WDW Radio # 687 – 10 Things We Learned and Love About the Disney Wish

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Lou Mongello: In June of 2022, the Disney wish was christened and finally made her maiden voyage just a few weeks later. And I was fortunate enough to have been able to sail on both of those cruises, really to explore, learn, and prepare for our first www inaugural group crews on August 1st, they really were research trips.

And while that Mount might sound like a lot and trust me, I am very hyper aware of and grateful every day for what you allow me to do and share with you. It really helped me learn not only about the, the ship, but also get a much better understanding of this new class of Disney cruise line vessels. And more importantly, I wanna help you prepare for your first or your next voyage on the Disney wish.

So this week in the interest of not making this a four hour intensive deck by deck review, we're going to look at 10 things we learned and love about the Disney wish. And by we, I of course mean Becky Mankin from Emmy and I and mouse fan travel.

Beci Mahnken: And I'm still trying to catch up on the time zone. So

Lou Mongello: thanks family in Orlando.

Now Becky's from Seattle. She was Orlando for a, we spent a lot of time. It felt like about 75 days. You were in much

Beci Mahnken: Orlando. You you and I spent a lot of time together and we still didn't get everything done that we needed

Lou Mongello: to do on the list. Tell your husband he's welcome and join me because I believe in ladies first and joining me for the first time for the first time, I think is long time for no, not the first time, long time friend, long time writer for the www blog about Disney cruise line and accessibility on Disney cruise line.

And the Disney parks is Vanessa prince. Hello? How are you? Okay, so correct me. Which, where, what shows have you been on before?

Vanessa Prince: Um, we did the magic cruise out of NOLA [00:02:00] and I believe there's at least one other one, um, a while back.

Lou Mongello: Well, forgive me. I'm I'm old and I'm and I'm, that was years ago. Anyways. It, it was years ago and I'm still having chicken tender withdrawal from, from room service.

So, uh, and joining me once again, this time I remembered is Jeff C from social media news live, who you may remember from show 6 69 are Marvel day at sea review.

Jeff Sieh: Yes. I'm still full. I am still full

Lou Mongello: from the Marvel day at sea. Jeff is still

Jeff Sieh: yes. And I'm, I'm still full even from that one. Yes. Uh, but, oh my gosh, stretchy

Lou Mongello: pants.

Jeff. Uh, talk about somebody who goes, you don't dip your toes into the water of cruising. Jeff hears. Oh, you're doing group cruises. I'm not gonna book one. You've booked. How many group cruises

Jeff Sieh: so far. So did the Marvel did this one on the wish. And then I have the, the eight day one coming up next year in April.

Yay. So

Lou Mongello: listen, the fact that you, you booked all three and you're still coming. All three says a lot, so, oh, I'm not

Jeff Sieh: coming to yours. I'm gonna go to a different one, but no.

Lou Mongello: All right. So first things first don't even think about this too. Very, too much, Becky then Vanessa, then Jeff, first impression I want you to just quickly give me your initial first impression of the ship.

What did you think and feel when you first stepped on board? The wish.

Beci Mahnken: I loved the design. When you first walk into the grand hall and you're hit with, it looks exactly like the artist renditions of it. And the, the first impression I had was it's absolutely gorgeous. It's sparkling. It's beautiful. Now, where is everything?

Because when you first walk on board, you know, we, we know what Disney kind of does between the, the four ships that are already there. You know, you turn left and you're going to hit one of the restaurants you go, right. You're gonna find the elevators right there. And it was strangely in a good way, [00:04:00] um, familiar, but I didn't know exactly what I was going.

And I think I loved that about it because, uh, there was so much discovery to do. And I didn't look at deck plans beforehand. I didn't look at anything before I walked on board. I wanted to discover the spaces myself and that's exactly what happened,

Vanessa Prince: but I found it very refreshing cuz it's not nautical at all. And like Becky said, when you walked into the grand hall, it was beautiful. Um, there wasn't a square anywhere. I mean, I was very rounded. It looked like somebody used plaster work everywhere and just the details. Um, I mean, it's just, as they would say very, an enchanting and truly a castle on the sea.

I mean the whole ship is that way. It just feels like you're somewhere else. Not on a cruise ship.

Jeff Sieh: So for me, uh, so this wasn't just my second only, you know, Disney cruise. This was my first, second cruise ever. So, uh, this was our first one was the magic and this was the, the wish and it was just gorgeous, just walking in and seeing it when you're right at the edge.

When they're announcing your name, when you first walk in, you know, you're just almost, uh, spellbound by the it's dazzling. Uh, it's just, it's so pretty. And I thought, um, what Vanessa said about the, the curves, just the, it just flowed everything flowed from when you walked in and when you looked up, everything was just, I mean, it was just gorgeous and we, Jodie and I just sat there and just kind of stared around with our mouth escape.

Lou Mongello: yeah. You're all sort of echoing my internal sentiments, which I, I think I sort of outwardly expressed because the very first time I stepped on the wish I took you with me because we were live. Becky was there. My family was there when we stepped foot on the christening cruise back in June, because like you said, it's familiar, but not, it has a very different layout than the dream or the magic class of ships.

And [00:06:00] on the last week show, I talked to th skis about that back on show 6 86 and a lot of the design choices. And you very quickly picked up on a lot of things that he mentioned in terms of using words like flow, this idea of enchantment and a castle at sea and I too, as a, as a multi-time Disney cruiser.

I love that sense of exploration and discovery because things weren't quote unquote, where they were supposed to be. So if you've been on past Disney cruises, excuse me, it's slightly. And I think wonderfully, excuse me, disorienting. Uh, of course, if you wanna make Disney fans crazy, just go ahead and change something.

If you don't believe me check Twitter, but I, I, the more time I've spent on the ship, the more logic I see, and some of, excuse me, excuse me, the choices, um, you know, and again, you know, sort of call out. I mean, if you've paid attention at all to social, you, you do hear some complain on social Disney fans complain, never, but I think, I think there is a lot to love about this ship and look, I'm gonna choose the good kind of guy.

So that's why I wanted to look at some of the things that not only we love about the ship, but that we learned about the ship as well. And I think whether you are a first time cruiser or a repeat Disney cruiser, there's a lot to love, and then there's a, a lot to learn. Um, and before we get into the, to the list, um, I, I wanna say something that I think, and I feel, and I have no confirmations, um, either way, but when we got on the christening and then a couple weeks later on the maiden and, and we were very clear and, and open about this during the live broadcasts and, and on the live video, when we came.

you can clearly see, excuse me, that not everything was finished. I sort of liken it to Disneyland. The pavement [00:08:00] was very much still wet, like Disneyland's opening day. And we went in with that understanding. And I know for me being very forgiving of that, um, I think there's a lot of grace that needs to be given under the circumstances.

I, I liken it to opening a upper restaurant on a Saturday night. You need to give a few weeks to sort of work out the kink. Sometimes wait for some things to be finished. Uh, some of the deliveries to, to still come in. Um, and still, even on the August 1st cruise, it was the, the pavement was still wet in a number of places.

For example, the Aladdin show was unfortunately not ready. The Disney uncharted adventure. Excuse. AR game was also not live. I also came to find out that there's something called Olaf's Royal picnic, which is this, uh, add-on experience in Erindale where you sort of have this Nordic Midsummer festival picnic with Ola and you get gifts and keepsakes that was not ready and that there are certain things that are still being tweaked and adjusted.

And that's okay. Um, because I'm approaching this, knowing that and understanding that things will change and I believe certainly will improve as they have over the last two crews. Right? There's a big difference from the christening cruise to this August 1st cruise they will continue to do as time goes on.

And, and look, I think people sometimes forget that when the dream and the fantasy launched, there were a lot of similar wet pavements that came and went and are now forgotten as those ships improved over time. The wish will as well. So that being said, I want to start at the beginning with our, I'm really gonna keep this to a 10 sort of-ish list.

We need to start at the most important area and it is not the grand hall. It is of course, dining let's get, let's get the big delicious elephant out [00:10:00] of the room. In the room out of the room to make way for some of the restaurants. And I wanna sort of break this down into the quick service dining experiences, the adults only dining experiences, and start off with Disney's hallmark, which is the rotational dining options.

And I realized after he got on board and, and I know this is a DC thing, but all three of the dining options are really sort of grounded in dynamic duos. 1923 is Walton. Roy Erindale is Anna and Elsa and the Avengers quantum encounter world and Marvel is Antman in the wasp, the silences, me dropping the mic and walking away.

So we've never been on Disney cruise. You rotate through each of those dining experiences. One time on a three day cruise. You'll have a second on a four day cruise. I'll I wanna, I want you to quickly share your thoughts and again, I'll do ladies first, Vanessa, Becky, and Jeff. Your thoughts on each of the restaurants, what you liked, what you enjoyed most, um, any sort.

Thoughts without going again too deep into each and every menu item about 1923 Erindale and the Avenger's quantum encounter at worlds of Marvel. Well,

Vanessa Prince: 1923 was my favorite one and kind of going in and seeing the sketches and everything ahead of time, I kind of felt that's gonna be my restaurant that I loved and I did.

And I think part of it was because there's so much history in there. I'm gonna take a step backwards because the restaurants actually split into two as Lou kind of said a little while ago. So there's the Roy side and the Walt side. And they both have different historical things. And it, I guess it was kind of a rich feeling and you just wanted to sit there and be glamorous while you ate.

And for Erindale I loved the themeing there. This was not a split restaurant. Like the other ones, everybody was in a grand hall as if you were celebrating queen Anna and [00:12:00] Christo's engagement. And I just, actually, I loved walking down the hallway and looking at all the portraits that were in the movie. I thought that was like a great detail.

I don't know if people picked up on all the different ones, but I was told if they were in the movie, even for a split second, they were in that hallway and it's a long hallway for the food there. The scallops and the puff pastry were my favorite at

Beci Mahnken: aand. Yeah. Along those lines, looking at Marvel, I love the idea.

The story is, is fun to follow. I I'm hoping that that one tweaks a little bit over time. I, I'm not gonna go too much into that cause I don't wanna spoil anything. But, um, I, I think that that has a lot of room for some extra magic. Uh, Erindale meatballs. The meat, the meatballs, the, the bake scallops, every single time we were there, that was the thing we had to order.

And there was one time I actually wanted to order it twice, but didn't, um, what I, what I liked about Erindale was it's lots of great entertainment. I, I felt completely, um, surrounded by story from the moment you walk down that hallway, and I love you, you brought up the hallway because it is one of the design elements that is different.

Um, they create that hallway apart from the public areas of the ship, so that you don't have that huge lineup of people that we always see lining up for, uh, for that restaurant that's, uh, up there in the, in that front area. So it's neat that they have it set aside away from people in the design factor.

Again, the entertainment's top notch, um, the voices of those entertainers, the, the way that they do engage with the audience. I I've kind of felt like I was at a dinner theater and, and we certainly were in that element. Um, 1923 I'm I think I gotta say every as everybody else's, that's my favorite. It it's elegant.

It projects the legacy of Walton Roy [00:14:00] with all of the sketches and the artifacts and the pieces, but yet the dark tones really makes it feel, um, Rich and elegant somewhere that you should be dressing up to go to, which was really funny, cuz a lot of people take that 1923 theme to the max and they're dressed up as flappers and they're doing the 1923, uh, accosting, which I found really fun to watch.

Uh, so they, they took it maybe in a different direction of what it was actually named for, but there seriously you're, you're, you're doing it wrong if you don't get the tuna, the pasta and the filet just in that order. Um, I could order like four of those tuna meals because the appetizers, they were fantastic.

So between the 3, 19 23 is my absolute favorite of both, um, location and for the food, the other places though are, are very close to being right up there with the entertainment and the, the, um, the atmosphere.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah. So I have to echo a lot of that, but I mean, there's not any bad food, really on a distinct ship.

I mean, come on. And so, but 1923 was my favorite and I did order the AHI tuna. Um, I think twice, maybe three. I can't remember it was a lot and it was really, really good, but that was my favorite. I would agree with Lou, that was the best dining, um, experience I had on any of the ships. I thought it was really, really good.

Um, I loved sitting down and having the placeholder plates, I felt like I was like in the brown Derby. Yeah. Uh, kind of a, the old kind of style restaurant. I didn't, and I did not dress up. Like I was. And I look a little scruffy anyway, and I didn't feel outta place. And so it was really, it was elegant, but it wasn't over the top.

I didn't feel like I was at a Michelin starred restaurant, but it was just gorgeous. Um, I love the menus, just all the theming in there was really, really cool. So that was, again my favorite one out of all of them. Uh, I really like the Marvel show. I mean, it's, it's made for Marvel fans. Um, it was really, really funny and [00:16:00] clever and interactive, but I agree with Becky there's can be some stuff that could happen that would make it like go even more.

I'm a big Paul Rud fan. So, I mean, anyway, that's all I'm gonna say, but it was great. And um, yeah, I just, the, the, it reminded me of how they did these nods that tied in parts of the ship to the show like they did at the Marvel day at sea, maybe not as much, but there was a lot of that same kind of thing, which is really, really fun and gets, always gets to laugh.

And it was just a really, really fun show. Um, Aaron Dale, we probably had the worst seats you could ask. We were the farthest away, but we were in the back total of the last row and we still were able to participate in the show. We were still able to, to interact with it and watch it. And it was great. I was really fascinated watching.

The performers, cuz I did a lot of theater and you know, when you do theater, you're facing one direction and that's your audience is in front of you. They had audience on all sides and the way they would continue to play to all the areas of the, the, the dining room was amazing and took a lot of thought and choreography.

I really liked that they took Ola around and that was a Marvel of technology in itself. But how it was even you, if you were on the outskirts of the action that would come to your table and there was some interaction right beside you, so you didn't feel left out. Cause I was thinking for kids, like if they were frozen fans and they were there and they were sitting there, we, we were sitting and they would be like really disappointed.

But then at the end of the show or during breaks, they would have that interactive that would come around and that would make it, you know, really exciting for them. So, uh, that was probably my, I mean, all the food was amazing, but that's, we were, we were in the nosebleed section, but there's not a bad seat in the, in the house

Lou Mongello: really.

And I'll pick up right from there too. And I'll start off with Erindale Dale and you're right, Jeff, this, it is this very sort of, it's a theatrical space, right? It's a sort of a high energy theatrical space themed after frozen too. Like you said, Vanessa, where. Those portraits that you've seen on [00:18:00] screen have now sort of come to life.

You feel as though you are in this engagement party, that's being catered by open's Hardy party planning services and sauna, but here the show is the star, right? It's usually the other way around, like you're going for the food. There's a little bit of entertainment. I think the show was a star because the performances both on stage with the characters, as well as the, the musical trio were outstanding.

Um, still with excellent food. I agree with you Vanessa, about the scallops in the puff, pastry, get it. You're welcome. Um, I love the design of the space, the wide open spaces by removing the serving stations from the center, sort of corridors of the restaurant and pushing them out to the perimeter. You do have this much more open space.

You mentioned how the other restaurants are almost sort of split as they are in a lot of the, of the other ships here you can see from one end of the restaurant to the other. So you have this very wide open theater in the round type of space. Uh, Ola is, is brilliant. How they. Introduce that character. I don't wanna spoil everything, but he's not the star.

