Disneyland Paris: Space Mountain’s Jules Verne Return & Holly’s Disney Cruise Experience

Ash: Hello everyone, I'm Ash.

Holly: And I'm Holly and you're listening to...

Ash: Arcades and avenues. Hello and welcome to another episode of Arcades and Avenues, the podcast dedicated to Disneyland Paris, where we look at contemporary news in the parks as well as have a fun look at what makes DLP unique. And I am the visionary. I am the accurate predictor, the nostril darbus of our times, Ash,

Holly: Hahaha!

Ash: and is my co host, my pilot, my sister from another Mister, Holly. How you doing?

Holly: I'm good, how are you?

Ash: I'm fine. I'm I'm doing swell. I'm doing

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: I don't know what it is. Something of in the air, the atmosphere, but I'm just I'm just having a great time. I'm always having a great time when we do this podcast, but particularly this one is just so I don't know, it's just extra special. I do, I do. I

Holly: Got an extra pep in your step.

Ash: woke up and I was like, ooh, this is gonna be a great episode today.

Holly: It is.

Ash: gosh. And you? Are you all right? Are you are you doing well?

Holly: well, we'll get into it. I've got to eat

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: some humble pie today, haven't I?

Ash: wow. Some. Yeah. I I think I've I think you got a big batch of it. Let's

Holly: I have.

Ash: go into what all of you have been waiting for, alright? Because let's be honest. The catch up isn't any interesting than what we're gonna do now. And that is go straight into D twenty three our predictions, but more importantly, what was revealed at D twenty three for Disneyland Paris. And in particular, the biggest news that is dare I say bigger than Lion Kingland? Dare I say that? Am I going a little bit too far? I mean it's

Holly: Yeah. Well, I'm sure people will agree, some will disagree.

Ash: I say is pretty significant. People are like, but it isn't that much of an announcement. But I would say this particular announcement is probably the daddy of announcements. This could be

Holly: It is for a lot of people.

Ash: this could be classified as like two or three announcements in one. And

Holly: Mm-hmm.

Ash: that is as myself and many diehard loyalist fans, the ones that didn't doubt. had predicted the moon is coming back. You hear me?

Holly: It is. It is. Who'd have thought it? It is.

Ash: It is coming back, Holly. Who'd afford it? I know, right? Who would afford it?

Holly: Well, clearly not me.

Ash: No. No.

Holly: And well, I owe you and a

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: hell of a lot of other people an apology. So I came prepared. that I have a prop.

Ash: That is amazing. That's great. Is this a

Holly: Would you like me to grovel now or later?

Ash: No no no, let's start, let's start. This give give the people what they want.

Holly: i hope i don't have to do this often on this podcast because this is humiliating but Yeah, well, it's happening. So roll the tape. But I would like to offer my most sincere, spectacular overdue apologies to Ash, the Imagineers and the wider Disneyland Paris community. On our last podcast episode, I confidently declared that Space Mountain would never return to L'Eter à la Lune. with all the misplaced certainty of a woman who has apparently learned nothing from Disney history, and I announced that the dream is dead. After 15 years of begging Disney to bring back the moon and receiving precisely nothing, I decided that this was a perfectly sensible hill to die on. Unfortunately, Disneyland Paris Imagineers had other plans at D23. Whilst I was delivering my grand verdict, Disney was apparently loading me into the Columbia ad and a preparing to fire me directly at the moon. So to Ash, Disneyland Paris Imagineering, and every fan who kept believing, I am very sorry for doubting you. To everyone who spent the last 15 years insisting that one day we would return from the Earth to the moon, congratulations, you were right. And I was astronomically wrong. I would like to make it clear that I'm delighted about it. I should have listened and trusted the fans. and I should probably never be allowed to make a definitive statement about Disneyland Paris, space travel, or anything that might happen

Ash: Ha.

Holly: in the future. Thank you to Ash, my co-host, my brother, for being patient, passionate, and consistently more correct than me. Your faith in the dream has been rewarded, and while my confidence has been blasted into orbit and left there without a return ticket, I would like to say... I have learned my lesson but given the history of this podcast that feels dangerously optimistic. The end.

Ash: Wow. That was that

Holly: Yeah. Is that good enough for you? Is that good enough for you?

Ash: was very, very heartfelt. Fan and that was all from the bottom of your heart. GPT-ish. You just penned

Holly: had to do a bit of digging to get there.

Ash: That's brilliant. That was beautiful.

Holly: Because I needed to make it

Ash: and you did. I loved the astronomical 'cause you you connected Ash with astronomical and I thought that was brilliant. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I liked that.

Holly: yeah astronomical so there you have it i what you heard it here first i

Ash: Yes.

Holly: was wrong but i do genuinely mean it like i am i'm happy to be proven wrong on this occasion i just

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: genuinely when it's been over a decade of hearing bring back the moon hashtag bring back the moon i just thought this is just never gonna happen Truly, I just never believed in a minute. So when I woke up on that Sunday, this time last week, I was like, I can't believe it. I actually had

Ash: You know

Holly: to make sure I wasn't being punked.

Ash: Yeah. you need to pay your dues and not doubt about the moon coming back. Because it is. It is coming back, people, whether you like it or not. To all the haters out there, it is coming back. This is what makes DLP unique, just like what I said at the beginning of this podcast. And Space Mountain. The moon.

Holly: alert the press. Ash said it first.

Ash: Discovery Land is what makes it unique.

Holly: No, it's amazing news. Do you know, I've actually never ridden the original version of Space Mountain. No, seriously? Yeah, never.

Ash: Really? So is this gonna be new

Holly: It was Mission 2 and then I'd...

Ash: to you? Is this gonna be new to you when you when you come back on? W like and it and it goes back.

Holly: Yeah, yeah, because I think when I first visited, I was a teenager, so it was Mission 2. And then we got the Space Mountain, Hyperspace, Star Wars overlay, which is

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: all I've ever known really, So, we get to see what all the fuss is about. But if I'm like knowing Disneyland Paris, I feel like it will be returned. to the original vision, but it won't be the same as what it was. Cause I'm sure they've got new technology now that they'll want to implement in there somewhere. And I hope that's the case.

Ash: yeah, of course, yeah, yeah. It'll be it'll be upgraded. Exactly. It'll be an elevated version of what it once was, not bringing it back and making it as do you know what I

Holly: Mm.

Ash: mean? Lower in terms of the technology that I had before. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it, you know. I saw signs, but honestly it was probably more optimism than than Like this is a sure thing because obviously how do you know unless you're an imaginaire, you're just not gonna know. But when but the biggest the biggest giveaways was when they did the we did the gate and then when they

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: did and then when they did the lights. When

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: they did that light show and we was there, we saw it like last year, Christmas or no, October. I was like, Yeah, shall we have a look at the light sh

Holly: Was it up high before Christmas?

Ash: I think it I I can't remember. But it was either Halloween or Christmas where we went. Yeah.

Holly: Hmm. One of them trips. Yeah.

Ash: And then we looked at it and like, mm, okay, cool. All right, shall we go? That was it. Cause i I mean, it wasn't amazing, but it it it was quite significant in their communication to the guests that we've decided to do this

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: and nothing else is gonna happen. No, it it can't be. Something else. This is a sign of something more. And so that's when I just kind of put my chips on the table, it's like, Yeah, they're bringing back the moon, they to. There's no way they're investing in a light show to have it.

Holly: Also, I don't remember

Ash: Hyperspace mountain.

