DisLove E97 Very Merriest After Hours and Tanisha from Orlando Sanford International Airport

In this episode, Kris and Vanessa speak with Tanisha from Orlando Sanford International Airport.  She shares with listeners why flying into Sanford is Simpler, Faster and Better compared to other options in the central Florida area. 

Earlier in the episode, Vanessa shares her experiences from attending the Disney Very Merriest After Hours event at the Magic Kingdom.  She gives an overview of how this event compares to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party from past years.

• Episode 68: Interview with Lauren and Tanisha from Sanford International Airport
• Episode 33: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Review

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to the[inaudible] podcast with Vanessa and Chris I'm, Vanessa Ferguson, Chris Johns. We would like to welcome you to show number 97 and for any listeners joining us for the first time, our show features things we love at 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 leave us a review on apple podcast or any other platform where you listen, that just helps new listeners find us. And of course helps the show grow. And before we get started, we have a couple of fun announcements. Chris, we should do

Speaker 2: 0:43

R w great friends at early Orlando, vacation.com are giving us a unique code. Does love for you to use on their website to save 5% off your next time you book lodging in Orlando, whether it be you're going to Disney sea world universal, or just to enjoy the central Florida sunshine, Orlando vacation.com has a place that's perfect for your family. Our family. There's three of us. They have a place that's just right for us. If you have a large family, we have some very good friends. They have a big family and they need the space. They're going to get taken care of by Orlando, vacation.com. And again, to use that code does love to save 5% and not only can they help you with your lodging, they can also help you with car rental. It's very difficult to find cars anywhere, especially Orlando, and on top of that, your ticket prices. So as you plan your trip, they can help you with so many aspects of your next vacation at central Florida. And again, at Orlando vacation.com, use the code, save 5%. Use that money you save to spend inside the parks for souvenirs and food. You won't regret it again. Orlando vacation.com use the code does love. And again, we're just so thankful and we just also want to thank them for sponsoring a two adult past Disney giveaway in our friend. Morrigan she's a mom and a vet. She won these in a recent given, oh, excuse me. Yes, mom and vet wife. Morrigan she won the two days, uh, adult passes. And that was given to us by Orlando vacation at camp. So not only is Morgan going to go to Disney because Berliner vacation.com, you can save money on your next trip and that totally of Orlando vacation.com.

Speaker 1: 2:19

I really appreciate them partnering with us on that giveaway. And so stay tuned. We'll have other fun things coming up in the months in the coming months. So on today's show, we are going to be joined by Tenicia from Orlando's Sanford international airport, and their slogan is fly simpler, faster and better. And we love flying out of Sanford. You're going to hear us when we talk to Tenicia, we actually had an episode earlier in the year with her and her coworker that I'll put in the show notes as well, but we are super excited to share that with you in the interview with Tanitia, Chris, that was our first in-person interview.

Speaker 2: 2:58

It sure was. That was awesome.

Speaker 1: 2:59

So we're excited to share that with you. We've been sharing, uh, several in-person interviews with, with you the last few weeks or so now on today's show, we are going to be discussing my experience at the very Marius after hours event at the magic kingdom. I get a chance to attend that a few weeks ago when I was in Orlando without Chris.

Speaker 2: 3:20

Yeah. I'm a bit of a Scrooge McDuck. So, you know, because it was Christmas and Scrooge, you

Speaker 1: 3:25

Have met Scrooge. I

Speaker 2: 3:26

Had met screws, but Vanessa just went without me.

Speaker 1: 3:29

Yeah. So I actually went with my parents. We were visiting some family and I attended the Disney dish podcast weekend with Jim hill in Len Testa. That was an awesome event. Um, really had a great time. But as part of that, I attended the very Marius after hours event. And so we're going to talk about that now in the years past, we have attended Mickey's very Merry Christmas party several times, and we always have fun at the Christmas party.

Speaker 2: 3:56

Oh, we sure do. It's wonderful. So

Speaker 1: 3:58

The last time we were, there was in 2017 when we were planning our vow renewal. It's been that long.

