Ever wished you could teleport yourself straight to the heart of Disney World? Well, buckle up, my Disney-loving friends, because that's exactly where the latest episode of the Mickey File Podcast is going to take you! Scott & Karen are back from our magical trip to Disney Springs and have plenty of enchanting stories to share, from shows, food, and drink, to our extraordinary stay at the Drury
Excitingly, we've got some inside scoop on recent Disney announcements too. Imagine sipping on a chilling cocktail at the up-and-coming Haunted Mansion Parlor Bar or staying at the newly reopened Pixar Place Hotel at Disneyland Resort! And let's not forget the much-awaited return of Disney’s After Hours Events and the dazzling Disney Enchantment Fireworks. Not only that, but we also lay down the deets on some exclusive discounts on offer for our military servicemen and women in 2024.
But the fun doesn't stop there. We'll offer you a sneak peek into our experience at the Edison at Disney Springs, reveal secret menu items, and discuss some "High Roller" Cocktails. Walk with us as we take you on a virtual tour through EPCOT's Journey of Water Inspired by Moana after dark, uncover our plans for January, and even share a hilarious, unexpected encounter with a fire alarm! Spoiler alert: you're in for a magical ride!
Ever wished you could teleport yourself straight to the heart of Disney World? Well, buckle up, my Disney-loving friends, because that's exactly where the latest episode of the Mickey File Podcast is going to take you! Scott & Karen are back from our magical trip to Disney Springs and have plenty of enchanting stories to share, from shows, food, and drink, to our extraordinary stay at the Drury
Excitingly, we've got some inside scoop on recent Disney announcements too. Imagine sipping on a chilling cocktail at the up-and-coming Haunted Mansion Parlor Bar or staying at the newly reopened Pixar Place Hotel at Disneyland Resort! And let's not forget the much-awaited return of Disney’s After Hours Events and the dazzling Disney Enchantment Fireworks. Not only that, but we also lay down the deets on some exclusive discounts on offer for our military servicemen and women in 2024.
But the fun doesn't stop there. We'll offer you a sneak peek into our experience at the Edison at Disney Springs, reveal secret menu items, and discuss some "High Roller" Cocktails. Walk with us as we take you on a virtual tour through EPCOT's Journey of Water Inspired by Moana after dark, uncover our plans for January, and even share a hilarious, unexpected encounter with a fire alarm! Spoiler alert: you're in for a magical ride!
After our events are coming back to EPCOT, hollywood Studios and the Magic Kingdom in 2024,. Disney World's water parks are again switching closures and the gingerbread houses are coming back to Disney Resorts. We have news about a new show, new parade times and more, along with some Disney Spring reviews on Episode 164 of the Mickey File Podcast.
Speaker 2:Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Mickey File Podcast. I'm Scott and with me is my lovely wife Karen. Hello everybody, so it's the week of October 23rd. Yes, by the time this comes out like five days till Halloween.
Speaker 1:I'm so far behind.
Speaker 2:I know, but you aren't. I know, Like because we have so much stuff that has to be done the day of Halloween.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:It's insane how much of it gets done the day of Halloween. Yeah, but like the caretaker animatronic and the Yoda animatronic that have to go out front are both not exterior animatronics.
Speaker 1:Right and the dragon? He's not exterior.
Speaker 2:So we can't take a chance of, you know, sprinklers coming on or rain, which I don't know if it's going to rain today or not. It sure looks like it, but yeah, but it isn't yet.
Speaker 1:Because in Florida you just get those little showers and then it's all messed up.
Speaker 2:Nothing like our friend Kevin. I don't even know if it was rain. He's been posting videos in a group this morning Like there are cars underwater near his house, holy moly. Yeah, like I haven't been following it real close, but I guess, like I don't know, a creek, river or river or something swelled over the banks and, wow, tide came in and A mess. That's a mess, yeah, so hopefully it doesn't get to Kevin's house. Yeah, hopefully. He said it's downhill from him. So oh, that's good, yeah, anyway, so thinking of them.
Speaker 1:Yes, very much so.
Speaker 2:Thinking of you, Kate.
Speaker 1:Yes, we are thinking of you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Um and all our other friends.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Most of them. Most of them. I'm sure somebody's slipped my mind today, but I know Um. We went On a really weird trip this weekend.
Speaker 1:It really was a weird trip. It was kind of last minute.