Holly: Space Mountain being down for that lighting rig to be put on there. It's almost

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: like one day we woke up and they were like, there's new lighting package on Space Mountain.

Ash: Well if well if you remember the scaffolding they had and that was on for a long time. But they never announced

Holly: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ash: what the lighting like they announced

Holly: No.

Ash: they were doing like painting. That's what they're announcing. And then they said,

Holly: Yeah, like refurbishment.

Ash: we're gonna do the installation of a night and like, okay, is this within the thing? Did they plan this or was this a last minute decision?

Holly: Hmm.

Ash: which we know now it probably it was a planned thing. and so, yeah. That's that's kind of what it is. which kind of leads me on to what you messaged me yesterday and we don't

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: really have significant news around the parks. I think everyone is talking about what the announcement was for DLP

Holly: Mm-hmm.

Ash: and D twenty three, so we'll stick to that. But apparently there has been a increased focus on updating the parks. because you know, it needs to be updated obviously. But more so than just updating the parks, they're having a project. It's called Project New Magic where the it's a program by Imagineers and operations team where they're gonna look at, you know, refreshing classic attractions, of course. We're talking about space mounting, that's one of them. But also you you've you've seen the Castle Bridge, which they're doing.

Holly: Rivers of the Far West.

Ash: Rivers of the Far West is another one where they are, you know, they're they've added new animals and and stuff to it. And I'm sure they're gonna be doing other things as well, that that haven't been announced.

Holly: Well, I have a, I have a speculation about something. I think,

Ash: Okay.

Holly: I don't know if you've seen on Twitter, but, you know, like since like lockdown Fort Cumstock has like, just been basically abandoned. You used to be able to

Ash: Right, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: walk onto the Frontierland Bridge and stuff. I mean, it was weird as hell in there, but I like things like that. It was like real, like freaky, like static figures and stuff in there.

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: But basically since I think 2021, it's like not, you've not been able to use it and you've not been able to go inside it. And there's just been like, it's just been barricaded off. But the past couple of weeks, they've been putting proper walls up, like refurbishment walls around Fort Comstock. And then it has pixie, like pardon our pixie dust signs on it. Like we're updating this area for your future enjoyment. like, we're all like, could

Ash: Mm.

Holly: it finally be that if they're gonna like, sort it out and get it open because although it's something I'm sure many guests walk past, much like the animals and the rivers of far west and the geysers and things like that, probably just walk past it. They're like, not interested. They want to get to Big Fund

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: Mountain or Phantom Manor. They don't, they don't care about walking through an old western fortress but I care about it and I would love

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: to see it back open so I really hope that that is part of this I can't remember what was the project called? Like Make New Magic? Project New Magic. I mean, it's

Ash: New magic, project New Magic. Which which yeah.

Holly: great. Like I'm not, I'm not being negative, but I just think like, just to like get things as they should be, it has to be a project with Disneyland Paris. I hope

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: the railway is part of this project as well.

Ash: Well, yeah, that is a very good very good point actually. th it has to be 'cause it's disgraceful at the moment. It's just like how long does it take? You know, Fantasyland and Discoveryland have been out for like

Holly: I haven't seen Discovery Land station open for years now.

Ash: Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So yeah, it needs that needs to be part of it. I think that's a very Disney thing. Everything is

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: a project, even if it's just like Project Spring Cleaning and it's like, What what what does that mean? yeah, we're just spring cleaning. So everything's a project.

Holly: I'm going to pressure wash the floor.

Ash: Yeah. Maybe it's just their ADHD version of like making everything a project so they get things that they need to do.

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: but yeah. Th that that is a thing apparently. And so We look forward to seeing what that becomes.

Holly: I actually have a proposition now. Because Disneyland Paris are evidently listening to the wider community, we've had

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: hashtag bring back the moon. So while we're on the subject of making new magic, I want to start a petition, start a movement on hashtag bring back the bride. I would love

Ash: Mm.

Holly: to see as much as you know, when Phantom Manor a few years back had that massive refurbishment, I would really love to see the previous ending brought back to Phantom Manor. I would like to

Ash: Wow.

Holly: see Melanie, safe, be the hero in the story and not the villain, which she current, which they changed it to with her asking everyone to marry

Ash: Yeah, d they change that. That's right, yeah.

Holly: her. I would like to see her in her skeletal form, saving the day at the end, singing, and I would like to see little Leota put back in the wine cellar at the exit of the ride, please. If you're listening to Disneyland Dosh?

Ash: Yes.

Holly: Please can we have hashtag bring back the bride movement now.

Ash: Yes. That's amazing, actually. I mean I I I'm not I don't I don't hate

Holly: I know you hate Phantom Manor, so you'll not be passionate about it.

Ash: it. I don't hate it. Before you say I don't hate it, yeah. I was that's why I was laughing because I'm not the you know, it's not my favourite, but I appreciate

Holly: It's not your fave. No.

Ash: it. I wouldn't ever get rid of it. It's part of history and it's the best version of it all around the world.

Holly: Mm-hmm.

Ash: So, as a Disney historian, so to speak, as a fan, I I know it's important, so I appreciate its importance even though it's not my favourite. However,

Holly: Mm.

Ash: saying that, it would be nice to bring back some things, like make some callbacks on what it used to do. Do you know what I mean? I think that would be pretty

Holly: Mm.

Ash: cool. And that would make me excited to go on it again for a couple of times. But yeah.

Holly: I just think like you can hear the little leota when you leave the ride now, but there's nothing there. And it was just

Ash: Mm.

Holly: like, if you guys can remember, it's like a little animatronic leota, like it dressed in a bride

Ash: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right.

Holly: outfit, just saying hurry back. And like, I don't know, I just feel like when they, I don't know if you can remember when they did the big refurbishment on it, like, I don't know what it was like eight years ago. It really bummed me out that they changed the ending and if you remember they actually changed the soundtrack and people created so much they had to put the original soundtrack back on. Do you remember that?

Ash: Yeah, yeah. I I remember there was a a big, big ruckus on it. but because

Holly: It's just, I don't know, I just think...

Ash: a lot of those things happened around the same time, I didn't know what people were pissed off with which I mean probably they were annoyed with everything really, but yeah, definitely I remember there was a commotion about it.

Holly: It's just, yeah, I don't like where she used to be with all the crystals like, at the end saving you.

Ash: Yeah. Yeah.

Holly: Now it's just like a couple of coffins of one hand holding a ring and I just, I just feel like it's just anticlimactic.

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: And I don't like the fact that she's in between you in the dune buggy. I feel like it makes way more sense for the phantom to be in sat in the dune buggy with you.

Ash: Yeah. I th

Holly: Just my two cents.

Ash: Yeah, yeah. I think that definitely is a I think for the for the casual they don't really care. They're like, my goodness, something's with us like that, but they don't really understand about the story. But I get that in terms of like the storytelling of it and to the hardcore fans, that makes sense more.

Holly: Mm.

Ash: new magic is happening and yeah, another thing that was also announced was of course Lion King Land. And we got more of a update on the concept of Pride Lands and what that would look like. The big thing about that or what they was pushing was the Scar Animatronic, which to me

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: isn't really a massive announcement. I d I didn't get it. Yeah, did you know you're getting a scar animatronic? It's the first scar animatronic, I like, so? Like

Holly: It's the first Lion King ride so of course it's to be the best.

Ash: A court is like it's the first Lion King attraction, bro. Like I don't like like why are you making

Holly: Well...

