Adventures and Mousecapades: A Podcast About Disney

205. The Maiden Voyage of Disney's Destiny

• Alicea & Nathan Novak • Episode 205

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A brand-new Disney ship beckons, and Wesley answered the call. Welcome aboard a look at the Disney Destiny’s maiden voyage, with sky-high expectations and the magic of a ship that tells its story through every surface. From a shockingly luxurious pre-cruise stay at Pier Sixty-Six with early check-in, poolside setup, and frozen grapes, to a blissfully efficient embarkation at Port Everglades, the tone was set before Wesley ever touched the Grand Hall’s carpet. And yes, that Grand Hall hits different: layered lighting, dimensional railings, and a Black Panther centerpiece that feels more regal than fan-service.

We dig into the ship’s most talked-about spaces. The Sanctum became a go-to spot: open, cozy, and made for lingering. Haunted Mansion Parlor is exquisitely themed, a must-see once; DeVille’s dazzles but suffers from early-sailing capacity crunch; Cask and Cannon surprised with great mini churros and pre-dinner vibes. Saga proved versatile for karaoke, game shows, and the standout Marvel comedy show, With Great Power—hosted by the ship’s storytellers Gamble and Zayah, and paced like a theme-park live act with clever improv and a cheeky finale. It’s labeled 18+, but the tone feels closer to PG-13, raising smart questions about family access and small-venue demand.

We also compare stateroom function and storage to earlier classes, share practical packing strategies for a family of five, and talk about how Destiny’s design cohesion sets it apart from “floating mall” competitors. The biggest friction point? Hype-driven crowd patterns and adults-only programming that can split families on short sailings. The likely cure is time—and better tools like virtual queues and clearer event labeling.

If you love Imagineering details, layered storytelling, and lounges that feel like worlds, Destiny will pull you in. If you’re chasing every hot venue, plan ahead, pick your must-dos, and be ready to pivot. Subscribe, share, and leave a review to help fellow Disney cruisers find us—and tell us: which new Destiny space tops your list?

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Adventures & Mousecapades is a passion project from Alicea & Nathan Novak - two Seattleites addicted to The Mouse. We are not affiliated with Disney, nor are we travel agents. Opinions are our own.

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Alicea:

Hello everyone. I'm Alicea.

Nathan:

I'm Nathan.

Wesley:

And I'm Wes.

Alicea:

Welcome to episode 205 of Adventures and Mousecapades.

Nathan:

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Is it Wes or Wesley. We just went over this.

Alicea:

No he gets to introduce himself however he wants.

Nathan:

Okay, that's fair.

Wesley:

I got nervous. I we did have a whole conversation about Wes versus Wesley, and I said Wesley, and then I said Wes.

Nathan:

All right, well, when I get it wrong, I won't feel bad.

Wesley:

No, don't feel bad at all. It's you can call me whatever you want. I I'm married and have children. I'm called all kinds of things.

Nathan:

There you go. I'm familiar with it. I like that. I like that. Well, Wes slash Wesley slash version 55-71 is on with us this week. Uh you just got back from something that is in our bucket list. We absolutely want to get on a Disney Cruise line maiden voyage. We haven't been able to make it work with any of the Wish class chips so far. You just got off the maiden voyage of the Destiny, and we want to hear all about it.

Wesley:

Yes, I'm so fresh. We haven't, the bags aren't even unpacked yet. There's there's merchandise like still in the packaging. We haven't, all we've been doing is sleeping and eating.

Nathan:

Yep. We we just got back from our trip on the magic for the first time in 15 years, almost a week ago. We flew home last Saturday. We're recording on a Saturday. Um we haven't unpacked yet. We haven't done laundry yet. So it's okay.

Alicea:

We took the lot the the cubes out of the suitcase. Yes. So the packing cubes are out of the suitcase. We just haven't done the next step.

Wesley:

Well, we have done we have done some laundry, um, but we're still talking about whether or not we're even gonna unpack because we have another trip coming up in just a couple weeks. So what's the point, really?

Alicea:

Exactly. Just live out of suitcases.

Nathan:

Why even go home at this point? Just stay at Disney.

Wesley:

Well, that's what I said. When all the flights were getting canceled because of the shutdown, and they were like, oh no, our flight home might be canceled. I'm like, that's like not a worry for me. I'm not concerned about my flight home being canceled. By all means, go for it.

Nathan:

Yeah, I love it. I love it. Well, let's get going. What was Disney's influence on you growing up? Did you visit the parks a lot? Uh, did you do mouse r size every morning on the one Disney Channel?

Wesley:

Uh no, definitely no mouse r size then nor now. Uh I grew up in Southern California, so it was just around. It was just here. It was just part of what you did uh growing up and as a teenager. So I don't I kind of had no choice. Like it just was there and it happened, and I rolled and I rolled with it.

Nathan:

Nice, nice, nice. How about the rest of your family?

Wesley:

Well, same. My wife was a little light on it. Our first date, though, was to downtown Disney. And we, you know, before marriage and before kids, we all had annual passes when they cost like a dollar. And and that's kind of what we did for fun. We would go to the parks on the weekends with our friends. We would we, you know, for a while we were like into swing dancing. We would do like we would go to the park to you know hang out and do some swing swing dancing. That was like a very brief thing that we were into, but you know, uh, and then the kids came along and you know, one by one they each got annual passes as they were born. Yeah, we've since kind of gotten away from the annual passes and going to Disneyland a lot.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

We have a say now that like Disneyland is for me and my wife, and Disney World is for the family and the children. So we do that, we do that a lot because it's easy for us to break away for like a date night or whatever to get to the park and just eat, people watch, maybe go on a couple things, but we don't need to involve the children in everything that we do. Like that's a lot.

Nathan:

We we do with we do that with uh with Maui. Maui is for us. You know, like we'll take the kids to Oahu. We've taken the kids to Kauai.

Wesley:

Oh, right.

Nathan:

Maui is for Maui's for us.

Wesley:

Oh, I yeah, this is a very similar situation then because Maui is a fantastic place.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And I could totally see that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We've messed up, we've have taken kids to Maui, but maybe we should stop.

Nathan:

Maybe don't let them hear this. Yeah. Yeah. And if they do, sorry, kids. Nah, nah.

Wesley:

No, they know. We openly talk about how like we don't take them, they they don't have passes to Disneyland, and that they're okay. Like, we just we just went on a cruise.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And we went to Disney World, and we're going on another cruise in three weeks, and then another cruise in a month after that. So they're fine.