Speaker 2:We decided like Tuesday it was Tuesday because I was on a tractor, so it was Tuesday. Yes, that, why don't we? Because we wanted to see the entertainment that they have a Disney Springs for Halloween. Why don't we go over Friday night, spend the night and then Saturday we'll do food and wine? And none of that happened. But we did stay at the jewelry Friday night and then woke up Saturday and added another day at the jewelry.
Speaker 1:Right and actually went out of that. I tried to add it on on Friday night and they wouldn't give me a lower price.
Speaker 2:And then when I went down, $50 more on Friday night than it was on Saturday morning, to add Saturday night, right, when you looked it was like $195 and we ended up getting it for 140 or 144. 144. Yeah, on Saturday morning.
Speaker 1:And I mean literally the difference of I talked to them at like Eight o'clock at night and then at like 10 the next morning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what is that? 14 hours?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, and we'll talk a little more about the jewelry and our lovely experience there, just to just to eliminate these suspense right off. The stay was great. Yes, there was an experience there that was of no fault of the juries.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:As far as we know, that was just horrible.
Speaker 1:Yes, I did hear the specifics on it from somebody in the elevator later.
Speaker 2:Other net. We got to hang out with our friends Jason and John for a while. Yep Met a couple of new friends, got to try some new. A new place, uh huh, and a new experience at an old place, you guess.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Uh yeah, and our first time. Like well, I guess not our first time spending time at I'm coming, but we did Actually sit down this time. We almost made it inside.
Speaker 1:Almost, but it was a little bit better experience we've had this time.
Speaker 2:So was the last time, yeah, so anyway, we'll get to that too, um, but before that, there's some news. There is news.
Speaker 1:Disney's, after our events, are returning to Walt Disney World. On January 10th they returned to Hollywood studios and will run through April 10th. Um price ranges from 155 to 175 and the hours are 9 30 pm to 12 30 am. The January I'm sorry, january 11th. They began at Magic Kingdom and will run through April 8th.
Speaker 2:The Disney Enchantment fireworks will return during the event, only which I thought was kind of cool, yeah, but my understanding is they're still going to do happily ever after. Before the event yes. And then you'll get to see enchantment during the event. Right, that is kind of cool.
Speaker 1:Um. Tron is going to be using a standby queue during the event, not virtual Um, and the price ranges for the Magic Kingdom are 155 to 175 and those hours are 10 pm to 1 am. February 2nd it begins at Epcot and will run through April 4th. The price ranges from 149 to 159 and the hours are also 10 pm to 1 am. Tickets go on sale November 7th for resort guests and November 14th for the general public. The prices do include ice cream, novelties, popcorn and select beverages at a variety of locations throughout the park. Each night, dvc members and AP in your pass holders receive a $30 discount per ticket. Okay, well, that's.
Speaker 2:Better.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know it's still up to $145. Right, tony, and our friend, one of our friends from the Disney Crush podcast, uh, posted a link to this the other day and said it was 99 for AP last year. Right, um, I don't remember. I don't think we did one, I don't believe we did one last year we did Moonlight Magic and we did parties and all that.
Speaker 1:But Right, I don't believe we did the after hour.
Speaker 2:I mean he knew it was going to go up. Every everything else that Disney has caught up in the last 10 days, Right, so that might as well have. Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:Those events are nice events Because they are much more intense.
Speaker 2:They are the two expensive ones have Tron and, uh, rise of the Resistance. I mean that's got his guardians Right. That's cool, right, it's funny. They specifically say Tron will be a standby, but they don't say anything about guardians Right, that's interesting.
Speaker 1:It is interesting.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know, I don't know. You know what are we looking at? 119 to 125, if we pick the right date, that makes it pretty palatable. So.
Speaker 1:The days are, I love, after hours events.
Speaker 2:I know I really love it. They're way better than parties.
Speaker 1:Because the attendance is very low on those.
Speaker 2:And, if you remember, was it Christmas a couple years ago that did the after hours before they brought the Halloween parties and all back, I believe. So yeah, those were super expensive and sold out right away, which is why Disney knows they can charge more for these Right. So now I haven't really well, I haven't paid any attention. I don't know if the after hours were selling out this year or not, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:You know, tell you my secret Bottle of Diet Coke is like five bucks in the park, but they're free during those parties, so bring a big backpack. Yep Load up on popcorn and Coke bottles to take back to your hotel and not have to buy any in the hotel.