Speaker 2: 4:03

Yeah. Wow. It doesn't

Speaker 1: 4:03

Seem like, well, you figure they didn't have it in 2020.

Speaker 2: 4:07

I would've thought we'd go to Disney enough. I mean, we go to Disney so often I to forget it's all one big blurb, but that said it doesn't feel like he was 2017.

Speaker 1: 4:15

So with a very Merry Christmas party, we have always enjoyed those Chris his favorite thing at those is we the unique characters in the pilot. Yeah. So we're going to talk about how that compares now with that. There's going to be some big comparisons in differences in how those are. So let's give you a little bit of the logistics and then I've given Chris some questions that he's going to ask you.

Speaker 2: 4:40

Yes, I will ask

Speaker 1: 4:41

You. Yeah. So we'll give you just a little bit comparison. Now, first off, the very Marius after hours event is only four hours. So it runs from 9:00 PM to 1:00 AM. And if you have attended the Christmas parties in years past those typically start at 7:00 PM. You could get in as early as four with these at 9:00 PM, you can get in at seven. So it is a much more condensed event, which for us, when we've gone to the regular Christmas parties, we've tried to take advantage of that full time. And for this event, I went right at nine o'clock just to see what I could get the most out of. We had some other things going on that day anyways, and my phone was dead. So I had to run back to get my phone charger. And so the, this party, assuming that this might run again in 2022, um, it started at the beginning of November. So it was running, it's running November 8th through December 21st. I actually went the second weekend. I went on November 14th and the price varies a lot with this. The price is all the way from$169 to$249 per adult. And, and this is a child price as well. And this is more when you look at comparatively like hour per hour than what Mickey's very Merry Christmas party has been. I was able to get a$10 annual pass discount. I did get an annual pass before they halted some of the sales of those. So I was able to save$10. And because I went earlier in November, I was able to get a little bit more of that discounted rate compared to the upper, like the mid two hundreds that you see as you get closer to Christmas. So we're going to talk about everything from food to entertainment and a little bit about some of the shows that were there. So Chris, why don't you get started? What are some questions for

Speaker 2: 6:32

Us? The first one is gonna be like snacks. How

Speaker 1: 6:35

Food?

Speaker 2: 6:36

Yes. How did the free snacks at the very merriest after hours compare to Mickey's very myRisk Christmas

Speaker 1: 6:44

Now. Let's see. Chris, do you remember at the very Merry Christmas party, how there was like different snacks throughout the park? So if you've never attended the very Merry Christmas party, how that would work is throughout the park, just like at the Halloween parties where there's tricker treat stations. Instead, there were snack stations and there would be like one had snowmen shaped pretzels and slushies. And another one would have a snicker doodle and a cocoa, and one might have eggnog and a sugar cookie. And you got Santa cookies when you first came in and there was a big variety of snacks. This is quite pared down. If you have done any of the after hours parties, which Chris and I have done quite a few of the after hours pirate you, we did the one at magic kingdom animal kingdom, and we did the villains after hours. And with those, do you remember what food we got? What was unlimited popcorn, popcorn, pop, and an ice cream. So what they've done is this is called an after hours. So they've kind of added that in you get the ice cream popcorn and the pop, you can tell we're from Michigan, we soda pop, whatever you want to call it. Um, and the only other like Christmas sort of seemed treat they had is they have snicker doodle cookies, which are by Cheryl's cookies, which I really liked Cheryl's cookies. I order their cookie, the frosted cookies, all kinds of things, but they only had snickerdoodle cookies individually wrapped in hot cocoa. And those were at four locations throughout the park. The snack carts were the popcorn and the pop. There were more of those, but compared to when we were there in 2020, and we went to the animal kingdom and the villains, when did, do you remember how there was like pop and popcorn everywhere you could walk and you could get it there, there was not, they had very limited carts open and there were long lines. Like I timed myself to be able to get a pop and a popcorn and ice cream when there was a parade going on because there was such limited carts open. If you've been to Disney recently, you'll notice that there's limited part or carts and some of the quick service dining anyways. And that was very apparent during this after hours party, I will say it was a lot faster for me to walk up and get the snickerdoodle cookie and the hot cocoa. So it was in terms of apples to apples, there was a big contrast in what you had at the Mickey's very Merry Christmas party compared to the very Marius after hours. I will say I enjoyed when we've done the Christmas party and tried to go get different snacks. Oh yes. That may be because we're food people, not every snack was great. You don't let, I mean, I don't like peppermint stuff. I don't like eggnog, but we still went and tried to get the different ones. You kind of lose that with, uh, with the free snacks that are here. But again, it's nice that there's popcorn and there's drinks, which instead of just getting lots of hot cocoa or apple cider or something, you had to be able to get the bottle of water and the pop and things like that. So that was nice. Um, so I guess it depends on what you're looking for at Christmas. I kind of missed having those Christmas treats. They do have, um, some of the ones for purchase, but overall I would say the very Merry Christmas party treats were a little bit more appealing to me than