Nathan:

Yeah. Yeah. They'll survive somehow.

Wesley:

Yes.

Nathan:

I think they'll make it, yeah.

Alicea:

Well, who was in your sailing party on this trip?

Wesley:

Well, it was just my family. It was me, my wife, and my three kids. We have three boys, they're eight, eleven, and fourteen.

Nathan:

Oh, wow.

Wesley:

Preston's the oldest and he's in vibe. Holly is eleven, he's an edge, and then Max is eight and he's in the oceanier club.

Nathan:

Cool.

Wesley:

Yeah.

Nathan:

What so was this your first Disney cruise? I'm assuming no.

Wesley:

This was not. I first cruised on the Wonder in like the early 2000s. Okay. Don't ask me the exact date because I'll never be able to remember it. But with just with my brother and some friends. Um, and then we didn't sail again for a long time. And then I think in 22 we got back into it. Got it. Uh, it was something that we had been trying to plan for a while, and then it never worked out, and then finally it did, and then it stuck, and then this was my sixth Disney cruise.

Alicea:

Oh, so this was your gold cruise. Nice.

Wesley:

Yeah, my official like first cruise as a gold cruise, right? Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And now my kids and my wife are gold too. So nice. On the next one, they'll have that.

Nathan:

Have you been on either of the Destiny's uh sister ships, either the wish or the treasure?

Wesley:

Yeah, so we've been on all three classes of ships. Okay. And we sailed on the wish in 2024 on a three-night cruise. So I have lots of comparisons between the two, right? Between like the magic class and the dream class, and now this. I think I have made some opinions.

Nathan:

Excellent.

Alicea:

All right. So the Destiny is Disney Cruise Line's newest ship, brand new ship, the baby of the fleet, and you were on her maiden voyage. Well, for paid guests anyway. Uh what were your expectations leading up to the cruise?

Wesley:

Like they couldn't have been higher. I I had you know, like you plan a cruise so far in advance. This this one was like 14-15 months, and I was just trying to consume everything I could from the moment we booked until until we stepped foot on. Um, I was a little worried because it being the Maiden Voyage, like there wasn't gonna be like all the YouTube videos and all the content and all the things that you can kind of help prepare yourself um for for the experience. But uh yeah, I just went in deep, you know, follow the blog, you know, started my own, you know, trying to regurgitate like the information and spread the word, yeah. And and just get everybody else's like viewpoints and opinions about it. People who have been on the wish and the treasure, trying to see what they you know, their thoughts. You know, there's people who are much more connected and into it than I am, so I was I was trying to do my best to just learn everything that I could and go for it.

Nathan:

What were you looking forward to the most?

Wesley:

I think as as details came out and I learned about the different spaces and I made a little grid, like a little spreadsheet to compare like where the spaces were the same and where they were different and what their themes were. The thing that really caught my eye the most was the sanctum. And that was the thing that I was kind of most looking forward to. Yeah. There were other things that kind of caught my eye and I was interested in was it gonna change, was it gonna stay the same? But overall, I just like I think I was really intrigued by uh Skipper Society.

Nathan:

Yes.

Wesley:

Is that right? Is that the right name? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nathan:

On the treasure. We love we spent a lot of time there.

Wesley:

Yeah, yes. Um, so I was really intrigued by that because it just seemed like such an upgrade from the wish. Yeah. Um, and I can't even remember what it's called on the wish.

Alicea:

Bayou.

Wesley:

Yeah, there you go. Oh, yeah, it is.

Nathan:

It's pretty forgetable.

Alicea:

Its pretty,

Nathan:

but yeah, yeah. The wish is pretty forgettable, at least for us. Well, for me at least.

Wesley:

I think they chose weird names for things on the wish that I can't for the life of me remember. Um, but yeah, so the bayou was cool. Uh yeah, it was fine. But the Skipper Society kind of looked much better. I haven't been on the treasure. Uh so when the sanctum came out, I don't know, just the color palette and like the vibe going on, like it seemed it seemed dark and cozy and like just the spot that I wanted to be in.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

I think that's the thing I was looking forward to the most. However, as time went on and we learned more about it on the Disney Parks blog, when they came up with this term like meet and play. Yeah, I was very I was that kind of piqued my interest too because I'm not a big like character meet and greet guy. Like I'm not I'm not waiting to hug a character. And like I never know what to say, especially if they're like the full costume, they're not face characters. Like, I don't know what to say. So like I'm just not, I'm just I like I like to have them around. I like to see them like from a distance and from afar, but I'm not I'm not waiting. I'm just not the wait in line, take a picture with the character kind of guy.

Nathan:

You don't you don't routinely have conversations with mice hanging around your house. I get it. It's a little weird, yeah.

Wesley:

No, or you know, bears with no pants. I don't get I don't get in line for that.

Nathan:

Fair enough, fair enough.

Wesley:

But so the meet and play was cool because there was like this interactive potential that kind of sparked my interest, and I thought, okay, this could make it more interesting uh because they interact, and that's the thing that I kind of cringe about with the for myself with character meet and greets, is like I don't know what to do. And this gave me hope that there was gonna be something to do with the with these characters.

Nathan:

They could guide you through that interaction. That's a great point. That's a great point.

Wesley:

Yeah, and and I very much like bouncing off. I I like like the bouncing off of people. So when Mickey's standing there, he's just doing this like pose with his foot, like toes pointing in the air. I'm like, that's cool. That's a but I don't want to be next to you.

Nathan:

Everybody needs a good foot pop. Come on, yeah, right.

Alicea:

Let's see, I'm gonna push back to before the cruise. You got to Fort Lauderdale a day or so early, and from what we saw, you scored an amazing hotel. Where did you guys stay? And would you recommend it for other families?

Wesley:

This is probably the best hotel stay of my life. So we were we were in this situation where we booked initially we like booked a flight and we booked a hotel, and we're like we're Hyatt people, so we stay at a lot of Hyatt's around everywhere. It's uh it's very affordable, especially on points, which we travel on points a lot, so it fits my whole family. Not every hotel will fit a family five in one room for such a great value, right? And so we typically stay at a hype. So we had booked a Hyatt, we had booked a southwest flight to Fort Lauderdale. Uh, but then I got a little sketched out because I didn't want my flight to be canceled and not have a way to get all the way across the country. We live in California, we needed to get to Florida. Um, at late notice, like driving there would be crazy.

Nathan:

Yeah, yeah.