Speaker 1:I know we brought a ton home, one of those events.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, the cast members encourage you to take extra. They do, they certainly do.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'll take one. They go. No, you want two.
Speaker 2:So then I don't feel bad about stocking up on them, cause the cast members really do encourage you, like you know. Yeah, here, get to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, there's two of you, take four.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They probably don't want to have to go back and put them back in inventory when they're done.
Speaker 1:Actually, you're probably right yeah.
Speaker 2:It's like when the bartender at the club pours a little extra in the bottle in your drink because it'll finish the bottle and she can throw it away instead of having to put it back away.
Speaker 1:Exactly All right. Disney's Blizzard Beach is reopening November 6th and Typhoon Lagoon is closing for reverb on November 6th. The last day at Typhoon Lagoon is November 5th.
Speaker 2:I wonder if they ever gonna have them both open at the same time again. I don't know. This has been years now of one closes and the other one reopens same day and.
Speaker 1:Now, if it wasn't during the winter, I would like to go to Blizzard Beach one time, because I've not been to that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it didn't work out this year Like they closed from like November to whatever when it was cold in Florida. Right, too cold to go, do that Right.
Speaker 1:For. Floridians anyway, yeah, so we'll see yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do want to go to Blizzard Beach one day, though. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I've been to Typhoon Lagoon a bunch. Yeah, Maybe we'll add on the water package. So Frozen halt.
Speaker 2:We keep saying that but we haven't done it. I know, you know, and I want to do it when it makes sense, when we renew. Not do it now and pay $100 to not use it for the next five months, and then our passes renew.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, first of all, okay. Frozen holiday surprise will begin on November 7th and occur nightly throughout the holiday season. It'll be performed during regular park hours and during Mickey's very merry Christmas party. Olaf and more than a hundred of his snowy siblings decorate Cinderella's castle with festive touches. Appearing live on stage in their holiday attire will be Anna, elsa, olaf and Kristoff, and each brings something special to the gathering. Festivities culminate as Elsa adds sparkling finishing touches, transforming Cinderella's castle into a shimmering, crystallized palace.
Speaker 2:So this Olaf at a hundred of his made up word snowy or snow G or whatever siblings decorate Cinderella castle with festive touches. That has to be projections. Like they don't have a hundred little snow people dancing around that stage you can't fit them, so it must be projection show, I guess, except I guess for Olaf who's gonna be on stage. Great.
Speaker 1:Kind of excited to see how they're gonna make it look.
Speaker 2:I assume they're gonna make it look like I don't know, it probably is all projections, because they certainly haven't heard, they're not putting the dream lights back up, so which is a shame. I mean I guess it screws up the projections, but yeah. Dang, it looks cool with all those lights, it really does, but we'll see.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Beginning November 7th. We'll see. Right, all right, and the gingerbread houses have been confirmed coming back for the holiday season. It's gonna be at Disney's animal kingdom lodge, at beach club resort, boardwalk resort, contemporary resort, grand Floridian resort and, new this year, it's going to be at the yacht club. Oh, I think that's kind of cool. Yeah, I'm wondering what they're gonna have at the yacht club.
Speaker 2:This can't be the whole list. I know it says this is what's been confirmed. There's wilderness lodges in there.
Speaker 1:Right, but wilderness. They didn't have one last year.
Speaker 2:And Saratoga has had displays the last couple of years that it doesn't show there either.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I mean Saratoga's isn't like a big huge thing, like grand Floridian, or that?
Speaker 1:Right, and I think last year it was like people made little gingerbread houses and they put them out. They didn't have like an actual display. It was people making news, maybe not.
Speaker 2:I thought they had like a one section that was stuff they did, and then they had like kits for sale, yeah, but anyway, I think there should be more coming, hopefully.
Speaker 1:Right, but excited to be able to at least go see all the ones that they have confirmed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. Mm-hmm. Grand Floridians is always super cool and boardwalk with the carousels super cool. So Actually Beach Club is the carousel Beach Club.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the best part about Grand Floridian is watching them put it together. That's the cool one. I actually got to go over with Veronica one day and we actually watched it. It was very neat.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Okay, festival of Fantasy Parade is adding a second daily show time for November at the Magic Kingdom, starting on Thursday, november 9th, at a 12pm parade will begin daily in addition to the 3pm parade.
Speaker 2:So that's interesting, because shouldn't Santa be on that? Bye then.