And I don't think that's a bad thing because Oken and Christoff and the trio of performers really, really were. Um, and as I mentioned earlier, I still think that that show that we saw is still undergoing some additional elements being added to it. I agree. I also feel the same way about Avengers at world and Marvel.

Uh, you hinted to it as well. Becky, it feels complete, but you almost feel like there's something almost more that, that you're waiting to have happen. Maybe we're not our expectations high. I love the design, right? I was very, very, this is the restaurant I was most excited for before stepping foot on the.

And [00:20:00] when you walk in and you're hit with that, you know, Tony Starcher, you are instantly, you get that feeling. And I had was like, you know, I had this grid on my face because it is as Disney describes this first ever Marvel cinematic dining adventure, where you sort of play an interactive role. And you do because that quantum core that is sitting on your table is not just there for show.

And this, there is Jeff, you made a, a great illusion to it's very much like that show that takes place on deck during Marvel day at sea on the Disney magic. But this time it's taking place in the round in the restaurant, and you are very much a part of it without spoilers, including villains. Um, there are a lot of surprises.

I love the background music that plays in there. Mm-hmm, the flavors of the menu, which I agree, Becky, I, I think, and I hope are still continuing to be tweaked. This was, this was of the three restaurants. I think the food here was probably third out of three, but it's inspired by, you know, spices from Wakanda and soups from Sokovia and shwarma from New York.

Um, The show is fun. Funny, and I love the fact that it's very self-aware, um, mm-hmm and here's a pro tip for you and this'll come full circle with something we're gonna talk about later before, if you get a chance before you go to the world of Marvel restaurant, and I think you should do this no matter what, go to the open house in the Oceanear club and go to the Marvel superhero academy.

So you can start to get some of the backstory of the world of Marvel cinematic entertainment show. They are very, very interconnected. You might not see it as much, but if you're kids, if they're of that age, go to the ocean year club, they will very, very much be able to make that connection [00:22:00] moving on to the quick service.

And there is a lot of it very quickly touching on ally market is the cabanas of the Disney wish. I actually like the themeing and the food here more than I did cabanas. If you look not only is the, the, the core very different, but each of the many stations has, um, subtle tie-ins to Disney movies like Alison Wonderland or Zootopia and TUI.

And I think the food is even sort of a little bit of a notch up from cabanas. The one thing I noticed in hindsight, there's no trays. They don't give you trees in Marline market. Like they do on the other ships, very quickly thoughts on Marline market comparing and contrasting to cabanas on the other ships, Jeff, Vanessa, and Becky.

Jeff Sieh: So for me, um, I, so I ranked these, like I was thought I was doing a top 10, cause that's what it said in the email, but I put this as number three. Um, because, uh, I, I was very impressed with it. I like compan. There's nothing wrong with it. And a lot of people were like this isn't compan. And I'm like, I know.

And I like it. It's, they're two different things. They're not one's. I mean, one could be better. I really like Marline, uh, market better. The, the core, I mean, we went through there a couple times. Every time we went to eat and the being able to see the little hidden gems that they would have and the way they would do different lighting, like one's in a calendar one's milk crates.

The other is like, you know, old lampshades. I just thought that was so freaking cool. And, um, it was interesting how it was laid out. Like, it seemed, seemed to be like all the good stuff, like the shrimp and the crab, uh, legs were in the back where they, the two sides would share, they would mirror each other, but everything like the fresh fruit in the morning for like, um, the breakfast, but then like shrimp and crab things.

So it was interesting how they laid it out. Like it was mirrored on the sides. And then the back was like called the special goodies. And so we always said at the back, cuz you know, that's, we know [00:24:00] we can figure that stuff out. So I loved it.

Vanessa Prince: This was one of my favorite quick service places. Um, not only because it was air condition, but just as Jeff said, Everything to look at.

And, um, the food was great. They did rotate out different items like there, but there was always like the ticket Messala, but there was something next to it that was different each day. So you didn't feel like, oh, I'm just going in and having the same choices at all. 10 stations. I could always find a variety of different food to eat there.

Um, again, like Jeff mentioned, like looking up when you're in here, it's not that you're going into cabanas. It's like the same old seas going my mind, mind look up because there's teapots and there's lampshades. There's just all different kinds of fun things to look at. Um, and my favorite space, and I probably shouldn't say this secret, but it's what I call like the back wings of Marline.

And Jeff was talking about sitting way in the, the AFT part of the ship. But mine is when you first walk in, after you've wash your hands and you turn left or right. There's these like wings that go forward on the ship and both sides are different, but people, I don't know if they know they're there, but you can keep walking pretty far.

And it's very quiet. Um, I actually found Lou there one morning, um, with Nicholas and it's just, I dunno know, there's even like a beverage station back there, so it's not like you gotta walk all the way to the AFT to get another something to drink. And it was just really a nice place to just kind of hang out and look out over the ocean.

You could, no matter what seat you were in, you had a beautiful view. Um, but the food I found was very good. Um, so I did like Mar.

Beci Mahnken: and for me, it was more about the design. They did such a great job fixing the problems of cabanas, which to me has that, that situation where you walk in the door, they hand you a tray and you and 20 other people are in line.

[00:26:00] And you go from spot to spot to spot in that conga line that goes down through the three stations. This was designed to make it very apparent that you don't need to be in that line. You can just walk up to the station that you are interested in without waiting for the 20 people in front of you to go past everything before you get to what you want.

And I, I think that that the way that they separated those stations makes that very apparent that, yeah, we don't want you to stand in a line behind 25 other people to get what you want. You just walk up to the station that you want. And I found that much more refreshing than any of the other design elements that they did on board to kind of fix that, that Cabana's problem.

I did like the way that it is, it feels a little more spread out. Uh, the ship is about 10 feet wider than the fantasy in the dream. And you can really feel that on this ship, uh, while there are some tight spaces, it doesn't feel like cabanas where those tables are almost right on top of each other. So adding those, those bat wings that you're talking about, and then adding a little bit of, uh, of design finesse, uh, including the, the sit up tables too, makes it a much more pleasant space to be in.

Lou Mongello: I agree, a hundred percent. And, and Vanessa, you mentioned the chicken Teka Messala. And I think that bear's mentioning because every day at lunch and in the evening, and even for breakfast too, there were some inspired menu items that were there, consistency, chicken Teka masala in the morning. One of the station had a number of Asian inspired.

So you could get fried rice, like with eggs in it. You can get a congee that you could add, um, you know, vegetable and stuff too. So I, I like that there was a little bit more of a wider spectrum of selections. Mm-hmm before both breakfast and lunch. The issue that I had with Marcine market [00:28:00] is that the food on Decca 11 was so good.

I had a very difficult time balancing my time between Mickey and friends, festival of food and going to Marcine market because I liked them both. And we talk about things that I think are improvement on the wish. The quick service deck, 11 food at Mickey friends festival foods is a huge step up, in my opinion, not just mm-hmm in quantity, but in quality, there are four distinct sort of ordering themed ordering bays, and it very much just themed.

Like the Mickey cartoon shorts that you'll find on Disney plus there is Mickey's smoke stack, barbecue, Donald's Cantina, Daisy's pizza pies, Goofy's grill sweet minis, ice cream, and Becky there's also the lookout bar, a couple of quick things note. And then just each of you give me a, a quick little thought on the, the festival of foods, the smokes stack barbecue.

If they took the polite pig from Disney Springs and put it on deck 11, you get smokestack barbecue. And I know that is a very sort of high compliment because it deserving is deserving of, there are probably five or six, maybe even more different sort of entrees that you can choose from where like a, a real barbecue joint.

They put it like on, uh, um, a paper lined tray for you. And there's also wonderful side dishes. There's a hot sauce bar. If you wanted to add some different sauces to it, you can sauce it to taste. Donalds. Cantina is sort of analogous to like a really good Chipotle, like you could make your own bold and burritos there.

Becky and I ate there a lot on the maiden void Daisy's pizza pies. I look, I am from the Northeast. My [00:30:00] last name ends in a vowel Disney sometimes has a tough time making good pizza in the parks. To say that I ate my weight in pizza is not all that much of an overstatement. The pizza is thin crust it's made to order and comes out in about five minutes.

There's five or six different pizzas, including you can get a gluten free pizza as well. It was delicious. Goofy's grill has the normal cheeseburger, French fries, chicken tenders brought worst in a pretzel role. My son and I talked about this over our sixth or seventh cheese. I don't know what they did to the cheeseburgers there, but they are fanc.

Like they are some of the best, I don't know what it is. That's different, but they are absolutely delicious. And of course the, the ice cream goes without saying quick thoughts on festival foods. Did you go there? What, if anything stood out to you? In any order, Becky, Vanessa, Jeff.

Beci Mahnken: Okay. I would say this was actually one of my favorite things on board when it, when you're talking about food because they elevated it, they didn't just say, Hey, we're gonna have a spot upstairs.

We can get 24 hour pizza or, you know, 12 hour pizza, whatever. And, um, and here have, have some burgers and have some chicken tenders. It really it's apparent. They put a lot of thought into this and it's quality. The pizza I'm going. I know, I know, just right to me, Becky mei-travel.com. Um, the pizzas were actually better than the ones I had in polo, which was so surprising because that's one of the things usually about a cruise.

It's like the, the pizza is kinda like you. What are you gonna get frozen out of the, the grocery freezer and throw it in your oven? These were fantastic. And they were they're, they're baked fresh right there. You can say, Hey, I want an entire pizza and you can walk away with an entire pizza and then sit there with your friends or [00:32:00] family and, and have a pizza by yourselves or by the slice.

Um, the, the taco location. Yeah. We kept going back. And that was probably because I was going, Lou, we gotta go back enough tacos because they were so good. You could do a taco bowl. You could do, um, soft tacos or burritos. And the quality was fantastic. And yes, I had a burger and couldn't believe how great it was.

So whatever they did, the chef that worked on that to, to pull those flavors together, they really elevated the experience.

Lou Mongello: And just a quick mention, before I forget each of the locations had an on menu, vegetarian option as well. Yeah. So for example, the, the pizza, I know Daisy's had a plant based sausage, there's a lot of plant based vegetarian and vegan items on there as well.

Yeah.

Jeff Sieh: So one of the things that I thought was really interesting is like, we didn't talk about this in the ley market, in between the two sides, there's a bar and a coffee shop, and it seemed like it was almost on the, on the wish. In the parks, like it's like 30 steps and you're in a trash can. It felt like there's 30 steps and there'd be a bar in a coffee shop.

It just felt like they were, they were, I figured they were everywhere, but I, I, you know, I really wanted to get, I was so freaking full all the time. I could not get to the barbecue. I'm from Texas. I wanted to try, but I'm like, uh, if I'm gonna pass, I was gonna be on that. The pizza was fabulous. I'll I'll echo what everybody said.

It was amazing. Um, and then, um, the ice cream is what I had. That's the only thing else. Cause I was just, I was full all the time. The cool thing is, is they close at different times? Like the pizza's open to like midnight, right? The barbecue is open, like till like eight or something. I don't know. But they had kind of staggered times, which I thought was nice for people who wanted to get a snack later on.

Vanessa Prince: Yeah, I did enjoy this area. Um, one thing I learned on the maiden voyage is you can go to one spot and ask for something and have them add something at another one. So we went to, uh, Goofy's grill, got a pretzel roll. They toasted it and went over to the Mickey's smoke stack and they put the pork or whatever you wanted on [00:34:00] there.

And you made your own like sandwich that nobody else had. You could get all the fry. Yeah. Why

Lou Mongello: did you wait till I got off the ship to tell me that?

Vanessa Prince: No, I put it in the tips in the, in the cruise thing. So you missed it. but it was like, I don't know. It was like out of this world that you could just, just, the food was wonderful there.

I even tried the canteen, I made my own bowl and I really enjoyed it. Cuz again, you said it's like a Chipotle on sea and um, the ice cream and they had the banana. And at one thing to note, they did change how, um, sweet minis ice cream is working before, you know, used to go up and fill your own cone or whatever.

Or if you want it in a bowl or a cup, you had to go somewhere, get it, get it, go, find a spoon. But now they're serving you your ice cream either in a cone and they hand it to you or they even had some cups and spoons there. If you couldn't eat out of, um, a cone. So I, I found that in ice at you, it kind of kept things moving.

Also not waiting for some kid to make this huge ice cream cone. That was just gonna melt anyway. So we can just come back for the second

Lou Mongello: one. Jeff, you mentioned sort of in passing that, you know, you walk less than 30 steps and you'll find a bar. The other thing that I noticed too. I'm not, I'm not a, a, a drinker per se, but you know, I like going for sometimes on Disney cruises, you like to treat yourself to, um, um, a fancy coffee or a tea on the first four ships.

There's, there's a few places here and there. I noticed on the, the wish there are a ton of places to get coffees and teas Cove cafe on deck 12, the enchanted sword cafe on deck five midship just below that on deck four, the wishing star cafe Marcine market cafe, the Bayou on deck 11, you could do self-serve coffee.

And obviously, if you are a concierge guest, they have a lot of fancy, fancy foofy coffees in the concierge lounge as well. And it seemed like a lot of people who are [00:36:00] coffee drinkers really, really liked having, not just the accessibility, but so many locations throughout the ship. As long as we're talking about food.

I think we also have to mention the adult only food locations that are there, Apollo, which is now Apollo steakhouse is for all intents and purposes, a carryover for the most part of Apollo in the other, on the other ships, we Becky and I went to Paul for brunch. I did not get an opportunity to do Apollo dinner and on Shante, which on the fantasy would be, uh, like Remy is very different.

This is a very upscale, very elegant gourmet menu crafted by Michelin three star chef AAL. That guy, go ahead, Arnold, you can do it all along. Um, who was also behind Remy on the dream and the fantasy, there is the rose lounge, which services, both of those location. Um, and there's other adult areas too. Like the Cove cafe, um, se we'll talk about the census spa in terms of other adult places as well, but, uh, quick thoughts, if any, I know Becky you have, but Jeff or, or Vanessa, did you get a chance to go to Paul or Hanta?

Vanessa Prince: Yes, I, um, I did both, um, brunch and dinner at Apollo on the maiden voyage. We did dinner. I didn't really feel it was the same as on the other ships. Um, you, it was very. Small menu. And if you wanted to stick within your $45, it was only these thi these things. And you could, um, add on and you could add rack your bill up really high if you weren't paying attention to it.

But I really loved the brunch. Um, we had the same waiter, cuz we just fell in love with him the, on the main voyage. So we had em again at brunch and you can just eat all day. I mean you can spend two hours and they just keep bringing you food. I had, um, [00:38:00] requested something that I know Becky likes. And at first we were told that they didn't have it.

And all of a sudden they brought it out and of course I'm like, they brought it to and I'm like, who's mine, you

Beci Mahnken: know? I'm they told me no, I'm gonna cry. I'll be over here and crying, ask for Brandon.

Vanessa Prince: Okay. um, but it was definitely try to get brunch if you can. Um, I like, again, you can just, or keep ordering everything you want off the menu.

They're not gonna stop you because you hit $45. And then on Shante, I was not able to, but I'm going on the December 5th cruise and I was able to book the dessert tasting. So I'm looking forward to that. I usually don't go to Remy or some of the upscale ones, but I thought, huh, it's available. I'm gonna take it.

Cause I can always cancel. If I decide I don't wanna do it, but I do wanna do it. So looking forward to that.

