103 - It's New (to me)

Matt takes a look at some of the newer experiences around Walt Disney World and asks a simple question: what actually feels worth your time?

From updated entertainment and refreshed offerings to newer additions across the parks, this episode is about separating the things that add real value from the things that just sound good in a Disney Parks Blog headline. Matt talks through what has improved the guest experience, what still feels a little undercooked, and where Walt Disney World seems to be putting its energy right now.

It is a mix of review, reaction, and bigger-picture Disney conversation — looking at how these newer experiences fit into the current state of the parks, whether they make trips feel fresher, and what they say about the direction Disney is heading.

Twitter/X Handles:
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Matt: https://twitter.com/mattpeto

Before/After Watch

Music in Dizhappenings copyrighted by Audio Jungle 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

And in this episode, I'm going to cover fractions, shows for the first time, or maybe the first time in a long time or whatever. And I want to kind of just give my general overall rating one through five on all these experiences. And I'm going to touch on all of them. So, you know, I've had the uh the privilege to attend Disney World, you know, three times in a relatively close period. So I was able to check off a lot of stuff, and there were some things that I was able to kind of accomplish for the first time. So let's uh let's start. Let's start with our first category. We are going to start with the attractions and ride updates. So, first I'm going to start out with I had the chance while it was running to experience Tron Ares, the Ares overlay. And I wrote this attraction twice. Uh, the first time that I rode it, uh, I was in the first row. And honestly, I didn't really get the vibes that I wanted to get from this overlay. I was like, eh, this is kind of cool, but I'm not getting enough red. You know, I'm I'm on this, I'm seeing it blink a little bit. And the canopy, honestly, I don't even remember the canopy being red the whole time. It wasn't like that. It was kind of intermittent. I noticed the new soundtrack. I thought that was kind of neat, but I was kind of underwhelmed with the overlay, and I thought I was really gonna like it. But ironically, I went back and did a second time, and the the first time I did it from the first row, the second time that I did it, I was back a few spots. I don't know, maybe I was a position four, right? And I noticed so much more of the red. Um, because the back of the chairs, when that, I don't know that what you call it, but when it kind of clamps on your back, it's it's like a halo and it was blinking red. And all of a sudden, I felt super immersive. I'm super immersive. Um, I know that doesn't really sound that's coming off right there, but it was truly a different experience, and it just added so much electricity to the ride and to the over into the attraction. Uh so you know, Tron Aeris overlay, you know, you guys know Tron is one of my favorite attractions and on a typical scale, and I know it's short, I know all that stuff, but on a typical, if I had to just rate Tron without any overlay, it gets a five out of five for me. I mean, I a five out of five at night during the day, it gets a three out of five. Completely different ride. Goes from a a six out of ten ride to literally a, and maybe that's a little harsh, but I would say six and a half during the day, and it's a it's a ten at night. I mean, it's such a big difference, right? So I'm gonna give the Tron Ares overlay overall, I would say a four and a half out of five. All right, next up, test track version three. Now, I've had the privilege to do tron uh test track version one and two. I thought version one, I did it with my wife Adrian in 2008. Um, and I I thought it was fun. I thought the Crash Dummy thing was cool. It always turned out to be one of my um you know, my one of my favorite attractions. You know, I would say I really enjoyed it. I liked the pre-show, or I should say I liked the queue and everything. And it's funny, and you know, in 2020 when we really started going every year, that was one attraction that was closed, and I remember I couldn't get my family on it. I felt like maybe the first two times that we went as a family, a family of four, test track was closed, but it became a late bloomer for us, and we've hit it all the time, every you know, every time it's been open, and we all enjoy it. We all love the the finish, whatever. But I'll say that Test Track version two