Speaker 1:Um.
Speaker 2:He doesn't just do nights right.
Speaker 1:He only does nights, during the parties except, and then when the parties ends, then he's in one week he's in the parade.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, disney Cruise Line has announced that on the Disney treasure there is going to be a haunted mansion Parlor Bar. They show to show in the drinks and pictures and everything.
Speaker 2:I'm really surprised that they've just announced that because it was on the map. Like this is like the worst kept secret that Disney's ever had. Like it was on the map months ago. People were talking about this the day they made the announcement about things, about the treasure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it was official announced. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's very cool.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:Very cool, you know, if Memento Mori wasn't always so crowded like once Disney opens this new thing, and Adventureland, where they're making it sure sound like it's going to be a lounge. Mm-hmm. Because Memento Mori would be a super cool place for that too. Oh yeah, Keep it out of Fantasyland, but yeah, that would be a great place for it too. Just saying.
Speaker 1:Well, walt Disney World has announced 2024 military discounts for Walt Disney World. It's going to be available from January 1st to December 20th 2024. There's going to be very good rates available at the Walt Disney World hotels for most stays during that same time period. Military discounts are going to be applicable for four, five and six-day Disney military salute tickets with park hopper or park hopper plus options. It was previously called the Disney military promotional ticket. The prices obviously range depending if it's a four or six-digit excuse me, four or six-day ticket. They start at $369 for the four-day and go up to $439 for the six-day. There are blackout dates. It would be March 24th through April 6th and November 24th through November 30th.
Speaker 2:So Easter and Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:But it's nice that they're announcing them ahead of time so they can do their planning. And they've announced the opening day of Epcot's International Festival of the Arts. It's going to be starting on January 12th. They did not give an ending date, they just gave the opening date. And the Pixar Place Hotel at Disneyland Resort is officially reopening on January 30th 2024.
Speaker 2:Very cool. So that's it for news, that is. So we started talking about it already. About then we went over. Our plans were so up in the air the whole time. We had a reservation for Epcot. We made one for Friday and then really we got there like noon but we were starving. When we got there we hadn't had breakfast. So we like immediately went to our little favorite sports bar off property there and it was a Friday so there were no games on, but we watched Friends sitting at the table.
Speaker 1:We did For God's sake.
Speaker 2:That was on like half the TVs in the place. It was funny, sickies, it was funny, so had a good lunch there, wings and whatever we had.
Speaker 1:I had a salad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I tried the fried green beans. They were better than the fried pickles.
Speaker 1:Really, because the fried pickles are pretty good.
Speaker 2:They are, but the fried green beans were better. Okay, good to know. Yeah. And then we went to Disney Springs because you had some shopping to do. You got something cool at Goofy's Candy Company, I think is the name of the place. Yes, because we had a friend that was like she wanted an apple.
Speaker 1:Right Caramel apple.
Speaker 2:But she didn't know if she wanted caramel or chocolate or peanuts, like whatever.
Speaker 1:So, and then she said she wanted all of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they. I don't know if they did all of them.
Speaker 1:Right, they didn't. They only did two. No, they only did two. So you either get chocolate or peanuts, or caramel and peanuts, or you know two of them. And then I said well, what if I wanted to get all three? And she goes oh, just fill out a form, yeah.
Speaker 2:So it was like a dollar more. Yeah, it wasn't anything big. And then guy dipped the apple for us and then they put it in refrigerator for, I don't know, maybe five minutes Just to solidify it. So that was cool to know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they put it in a little bowl so you didn't lose all of the peanuts. So, and she loved it.
Speaker 2:Yeah right.
Speaker 1:How could you not?
Speaker 2:Right. So you know, we went to world of Disney, we went to co-op marketplace, whatever it's called.
Speaker 1:Went to art of Disney.
Speaker 2:We did Went to the art of Disney store, kind of looked around, didn't really buy much, no, but we did look around a little bit. And then our friend John sent a message that actually he just sent a picture of the table where he was. And I was like oh, he's at homecoming.
Speaker 2:He had his zipper cut, yes. So we made our way over to chef art Smith's homecoming restaurant and hung out there. They had some some new beverages on the menu. The Xavier who was with John was trying the hummingbird, which is a new offering, okay, and looked that up. I don't remember exactly. Like I told him at the time, I don't, I know what a hummingbird cake is and it's delicious at Publix that drink, and we didn't have it Right, but it came highly recommended from those that did so. The hummingbird $17 was banana cream, rum, vanilla bean rum, muddled pineapple, blueberry, pineapple, blueberry and pineapple puree and served with our signature hummingbird cake pop. So there you go. Um, it came highly recommended. They said it was delicious.
