DisLove E96 50th Anniversary Additions and Nina with OrlandoVacation.com

In this episode, Kris and Vanessa are joined by Nina from OrlandoVacation.com.  Their services include rentals of townhouses, pool homes and McMansions near Walt Disney World.  They also offer car rentals and ticket sales to help with all your vacation needs.   

Use the promo code "DISLOVE" when booking your vacation to save 5 percent on your reservation.

Earlier in the episode, they discuss all of the exciting things happening at Walt Disney World for the 50th anniversary celebration over the next 18 months.

• OrlandoVacation on Instagram
• Episode with our reflection from attending the 50th Anniversary on Walt Disney World
• AllEars.Net guide to all the 50th anniversary statues 

Save with OrlandoVacation.com
Use the promo code "dislove" to save 5% off a room, condo or Mic Mansion at OrlandoVacation.com.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris.

Transcript

Vanessa Ferguson  0:04  
Welcome to the DisLove podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson.Kris Johns  0:08  
And I'm Kris Johns,

Vanessa Ferguson  0:10  
we'd like to welcome you to show number 96. And for any of our listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things we love it Disney and in each episode, we have a guest who creates Disney magic for our listeners at home or on their Disney vacations. From vacation planners to product producers, our guests can bring Disney magic into your life. And as a reminder to our listeners, we appreciate if you take time to go on to Apple podcasts or any other platform where you listen to leave us a review and to leave those customer ratings that helps new listeners find us and of course helps us grow the show. And before we get started, Kris we have a couple of things to share with our audience.

Kris Johns  0:50  
Of course, you know, the first one is our friends Orlando vacation.com have an exclusive offer just for you use the code does love to say 5% off of your lodging. You know not everybody stays on property when they go to Disney. And if you decide to stay somewhere in Metro Orlando or Central Florida use the code does love to say 5% They have properties all across Central Florida. They have ranging from family of three like ours all the way up to large families they will take care of you and again use the code dislove in Orlando vacation.com.

Vanessa Ferguson  1:24  
Now on today's show, we are ironically going to be joined by Nina from Orlando vacation calm. She was our first in person interview ever. And she will be sharing with you all of the amazing services they offer. Like Kris mentioned, not only do they offer the vacation rentals, they can also help you with tickets and with car rentals and really help you with your whole vacation planning. So we're super excited to have Nina on the show later. And today, building up to our talk with Nina we are going to be talking about all the extra magic that's going on right now at the fourth theme parks and beyond in honor of Walt Disney Worlds 50th anniversary which we were there on the first so hopefully you can go back I'll put in the show notes are episode where we gave a review of what our experience was like at the Magic Kingdom on October 1. But this episode is really going to touch on all those things that are featured for the next 18 months during the entire celebration. So we're excited to share some of those things with you today. Now, the first one is something that I think is kind of very iconic. And this is what you're going to see all the parks we were able to experience a few of them ourselves. We haven't solved them all yet. I will be going for a very brief trip and I'm hoping to see a couple more as well. The first is what's called beacons of magic. So the icons at each of the parks so at Magic Kingdom, the castle at Animal Kingdom Tree of Life, Epcot Spaceship Earth, at Hollywood studios, the Tower of Terror, they are transformed into beacons of magic. And with these they really come to life with a special lighting show that happens every 15 minutes in the evening. And these beacons of light. Not only are they accompanied by images and different light effects, they also will feature the iconic the magic is calling the 50th anniversary I anthem that you'll hear. So this is super cool. We did get to see we were there the first night that they did the beacons of magic at Epcot. And the lighting on spaceship Earth was super cool. What did you think?

Kris Johns  3:28  
I agree it was awesome. 

Vanessa Ferguson  3:30  
So not only could you see it across, we were in the World Showcase. But we were staying at at Pop Century. And as you were taking the skyline are back, you could see it quite a distance. Yes, you could. Yes. So that was super, super cool. In one thing with the Spaceship Earth installment, unlike the projections at the other parks. This is permanent lighting that was installed on spaceship Earth. So we're really hoping fingers crossed that this one sticks around. So check out the beacons of magic. And kind of the nice thing is that you can really see these around property even if you're not in that particular park. And this does, again, it takes place in the evening and see special lighting effects with the projections that happen throughout the evening. So unlike some of the firework shows, and things we'll talk about later, this is something that you can experience multiple times throughout the evening. Now the next thing that we're going to look at are what they're called the fab 50 The golden statues that are all over at the four parks. And these I think were one of my favorite things. What did you think about the 50 statues? Oh,

Kris Johns  4:37  
they were neat. Like, you know, you would find them in places you weren't really expecting as well as course the popular places. It was a nice addition.