definitely had its holes, right? It definitely had its to me, you know, it kind of felt like very Tron light, but maybe without maybe without the kinetic energy. I don't know. And I feel like Test Track version three, adding all the show scenes, the world of motion song, it really landed for me. Uh and no, I don't miss creating the cars, maybe a maybe a little bit. It just that had no impact on the ride, so I don't think it was a big deal. But test track version three, I give a four and a half out of five. I thought it was awesome. Very impressed. All right. Next up, I did a ride that you guys are gonna be like, Matt, you never did this attraction before. I did Astro Orbiter. I for some reason we just never prioritize it. It's a spinner, and it's a spinner. There's a reason why it's it's meh, right? Not saying that there's not a place for attractions like this, but honestly, you can't really get too carried away with Astro Orbiter. I guess, you know, it's so you know, you get some good views of tomorrow, land, right? And maybe the castle if you're and I actually think I think the attraction you're supposed to go up and down. I don't think that was working right for my either during that ride cycle or or the vehicle that I was in. But I'd give it for spinning rides a two and a half out of five, right? Nothing too crazy. Um so yeah, that's kind of my my new attractions in terms of overlay or my my new attractions that I got to experience. Next up, I have four shows or four experiences that I want to talk about. Let's go in reverse order of what I have on paper here. Let's start with Yeeha Bob. Uh so when I was there, um I want to say it was, man, the trips are like blending in now, but when I was there in November, I had some nights open uh where I was able to go experience um, you know, basically the non-parks, right? Um, and I I went over to Port Orleans and I saw Yiha Bob. And it was really cool. Um, and actually, it's funny, that was the first time I ever I ever stepped foot at Port Orleans. Um, I've been there to kind of draw people off and pick people up, I think, when I've done the shuttles before, but I actually never walked through it. And when I walked through it, there was also decorated for Christmas. So Port Orleans is absolutely striking. Beautiful grounds. I'd like to spend more time there. I'd like to stay there one day and check it off. Um, but Yeeha Bob was cool, man. It was it was a great, it was a great vibe like at the at the lounge, right? You got this performer who's interacting, and he's popular, and he's doing songs that we all know, not just Disney songs, like Sweet Home Caroline. Very entertaining guy. I'll say that my drawback was is that I didn't really execute it well. By the time I got there, it was more to check off seeing Yiha Bob than it was to really just relax and listen to him and to spend the night there. As a matter of fact, I got greedy and I tried to leave and catch the last boat to Disney Springs to get Gideon's. Turned out that was a mistake. I should have just mine my P's and Q's, sat down, watched Yeeha Bob uh for the next half an hour or hour and really enjoyed it. Um but yeah, total fan and would definitely I would like there's so much to do at the theme at Walt Disney World. There's so much to do that's not the theme parks. That's kind of like the revelation that I had, especially with all those trips, because I didn't always get tickets every day, so I took advantage of just the grounds. It's it really is such a great destination. All right. Next up, I'm gonna go with the Little Mermaid um the musical adventure, I believe. And I gotta say, guys, I'm gonna I'm gonna use this show and I'm gonna talk about villains unfairly ever after. I'm gonna bring both shows up. Okay, by the way, Yeehub Bob, he gets a four out of five, right? Maybe five out of five. Nothing, nobody likes them, right? When we talk about these shows, I like the villain show. It was the first one that I saw and out of out of you know villains in The Little Mermaid, and I I really did like the villain show. I like some of the special effects that it does. You know, people yell about there's only three, you know, cast performers, but honestly, there was what, maybe one at the at the previous show, and and I uh and as my buddy uh Jason Dodge likes to talk about, people really forget that they went from you know one or zero to three with the animatronic, right? It's like context is important, and and I and I give him credit for that. He's totally right. Uh, but Villains Unfairly After, I think it was I can't even remember who won. Maybe it was, I don't think it was Captain Hook. I think it was Cruella. It didn't