Ash: this like this is the thing that should stand out from the news? Like that's not news. Like all of it is new. So

Holly: I mean, just going off track slightly, I felt like this year at D23 was like a microwave. It was the reheating of things we've, we already know apart from like

Ash: Yeah. Yeah.

Holly: a couple of things. And I felt like they really didn't go into any detail about anything at all. They had confirmed, it in Kanto is going to be a trackless dark ride? And then, you know,

Ash: Yeah. No animals,

Holly: The one that made me laugh the most was right at the end they were like, guess what? We're reimagining Disneyland's Tomorrowland. And then they no, no, no. The

Ash: Yeah. And then they pissed off.

Holly: curtain closed. And I was like, okay, like, can we not have some blue sky? Like imagery,

Ash: Yeah. Yeah. Nothing. Yeah.

Holly: some, just throw some ideas out there. No, no, it was just like,

Ash: Just left it.

Holly: we're doing up Tomorrowland and then literally the next day on Tomorrowland. was like, we're gonna redo this area for future enjoyment. Everyone's like. We don't know what the hell they're doing to it.

Ash: Which I'll be honest with you, and this is a side note, I think that's a Josh Demarro thing. That's

Holly: See you.

Ash: definitely a Josh D this is one of the big

Holly: I don't dislike it, I'm gonna be real.

Ash: this is one of the big things where Josh is like, I'm CEO now, this is hap do know what mean? Like he's

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: he's not just Bob was focusing on Avatar. He's like, No, no, no, we're doing this first before we do Avatar. So I think that's a Josh DeMarro thing. And you know what, Tomorrowland in Disneyland Resort is needed 'cause God bless it, it's very,

Holly: It is, it is so bad.

Ash: very tired. It's very, very tired. Whether whether that

Holly: To be honest, I feel like...

Ash: will include a people mover, who knows? I think that's gonna be another discussion. It would, it would. But yeah, so that's a suff

Holly: I hope they bring the people we were back that would make everybody so happy. It's just sat there.

Ash: Yeah, it's just yeah. But yeah.

Holly: like they have it but it's just like why did why did that and also like going back sorry i'm i'm gonna there's so many ideas i have to spit out it really made me laugh like i'm happy i'm like i'm happy about it don't get me wrong but you know they're like we're gonna fix the yeti and it's like it's taking you 20 years to fix look how much money as a company like it's a multi-billion

Ash: Yeah, I know, I know. That was so funny. That was so f yeah.

Holly: dollar company we're talking about here that we all give our money to over and over and over again like that i mean i getting this mixed up but did it- wasn't the rumor or like the reason behind it was I couldn't take it out because it was like struck- was like holding up the structural integrity.

Ash: Yeah, there was a there was a big thing, yeah, there was a big thing about how the structure was getting in the way of it and they tried to figure out ways of how to do it and they just basically it just didn't become a priority. So it's not like they couldn't do it. It was just like, well, people are coming and no one is really making a big fuss of it. I mean people did say it, the fandom was speaking about it, but it wasn't like this is this is really

Holly: Yeah, Disco,

Ash: fan s this is like this is really fan service, if anything. It's not because they needed to do it. It's just because,

Holly: I think... No, no, no.

Ash: hey, we've got nothing else going on. So let's just do this and give them a cookie. Because literally everything else,

Holly: Do you think what you say going back to me?

Ash: like you said, was just reheated thing.

Holly: yeah but do you think it's josh like i this i mean i'd love to i'd love to think that it's josh and the team and the imagineers going like this is something the fans around the world so like us in paris asking for bring back the moon people ask like the running joke and and do know what i hope it is him and his team saying do know what we've listened and we're going to get these things right but can i just say the opening number where they took the mick out of themselves for like four minutes straight. They took the mick out of the Yeti about projection mapping faces and the Ola.

Ash: You mean like that that n that musical number that they did? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: Yeah, being a Disney animatronic and they even took the mick out of Olaf falling over. Which we had. They were able to poke fun at themselves and

Ash: Yeah, they did. They did. Yeah.

Holly: Like if Disney itself can poke, can laugh at it then you know, like it, and I just thought thank god.

Ash: Yeah. Exactly. We did that straight away.

Holly: Yeah, yeah. I know that people were like... funny about Ola.

Ash: no, I don't wanna show I don't wanna ruin the magic for people like grow up. Come on. It's like it was it's a funny thing, it's a funny thing. Yeah, exactly.

Holly: It's funny. It's funny. And like if Disney can laugh at it, it's, just, I just, thought that whole opening number, but that is my flavor of autism

Ash: A hundred percent.

Holly: and my kind of humor. Like it was absolutely brilliant. I feel like I've got off on a bit of a tangent now, but yeah, other than that, we didn't really get anything new, but going back to Scar, I want to say that I'm

Ash: Yeah, scar.

Holly: glad that it's not going to be like, i we still don't really know but from them making such a a statement about a scar being in the ride and there being a i think they said there was going to be like the end scene or something would be would be scar i hoping that they're not gonna like sugarcoat like the lion king story because like let's be realistic like it is do i think we're gonna see mufasa die per se? no i don't but i would like to make- do know what mean? i hope that they go for the true story and it's not just like a two-minute ta-da!

Ash: Could you imagine just seeing a r a loop of mufasa just falling down? Brother

Holly: brother! brother, save me! brother! no and then like i don't think it's gonna be that extreme but i just don't want it to be like yeah like hakuna matata everything's sunshine and rainbows you know what mean i'd like to see like a bit of like you know the drought and like

Ash: Probably in if it was an American park, that probably would happen, but f DLP don't really

Holly: 100 % 100 %

Ash: they don't really sugarcake things in DLP. So I'm I'm not worried about that. Yeah, we are. Do you know what I mean? Like Phantom Manor, you're like, we get it, Tyroth, we get it. But

Holly: We're on the darker side in DOP, I think. Yeah, yeah. Tarot Terror.

Ash: but I don't I don't I don't worry about that. I but yeah, I just thought it was I just thought it was just odd really that they were making that the thing of Scar Animatronic. Now of course we saw

Holly: Throw a bone.

Ash: yeah, we saw an updated concept art, which I thought was interesting. Gonna be the biggest attraction bigger than Pirates of the Caribbean as in as in like indoor type of thing, do you know what I mean? Like it's gonna be massive. So that's

Holly: Yeah,

Ash: that was that's exciting. we saw there's gonna be toilets, there's gonna be a store and Possibly I don't know if there's a restaurant but a snack area, definitely.

Holly: might be a quick survey.

Ash: A quick service. but what I saw as well, it looked like there was like I don't know I don't know if you've even if you can't even remember this, but in Animal Kingdom, very close to the bar the barbecue restaurant, I can't remember what it's called now. There's like a stage, like a small stage where you have like small performances and that's kind of what it looks like in Lion Kingland. Now I don't know whether that's a small stage for meet and greets or whether they're gonna do like dances or performances or anything like that, but that was interesting.

Holly: I would love to see the African musicians and dancers,

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: which we used to have like, I don't know, 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, we used to have

Ash: We did, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: them performing almost daily in Adventureland, Hakuna

Ash: Outside who ki Hukuna Matata.

Holly: Matata. I would love to see them bring that to Lion Kingland.

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: That's the kind of street atmosphere that area needs. They've also got Rafiki's tree, haven't they, going into Lion Kingland.

Ash: Yes, they have. That's right.

Holly: So I would have thought that would have been a photo location. But when it comes to Disneyland

Ash: Mm-hmm.

Holly: Paris, like, you can never tell, like, we have so many amazing photo locations and you'll never see a photographer or meet and greet there, so... Who knows? Who knows?

