

Oh, this is a great one.

Okay.

For me, it's actually going to be hall of Presidents.

Hall of Presidents.

Okay.

I like it.

I find something soothing about being in there.

And the voices of the presidents are a little quieter and more conducive for napping, in my opinion, than the Carousel of Progress.

But I think both of those are excellent, excellent choices for an hour.

Absolutely.

Get that 20 minutes in.

Lean back.

Enjoy.

Listen.

Listen through your.

Through your ears and close your eyes.

That's right.

Enjoy.

I saw a guy on Tick Tock saying here's some attractions that he thought were going to be closed at Disney World soon.

This was going to be closing.

And he mentioned the hall of Presidents and I kept thinking that's hard for me to believe that with all of those animatronics and all of those presents and the amount of work and the legacy of the work and the money.

That'S probably gone into making those.

Yeah.

And it's, yeah, it may not be people's favorite thing to do.

It's, it's, it's long and it's, it's kind of a cool show and it's, if you like history, it's great.

It's a classic.

It's a classic.

But I can't imagine all of the work that people put in that to just realize how much effort went into making each individual president.

And it's sort of a, you know, you see new presidents come and they get their bust, you know, they get their animatronic done at hall of Presidents.

But Carousel of Progress is one of those interesting rides for me because I, I keep waiting for the them to shift the timeline because eventually you're going to go from the, from the early turn of the century to the twenties to the forties.

We're a hundred years past act number three in that run.

We have to update it at some point and I don't know if there's been pushback on doing that or what, but.

Yeah, you're right.

At some point it's, it's going to.

Be laughing, it's going to be a huge jump.

I mean, it already kind of is.

The virtual reality game that they're playing at Christmas is like, that's like 35 years past the time.

Yes.

So yeah, that's, so that, that's a, that's my wife is always said to me, yeah, I'll, I'll close my eyes because I like Carousel of Progress.

I like the music and whatnot.

Let's see if I can try to come up with another one.

All right, would, I'm thinking of the, the parties.

Okay.

Okay.

Would you go to one of the parties, Halloween or Christmas, and have a sit down dinner at your favorite restaurant or gorge on the specialty snacks?

Oh, that's a very, very good question.

I love a good sweet, but once I've had one, I don't want more than one.

Okay, but that's really, it's a hard question because I don't want to spend my time sitting down to eat at a party.

Right.

So.

Oh, you know, maybe I would like load up on protein before I go so that so that I could just like, gorge on all the snacks and have the sweets and not feel horrible afterwards.

There you go.

Yeah.

You know, I don't think I would spend my time sitting down for a dinner.

Okay, very good.

Very good.

All right.

So that's a fun game.

Yeah, I like that.

We should do it again.

We should do it again.

If you have any ideas, send them into us.

Yeah, we'll do this or that.

We love that.

We'd love that.

What did you make of the news that's coming out about 3D?

Muppet 3D?

We.

It was kind of not surprising that Muppet 3D was closing for Monsters, Inc.

Yeah.

They kind of hinted it in the.

In the drawings that that's where it was going to go.

Yeah, you know, I.

I did expect it.

I am not as heartbroken as some people are going to be.

I mean, the Disney community is blowing up about it and talking about how they don't want to get rid of it, but really, at the end of the day, how many of them are still going to see on every trip?

And I think to make way for a coaster like what we're expecting with Monsters, Inc.

I think it's really going to be big for Hollywood studios, you know, and I hate to.

I hate to sort of compare it like this, but my wife and I will do spring cleaning a lot.

Right.

And we will say, look, we got to get into, you know, this stuff.

What do you want to keep?

What do you want to get rid of?

And inevitably, there's always a reason to keep something.

Yeah, there's always a.

Oh, yeah.

Remember when we bought that when we were stuck at that gas station in Atlanta when our motor belt went down?

You know, things like that.

Right.

Yeah.

And eventually, you got to go, we got to let this go.

Right?

We.

We.

We just.

We don't have enough space for everything.

Yes.

We got to let this go.

And I think that's one of the main problems that Disney.

The Disney community struggles with is this idea of, we want new, we want different, we want make this better, make this.

Give us new things.

Look at Epic Universe.

They've got all this stuff, and Disney goes, great, we're going to do this, but you know what?

We're going to take this out.

That has been kind of the same thing for 30 years.

Oh, no, no.

You can't touch that.

Okay, well, then where do you want it to go?

Right.

You know, I think that they could do it and kind of kind of give homage to the.

To the ride by keeping.

Let's say they keep the fountain or something in the area just to kind of to say, well, you know, here's.

Here's things of the past, but here's this great thing that we're going to have coming for you.

Yeah, exactly.

So, I mean, listen, and they, they've done some great.

Like they used to have the 20,000 leagues under the Sea where the.

Where the mine train was years and years ago.

I'm sure back then people were like, I remember the Mr.

Toad wild ride fiasco of the 90s where people went nuts.

Like, you're taking that away.

Yeah, that's.

They were leaning towards a new Winnie the Pooh popularity.

There's only so many places it can go now.

I've heard that they're trying to overlay the rock and roll roller coaster with Muppets.

Oh, that's a little rumor.

That's a little rumor.

So I'm not going to say that's official, but I heard a little rumor that they might overlay.

That would be cool.

So Dr.

Teeth and the Electric Mayhem would provide a little bit a different than Aerosmith.

Yeah.

And I heard that they wanted to kind of move off of Aerosmith anyway.

But we.

We shall see.

Oh, that'd be cool.

I like that.

I like.

If you're going to do something with the.

It is your property they own.

So they're trying to do something with it.

Yeah, but I've gone back and forth.

I mean, I grew up watching the Muppet show in the late 70s, but I.

My kids don't care about the Muppets.

They tried to bring it back.

They tried to make it a force again.

It just doesn't.

It doesn't really pop.

So.

So that's a big news of what we got.

But that was a fun little.

Fun little game we played there on this edition of the podcast.

All right, so again, hit us up.

Hit Lauren up at Lauren at all the magic travel.

You can hit me up with Travel with Tony.

Dmail.com Please subscribe to the podcast.

Give us a like helps us with the algorithms.

And next week we might be talking about the Disney treasure.

That was sort of.

Everybody was of buzzing about that with that news that came.

Got to see the ship and what it was bringing photos.

It looks really, really awesome.

So we're going to dive into that next week.

Again, please subscribe to this to the podcast.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you for all your support.

This is Tony D.

And that's Lauren Mallard and this is Wands and Wishes Pod.