matter. It was interesting. I was intrigued with the show. It's one of the things I can't wait for my family to experience. But is it my favorite show? When I put it up against, let's say, Mupped Vision 3D, if that was kind of a five out of five or close to it, or Indiana Jones before it had lost all its effects, or you know, Festival of the Lion King. That's probably still the top show. I would say this settles in at about a three and a half out of five, the villains unfairly after. The Little Mermaid Show. I actually did see is a um I saw solo um again to check it off. Um, and this was one that I thought was really well done. Um I thought the new sets were great. I thought the special effects and the projectors were cool. I thought the cast performers did a great job. I thought the puppetry looked great. I was really impressed with the Little Mermaid show. I would give that a four out of five. Um, so again, good ads at Hollywood Studios. People really get into, you know, Hollywood Studios is a half-day park. Well, you must not like entertainment. You must not like shows because there's more shows at Hollywood Studios than maybe all the parks domestically combined. I mean, it's wild how many shows are at Hollywood Studios. You got to give them some credit. Yes, it's e-ticket, overdrive, and it's shows. They don't fill in like a Disney California adventure with jumping jellyfish rides, right? They fill in with shows. Uh so, and then last up, I gotta talk about Starlight, uh, Dream the Night Away, um, the nighttime show. This was something I absolutely had to get done in my last round. I I really wanted to see Starlight, and guys, it was great. It was great. It gave me all the feels. The the music, I guess it opens with a trumpet, and the floats are spectacular. The characters look great on it. Now, how you know, again, I if you're talking about parades, right? Do you put it in the same context as Paint the Night? No, Paint the Night is a more built-out, robust parade because it's just got more. It's got way more performers in between the floats. There's way more to see, it's a longer parade. But for a castle park, Starlight. Starlight's really good, and you shouldn't sleep on it. I'd give Starlight a four out of five out of five. It's Magic Kingdom, like, listen, guys, I am down overall about Magic Kingdom. I feel like, especially after experiencing Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom has really gone down for me. I feel like the, and maybe I'll I'll talk about this in another episode. I'll I'll kind of hold I'll hold some steam back there. But I just feel like there's more to do with Disneyland Park. Uh, I feel like it's a way better park experience. It doesn't mean it's a prettier park, it doesn't mean that there's not more potential in Magic Kingdom. The way it's built right now, I just really enjoy Disneyland Park more. And, you know, for a a parade, a nighttime parade to exist at Magic Kingdom that runs seven days a week, with the exception of holiday season, which starts in August, it's a tremendous ad to Magic Kingdom. So, and you know what? They can build up Starlight, and if they don't, it's still completely functional and it still provides a huge purpose. It keeps people in Magic Kingdom, which they're happy about. They're buying more merch and popcorn and drinks, right? And it also is good for those people that want to get on rides, and it kind of woos people away from some of those attractions. And I mean, Magic Kingdom needs more things to do. So Starlight, definitely really impressed, and I'm glad that it said Magic Kingdom. Anybody that says it's it's not a good parade, I honestly just think you're being too tough. I know people have nostalgia, you know, glasses on with um with um Spectrum Magic and Main Street Electrical Parade. I had in a chance, I didn't have a chance to see those in person. Um, you know, I've seen the other nighttime parades. Uh well, let me let me rephrase that. I've seen um Once Upon a Christmas time, but that is not really a light parade, right? It there's no lights, it's more just things are lit up and they walk by, you know, they they come by with their floats. I, you know, I'd rather probably watch Starlight at this point. And I and you know, maybe because I've seen Once Upon a Christmas time so many times, uh, but that's how I feel about it. All right, next up, it's time to talk about uh the resorts. So I've already kind of talked about Port Orleans. I think I think the next thing that I should talk about, all right, lastly, in terms of shows, I gotta talk about Better Together. Better Together is probably the worst attraction conversion that I've witnessed