Speaker 1:He saw the word cake pop and he said I'm sold.
Speaker 2:No, it's a new drink and he was there to test to taste and review it. Um, I had the sweet tea shine, which is, um, excuse me, sweet tea, fresh squeezed lemon and moonshine. Um, got that in the super cup, so it was $15.
Speaker 2:And it says if you can get the 22 ounce, oh for 22 ounces of jumbo squeeze, 24 ounce, 22 ounce refills $15. So, yeah, no discount. Weird Um might have to get rid of, might have to stop worrying about taking that super cup because there's no discount on any of these. They're all the same price.
Speaker 1:That's the refills.
Speaker 2:I think is the regular one is 16 ounce Maybe it says, oh no, it doesn't, okay, maybe that's what it is Okay. So, anyway, I had the sweet tea shine in the super cup deal. So that's 22 ounces. Oh yeah, okay, that's sweet tea, fresh squeeze, lemon and moonshine. It's a 22 ounce super cup. If you buy the 22, 22 ounce jumbo squeeze, it's $24, and then $15 refills Right. So there you go.
Speaker 2:I also had a old fashioned elder which is apparently not the new, a new item on the menu, but still was delicious which was mickters or mitchters, bourbon, saint germain, elderflower and a dash of bitters with a fancy cherry, which was a luxardo cherry. Right, 16 bucks. It was very good. I mean, it was an old fashioned. It kind of was just an old fashioned, but it was an old fashioned, yeah. So it was good. And the servers were good Now had a better experience with that, I think, because they knew John, yeah, you know. So the the friendliness was already going because they knew John. So it helped. But the last time we were there sitting at the outside bar over on the like the walk up table, they were good too.
Speaker 2:So, at three o'clock they started happy hour at STK Stakehouse. So Monday through Friday, that runs from three to six. It's three to five, or three to six 30. It's three to five 30 on Saturday and Sunday. They also have a late night. Sunday through Thursday 10. To close, they had for $3 oysters on the half shell, tater tots or falafel with chili tahini.
Speaker 1:You got the oysters right, and that is $3 per oyster.
Speaker 2:That how that worked. Yep, holy cow, that's expensive. I guess I did put that was 12 bucks. You got four of them, right? John had the falafel. They said those were okay. I don't remember what else John had it was like a slider. So maybe the little shroom cheeseburger with truffle fries, I don't know. That was $6. They had a beef tartare for $9. Yeah, it was mostly relish and super sour, like it was, to be honest with you, not good.
Speaker 1:No, each of you tried one and none of you finished it.
Speaker 2:All of us were like, ooh, we all took one bite out of it and off of it it was like a clavistuff on a tortilla chip. It just was not good, right? So skip that.
Speaker 1:It sounds way better than it is those tater tots looked insane that he had.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they were huge. They were like the size of your fist, maybe not that big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like a giant marshmallow, the size of a giant marshmallow.
Speaker 2:Definitely that big. Yeah, yeah, they were huge and they were $3. So it's a good place If you're into that. You know, tater tots and falafel for six bucks total, I mean it was good. It was kind of weird. We went in and said we wanted to go to happy hour and there were five of us and they were like, sure, we'll get you a table, and they put us in a big round booth.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We were like we're just here for happy hour. Yeah, we know it's fine, yeah, so that was kind of cool. Our server was good, I don't know. We just had a couple of beers and that food and I loved.
Speaker 1:I mean, I had a drink and it just wasn't what I expected, but I yeah, but it was what it said it was.
Speaker 2:It just wasn't what you expected.
Speaker 1:Right, it was an espresso martini, but they don't froth anything up. Right, yeah, it looked like, yeah, coffee, but yeah, I mean, it tasted good, it was just not what I expected.
