ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
Our goal is to help you simplify planning for your trip. We give you tactical tips to help you plan your next magical Disney Vacation to Disneyland and California Adventure.
We want to make you feel like you have a clear plan. In short, we want you to feel like you have a Disneyland expert in your pocket. Helping you plan your meals, rides, shows, and how to spend less time in line.
ParkMagic Podcast: Insider Tips To Plan Your Disneyland Adventure
The Pros and Cons of Using a Travel Agent with Christina McBride of TravelMation
Really looking forward to your next trip to Disneyland, but DREADING booking the travel? This episode features Christina McBride, a seasoned travel agent and former Disneyland cast member, who shares her insider's knowledge and love for all things Disney.
CHAPTERS:
0:02 Hiring a Travel Agent for Disneyland
9:51 Using a Travel Agent Benefits and Questions
22:30 Disneyland Park Hopping and Underrated Rides
26:54 Disneyland Packing Tips and Snacks
31:52 Dock Work and Contact Information
We kick things off with a deep dive into the benefits of hiring a travel agent for your Disneyland adventure. Christina, with her rich experience as a former Disney cast member and travel agent specializing in Disneyland, shares about the importance of choosing an agent who's familiar with the ins and outs of each park. She also reveals some of her favorite underrated rides that are steeped in Disneyland's history.
Pondering over the merits of hiring a travel agent? You won't want to miss Christina's insights.
Links:
Follow Christina on Instagram or reach her via email
Right now, our tools are just for Disneyland, but we hope to expand to other parks soon. Disney changes policies, prices, and shows often. Be sure to visit our website at Parkmagic.com or Disneyland's Website for more information.
Park Magic is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc. Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Mickey Mouse are all registered trademarks of Disney Enterprises, Inc. Any use of third-party names or trademarks is for identification purposes only and does not imply, nor is it intended to imply, any affiliation with, endorsement from, or business relationship with any third party, including with Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Welcome to Park Magic, where we want to help you plan a practically perfect trip to Disneyland, giving you the tips that you need to make your trip a lot less stressful and to feel like you don't need a master's degree in Disney studies in order to have a great time at Disney. I've got Christina McBride on today. She's a travel agent and former cast member. We're going to talk a little bit today about you know. Should you hire a travel agent, what should you look for, and maybe who's not a good fit for a travel agent? So, christina, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Robin, for having me. It's wonderful to be here.
Speaker 1:Can you tell us a little bit about your experience specifically with Disneyland as a cast member and as a travel agent?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Disneyland it has a special place in my heart. I grew up no more than 30 minutes away. My entire life Grew up going there as a kid with my family. We were gifted passes one Christmas from my grandma, so then we became a pass holder family and we'd go, you know, just for a couple hours here and there in the evenings during the holidays. We'd watch the parade, the fireworks and just go home.
Speaker 2:And then in 2008, shortly after I graduated high school, I hired in to Disneyland where I spent 13 magical years and then later, a couple years, obviously, the pandemic hit and I was furloughed for 14 months. So that was. It was definitely a difficult time. I ended up quitting because I had plans to move to central Florida with plans to transfer out to Walt Disney World, but the pandemic derailed those plans. So instead of transferring from West Coast to East Coast, I just had to quit so I could move across the country.
Speaker 2:But I am like you said, I'm a travel agent. I'm under the Travelmation Agency. We are a top producing agency with Disney. So we book both Disneyland, walt Disney World, we can do the international parks, we do Disney cruise line, we do adventures by Disney. We can do a lot of money, so it's an all encompassing thing and I do do more than Disney, but obviously, since this is a Disney podcast, we'll we'll focus on Disney and Disneyland. So yeah, that's kind of my story and I am always happy to talk anybody's ear off about Disneyland and all things Disney.