Speaker 2: 10:06

For sharing that observation. What do you think about the entertainment

Speaker 1: 10:11

Now? This is where they really did a great job. The once upon it was Mickey's once upon a Christmas time parade, I didn't notice any difference. I'm pretty sure it's the exact same parade that they've had. It was great to see a parade back in the parks because we've just been seeing the character, Calvin Cades. They had, I watched the parade on main street, so snow, which were from Michigan. I don't know why I get excited about snow and magic at magic kingdom, but it's just something fun about there's not supposed to be snow and there is no there. Um, so I watched the parade on main street. I also watched the parade the second time cause they do do the two parades, which is nice. I just got caught by it and I couldn't get across. So I watched it by the castle. Um, so the parade is awesome. It's just as great as it's always been. If anything, it seems more magical because we haven't had parades in the park and I'm not even, we're not big parade people. No, but for those after hours, things, we do tend to watch those like the Halloween parties and things like that. They also had the Mickey and Minnie Asbury, Mary memories show on like in front of the castle. And I will say being from the nineties, Chris, what is like a Christmas song of a female singer that oh, Mariah Carey. Yeah. So they had a play on some of them, Mariah Carey's Christmas songs, which was really awesome. I love that. They also had just some traditional things in there. The castle show was really great. And that was one of the things that when you go to the regular Christmas party and it's that longer length of time, we tended to also do rides and stuff. When I was doing this Christmas party, because I was by myself, I did meet up with friend periodically throughout the night, but I decided since it was so condensed, I focused on just doing the Christmas events that were taking place then. Good idea, because you only had four hours compared to six. So I watched the whole castle show. Now there were a couple other smaller shows. I did not see, they had one called reindeer Wranglers that was in frontier land. That sounded really cute. And I had some friends that went to the club, tensile dance party over in tomorrow land. I didn't make it over there. People said those were fun, but I tried to hit those main things. So the parade and the castle show, which were really awesome.

Speaker 2: 12:36

Definitely. You know, the other big thing that happens at almost every Disney vendor fireworks, yes. Vanessa will stop by the side of the road just to watch fireworks. I've like just that somebody is doing their yard. I say this with love, but too many times, how were the fireworks compared to the past show?

Speaker 1: 12:55

So this new show is called Minnie's wonderful Christmas time firework show. And I will say a lot of people have complained recently how Disney is starting to rely more on projections. This was a great mix of projections and fireworks. And I really loved it. This show was something that I think would be fun to watch more than once. They did only have it one time during the night, but I had a great spot. I was in front. I was by the waltz statue. I met up with my good friend and her and her husband and we all watched it together and we all loved it a lot. It was really great. Just the projections combined with the Disney music combined with the holiday music. It was a great show and well worth it. We all enjoyed it. And again, I would put it, it seemed better to me than the past Christmas party fireworks. So this was really, they hit it out of the ballpark with that. And in terms of it would be nice even if they had it more than once, which usually I know the fireworks they don't, but this was really a great show. Hopefully it's something that sticks around for sure.