as a Disney theme park fan. I wasn't I I have no correlation to Figment, you know, version one and version two to version three. No correlation there. I I don't I didn't get a chance to experience that. But it's tough to be a bug, you might say is not a masterpiece, but better is together is is honestly it's awful. Well, why is it awful? It's just too Zady, it's too zigzaggy, it's too tick tock for me, it's just out of control. You can't follow what's going on. The effects kind of feel forced, they don't, they don't feel, I don't know, is integrated into the story. It's just it's not good, guys. It's a real letdown for me. I like Zootopia 1 and 2. I think that I've kind of I've kind of soured on the franchise only because I it it was like there was so much negative energy about it coming to Animal Kingdom, especially in that first blue sky art. And it really shouldn't. They're good movies. Like they honestly they're enjoyable movies. I enjoyed them both. But I'm like, I don't know if I want it anywhere. You know? And in the tree of life, it's bad. And I wanted to like it. I like the director, I like how he's engaging, how he talks about his his movie. I think his name's uh is it Bush? I'm sorry, I'm probably scrolling his name up. But he's like, you know, he he engages about it. He canto tuned and he was a part of that. This is just a big miss to me, guys. Awful, awful. I would give Better Zoo Together a 0.5 out of 5. Maybe a zero. Is it the worst attraction of all time? I don't know. It's tough to say that when you got Mission Space there, right? And Mission Space might have been fine in this day. I probably would rather do better better together than Mission Space, okay? But it's, you know, and I want to do it with my family so they can see it. I don't want to influence them on how bad I think it is. And maybe they'll like it. And that's the thing. I recognize it might not be for my demographic, right? But I still think like comparing that to the other shows that I mentioned, Villain's Unfairly After, The Little Mermaid, you know, those shows you could say maybe are kind of geared towards children too. Maybe, right? I mean, it's geared towards families. This is bad. It's just bad. All right. I think I covered all the shows, although it did kind of throw me for a loop here, uh, my outline, but that's fine. All right, next up, I gotta talk about very briefly two resorts, uh, Port Orleans, which I've already covered. I was impressed with just walking through it, but I got to stay and really spend more time at Coronado Springs. And I've always heard you get the deluxe view in a moderate resort, right? And honestly, I kind of just thought that was mumbo jumbo. I mean, without without um, let's say luxury transportation, and I'm I guess I'm lumping in anything that's on a bus, right? Um, Coronado was gonna have a really hard hill to climb. But I gotta say, guys, it's a spectacular and beautiful resort, hotel, whatever you want to call it. Super impressed with Coronado Springs. I I absolutely loved, you know, obviously you you got Grand Destino Tower, which is very modern, and I didn't stay there. I stayed at one of the casitas, but it was it looked super luxurious. It's got Toledo up top, which I'll cover at some point. Beautiful, beautiful hotel. And I have been in there before. I've never stayed there, and I still have it staying at Grand Destino Tower. But when I walked through, I believe it was like El Marcado, whatever, the marketplace. The I guess it was the old lobby for the for Coronado Springs. It's like, you know, this is really an interesting place. There's a lot to do. You could get lost here in a very good way. A lot of dining options. Feels like a lot of men's, a lot of really beautiful sights. You got that Three Rivers Grill, right? The bar. You got Grand Destino in, you know, at a distance or whatever. Really themed buildings and architecture. Like this is a top-flight hotel. I cannot believe that I have slept on this resort. Uh, so Coronada Springs, you got me, man. Now, you know, there's cons with it, there's no luxury transportation. Uh, it's a huge resort. So you have to take a lot of buses, right? Uh, especially to get around it. And if you're on the wrong bus cycle, you might find yourself, you know, an extra 10-15 minutes of just kind of nonsense travel working yourself around it. But I really think for like a chill week, um, you know, and I did get a chance to sit at the pool. I thought the pool was cool. Um, I don't think it was super overwhelming, uh, but it just seems like there's a lot of great spots there. The temple's obviously pretty cool. Uh, Coronado Springs, man. I I I gotta