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes people will think any travel agent, but Disney is like its own animal. It's kind of like, you know, alice in Wonderland. You know things are different but the same, and so can you talk about why, if you're looking to plan a Disney trip, it might be worthwhile talking to somebody that has specific experience with Disney and especially like the park that you want to go to. So because even. Disneyland and Disney World are like very different.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, they. They are night and day, so having a travel agent that knows their destinations well is a huge plus, thankfully, you know, growing up in California and working at Disneyland and now living near Disney World, like I, have the best of both worlds. Like I, my knowledge is vast for both. Obviously, disneyland more so than Disney World, but I'm getting there. I'm getting there, I'm catching up. But even though a lot of people think they're similar, like you said, there are still so many differences between West Coast and East Coast. I always like to think of it when I'm talking to people that have either grown up coming to Disney World or have vacation frequently here, in Florida.
Speaker 2:I always like to talk about Disney land as it's the original park. If we didn't have Disneyland in Anaheim, there would be no Disney World. There would be no Disneyland Paris or Tokyo. So it's. I always try to throw out that, like that emotional aspect of it and like it's Walt's part. He walked through that park. He has not stepped foot, you know, in any of the other parks around the world. So it's kind of that. I like to talk at the heartstrings a little bit. But you definitely want somebody that knows their differences, knows the kind of the nuances of Disneyland versus the nuances of Walt Disney World and kind of the the pros and cons to each, but also what makes each park special and special in their own way.
Speaker 1:So kind of like the difference between traveling to Europe versus traveling to Asia. You know there's some things that are going to be fundamental, that you know you're going to need a airfare, you're going to need a hotel, but there's a lot of cultural differences, especially around Genie Plus, getting up at 7am in Walt Disney World versus not being able to book until you get to the parks at Disneyland. You know, at Disney World it's really important for a lot of people to stay at a Disney resort. At Disneyland there's just not that same culture because they're so crazy expensive and there's so many other ones. You know they're not even the closest to the parks. Really. You can actually get a shorter or about the same walk from some of the hotels across the street. So what kind of person really is going to be like? The travel agent was the best thing I've done. What kind of client is it that you feel is like they get the most value out of having a travel agent?
Speaker 2:I feel like it's the busy parents, or the kind of career oriented person that just doesn't have the time to do the research on their own, or the one that wants to go somewhere but doesn't like to spend the hours potentially to figure out dates and pricing and well, how many people are going and are there any specials? Are there any you know, Florida resident rates or California resident rates, or or somebody that just does not know anything about that destination. I had the privilege of booking. A family of four from Illinois had never been out to Southern California and obviously I was born and raised there, so I got to put my expertise, you know, in their pockets and plan. You know, I booked them a stay at Disneyland hotel. They had early entry because they were hotel guests and I got to talk up everything that I love about Disneyland and they loved it. They had so much fun and because you know they're, they're from the Midwest, so they frequented Disney World more than they ever have Disneyland, which is actually pretty common. A lot of, you know, Midwest virus and towards the East Coast, tend to venture to Florida than they do California. So I was able to give them, like all of my tips and tricks and things that I knew as a cast member or things that I just knew as a guest playing in the park. You know, they got their daughter, got to meet the princesses, got to ride radiator springs, racers Her son loves Nightmare Before Christmas and they thankfully they were there right after Hanumanchen turned over to Hanumanchen's holiday.
Speaker 2:So it's just the type of clients I mean anybody theoretically can, can use a travel agent. It's just kind of based on how much do you want to be involved in the planning aspect of your vacation or your group outing or your school function or whatever, versus how much do you not want to be involved. So we can have kind of both ends of the spectrum. But it's kind of a we do all the heavy lifting for you, so to speak. So I will spend the time after my day job and doing the research, pulling quotes, sending emails and all that kind of stuff. So it's for everybody, but it's not for everybody. So it's just kind of what somebody, like I said earlier, just kind of how much do you want to be involved as the client booking your trip?
Speaker 1:So and I kind of feel like, you know, there's some people like I'm somebody who like like when I went to Costa Rica, I joined every Facebook group. I learned about every activity. I researched, you know, and some people like that. Like that gives me joy, that's like feeds my soul If my husband was the one planning a trip. Or, you know, like I have a couple, you know, a friend, that's like. You know. Like, how did you know what was available? I'm like, how do you not know? I think that you know, if you're somebody who's like, I want to go, but I you know, like I don't get joy out of the planning part.