Ash: No, no. Who knows? But yeah, I would just like to a little bit more. It was good to see them in the log, in the actual log the flume thing and seeing the structure. Yeah.

Holly: Mm-hmm. yeah, we got to see the log. We got to see the log and it's going to be a high capacity ride, which thank God. Do

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: you what I think each row sits four and there's four rows. Is that right? Three or four in a row.

Ash: Yeah. Four, yeah. Th I think there's four in a row and there's yeah, four by four basically. So

Holly: Yeah, so that's good. It's not like Disneyland, Tiana's where it's like single file.

Ash: Yeah, no, it no, it won't be like that. Tiana's they they get through a lot but still because of again it's just about the demand really, isn't it? So

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: it's always gonna be busy at some point, but you know, it's just how you how they all deal with it, but I'm sure they'll be fine. But yeah, so that was that announcement. The last announcement for D twenty three for D L P anyway, was the new parade coming to Disneyland Park now This will retire.

Holly: on parade.

Ash: There's stars on parade. I'm not a big fan of it, so that's probably why. and yeah, it will come in twenty twenty eight, the new parade. it looks pretty exciting. It is I think purpose built from what I've read. So each

Holly: hopefully.

Ash: float will not none of them will be rehashed stuff. This will be brand new from you know, built up top to bottom.

Holly: Mm-hmm.

Ash: And it'll include Aladdin, Coco, Rapunzel and whatnot. I would like to see some other characters that we haven't seen much into the park. I don't think that will happen.

Holly: Mm-hmm. Such as? Geppetto?

Ash: Giappato, I think Gippato love is severely

Holly: Hahaha

Ash: lacking in D L P. It's

Holly: under-presented.

Ash: just yeah, so you know, we need to be the voice for Giappato.

Holly: No, but on a serious note, who would you like to see in the parade?

Ash: I would like to see Mulan.

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: Like I would I would like to see Hunch back in Notre Dame.

Holly: wouldn't we all?

Ash: I would like to see things that make sense being in France. now, of course,

Holly: in the bay.

Ash: yeah, beauty and the beast. like of course, Hunchback of Notre Dame there's nothing representing Hunchback of Notre Dame whatsoever. So why that would have a float would make no sense because people look at it and go, Yeah, okay, have you got anything like that in the parks? Like, no, not even merchandise.

Holly: Nah

Ash: So I get it, but I just think something different. Would be would be would be great to see, really.

Holly: Yeah. I mean it was only like two pictures we got to and it wasn't even announced and the official like Horizons broadcast was it? It was

Ash: No.

Holly: our new president and I always forget his name so sorry.

Ash: no, Christopher Murphy. Of yeah, yeah.

Holly: Christoph Murphy, that's it. Thomas Masloom was at D23, wasn't he?

Ash: Thomas Wasloon was is now the head of Parks and Resorts and he he was alright. He was very he didn't come across

Holly: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm with you. He's fine.

Ash: as polished as Josh does. Josh looks like he's actually talking like with passion. He's that scene very rehearsed, didn't it? Yeah, but he's a man in charge now, so he he's not gonna do anything.

Holly: But he's man in charge now, so don't worry. is. But yeah, it was Christoph Murphy who, like, almost immediately after the presentation had ended, uploaded on his personal Instagram like, here I have some concept art for a new parade. It wasn't announced at the D23, but we're gonna... Right, this is the... I'm gonna end the D23 rant with...

Ash: Ha ha.

Holly: 2028? is an... unimportant year in terms of things going in Disneyland Paris. 2027 looms. Disneyland Paris' 35th birthday looms.

Ash: Mm-hmm.

Holly: So we're not getting a new parade. I was completely off the mark there because the new parade that we are getting is not coming to the following year. Even though knowing Disneyland Paris, a birthday celebration normally lasts about five years.

Ash: No, no, but it it will it will bleed into the thirty fifth hundred yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Holly: Yeah, they last about five years each each celebration by the time the 30th finished at 30, 50 starts, you know, you know how it is. But yeah, I was just like, I was just like really surprised that like it wasn't even mentioned. That's what I mean, like it wasn't even. But I know

Ash: Yeah, yeah. It wasn't even mentioned.

Holly: that there is a press thing for Disneyland Paris in the wintertime, normally around November, December time. So I guess we'll just have to like wait and see.

Ash: And we We said that, didn't we? We said, you know,

Holly: Hmm.

Ash: Disneyland Pires say night to announce their own stuff, so maybe

Holly: Mm-hmm.

Ash: they'll have their own press conference that'll announce it, which isn't surprising to us 'cause we did say that, but I'm just surprised that they didn't say they didn't say, and we've got here's a logo for the thirty fifth anniversary and more details to come soon.

Holly: They're probably still drawing it up because they listen to our podcast.

Ash: Do you know what I mean?

Holly: They heard me say on the last one, I bet you'll be pink into purple with a fancy 35 and they're like, quick, scrap that.

Ash: Yeah. shit. We can't make a we can't we can't We can't make a s yeah, yeah.

Holly: It'll be like a car-poony style now. They'll go back to the like, you know how they have the year designs which are always really gaudy and like garish like 2026, 2025 yada yada yada. It'll be like that. 35 years. Just throwing my predictions

Ash: But

Holly: out there because I didn't get the last ones right.

Ash: Well, that could be an a future episode, right? What is gonna be the well that's if they announce that they're gonna do a press f press release, which I'm sure they will do a press conference.

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: But what will be the announcements for the thirty fifth anniversary? That will be a fun episode to do later on in the year.

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: but yeah, so that was D twenty three. of course you know, a lot of you already know this because you're tapped into what was going on, so just giving our thoughts really. But yeah. not really much change, but we are happy that the moon is coming back. we also got some other great news from our side as well. Holly, we wanna mention what we're about to release for arcades and avenues.

Holly: Yeah, so you guys might have remember like on our Instagram a few months back I sort of soft launched that we'll be and having our own website That is going to be going live this week. I don't want to give a specific date But it will be this week once the pod is out. I'll endeavor to get out this week where you'll be able to Stream the podcast. We'll also have some blog posts up there and we'll also have like a little about our section and I'm sure it will get more interested as time goes on, but it just makes us more official. Do you know what mean? And you can hear me, I thought to ramble on about different things and Ash's thoughts on different things that we don't get to cram into the podcast. Cause otherwise our podcast would be three hours long.

Ash: Yeah, and we do reduce it a lot because of

Holly: We do.

Ash: his rambling on and coming off tangents.

Holly: Shut up! Don't shut up!

Ash: and I believe your written apology will be uploaded on there as well.

Holly: Sure, why not.

Ash: You gotta you gotta you you don't wanna write all of that in vain.

Holly: No.

Ash: right, you need to put that on there so that people other people could read it and take delight. I think it I think it was I think it was beautiful. It really touch it really touched me.

Holly: Maybe you've watched me read it out on YouTube or listen to me read it out on the audio, but no, now they need to see the yeah, read it, digest it in any which way you can,

Ash: And then they can read it. Exactly. So they have the transcript. They can print it off.

Holly: with me saying, I was wrong. Okay. I'll post this off to you, And then

Ash: I'm gonna frame it. That's what I'm gonna do, so here we are. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Holly: you can have it.

Ash: Wonderful, wonderful. right, you also had another interesting escapade, so to speak, where you went on your very first Disney cruise line. So there we are. Look at that. Is that what you

Holly: Alright, which side? This side? I did.