Speaker 2: 14:04

And also, you know, the other thing that I love are getting, I do my own kind of own version of a selfie with the characters. Yes. Did you get to see any characters?

Speaker 1: 14:13

I only saw one set of character. Yeah. I only saw captain hook and Smee over by pirates of the Caribbean. And that was because I went looking for some snacks on that side of the park. I have a few friends that I met up with later. They had some pictures, they saw Pooh and piglet on like the porch of crystal palace. Supposedly there were other characters places, but I honestly didn't see them. And again, I had other people who saw captain hook like I did. And then people who mentioned about Winnie the Pooh, but there was not, if you've not been to a regular, Mickey's very Merry Christmas party characters, like are a big part of that event. People wait hours to see. Do you remember who the big one that you wanted to see that we saw

Speaker 2: 14:59

Marijuana? Scrooge

Speaker 1: 15:02

McDuck. I remember. Yeah. So we stayed and stood in line for Scrooge McDuck, goofy Santa. Um, the one year we lucked out because the lines are typically hours long, but we got all seven dwarfs. Like that was a fluke we got on where we only waited like a half hour. So that's usually a big Paramont of the Mickey's very Merry Christmas party. It just wasn't there. I don't know if it's still, because there is some of the distancing that was also the week that they were just bringing back Mickey into the, um, the Mickey character meet and greets. So the characters was a little bit of a disappointment, I will say, hopefully that improves as they start opening up and adding in more character interactions at the park in general. Um, so that's something that was not as exciting as years past.

Speaker 2: 15:51

Um, did you try any of this specialty food or beverage items?

Speaker 1: 15:54

Now this time they had a part pared down version of what they had. They had a cake pop, they had a specialty float, they had a funnel cake and then an orange bird chiro. Now I stood in line and I was going to hit the orange bird chiro. And when I got up there, it was very small and it just didn't look that great. So I passed on that. I don't like peppermint. So I pass on that. I would have loved to get the funnel cake, but that had quite a line. So I ended up, I tried the gingerbread almond cake pop. It was good, but I will say it was more Instagram worthy than tasty. Sure. So, I mean, it was good, but it was not something that I would run back and get again. Um, hopefully people enjoyed some of the other things a little bit more than what I did with mine. Um, there were some other like food there wasn't a lot of food, things open. That was another problem. Like my friends that I met up with, they hadn't gotten dinner before they came and there just wasn't food options unless you were eating popcorn or ice cream and some of these things. So that's something you definitely want to keep in mind because it's later in the part and not as much of the park is open. There's not a lot of options too, in terms of food.

Speaker 2: 17:08

Um, you know, again, we're talking about the holidays. Were there any other holiday themed I'd say accoutrements across?