Speaker 1:I don't you know, and I'm or I'm anxious that I'm going to book the wrong hotel, will it be? Too far away, will I not be able to like how do I manage the car seats All of?
Speaker 2:those things.
Speaker 1:I think that then, having a travel agent because it doesn't cost anybody, so before you would hire a like back in the before days, back way, you know you would hire a travel agent because they had access to you know, digital like assets and computer programs that you didn't have. Now everybody has that, so it's really more about having them. You know it doesn't cost you extra. If you're looking to save every penny and get the best possible deal, you might I didn't know spending $10 more a night on a room, but for the most part you're going to get pretty close to the best deal and you're going to have somebody to say you know, you really don't want to stay at that hotel. You know my last client there had, you know, saw rats, you know, you know. So I think that if somebody wants to have help planning but tell me if I'm wrong on that or if I'm off- no, I definitely think that is kind of you hit the nail on the head, like.
Speaker 2:So I will preface to say that not every agency and or agent has free services. Mine are, mine will cost you nothing extra. But kind of the caveat to that is we do like, if we're going to do all the light work for you, we do ask that you go ahead and book with us. There are times where you know people will do all the light work for them and then they'll just decide to have all the information and do it on their own. That is kind of frustrating. That's kind of like the client that we don't necessarily want because that takes so like we're small businesses although we're under, you know, an agency itself. I'm doing this as a small business owned person.
Speaker 1:And if somebody books themselves you don't get paid, correct, so yeah, the big box gets paid.
Speaker 2:So if you're booking with a travel agent, you're helping somebody with their small business, which I'm all for. Like, I shop so many small business that are Disney oriented, like clothing companies kind of, you know, ear companies and stuff like that. So, especially as we come into the holiday season, they're small business Saturday, the weekend after Thanksgiving. So it's kind of that, if you're gonna do that, it's maybe not use a travel agent.
Speaker 1:If you're just looking for somebody, yeah, you're gonna try to rebook and you know where you're gonna. It's disrespectful, because you know somebody who's trying to start something and you're actually not only taking their time but keeping them away from finding new clients.
Speaker 2:Somebody else? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So you know, and that's why there are travel agents that say like there is a booking fee, and you know, to keep people from doing that. And that doesn't mean that that's a scam, it's just that you know that agency's been done for many times.
Speaker 2:Their time is yeah, exactly. Which is I mean? And that's you know. I'm not obviously throwing shade under anybody that does charge something for their services. That's just that's not what travel nation is about. That's not what I'm about. Like, I'm here to help you as much or as little as you want. So if you book for me and help me support my small business, I will almost do everything except take a bullet for you.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's one of the biggest things, especially with in, like there's so many more airline delays and cancellations. Oh yeah, it's crazy right now. Can you talk about how a travel agent can help you, like mid-trip, if something goes wrong?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So airlines are a little bit more tricky because a lot of times if you have something going on say you're at the airport like there's a flight delay or something a lot of times your best, your best bet is to talk to the airline directly, talk to the gate agent. Unfortunately, with flights and airlines there's not a whole lot we can do as travel agents. That's not to say travel agents don't book flights, because we do. However, trying to contact us for a flight issue is not necessarily something that may come out on your benefit. Just because we're not there, we don't know the whole picture of what's going on. But for everything else, one of the huge benefits of having a travel agent is you have somebody in your corner for anything that goes wrong. So if you're on vacation and say there's like an air conditioning leak in your room and you've tried to talk to the front desk, you've tried to talk to housekeeping, you can reach out to me as your travel agent and I can call the resort and be like hey, I'm a travel agent, this is my client. This is not acceptable. You need to do something now. You need to move rooms, you need to do ABC, xyz, and if that's not good enough.