Vanessa Ferguson  4:44  
Now the only one that we didn't find was Tinkerbell and she's very small I need to look for when I'm back at the Magic Kingdom. But most of the most of them are at Magic Kingdom. But each of the other three theme parks also have some and it's kind of a fun scavenger hunt, I think kids would like doing it. And we were a group of adults and we went looking for them. Oh, definitely. No. I would probably guess which one it is. But Kris, what was your favorite statue we saw Oh off. I was gonna say that. But I figured I would ask. And for myself, my favorite statue was figment. So these are super cool. If you're not sure what we're talking about, they're the golden statues with the 50 symbol on them. It's just neat to see people going around looking for them. Some of them are single statues, some of them have multiple characters gathered, like, clustered together. So it's fun to find them. And they're everywhere from like the World Showcase to the hub. So it's really fun to go and find these. Now, again, this is another thing that spread across the four theme parks which is nice because there is a lot of things that are focused at the Magic Kingdom. So of course, the most iconic one that we've all been seeing for months when we were there in March 2020. They were already starting work was the refurb on Cinderella Castle. Now according to Disney they there's an 113 pieces of swag and bunting and all the golden editions that were added to the castle, along with that iconic 50th anniversary crest. I think it was when you see it in person. It's beautiful for photos. It looks nice. I mean, I don't think Kris cares too much about aesthetics. But what did you think about the castle?

Kris Johns  6:26  
I thought it was nice.

Vanessa Ferguson  6:28  
Now did have you saw Now neither of us went my family did go to Disney when I was younger, but we just happen to miss the year of the 25th anniversary. Kris you saw the pictures of the cake for the 25th anniversary? I'm sure I have. Oh, which one? Do you like better? The 50th or the 25th? Or

Kris Johns  6:48  
the 25th?

Vanessa Ferguson  6:49  
You like the cat? I

Kris Johns  6:50  
do the cake. Yo Yes.

Vanessa Ferguson  6:52  
Well, that is one of those filters that you can get in though. Wow, cool. So anyways, the castle refurb is something again, that's just for Magic Kingdom. There's also a lot of other 50th anniversary editions you'll see throughout the Magic Kingdom. More all of the parks have new, like the banners on the different flag posts in that but at Magic Kingdom you just saw a little bit extra along Main Street and in some of the other parts of the park. So there is a lot of fun. New Additions another thing that you would see not only at Magic Kingdom but across property are there are some new attractions and shows some of those that are on hold. We don't have them yet, like things like Tron have been delayed and postponed a little bit. But there were some that have already debuted debuted as part of the 50th. And the first big things are the two big shows at both Epcot and Magic Kingdom and then a more minor one at Animal Kingdom. And that was we were there the very first night of harmonious Epcot. Wow, yeah, it was a special preview, they were doing a press preview. And we happen to be there. And so we talked about harmonious a little bit in that previous episode. Then, of course, there's Disney and Chapman, the new fireworks and projection show at Magic Kingdom. And finally, there's the new show kite tails at Animal Kingdom. We saw that during the first weekend, in case we're having a lot of crashes. But

Kris Johns  8:25  
Balu I believe he ended up in a trade he did it, we were actually sitting no more than maybe 50 yards away, we're eating lunch. And then all of a sudden Balu was up in the air and then he was not anymore.