Speaker 1: 17:15

Yeah, so they have some of the normal things that we see. They had the jingle cruise, which is the jungle cruise over done. I, our group that was there for the Disney dish, they met up and did that. I did not get there early enough to be able to attend that with them, the Jingo cruise, those pretty much the same that it's always been. I did go with our group to the holiday theme monsters in class floor. And we don't ever really go to the monsters Inc. Left floor. No, but this was really fun. They had where they were practicing holiday jokes. And of course they always picked people in the audience and they would ask about holiday traditions. And I got picked as one of the ones that the one monster was doing. And so they asked about holiday traditions in Michigan. And so it was just fun. We enjoyed it. We were there for the last show. The night, the last show started at 1:00 AM and they went through the 20 minute show is a lot of fun. So those were some things that are back again. That was nice to see. Now, one thing that I was highly disappointed in, and I think just across the board that we've seen this with 50th and other things as well, but what is a big part of going to Disney, standing in a line, but like getting something, buying something. Yeah. So there was no merchandise. Let me repeat that there was no merchandise for the event. So there is nothing for the very Marius after hours. I went into the Emporium because I figured there would be merchandise for the party. And then I also wanted to see what the current 50th merchandise was, no lines anywhere. I get some 50th stuff I go up and I say, well, where's the Christmas stuff. Cause we've gotten shirts, pins, all kinds of stuff at the, at the Christmas parties and years past. And there was nothing. And they said that, I don't know if maybe the cast members, weren't sure it wasn't like things had just not come in there just wasn't anything planned. Maybe in some of the later December ones, they might have something, but unfortunately there was nothing. So come decked out with your Christmas stuff. They did have a few Christmas merchandise, but the whole part of fun of going to those parties is to get something that other people don't get during the day. Um, so unfortunately that was something that was very lacking as well, but overall it was pricey, but I had a great time. Like I said, I went around the park or went around the party mostly by myself. I met up with some friends a couple of times and met up with our group towards the end. But overall I had a great time, even as a person by myself as an adult going around the park, I spent that four hours just doing those specialty things and I never ran out of things to do. I had a great time. I enjoyed having the snacks and things. So overall the cost was high, but Disney really did a great job with a very Maris after hours. And I would definitely recommend that for anybody. Well, thank you for this. And again, you know, she had a wonderful time and thank you for sharing that recap. Yeah. And so in the coming years, hopefully we'll see. Maybe there might be a hybrid between this and the very Merry Christmas party who knows what ends up coming back. But overall, this was a great addition, especially for the holiday season. And so we are looking forward to bringing our update from Tanitia to all of you. And hopefully you can learn a little bit more about why it's so great to use Orlando, Sanford international airport. All right. We are here with Tanisha at Orlando's Sanford international airport, and we would love to have her tell us what has been going on at the airport since we last spoke.

Speaker 3: 20:42

Hi Vanessa. So as you can see, there's been so many changes done to the airport. We just finished a well actually we're still in the middle of a$60 million renovation product project. We have a brand new terminal. We have new baggage claim areas. We have new exit lanes. And the biggest thing is we also have new airlines. So starting October, we have two new Canadian airlines that will be bringing seven nonstop destinations between Orlando, Sanford, international airport and Canada. Just to mention a few, we will be flying to and from Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, um, Ottawa and other destination. So we're super excited. We're expanding and we cannot wait for our passengers to really enjoy our new destinations.

Speaker 1: 21:29

Now we are from Michigan. So very close to Canada. And you mentioned that we have some listeners that are from Canada as well. So that's exciting. I know like our home airport is adding more Allegiant sites. Are you starting to see growth with some of your other airlines as well?

Speaker 3: 21:43

Yes. So Allegiant, we love Allegiant. They're always adding flights. Uh, this summer, they did a seasonal route to key west that performed really well. And we suspect that it will be back again next summer. Um, we don't know what destinations they will be adding, but we do know that they're always adding and we're very excited to see what's next for Allegion as well.

Speaker 1: 22:03

So my last time here was in March and I've noticed a lot of improvements. What do you think the next big improvements? Like if somebody were to come later this year, what would they see? That's noticeably different.

Speaker 3: 22:14

So we have four new gates at SFP. They look amazing. They're very functional. And even though we have not used them yet, that is the next thing that passengers will be able to enjoy. You know, it's one thing when you're flying through SFP, a lot of our passengers, you know, they've been flying with us forever and they love us and we love them as well. And they're used to the terminal looking one way. It's going to be interesting for them to come into four new gates and actually, um, deep plane from another part of the airport. That's an addition to SFP.

Speaker 1: 22:44

So for somebody who's never flown into SFB, w why don't you tell them a little bit about what makes you different and better than maybe the other Orlando airport when you're coming down for Disney? So,

Speaker 3: 22:55

B we're a little further out where in we're located in Sanford, Florida, but we're only about 40 to 45 minutes away from the destination. It's quick and it's easy. You don't have to hop on a shuttle and go get your luggage. You don't have to stand in lines for hours. We're a smaller airport, but we're very convenient. Um, one stop shop. You come downstairs from the escalator and you simply just go and you pick up your luggage. So there's not a lot of travel for that. Um, we also introduced a shuttle service, again, the attraction express, which can take passengers from our airport down to universal Orlando. And that is only for$20 for adults and$15 for children. So for a great cost, you can travel from our airport down to Orlando for it's easy. It's simple. And it's that we really try for our passengers.