Speaker 2:The beauty about travel nation is I have a team, so I'm a part of a team. I have a supervisor and I can get my supervisor involved. I can get our owner and founder involved, like we have amazing relationships with so many different vendors that we can, nine times out of 10-ish, you know, get something fixed or and not saying you know it works out that way every time. But having a travel agent a lot of times can benefit you in ways that you may not be aware of or you may not find out, because you're that family that thankfully doesn't have any issues while on vacation. But you know there may be that one time where you may have to have, you know, somebody fight for you and fight for your rights as a paying customer and a guest of you know, wherever you choose to go.
Speaker 1:I think another advantage of a travel agent is that you can do payment plans and book packages. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so not every payment plans are great. Unfortunately, not every vendor allows payment plans. However, with Disney, the sooner you book as kind of with anything in life the sooner you book you're typically going to get the better rates. So with Disney, all you have to do if you're booking a package package includes hotels and tickets and actually now that the dining plan is back at Walt Disney World, you can also add on dining plan. So package includes just a deposit of $200. That's it and then package you can have.
Speaker 2:So your deadline for your package due date is typically 30 days prior to your check-in date. So you have all of that time between booking and your 30 days prior to check-in to make payments. If you don't have a package say you do hotel only you have a deposit. Deposit is typically one night of room rate and then you have up until check-in date to pay that off, whether you choose to do payments or pay it all up front upon check-in. So you have a little bit more leeway with non-package and then packages.
Speaker 2:Like I said, your due date is 30 days prior to check-in. So at least with Disney there's so much flexibility. You can pay as little, as much as you want. You can pay just the deposit. You can pay more than deposit and have less payments throughout the remainder up until you leave, so it just kind of depends. With other vendors, unfortunately, payment plans aren't necessarily an option, but that's one of the great things about Disney is you have the option as long as you're not booking within 30 days, because otherwise you'll have to pay in full. But for the most part you are able to make payments on packages or hotels only.
Speaker 1:And the other thing is that you're living and breathing Disney all the time, and so when Disney puts out a new promotion, you can be like, hey, I rebooked your hotel and I saved you 300 bucks on your trip, which I think is, you know, especially for people who don't want to immerse themselves in the Disney world for six months while they're planning their trip. I think that's a huge.
Speaker 2:It's great Like we get anytime a new deal drops or new food items released for you know like the holidays are coming up, so we got emails for all the food selections, all the food offerings are coming to Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and we also get those same emails for room promotions. There's a lot of Florida rate right now for the resident rates for Walt Disney World. There are several, I think at least one or two, maybe even three, like Southern California resident rates on tick, whether that's tickets or hotels or you know. So there's there's all kinds of different rates that we get emails on that we could be, and it's not even something that you would be aware of that we do. It's just we get the email. If we have a client traveling between those dates, we'll look it up, see if we can do it based on the criteria and then, if we can, we'll be like, hey, guess what? I just saved you X amount of money. It'll be like all the shirts.
Speaker 1:He just paid for all the shirts.
Speaker 2:All the citrus swirl. Not a deal with person.
Speaker 1:Blast for me. I know I'm not on team deal with. I love the deal with for the first three bites and then I'm like I just I'm not.
Speaker 2:I'm okay with pineapple on pizza. I know, again that's like blaspheming, but that's that's it.
Speaker 1:I'm girl, same 100%. Don't tell any Italian.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's just, and that's again. A benefit of using the travel agent is as we get constant emails from Disney, especially like we're. I think it's almost like a daily or every couple days with with emails for various different whether it's the entertainment offerings, updates on the Disney cruise line, disney treasure, which is coming out in 2024. So all of these different updates that we have access to that we can look up for our clients, which is fantastic.
Speaker 1:Is there anything a travel agent can do that like a normal person can't do?