Vanessa Ferguson  8:38  
So as we've all heard and seen over the last few weeks, there have been some trial and error with that, but it is still a cool show. I thought it was enjoyable to be able to see and it's nice to have something that's during the day. So if your family might not be the nighttime ones. You can see this multiple times throughout the day. Another thing that is a show that we did see, when we were eating at in our cruces we saw the electrical water pageant if you're not familiar with what that is, that's a series of barges that have lighted figures almost kinda like Christmas lights in different designs. And that will parade through the lagoon between the between like Polynesian contemporary Grand Floridian and you'll see it moving around the Seven Seas Lagoon and that has been there since 1971. They've added a new iconic 50th anniversary barge and kind of spruce things up. So that was fun. We did see that when we were eating it in our Kusi. So that's a fun thing that you can check out outside of the parks. So that is a new show that has been added. And then there are some of the attractions like ratatouille opened, we were in the virtual queue and we're so close but had to leave for the airport. Unfortunately we just like 30 minutes from my mouse is what we did. So I'm hoping to hit that up when I go back of course, that is brought over from Disneyland Paris. Now some other shows that are a little bit smaller scale and we did get to experiences and these are fun for kids and adults. We've all become very familiar with the character cavalcades throughout the parks. And there's a Mickey celebration one. So as Mickey and Minnie they had their dressed in the new iconic iridescent outfits, and they have goofy and Donald and Daisy and Chippendale and Pluto with them. I think we saw one of the first cavalcades at Magic Kingdom. We were over by Pecos. Bill, and we were all set up by splash. Oh, yes, we

Kris Johns  10:40  
were Yes, we did.

Vanessa Ferguson  10:41  
Yeah, that was a cute one. I thought it was fun. And it again, it adds a little bit extra magic that you're not typically getting in the parks. Now something that we didn't experience, but some of our friends did on our recent trip are called character caravans. And essentially this big bus slash van pulls up at different resorts and characters will come out for a surprise celebration at the various resorts, our friends were staring, staying at Saratoga Springs. And they saw this happen. So this is kind of exciting. I hope it happens one time when we're at one of the resorts, we don't spend a lot of time at our resorts during the night we are in the park. So our chances of seeing it probably are slim. But I'm really still hoping we have a couple trips planned during the 50s. So I'm hoping we'll get to see this. And last but not least, one of the big things that we're going to talk about is dining, which all of you know we like to talk about food a lot on this show. And so with dining, there's a lot of additions, I think we've all gotten kind of used to that Disney brings out special treats and candies and cupcakes and all of that sort of thing for every holiday, every new movie, things along those lines. They also have lots of 50th anniversary Sweet Treats. I've seen them everywhere from the resorts to the parks. But one thing that is kind of neat is that a lot of the restaurants they've introduced what's called Walt's favorites, their menu additions when we were at Crystal Palace, we saw quite a few of these. So on the buffet, they had little signs next to items and we tried a couple of them there was a good fried chicken and mashed potato thing. And that was a nice thing. There was several desserts that had those symbols on them. I've read that a lot of the restaurants across property have added iconic steak menu items and things like that. So check out and keep an eye out for those waltz favorites. There's a couple other new restaurants that have opened and then some that have kind of been revamped to new additions are at Epcot, in particular our space 220. And we've all seen how cool that looks. The day we were at Epcot, they actually were doing a media preview, so we had absolutely no chance of standing in line or anything to get in. But definitely on our bucket list of what we would like to try. One of Kris', what is one of your favorite foods? Pancakes. Close. What's it pancakes, cousin?

Kris Johns  13:06  
crepes,

Vanessa Ferguson  13:07  
yes. So Kris really likes crepes. And so the luck creperie and Deb Paris open in France. And we are looking forward to trying that soon. And last but not least another. There's also some additional special food experiences. There's a dessert party at Magic Kingdom. There's also some special dining experiences at the contemporary grill. We are looking at though also in the contemporary Resort at steakhouse 71. This was formerly known as a wave and it is, of course, Kris, here's a trivia for you. Why is it called steakhouse 71?

Kris Johns  13:49  
Because the 1971 was it was a park was founded. Yeah. So

Vanessa Ferguson  13:52  
that is, of course why that has that new name. I've heard some really great things about the restaurant breakfast and dinner, I will be going there and trying their breakfast on my upcoming trip. I've heard they have a flight of sauces for your steaks, that is definitely a fun thing to try. And so we're looking forward to that. That kind of rounds out some of the new dining options at Disney World right now for the 50th. And as we said, there's lots of new things that are coming on over the next 18 months as the celebration continues. So we're really looking forward to seeing some of those things. But this gives you a chance to check out what's going on right now at the parks, along with merchandise and all kinds of other fun things. But hopefully you get a chance to go and experience all of these fun things for the 50th anniversary yourself. As we mentioned, we have a couple more trips coming up. So we'll be sharing about those as well. And up next we are so excited to bring our interview with Nina from Orlando vacation.com Not only have they been a great supporter of the show, but it's also been So great to be able to see some of their properties. And we stayed at one recently as well. So we're looking forward to sharing her interview with you. Hey, everybody,

Kris Johns  15:09  
we're here with Dina level from Orlando vacation.com. And it's a service that we love. We're enjoying it right now, because we're down here in Orlando area. But we Nina with us, if you could just tell us more about what does everything Orlando vacation.com does.