Wesley:

And so there just wasn't a lot of other options. So we did book a backup flight. Uh and it happened to be a red eye on uh Delta.

Nathan:

Okay.

Wesley:

So instead of getting there, instead of getting to Florida at like 5 p.m. and just having like an evening where we would get dinner and go to bed. Now we were on this red eye flight, which was really like Wednesday night to Thursday morning or whatever like that. And so we ended up getting to Florida. I I in my mind convinced myself that the red eye was the better choice of the two, even though it was the backup. So when when all was said and done, I canceled the original flight and I kept the red eye. And so we flew out of LAX at like midnight and we got to Florida at like 7 a.m. And now we had a whole day and only about like four hours of sleep. Four hours of airplane sleep, which is much different than like four hours of bed sleep.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

But you know, everyone was psyched up about it, about being there. So so since I changed my flight, I also changed my hotel because while the Hyatt Place has you know a nice space and bed and has a good value, it doesn't have a lot of other things to offer. Right. So I changed it and I booked um a hotel called Pier 66. It's like an independent hotel, there's not like affiliated with any like hotel program, uh, but it was available through if you're familiar with like the Chase Travel Portal, yeah. It was part of their edit, it's called the Edit, right? I don't know what that means or why or why it's like that. Marketing, who knows? Yeah, sure. And for whatever reason, and they'll probably fix it in the future, but it was a killer deal. It was so I canceled my hyatt, and I used those kind of same points or equivalent to book this hotel, I think plus like 150 bucks.

Nathan:

Oh wow.

Wesley:

So, and what we got was something that I didn't expect. This hotel was beautiful, it was right on the marina. Um, and we walked in and everybody was so nice immediately. And we're like, hey, we're here to check in. I know it's only 7 a.m., but we had to change flights. I kind of gave them the little story, and they're like, Oh, it's no problem. We're happy to take care of you until your room is ready. So we went through the check-in process, and he's like, First of all, can I get you some water? And I was like, Yeah, sure, I'm kind of thirsty. And then like a butler comes out with a tray of like water and like glass bottles, and like my whole family is like, What is what is dad doing? He's so extra. But but I didn't know any of this, I didn't plan it. Um I booked, you know, I went here because I saw somebody else had stayed in this hotel and it looked nice. And then I looked up the website, it had a cool pool. Yeah, and my kids will swim anywhere at any time. So I thought even if they're dead tired, they're still gonna want to get in the pool, and then I can lounge under an umbrella until our our room is ready.

Nathan:

Right.

Wesley:

So we got the we got the fancy glass bottle water, and then and then we had breakfast in their little cafe, and it was like all these like in-house-made pastries that were super flaky, and eggs and bacon, and it was so good. And then the and then the not the valet, the what's the guy with the bags, the guy who does the bags.

Nathan:

Oh, the bell services. Bell services guy.

Wesley:

He's like, Hey, I know you guys mentioned you want to go to the pool. I could take your bags down. We have a changing room, you guys can change and go to the pool. And I was like, Yeah, I guess now's the time to do that.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

So he took us down, and there's this like this really nice changing room, and he kind of you know waited for us to change in the in the dress room. Then he took our bags back upstairs and we went to the pool. And when we got to the pool, there was already an attendant out there at like 8 a.m. And she's like, Hey, how many people are in your party? We're like, five. She's like, Okay, let me set you up with a with some chairs. And I'm like, you know, I mean, I could set a chair up, it's not that big of a deal. But they're like, no, let us help you. And we're like, okay, fine. So they come out and they put, they're like, Does this chair look nice? Does this chair look nice? It's like these loungers, and I'm like, it all looks nice. I don't know what you want me to say. Uh, and they're like, Oh, so we pick, well, okay, I guess we'll sit here. And they put these like Terry cloth covers over the loungers, and then the towel, she like draped it over the headrest part, but then she rolled the towel under so it was like a little neck rest.

Nathan:

Oh, nice!

Wesley:

And I was like, Okay, and uh and then she's like, uh, let me get you some water again. And I was like, Okay, yes, water. So then they bring out a cooler, and it's like this like already like really cold, nice, refreshing water. Yeah, it was a lot, and that's just like the first like little bit. And then the kids got in the pool and they were swimming and obviously had a good time and they were going on the water slide. I'm like, this is great. Like, we ate and now they're in the pool, everything's gonna be fine. And then, like, another like pool boy butler guy like comes walking around with another tray and he has these like bamboo shoots, like hollowed-out bamboo shoots, and he's like, Would you would you guys like some frozen grapes? We're like, Like, if he started feeding them to us, it was gonna be over. But he did, he just he just gave it to us. So now we're like in the pool, we're like the only ones at the pool. There's like four people at the at the gate, like watching to make sure, like, if we need anything, then this guy comes out with frozen grapes. And for a moment, even though we were dead tired, like the whole family came together and it was beautiful. Everyone was happy and they were smiling, and they were like, frozen grapes are the best. And I'm like, Yeah, frozen grapes are the best. And and there was really a moment of like this like tranquility that I've that's hard to come by in a family of five with three kids, and it was great, it was fantastic. Uh, and then I got a text, the room was ready. I went up, they're like, Yeah, we really like you know, we sent them right to your room to get it ready. And and and because you booked through the edit, we like were able to give you an upgrade. So now you have this you booked a two queen room, and we were just gonna put the little one on the floor because he's little and resilient. Uh but but we were able to upgrade you to a two-queen suite, so now you have more space. And I was like, Okay, yeah, that's good. So, so they escort us up to the room, and they give us, and and it's not just like here's your room, da-da-da. They like brought us in and like they give us a tour. This is how you this is and then this is how I knew like it was like really crazy. They're like, This is the button that you push if you want the drapes open, and it's like they're like automatic drapes, and he did it, he opened the drapes, and as the drapes open and your eyes adjust to like the bright sunlight outside. We were on like the ninth floor or something like that. The drapes are opening, and we could I can and I start to adjust, and I could see like the marina out in front, and then it all comes into focus, and the Disney Destiny is sitting right there in the harbor. I was like, You've got to be freaking kidding me. Like, did you know like this is what our this is like the dream, like the like the fantasy hotel that you stay at? Um that's awesome, and it was gorgeous. There was like wood accents, and like and everything, and like the fridge was stocked, and not with stuff that you like can't touch or you'll be charged.

Nathan:

Like, it was just there for for you to take, and uh and you're almost you're almost making me want to take a red eye, but not almost almost.