Speaker 2:Probably the best, no it did taste great, it just did. It was not the espresso martini you see everywhere else, right. So I don't know. I guess I feel like I've now been there and yeah, now we can mark that off our list.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's where we are with that. Yeah, at that point Xavier was going to Halloween Horror Nights and our other friend had left and John had to run back to his hotel, so and you had run over to check us in the hotel. So just, jason and I were there, right? Jason met us while we were at SDK, like when we were leaving, right? So Jason and I just walked right across the street and went to the Edison so hadn't been in there in a while and so we went into the Edison. I just had Yingling. Except we had two things. One was we had a secret menu item. That was really good. I asked the waiter what was in it and he was like Tequila and a bunch of other likeers. That was the description.
Speaker 1:Was that the one when I came, that he did?
Speaker 2:No, okay, so we had that. It was good. It was really good, but I can't even tell you how to order it, so, but it was really good. Talon was his name, or bartender, so we sat right at the bar. Yeah, I had a couple of Yinglings, and then this girl next to me ordered a really cool drink and got a gold coin for ordering it. Yes, so I was like hey how do I get that? They have three things on the menu called high roller cocktails. Right.
Speaker 2:And with those you get this cool gold coin that I really haven't even looked at yet. They had one called a silk and lace, which is chocolate cherry cake Manhattan, substituting regular sweet vermouth for a house made toasted cocoa, nib and vanilla infused ruby porto.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. Why it's silk and lace? Because it's chocolate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they had crystal balls. Revenge, which was immerse yourself in a tropical oasis when the aged flavors of Florida Kana 18 year old rum crashed like a tidal wave into the familiarity of Tiki. Okay, what I got was a drink that came with a show called a fire in Vermont. Based on a classic, this Vermont based cocktail is sure to light a fire in your heart. Served flaming bar side, a fire in Vermont features whistle pig, tenure rye, antique formula vermouth, cherry, brandy, bogart's bitters and a flame kissed caramelized absinthe wash.
Speaker 2:Now it's 36 bucks, but first he like put some of this absinthe in the glass and then set it on fire, Right, and then poured some of that onto the bar and then played with the fire, like, like literally it was like I'm going to make a cyclone and like played with the fire. It was very cool presentation and a very, very good Basically Manhattan. So maybe in old fashioned it was really a man more of a Manhattan. It didn't have like any fruit in it at all, right. So the delicious 36 dollars, like just get one, yeah, but it was very good they had. They had the girl walking around with the shots in the test tubes, you know, like it's an old ladies bar. Right.
Speaker 2:A lot of people did that. Whatever they call it, blood donor blood, drive blood donor yeah, the blood donor. A single serving blood bag transfused with Espelon, aperol, salerno, blood Orange, lacour and Lime, and it comes in the blood bag is weird looking. A lot of people ordered it. I don't know how good it was, I didn't get it. As I told our friend Amanda, I'm shying away from red drinks served in unconventional manners ever since the Star Cruiser. So, but man, a lot of people ordered it.
Speaker 1:Well, it's Halloween time and it's super cool the presentation of it thing the way it comes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a super cool way of having a drink Right. They had a band playing Mm-hmm and they played like several times and they were really good. Edison has got that whole like postmodern jukebox vibe going with their bands when they do songs, you know, but in a much different way. The problem I have with the band and I complained to the bartender like the third time they came out they may have only come out four times, but like they would play like four songs and then leave for an hour and then come back and play like five songs and then be gone for an hour.
Speaker 1:Like play a set and then be gone for like half hour. Yeah, I don't really know what was going on there.
Speaker 2:Usually you go see live music, the guys play for 45 minutes, they leave for 15 to 30 and then they come back and play for another 45 minutes. That was not happening.
Speaker 2:And it's not like they were a whole big act while they were doing physical stuff with it, Cause we'd seen that before at Edison, Right before the pandemic you had the band play, then you had the chick come out with the juggling and the hula hoop and the unicycle and all that, and then you had the dancers come out and they would do a couple of songs and there was something going on the whole time.
Speaker 1:This one, the band, would play for maybe a half an hour and then be gone for 45 minutes to an hour and we've been there since pandemic and reopen and we've seen the same ones and they previous bands have come up and they've played seven or eight, nine, 10 songs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know what was going on there. I don't know if that's something the Edison's doing or something the band did or what, but the band was real good yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, they were just. They're very long.
Speaker 2:They weren't there very much, so not a complaint. I didn't pay for entertainment. Right, it's just, it's an on me we were paying to have some drinks and hang out with our friends. So that we successfully did. And Talon was an awesome bartender. We didn't have to look around for him. He was very good and he I filmed him making that drink and he put on a whole show with it.
Speaker 1:Oh, he did.