Jeff Sieh: So I didn't eat at any of 'em because I was just excited with the new restaurants. I mean, and I knew there was a lot of food and I was like, I don't need to, but we did have some people on our table who did go.

Um, it was really interesting to me. A lot of people did not know Marvel, um, at all on my table. And so that's the night they chose to go to PA or to, uh, to, and I checked in with the people who went to an Shante and they were like, they smiled and said it was very adventurous mm-hmm and they wish they would've done PA is what they told me.

So it's not for, you know, the, I would say the people who just want like chicken tenders and, and stuff they want, you know, this is a high end thing. And I mean, and they were, they were a high end couple and I mean, but they still were like, it was fun, but you. We could have gone to

Beci Mahnken: Paula. Yeah. An Chante is definitely meant for the people who adore Remy or VNA.

Um, it, it is a very high end price tag with the high end menu that comes along with it. Uh, it's not something that I think that I'm gonna do every single cruise it's. However, I believe that for those who [00:40:00] really do enjoy a, a French cuisine with the nine, um, or, or so that come with it and pairing with wine and having that, uh, that elevated service level.

And when you look at pigeon or Wago, some of us pick the Wago, some of us pick the pigeon because he wants to try to eat everything. And his name is Luke. Um, however, I really do believe for those who want that romantic dinner together, want that V a type of experience or a celebration, and do have that adventurous palette.

And I, it's not adventurous like here here's, you know, something really strange that you have never met and well, okay. Again, you can have Wago beef instead again, for the 25th time that I told you that, but you ate your pigeon. How was your pigeon? Well, let me

Lou Mongello: explain, let quickly explain. When you go into an Shante, you basically can choose from two different sort of menu.

Courses, there is a, uh, I think it's like a nine course option. I think that is 1 95 and I believe there's a six course option. That's 1 25. There's also ones that you can, there's also items. You can do a carts. Uh, you can do main lobster. You can do the Wago beef. We decided to go with the middle tier and Becky's, and in the middle tier, the entree is pigeon and Becky's like, look, I've had pigeon all day.

I'd really like to try some different. She opted out for the Wabi. I said, look, if I am going to review and rate this experience, I will do it. You know, look, I, I'm the kind of person who is a bit of an adventurous eater. I will go and do a Japanese or Maccas and let the chef just prepare whatever he, or she would, like I said, if this is what the chef has put on the menu, I want to eat it just as it was designed.[00:42:00]

I ate pigeon. I have eaten pigeon I'm moving on. I'm moving on a pigeon.

Beci Mahnken: It's not necessarily the Wago beef was amazing. Oh, wait, hold on. Wait, wait, let me take you to a moment beyond the pigeon, the cheese tray,

Lou Mongello: the cheese tray. Cheese is an dessert in, in

Beci Mahnken: France, so in France and it was amazing. So again, it it's to the taste.

I mean, there's gonna be some people who aren't going to be the, the hamburger people up on DEC 11. They're gonna want something a little more elevated, but there are people who, yeah. If this isn't fit, you there's polo. And then of course, there's three other restaurants that are amazing

Lou Mongello: and there's chicken tenders at room service.

I'm just, and tacos, if you know, you know, tacos. So that was number one on our list. I was number one. We had to get the big, delicious elephant out of the room out, uh, whatever number two for me or what I like to call flex spaces. And that's just, AISM, it's not necessarily referred to that, but I am lumping in a number of different locations if you've been on Disney cruise line before one noticeable difference.

Difference is there is no district area and the district on the other ships, usually on deck three or four, would be in the rear of the ship and would be. Spaces that could be used throughout the day for families, but at night are adults only areas and children are not necessarily, they're not necessarily allowed in the venues.

And for the most part, don't need to go to that section of the ship in order to get anywhere those spaces don't exist here. And this is for some, um, a point of contention. They liked having that sort of dedicated space. Others like to have these flex spaces throughout. And I really sort of broke these flex spaces down into five different locations.

And that is the Bayou, [00:44:00] which is on, uh, deck three midship themed, obviously after princess and the frog. I love this space. Um, I love the lights and the colors and the environment and that canopy of Magnolia blossoms and the Moss and the Lily Lily pads. I think it's, it's a gorgeous, gorgeous location for me.

And if you've, again, if you've cruised before, I think the Bayou represents what is another location. That's not onboard the ship, which is a promenade lounge, which for me on places like the magic and the wonder is probably my favorite location onboard those ships that does not exist here, but it does in terms of the Bayou space, it is sometimes used during the day for.

Family crafts it's used for live music. Uh, here's another tip. They do have live music throughout the evenings. Oftentimes, thankfully, uh, a wonderful jazz trio. There's also live music at places like night and gills right around the corner. So it's one of the reasons why I like to do early seating because when you do you go to dinner, you can go to the show and then you still have a lot more time for some of this evening entertainment.

Luna is like Delo. It is this flexible family space. If the, if the grand hall is the castle, Luna is sort of like the town square, it's different because it's two stories and it was actually inspired by London's globe theater. It was named after the Pixar short from 2012. This is where you'll find things.

Comedians bingo. Uh, other types of family game, game spaces, Kegan compass is a nautical themed bar, which again, during the day could be used for trivia. Tritons is on the other side. It is a small venue, low about 50 people with an bitty, teeny tiny little little stage. Um, and then I also [00:46:00] am, am lumping into flex spaces.

The hero zone and the hero zone was if you've been on the other ships, those outdoor sport recreation areas have now been brought inside. So instead of taking place on what can be a very hot or rain filled outdoor open deck that are now brought inside. So if you want to do ping pong basketball, you can now do it inside.

It's also where, uh, Jack's diaper dash chip it golf is held and the in credit games, if you've seen the, that giant inflatable sort of, um, backyard obstacle course, there's a huge version of it inside the hero zone. Um, Jeff, Vanessa, Becky, tell me what your thoughts were in terms of which spaces did you visit, which, or more importantly, which was your favorite of these, you know, again, I'm calling them flex spaces.

Jeff Sieh: So you didn't consider the, the other lounge, uh, flex space, cuz they didn't do anything in there. Is that why? So

Lou Mongello: I, I put the hyperspace lounge next and separate because I think it sort of deserves its own.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah, I think you're right. So our favorite was also the Bayou because we love live music and a big shout out to Michael master and Tony, I think is his name.

He was, he did all sorts of things. He played in night and gales. He played there at the, um, at the lounge and we loved his set and he was also one of the pirate rockers playing the guitar on the, the party at night. So loved that space. That was probably Jodi Knight's favorite space to go in. Um, my second favorite space was probably the Kegan compass.

I I'm trying to figure out how to recreate that here in my house, cuz I just loved it. It's got brass and leather, super comfortable leather chairs, uh, great drinks that got the, the Disney beer mug cuz I saw Vanessa's post. And so I had to get one of those. Um, so, uh, but it was, it was just a fun space. It never felt crowded.

I just loved the way it looked. And it was also right across from some of the other things. So you could get a beer at, um, Kagan compass and walk right over to Luna and do some trivia. [00:48:00] I thought the Luna space was very, very cool. I like the two stories. Like sometimes you don't wanna be on the floor where the comedian can point out.

Yeah. And make fun of your beard. You wanna be up high where you can play some trivia and nobody will notice you. And so I thought it was, it's kind of got the best of both worlds where you can get down there and feel like you're part of the action, or you could be up top and kind of watch and participate as much as you want to.

So I thought that was really cool. I liked how those Tritons lounge was also on that same level where you could just walk over and, you know, take a drink over there and, and do that. So, um, I thought they were, I, I loved the, the spaces. I understand, like if that ship was booked, I mean, cuz I know on trivia night when they had the big, I mean the bingo night when they had the big, like the main, uh, money win thing there, um, that was packed.

I mean it was standing room only is what I heard. And so

Lou Mongello: we did not, that might an hour and a half early, none of us got there an hour and a half. That would be crazy talk.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah. So I mean, I, I thought they were great flex spaces. We didn't do any of the crafts. We mostly did live music and ate, so it was perfect for us.

Lou Mongello: That's why Jeff and I are friends.

Beci Mahnken: the, the three, I mean hero zone. I think that they did a great job of thinking outside the box for that space because it is so flexible and it is kind of cool to have that. The in credit course there and it looked fun and all ages can go in and enjoy that. And they have, you know, it's, it's not right above, um, Remy either, which is kind of nice , but I, I like the way that they have designed the space to be, uh, so flexible for all kinds of opportunities in there.

And, and always from an events point of view, I'm always looking at those types of spaces to see what can be done. Um, it's too bad that they don't have tables that could just come up out of the floor though. That would be like the perfect scenario. Um, Luna. I do really enjoy Luna. I, I like I'm with you, Jeff.

I, I do not like being that person called out. So when, when there's a comedian, I probably am not gonna be in there unless the, the second floor right now is a great [00:50:00] space to be, uh, Bayou is probably my favorite out of them. However, I I'm gonna throw in the learning thing here. I, I think it's a little small.

I think I wish that it was larger, um, is as well as a lot of these spaces because they, they have gone and let's just call the elephant, the elephant they have, um, gone from. A few, very large spaces to a ton of really teeny tiny spaces. As some of them, like Luna can hold up to 300 between the, the two levels.

But most of those venues hold somewhere between 50 and 60, um, which yeah, can be difficult when the, the ship is even half full. And you wanna go to trivia 10 minutes beforehand. That's probably gonna be, um, not a good choice. So one of my tips comes up with these spaces is make sure you're there early, go, go to bingo, uh, 45 minutes early, or even an hour go to trivia.

Um, especially if it's in, in Kegan compass, which is a awesome venue. That's probably the one that they did make larger than the other ships. Um, but you wanna get there early, have a beverage sit there and wait for trivia to start rather than try to walk in at the last minute, because you probably won't get a seat.

Um, the, the Bayou, I think is a great idea. It's stunning. I love the ceiling, um, with, with all the greenery and the ceiling, the way it's set up with the gazebo type feel around it. I love it when they have the, the jazz trio for me personally, I think when they get into the, the louder music later on in the evening, it can be a little overwhelming for that space.

Um, but I think that they're on the right track with, with bringing in the IP in such a subtle way that you recognize what it, it's, the story it's telling without being characters in your face. Um, I just wish it was a little larger.

Lou Mongello: I, I echo all those sentiments, especially in terms of, of the Bayou. And I think you're right, Becky, I think as they are learning, not just [00:52:00] about guest flow and guest preference, but, um, what, what works better, Michael?

Uh, uh, Jeff, you mentioned Michael by name. I didn't know his last name. The man is a remarkable talent. Um, I, I mean, and I'm not just saying, like I was everywhere, he was, I was loving what he was doing and we'll talk about the final night performance in night and Gale, but that's what that venue was for.

It is for a place to sort of chill during the day before dinner, late night after dinner with a beverage, a Benet, if you like, they'd have benets on the menu. It, the Bayou for me was certainly my favorite. And I, I think you're right, Becky too. It's important to note that a lot of these spaces by design are smaller, they are more intimate.

And I understand the logic behind that. I think time will continue to tell how those spaces are utilized and how they may sort of tweak and test and adjust based on guest flow and guest preference, because there were sometimes that the venues were full and, and sort of over full mm-hmm . And it's important to note the ship was not.

The ship right. Can hold a compliment of 4,000 guests. We are approximating probably about 24, 2500 on our last selling. So there's many more guests that can come and it'll be interesting to see how they sort of modify those flex spaces look including. And I think we should mention too. The grand hall is a flex space.

You'll see that instead of having the elevator bank, when you first walk in, there is a grand stage. So there's a sort of presidium stage with a smaller sort of balcony up on top. We saw that stage starting to get utilized more, especially on, I think the third night of our cruise when Disney VIT tronics, which when I saw it on the schedule, I had no idea what it was, was [00:54:00] possibly my favorite live performance.

And we'll talk about it later, but I love the fact that they are able to utilize that space for family games. There were some, there were some games they were doing with younger kids trying to identify characters. They were doing musical performances. There's a comedy that, um, sort of, uh, medieval comedy duo that comes out there's character appearances there as well.

So time will continue to tell just how they use those spaces. I think for me, number three, one of the most anticipated was, oh Vanessa, sorry. I didn't seem waving.

Vanessa Prince: Well before you'd went on to other things. I didn't get, say anything about the, oh, sorry, sorry. Lounge spaces. I, I also love the Bayou, um, had coffee there one morning with benets.

Um, but I wish they didn't let people walk through cuz it kind of loses that intimate feel like you had at the promenade lounges on the other ships, but after doing your scavenger hunt, I really love the Kegan compass mm-hmm um, I don't think Andrew did because I, we spent at least 45 minutes sitting there just looking at every detail.

I mean, there's these beautiful carvings wood carvings around the port holes and they have little elements, uh, from the parks in there that you need to find. Um, there's a map of the seas up on the ceiling and it's different IPS are located up there based on where they are in the world. Um, there's just something to look at everywhere and I really, I could go back and still spend another 45 minutes to an hour and find things I didn't find before.

Um, there's just little hidden gems everywhere. There's like map drawers and suitcases and it's just a really fun place to explore. I mean, I personally went in there when nobody was there. I think they had just finished a drawing session, so it was clear and that's when to go and enjoy and really look at things when [00:56:00] nobody is in those venues.

Um, but

Lou Mongello: go ahead, Luke. I'm sorry. And there's TVs in there too. So if you wanna go. And catch, um, a sporting event that would be the place to go that's mm-hmm, it sort of can convert a little bit to a bit of a, a sports bar and forgive me, I didn't mean to, I was so excited to get to the hyperspace lounge. I completely lost my marvels.

I'm also hungry. um, you know, if the kids get such cool spaces or we'll get to the O oceans club, why shouldn't the adults? And I think that was the thinking in terms of the hyperspace lounge and a lot of these spaces. I think there's a lot of sort of carryover from adults wanting to do things that kids were doing, and kids wanted to have space like the adults had as well.

And the hyperspace lounge is think Ogas cant, but with a very different vibe, it is this. If you remember Jayden VA's ship in solo, it has this very polished metal, leather gold furnishings, a much more upscale type of a lounge than Ogas. Again, families can access the lounge during the day, but after nine o'clock at night, it is adult only.

It is reservation only something that Becky, that we saw them make that on the fly shift on the maiden voyage. Now you can actually book, uh, the hyperspace lounge when you get into the terminal. So when you actually get to the terminal, the day of your sale, and you can book the hyperspace lounge, like Ogas, it has that 45 minute quote unquote limit that they ask you to limit your time to, um, Like other places, I'm not sure if this is 101% finished, quote unquote.

Um, in terms of story elements, I think there's still a little bit more Becky, you ordered the Kiry drink and I think, yeah, the experience that you had, which you so eloquently laid out on the www radio blog with photos and videos, I think that is something that is going to continue to be enhanced and, [00:58:00] and plus up a little

Beci Mahnken: bit, um, great.

Which means I have to buy another one. Wonderful.

Lou Mongello: um, so Becky, Vanessa, and Jeff, talk to me quickly about your thoughts and experiences in hyperspace lounge. Well, you

Beci Mahnken: know, it, it is very much accustomed to the, um, the skyline lounge when you walk in and you are actually seeing the, the changing of the, the, um, the locations that you're in.