Speaker 2:So it kind of just depends. So, being a travel agent under the umbrella of travel nation, we are kind of one of the top agencies in the country so we actually have some really great, fantastic relationships with a lot of our vendors. So a lot of times, depending on the agency, they can potentially have deals that are offered to them exclusively that wouldn't be available to other agencies or the general public. That's not always the case and it doesn't always happen, but in some cases there are agency exclusive promotions that we can offer our clients. So it's, it's great, you would find us advertising those on social media. So it's, it just kind of has an agency, so it's. It's not always. You know, all encompassing agents can save you money, they can, they get better deals and the general public like. That's not always the case, but in some instances we do get special promotions, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:And if somebody is looking to hire a travel agent, what are the questions that they should be asking if they're trying to decide between several different travel agents, maybe that they found on the internet?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that's actually a great question, because I was a travel agent with another agency. I started December of 2020, so a terrible time to start as a travel agent. Everything is still locked down. But I would say, just kind of ask what their requirements are Like. Are you a current cast member? Are you a current Universal team member? Does that agency accept you? Are they going to allow you to join the agency as a cast member or a team member? With my previous agency it wasn't an issue, but with TravelMation, where I am now, I wouldn't be allowed to be a cast member because it's kind of a conflict of interest. We sell Disney in my previous agency. All week it was Disney. So it's just it's kind of based on the agency and in that aspect of being a cast member, a team member, you know, seaworld member employee, and then kind of the other thing is like what other requirements they have.
Speaker 2:Like are you required to set office hours? Do you have to be available 24-7? Do you have to work while you're on vacate, like if you're on a personal vacation? Do you have to work? Are you required to work? Are you required to post on social media every day? Do you have to post multiple times a day?
Speaker 2:So that's kind of kind of like it's basically like a job interview. Like you want to find an agency that you feel is going to be the best fit for you. Obviously, at the time I was with my other agency. I couldn't have been with TravelMation, but I love where I'm at now. We have so much support, we have teams, we have great relationships with our vendors. So it's definitely I've seen both sides of it and it's definitely open my eyes to questions I maybe should have asked the first time, but that's just kind of part of living life and lessons that you learn as an adult. But definitely ask the questions kind of based off your lifestyle. If you work full-time, like I work full-time, so I kind of do this in the evenings and on weekends. I obviously would love to get to a place where I could do this full-time and leave your typical 9-5 job, but that's not always the case. So you just have to kind of figure out what works best for you and your current stage of life.
Speaker 1:So if somebody is like an individual looking to hire a travel agent, so they're trying, what questions should they ask to see if the travel agent is a good fit for their personality it needs?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I don't. Just that's a great question. It's a two-way relationship. So you want to make sure that the client that you have works best for you and you also want to make sure that the agent that you're choosing works for you. So if you're a client and say you're somebody that likes to talk on the phone, say it's a stay at home mom and they have pretty much all the free time hours during the day and they wanted to talk on the phone and say they wanted to utilize me which I'm more than happy to do, guys, but I do work full-time, I do do.
Speaker 2:I have a typical nine to five office job. So you know, making a phone call in the middle of the day is not something that I'm able to do. Like it would have to wait until the evening hours when I'm home from work, and that may not be conducive to that specific client, and that's okay. Like, if they feel like I'm not a good fit for them, they're under no obligation to choose me as their travel agent.
Speaker 2:I kind of like to think of it as a job interview, kind of like I said for looking at agencies is you kind of have to look at it from? Are they going to meet your needs? Are you a client that likes to be on the phone all the time? Are you a client that prefers email? Are you a client that likes to double check somebody else's work, so like, are you going to go back and kind of redo all the work that the agent did? So just kind of different things back and forth. That kind of you as a client want to ask and it's just kind of like Like it sounds like you know like what are the expectations around communication.
Speaker 1:Can I call you? Do you mostly do email? What is an average turnaround time for those emails? What is their availability like during your trip If there was an emergency? It sounds like those are kind of big things, right.
Speaker 2:In addition to like the specialty right Right. Yeah, yeah so communication is definitely a big one.