Wesley:

I'm saying, I'm saying it's like it's like honestly one of the first times I got to a hotel where I was like, I and again, the Disney Destiny is in the distance, I can see it, I know I'm going to get on in just a few short hours. I kind of didn't want to leave. I kind of didn't want to go because the bed was comfortable. The and again, maybe it's because I'm tired and so like I'm like glossed over, right?

Nathan:

Right.

Wesley:

But but then in the bathroom, there's two bathrooms, two showers, and each of them had heated toilet seats, like a bidet situation with like warm water, and not just like a not just like a squirt, like a like there was like the massage mode and like the swirling mode and things that I didn't know existed or knew that I needed.

Nathan:

Very fancy, but now you know very fancy.

Wesley:

It had a remote. You could like it was a wireless remote. You could pick up the remote and just like press all the different buttons, and weird things were happening. And like weird sensations that I've never had before. And and it was great. And I went into the other bathroom with my kids, found the the toilet in there too. But there's water everywhere on the floor because they started pushing buttons, but they weren't sitting on the toilet. Now there's like there's like streams of water through the air onto the floor that we had to clean up. That's the hotel. It's called Pier 66. I couldn't recommend it enough. Everybody was so nice, and it was so cozy and comfortable. We had a huge balcony, automatic drapes, heated toilet seats, frozen grapes, the best crystal frozen, clear, cold water ever. And I just could have laid there and died. It was fine.

Nathan:

Who could ask for anything more?

Wesley:

Yeah, it's great.

Nathan:

Wow.

Alicea:

Well, we may need to do that pre our Destiny next June.

Nathan:

Yes, noted. Absolutely noted.

Wesley:

If if I'm not a proponent of credit card debt necessarily, but if you have a credit card and it's with Chase and you have points and you can access this thing, yeah, because we also got with that, we also got like a hundred dollar um resort credit. So like the food, like the good food that we ate was we didn't pay for. I mean, we pay for it in other ways, but like we got prepaid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was awesome. I highly highly recommend it. Cool. Yeah.

Nathan:

All right. So the big day dawns the next day. You've you're embarking the the glorious Disney Destiny for her maiden voyage. She's right outside your your window there on the on the veranda. Um, what was that whole morning like? I'm imagining there was some special things going on in the in the cruise terminal since it was her maiden.

Wesley:

Well, I you wouldn't know it because we only spent maybe five minutes in the cruise terminal. Oh wow. Our port arrival time, I think, was 12:45. Okay. Okay. Right? I'm just gold. There's a lot of like pearl and platinum people on this cruise. So they're greedy and took all the early times. So I mean, I was in a panic. There was okay, so there's a bridge that you have to cross to get like from our hotel to the terminal. And from time to time, the bridge, it's one of those bridges that like come up, like go up, yeah, like a drawbridge, kind of so that ships and other you know, boats can go around. So from time to time the traffic would really back up getting to like where the terminal is.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And then we're on the cruise WhatsApp and Facebook page, and some people are like, hey, it could take, you know, we were in traffic for a little while to get there. So I was like, I don't want to be late, like, time is money in this situation. We're trying to get onto the ship as soon as possible, right? So I'm learning to leave like super early, and my wife is more rational, and she's like, You just need to chill because I don't want to get there and then have to wait. I was like, okay. So she won, as she does. We we get everything packed up. A very nice gentleman came up and got our own luggage for us. Although he didn't have grapes, which was a little disappointing. Because now there's a precedent set and now I have needs, but whatever.

Nathan:

Maybe we're not gonna go to Pier 66 at least. I don't know. They didn't have grapes the next morning.

Wesley:

Only one serving of grapes is kind of harsh. I don't know how people do it. Uh so we we get in the car. It turns out it took like three minutes to get from the hotel to the port, to the terminal, and and we get out and we walk in. This is my first time at Fort Lauderdale at Port Everglades. Right. So I wasn't quite sure. So but it's a very nice if you I don't know if you've been there, but it's very nice. It's very nice. Yeah, it is. Everything everything's covered, like the little drive where they drop you off. Yep. It was already our you know, we were there within like I think we were there like 15 minutes before our port arrival time. They let us write in. Um and it went by so fast, I can't remember like as essentially like what it looked like. But like we did the secu they like checked our boarding pass, I think. We went through security. Oh, yeah, we or we checked in with the lady and she was new. She had her little like I'm earning my ears, but she was speedy. Everything was fast. We checked in, we had everything that we needed. We went through security. I had time to use the restroom and wash up because even though we were only outside for a few minutes, I still get hot and sweaty immediately. So I washed up, and then when I came back out, they called our boarding group, which was 17, and we walked on and we got in line. And then at like the cutoff point, the guy was like, Do you want a picture or do you not want a picture? And we don't want a picture. So he let us so we skipped the picture line, which was very long. Yeah, and we just walked on. We just walked, we just walked on like we were supposed to be there.

Nathan:

I guess we were supposed to be there, but you were, yeah, you would pay to be there, yeah.

Wesley:

But it was quick and easy and painless, and out of all the ports we've done, like San Diego, Galveston, Port Canaveral, we've even been to a terminal in uh Barcelona, it was the easiest, it was the smoothest, it was the nicest, I think.

Nathan:

I I would agree with you there. I I think the Fort Lauderdale terminal, I actually think is a lot easier and more convenient for everything, even if you're parking there than it is even in Port Canaveral. Like it's yeah, it's a really great spot.

Wesley:

Yeah, yeah. The thing about Port Canaveral that always gets me is like as soon as you go in the doors, there's like that the check-in with the Disney cast member, and I there's not enough space like from the door to the check-in counter. Yeah. And here I just felt like it was very spacious. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I liked it a lot. I liked it a lot.

Alicea:

Well, we do want to pick your brain about what's new on the Destiny compared to the Wish and the Treasure. So, first up, let's talk about the Grand Hall. Uh, what were your first impressions of the Atrium area when you got on board?