say, like, you know, I'm gonna put you at the moderates, right? I gotta give you a five out of five. Like, it checks all the boxes. My room was beautiful, and it was a casita. So it's like, you know, I've stayed at Caribbean Beach and I've stayed at Art of Animation. Those are some of the other ones that where you can um hit the hit the room from the outside. And I I think art of animation was actually in like in a building because I think we did a suite. Uh Caribbean Beach felt more run down to me than Coronado Springs. I the the rooms were really laid out really well, they were spacious. I mean, I was by myself, but Coronado, man, way to go. Um, super impressed. Um, I touched on Port Orleans. I think that's a beautiful resort. Never stayed there, but the Christmas decorations is great. Um, you know, I love the windmill outside. Um, the the architecture is is is beautiful. The grounds are beautiful from what I could see. I love the boat access to Disney Springs, even though when I went to go use it, it was already closed up for the night. I think that's a pretty cool feature. I would definitely stay there. I probably would rather stay at Coronado if if I had my drawers between those two moderates. If I had to rank the moderates to me, and I haven't stayed at Port Orleans, but I would go Coronado, I would go Port Orleans, and I haven't checked out French Quarter yet. So just Port Orleans Riverside, and then I would go with Caribbean Beach. And I know Caribbean Beach says the skyliner. Um, but man, I I did not love the room layout, and it was just so super tight. I, you know, I gotta give Coronado or Caribbean Beach another chance, I guess. Um, okay, let's talk about table service dining. Um, and we'll also put do I have the lounges here? Um I don't, but we'll put it in this group. We'll call it, we'll call it new dining experiences, all right? Uh Maya Grill, Maya Grill at Coronado. Honestly, I kind of went in the place gets kind of negative overall reviews. I remember like I would buy Lens Touring Plan Guide or whatever, the unofficial guide, and Maya Grill always got like a two, right? And then, like, you know, right down Main Street is a massive fan. I've seen some. Other great reviews. I went there and I thought it was just okay. I would say two out of 2.5 out of 5. I got the chicken enceladas. They were fine. You know, the waiter guy was okay. I got um got a margarita. I actually went with my buddy Wheezy when we met up. It was good. He got fitas. They looked more interesting than probably what I got. I got the guacamole and it was good. It wasn't like exceptional. I think it I think it said it was table side, but nobody made it table side. I don't know. I thought it was just solid. Would I go there again? I would go there again. I would definitely not go out of my way to go there, though. Like if I stayed at Coronado, I would definitely do it again. Topolino's Terrace. Topolino's Terrace, I did for dinner, and I kept hearing such great things about Topolino's Terrace. Without a park ticket, this is a super tip to me, is that you go watch Luminous, the Symphony of Us, and they pipe in the music. So if you, you know, I just listened uh recently to the DBC pod, uh, and they were talking about one of their traditions. Uh Phil was talking about one of his traditions was hey, I like to, you know, get to the, you know, check out the Polynesian the first night to watch fireworks. I think that's a great call, but he could also, and I know he's not a big huge Luminous fan, but Tupolino's is a pretty cool spot. Um, you know, and it does have French-Italian food. Now, I'll say that I didn't love my food, but it could have just been me. I want to give it another chance. I got prom I got like a spritz alcohol drink. It was one of my favorite drinks of the week when I was there. That was great. Maybe it wasn't a spritz. Doing a bad job here. I can't remember exactly. It was it was a beverage, it was really good. It was an alcohol beverage. Um, it comes with the pull-apart bread with olive oil. That was fine. But I I wanted to get I wanted to try their homemade pasta. They have nuclees. So I wanted to try their nuclees, but it, you know, I don't eat lamb or I think it was, I think it was in lamb or or beef or pork. It came with it came with something, maybe like a bruchette, not a bruchetta, um pro Zut or whatever. I'm I'm as in an American Italian, I'm screwing up here, but it came with a meat. And I asked them if they could just not make it with that, and they said actually no, it's in the sauce and all that kind of stuff. So I just got marinara, and it was, you know, it was pretty bad. It was not a great nucky appetizer, but I'm