Speaker 1: 23:47

Do you envision with Disney's magical express ending at the end of this year? Do you guys envision adding more things like the shuttle you just mentioned?

Speaker 3: 23:57

Of course, that's our long-term plan. We would love to add another shuttle who knows maybe to Disney. You guys would have to wait and see what happens.

Speaker 1: 24:04

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Tenicia we appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 24:08

Thank you so much. And thank you guys for always flying SFP.

Speaker 2: 24:11

Yeah. Thank you again, Tanisha for Orlando Sanford international airport for joining us today, make sure to check out episode 68 from earlier this year, when, where we interviewed Tanisha and Lauren, and

Speaker 1: 24:24

I will make sure to put that in the show notes because you'll find out even more great reasons why it's great to fly into Sanford. Now we are up with our two minute trivia and our wisdom from Hawk coat. So Chris, you are up with

Speaker 2: 24:36

Trivia. You know, one of the themes of this podcast is Christmas. And also me asking you a lot of questions. So my friends@disneyrewards.com, they have a whole blog post about Christmas activities at Disney. So the first one is within five feet. What is the longest float in the Christmas parade in feet? How long is it?

Speaker 1: 25:02

I'm guessing it's probably the one that has the princesses on it. How

Speaker 2: 25:05

Long has that?

Speaker 1: 25:09

What, what's my over under

Speaker 2: 25:13

5, 5 55 feet incorrect. 50 feet. I almost said 40. Okay. Um, princess one. I don't know it. Doesn't say that. How tall is the tree in town square? I will give you also a five foot plus or minus

Speaker 1: 25:29

Because of the force perspective of the main street. That's um, let's go with

Speaker 2: 25:36

60 feet, your data and while 65. Yes. Good, excellent. It takes, I'll give you a$25,000 leeway. How many lights does it take to create the castle dream light? Spectacular.

Speaker 1: 25:51

Is this when it used to be like frozen Elsa lights, you get me 25,000. Yes. Let's go with 85,

Speaker 2: 25:59

350,000 lights. And how many feet of Garland are used to decorate main street USA? I will give you a 5,000 plus or minus

Speaker 1: 26:12

18,051,000.

Speaker 2: 26:17

And then the last one, you know, we've had the chance to see the giant gingerbread house, the GHLIT grand Floridian.

Speaker 1: 26:22

Yes. And I saw it again this

Speaker 2: 26:23

Year. Yes. Um, you know, the one thing on the side is I love hunting. That's just a little fun fact about me. How many pounds of honey are used, and this is I'll give you a 50 pound plus or minus how many pounds of honey are used to create

Speaker 1: 26:38

275

Speaker 2: 26:40

Way off, do one more guest. That's like not even close

Speaker 1: 26:45

680

Speaker 2: 26:46

1050 pounds of honey to create what I would argue is the universe is largest gingerbread house. Wow.

Speaker 1: 26:55

Yes. I didn't even, you know what? I took a picture of where they had the ingredient.

Speaker 2: 27:00

Again, thank you for my friends@disneyrewards.com. This blog post is a couple of years old, but they did all the work for me. So I'll take it.

Speaker 1: 27:07

Awesome. Well, hopefully you can check out with some of those great Holly holiday theme, things that Chris was talking about, and hopefully some of those will even come back. It was exciting to see that the gingerbread houses back again this year. So let's only hope that maybe the castle lights will be better next year. Now, of course, we are going to end with our wisdom from Walt quote. So here is this, I think it just reminded me about storytelling and things being happening at the parks for the holidays. It's, that's what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again, and that is something that I think we all can use a little bit of, even in 2021. Hope is something that can hopefully be brought to all of you this holiday season, whether you get a chance to visit Walt Disney world or not. But thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the Disney club podcast with Vanessa and Chris I'm Vanessa, and I'm

Speaker 2: 28:03

Chris. This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney company or its holdings, and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.