Wesley:

Okay, so from the concept art, I thought, okay, it looks a little bit better than the wish, but from what I've seen of the treasure, the treasure looks stunningly amazing. Yeah. Um and so from the concept art, I was like, okay, this is it looks like it's a step up from the from the wish. I don't know if it's gonna match what I've seen in pictures and videos of people sailing on the treasure. But when you walk in, first of all, it's still like you still get like those little like butterflies, like kind of nervous excitement because I'm still kind of a sucker for like the announcing your name, and you and you come on, and there's just like this like vibe and this energy and the smell hits you. And so when we got on the on the destiny, it totally exceeded my expectations. The things that I thought that were gonna be that looked a little flat in pictures, even from the from the media salines and the and the like social media previews and stuff, yeah. Some parts of it in the pictures and videos looked just looked flat to me.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

Um and that's not that couldn't be further from the truth of it, the reality of it. Because once we were on, then all these little all these little details and and really textures popped out and were evident that could that you couldn't see in pictures or in videos, and especially not from the concept art.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

So everything from obviously the carpet is beautiful, like the like the railings between the different decks are You know, there's depth and dimension to them. And the lighting package like in the in the grand hall really makes everything pop and it like gives you like this sense of depth and and you know like there is more there going on than than what meets the eye in pictures and videos.

Nathan:

Yeah, yeah. So sounds like a a really, really good first impression. It looks like nothing else that we've seen from Disney Cruise line.

Wesley:

No, no, no, no. Like I was blown away. I was I was immediately like right in there. And and obviously Black Panther is there and he has this like imposing pose. And and he just like blends in so well. I was like, you know, I am kind of like a classic, like Disney kind of guy. Like I really like, you know, like um like Donald on the dream. Like that's probably that's probably my favorite. I like those kind of like caricatures of things of of like of Disney characters that are kind of like playing a different cat character on on the ship. Like I really like Donald. I I really like Minnie as far as like Atrium statues go. So I was a little, a little like I think it's great that he was there. Like the idea of it was good, but in practice, I thought, ooh, I don't know if this is gonna match, like, and not that they're making things to match my expectations, but uh, you know, it's not made specifically for me, but I was just like, how is this gonna play? How is this gonna translate? And and it worked, it worked so well, like it wasn't it was like a non-issue, it was like an issue I fabricated in my mind that was not was not there in reality.

Nathan:

Yeah. All right, so my next question is gonna sound weird to anyone who doesn't really know Disney Cruise Line, but you know, you've mentioned that the uh a little bit uh from just the atrium there, but what did you think about the carpets throughout the ship and you know the elevator lobbies and the hallways where the rooms are, and and of course the artwork that's in all the stairways. Like, what were your thoughts? Like you're you've got a really great eye for visuals and design. I'm interested in your take.

Wesley:

I don't know if it was just because I was so jacked up to be there and on the main voyage, like I had really built this up in my mind that it was gonna be something, but I thought the carpet was phenomenal. And in fact, like I have a whole I haven't done it yet, but like I have a whole post coming about all the I just took pictures of the carpet throughout the ship and and the different floors because I just kept saying like this is it's not just carpet, yeah, it's not not to get all the story, yeah, and not to like get all emotional about it, but like, yeah, it's not just carpet. There isn't anything on the ship that is just a wall or just a painting or just uh you know whatever it is, yeah, a prop. You know, it's apparent to some that it is purposeful and probably not apparent to others, but still uh recognizable.

Nathan:

Right.

Wesley:

Just because you can't see that something is there doesn't mean that it doesn't have a force on you, right? Um because maybe you don't know the the you know the building trick or the imagineering trick that they're doing, right? But that doesn't mean that you don't feel the effect of it, right? Right, right, right. So so everywhere you go, and the carpet is absolutely no exception, it's incredible. Like the carpet in the in the grand hall is great, uh, and the stairs and all the different restaurants and the different bar areas, um everywhere is great. I will say it's the carpet is new, and so it's going through that thing where like it sheds a little bit.

Alicea:

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wesley:

So after I because the the previous sailings like they weren't full, right? They were like half like ish.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And now there's a ship full of people and children, and people are running around and they're doing weird things like laying on the carpet and stuff like that. And so, and so it kind of like fuzzed up a little bit.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

But I think that's part of the normal like break-in process for this carpet. Like they'll vacuum and it'll come up and it'll it'll it'll be even better than it is than it is now. Yeah, yeah.

Alicea:

I have so many pictures of the carpet on the treasure. I went through every floor. It's like I have to see all of it.

Wesley:

Yeah. And then like as time went on, like, uh and there were so many, I was so overstimulated, like I couldn't remember what I had. Did I have have I seen this before? Have I taken a picture of this before? So I probably have 17 pictures of the same, like maleficent or whatever. Um, one of the first pictures we took was there's like a little emblem that represents Hercules.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And so like we like to do the thing, like we stand around it where you can see our feet. We take a picture. That was one of the first, that was one of the first things we did like as a family. It kind of like signified like, okay, we're here. I don't know. We were just super excited. And and to your point asking about the carpet, like it's one of the first things that stuck out to us as being as being a uh you know, a touch point that is throughout the ship that we kept coming back to, and yeah, was that really impressed us.

Nathan:

I love how you you phrased all that because it's like you know, every single thing on the ship, whether it's a wall color or a wallpaper or the carpet or uh a lighting fixture in the hallway, or just like everything is storytelling. Like there's no yeah, there's no thing that's not put and designed and placed and colored and styled that is not thoughtfully done and to further the the point of of doing storytelling. And some people get that and like see all those details, and some people just like get this vibe and could not like call out any one specific thing or any five or ten specific things, but they just enjoy the vibe. And and I love how Disney can speak and the imagineers can speak to all of those people at the same time in that same way. It's they just do such a fantastic job.

Wesley:

Yeah. And and I think by contrast, if you've been on another cruise line, uh-huh, you can see you can feel the difference. Yeah, like and some people are sensitive to it and some people aren't, and that's yeah, you know, you don't you don't have to this isn't like one's right or one's wrong, but but since you can feel the effects whether you notice it or not, and then other people look for it and appreciate it and can see it, then when it's then when it's not there, it feels off.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

And then I'm and then I find myself when I'm on in in a different space, thinking, what's the point of this? What why is there uh why is this car here? Yeah, yeah, you know, why is this gorilla wearing sunglasses? Like I don't understand.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

Not that it has to mean anything, but I look for that. And it means more to me when there is a purpose or some kind of connective tissue to the overall theme or vibe that they're going for.

Alicea:

It creates an experience for the guests rather than just something to look at.

Nathan:

Yes, and a lot of those other ships from other cruise lines don't pull me in as much, to your point, because like I don't feel compelled to go to the mall and spend a week at the mall. Great that the mall's gonna take me to some different you know, different ports and things like that, but I it's still just a mall. No, thank you.