Nina from OrlandoVacation.com  15:22  
So we pride ourselves of being like a one stop shop. So what we do is we have a good relationship with the local hotels. So whether our business model is similar to hotels.com, or Expedia, we're just one call away with them. So with that great relationship comes better customer service and better deals for our guests. For Orlando hotels, as well as we have the 100 vacation homes that range from like two bedroom condos all the way up to the nine better McMansions. So that way, it kind of caters for everyone, we offer the best deals on the theme park tickets.

Vanessa Ferguson  15:55  
Now building off what you just said, if somebody has never used a service, like what Orlando vacation.com does, how does that compare to if they were just going online and booking a room at Disney or a random Hotel? How does that differ from that experience.

So it all comes down to reputation and us being what we call the true Orlando experts. So our call center has agents that are just here in Orlando, they go to the theme parks all the time, they're constantly visiting our hotels, getting updates from them, and really wanting to make it more of an experience versus just a reservation.

Now, we've talked a little bit about some of the different homes that you offer in different things. But what are some new things that are happening here at Orlando vacation.

So we're hoping that we're going to be able to have the OnProperty hotels, so we're kind of working on transitioning that we're going to have the new website, that's going to be revamped to make the user experience a whole lot better. So that way, they can get return discounts if they do come and stay with us more than once.

So tell us about with the new website, that'll be coming launching a couple weeks after this comes out, tell us a little bit about some of those features that will be on there.

So they'll be able to actually have an account or they can log in, they can see their reservation instead of going back and checking their email, they can also customize their packages a little bit better, whether it's with Disney or some of the other theme parks. And then they'll be able to compare other vacation home properties without having to call in. So that way they can click whichever ones are trying to decide on and then it will have a compare feature. So you know, we can help them customize what the filters on what's the best option for them. Now,

some of our listeners might not be familiar with what types of vacation homes you have. We are staying in one right now and have had a great experience. But could you tell us a little bit more about whether some of those different options you have in the vacation homes?

Yeah. So for, you know, couples or maybe a smaller family, we've got condo options that are in beautiful gated resorts. So that way, you know everybody feels safe location is very important. So all of our vacation homes are within the 15 minute drive range for Disney World, as well as we have townhomes. So townhomes that are going to be some of them have a splash pool and then we have the private vacation homes for people that are looking to come down for like reunions or larger families.

Now I know the property that we were staying in has some themed rooms. Could you tell us a little bit about some of those features as

well? Yes, so we try to make sure all our vacation homes have at least one theme bedroom just because it makes the experience a little more fun, whether we have one that has a theme in every single bedroom. So even the adults so it might not look as kittitian there right but it kind of feels out the fans and you know because they're coming they want to experience the magic to

Kris Johns  18:52  
you How can planning a trip with Orlando vacation calm at Disney magic to our listeners lives.

Vanessa Ferguson  18:59  
So it will help them kind of guide and figure out what they want because a lot of times they'll call in or they'll send us an email for a quote and you know they say they want to come to Orlando you know and they're not sure what would be the best theme park for them to visit or kind of what days to visit or something like that. So they'll come to us and we'll kind of help them plan out from start to finish. We'll even kind of help them figure out you know what would be like the best best dining options or the car rentals are however better to get here check in you know get the full experience before they have to check out

Kris Johns  19:39  
and I can I can just you know reinforce because I've heard a number of stories where I you know friends and family that say well Disney so expensive Central Florida. Well, it's it is expensive when you don't plan. I think that's the real advantage with Orlando vacation.com Is that you really you're experts you're from here you know what's going on. And again, another thing is things change so often that a deal that might have been happening last year is no longer in effect and so that's why I think Just to urge our listeners to get a hold of oral unification, that calm is because they are the pros in this market, and they're gonna help you get the most out of your vacation.

Vanessa Ferguson  20:08  
Now, besides the townhomes, you also work with some different resort properties and things could you tell us maybe about a couple of those kind of headliner resorts that you work with and also booked for?