not trying it in the way that they're designing it too, right? So, and then they really didn't have any other pasta that I thought I could get unless I got like butternut squash pasta, which in hindsight I probably should have got, but they really didn't have any other choices that for in terms of homemade pasta um that really caught my eye that that didn't have four-legged animals. So I ended up getting the sole, and it was good fish, but I've had French dinners, and I and I remember it was like my honeymoon in 2006. We my wife and I, we stayed at it, we went, we stayed at a sandals, we went to a French restaurant, and they cooked it, and we were excited to try a French restaurant, and it was just it was just fish, and it was like in this this real buttery sauce with like parsley and stuff. That it reminded me of that. It was like it was flavorful, but not for me. I don't I don't like that buttery those, you know, the super buttery sauce. I like I don't like that. It's almost like it's like a butter sauce, right? It's not like a chicken picata, it's like a lemon. It's it's like more of a butter. And it's it's just not my thing. So my meal was kind of a a throwaway, but I'm gonna give Tua Politos the benefit of the doubt and say that's on me because it does have potential. And the fact that you could go out there and watch a fireworks show, I will say that I went out there and I thought I was king. I was like got into a spot. When you go out to that terrace, stay all the way to your right. Don't go to the left like me. Um, but it was cool being able to see Illuminous, you get to hear the music. And again, if you don't have a park ticket, that is a boss move. Plus, it's on the Skyliner. I love it. It's great. Um, and you could get a drink up there if you wanted to. So Topolino's terrace, I would give it three, three and a half out of five because I've had breakfast there and because I think it was mostly me, and I want to try it again. Toledo, Toledo's up next. So I and I did total Toledo, I did Toledo and Topolino's terrace on the same night for dinner. So I did more tapas at Toledo's. My thought process is I really wanted to try to cross off things when I had the opportunity. This is a non-part day, so I wanted to try both. I got the shrimp in that ceramic or porcelain, um, I guess bowl. Um, they were pretty good. They were very seasoned very well. It was in with garlic, and I got the bruchetta bread that I it's I forget what it's called, but it's basically like a Spanish version of uh of bruchetta. Very good, very tasty. And because Phil recommended, I got the Shojito peppers, which were also very good. I, you know, that's all I got there. Um and and I also, you know what else I got? I got the espresso martini, too. There. I would say they all were tasty, they were all good. And I left feeling like I want to get back. I didn't feel like it was revolutionary. Um, and I know that they're not even super known for their entrees, but I would get more tapas there. I would try more things. Um, and that's definitely a place that I'm like, man, when I'm down there with Adrian, with my wife, that is a place I would rather check off probably than Topolino's. Uh so Tolino gets a four out of five, a little bit of a curve, I would say, um, because I just got toppas. Um, you know, Topolino's got the three and a half more out of potential. My experience was probably more two and a half out of Topolino's. All right. Cake Bake Shop. I did the cake bake shop just the cakes. So I went in the cafe side. I thought the cake was okay. I mean, it, you know, and I and I actually what I did, guys, I brought that trip, I brought a cooler bag down and I bought uh a frozen broccoli at one of those like marketplace. I think I bought it at Boardwalk. Um it was basically like my ice, right? I would just use that to try to keep things cold. And I ended up using that. I I got rid of the broccoli at some point, but I had a cooler bag that I brought all the way from Disney World to Philadelphia airport. Like, and I it it turned out to be really good. Like all the stuff I brought home was still fresh, none of it went bad. And that includes the cake bake shop. And the first time I tasted the cake, and I'm trying to think what it was, I think it was just a regular birthday cake. I think it was confetti. It was just okay, but it kind of grew on. And I felt like it almost had like a pistachio taste. So I'll give it a three out of five. I want to give it another shot. I obviously got to do the restaurant at some point. All right, next up, let's go with the perch. I did the perch with my buddy Wheezy, um, and it was kind of interesting. I mean, you know, they