Speaker 2:I know, in today's day and age, like a lot of things are done over text and email, which there's nothing wrong with that. I am one too, especially because I do work in the evenings. I do prefer email because I don't want to. You know you want to be able to have the time with your family in the evenings, but if you're one that likes to talk on the phone, like that's something that you would kind of need to talk with your agent with. Or if they are, say like you, like somebody in your party has severe food allergies. Like, does your agent have experience with dealing with food allergies? If anybody knows Disney, they know that Disney is great with working with food allergies. But if you're not going with Disney, like how well does that other location deal with food allergies? So it's all kind of all-encompassing on both ends and it kind of also goes back to like what is it that you as a client are looking for For me specifically? Like I'm within travel nation, I'm certified in groups and luxury travel, so like I could book a school group at Disney World or Disneyland through Imagination Campus, so you could do a school group that gets to March Down Main Street with their band or their color guard. If they're into like theater, they have like theater workshops and stuff like that. So it's just it's really cool, because that's something that I like to also promote for myself is, like I can do groups, I can do school groups. If you want to head to Disney World and, you know, dance in Disney Springs with your dance team, I can help book that for you.
Speaker 2:So it's just kind of questions that you as the client and or agent want to ask. You know. And then I know there's a lot of families with special needs kids out there. So it's also, you know, you kind of want to ask those hard questions too. Like if you are a family with a special needs child, like, how do you deal with that? Are you certified? Like, for me I'm not certified yet, I'm looking at doing that down the road, but I do know a lot of families with special needs kids are also turned off by travel because they don't know where to start looking, they don't know who to start talking to and stuff like that. So, like I said earlier, just ask your questions, don't be afraid to ask. You know what you may feel is a stupid question, like there's no, is any cast member or I'm sure universal team member knows like there's no stupid questions. We hear it all, so don't be afraid to ask whatever is on your mind.
Speaker 1:As a former cast member and travel agent, can you give me, like your, three best tips for Disneyland?
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh. Okay, Don't compare it to any other park you may have been to.
Speaker 2:Don't compare it to any other Disney park. Obviously it's not universal, so don't compare it to universal. That would be the first and foremost. Number two you enjoy it, disneyland, like I said, it holds a special place in my heart, but it truly is a gem. It's full of so much history, and not just, obviously, disney history, but theme park history, amusement park history, like there are so many things that guests around the world can enjoy today, thanks to the innovations that Disney came up with to build Disneyland. And then number three oh gosh, park, hop, park, hop, park, hop, park, hop.
Speaker 2:The beauty about Disneyland is that they are right next door to each other. So, for those that may not know, california Adventure actually used to be the main parking lot for Disneyland back in the day, so they are super close. There is a space in between that's called the Esplanade, so you literally just walk out the gates of Disneyland to go across the Esplanade and boom, you're in California Adventure and join the rest of your day. And it's one of those things that, like people that have been to Walt Disney World, are so blown away with when they go to California and see how easy it is to park hop. All of the Disney hotels are within walking distance. The parks are within walking distance. Downtown Disney isn't within walking distance, like you don't have to leave property to get somewhere else, unless you were wanting to step outside of the Disney bubble. So that's just park hop, park hop, park hop. If you're thinking you know you're there for one day, you want to try to see it all, definitely park hop. So it's there's a lot to Disneyland.
Speaker 1:At the Disneyland Resort. What is your favorite, most underrated ride? I mean, I think everybody knows the big ones. What's a ride that you think is unappreciated for its grandeur?
Speaker 2:Okay, I have. I have two. They're both attractions that I worked, so one is going to be Storybook Canal Boats. It's technically an opening day attraction. However, it used to be called Canal Boats of the World and it lasted about a year a little less than a year, and then it turned into Storybook and Canal Boats.
Speaker 2:So it is so cool and it just again like it just takes you back to the beauty and imagination of Walt Disney and his team, because you're on a little boat and they're all named after Disney characters, which is a lot of fun and you're taken through miniature sets of different places from different Disney stories. So you first go through and you'll you'll see it if you're in fantasyland A giant monster of the whale from Pinocchio with his mouth wide open and his teeth all shown, and it's a lot of fun because little kids do get scared. I've had a few cryers on my boats in the past but his tail was blown off, like he sneezed so hard that he blew off his tail. So you go through Monstro, through his blown off tail, and then you're magically immersed in this magical miniature world. There's Mr Toad's house, there's the three little pigs, there's Agrabah, and they're all in miniature form and it's so like you could stare at it all like I would.