So that's the thing that grabs you the most when you first walk in is that big portal and the planet that's in front of you or the, the spacecraft that's in front of you. And, you know, quite frankly, the details around it are very minimal, but that's. Kind of was on the ship that it's modeled after. So your entire attention goes to that portal.

And when you change and you go into hyperspace, you feel it, you hear it. when you're sitting there, you can feel the, um, the rumbling of the engines as it starts up. So I really did enjoy that. And I loved the, the menu was very diverse and very interesting. I did find myself, um, falling in love with the biens flow, which was cadet Rocha, and gada chocolate.

How can you go wrong with that? Right. And of course they have things with boa balls and how can you go wrong with PBA balls too? But, you know, obviously having something so, um, so iconic as this very quiet Kiry when we first got on for the christening, remember we found it in the menu and it said nothing.

It just said Kiry crystal. And the, the cost, which was five grand and no explanation and no details, which made you, you know, talk about it and think about it and wonder about it, which is exactly, you know, what the PR people want you to do when they have something out there like that. I think your

Lou Mongello: reaction was, I want it, I want it.

I'm going to have it. And I'm, I'm powering, but it's pretty accurate.

Beci Mahnken: Only after we found out that it included four, not [01:00:00] one internet because the internet was totally wrong about many, um, aspects of this, this experience. Cause it wasn't just a drink. It was an experience and you get four passes to, um, to Skywalker ranch, which that's really what you're buying, but that's, what's kind of cool about a space like this is that it you're, it's telling a story you're walking in, it's not open to the rest of the ship.

So it takes you out of the ship element and it takes you in and puts you into a whole nother atmosphere and you could buy into the story all you want. And, and the, um, the, the servers are running around, making, um, uh, smoke balls in front of you and doing really cool things that, uh, that take your attention.

And, and to know that there's, you know, these other elements that you can, uh, that you can partake into to expand the experience. It was just a huge plus. So again, another one of those spaces that I wish it was bigger again, um, even not, you know, maybe not twice as big, but even just a little bit bigger to accommodate more, more folks in there would be nice.

Uh, but it was truly enjoyable. I had a lot of fun there. My credit card had a lot of fun there and, uh, this place, it's something I will go back to every time we're on the ship.

Jeff.

Jeff Sieh: Oh, it's me. Okay. Sorry. I was being patient. So yeah, so I, so I, luckily I did the research inside of the, have you guys never done a cruise with, uh, Lou and Becky before there's a private Facebook group that you go in and they give tips and how to do stuff. And one of the things was to, uh, you know, if you can, on at the terminal, make that reservation.

And so I did, so I got on the first night was able to get in there. Uh, and so I loved it. You know, a lot of people compare it to the, the cant in, you know, Galaxy's edge and, and, oh, it's not, and they're apples and oranges. They're two different things. Um, I actually enjoyed this more than when I was in the cant, in the Galaxy's edge, because I just felt it was [01:02:00] crowded.

And I had to stand up at one of those little side table bars. And it just wasn't the same experience on this one. I was able to go in, sit at the bar, interact with the barkeeper, uh, order two drinks and miraculously, some radio host bought my drinks at the end of the night. If I would've known that I wouldn't have done the 5,002 50.

So Jody and I had a blast, we stayed in there. The drinks were really good. I do agree that there could be some things. Enhance it a little bit, but overall, that window is the star of the show that you're looking out there and seeing things and having it change and feeling like you are going into hyperspace and then looking around.

And, but it was just really, they were really, um, I didn't feel rushed to get out. Like I did at thet. I was felt like I was like, you could stay, you know, it felt like as long as you want, nobody ever came up to me. And then the cool thing is like, when you leave, you get to press that button and the star wars doors open.

It's like, you know, you know, that's, if you're a nerd, you know what I'm talking about? .

Vanessa Prince: I enjoyed the space and going from what Jeff said, walking in and having the door swoosh open was like, wow, this is really cool. You felt like you were stepping into, uh, a spaceship or something. Um, and then watching the hyperspace when you'd move and it rumble.

Um, I was also there when my friends bought the K bar crystal, the first one. And it was quite the experience, especially cuz they didn't know if they had all the ingredients at first, then Paul and who's the bartender. He was on the magic with us. Um, but he was like, well hang on. I gotta go see if we have everything

Beci Mahnken: and yeah, I don't think they were ready for that.

Vanessa Prince: especially to sell how many during that yeah. On the maiden. Yeah. But um, not being a, I mean I know star wars, again, not a huge, huge follower, but I felt like I was in a, a cruiser or something and I really enjoyed it. Um, it is very different than what I thought it was gonna be. So

Jeff Sieh: one thing at, I want to add Lou is that like some people weren't able, their app was given him trouble and they couldn't make reservations.

They [01:04:00] did have an open house, uh, during like the early morning hours where you could go in and it would be open, but you couldn't order drinks, but you could go in and see the space. So some people at my table did that instead. They didn't do the, they didn't wanna go in and do the experience. They just didn't think it was worth it for them.

So they, but they wanted to see it. So they were able to go in and look around and uh, you're not locked out if you don't make a reservation.

Lou Mongello: And a couple of people did tell me that they did go sort of, especially later on in the evening, And tried to walk up and were either allowed to go in if people didn't show up or if there was space or were put on a wait list, um, if some space did open up.

So if you aren't able to necessarily book it before you get on board, keep going either to the walkup stand or even going to guest relations and see if one does open up. I know none of us, the next on my list is the kid spaces. And I know I'm gonna try not to cry. Lou, keep it together. None of us have kids young enough anymore to enjoy the ocean year club, um, or even in my case, edge or vibe and, and the hideaway.

And you know, my daughter's in the 1820s society, but I do wanna quickly mention because it, it absolutely bears mentioning. We talk about places and spaces onboard this ship. Here's your tip. Go to the open house and experience all of the spaces on board, which are now consolidated on deck two. There are multiple themed areas that now make up the ocean near club.

There's no more distinction between the club and the lab, and is now one space with an imaginary lab fairy tale hall, Mickey, and mini's captain's deck, the small world nursery, the star wars, cargo bay, and the, um, Marvel, um, section as well. They are remarkable. Becky, you know, when we walked in and we were live on the cen and cruise, I mean, our mouths were open.

We were almost running through like kids, the imaginary and [01:06:00] all of these places are not just places for kids to play. They are more importantly places for kids to create and to learn the imagining lab is incredible. There's also some great attraction, nods there's figment and mystic matter, and all these other kind of little maquettes and references.

There is a design your own coaster sort of sit down, immersive experience, star wars, um, has elements of. Rooms in the galactic star cruiser and the marketplace in Galaxy's edge. I, I actually think that the themeing of the star wars room in the ocean year club is cooler than the themeing in the hyperspace.

I didn't wanna say that. Right. Sort of that. No, it's cool. Like it's that grungy sort of millennium Falcon kind of feel, and you never know who might show up while you're there. Becky and I saw this space and we normally do something on our cruises that were like, this is what we want. This the captain's deck is this great playground area for younger guests.

It's nautically themed. The fairytale hall has elements of tangled and beauty and the beast and frozen in there. But the fact that these spaces are so flexible, allows different ages to, to use them appropriately for their age. Mm-hmm the artwork inside is beautiful. The slide going from deck three down to deck two, go do it when there's an open house.

If oh yeah. Short, fat, little body can make it through. So can yours, but I think what this does for a parent. And when we sort of talk about tying this all up later on and talk about who I think this cruise is really optimal for. If you are a family with kids, in the age that goes into the Oceanear club, which I believe is up to 12, right.

Is up to 12 and then 14 is [01:08:00] in edge and then vibe. It is, you are gonna have look, I had a tough time getting my kids outta the ocean year club on other ships. You kids are never gonna wanna leave. You are not gonna wanna leave because the space is so incredibly well designed. And I'll, I'll reference back to my live video where we do a full tour of it and, and Theon.

And the last show talked about the imaginary behind the imaginary of the spaces, but, uh, just very quickly, Vanessa, Becky and Jeff, uh, your thoughts on the ocean year club space. If you had a chance to go into an open house, Oh, my

Vanessa Prince: gosh, I loved it. I did the same thing. I went down the slide. I had to do that after you did it.

So , um, each I really love like the fairy tale area. Cause it, it would appeal to some of the girls and boys. Um, there was lots to do in there. It's where they had some crafts. Um, I think I really not being a star wars person. I really love the star wars area and the imaginary. Um, one tip though. They're they're open on the first day when you're there.

You can go to an open house and also on Castaway key day, it's open all day because all the kids and staff are basically off on the island. So they leave that open a lot longer. So you might not find the open houses on other days, but definitely on CAS key day, they told me that's when it's open. Um, but do go and spend time.

And just again, looking at all the details, you know, in the fairytale hall, if you look at the ceiling, there's little nods to what's in the rooms next to it and go read the books and bells library. Um, well you can only read the spines, but you know, it's very detail oriented throughout the whole, um,

Beci Mahnken: area.

And it's huge. It, that whole space takes up at least half the deck, uh, that it's on, which is so much larger than any of the ships, uh, had given to its kids club spaces. And one of the genius things once again about its design element is that it's designed [01:10:00] to shut those, those spaces off. So when you have kids inside any of those areas, obviously you don't want them to be able to easily get out, or you don't want others to be able to come in if your kids are in there.

So they have done a wonderful thing about being able to have exits and entrances that can be locked off. So you could have an, an adult, um, activity going on in one of them or an open house or a tour or. Another like star wars E thing, which we saw them do, uh, while the kids' clubs are still functioning.

So I think that they went back and looked at that and thought, Hmm, these spaces are so unique that while they're great for the kids' clubs, they could also be utilized for other special things as well. So for them to think that through and to give access to those different areas, and I am in love with the imaginary space.

Mm-hmm, , uh, not only is it really cool that you can create your own roller coaster and ride it, but the space itself has so many unique pieces and art pieces and nods to the things in the park and the things that imaginary has done. Um, and, and a full model of the, the ship. Uh, there's a ton of things. I think I spent like 20 minutes just looking at the shelves and, and looking at the things that were in there.

So there's a lot of things that could be put on a scavenger hunt in there for sure. Um, that I, I think that they did a great job with those spaces and is one of the, the crowning glories of the ship.

Jeff Sieh: Yeah. So I just was able to glance in some things, because listen, it's a four day cruise, you have to triage and there was eggs Benedict, you know, at marshal.

And I'm just like, I can smell it from when I walked in and I'm just like, I gotta go. So I, you know, you have to make choices.

Vanessa Prince: One thing. Did we mention that it's not on deck five, like on the other ships it's way down on deck two. So that's, I think how they right. Were able to give it so much more space.

They move maybe those state rooms, and there's not a restaurant on [01:12:00] deck two, you know, they, again re, boxed everything, um, on the wish and gave it the space. It really deserves for

Beci Mahnken: the kids.

Jeff Sieh: I do like to slide down into it. Yeah. It looks, it fits with that. We talked about flow and everything before it's just elegant.

It's like a portal to another world. If you were a kid, I mean, that would be like, it would just be like you're entering into just this magical land. It's just really, really slick.

Lou Mongello: And even the different activities that they had. And I was looking through the itinerary on the navigator app and, and the variety of activities that take place.

You can go in and do creature handling of all these and Becky and I, we did that one day, the creature handling of POS and lot cats in the star wars element. There is like Avengers training in the Marvel section. There's a task master. I won't spoil it. There's a task master themed event. So there's a lot that comes in there.

There's great Easter eggs in there as well too. If you're a Marvel and star wars and imaginary fan. without a doubt, your kids are gonna love it. And I think you will too, um, in no particular order, but I think it's very important to mention the, the state rooms on the Disney wish, especially comparative to the other cruise line.

Um, here there's, uh, 1,254 rooms. 70% of them have verandas mm-hmm um, about a third, those have connecting doors, uh, unlike the other ships, there is a far greater number of concierge level state rooms and suites as well. There are 76, which is double what you find on other ships. I think like the rest of the ship.

And we're using a lot of the same words because these design elements and the aesthetics sort of flows, we're talking about flow through not just the venue spaces, but the state rooms as well. It's elegant, it's subdued a little bit more upscale. Um, the layout even itself, I [01:14:00] think is a little bit more refined.

Like there's a lot less drawers, but there's a lot more shelf space. I like that. Some people don't packing cubes are your friend. That's all I'm saying. um, but even the artwork is. A little bit more subdued and you'll find, you know, princess and the frog is Cinderella. Um, little mermaid, what sleeping, beauty, whatever.

It might be integrated into the headboard. And it's like a movie like that's like your big establishing shot. And then there's smaller, more subtle pieces of art, maybe two or three others in the state room, a little hidden Mickey in a lamp. And that's it. So it is not overly Disney or overly whimsical.

You almost sometimes if you want to sort of forget that it's a Disney theme room, you could because of how subtle and understated it is. There's a couple things that they added that I noticed that I really, really like again, Disney cruise line was the first to do that separate toilet and shower room. I love that little nightlight in the toilet compartment.

Right? You can sort of leave it on to find your way in the middle of the night. I love, love, love. It's silly into the fact that there's a glass door on the shower instead of the fabric shower curtain. Yeah. And the glass door swings both ways in and out USB and USBC on both sides of the bed, multiple ports on the dresser.

You don't have to worry as much about bringing bricks and cords. Because there are charging ports of plenty throughout there. The refrigerator is D different. It is no longer, uh, a swinging door refrigerator. It's now a drawer that has dividers. So you can sort of make the space, whatever you want. If you wanna put bottles or SOS, if you wanna put a plate in there, you can remove and move the dividers around.

And, and Becky, I know you'll talk a little bit more about the, the concierge level, [01:16:00] um, and the concierge rooms. You stayed in the concierge room on this past cruise. One thing I did notice when I walked through with you a much, much bigger lounge and oh yeah. Bigger suite. You know, it's not just that funnel suite, but there are two story Royal suites, a princess RO, and a Briar rose suite up on deck 13 that have two bedrooms, two baths, a dining row pantry wine bar, private deck, and with your own hot tub.

So if you want to sort of go and not just, again, a bigger, sort of a more upscale type of experience, you can certainly do that, but you can also, there's also state rooms, if you wanna bring a larger family as well. So Becky, and then Jeff, and then Vanessa, talk about, um, your state rooms or your thoughts about the state rooms relatively quickly, ish.

Good. Good

Beci Mahnken: luck with that. Um, so one of the things you didn't mention that you actually discovered and showed me was the fact that the walls were magnetic. And I mean, seriously, I, you don't think of that type of thing. And all of a sudden all the walls were magnetic and you could just put hooks everywhere, which is great.

Um, I stayed in concierge, which was fantastic. I do think that this is one of the it, I, out of all the fleet, this is the ship to sale salon. If you, uh, wanna stay in concierge, the, um, the state room itself was absolutely beautiful and they have four Royal suites now. So they have the two that you mentioned up on deck 13, which are two level Royal suites.

And then they also have two more that are down on deck 10, which are one level Royal suite. Um, I will say something and again, write all you want because you know, it's gonna be kind of unpopular. But, um, I, I don't think the tower suite is the, the best play. And even though it's beautiful and it's awesome and the layout is really cool.

There's no outdoor space, so you don't have a private deck. And when you do open the windows, they look right at occurrence bar , which for me might be an okay thing. but, but when you're spending that kind of money on a cruise, I think you kinda wanna look at [01:18:00] the sea, um, and have that outdoor space. So while the tower suite is a really cool, awesome, um, A place to be for that many people.