Wesley:

You know, now that you're bringing it up, I can kind of connect this. Like, I was talking to I've talked to Sam and Brian about this before about like the plants. Like, if you go to Central Park on a Royal Caribbean ship, I find that that space, more than any other space on that ship, um you know, vibes with me. Like I am into it. And I and as I was describing this to them on a different show, I thought in my mind, I was thinking, this is really weird because I'm not like I'm not like a plant guy. Like I'm not seeking out plants. Like I'm not like, oh, I have to go to nature. You know what I mean? Like I'm not I enjoy when we go out and go on hikes and stuff, and I can connect, but I found that on that ship, that was the one thing where I did have like this kind of natural connection. I understood the the vibe of of the plants or whatever, because the rest of it was just some of it was individually cool, but there was no through line, there was no thread that kind of tied it all together. And but in Central Park, I liked it a lot because I got I got it. Right, right.

Nathan:

At Central Park. You're in one whole space that has a continuous story or or point of view and a perspective it's trying to get across. It's cohesive versus definitely not cohesive.

Wesley:

Versus, you know, bulk cigarettes.

Nathan:

Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Pretty much.

Wesley:

I don't know the I don't know the story behind bulk cigarettes, like in the problem. But whatever.

Nathan:

Or or which one of these like ten dozen watches do you want? Like guy, I none. None. I'm fine. None of them. Yeah, no, I have a watch. Thank you. Yeah.

Alicea:

Okay. Next thing. Yes. How about your stateroom? What kind of room did you have? And uh what was the theme in it?

Wesley:

Yeah, so we had a I can never do this right on the first try, but we had a deluxe family ocean view stateroom with veranda. Yes.

Nathan:

Nice, you got it.

Wesley:

Thank you. And it was themed to Brave.

Alicea:

Oh, cool.

Wesley:

Yeah. Uh it was great. I mean, it's just like you would expect.

Nathan:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Wesley:

There's uh, you know, the split bathroom, there's two closets near the door, there's the main bed area with the TV, and then there's like the kind of sitting room area where the couch folds out, the upper berth comes down, and then the Murphy bed comes out of the wall right in front of the veranda. Yeah. We were on the bump out, as they say. Okay. So the veranda was maybe a little bit bigger. One thing I don't remember if they did this on the wish, but one thing that I liked was the phone was on the wall next to the vanity. Yeah. Is that a wish thing too? Uh I don't remember.

Nathan:

I remember maybe. It's like that on the treasure. Yeah. It's definitely like that on the on at least the treasure. The newer ships are like that. We were just, you know, just getting off the magic, and the phone was still in that minuscule little side table attached to the wall next to the bed. I'm like, I have things I want to put there. Right. But they just phone. Put it on the floor. Yeah. Yeah.

Wesley:

Yeah. Yeah. It's no bueno on the on the desk next to you, next to the bed. It's much better on the on the wall there next to the vanity. Um, again, plenty of room under the bed. So there's two kinds of people, right? I don't know who you are, but do you unpack or do you not unpack?

Nathan:

Oh, we unpack.

Alicea:

We unpack, yeah.

Wesley:

Oh, all right.

Nathan:

Well there's judgment. Sorry.

Wesley:

Yeah. That's fine. That's fine. You do know that if you take all your stuff out, you gotta put it back.

Nathan:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Wesley:

In the suitcase. Okay. Yeah. All right. So you can eliminate a whole step. Ah, okay, okay. Well, I'm not an unpacker. I just I I put it in a thing once. I don't want to put it in another thing and then put it back in the thing that I brought it in. So I just leave all my so it's just like open like a book. I put it under the bed, and that's where it stays. There you go. I need whatever I need, I just I pull it out, I put it back.

Nathan:

Well, that was gonna be my question. Like, did you you had a family of five and you had five beds, you had five pillows. Did you feel like there was enough room for the whole contingent in that room? Plus storage.

Wesley:

Uh there is. So while I'm not an unpacker, other people in my family are. Bless their hearts, they'll get over it maybe one day. But uh next to the Murphy bed, there's there's uh also some storage. Right. So I think on other ships, like the Murphy bed is just a Murphy bed.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

But here there's a you know, a slender, like full height um you know, closet that you can open it. It has shelves, no hanging but shelves. So each kid got a shelf for like their nighttime stuff, like their PJs and whatever. Yeah, so they just put their PJs back. We try really hard to like pack really light. So each everybody gets one carry-on suitcase. And if it doesn't fit in the carry-on suitcase, you don't need it, and we're not bringing it. So we don't pack multiple PJs, we're like a one PJ kind of family. So all their PJs go there, and so that that's how that went. Uh, we do have like some button-up shirts, like dinner shirts that get hung up in the closet. But for the most part, like socks, undies, stuff, those stay in the suitcase and just get put under the bed. There was plenty of space for all five bags to go under there.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

There was plenty of space because I bring a backpack, and then I also in my suitcase, I have another backpack that I use when we're out, like on the islands or wherever we're going. Uh there was room for all of that stuff in the closet, so I could hang both my my big backpack and my my day pack in the closet. And and then I also bring a lot of hats. I, you know, I have like seven hats. There's plenty of space like on that corner kind of triangle um shelving thing there by the by the closets by the bathrooms. Um, that's where those go. Cool. And then we have plenty of room. Plenty of room. My kids are getting bigger. My 14-year-old's like six foot. He sleeps on the Murphy bed, but probably not for long. The other two fit fine on the on the couch bed in the upper berth, but yeah. I think there's there's plenty of space. I mean, it's not like it's not like Pier 66.

Nathan:

They didn't bring you frozen grapes on check. Yeah, I don't Disney. Disney, we need some frozen grapes here.

Wesley:

There's always got to be some room for improvement. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. And this is and the grapes is one of them, I think.

Nathan:

They didn't even have frozen grapes that I saw on concierge, so you know.

Wesley:

Well, they didn't have some other stuff too that we talk about later.

Nathan:

All right, we'll we'll get there. Um, all right, so there's a bunch of new spaces or at least newly themed spaces on the destiny that are different from you know the treasure and the wish. So we wanted to focus on those. You you brought it up early. Like, what was your your thoughts, or what are your thoughts about the sanctum? Like, did it live up to those expectations you had?

Wesley:

Yeah, for me, that was kind of the spot that I was I'm not always right in these like expectations and the things that I think I would like the most. Sometimes I get there like meh, that's not that great. The thing I kept being pulled back like into the into the sanctum and into that space. I think one of the reasons why is because it's an open space. Yeah, yeah, there's no door in and out. You can clearly see if there's room for you. There's plenty of space, it's one of the bigger venues. I mean, aside from like saga, but I'm not just hanging out, yeah. There's no like food service or anything, so I'm not just hanging out there.