Speaker 2:Just when I'd be doing my show trucks in the morning, I just I was still like have to pinch myself, like these are so cool and like I wish I could see it being built and being put together and like it had to have been so much fun for the Imagineers.
Speaker 2:So like, come up with these and you know put, you know build them, and oh, let's see. And then now they've kind of started decorating ish for the holiday, so like the three little pigs houses they'll have like little pots of point sedias and they'll be like a wreath on the doorhouse and a little bit of garland on a signpost, and so it's just. I could talk about it all day, robin. But it's just. Storybookland is so magical and it might like when you're going under the fairy-lit light archway it's just like the tune of a whole new world plays and you just kind of sit there and look and you've got Casey Jr circling to your left and you're entering the Cave of Wonders and you're just, you're like a little kid again and it's just, it's so magical and it's kind of a different experience at night too, because if you can time it right, you can actually be on there for fireworks.
Speaker 1:And they stopped the boat. It's one of the few places you can sit down and watch fireworks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have to stop the boat because of the potential for falling numbers. So they stopped the boats and I've been on those boats before in the past and getting the captain, those, and it's really cool, like you're just sitting there on a boat working but you get to watch the fireworks. Like it's so cool and so much fun and it's a ride for the whole family. Like the beauty about Fanny's Island is there's only one ride that has a high requirement and that's Matterhorn, but everything else is for every age, from newborns to 90 year old grandparents. Like it's and that's what Walt wanted was something for the entire family.
Speaker 2:My other favorite is Casey Jr Circus Train. There's only one other that's similar and that's in Paris but that's more of like it's kind of a step below, like Bar and Stormer or Gadget's Go coaster. It's like a family coaster but it's not quite like the heights with the drops and all that kind of stuff. But again like this is another opening to attraction and it's from the story of Dumbo. So Casey Jr, you know he was a circus train that took Dumbo and all of his mom and all the other circus animals to the different various circus stops. So it's based off the story of the little engine equate, so it kind of goes through, it weaves in and out of storybook land.
Speaker 2:So it's really cool because you, if you ride storybook land, you get the view from below. And if you ride Casey Jr, you kind of get the view from above. And if you ride it during the sunset like I've got some fabulous pictures of sunset with like the sun peeking out and the rays shooting like behind Aarndelle, it's really cool. So you kind of go up this tiny little hill and he's like I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, and then he crest the hill and then you're off on your adventure around storybook land. So those are two of my what I would consider the most underrated rides in Disneyland. And that was long winded, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:No, that's okay, that was one of my son's favorites for a really long time, so much so that like it's hard for me to do it now because I you know he would want to ride it over and over and over again when?
Speaker 1:now I see those animal cages and I'm like I don't want to be in the cage. We don't ride it very much anymore, so now it's getting fun again because we rode it with a friend that we went with. But when you go to Disneyland, what do you pack in your day? Pack or purse, or do you not bring a purse?
Speaker 2:I do. So it kind of varies depending on the season. I should preface this to say I am not a park open, park closed kind of person. I've done that a handful of times and although I'm I don't consider myself old by any means I just cannot physically do a park open to park close. Maybe it's just cause I also worked there for so long that my body's just like get off your feet, get off your feet.
Speaker 2:So if it's during the summer, definitely a bottle of water, preferably if you have an insulated one. I use a. It's a knockoff but it's from Target. It was like 30 bucks. It's like a 32 ounce insulated water bottle. If you have the ability to fill it with ice, fill it with ice and water before you hit the parks, cause we all know water is expensive in Disney. But travel tip that some people may not know is you can actually get a free glass of water from any quick service restaurant, except for the ice cream shops. It's not going to be very big, I think it's like less than eight ounces, but it's free. It will keep you hydrated, you can throw it in your water bottle and obviously there's water fountains there too that you can refill up on. They are kind of starting to add those water bottle size water fountains in the park, which is fantastic. So water bottles.