Ash: got from the cruise?

Holly: I already had the bag, Steve bought me that before we

Ash: Right, okay.

Holly: went and then I own not one but two Captain Minis because the autistic need for my daughter to have something in either hand. We've got two of them, yeah.

Ash: Beautiful, beautiful. So yeah, give us a rundown what happened. This is your very first one. What was it like?

Holly: It was.

Ash: What the lead up to it, arriving, seeing your room,

Holly: man.

Ash: seeing the thing, like I wanna know everything.

Holly: Right, where to begin? So I wanna say... Where do we what where do I even start like first ever cruise guys first ever cruise and I was very apprehensive and very anxious about Going on a cruise because I'm a very anxious person and it was something entirely new for me So I spent probably the last six months watching repetitive Disney Cruise vlogs I was also really worried about a few things. I was worried that I was gonna get seasick because I am a person that does get seasick. Yeah, but it's something I've always wanted to do and actually get my tiny little violin out. When I was, I was a young mum and I had my son when I was 20 and I was also completely broke. So a lot of the times I used to cheer myself up by ordering the Disney Cruise Line brochure. And like, you when you can use, you used to be able to order brochures and you could flip through it,

Ash: Yeah, wow.

Holly: just to cheer myself up. And I just never eat back then. I never even thought it would ever be possible for me to go on a Disney cruise. having that dream of being able to finally go on Disney cruise come to reality was really emotional. But I have to say going from Southampton is so easy.

Ash: Mm.

Holly: Like, you know, the stress of going to an airport is it's a lot. we drove to Southampton on the day. left about half eight in the morning, got there bang on 12 o'clock. Our boarding time was half past 12. We walked straight into the terminal, straight through security, upstairs, checked in and straight on. We were on the ship by 20 past 12, I want to say.

Ash: Where's where's security? On the ship? Do they do security on the ship or be right, okay. Yeah. So they put you put your

Holly: No, it's like in a terminal before you board. You've got like the cruise terminal.

Ash: bag in there and everything, they check it all, you get patted down and whatnot.

Holly: Well, actually, no, I've missed out, I've missed, so Disney sent us luggage tags before we went. So your suitcases, like your heavy bags, you literally just give to porters before you enter the cruise terminal. It has like your room number, your name, what time you're boarding on. The porters will take them away. So you're only really taking like, if you've got a backpack, I had a bag and then obviously like a pram bag for my daughter. That goes through security. So just like your hand luggage, so to speak, that goes through security and it takes like two minutes. We didn't queue at all. They do say

Ash: Mask crazy, that's amazing.

Holly: though, and this will be my one tip for anyone who's got an upcoming cruise, do not arrive at your cruise terminal more than sort of half an hour, 45 minutes before your boarding time because you will be sat around. It's not like, if you get there early, we'll let you on. They have these groups, your boarding groups for a reason and you won't get on earlier.

Ash: Mm. Right. Right, okay. so you get on there, it's twenty past twelve, and you're you're getting on with your group. You get and then you get your shout out, is that what happens?

Holly: So as you board a Disney cruise, they will ask you for your family name and as you walk onto the ship, they will introduce your family and everybody gives a round of applause.

Ash: And how how was that for you being a person famously hating any of that type of stuff?

Holly: It gives me the same kind of feeling like

Ash: Ha ha ha.

Holly: this is why I never want to get married again because it's just like having everyone stand and look at you and stand and clap. And surprisingly, we had quite an early boarding time, so there was hardly a soul there. So it was fine. It was just the cast members clapping us, which was quite nice actually. So if there was like,

Ash: Okay. That's fine.

Holly: if it was like the lot, you know, like four, four o'clock boarding and everyone's on the, on the, you know, in the atrium watching you, I think I would have been like been sick, but there was like nobody there often than the cast members when we got on. and the other people walking through, so it was fine.

Ash: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd imagine for families it's cool, but if you're by yourself and like and

Holly: it must be awkward. Hell.

Ash: welcome Patterson, Ash Pat and I'll be like, Okay, well, come on man, I'm just by myself. Just leave me alone, mate. Joein Like, leave me alone.

Holly: Loader!

Ash: Yeah, you by yourself, you Do you know? So

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: I suppose for people that go regularly, they're alright with it. I probably

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: would I'd probably cringe. But good. So you go to your room straight away or what? What did you do?

Holly: No. gosh, what did we do? Well, we decided to have a walk around the ship first because we weren't that hungry so we had to walk around the ship. Aidan had made a group of friends who were traveling on the cruise via Snapchat so he went off with his friends literally the minute we got on the ship, his new friends. Yeah, yeah.

Ash: What? He already made friends before he he boarded.

Holly: Yeah, so like they was like a Snapchat group or something for our specific crews and it was all kids his age so they all sort of planned to meet up the minute they got on.

Ash: That's brilliant. that's hilarious.

Holly: I'll get more into Aidan's experience in a moment because

Ash: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: it's really quite interesting. But yeah, we just had to wander around the ship. We went to open house at the kids club at the Oceaneer lab for my daughter who was really excited to see what it was like in there. And it was amazing because normally parents aren't allowed in there. They do open house sessions like throughout your sailing, but The big one is you go there, if you want your children to go to kids club, you register them and you can play in there for a bit. So we probably spent half hour, 45 minutes playing with her in there. And then we went to Cabana's to the buffet and had some lunch, which was amazing. And then your room's ready. about half, we hadn't even been on the ship an hour and our room was ready and they just put your suitcases outside. Which, nah.

Ash: And how big are the rooms compared to like a room at Sequoia Lodge, for example? Like did you was it comfortable or what?

Holly: I would actually, well, I think it depends on the stateroom that you choose. chose a, because it was our first cruise and it's something I waited quite a long time to do. I chose a deluxe family stateroom with a veranda balcony slash balcony. And me and Steve both said that actually it was probably comparable to a room that you would get in like one of the regular hotels at Disneyland Paris.

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: with a balcony and then a balcony as well. And you have like your toilet and your bathroom is separate and it is a full bathroom. Like you have a bath in the bathroom on the cruise, which is like kind of unheard of, but it's great if you've got small children. And

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: it was, genuinely, I could not fault the room. The pillows last night, I got into my own bed and I was Googling what pillows they have on the Disney cruise line. And if I could buy them because the pillows were so comfy.

Ash: Alright. Yeah. That's great.

Holly: I actually didn't even film like a room tour or anything. I was just so excited to get amongst it. I mean, there's some on YouTube.

Ash: You didn't do a room tour? man. I would love to have seen that.

Holly: You can see what the rooms are like.

Ash: What was yours again, the Disney wish or the dream?

Holly: The dream, the dream and we had a deluxe family veranda room.

Ash: so you're on the y and you get and there's housekeeping and everything every day, right? They come in and then clean up the room and everything. and so that's for everyone regardless. And

Holly: That's for everyone regardless.

Ash: you go and you eat, so there's breakfast, lunch and dinner, and you go to the same restaurants or is there different

Holly: Nope.

Ash: restaurants?

Holly: Before we get onto the food, I just want to say like after getting into our room and decorating our door, those that don't know, on Disney Cruise decorating your door is a big deal and I was very last minute so I had like some magnets off of Etsy and I did the best what I could but some people went all in on their doors like they had lights, they had like wreaths, they had...

Ash: Whoa, decorating your doors. I didn't know this was a thing. s

Holly: Yeah, yeah, you decorate your door. So because the doors are metal, because you're on a cruise ship, people make magnets and get like magnetic hooks.