It sleeps eight. I do believe, uh, it does have some cool features about it. I don't think that's the best of the suites. I think that the best are those two level, uh, Royal suites. And there's a couple of things now that you get when you do the, the Royal suites. First of all, the lounge again is spacious with lots of places to sit and relax.

They did take some of the space that you would normally see on, um, on the outdoor spaces and it's dedicated to the concierge space. So they now have the lounge, which is indoors has a, a very large bar. They also have a food area, which they've now attached a kitchen to the other ones, do not share a kitchen with their lounge space.

So you could actually order hot food in the, um, in the lounge, which is fantastic all across the fleet right now. A huge benefit that a lot of us have found is they do give concierge guests early seating into the shows. So basically you are escorted into the theater before doors open, so you can actually select where you want to sit, uh, before the, the, um, general public walks in, which is a great benefit, um, on the outdoor space for the lounge, they have a couple of hot, uh, hot tubs.

They do have a little small plunge area, lots of, um, of deck chairs and a bar up there, which also has a, um, uh, a dull whip machine and a smoothie machine up there that you can just have all the dull whip and all the smoothie you want, which is kind of a nice touch. Um, I think that that's one place that they really did improve upon the other experiences is the, the concierge area.

So again, if you're a concierge person, that's where you wanna stay. I highly recommend the wish is being the ship that you [01:20:00] sail.

Jeff Sieh: So I wasn't on that level, but I had a great room. And so one of the things that, you know, when you, when people say like it's a castle on the sea, and then it's like, it's perfect for princesses and stuff.

I, I, I think that gives a wrong impression a little bit, especially for dads. Mm-hmm, , I'm like, for me, it's not feminine, but it's elegant. And I actually, our, we were on, uh, level seven and it was Cinderella. Um, but it was not over the top. It was just really, really elegant and pretty, uh, the, the room was a couple things about the room was, um, we had the room that had the, you know, the, the couch that folds into a bed and also the, the bunk bed that comes down from the top.

Um, and then there was this space where usually like with the Murphy bed was supposed to be, it was just a big mirror. So the couch ended and there was this big space. So it felt really, really big compared to my room on the magic. Um, and I thought that, and I don't know if it's true or not. It felt like my, um, Branda was a little bit smaller, but it wasn't like I didn't feel cramped or anything.

And there's plenty rooms for two table tables, Jody and I had coffee out there every morning. It was perfect. It was fine. There's nothing. It just, it just seemed a little smaller, but the room felt a lot longer, uh, from our bed going. So I thought that was really interesting. The other thing that we, we talked about the artwork and we were like on the Cinderella level, the artwork in the halls through the ship was just gorgeous and we would stop and look like when we would one, because we were out of breath because we ate all of the food at the buffet, but, and they, and some of them were digital.

And you could not tell, you'd have to go up there and look really, really carefully and go, okay, cuz this wasn't here before I wasn't, I, I didn't hit my head on the way down or something. It was, did change. So I just love looking at all the artwork throughout the ship, but just say that, but it it's, I just don't want the dads to think like, oh, I'm gonna be on this big four day long, you know, Royal table, you know, princess thing.

It's not that at all. It's just very, very elegant and nice.

Beci Mahnken: The barbershop kind of helps set that apart too. that is

Jeff Sieh: really cool. Yeah. Looks [01:22:00] barber. Yeah.

Vanessa Prince: Well, I was able to enjoy two different types of state rooms. Um, when I went on the maiden voyage, I went with just my two daughters and we were on deck seven and we were in a state room that slept, uh, three people.

So we didn't even have the pull down, um, overhead, uh, bunk. But, um, besides what everybody else said, the one thing that I found amazing, and I didn't even learn this until Lou the cruise with, uh, everybody on August 1st was the overhead lights are dimmable. It was like, oh my God. You know, I was in there and I'm planning.

I'm taking videos, but if you hold the switch either next to the door, over by both sides to the bed, you can get the overhead lights to dim. Um, or go back up cuz some people are like, yeah, my room was really dark and it's like, well now you can turn them full blast. Or, you know, even the little, um, spotlight over the portrait over the bed, you could dim that down or brighten it up.

There's also the addition of the two lamps on the side, there were reading lights, um, that you could angle by the bed. And those were also all four of those are dimmable. Um, and I loved the crown molding. I went back and looked at old pictures from other cruises and I dunno, once again, it just brought it up to a whole new level, even on, you know, non concierge, we had all the beauty and everything.

Um, I also was stepping out into the hallway real quick. I love the light fixtures and the colors, um, you a green hallway or a blue and it just added a brighten air. But if you looked up at the ceiling, they had these like cut out things in the, um, the little chandeliers and they actually projected a whole new image into the square that it sat in and you just had to really stop and like look at each floor was something different and unique.

Um, but also, um, on the August 1st cruise, I was in an accessible state room on deck eight AFT. Um, it slept four, I think four people, um, [01:24:00] What I like that they've changed. They have now permanent ramps to get out onto the veranda. We were fortunate to have at one of the larger veranda and they carried on the element from, um, the dream and the fantasy where you don't have a white wall railing, um, to look out into the sea.

It's all sled. And I think it had the plexiglass on it too, like the other, uh, veranda rooms. But it's nice for somebody in a wheelchair that they, they can actually see out because with Andrew, sometimes he could get, he gets to the rail or I have to back him way up and you know, it, it's nice that they can look out.

Um, and the other thing in the accessible state rooms that I really liked was the bathroom. They redesigned the layout a little bit. So like, this may sound really weird, but the toilet's not right next to the shower because it's a roll in shower. And some things get a lot very wet when you take a shower, even with a shower curtain, and then they added a lot more storage.

It's like, okay, there's not just a handicap person. You might have your whole family. And we always ran into the problem with five people. Like there's nowhere to store anything in the bathroom. Well, now there were like six shelves. There was one on the bottom and hooks everywhere. So, um, I really enjoyed that.

Um, and again, the, the walls are magnetic, but they're also magnetic in the other ships too, which is really fun. I know that well, see, you have to have one of these, so put into your little light, your reader, and it has a magnet on the back, but when you turn on your room, oh, and that was the other tip. I wanted to tell people to don't take your key card out that you have to put in.

Um, right. Please. Some people were like, oh, I took the key card out. When I went to bed. I'm like, why your air conditioner turns practically off you can't run your lights. Your power might not, you know, so always leave this in. When you're in the room, a little key card in the slot or your lights won't come on and neither will the air.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, that's really helpful. The, the one thing I wanted to add to is alright, I was, so I have to say it because now I'm gonna get the, oh, you're always in coach. No, I was actually in a standard state room because Lou's giving me that look, [01:26:00] um, which I loved, I, I love the layout of them, but more than anything, I love the, the design and the artistry of the different rooms and different floors and different areas have different themes, which was really cool because you have the, the Cinderella theme or you have the princess and the frog theme.

And I haven't figured out, and I know some people have, but I'm not sure yet what the rhyme or reason is yet for where the different themes are on board the ship, but it was really cool to, to look and see that the, the Phish extender thing that we use to extend mm-hmm or to put the mailboxes on are, are different.

Um, you have like the coach for Cinderella on one of them. And, uh, I, I just love that unique design and everything was so light and airy mm-hmm yes, I really did like that. It, it had that, um, spacious light, um, inviting the elegant tones about almost every state room that I saw. And I, I think that they did a great job on the design

Vanessa Prince: mm-hmm and one thing, we had a connecting room, so we were Cinderella on deck seven and our connecting room was frozen.

So it makes it nice. If you do have a connecting room, you get a little different vibe in each one, so that. .

Beci Mahnken: Yeah.

Lou Mongello: So we've been inside this entire time that we've been talking other than a little foray onto deck 11, let's go outside and talk about something that is very different on the wish from the other ships and something that I found both day and night, I really, really enjoyed.

And it is the tiered decks on deck 11 slash 12 mm-hmm because here there are like the spaces inside, instead of one very large pool or two large-ish pools of a regular pool and a, a pool for young kids. There's a lot of smaller, almost sort of purpose built pools on the decks. There's ones to swim and fr in.

And there's ones that I [01:28:00] love where you can sort of sit in like six inches of water, like on a bench with a waterfall behind you and watch funnel vision. I did it for research purpose zone, by the way, funnel vision is remarkably clear. It's like watching an eight K TV. It is incredible, but there are smaller pools and more of them on the wish than you'll find on any of the other ships.

And they're spread out. So on deck 11 and 12. There's six. I, I believe there's a total of six pools of different depths of diff different sizes. And I think different purposes scattered all around. So what it does is I think a few different things, one, you no longer have this single large pool, which sometimes can get crowded, sometimes can get full.

Let's be honest. Sometimes there's kids in there. Sometimes kids, you know, have a caddy shack moment and they've gotta shut down and, you know, close the pool for a couple of hours. You don't have to worry about that anymore. Um, it also allows you to have, again, some of these smaller, again, 11 and 12, both in the funnel vision area, and then even on the port starboard size of ship of the ship, there's a bunch of smaller, quieter, more relaxing, some shaded areas, bigger, more comfortable seats.

Um, I think it makes all of those areas much nicer. Um, it felt even though they're bigger, it felt less crowded for me. It made enjoying funnel vision or sitting down and trying to find a, a, a chair easier for me. If we're talking about the outside areas, one thing I know has been a, a, a. A point of contention for a lot of people is there's no, there's, there's a running track, but the running track no longer goes completely around deck four as it has on the other ships.[01:30:00]

Now, I think just to make it more challenging for you, if you wanna go all the way around, you have to take these steep stairs on the other side of the deck to get up and around and then come back or just sort of go in a U shape. I'm not a runner, but I certainly understand, um, the issue with the lack of the running track, but, uh, Vanessa and Becky and Jeff, what were your thoughts about the decks deck 11 deck 12, the tier decks and, and the utilization of the pools both during the day and at night,

Vanessa Prince: I love the tiered aspect.

I thought it was very unique and we don't normally go on a cruise to go in the pools, but I could see like, you know, sitting in the six one cuz that's what I like. But I think one of the, um, things I really liked, you're thinking all these different tiers, but I also go in with the accessibility aspect when I sail or do any trip as Becky knows they had, uh, I call them double rail wheelchair lifts, um, that flip it a part flip down and it'll take you up to these different tiers and then you have to make an appointment to use them.

And you could actually make the next step appointment and have the seat lift that will swing you into the pool. Um, I think it's only not available in two of the pools, um, on the whole ship, but to me it's really nice cuz you see all these stairs and you're like, oh, I'm never gonna be able to take anybody in a wheelchair anywhere on this ship.

But they did take that into consideration also. Um, I always loved walking on deck four on the other ships. Um, we play shuffle board and different things, which they did have on the wish. But, um, one thing we discovered on the maiden voyage was on deck five starboard side. There is a double rare rail chair lift.

That'll go from five up to six. So you can go up to the bow of the ship and go to the furthest most point you can go, [01:32:00] you overlook the rain forest. Um, there's a large area up there also. I don't know if that's for parties or what, but it was nice. We, you had to make an appointment through guest services, but Andrew was able or anybody able to get up there and enjoy that, that space.

Um, so I think the pool area makes sense how they, they broke it up. Um,

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, I, I agree with that. I love the tiered location because it's, it's functional. It's much more functional than, uh, the, the previous designs, especially when you're, uh, attending something that's going on on stage, uh, because you can actually have different levels, different standpoints.

Everybody's gonna have a great view of what's going on down there, because there are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 different levels that you can stand and watch what's going on. I like the smaller pools as well. Um, they're not actually smaller. I shouldn't say that because they're a couple of 'em are about the same size, but, uh, having those two round pools at the top, it just has that variety where if there's a bunch of people in one, you can go to something that's more quiet, or if you wanna meet people, it's just got a lot of, a lot of choice and variety.

And if you're talking about the outside decks, I mean, we've got a lot to talk about there. I'm not sure if you wanna move on with it, except for the pool area, but, uh, I'll dip my toe into it. The, the front, the bow area, which is something you can go explore and find your way to, and have your I'm the king of the world moment.

If you want to, which I'm sure that the, uh, because the, the bridge can actually see what's going on down there. They're probably counting the number of people who stand up there and scream. I'm the king of the world. Uh but I, I do like that unique perspective and that, that spot out there as. .

Jeff Sieh: So when you were Fring the pool wasn't that when security was called blue, I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

but, uh, so I'm not a, a big pool person because I [01:34:00] just, and I get out in sun and I burst into flames. But the thing that I saw, like if my kids were there, I like the variety of the pools. I mean, my adult kids would have a blast. There's like a hidden even like, almost like an adult, like hot tub that we saw our friend.

I saw my friend Paul there, uh, he had just kind of snuck in and it was just him and his family. So he was able to have that kind of, you know, intimate space by himself there. So I thought the, the, and I guess we'll talk about the layout of the ship a little bit later. Because there was some interesting things with those tears that I don't know how many times I went to the, the, the key that was right there by the elevators, like, okay, where am I?

And I'm like, okay, how do I get to there? That's on the 13th. How, what elevator? You know, that kind of thing. It's big room trying to get well. And, and then the thing is, is like the elevators, certain elevators went to one through 11 and then some went to one through 12 and then the others went to the, you know, was it 13 or 13?

13, but you could press the elevator and you, it was just like rolling the dice, like which one? And then if you hit it too, uh, soon people would yell at you because you would, Hey, we're still here, you know, kind of a thing. And so there was like, there's no way to call that certain elevator, which for, I thought would be really frustrating if you were in a wheelchair trying to just take an elevator up there.

Like there's no, like gimme a card where I can slap it on there. Cuz they have those. I saw those in the elevators. Mm-hmm that would give you access. It's just really weird. I mean, even trying to get up to the. Cafe, we would have some coffee, uh, drinks up there in, in the bar. It was like, okay. You know, even when we met for our, our farewell parties, like, okay, where am I?

What elevator? I'm just taking the stairs. Yeah.

Beci Mahnken: And the elevator that opens up, you go, oh, when you see it's the one to 11. Yeah. Okay. So then you gotta get out on the one on the 11, cuz you're not gonna wait for another elevator. So you take the one to 11, right. And then you get out and you have to hit up again to go another two, three.

Yeah. Yeah. If it has those

Vanessa Prince: elevators.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. And look, you know, the, again, you know, and I keep re referencing, you know, talking to the last week, [01:36:00] you understand the logic on paper of, of why they got rid of the midship elevators, added more banks to the forward and the AFT it definitely takes them getting used to mm-hmm a little bit of almost like you said, Jeff preplanning in order to figure out, um, cuz you're right.

Sometimes you have to take more stairs than you care to, especially after having all the chicken tenders but I digress. Um, yeah. Having the lack of the midship elevators and, and the land of the other elevators is definitely something. If you come from another ship that is, is something you need to get used to.

Jeff Sieh: I don't mind that the elevators and moving the midship one, it's just like to call that elevator. There's gotta be its own button over there. So you could go cuz there's just otherwise you're, it's a crap shoot. And that's what was frustrating. So

Beci Mahnken: it's like the gambling that you're missing on Disney cruise line, you could just walk up and, and there's your, there's your beds please?