Alicea:

And the sanctum is themed after Doctor Strange from the Marvel Universe.

Wesley:

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so I had like that big uh window with the seal on it. Yeah. Um just like really good complimentary colors, like in the booths, there were comfortable and like the chairs were deep and cozy. Uh even at night when the band came out, there was still it was just like a kind of a place to to go and to be. Some of the other spaces, like we had never been to the Haunted Mansion bar. So we made a point to go there. And I loved it, it was nice, it's very well famed. Obviously, people have talked about this like forever and ever, so we don't need to get into it. Uh, but we didn't want to like just go there and hang out. Like, we went there, we experienced it, and then we left, and we're fine with them. Uh, we never made it into DeVille's because it's small. Yeah. And I think because it was the Maiden Voyage, there's a lot of hype around some of these new places that nobody has experienced. And then the piano player, I think his name is Matt Grinky. Like, he's very popular with a lot of people who frequent the cruise line and who know who he is.

Nathan:

Yep.

Wesley:

And he's in there a lot playing the piano because it's a piano bar. Um, but the piano takes up like half the space. Yeah. Yeah. And so it's very crowded. So I kind of popped in when there was nothing going on and the door was closed and they were trying to kick everybody out.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

So I went in there for a few minutes, but it wasn't a place that we could even get into to like to do anything.

Nathan:

Yeah. I I bet you that changes over time as the the newness of the ship wears off in terms of the the I don't want to say that everybody's an influencer, but like there's there's a lot of influencers on these on these, you know, you know, you, us, like we're part of the problem. I'm not trying to like point fingers, but

Alicea:

well, it's bright, new, and shiny, and people want to see everything that they can and consume everything that they can in the short amount of time that they have.

Wesley:

Right, right. Get it out there. And plus, it's a popular like property, you know what I mean? Like people are really into Dalmatian stuff. And and Cruella, she's like a good villain, you know, she's like very charismatic and she has a lot to offer, and like her showing up there, uh, you know, has a lot of a has a lot of appeal. So I get it. I get it. It just wasn't something that we had had time to like wait wait in line for or plan ahead, plan ahead for because there's so many other things. Yes, there's so many other things. It's just a four-night sailing. You can't do everything, right? And you have to kind of pick and choose, and so we didn't seek that out so much.

Nathan:

Yeah, did you hit cask and cannon?

Wesley:

Yeah, we went in there, we had a drink, we got some churros. It was like before dinner, so uh it was like families are still allowed.

Alicea:

They had churros,

Wesley:

yeah. They have like they just have mini churros, nice little mini churros with some like marble.

Nathan:

My ears just perked up,

Wesley:

so and they were good, it was just a little pre-dinner thing. Yeah, um here's the other thing. Like, if you're going into these spaces, sometimes you've or you've likely seen pictures or videos from like a preview sailing where they have all the drinks set up. Yeah, yeah. And it's nice and pretty, and like maybe the and the lighting is perfect. Is perfect. And what I mean by that is it's it's perfect on the ship when I'm there in person, but it's not perfect for pictures and video production. So you're not gonna so all these like details like on the walls and and places like it's hard to see. Yeah. Because it's you know, and it's yeah, because it's full of people, and it's and now the lighting is like the set lighting where where it's you know it's dark and it's it's a mood, you know. Right. It's not set up for pictures and videos, so it's a little bit more difficult to get an eye on some of those things, but you know they're there.

Alicea:

Yep. Yeah, and Cask and Canon is themed after Pirates of the Caribbean, um, from what I remember.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Alicea:

Uh did you get to go to Saga at all? And this one is themed after what did I hear? The throne room for Wakanda for Black Panther.

Wesley:

Yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a light theme for that, I think. But you know, all the same colors and textures are there, right? Which was great. It's that was our like uh our muster drill station was in saga.

Alicea:

Oh nice. Inside mustard mustard stations, yeah. Muster drill stations. Oh my gosh.

Wesley:

Inside muster drill stations are the best. I know what you mean. And yeah, so we got a nice booth for that. We did go back for several things, several events, yeah. Like uh, like karaoke. We did some, we saw some game shows there. Uh, but the thing that we were most excited to see was the Marvel show. Yes. Yes. Did you get to see that? Is called what? What is it called?

Alicea:

I know what it is on the treasure.

Wesley:

Yeah.

Alicea:

Choose wisely.

Wesley:

Yeah, it's not that. But we did uh yes, we did go. We made a point to to be there for that, and it was incredible. The for our first experience with uh Zayah and Gamble, which are the traveling storytellers on this ship, yeah, was in the grand hall. They did low, they did a the story of Loki basically. Right. They went they ran through and did the whole like Thor family thing. Yeah. And they call it like a mostly true tale. And so they go through and it's funny and it's you know kitschy, and then and then they're like, all right, that's that's how it went. And then Loki comes out to kind of set the record straight. And it's crazy because like there's the lot the grand hall is full of people, all the the decks above looking over is full of people, and then and then Loki comes in with like a cool sound effect, and like the everything, all the lighting turns green, and he comes down and he does his little spiel. I won't kind of spoil that for you, but that was that was great. So that was our first meeting with Zayah and Gamble, and then they host the show in saga that has to do with all the whole Marvel like MCU. Right. And and okay. They it's an 18 and over show. Right. But I don't think it needs to be.

Alicea:

Okay.

Wesley:

I I I haven't seen the one on the treasure, and it might have been a little inappropriate at times, yeah. But it's nothing that wouldn't go right over the head of my children. Right. Yeah you know, like it's it's like a PG, maybe a PG 13 thing. Yeah. And there's always like little adult jokes in all these like movies and stuff. And I don't know, like my kids would have really, really enjoyed it.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

Because it's funny and fast paced, and they use like these like funny props, and it's honestly hysterically funny and impressive in the pace that they go and and the improv that is there because they don't get all the because they're new and like they don't get all their lines right the first time. And it's just funny. And I wish I wish my whole family would have been able to go.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Alicea:

The Indiana Jones one is similar on the treasure, um, just with the humor and the fast pace and everything. And I think one of the reasons that Disney does 18 and up is so you don't get the younger kids in there. Um but I do agree, like maybe maybe 13 and up, probably. Um, but I don't know that I've ever seen them do anything for that age range, like type. Yeah, like they haven't I haven't ever seen any restrictions for 13 and up for anything that Disney has done. So I think they have to they have to cut it off somewhere, and it's probably just easier for them to do that for adults. But I agree that that could be for sure. Um, or it's it's good for kids too, not for younger, younger ones, but for like teenagers plus.