Ash: To identify them.

Holly: Well, just for a bit of fun. So, so

Ash: Okay.

Holly: I had a magnet made that looked like the back of the dream. So we saw Saucer and Mickey and the mops and buckets that said like Disney dream, Hayward Brown family 17th to the 21st of August. maid to stick on the door and then I had another one that just said, looked like a cast member badge, it said Hayward Brown family. Then I had just like

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: Sailor Mickey, Minnie, all the characters, one that, you know, just like an amalgamation of Disney Cruise themed door magnets. And then you

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: have something called a fish extender, which you hang on your room number, because they're like, they're like hooks, your room number has like a hook on it. So you hang a fish extender. which essentially like a hanging decoration with pockets and people will leave you pixie dust every day and you leave other people pixie dust. And it's amazing. Yeah.

Ash: that's amazing. I didn't know that was a thing. That's great.

Holly: It's honestly, the thing with the cruise, think a lot of it surprised me. The things that I didn't think I'd be bothered about, I ended up really loving and vice versa. Things I was really looking forward to were a bit underwhelming. So.

Ash: Mm.

Holly: And yeah, so yeah, and then we have a sail away party, which I've waited like so long to have a sail away party where all the characters and your cruise director gets on the stage, the characters sing a song, they count down, the horn goes off, and then you're on your way to wherever you're going. In our case, we were going to Spain.

Ash: Boom boom boom boo boo that's right. They they do like what do they do? What's okay. I thought they did once p right, okay.

Holly: That wasn't our one. Ours was a dream is a wish your heart makes. It was like, god, I've got to do my horn impression now. I'm trying to think. Do do

Ash: Yeah, and what's that gone? What's the dr

Holly: do do do do do.

Ash: Boop boop boop boop boop And did they do did they do fireworks on the on the

Holly: No, not allowed on the EU, the EU, any EU sailing. Yeah, it's not allowed. Because it's not allowed.

Ash: Really? That's insane. Because Disney have pattern fireworks that don't use gunpowder for their fleet.

Holly: It's to do with EU law, it's not anything to do with this. I don't actually know the specifics of why you can't, of why you can't. Yeah. Do know what, Ash,

Ash: Yeah, so that's a bit strange why they won't allow you 'cause they don't even have any gunpowder anyway, so I don't know why.

Holly: we did not, we, there was so much going on. You

Ash: Hmm.

Holly: didn't miss fireworks. There was a show almost every night.

Ash: Yeah. Yeah. how long were you in Spain for?

Holly: Just the day. It was a five day cruise, but just one of those days in Spain, two days at sea, one day leaving, one day arriving back.

Ash: Right, okay. And did you I heard that You always eat with the same f people, right? At every dinner, is that so how was that as a experience? 'Cause I

Holly: Yeah, so amazing.

Ash: just find that I find that intriguing.

Holly: Well, I mean, yeah, so obviously, depending on how many are in your party, we had our own table. So it was like me, Steve and the kids had our own table every night, but you have the same servers and the same

Ash: Ha ha

Holly: you have the site, you all eat, your group will all eat at the same place every night at the same time. We had late dining, which if I would. Give one tip, if you've got small children, I wouldn't recommend late dining, but we were last minute bookers as we always are, so we didn't have a choice. We were getting late dining, we couldn't change it, although we tried. But yeah, so it's very...

Ash: What top so late dining you start at what, nine o'clock to eat or something like that?

Holly: 8.30 which is quite late when you've got a four-year-old who at that point is overtired and doesn't want to sit in the restaurant and eat dinner so yeah we were 8.30 which was a little bit too late but it didn't really dampen the experience at

Ash: Okay.

Holly: all we just had to find creative ways to entertain our

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: daughter but yeah so you eat at the same time every night the same you have the same server at your table every night and you rotate your restaurant. there is three restaurants on board and you'll go to every single one of them once and one of them twice. So in our case, had Royal Palace on the first night, then two nights on the Bounce at Animator's Palette and then the last night it was at Enchanted Garden, but we ditched one of the nights at Animator's Palette.

Ash: Okay. and I'm asking really, really basic questions and I'm sure the

Holly: No.

Ash: listeners are like, my gosh, come on, just research already. I already know this. but I just find it really, really interesting and I'm sure I'll do it eventually myself. But generally now, what I like to know is what surprised you? What you think, ooh, I didn't think I would get this, but this is really good.

Holly: I've got a few actually. I've got a few things that surprised me. A few sort of funny ones and so the first thing I didn't that surprised me, I enjoyed the buffet at Cabana's almost more than I enjoyed some of the sit down restaurants.

Ash: Wow, okay.

Holly: There was better selection. The food was always fresh, delicious. It was just annoying.

Ash: It's always the choice, isn't it?

Holly: Yeah, it was a lot more, there was like, I'm sure not everyone would feel that way. I mean, it's a buffet at the end of the day, but it's only open for lunch and breakfast. So that was, mean, you couldn't eat there for dinner per se, but I really, me and Steve and the children, like we had some really lovely food from there and we. We didn't think that we would eat in the buffet at all and it ended up being one of our favorite places to eat. So that surprised us. Second

Ash: Mm.

Holly: thing, and I don't know if this is just more prevalent on the UK slash EU sailings, sunbed wars on deck 13 around the poles.

Ash: yeah, yeah.

Holly: So basically any time that we went swimming, we could not get a sun lounger for a lot of money.

Ash: 'Cause people were hugging him.

Holly: The fighting over sunbeds, reserving multitude of sun loungers. If you went in adults only area, there was plenty to choose from, but in the family areas around the pool, it was like Brits abroad. That was one thing. just

Ash: No chance, no chance. Yeah, my bet.

Holly: did not think that there would be sunbed wars on a Disney cruise, but there was. Didn't bother us much really. We just popped our stuff down at the side of the pool and got on with it, but it would have been nice to have a sun lounger at one. one stage

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: but I'm pretty sure there people up there at the crack of dawn reserving like 20

Ash: Yeah, Kosovo.

Holly: sun beds.

Ash: Th yeah, I'm sure they probably they do, I have no idea but they have to nip something like that in the bud, right? So look, you can only come at this time and you can only have this

Holly: I mean, if they do say, yeah.

Ash: you can only have this limit. So deal with it.

Holly: Yeah, yeah. What else surprised me? Shouldn't be surprised to be honest, but the shows were some of the best I've seen in, even in the parks. Like some of the, really are

Ash: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: West End quality style shows that you get in the Walt Disney

Ash: That's brilliant.

Holly: Theater. Both of them made me cry, that I saw.

Ash: What which ones were they that you saw?

Holly: So we had the Golden Mickeys, which I believe is on every cruise and that was amazing. So it's like an award show, like the Oscars, but then Oscars, the Golden Mickeys and it's like best villain and things like that. It's so funny, like really good fun.

Ash: It's a funny one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: I don't want to spoil it, but it was really good. We saw that on the first night. Then the second night we didn't actually go to this because it was just Beauty and the Beast and it was quite a long show. So we were like, if we're going to miss one. that's the one we're gonna miss. I'd rather see the original shows. Then on the third night, it's pirate night. So they have a pirate show on deck, which was again, incredible. And then on the last night, there was an original Disney show called Believe, which I would recommend to anyone. it was, that's the one that had me sobbing. And my 16 year old sat next to me like, you all right?

Ash: bless.

Holly: It's all about your children growing up and losing the magic. And I'm sat next to a 16 year old who I remember taking to Disney Park since he was two. And I'm like, they're like, he was like, get a grip mum.