Your are the odds ever in your paper? That's right. But

Vanessa Prince: while we're talking about elevators, um, weren't they beautiful?

Beci Mahnken: yes. I took pictures of the yes, but no. Yeah, they're beautiful, but not functional again. The keys. Yes. Oh yeah. If you're, cuz they're so narrow, if somebody is trying to pass by you and you back up mm-hmm and you end up pushing against the keys, all of the, um, all the floors light up and that was after they actually put little, um, uh, covers on them because on the very first on the christening, you just basically waved your hand over them and, and they would turn on

So, you know, clearly if you walk in and go ye and you move your hand up or down, you have every single floor, um, lit up

Lou Mongello: are very sensitive. Um, yes.

Beci Mahnken: I mean

Jeff Sieh: sometimes, but then sometimes it would be like, I would like, do I need to lick it? What do I need to do?

Lou Mongello: Cause it's not working. How many times did they tell you?

Please lick

Jeff Sieh: it. Stop licking, stop licking

Beci Mahnken: buttons. Ew. That was you. but also no

Vanessa Prince: one touches it. The, [01:38:00] the elevators are color coded too. I don't know if anybody paid attention to that. Like the forward ones are, were all green, uh, for the foresty and the creatures inside on the wallpaper were green tone and the back was blue.

Uh, for enchantment and it had more of the Cinderella character. So if you got it and didn't know where you were forward or AFT, eventually you might go, oh wait, I'm green. I'm forward. I'm you know, or whatever. And, uh, tried to learn your way around the ship.

Lou Mongello: But I did know it was all color code. The end of my third cruise.

Jeff Sieh: I did miss the glass elevators, like in the magic where you can go up and you can see out, I mean, you did feel a little claustrophobic in there if there's lot of people in there. Um, I wanna know.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah. I wanna know what tiny people and they said you can fit 26 of them in there. There's no way our, uh, Becky and Luize people.

There's not gonna be 20 of us in there. This is

Lou Mongello: seriously. And you have to jump off deck 11 or eight. No way 20 people are getting into that elevator. No way. Alright, let's go from outside. Let's go back inside. Uh, number wait. No. Oh,

Beci Mahnken: sorry. Can we talk about one other thing outside since we were outside?

Sure. How about the adult space on the very back end

Lou Mongello: of the ship, I'm actually getting to the adult only experiences. So, so

Beci Mahnken: I'll be over here with my drink. You

Lou Mongello: know what, why don't we we'll do that right now. We'll just transition right over to the adult only experiences. And, and the way I sort of broke these down and we talked about the, um, we talked about the, um, and not that the concierge level as an adult only experience, but it is, it is a great place to sort of get away.

Oftentimes, Becky, you said it's very quiet. It's a place to sort of get away and work or relax, get a drink, get something to eat as well sense. His. Is that you could heard Becky just aside. It is it's beautiful adults only. Um, it is bigger from those who visited, said it is much better. The rainforest room is there.

There's a new [01:40:00] cold room and this is the first time Disney has added an outdoor space to senses spa. I am not a spa guy. I have toured through it. We walked through it on the live show. Um, people that I know did it raved about it, especially the outdoor space and the other space that I, you know, we didn't sort of mention it in when we talked about some of the, the flex spaces and I sort of consider Nightingales while it is a quote unquote family space during the day, it really doesn't open until five 30.

It's just off the grand hall. And it is this very intimate, AKA small piano bar and lounge, which up until the end of the night on the last night, on the third time I was on the ship, did I have the chance to fully experience it? And what became one of my favorite experiences onboard the wish period. So, uh, ladies, I will let you talk about the spa.

I'm gonna, Jeff, I'm going out on a limb saying you probably didn't frequent the spa a lot. No,

Jeff Sieh: they, the only kind of it's like the, like, it's like a prison movie where they just spray me with a big hose or like guardians of galaxy where they spray that's about my spot

Lou Mongello: experience. , uh, talk about the spot.

If you had a chance to go visit, and then let's quickly touch on the sort of adult experience in night and gals at night.

Vanessa Prince: Um, I took advantage of just having my daughters with me on the maiden. And we did buy into the rainforest, uh, package. It was a cruise long, so we had the four or five days to experience it.

And it was nice. I mean, they had the heated loungers in there that they don't look comfortable, but they really are comfortable. You could sit there and read a book, but you do have to be mindful of other people in there. Um, the locker rooms were beautiful, but the outdoor space was amazing. I mean, they had these like plat [01:42:00] these round swing things.

You probably seen pictures of 'em and you could just hang out there. Maybe two people, probably the most comfortable way on those. There was another shaded area under a hidden Mickey tent. Ish. I dunno what you call. Um, they had, you know, round seating seating for one, I mean, it was beautifully done. You could follow the shade if you wanted to, or if you wanted to be in the sun, you could do that.

Um, the cold room was nice. I was expecting it to be a lot colder. Um, I know Becky, you go, oh, the cold room. So, um, but if you went for the sauna first and then into the cold room, it was really cold that way, but there was a steam room, a sauna and the cold room and the loungers, and then they call something like this relaxation pool pond.

I don't know. It's a place where you sit on these swings and you can put your feet in a little bit of water. Um, but I found it nice. We did spend EV a little bit each day in there, um, as just relaxing, getting away from people, um,

Beci Mahnken: I enjoyed it. Yeah. The, the space is so much larger than it has been on any other ship.

So if you are a spot person, this place is for you. Uh, yeah, they, they were experiencing some, um, technical issues with the cold room, from what I understand. However, hopefully they've fixed that by now. Uh, because that is a, a new addition, um, to that space. And a lot of people really into that, especially it was like 109 degrees out there on that deck.

So it would be the perfect place to hang out. There is a change. Uh, they are no longer including the, uh, reinforced experience with a treatment, which used to be the norm for those who have, have sailed before. Uh, I'm not sure how long ago that was the change, but for here for certain, you do have to buy a day pass or you can get that entire, um, cruise long passes.

Well, and they didn't have day passes. They didn't on, on that ch on that specific one, uh, they did on, oh, did they? Yeah. On one of the ones that we did, I thought anyway, so [01:44:00] all right. That one's up in the air because, um, I was told yes, but I didn't actually buy one, so I

Lou Mongello: am not sure they were only cruise long again.

Okay. Check your navigator subject to change without notice. Could be the number

Beci Mahnken: of people at Ron too. Um, and that might be something that, that changes as they go, but it is a beautiful space. They did dedicate a lot of, of that outdoor space to that relaxation, which I, I think is wonderful. One thing I did find a little odd is that the, um, the salon portion where you do your Manny Petties and getting your hair treatments are on a different deck.

Mm-hmm . So, which was a little interesting because when, and maybe they've changed this by now, but I did go to buy some products and I had to get them in the salon and then go up to the spot to actually pay for them, which I think they are gonna have to figure that out. Um, but along going hand in hand with the spa, of course, is the barbershop, which some people loved it.

Some people not so much, but it is definitely one of those acquired tastes. Um, but what was so cool about it was the, uh, the drink portion where you can sit there and have a smokey cocktail and just hang out in the barbershop while some other guys are, are getting their, their shave. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't like a straight razor shave, but it was a cruise.

I can understand why

Lou Mongello: let, let's just clear the room. Let's just clear it, like there, the vague references here on the last cruise. But he's like, Hey, I've got a surprise for you. Great. What is it like gonna read Spider-Man she's like, no, no, no. I set you up for a shave in hooks. Barber mm-hmm and I'm like research purposes.

I'm not she's oh yeah. You need to go to go research research. Mm-hmm listen. It's a lovely experience. It's wonderful. They massage you and they put the stuff on your face. I'm not an indulge. I'm not a self-indulgent it's very indulgent. I'm not a self-indulgent guy, which

Beci Mahnken: is what a spa [01:46:00] experience is.

Right.

Lou Mongello: Which is why it gives me all the HEB GBS, cuz it's not just my thing. It's wonderful. And they, he puts all kind of like stuff in there and your hair and your hands. it's lovely. It's love. If that's your bag, baby, go do it. Mazeltov. It's just not for me. Um, it was cool and I could see why people dig it.

And there is, I, I don't even know what he's called. I'm sure there's like an official name for sort of like. The bourbon master that is in the front section of the barber, which is very well themed by the way, crafting all of these flavored smoky bourbon whiskey cocktails that you can come in and just order and sit right there.

And, and a number of people did, they were just in there having their drinks, watching me get a shave again, not my it's just, yeah.

Beci Mahnken: And I have pictures, which I know if they see the light of day, you're going to kill me. So I'm thinking maybe we should exchange those pictures for the grease tape someday. We can come up with something,

Lou Mongello: give you two bad things.

Listen, it's cool that they have it. I think it's really neat that they have something like that for dudes to go in. And do you, if you've have never seen Jeff before Jeff has a beard, that goes it's how long is that? It's gotta be what? I dunno. 14 inches long. Jeff has probably did not his make his way.

Jeff Sieh: No, I'm scared to get in there, but they did have that's some, so they had some really good bourbons of your Bourn lover.

And that's a lot where the, a lot of the tastings happen that I noticed on the ship that, yeah, especially the reserve bourbon tastings are gonna be there at Hokes barber. They have a really good bar and it is a very cool themed space just to go look at or walk by. It's just really, really cool space.

Right, but I stay away very far away.

Lou Mongello: So do I I'll be at the chicken tender bar. Well, I don't

Beci Mahnken: know. Maybe you should do it good on our, just on our December 5th thing. We can go do it again. So you can see if there's many changes in the experience. I

Lou Mongello: will. I lot people like, wow, you look so much younger. Like

Beci Mahnken: you did.

You, did you [01:48:00] look great? You were, you were glowing. It was actually pretty cool.

Lou Mongello: I did feel, I did feel very pretty when I came

Beci Mahnken: out. See now how it here it goes. See it's it's it's a good thing.

Lou Mongello: Listen, there are certain things for me that I do for research purposes that are one and done the shave and the pigeon one and done.

I'm good. They're cool. Shave a pigeon, the pigeon two bits a little bit more than two bits. all right. Let's move on. We have to, I, I promise this. We didn't gonna be four hours. Didn't we didn't

Beci Mahnken: talk about the, the space in the back. Oh night and gals send the space in the back. So, alright. So the space in the back, um, that they have dedicated for adults only.

So the problems on the other two ships on, on the, the fancy and the dreams that they have families that have to walk through those spaces to get from, from one area to the other. And that's always been a problem. So they put it all the way AFT and it is, it's kind of an infinity pool. It's beautiful back there.

You're gonna find the Cove cafe and there's also the Cove bar. Um, it is very relaxing. It's beautiful. We sat there one night and just watched the, uh, the lightning storms. Remember with a whole group of people, which was just amazing sitting back there. Um, it it's, again, A little small, I wish that it was a little bit larger to enjoy the SI the spaces, but the sides, uh, from about the end of the, uh, the, the pools at the, on the standard pool deck, all the way to the AFT do have deck chairs, which are specifically only for guests 18 and over.

So there's a lot of deck space. It's just being back there where everything is happening, where the bar is and where the, the, um, the, uh, infinity pool. I just wish that was a little bit larger, but I like the idea. I like the concept. I like that being the, um, the adultery in the back, I like the, I

Vanessa Prince: was gonna say, I like the variety of chairs they offered also.

And the, there were some round loungers, there were rocking chairs. I mean, I sat there and [01:50:00] drank one of those pop, fizz things, whatever it is with the champagne and the Popsicle. That was good. Um, which is a variety of things. So you weren't just stuck sitting in a lounge chair. There was, it was nice a variety, but I agree that it was very tight in the back.

Um, but again, totally accessible, but we didn't even try it.

Beci Mahnken: So ,

Jeff Sieh: so one of the things I read on the crazy forums that people just go nuts over, but they were, they were worried about kids. You know, there wasn't any dedicated adult spaces, like in some of the other ships, I never felt like that. Cause I'm kind of like Becky, like I have kids.

Um, but they're adult now. I did my. I, you know, when they say there's, you know, I put in the, the hours and, you know, I wanted, you know, but I never had on these other spaces, like Kegan compass or anything, when it was the adult time, I never saw that happening. Um, the Walt Disney theater, I did have a kid that I just wanted to give him as much riddle and as possible and throw him off the balcony.

But other than that, it was, I didn't have any issues. They

Lou Mongello: actually, they performed, they F frowned upon that. Yeah. Ship. They not. Yeah.

Beci Mahnken: but I knew I liked you.

Lou Mongello: Great. That's what you guys bonded

Beci Mahnken: that whiskey.

Lou Mongello: Just, just saying I do wanna just very quickly, I wanna mention, um, Nightingales the, the piano bar.

Yeah. Again, it's we keep using terms. They're small, they're intimate. I, I understand and appreciate the logic of the, I like I'm somebody who prefers and will talk about it. Actually next, I prefer a small theater than these large cavernous type things. I like small intimate spaces. The problem is when a lot of people want to get into those small spaces.

Nightingales is that small, intimate, cozy piano bar. But the final night, you know, it, the final night you're packing, you're trying to get your, your, um, your, your suitcases [01:52:00] out into the hallway by 10 o'clock. So they can pick 'em up for a disembarkation the next day, next day. And so many people were texting.

Like, you've gotta come down to Nightingales. You need to come down to Nightingales. I'm like, but my bed it's right there. It looked so comfy. I came down to night and gales and I'm so happy that I did because Jeff, you mentioned Michael by name. What, what is his last name again? It's called, uh,

Jeff Sieh: mastery T I think he's on Instagram.

That's why I stalked him there.

Lou Mongello: I, he's amazing to find him and stalk him and thank him and go the man. Amazing musician. Um, both that was his first cruise first cruise. She never would've known it, but I walk in and everybody has a smile on their face, a phone or a drink in their hand. As Michael is sitting there playing his own arrangements of sing along versions of classic Walt Disney world theme songs.

You wanna talk about knowing your audience and playing to the crowd? I don't remember any time, any place where every single person in the room as exhausted as they were, were having such a good time, like mm-hmm, the utilization of that space and knowing exactly who to put in there and what to play was some of the best I probably saw on board.

Yeah. Oh, he

Vanessa Prince: was amazing. Uh, yeah. And very nice too. Like he spent time talking to people afterwards and not just rushing to his next, whatever he had to do. Um, unfortunately he will not be on the December 5th crews. I did ask. Oh, um, so he's done with after this contract, but hopefully will come back. Um, cause I did put him on my comment card that he had to come back.

Lou Mongello: So the petition to bring back. Mike is gonna be started very, very quickly. I have his business

Vanessa Prince: card.

Beci Mahnken: I'll share it

Jeff Sieh: with you. He's moving to Orlando by the way. That's what he told, told us. So, but, um, yeah, I thought, and it was a request. So he would take requests that people would just shout out. I mean, he did everything.

I mean, he's saying. Finns and Feb, uh, [01:54:00] song at the end, which is just amazing. And then he did feed the birds, which is just one of my, my all time favorite songs, but, and I have it on my Instagram story. We were in the lounge and he, there was a final set before he went to Nightingales. He played, um, an earth wind and fire song.

And my, my wife's incredible earth winds and fire fan. And she went bonkers . And so I get that on video, but he, he, and he was so nice. He talked, you know, like, uh, Vanessa saying, and he talked to us, but that last night, and once again, if there's something you wanna see and you notice there's a performer and you notice there're gonna be a different places, you need to get there early.