didn't have a lot. They had some, I'm messing up the name, Cruz Cruusade coffee. It's kind of made with coffee. It was a pretty good drink. Um, and it was a cool spot on there during Christmas time. No gingerbread house. Is gingerbread house coming back? I don't know. Um, but uh, you know, cool spot. You know, it gets a three out of five for me there, maybe four out of five if you really dig lounges. Um, let's see what else here. I also had a chance to do Trader Sam's. Uh Trader Sam's was was okay. I would give it, you know, to me, like, you know, I had a chance to do that, and I don't even see Beacon Barrel on this, and I did that too, so I'll bring that up. I would much rather go to Beacon Barrel. There's just a lot more going on at Beacon Barrel. It's a chance to get an alcoholic beverage uh at um you know in Magic Kingdom. Trader Sam's is cool. I felt a little let down. You know, they sat me and Wheezy down and they had us like facing a wall, it felt like. And, you know, when people moved when people left at our table, we kind of shimmied over, and the the waitress, the waiter was kind of all frazzled from it. Like, you know, we just wanted to get a better spot so we could see some of the other, you know, the drinks lighting up and stuff. It was okay. My drink wasn't anything crazy. Well, you know, I'd go back, I'd give Dams two and a half out of five. We're you know, beacon barrel, I'd give it three and a half out of five. Really themed, very immersive. Enjoyed my drinks. Unfortunately, guys, this is this has been a little bit since uh since I was since I was actually there. So can't remember exactly what I got, but I got a couple drinks that the bartender recommended, and I got the um the corn meal like chicken sandwich or whatever it was. I guess it's not a sandwich. I thought that was just okay until I got to the bottom of it where the corn part um was it's kind of like a rapus, right? Where the corn part was almost more caramelized, which was delicious. So I give Beacon Barrel, you know, a higher review than Trader Sam's. And then I guess I gotta finish. No, I still got more here. I still got more to go through. El Mercado. El Mercado, I got, and that is the quick service at Coronado. I got an incredible Nashville chicken sandwich. Go figure. It was awesome. It might have been my favorite thing I ate that week. Really delicious. I also got the street corn, which was kind of like just corn like off the cob already. That was too salty and not as good. Um, I did the daily poutine at Disney Springs. That was pretty cool. I got the butter chicken uh fries. I thought it was good. I don't think it had any poutine in it, which was kind of weird. Like it didn't have any cheese curds in that one, uh, but it was pretty tasty. I got Gideon's cookies, which that's the second time I've done Gideon's. I brought them home. That was a big hit with the family. Um, their cookies are good. I know people say they're like half-baked, they're they're awesome. Don't, you know, and the best thing that they have there is their peanut butter cobra. Holy smokes, that thing is amazing. Um, let's see. Um, the Erapis at Animal Kingdom. Very tasty, very good. Weight aligned form. And I'm guessing that's gonna come to tropical Americas. I had the viral brownie cookie dough sandwich. That was very good. It melts fast, weight definitely worth the weight. I would say, like, I that's a for me, dessert is more of like a split, like, I'd rather split that. Um, I couldn't do that. I was by myself. I ate the whole thing, it was delicious, really good. Um, Festival of the Arts boots. Had a chance to really hit a lot of them. And my favorite thing was the Crack Cake Tostada uh over at near Mexico. But I tried the grilled cheese. I tried the different desserts, like the um like the the tea one. Uh my buddy got the rose one, um, which I didn't taste, but that kind of looked interesting. Um, I probably had, I'm trying to think of some of the other stuff I had. I probably had eight, eight or nine things from the festival. Um, and they were all pretty good. They were all pretty tasty. I got I got the mussels, uh, they were very good. Um I got the um that red velvet um popcorn and chicken. The chicken was actually really good in there. Festival of the arts food boost, man, that's like right on my loss. I give that a four out of five. Um, you know, the Repus and Cookie Dough Sandwich, they both get a four out of five, I would say. Giddings cookies, four out of five. Daily poutine, three and a half out of five. Um El Mercado, I give that chicken sandwich alone, but I mean, I will say that I wasn't impressed with, you know, that the I got like a breakfast