Ash: Any Disappointments? You said you're the I I don't know if there were disappointments for you, right? Maybe underwhelming things, but

Holly: I... I wanna say... It was one of the best things I've ever done. I don't know if there's any disappointments. So I think if you remember me going back to the beginning, I said that I was anxious and I thought that I'd get seasick. We had one of the worst crossings that some people had seen in over 20 cruises on the way back from Spain. It was so bad that I'd gone up to try and get like some toast, something to nibble on, and cast members were handing out sick bags and anti-sickness tablets.

Ash: Crossings, what do you mean? Like the waves were to what?

Holly: So like we were talking to other people and other people have done like, sorry, crossings is not the word, cruises. Some people have done like over 10, 20 cruises and they've never had it as rough as what it was on our cruise. So I was just really unlucky. Yeah.

Ash: right, okay. So there was a lot of it there was a lot of turbulence, so to speak, but in

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: cruise

Holly: And loads of people said to me, don't worry about it, Holes. Like, you'll be absolutely fine. You don't feel the shit move. And to be fair, for the first three days, I didn't. Like, I was absolutely fine. But on the fourth day, luckily it only lasted

Ash: Ha ha.

Holly: about six to eight hours. So like from when we woke up to about two o'clock in the afternoon. But

Ash: Six to eight hours is a long time though, isn't it?

Holly: it affected everyone. Like people walking around

Ash: Yeah, yeah.

Holly: with sick bags and like...

Ash: Ploody Hell.

Holly: yeah, Steve and Birdie had to go to bed, but I had actually bought, gone to the pharmacy and spoke to pharmacists and got really strong antigen medication and it did work. So I

Ash: Okay.

Holly: was all right. And so it wasn't disappointment, but it was like, was a bit of a bummer because I felt like I half a day on the ship because everyone else was in bed

Ash: Yeah, six to eight hours, didn't you, because of that.

Holly: feeling poorly. And like all the pools were then closed because it was so choppy

Ash: Mm.

Holly: out. So like there wasn't really much to do.

Ash: Mm.

Holly: But you know, not Disney's fault, not anyone's fault, which is what it is.

Ash: Yeah, it's just one of those things.

Holly: I'm trying to think, I genuinely, if I had to pick holes in things like this is not going to come as a surprise to you or anybody listening to this podcast, I didn't like the merch in the shops.

Ash: Really? Wow. Much much queen that you are. Yeah.

Holly: Yeah, I hated it. I bought a because I had to. I've gone on a Disney cruise. I want a Disney Cruise Line pin. I would, I prefer things to be specific. I've actually got it here. This was the only pin that they

Ash: Right, okay.

Holly: had that had Disney Dream on it. So I like, is it the nicest pin I've ever seen? No, but it's the only one that had Disney.

Ash: Didn't get a Disney cruise line spirit jersey?

Holly: know how I feel about spirit jerseys. And like the shops, I

Ash: I can't see you wearing it. Yeah, I know you too I can't see you wearing scripture in it.

Holly: don't know again if this is a UK, EU thing, Europe thing, but like they change the merch in the shops every day. So like my, my bag that I got, that was in there the first couple of days, then it was taken off the shelves. On pirate night they had, I don't

Ash: Like not sold out. Like they just took it off.

Holly: know. because there was an amalgamation, so much pirate stuff that was out on the Wednesday and then was taken away. Unless you bought it on the Wednesday, you weren't getting it back. One of the friends of our channel, Maisie, who was on the same cruise as me, they had mystery pin boxes. She got the last one, like Disney Cruise Line mystery pin boxes like you get in the States, but they only put them out on the last day. So don't know if they're trying to reserve merch because they've got so many sailings to do before they get back to the US to restock. the merch that they have so they have to sort of like limit it. Does that make sense? Because

Ash: Hmm. Interesting, yeah, yeah.

Holly: I've seen things and like I've been watching like shop tours of like on board the Disney Dream that were recent coming out of like coming on the way up to my cruise and I thinking okay, they had like a Main Street bin Stanley cup

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: topper and I was like I like, I'd like that. Do know what mean? Like I haven't been, I'm not going to America and I would like a stupid little Disneyland bin topper on the top

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: of my drawer. Didn't have that and I was like they just have Mickey ones or they had two Madame Leota ones and I was like I don't really want, I love Madame Leota but I don't really want a Madame Leota one. So yeah, the shops were disappointing. The other thing, right, I'm just gonna use four letters and anyone who's on a Disney cruise will understand. Mickey churro waffle day. It was single-handedly the best day of the cruise, but why is it just one day? So

Ash: Ha ha.

Holly: basically, like this is a, I can see why the hype is real. On one day of your cruise, I think this is just in like the EU sailings, you have Mickey churro waffle day and they're Mickey waffles, but it's a different batter and they're like encrusted in sugar.

Ash: Yeah, they look nice, I see but yeah. They look nice. But I think you can only get them on a cruise. Can you only get them on the cruise? Okay.

Holly: Yeah, they look nice. They taste out of this world. No, I think they have them in Walt Disney World now. I think they have them as a snack in Walt Disney World now. But it's only one day of your cruise. So like, and that was the day that was really like rough. So like I'd gone up to the buffet and there was a customer outside going, hey, it's Mickey churro waffle day. And I was like, yes. I got a plate, went back to the room and they honestly they were like the best thing I've ever had. Like I can see why they get hyped up. They're so disappointed it was only for one day. And then as I got home, I saw a TikTok where I was like, bring a popcorn bucket, fill it up with Mickey churro waffles and then take them back to your room. was like, why didn't I think of that? But yeah.

Ash: Yeah. 'Cause they they they're just giving out by the ton, are they?

Holly: No, just on the buffet. So you could fill up a popcorn bucket with them and take them back, take them around with you all day if you wanted to and just snack on them. But rather than walk around with a buffet plate.

Ash: right, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where are the cast members actually? 'Cause do you know what I mean? The the front the ones in France are from France, the ones in America are from America. Do what I mean? Like we are the ones from Disney

Holly: All over.

Ash: Cruiser. So you got Americans on there as well as British people on there as well, yeah?

Holly: British people, Americans, Philippines, Caribbean. There was such a

Ash: Really?

Holly: melting pot of different, yeah. It was lovely. Yeah,

Ash: that's nice. That'll be good to see. That would be interesting.

Holly: it was really nice talking to the cast members and learning about them. Actually, I was talking to Jeff's other half, Steph, about this, that my cruise director, Jimmy, he was from Scranton. and we were laughing about it because I don't know if anyone here is a fan of The Office but that's where it's at, Scranton and like yeah. But

Ash: Yeah, set scanting. Hilarious.

Holly: yeah, there wasn't really any disappointments to be honest with you.

Ash: so final verdict then, what do you say? Is it better than the parks? Is it not better than the parks? It's on is it comparing apples to oranges, which I'm sure obviously it is, but like what what

Holly: Yeah.

Ash: would you what would you say would would be on your leadership board in terms of experiences?

Holly: I I'm trying to figure out how to word this, but I feel like... Where the magic is lacking in the parks recently, it can be found on Disney Cruise Line. But it is completely different experience to the parks. If you're going on a Disney Cruise expecting it to be a park experience, I don't think anyone would think that.

Ash: Mm.