So I was lucky enough, we went with Paul, we had a nice seat in the back, cuz we got there like as soon as our other show was over and we sat down and got in there before the crowd hit and it was worth it. I mean, so get your, your booties to those seats as fast as possible if you enjoy these live singers.

Because I mean, it was, it was fantastic.

Lou Mongello: Well, and that actually is a great segue to what was next on my list, which was the live entertainment. And the theater shows. We mentioned the piano player. I mentioned earlier, Victor phonics in the grand hall. And I wanna just quickly talk about what takes place in the Walt Disney theater, which is a gorgeous space.

Again, I keep referencing back to my conversation with there in terms of the design inspiration, these forest world of Fantasia, the warm woods and the gilded columns and the flowers and the leaves are just. It's a gorgeous theater. And I will admit that when we were on the last cruise and they talked about the welcome show, which is, you know, I've been on a number of cruises when I've seen welcome show.

Once twice, three, five times, I don't necessarily felt I needed to see it again. They said, oh yeah, this one's great because goofy finds his inner captain. I'm like, all right. It sounds like one for the kids. I am so happy that I went to go see, sees S E a S sees the adventure. Mm-hmm it may be my favorite [01:56:00] show in that I've seen in the Walt Disney theater, it's lighthearted and fun and funny.

And look, if you've seen, believe in dreams, they can. Some they're, they're fun and funny too, but can, you know, there's some heavy messages in there too incredible performers that trio of Moana and Meda and Elsa, and that harmonized medley is remarkably good. And then Tiana walks out and steals the show and my little entrepreneurial heart.

Cause I love Tiana so much that to me. Is like, and I think there's still elements of that show that they're still building in. It's like the perfect show. And I, and I know that's a little bit of hyperbole, but you've got the classic Disney characters. You've got classic Disney. When I say classic Disney characters, I mean, goofy and Mickey mini, but then you have classic Disney animated characters.

I don't wanna spoil who some of the other characters are that come out and sing some of my favorite songs, but it has heart and it has soul and it has energy and emotion. I love love. I love sees the adventure more than I loved the modern day adaptation of the little mermaid mm-hmm , which is a wonderful show.

Yep. But sees the adventure for me, absolutely takes the cake. We did not see Aladdin again. I said at the beginning, not everything is finished. The Aladdin show was not finished, but sees the adventure was amazing. I know a lot of people who loved little mermaid, I loved the theater. Um, I know Vanessa, I, I think I was talking to you or somebody else.

There is accessible seating in, uh, the Walt Disney theater, as well as the Disney wish cinemas. And if you get there early, uh, crew members will help you, um, to wheelchair accessible seating. But, um, you know, all of you just quick, quick thoughts on the show or shows that she saw [01:58:00] in the Wal Disney theater.

I love

Vanessa Prince: sees the adventure. I mean, it, it, it teaches you just to keep going after your dreams and I've seen it twice now. And I picked up on little different things both times. So I think it's, again, I will watch it again just to see what there is in there. Um, and I'm like you, I liked it better than little mermaid.

I loved little mermaid, but I really liked seize the adventure and real quick on what you said about the accessibility, um, on the other four ships, in order to get down to the lower level for a wheelchair or, uh, ECV user, you had to go through airlock doors or fire doors to get there. They made an entire hallway.

That's ACC accessible all the way down to deck two and you can wheel in and now there's even, I shouldn't give away again my secrets, but there's a cutout in the middle of the theater for at least two or three wheelchairs to sit. So you're not always on the wings. You can be right front and center's nice, not at the stage, but back by the sound guys.

And it, it was a perfect spot. I love sitting there with Andrew. Um, but the theater is beautiful with all the and has projections they can do. And it was nice.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, I really liked the, the, the welcome show. I'm that same, I've seen so many welcome shows that I was just kinda like, eh, okay. This one, I loved, I, it was surprising at places.

It had a great message. It had a great story. You see so many characters, so it really sets off your, your, with the right, uh, frame of mind to, to get into the Disney story. Um, I loved that one, but my favorite wasn't actually in the theater and hopefully we will hit on that in a minute, but I little mermaid was good, but I liked the, uh, the opening one better.

Jeff Sieh: Same with me. I think the, the, the seas, it was better now, a little mermaid. I liked, uh, because of the technical stuff. I loved the, some of the [02:00:00] projections. It was more of a technical show with the puppets and stuff. Um, we actually a couple interesting things. We sat in the balcony all three times, even for the juggler, which if you wanna talk about, we can talk about, but, um, the, uh, we sat up there and we sat in the second row.

It was a great seat, the interesting things, they didn't open up any of the side balconies at all. Right. Um, and they wouldn't let anybody sit in the front row. And I think because the second time we sat there, I was like, he had to move some kids who were sitting there and they moved the sign. And I kind of said, is it because of safety?

And he's like, yeah, because the railings are really short. So they have high ones where, you know, you turn the corner to go up and down the things, but then they have lower ones there. I don't know if they're ever gonna open up that front. Because it would be easy for somebody to, just to pitch over onto, you know, and go down there.

So they're either gonna have to redesign those railings, which would be bad because it would block your site or, um, they're just never gonna let anybody sit in those, those front rows.

Vanessa Prince: Yeah. And the side ones we talked to Jimmy, the cruise director, he said, they're just not ready yet for anybody to sit up there.

Uh, I don't know if the seats weren't bolted in or what, but you had talked about, Hey, you really don't wanna sit in those seats quite yet. So objection, signature actually, and anybody will be able to access them like Becky, you said, concierge can go in first and pick their seats if they want those, but they will be an interesting viewpoint from the sides.

Lou Mongello: So I did see the show from. The the, uh, orchestra level. And I also saw it from the balcony level and, and Becky, you and I saw it once from a literally like the farthest seats all the way stage left on mm-hmm. one of the shows there really isn't a bad seat in the house. I mean, certain seats, you know, have, have better, more direct views, but the way that it's designed, no matter where it is that you sit there really isn't a bad seat.

Um, I, I, I like sitting on the lower, um, the lower deck myself. Mm-hmm , um, let's get to quickly get to the last two on our [02:02:00] list of 10. And I think this is a, a perfect segue going from these theater shows and live entertainment that the family can enjoy together. Cuz again, your kids might be at the kids' club during the day.

You get together for dinner and then go to the show. But I wanna talk about some of the other family activities that you can do together because that's one of the things that really, I think, sets Disney apart. is all, are all of the activities that you can do. There's now not one, but two different movie theaters.

They're basically mirror images of each other, other than theming. There's a Wonderland and Neverland cinema. Each seat's about 70 or so in, um, in smaller, more intimate theaters. Again, we talked earlier about some of there's a lot of activities and games throughout the day, whether it is trivia in the different lounges.

There's, um, there's adult games at night, but there's a lot of family friendly like game shows during the day. Bingo is a big thing. Becky com yes,

Beci Mahnken: dad, Becky, it's your fault. It's totally your fault.

Lou Mongello: Of course. It's my yet. um, they now have new handsets in bingo. If you've played before the new electronic handsets.

It's awesome. It's perfect for Becky. Yeah. She has a chance to win money and doesn't have to do a thing. It just,

Beci Mahnken: you, you just sit there, look at the screen. It's

Lou Mongello: awesome. love Becky. The first step is admitting you have a bingo problem and I'm to think you have a bagel problem.

Beci Mahnken: well, it, and it's caused by you.

It's you're the one that said, Hey, let's go play bingo. And this was on the main voyage. I'm like, okay, let's go play bingo. And then sure enough.

Lou Mongello: To bingo. Bingo. Oh, you have to get downstairs and get a seats. We need to go get, we need to

Beci Mahnken: be in. We have to go get

Lou Mongello: bingo. So now it's a thing sell out. Bingo does, it's very popular, special you, as you start to get to the later bingos where you can win $10,000 and yeah, but the thing

Beci Mahnken: I did notice, again, those, those handsets that I love so much, you don't have to do anything.

And it tells you when to screen bingo. So you're not embarrassed when you, you know, pop the wrong, the wrong number in the wrong place. Um, they sell fast and if you're not up there and grabbing those [02:04:00] at the, at the right time or at the very beginning, when it goes on sale, you end up with the cards. And the cards to me are like, I didn't pay attention.

Was that I, or in, or G or O 17. So I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing

Lou Mongello: here. Cause the cards you no longer have to pop the number they they're in a protective sheet. So you just take a, an reasonable marker and you use the cards,

Beci Mahnken: but it requires, but you do have some interactivity with the, with the little thing, because you're looking at it and you're looking at the 70 cards that you have and hopefully one will actually let allow you to stand, which that

Lou Mongello: card that , that electronic bingo is the second most Becky thing on the cruise.

Yeah,

Beci Mahnken: wait, I don't wanna ask what's the first we'll just leave that.

Lou Mongello: We just leave it. Um, at that it was awesome. Um, other activities that I think are. Family fun and family friendly. And I'm curious if any of you did, this is the Aqua mouse, the first Disney attraction at sea, this 760 foot water coaster that wraps around the top of the deck, uh, featuring show scenes from the wonderful world of Mickey mouse.

I didn't realize until this cruise, that there's actually two different version. There's a sort of, uh, a summertime version. And there's a wintertime version, depending on what day that you go. It's like being dropped into a Mickey animated short, um, with special effects. I unfortunately did not get a chance to ride on this cruise and the surprise for me from the very first time I was on board.

The wish is something that, again, if you've done it once you've done it twice, you're like, okay, it's fine. It's fun. The pirates rock and parlay party

Beci Mahnken: best on deck 11th show ever.

Lou Mongello: It's so good. You wanna talk about leveling up something that has been on other cruises for pirate night? As long as Disney cruise line has been around [02:06:00] having the live band, which how they sync to the fireworks is amazing.

The stunt performers, the fireworks set to music that is from Howard generation, captain Jack Sparrow, captain red acrobats performers, the live band. I love, love, love the pirates rock and parlay party.

Jeff Sieh: Yes. Yes, that's amazing. And once again, that screen that we talk, all the tech is like on this ship is top notch.

Like we went and saw, uh, multiverse of madness in the theater and it was amazing, uh, because of just the clarity and stuff. And then that screen outside for the, the rock and party. I mean, there isn't a bad seat. I mean, cuz you know, sometimes you're like, oh I can't see. I'm not gonna be able to see if I'm up on the second deck.

And far away that screen is so bright and so crisp and they do such a great job of keeping the action where it needs to be. It's just, it's amazing show and the, the music, oh my gosh. Oh my

Beci Mahnken: God. The music speaks right to us. This is, this is the, oh my God. We're really old because now the cruise ship music is, is our music it's

Jeff Sieh: well, and then warmed it up.

If, I mean, I noticed that they cut one of the tracks short to put, you know, the final, you know, we will, I think it was re will Rocky before we, the show started and got everybody singing and dancing. And I mean, it was just so much fun being on

Lou Mongello: energy on the deck was amazing. Oh my God.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah. And it's kind of great story to it too.

It's not just guys coming out and singing. There's a story that is unfolding in front of you. So it is actually a show mm-hmm , it's not just a, a band playing, which I love that. And, and the pirate tech in me looks up and goes, finally they did it. Right? Yeah. Um, the other, the other firework shows are almost like, uh, Roman candles that are just going off one after another, after another, after another, this one, they have two shot spots.

So there's, there's two. Uh, pyro shots going on at the exact same time and then multiples at others. And it really is a firework show at [02:08:00] sea finally. Um, I, I just think that what they've done here is created something that I'm not going to miss every single time I'm on board.

Vanessa Prince: No, I agree. Yeah. And being able to shoot from both funnels now is amazing.

Mm-hmm and people stayed afterwards and danced. I mean, we were up there with Dean and other people just, I don't know, were you guys eating pizza or something, but we were having a great

Beci Mahnken: time. Don't judge dancing, eating pizza

Vanessa Prince: with the music and just having fun. And the crew members were still out there keeping people moving and it was very fun.

I, I truly enjoyed that one as well.

Lou Mongello: Yeah. The, uh, the pirate party is something not to be missed and something I found that I was really, really looking forward to, um, this year, not just because we also tied it in with our pajama party and pizza, it was a sort of the pizza party, pajama trifecta. So it was, uh, if you could turn the pirate party up until 11, uh, that's what it looked like.

Um, anything else that I on, on the entertainment side? Oh, Ms. Mankin I'm princess. ,

Beci Mahnken: it's not really entertainment, but I guess it could be entertainment. The one thing I do wanna to just raise a glass and say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you to the gods that, um, made sure that Disney cruise lines sailed with a real internet package.

because unlike times before, when it's, it's rated on the megabytes you use, which is, we all know one picture going up to Facebook can cost you a lot of money. And especially if you don't turn off automatic uploads or downloads on your phone, you can end up with an $800 internet bill. They have finally rolled out a 24 hour per day or for the entire thing.

So you can always stay connected. And thank you Disney cruise line for finally listening to all that feedback, um, because you have to use your phone now when you're on board to, to check everything. So I, and I know some people are gonna be like, I don't wanna use my, I don't wanna have internet, cuz I [02:10:00] want a vacation when I'm there and that's great.

You don't have to, you can just, you can still message and use their, their chat features and other things without actually having to connect to the internet, which is nice. Cause you can still communicate, but for those of us who work when we're there, um, it's so much less expensive. Thank you. And so much easier to use and I'm not having to sign in and out and forget about signing or signing out.

Um, that is just incredible. And I hope that it rolls out to the other ships pretty quickly.

Lou Mongello: It's a blessing in the curse. Yes. Not a blessing on the curse. Cause if, cause it used to be, you got on a ship and you throw your phone in the safe and it was like, wait, I'm just connected. Now, even without buying the internet package, you do have access to text messaging.

And I, I believe, uh, I believe it also works with things like WhatsApp and maybe I message message. I, I message. Um, but having that, the, the ease of, oh, let check my email, let me check it. It's tough. There's a lot of self-control that you have to, um, exercise on yourself or just not get the internet other than, Hey, I just gotta just make sure nothing is, you know, literally or figuratively on fire when we get home.

The last thing I wanted to mention, cuz I know for some people, um, it, it's very, very important is the shopping on board. Um, there is a number of different shopping experiences. Mickey's main sale is sort of the, the, the main Disney cruise line merchandise. Obviously there's a BTY Bob boutique and, and there's a shutter's um, and a, a small little, um, dories for get me not up on deck 11 for, for swimwear, but on deck three, there are three shops, um, that are connected to each other.

It's uh, the enchanted castle jewels once upon a time and Royal regalia, very high end jewelry purse watch shops. Um, for those guests that are looking for that, I. That's again like the shave, not my thing. I [02:12:00] do understand, um, the safety and security of being able to buy things like that. I guess it's tax free when you're out at sea without having to worry about going into Nassau.

And am I getting scammed then? Is this reliable, you know, you've got sort of that Disney bubble insurance policy around you by having the shops being right there on board. It does take up a pretty significant portion of deck three, uh, across the way is, um, once upon a time, no, sorry. Three wishes. No three wishes is one of the elegant ones.

Once upon a time is on the other side, again with, uh, pocketbooks and Pandora, some sundries and, and things like that. Um, I don't know how much shopping you guys did. Any, any thoughts on shopping one way or the other?