Speaker 2:So it was very cool. I was very happy with all three of the well, two of the three places. Yeah, Homecoming was better than expected when we actually spent time there, Right. And then the Edison is like we don't go there a lot, but it never disappoints when we do go there. Right. So I recommend going to the Edison as an adult.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:At night when it is for adults, because that's when they have entertainment. They don't have that going on during the day. Right, they have. It's a restaurant with some cool drinks and all that but Cause those drinks are still on the regular menu.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but the entertainment and stuff starts at night, right, so it's very cool. Then we went to our room to the jewelry Still got the city view. We didn't pay for the park view, whatever. It's fine. The park view I don't really care about because the view of the park is Epcot, yeah, and the Guardians building blocks like three quarters of spaceship Earth now. So it sounded great. Park view, right, and the fireworks show that Epcot does is not really fireworks, so you don't even get like really that view, right. So I was fine with the city view. I mean, we looked at other hotels, but whatever the windows, the curtains were closed, we were asleep.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Saturday we got breakfast from the hotel. You actually got food and drinks, or at least drinks when you went back to check in, right? Yes, what was the food? Did you stay for that or not?
Speaker 1:I did not eat the food.
Speaker 2:We got breakfast in the morning, so they had biscuits and sausage and hard boiled eggs and fruit and scrambled eggs and waffles and potatoes and all that too, right? So that was very good. I mean, you know who's good for being included, right? Like I said, it's not gourmet food, but it's good enough. Right.
Speaker 2:And then we just hung out in the room till about four o'clock because we had big plans Saturday night, not involving being anywhere near the parks, but we had big plans. We did go to Epcot a little after four. We rode spaceship Earth and we did Moana before it got dark, right, and then we went to. We just needed like a soda or something. So we went to sunshine seasons in the land pavilion, yes, and hung out there for a little bit. Jason met us or met me there again, and then you came back and you had gone wandering around Yep, I can't sit still and then we went and did Moana again after dark. So it is much cooler after dark. It is much cooler. It is very pretty. Especially the Tafiti photo op is really pretty with lights on. But even some of the fountains just look way cooler with the colored lights shining up.
Speaker 2:Yes, both times we walked right in no wait, no virtual queue Right and everybody went around at their own speed. Couple of the little interactive things we had to wait at for, literally like one person to play with it for a minute.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So it was not crowded. I don't think that virtual queue thing is gonna last for much longer.
Speaker 1:No, we did see find more of the.
Speaker 2:Because, officially, what's it? Been open 10 days now.
Speaker 1:Officially it opened the 16th.
Speaker 2:So Today's the 25th so nine days Right. On Saturday afternoon with, by the way, a million people coming in at almost five o'clock on Saturday.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was a ebcot. It was stupid trying to get in the gate and you called it. There was no wait for Moana either time. No, Spaceship Earth said 10 minutes. It took almost a half hour. Yeah, which really surprised me, and fairness, like right after we went in, they opened up another loop on the thing, so I don't know what the wait said by the time we got on the ride.
Speaker 2:but it wasn't 10 minutes when we got there. Now, also, there was, I believe, two VIP tours that came up right about the same time, so that's unexpected and adds to the line Right, but it was crowded-ish at Epcot yes. We did not leave the front part of the park, we didn't go to. Well, you did, I guess, walk to UK.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was gonna hit a couple of booths, you know forget. Oh, I'll just try something that I've wanted to try on this side. Right, the booths were insane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's locals at Epcot on the weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was.
Speaker 2:But when Bo-Wanna was not at all not at all, there was no wait. No wait at all.
Speaker 1:And it was really nice talking to cast members while we're going through and I'm like we get up to the part where Tafiti is and I'm like, okay, and it's the fountain or the waterfall there, I'm like there's gotta be something here. It's too big of a space not to have something. She goes okay, come stand over here, now you can see Tafiti. And when she's a ray, I'm like, oh, there it is Grandma. When she's a ray, I'm like, oh, she goes. Now you can't not see it. I go exactly. But it was just really neat because the cast member could tell that I was trying to figure it out where it was there.
Speaker 2:So and they had a photo pass photographer at Tafiti off on the side so it was cool Like it's a good view of her, but it did not disrupt foot traffic through there Right right, so it was fun, and then we left, cause that's really all.