Speaker 2:If it's during the summer, I typically start off the day with sunscreen already on and then obviously you want to make sure you don't get burned, so you want to keep that in your pack. I have just like a little travel size of New Jadrina it's like SPF 70 that I keep in my bag so I'm not lugging around like a big old bottle of sunscreen. And if you have plans so kind of you want to make sure you're wearing a good pair of shoes If you plan to go on any water ride, maybe an extra pair of shorts, because chafing and jean shorts is not fun, especially if you're doing it like early in the day. So those are definitely some of my must haves. Another one that I think this DNA is you really really need is a battery backup for your phone and a charging cable. You can find those on Amazon. I started off when fuel rods kind of became popular. I have a bunch of those. I don't use them. They're like my backup to the backup. But I have a brick charger. It's solar, has the ability to recharge by solar as well, if it would ever run out. I'm not next to a plug. So those are kind of my main summer essentials.
Speaker 2:Winter essentials it's a little bit less, and I don't usually bring a backpack to Disneyland in the winter. I usually just if I'm going to be there in the evening I'll bring a sweatshirt, but I'll just kind of hide around my waist and then maybe I feel like California is all about the layers. Yes, yes, it's definitely. It can be hit or miss. There's been many Christmases where it's been 90 degrees and many Christmases where it's been in the 40s. So you kind of it's kind of like Florida where you kind of have to pack for everything.
Speaker 2:But yeah, winters in California can get cold. So definitely make sure, if you're going to pack layers and you want to bring a giant backpack, get a locker. You can get a day locker. They're in the middle of Main Street on the right-hand side. That way you're not lugging it around all day getting it on rise, trying to get it out of rise and all that kind of stuff. But if you're just going for a few hours, just a jacket, hide around your waist and a fanny pack, that's all you need pretty much.
Speaker 1:And what is your favorite quick serve meal?
Speaker 2:Okay, hands down Coca-Cola corner at the end of Main Street on the left-hand side, a cream cheese filled pretzel with nacho cheese and a cherry sprites. That is my go-to every time. Because the thing is, people are like what do you mean nacho cheese? What do you mean real cheese? Because here's the thing at the kiosks in the park and here in Florida they have the pre-packaged processed cheese, which is gross. At Coca-Cola corner they have legitimate nacho cheese. So it's the real stuff that you pour over nachos and I just dip my cream cheese filled pretzel in there. It's just, I don't know what it is and people are like ew cheese, why not mustard? I'm like I grew up on this. It's what I do, it's what I like. What are you gonna say? Yeah, so that's my go-to snacks. But I will say churro is a close second. The churros at Disneyland are very good. They definitely beat out Walt Disney World churros.
Speaker 1:And if you see them coming out hot, that's always the best there are a lot if you've had a bad churro you probably had a cold churro.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you when I would be working the dock at Casey Jr, there's a churro stand right there and they'd be making fresh churros and I would be looking at them falling out of the oven and that glorious cinnamon sugar mix. I'd just be like why don't I have to be working right now?
Speaker 1:Well, I wanna thank you for coming on the show and sharing your tips with us. If people wanna reach you, what's the best way to do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the best way to do that is through email or message me on my Instagram handle. So my email is Christina McBride at travelmationnet, so it's C-H-R-I-S-T-I-N-A-M-C-B-R-I-D-E at Travelmation, so it's travel, it's a combination of travel and animation, because we're a big Disney company, so travel. And then mationnet, or my Instagram handle is adventuresofchris, so it's A-D-V-N-T-R-S. Underscore word of underscore Chris C-H-I-S, c-h-r-i-s. So those are the two best locations. They can email me, they can direct message me, say they're interested on a trip and we can go from there.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Thank you so much.