Vanessa Prince: Well, that last one you mentioned, um, also carry some of the ornaments and other little things that are in Mickey's main sale and some of the shirts.

So if you don't wanna stand in line at Mickey's, they do have some of those items over there that are specific to the wish that I found that, um, I thought was good that because the line would get crazy over at Mickey's main sale. I just wish they had. Like the other ships, some more Disney cruise line wear and things like that, versus just all wish the para you know, merchandise and stuff.

Um, I felt they were missing a little bit more of the cruise line look, clothing. They could have shortened some of the. Jewelry down

Beci Mahnken: or something. Yeah. I have a, I have a feeling for that one was probably because they had to have so much space for the inaugural stuff. Um, because of course that's, the inaugural season is just going to take off like mad and that's gonna be their, their biggest seller.

And they've got a lot of great merch for the inaugural season and a lot of great variety. Um, but you know, once that's over, I'm sure that the DCL stuff may roll back in a little bit more maybe. Yeah.

Vanessa Prince: Cause I did see different stuff the made in versus the August 1st totally different items in there. So they, you probably sold out, [02:14:00] not just that said made in, but you know, just regular men's shirts and different things yeah.

Changed.

Jeff Sieh: So I'm not a big shopper and you know, I think that space could be more Bayou space actually, but cuz I'm like, I just need my choose the good t-shirt and that's all I need and um, but the one thing I did notice that was very cool. A lot of the artwork that you see around the ship, you can actually get there inside the, uh, the, uh, the stores and have it sent right to your, your home.

You don't have to carry it off with you or anything like that. So, uh, because there, I mean, once again, the artwork on the ship is just really, really cool. And I just, I spent a lot of time looking at it and people who are into that thing will really enjoy this ship.

Vanessa Prince: Yeah. There were two spaces, there were kiosks and one deck where you could order some.

And then I found some that were pre, uh, Matted inside Mickey's main sale too. So got one right behind

Lou Mongello: me. and one thing I wanna very quickly mention, um, because it's very important to me and the WW radio family, because together we've raised more than half a million dollars since I, I started this, uh, venture more than 17 years ago.

Um, you may have heard that when the Disney wish launched, um, she's the only. Where all make a wish children past president and future are recognized as the quote unquote godmother of the vessel, which is wonderful. And the christening cruise and that ceremony was, was very, very emotional and, and very heartwarming.

But I, I like the fact that Disney is doing one other thing and it, and it directly ties into merchandise because during the inaugural season, which is basically like the first year of the Disney wish the Disney cruise line created an exclusive line of merchandise that includes pluses and pins, spirit jerseys, uh, headbands, tur Tumblrs.

And I noticed this when we were in Mickey's main sale, that Disney is gonna donate 10% of the purchase price, not like their net of the purchase price from the sale of every item in the Disney wish limited edition collection from [02:16:00] now through July 18th, 2023, to make a wish so that they can grant more of the wishes that they've been doing for so many years.

I love this. I I'm literally choked up, um, reading this because it's so meaningful to me and, and so many other people. And, and I think it really is a wonderful thing that that Disney does and really bears mention. Yeah.

Vanessa Prince: And that merchandise is really cute. Yeah. I have the plus to them. They're really

Beci Mahnken: cute.

Lou Mongello: I may or may not be giving some away on this week's trivia contest. Stay tuned if you're still awake, stay tuned. okay. Quick lightning round question for you because you know, it's this, the exact short show that I hoped it was going to be. give me whether it's one thing, two thing, three things, five things.

However, it is things that you think are better on the Disney wish. Right? We talked about things that we learned talking about things that we loved. And I think that as we spent time on these sailings, we found some things that are different, um, that maybe we didn't like as much, and maybe some things that we loved even more, what are 1, 3, 5, whatever it is, things that you think are better on the Disney wish Vanessa Jeff.

And because Becky, you need time to think and Google, I will let you go last.

Beci Mahnken: So sweet of you.

Vanessa Prince: Well, there's one thing I can't decide if I love it or not , but I think it, I think it's better for everybody is the fairytale laundry. Um, mm-hmm which we didn't talk about, but it's on deck eight now and it's very large. It has, it's amazing. Um, like 30 dryers, 26 washers, 10 ironing boards, um, a lot of space to move around.

It was nice. And it, you, you run it all through your app too, so you don't have to sit there if [02:18:00] you don't want to. And I can't remember. I, I believe they lock and you can't get stuff out until you're there with your navigator app. Um, the only downside to it, I was in eight AFT and it literally took me five minutes.

I, I timed it. I should go from there where before I, I could be, I could go up to seven or down or down to seven and up to nine and find it closer laundry area to iron, but it's beautiful. And I, I think once more people start using it, it'll become what they want it to be, you know, functioning, laundry and stuff, which I hate to do on a cruise.

But sometimes you have to,

Beci Mahnken: so,

Jeff Sieh: yeah, especially when you spill everything on your, your clothes the first night,

Beci Mahnken: but

Vanessa Prince: go there when I did love the sale away, the set sale on a wish, um, party. Not just because I got to be up there, but , it was, it was really cute. I liked it. It was fun. So.

Jeff Sieh: So for mine, uh, now keep in mind, I've been on the magic and this is my second ship.

So it's like two totally different things. And I think you can't, I just don't think there's one better than the other. I mean, I would get on the magic in the heartbeat again, mm-hmm because I love that ship. Um, but I do think these things were a little bit better. I think Marc market, I just liked the way it looked in the themeing.

I thought it just was, it was fun to explore and see those things. I love any history about Walt and any tie-in that it has and getting those things. I mean, even the glass cases, there was little things, there was like this joy of cooking from, um, I think it was Gustov was in there at a, a picture book or whatever.

It was just, it was just fun stuff to find mm-hmm um, I thought the food overall was a little bit better, especially because of Marcine market and that quick service being able to get all those different options at different times, I think was really, really good. I mean, barbecue. Can't go wrong with that.

Um, pirate night I thought was just spectacular. I wish they would do two shows cause I'd go to two of them. Um, And I thought the music, the live music was like, we've talked about all this show, uh, was just fabulous. I [02:20:00] really loved, uh, Theros kind of 40 music that they had in the grand hall. And that we stumbled upon coming out of the wall.

I think it was out of 1923, like, what is this awesomeness? What is going on? And we, it comes to find out it's the, the people who are performing in the shows, it was, they would, they were doing that's. Those are the people who were doing it. Like, so the guy who played Sebastian was doing some of the singing and they would switch it out because I think they had three shows that evening.

So if you're on the wish, highlight that in your app, put a heart by it. If you like live music and don't miss any of those, because they're different sets each time and they're just so much fun. And there was like people dressed as flapper girls and because it was a semi-formal night, I guess, and it was just fun.

They had a con line at the end I mean, so cool. So, uh, that was some of the fun stuff that I, I like better on the

Vanessa Prince: wish. Yeah. Oh, I'm gonna add though, look at it for all the little details that are kind of hidden, but not really like my favorite one is Jim cricket at the wishing star bar and his little saying behind him on the mirror.

Um, they have little hidden gems everywhere. You just have to take time and look and not just be trying to figure out where you're going, but just stop and look around is what I loved about the wish too is very refreshing and new, and it was fun to explore.

Beci Mahnken: Yeah, when you're in those spaces, if you could look at the actual detail rather than the entire forest and look at the tree instead, um, you would pick up on all kinds of little details that, you know, aren't in your face, which is so wonderful about exploring.

I have four, I have four things that are the standouts about this ship and directly correlate to frankly, the type of person that this ship is specifically designed for which I think Lou, you're probably gonna touch on in a minute, but for me, um, the spa is superior to the other ships, hands down, the kids clubs.

Vastly superior and well thought out. [02:22:00] And they have they're superior because it's test and adjust, right. You've, you've gone through four different ships and now you've adjusted to the feedback and the needs of the families and the needs of other people on board, um, pirate night, again. So superior to what you see on the other ships.

And yes, finally the concierge level. I, I think that they've done it right. They've knocked outta the park with this, um, this aversion of, of a concierge on board, dizzy cruise line. And, uh, again, it's the place that if anybody asks me where they should sail and I'm with you, I love the other ships too. I'm, I'm a huge fan of the wonder.

Um, that's probably my favorite out of all of the ships, but if you are a concierge client, and this is what you wanna do, and this is how you wanna spend your money and, and how you want a vacation, the wish is probably a better choice.

Lou Mongello: I concur. And, um, my, um, my list of one to five things that are better on the wish extends a little bit longer than five, but that's okay.

Cause I'm gonna do a super fast ish lightning roundish. Jeff. I agree with you far. The number one thing I put down was 1923. Um, not just because I think again, not to be hyperbolic. I think 1923 is the best food on Disney cruise line, period. Apollo. I'm looking at you, I think 1923, is that good? The first time we there, I enjoyed my meal so much.

I think it was like you or my kids like dad, I can't believe how much you're smiling through this meal because I loved it so much. And it's not just the food because I appreciate so much that 1923 is a love letter to not just Walt and Roy and the art, but the animators and the creators and what made the company, the company.

And it's an [02:24:00] entertainment free dining experience. It's the only one that has no entertainment because the food and the atmosphere and Wal and Roy and the animators and the creators are the star of that show. The number two, the food on deck 11, I think is, is outstanding. Like really, really good, like kudos to the chef for turning the simplest things like a brought worst and a hamburger up a notch when you almost don't expect it.

And oh, the pizza, I think the state rooms are better. Um, I, I like the bathrooms. Um, again, simple things like the glass door, the overall interior designs of the ship, the Bayou 1923, that, um, that new Orleans vibe that twenties and thirties vibe like is right up my alley, the pirate party, Jeff you're right.

The live music, Disney trons was so, so good. The kids club, the concierge lounge, not my thing, but I dig it. I appreciate it. And I can see that it clearly is a step up from the other ships. Uh, I think Aaron Dale is excellent. I mentioned the internet. It's better. It's a blessing in the curse. Um, the pools and the deck.

I think also I like the layout much more. It's a simple, ridiculous throwaway, but I wanna mention it because if you have young kids, when you embark on the ship and they call your family name and there's something special about that, Disney did something else that it it's, it's small and it's simple, but every kid that boards, the ship gets a wishing wand to make their very first wish of the trip.

And then to wish again, on the grand hall, on the final night of the voyage, um, I, I just love that. I love not because it's the physical, tangible thing, but because it empowers these [02:26:00] kids to dream and to wish, and it sort of makes them feel really special and to tie it in, we didn't even mention the kiss goodnight and yeah.

Oh yes. What that chandelier does at midnight, especially, um, every night of the voyage force yourself to, to mocha latte, frappuccino it up and get some caffeine and stay up because it's worth watching both on the last night and on pirate night, when that grand hall takes on a very, very, very different type of feel.

Uh, Becky, you, you alluded to it. I think the Disney wish is beautiful. It's elegant. It's enchanting. I think whether you are a first time cruiser or have cruised on Disney cruise line before there are reasons to go, hopefully we've given you many. I do think it's great for those guests that want a slightly more upscale experience on Disney cruise line.

I also think it's a great cruise for first time. Cruisers with families. I think you are gonna walk in mm-hmm to that ship and your jaw is gonna hit the floor mm-hmm. And even as a season cruiser, we felt that too, but you never forget sort of your first night on Disney cruise line. And certainly not on the wish.

Uh, if you're listening and have questions that's okay, because on this Wednesday night's live show. I'm gonna take some questions live, who knows, baby. Maybe Becky Mankin will be there with me. Maybe Jeff and Vanessa will be there with me too. We will take your questions about the wish live. And if you're like, oh my God, I so want to cruise more importantly.

I want cruise with you. You can come with us again on December 5th for a very Merry time cruise on the Disney wish. Um, and after this cruise and all the fun that we had with. Our own events like magnet exchanges, door decorating, contests, scavenger hunts. You really want to explore the ship. [02:28:00] Trust me, try this.

Our gift exchange, the ice cream social meet ups over coffee, lunch and ice cream. Yes. There's always food involved. Um, I promise you, nobody has more fun than us. Um, Becky, Vanessa, and Jeff, thank you for not just spending so much time with me tonight, but really more importantly spending so much time with me and us and our WW radio family on board.

Um, the Disney wish cruising really is better when you get to do it and share it and experience it with friends. Uh, Vanessa, I know you have been writing for gosh a long, long time and continue to share a lot of great stuff about not just Disney cruise line and Disney wish, but about traveling to Disney cruise and, um, Walt Disney world and the Disney parks, um, especially from an accessibility point of view, they can find you on, um, the WW site anywhere else that people should look for you or just link.

Want me to link to your articles there?

Vanessa Prince: Yeah. And on Facebook you can find me and friend me, I'm good with that. So , I will, I think there's a link on my, under the WW

Lou Mongello: radio. So I will put that in the show notes. Jeff, see, where can people find you other than at the buffet?

Jeff Sieh: right@jeffc.com. Jeff c.com also at social media news live.

And, uh, if you wanna find me online, it's Jeff and the last name is spelled S as in Sam, I E H I before E especially in C. And if you follow me over on Instagram, there's actually, I took all the, I did a lot. I did a Lou mano and I took all my Instagram and I have 'em all as a highlights. So if you wanna see some of the stuff we talked about, there's a lot of Kegan compass, uh, in there, but, uh, and a lot of a face, but if you wanna see some, um, shots of the wish and some different areas, you can go there and check that out.

And, uh, I tagged Lou and all those too. So you can find him that way as

Lou Mongello: well. And of course you can find Becky, Mankin not just in the concierge lounge. Wow. But you can find her over@mousevantravel.com. If you wanna come with us, or if you wanna book a cruise on Disney cruise [02:30:00] line on your own Becky and her amazing team of agents, many of whom were on board with us, um, will certainly be able to help you out.

Beci Mahnken: And, um, apparently on an article at WW radio, which I maybe get to actually write. Which would be fun. And then you could find me there too. And it, Becky Mankin everywhere on the

Lou Mongello: social to all this stuff. in the show notes. Um, thank you again so very much. All right. Quick question, Becky, Vanessa, and the jets.

If you can transport yourself onto the Disney wish right now, what? And you can be there for 10 minutes. What will be the one thing you would do go only, only 10 minutes, 10 minutes. Hurry up fast. Oh my gosh.

Beci Mahnken: You should never call on me first. I know 23.

Jeff Sieh: I would sit there. The tuna, tuna, all the tuna I could eat.

Yeah. Okay.

Beci Mahnken: See that? That's smart. Thank you, Jeff. Um, no tuna pasta filet in that order. Tuna pasta filet, 10 minutes. And then maybe a burst burst. Cur bur ER's that other drink? That's not $5,000. I would have to. That's hard. That was so good. Yes. Thank you. That

Lou Mongello: one. you star wars. Good. Vanessa

Vanessa Prince: 1923. Just, I love that the food exploring just all the memorabilia in there is just amazing that they put it there.

So you can find me there.

Lou Mongello: Jeff.

Jeff Sieh: I said, oh, you'll be without he was the tuna guy.

Lou Mongello: How about, how about you at you'll find all of us at, uh, at 1920

Beci Mahnken: or a close bar. Yeah, this

Lou Mongello: Disney vis and uh, and the kiss. Goodnight. I mean, not a literal kiss can, well, you're

Jeff Sieh: making it weird. Yeah. Yeah. Kinda.