Speaker 2:We had gone to Epcot four at that point Booths, but the booths weren't happening, so we went back to the hotel, watched TV for a couple hours at midnight, 12 o'clock and one second or whatever. We had to book our activities for our crews coming up in January. Yes, so, and we got most everything we wanted. Right, the brunch thing is still weird with Apollo for us for some reason. Yeah, but we did get Apollo first night and one other night last night, I think. Yeah, I think first and last, and got a couple of drink things of the rainforest room and, yeah, for the whole crews, an activity on Castaway Key cause.
Speaker 2:I still want to do the glass bottom boat. They got canceled last time.
Speaker 1:Right in the photo.
Speaker 2:We got our photo thing, got our photo pass, so we got everything we really cared about. Probably got to bed about one o'clock, right At 4 33,. The fire alarm went off.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We were on the 12th floor, so we got to, we got up, we got through on some clothes other than our pajamas and walked down 14 flights of stairs because the first floor is not actually ground level on the sides and back of the hotel, correct? So we walked down 14 flights of stairs to get out, went and sat in the car for a while because it was kind of chilly, you know low sixties and yeah, we didn't think about that when we were packing, like we didn't have a jacket or anything Right, I had to hang out in the car maybe 20 minutes and they let everybody back into the hotel, but it took. I mean there was a long wait at the elevators with a whole hotel of people trying to get back to their rooms.
Speaker 1:Right, and they have two different banks of elevators too.
Speaker 2:Cause they have two towers Right. So that was not cool, that was not great.
Speaker 1:So what's the story? All right, so all of the rooms have smoke sensors in them.
Speaker 2:Somebody was smoking in their room Somebody.
Speaker 1:well, they said it wasn't a full smoke cause they sent somebody up, so they think they either. They think they were either smoking or vaping near the At 430 in the morning, right, yeah, so that sucked.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean it sucked bad. Yeah. So you know, it was probably 630 by the time we got back into bed and then we had to leave. I think we left like 10 o'clock, right, maybe closer to 11, but you know 1030, whatever it was, and went home, yep, so that was our weekend. I mean still still love the jewelry, yeah, and for $140 a night. I don't know if you can beat that on property for sure.
Speaker 1:I know Cause you do. It is considered on property, so you get early, you get early hours.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's a way nicer hotel than the All Stars or Pop.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The rooms are good size, yeah, and it's got. An actual desk.
Speaker 2:Well, it's got an actual restaurant.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's got a couple of bars. It's, you know, it's, it's well equipped.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cause we had gotten to go from the kitchen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got dinner. Yeah, couple appetizers and a BLT sandwich. Right. So one thing to know if you order food from the restaurant to go. The menu read like soft drinks. Were bottled soft drinks? They weren't. They were fountain drinks. So, which was great. I prefer fountain drinks. They just happened to be a little harder when you went down to get them, to get four drinks back up to the room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Luckily the servers were like all right, let's give you a carrier. You know, carrier, put it in a bag. Yeah yeah, it's a little more challenging than I thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just something to know that they are. They are fountain drinks, right? I think that's everything I've got. I think there was something else I actually had thought about, but not anything important. So that is going to wrap up episode 164. Cool.
Speaker 2:So thanks again, everyone who's listening to the show. We appreciate that for sure, very much. The show podcast is available everywhere you find podcasts, except for Stitcher, and I think Google's done with podcast too now. Really, yeah, they're doing it on YouTube though, something we can do, oh, okay, but I think Google podcast has gone away also. Okay, best way, easiest way, to support the show is just, if you haven't already like, follow, subscribe whatever it is on your podcatcher of choice, and just tell somebody share it on your social media, whatever. Let somebody know that we're out here doing this every week. We skipped our live feed this week because I had to 36 holes in Naples yesterday and then had a three hour 160 mile drive back home and just wasn't gonna be able to make it by eight o'clock.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry.
Speaker 2:That won't happen often, but this time we had two golf courses to do on a Tuesday, which is weird, yeah. So, yeah, sorry about that, but we will be back, I guess on the seventh. I think is the next Tuesday for us Sounds right the week after Halloween. Whatever that Tuesday would be, I believe it's the seventh. It is the seventh, yes. On Instagram. Give us a follow at mickeyfile underscore podcast and our Facebook group is the Mickey File Improvement District. You can reach us by email at mickeyfilepodcast. All one word at gmailcom. Bye.
Speaker 1:Bye everybody, thank you, I'll see you next time.