Wesley:

I just feel like they market these whole cruises for families, yeah. And then on this ship in particular, we didn't really experience this on the wish, and we definitely didn't experience it on dreamer magic class ships, but there is seems to be a growing divide between the kids do this and the adults do this, yeah. And I'm not a hundred percent on board with this division that seems to be happening. Now, you could go on the Disney Destiny and have the crews that you would have on a dream class or a magic class ship because all those things are still there and available and wonderful. But if you're gonna go on the destiny, you're gonna pay a premium for it because it's new and because it has these extra offerings, and a lot of the extra offerings are segregated between adults and children, yeah. And it's a little bit it's a little bit of a down tick in it. By the way, it's called With Great Power, a Marvel comedy show. Got it, yeah, and the first Google search that comes up, I won't say the source, but their kind of tagline is Disney's raunchiest show ever, and that's clickbait. Yeah. Because it's not, it's it's not, it's not, I mean, it's just not, yeah, it's not raunchy.

Nathan:

Clearly, somebody's never been to storytime with Deadpool at DCA.

Wesley:

Yeah, right, right. Right. Now, I don't know. I mean, Deadpool does make an appearance in this show, yeah. And if they really want it to be edgy and raunchy, they wouldn't bleep the buttons bleep. So it's 18 plus, but like we're still not allowed to hear cuss words. So that's what I mean. Like, yes, to your point, I think they're trying to like make it easy. Okay, the adults do this show, the kids saw the Loki thing in the grandmother. Like, it'll be fine. But I think people should be able to make their own choices. Yeah, and I think if I want my kids to watch this comedy show with Deadpool at the end, then they should be able to. Yeah. I should be, I should be able to make that choice, not have that choice made for me. Yeah.

Alicea:

Well, Disney has to tailor for a very wide audience, and yeah, there's gonna be hits and misses.

Nathan:

I also think you know they're doing this in the smaller venue, and the demand would be absolutely insane. Right. And right, and you'd have so many, like if you if you opened it up to a broader age range, yeah, you would have trouble with the opposite side of people getting really upset that they didn't get a chance to partake with with this event or and similar events. And I think that's why that's why you'll have Gamble and Zaya do stuff in like the main audit uh main atrium in the grand hall, because that stuff is meant for everybody and you can get a bigger audience and all the rest of that stuff. So they're just trying to, yeah, not everywhere, and not everybody can be everywhere all at once. So yeah, that's for sure.

Wesley:

Because that was kind of a theme on the ship was they're really inviting because of the high quality and caliber of a lot of these things, yeah, they're really inviting this like theme park-based rope drop culture thing onto the ship. And I don't like it at all. Yeah, I don't either. I don't like I don't want to again. This was the maiden voyage. Maybe, like you said, it'll calm down, it'll chill out as people experience it more, or people. The other thing, like with the Zion Gamble stuff, it's not clear, it's not in writing what events they host. Yeah, yeah. I think that's on purpose. I did miss some of the things that they did because I just didn't know it was gonna be them. Yeah. If I think that's on purpose. If I knew it was them, I would a hundred percent be there.

Alicea:

Yeah. Yeah, because they do they do that on the treasure as well with Sage and Coriander.

Wesley:

Yeah, yeah.

Alicea:

They don't mention who's there, yeah.

Wesley:

So luckily, you know, I knew people who, you know, like this Marvel thing. I I wouldn't have known it was a Zayah and Gamble thing unless necessarily unless um somebody told me, Hey, don't miss this. Yeah, yeah. And and that person was Brian, he should get his yes, he should get. His his due credit. Don't miss this, he said. And he was he was a hundred percent right.

Nathan:

And this is Brian and Sam from DCL duo for those who

Alicea:

And I do think it's a it's it's because it's the newest ship because when we went on the treasure, it was in February, and that had been a couple of months after the maiden voyage and everything, and things had cleared down quite a bit. Yeah. Like I know like Haunted Mansion Bar when it first opened up, you you couldn't get in the first couple of months.

Nathan:

Right.

Alicea:

They had like a waiting list, and there was none of that when we were on there.

Nathan:

Hyperspace on the Wish was the same.

Alicea:

Yes, Hyperspace on the Wish was the same. So I'm guessing it will die down as people see more and and and I don't know, as time goes on.

Wesley:

Yeah. It was curious that they didn't do any of those virtual cues as we talk about at DeVille's, which was always packed, yeah, you know, closed because of capacity a few times.

Nathan:

Yeah.

Wesley:

They could have, or maybe should have had like a virtual queue going for some of these other spaces.

Nathan:

It'll be interesting to see how that plays out over time because I think you know, we've mentioned it a few times that it's just different on these really early cruises from what it is in even you know, four, six months. It'll it'll be a different pattern of behavior. So yeah, yeah. All right. So we're gonna put a pin in this conversation and pick this up next week. So uh Wesley, thank you so much. Uh, I encourage everybody to uh make sure you you know like and subscribe, ring that bell, all that stupid stuff. But please come back. Uh Wesley and and and uh Alicia and myself, we will have lots more uh conversations for you coming up uh in your podcast feed next week. And uh we will we will keep on going with this. So with that, thank you so much, Wesley.

Wesley:

Yeah, it's been fun. Can't wait to see you next week. Absolutely.

Alicea:

Please remember we are not affiliated with Disney or their subsidiaries. These are personal opinions and suggestions that are based on our own experiences and our guests' own experiences. We recommend working with a travel agent or contacting Disney directly to plan your own perfect vacation.

Nathan:

Indeed. And if you have any questions or suggestions for us or would like to be interviewed on our show to share your Disney experiences, please do send us an email at podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Alicea:

You can follow us on socials. We are at Our MouseCapades. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook threads, and YouTube.

Nathan:

And please do give us a rating and a review in your podcast app. That really helps people find us.

Alicea:

Of course, don't hesitate to share us with your friends and fellow Disney lovers of all ages.

Nathan:

Thanks for listening. We'll be in your ears next week. Thank you for flying Star Tours. Bye bye.

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Alicea Novak

Host
Head Shot

Nathan Novak

Host