um, what was that? Um like a frittata. That was just okay, but the chicken sandwich was amazing. So I'd give that a four out of five, kind of balance it out. Um I also had a chance to do Jock Lindsay's hangar bar, and I did that uh during the Christmas offerings, and I got those turkey spring rolls, and I got the deviled eggs that have sweet potato, that, and I got this I got a spritz drink, the like a cranberry spritz. That was so good. All of it was good. That's the first time I've been in Jock Lindsay's. I know some people kind of didn't like the eggs, I thought they were great. I mean, that was like my one of my favorite things that I did down there. I was solo, it's all decorated, never been in there. Jock Lindsay's for the win for sure. Um and then I also did La Hacienda. Uh I um I fin I had an epic day, um, which you probably have already heard. I did I had an epic day, and I decided to finish my last day down in World at Epcot. And I didn't want to just see Luminous without doing without trying a different way to see it. Um, just because I've seen it so much. I saw it a month prior or less than that, you know. Um, and then even before that, the couple months back, I saw it from Topolino's. I'm trying to do different perspectives of it. So this one I actually did, I thought was really cool. I did it from La Hacienda. They piped the music in, they lower the lights, and you could watch it from the windows. Um, and I did not have a window seat, even though I tried to wait, I was trying to be patient. Very cool experience, some great um, you know, um photographic, worthy through the window uh shots I got. Um the food, the food I got, the chips, that was pretty good. Um I got the chicken, and I felt like my entree was just okay. The the the chips and salsa were awesome. Um, and I also got the white queso, which is beatless. Um, and I've gotten that before at San Angel Inn. The first time I got it, it was, I'm like, this is my favorite queso ever. Second time I had it, I was like, man, well, I got it at La Hacienda and I thought it was incredible again. So, and I'm sure they're just kind of using the same kitchen or whatever. Um, but man, to finish your night sitting down, having apps, watching Luminous, wouldn't be the weight I would see it for the first time. I did have a park ticket. So I guess if I had my drawers, I wouldn't be in a restaurant, but not a big way. I was drinking margaritas, I had a couple of those. I had the famous avocado margarita, which is such an incredible drink. Um, so La Hacienda, I I would give a four out of five. Really cool place. I'm glad to check it off. I don't know if I would go back for a long time because I do like San Angel in way better. Um, and I think that kind of covers the food. Um and I know this is kind of rapid fire, but this is what you get, man, when you get seasonal dishapings. Um, the other thing that I did for the first time in my life, I stepped my foot at a Disney World water park. I checked out Typhoon Lugut. Uh, so I I took advantage of it. I checked it out just to see if I thought it'd be a neat place. And it was awesome, gang. I mean, I probably spent an hour there. That's about it. Um, but enough time to do all the, you know, the big slides. I can't even remember any of the names. I got in the wave pool, which was just a hoot, man. You just you just laugh. And the cool thing about Typhoon Lagoon is I could totally see my wife and my kids joining me there and them relaxing for part of the day on those chairs in front of the wave pool, giving my kids some freedom and letting them run around. I got the the um the mango, I want to say it was the mango, uh, Mai Thai, Dole Whip, um, you know, it was an alcoholic beverage. It was awesome. It was so good. Typhoon Lagoon was really cool. So I got to get the Blizzard Beach. I got to get my family to Typhoon. But I was impressed with my first experience with a Disney theme park, water park. Uh so, you know, and I give Typhoon, you know, a five out of five. Um, you know, it definitely has. I've been in other water parks, and man, you know, they it a lot of those water parks, sorry, they smell, they're not as clean. It's it's Disney, man. Like it's top notch all the way around. Uh so guys, I know I kind of just probably rambled on. I tried to break stuff down a little bit into categories. It was kind of sloppy, but that's my episode on new experiences that I've had in my last three trips to Disney World. I had it, I I had um, you know, a a work trip and then kind of an extended trip. Um, and then I had a down and back uh with with my buddies uh in January. So I think that recaps it. We will see you at the next episode.