Holly: It's a completely unique experience and I loved it so much that I cried all day when I got off the ship. Like that's how magical it was. not just for me, but for my children, including my teenager who was absolutely fuming about this holiday on the lead up to it, didn't want to go, didn't

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: want to, I'm not going in the teenage club, I'm not, it's, mum, I'm, you know, I'm too grown up for this. You know, I just want to say, if you've got teenagers, they will love it. Aidan was out till about one o'clock in the morning every day. He was doing all kinds of things I never thought he would do. He did karaoke every night. He played card games. They did a heroes versus villains thing where they had two different teams and he came back with all like stamps with villain on him. He had like come back one night with like a Hawaiian necklace. Like he'd been to like a luau. He almost had like the best time out of all of us and seeing that because you know, as they get older, 16, you think, you worry about like, are they going to enjoy it? He had

Ash: Yeah.

Holly: an amazing time and made friends for life. Like he's going up to London in a couple of weeks to meet some of the friends that he made on the cruise, which, you know, amazing.

Ash: That's amazing.

Holly: For my daughter, it was amazing. obviously, Disney are great and cater very well for people with disabilities. We met so many characters. I met characters, Ash. I met,

Ash: That's a big deal.

Holly: it is, I met. Minnie Mouse, Captain Minnie, I met Hook, I met Smee, I met Mulan, I met Goofy. If you

Ash: Wow. Look at you.

Holly: like characters, go on a Disney cruise because they're every 10 minutes, all around the ship, every 10 minutes. I mean...

Ash: And there's not a massive line to me. There's always a massive line, isn't there? It's Disney.

Holly: There's always going to be a line. We waited literally not even 10 seconds to meet Mulan.

Ash: You didn't need a dash pass or anything like that, no? For the for the cruise. Yeah.

Holly: No, they don't do that. They don't really do that. That's the only thing I would say. If you've got children with autism, they are going to have to wait. How we got around it was I waited in the queue. Steve let her run around for a bit and then I'd be like, hey, I'm two from the front and he would come in and join us in the queue. What else to say? Like the attention to detail on the ship. That's something I really appreciated. Mickey hands on the elevator going up and down, artwork

Ash: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: around the ship. It, it felt like that's the Disney. I know it is an older ship that we're talking about here. That is the Disney that I know and love. And I just, it's just everything so magical. I did like, you know, like the animating classes where you learn to draw a character. learned to draw how to do Mickey Mouse. There's hundreds of things that that's do. I did a Lorcaner group thing on there. There's so many activities. cast members are wonderful, the food is incredible. The shows are out of this world. If you like meeting characters, you like food and you like shows and you love Disney, a Disney cruise is for you. And we liked it so much and I sobbed so hard on the last day that we have booked to go next year on a different ship from Southampton to do it all over again.

Ash: Is that confirmed? You you you're definitely going. The next one.

Holly: Yeah. So while you're on the ship, they do a thing called a placeholder. So you pay it's 200 is everything in the ship is in dollars. So we paid a $250 down payment, whatever the equivalent of that is in pounds. And that then you've got up to two years to use it and it guarantees you 10 % off your cruise as well. So the $250 that you put down will come off the price of your next cruise plus a 10 % discount. and you've got two years to use it basically. So we're gonna go on the

Ash: Yeah, that's great.

Holly: wish class. The same again, this time next year. Don't know where we're going yet, haven't decided or how long, I'm now like, I felt like five days wasn't enough.

Ash: really? Five days wasn't enough?

Holly: I yeah. No.

Ash: But yeah.

Holly: I didn't want to get off. Like literally I did, I was hopped when I walked off that ship, I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. I sobbed because I loved our server so much. I sobbed, I just sobbed about everything.

Ash: I s I can see it being a lot more intimate, like a retreat, and so that that makes it a lot more special where a parks is, do you know what I

Holly: It was. And you get to know like your your you get to know your room host who like you know who makes you towel animals every night. You get

Ash: Cost members. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: to know these people and learn about like our server at dinner every night. He did magic tricks for the children every night. He did pranks on the kids every night. He was telling me about his children and his wife in the Philippines and like It's just completely different experience and just getting to meet people you wouldn't normally get to me and yeah, I just loved

Ash: That's great.

Holly: it so much. And I actually met a lot of other like-minded people on the cruise course. We all love Disney, handed out quite a few arcades and avenues cards. So if you got one of the cards on the ship, welcome.

Ash: yeah, yeah. Good. Good. Yes. Fantastic. That's awesome. all right. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for showing that.

Holly: Have I convinced you to do a Disney cruise yet?

Ash: You have actually. You have convinced me. And it's not like I didn't wanna do it, but

Holly: No.

Ash: the it's just the parks would always come first for me because there's always something to be updated with the parks and because the price of the cruise and I'm looking at the price of the parks I'm like, well I might as well just go to the park because I know it. the price isn't far off and I wanna see something more. Do you know what I mean? And so the cruise kind of always came down on the peck and daughter of what I want to do in priority. But I do need to take the time out to do it regardless. So I should just bite the buttons. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Holly: Even if you just do like a three night one, three night to Belgium, just to get a taste for it, see if you enjoy it. Cause you know, there was people that said, you know, I just don't think the Disney cruise, well, we prefer the parks, don't think Disney cruises for us. And that's absolutely fine as well. You know, it's not going to be for everybody, but I think

Ash: No, of course not.

Holly: if you love Disney, like I say, I feel like as a regular in the parks for years and years and especially since COVID, I feel like Disney magic's not lacking but like you have to look harder to find it where on the cruise that wasn't the case it was just it was pure Disney magic and you know despite having rough weather it was one of the best things I just loved cruising as well which and it won't be for everyone but I think if you love Disney holidays give it a go just give it a go and

Ash: Yeah. Give it a go.

Holly: and Obviously going with an open mind and an open heart is not like the parks, but in some aspects it is better than the parks. The parks will always have my heart. In two and a half weeks, I'm off to Disneyland Paris for the annual pass party. And actually that's the only thing getting me out of my Disney depression. We all know the Disney Blues. I've got the Disney Blues hard since coming off that ship.

Ash: Mm.

Holly: So yeah, it's just a completely different experience, but one I think. If you enjoy Disney and you like what it has to offer, then you would enjoy the cruise.

Ash: Lovely. There we are. Ladies and gents,

Holly: That's what we got.

Ash: people, folks, I really appreciate that and yeah, that that's really you know, this episode wasn't gonna be a big one because nothing really much has been happening. It really was

Holly: Apart from you being right.

Ash: just to satisfy my ego a bit and going on.

Holly: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ash: but yeah, you know, it's it's it's a quick one this one, but I hope it's still

Holly: Well, we've still rattled on for over an hour.

Ash: Is enjoyable as always. So yeah. Anyway, Yeah. Anything else before we sign off?

Holly: No, I don't

Ash: Na? Yeah.

Holly: think so.

Ash: Yeah. yeah, so we'll be

Holly: back there.

Ash: back next n well I go to as at the time of this recording I go to Seville. so that'll be interesting. Going to a holiday where there is no Disney park. So we'll see how that goes. and I'm sure it has been a while. It has been a

Holly: Been a while, has it?

Ash: long, long time. So yeah, that that'll be interesting. Of course, got the The Pirates and Princess, which will be happening in September. Of course you'll be back to report on that as well to see how

Holly: I will babe.

Ash: where how that was. so look out for Holly there. And yeah, we'll be back with the same old pizzazz as always on this podcast. Thank you for all listening and we'll see you on the next one. Take care.

Holly: See you in the next one, bye!

Ash: That's it for this episode, thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcast.

Holly: If you want updates from us in between episodes, can follow us on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube on arcades and avenues. And we'll see you in the next one.