So Windsor Palms is probably one of our most popular ones. So it's right there in the heart of Kissimmee, about two miles from Disney, not very far at all. It offers, you know, Olympic sized pool, it's got a movie theater where they do daily showings. So to sit outside, they've got a convenient shop. So if you like forget something, don't have to go to the Walmart down the road. Everything's there. They've got a business center. They've got beach volleyball, basketball, tennis, I mean, there's so much you can do. So we try to encourage guests to have a downtime in between the theme park days because you are walking so much, you don't realize how much you are you might be a little bit sore. It's kind of a data, relax and recharge.

And I know you mentioned a lot of the properties, whether it be the resorts, or your townhomes are great, because I know since we've had our daughter, we travel with my parents often. And you said they're also very friendly for multi generations or if you are doing a failure union or something. Could Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

Yeah, so the vacation homes are a great option for that just because townhomes you can have a large group of people are traveling, but they're kind of in their own space, where you could have the large McMansions, you know, for the homes, the nine bedrooms, where they all kind of want to be cohesive in one. So families really love the fully equipped kitchens. So everything you can think of the pot holders, pots, pans, glasses, coffee, everything's going to be there for you. So that way people can also save money as a large family, you know, with the dining.

Kris Johns  21:57  
And with that, you know, you've talked about all these great amenities that you do. Where can people find out more about everything Orlando vacation.com does,

Vanessa Ferguson  22:03  
yes. So they can check us out at Orlando vacation.com. Or they can give us a call at our call center. So it's actually open right now from 8am to 8pm. Or they could actually text our agents now. So we have a texting system. So it's texting a live agent, you know, right to your phone. And you could ask questions, I can send you a quote directly from there, and you can book from it. And what is that phone number they should use? It's 1-800-641-4008.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Nina, for joining us. This is actually our first face to face interview for all of our listeners. So that's pretty exciting. We were glad to be able to meet Nina in person and hear all about their services.

Nina from OrlandoVacation.com  22:46  
Thank you.

Kris Johns  22:47  
Thank you again to Nina from Orlando vacation.com. Remember, they have an exclusive code just for you. Use the promo code dislove to save 5% off your next vacation.

Vanessa Ferguson  22:59  
And now we are on to our Two Minute trivia and our wisdom from Walt quote and Kris, you are up with trivia.

Kris Johns  23:05  
So we've talked about the 25th anniversary? Yes. And we've talked about the 50th. Yes, there was a 10th anniversary. Yeah, celebration. I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions. And this is from my friend at Walt dated world.com. What was the technical name of the 10th anniversary year long celebration?

Vanessa Ferguson  23:28  
It's crazy. As a side note, I have a pennant collection in our basement. Yes on a wall. And I purchased on eBay at 10th anniversary pennant and I'm sure it probably says what it is the celebration name, but I have no clue.

Kris Johns  23:42  
It's totally out of the woods, the 10th centennial. Ah, that's cute. And I'm going to read the chorus to you to the song. Okay. Well, this new world can settle. Well, this new world 10 centennial, let us make you 10 Again, and then there's a very long song which I will not sing. But in true Disney fashion. They created a family that had 280s stars. This was early night 1981 Ricky Schroder from silver spoons. And the woman who the young woman who was on different strokes. Oh, yes. Yeah. i And then lastly, of course everything has a corporate sponsor at Disney. Who it's I'll give you a hint. It's a food product. Their colors are blue. They were the corporate sponsor Pepsi. No.

Vanessa Ferguson  24:36  
Oh, because Pepsi is blue. It's blue. It's blue and the packaging packaging

Kris Johns  24:40  
is blue. The food is orange.

Vanessa Ferguson  24:45  
The packaging is blue and the see I was gonna go with Oreo

Kris Johns  24:48  
or maybe yellow, yellow or orange depends on how you make it. I have craft

Vanessa Ferguson  24:57  
Oh macaroni macaroni I was like Oreos like I could. Okay. Interesting. Very

Kris Johns  25:05  
interesting. I'll have to look up to see if they did anything for the 20th. Yeah, I'm

Vanessa Ferguson  25:09  
not sure.

Kris Johns  25:10  
We'll have that for next show. Yeah, there

Vanessa Ferguson  25:12  
you go. Well, thank you so much for joining us. We are going to end our episode with our wisdom from Walt quote, laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age and dreams are forever. So thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the dislove podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa

Kris Johns  25:30  
and I'm Kris. This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its holdings and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai