Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Travel Agent Disney and Young, your Canadian connection to theme park news, travel information, practical tips, and vacation savings. I'm your host, Stephen Payne. Coming up on today's episode, I will tell you about what to expect with Disney's Monstropolis, opening at Walt Disney World in 2027. I'll answer the question: what is the best attraction in my limited adventure in Universal Studios Melinda? Then we'll hear from Alexis King who decided to embark on a solo cruise on the celebrity beyond. Finally, we will affirm the value of rope dropping and tell you about the latest discount and Walt Disney World offer only to Canadians. If you want more information about cruising and travel, including the latest cruise promotions and limited time offers, subscribe to My Expedia Cruises Personalized Email Newsletters. Simply click on Fan Mail and send me your name and email address, and I'll add you to my mailing list for the newsletter as well as for show updates and information. You can also email your name and email address to the following email Stephen at the TravelAgent.ca. Stephen is spelled S-T-E-P-H-E-M, and make sure you spell Agent with E-H, because we're Canadian. That email once again is steven at the travelagent.ca. This information will also appear in the show notes. Well, good news for you. The kittens have arrived. Yes, I mentioned last week that our cat was pregnant, our cat Willow. And now we are proud owners of two tiny kittens. Originally we were just expecting one, but surprise it was two. I don't think they've been formally named yet, but Branch is the name that's floating around. And I can't remember the other one now, but we'll just wait and see what happens. Willow, the mom, well she has been very nurturing and motherly, so everything is going very smoothly. And now we have doubled the population or tripled the population? I don't really know, but we've increased the population of cats in our house nonetheless.

Mouse Minutes: Monstropolis

SPEAKER_00 2:08

For mouse minutes today, let's talk about Monstropolis. This is continuing the information that I'm providing for you that came out of the D23 fan expo that Disney holds every two years that happened last month. So the whole idea of a door coaster based on the Monsters Inc. movie has been under discussion for years, and now it is being developed. The idea of the door coaster came about not long after Monsters Inc. was released and Disney had control of the Pixar movies and the Pixar catalog. People quickly realized that the scene in Monsters Inc. with the track that moves the doors throughout the factory would easily make a great roller coaster concept. And honestly, like it's been floating around again for years. Until recently, Disney finally said, Yeah, we're going to make this coaster. So we've known about Monstropolis for a while, but the surprise that came at D23 was that Monstropolis, the land, was going to be opening in summer 2027. But the door coaster that's been under discussion for a long time and is now being built, that won't open in 2027. That will open, I think, in 2028. But Disney wanted everyone to know that Monstropolis itself, the city, would open in 2027. So that got everyone excited. But you might be wondering what exactly is Monstropolis all about? Well, just to be clear, in case you don't know, Monstropolis is the monster city populated by monsters that is in the movie Monsters Inc., and it's a city that's now powered by laughter and not by screams, because originally screams that were curated from little children were the thing that powered the city of Monstropolis. But at the end of the movie Monsters Inc., they found out that laughter could actually power Monstropolis. And interestingly now, Disney has come up with a story that underlies the new land just like they did with Villain's Land as I mentioned last week. So with Monstropolis, now that the city is powered by laughter and not fear, monsters are becoming more curious about humans and less afraid to find out what humans are all about. And in this light, Monstropolis has developed the Department of Human Relations. It's a department that's tasked with helping monsters better understand humans. In order to facilitate this, the Department of Human Relations has organized Human Day. That's H-U-M-A-N Day. It's an acronym, actually. And this acronym stands for Humans Understanding Monsters Are Nice. So for Human Day, humans have been invited to enter Monstropolis to explore all it has to offer. And in doing so, monsters will have the chance to see and get to know humans. And humans, of course, will also be able to get to know monsters, and there'll be cultural interaction between the two groups. So humans will be able to enter the city of Monstropolis, explore all its storefronts, its industry, and of course the monsters that might be there. And that's the land that's opening in 2027 at Disney World. Now for more details, here's what you might encounter if you're wandering the streets of Monstropolis. First, you're likely to run into the Glob Theater. In the Glob Theater, there's a show called Welcome to Monstropolis. Mike and Sully are hosting the two main characters for Monsters Inc. And if you've seen the film, you'll know that Mike is prone to some disasters, and Sully is the more level-headed monster between the two. And so in this show, likely, Mike is going to get into some troubles trying to impress everyone with his antics, whereas Sully will try to keep Mike under control. I'm sure that is going to be the vibe. And the show that they're hosting will introduce monsters to humans, and it's going to talk about the similarities that are between monsters and humans. Once you've seen that show, you can wander around the city and you might encounter Archie's Scarepig Pizza. Now, this is clearly a pizza place, and obviously when you go there, you can order some pizza and enjoy. And it's interesting, really, when you think about it, both the Glob Theater and Archie's Scarepig Pizza are clearly just replacing older attractions. They've just been re-themed and redone. So in this case with Archie's Scarepig Pizza, really I think it's replacing what used to be Pizza Planet, which eventually became Pizza Rizzo in Muppets Courtyard. And now that Muppet's Courtyard is gone and everything's being re-themed to Monsters Inc., well now it's Archie's Scarepig Pizza. And the same can be said for Glob Theater, which is clearly replacing Muppet Vision 3D. By the way, if you don't know, Archie is the six-legged mascot that appears in Monsters University, the sequel to Monsters Inc. And we don't know much more about this pizza place, but I think it'll be a hit with the kids with Monsters Inc. characters all over the place, and of course, pizza. Right beside the pizza place is Monsters University Alumni Club. This seems to be a location where you can see tributes to various scarers from Monsters University, as well as clubs and sororities that would exist there. And you'll be able to find the Elite Scarers Club there, which is referred to in the film. And in that Elite Scarers Club, I'm pretty sure you'll see some recognizable characters from the Monsters Inc. films being commemorated. Also, in the city, you'll find the Scare Porium. This would be a shopping opportunity where you'll find souvenirs to remember your visit to Monstropolis. Of course, I'm sure there'll be lots of Monsters Inc. related products available to buy, stuffies, backpacks, shirts, and so on. And when you're hungry and you want more than pizza, you can visit Harryhausen's restaurant. This is the place where Mike Wazowski and Celia had their first date, an infamous scene in the film. And speaking of infamous, there is an infamous sushi chef in the film that will also be in the restaurant as a new audio animatronic figure. An octopus-like figure with tentacles, who will be serving and creating food. And of course there will be a themed menu, which Disney is saying will be unlike anything else in the world. So I imagine on this menu there's going to be very interesting entree titles, and they'll all relate to monsters and scaring, I'm sure. So that's about all we know about Monstropolis at the moment. We have insight into five elements of Monstropolis: the Globe Theater, Archie's Scare Pig Pizza, the Monsters University Alumni Club, Scare Porium and Harryhausen's Restaurant. And of course, in addition to that, we'll eventually be the Door Coaster. But for now, that's what we know. So that leads to the question: are you excited about Monstropolis? Is that something you're really looking forward to experiencing? Feel free to send in your thoughts to the show. I'd love to hear what you think. If you're anticipating Monstropolis, what you're most excited about, please use the fan mail button or send me an email, and I can share your thoughts to others who listen to the show.

Park Pulse: Best Ride in Islands of Adventure

SPEAKER_00 9:21

For ParkPulse, I wanted to explore the topic or the question, which attraction is the best at Islands of Adventure in Universal Studios Orlando? I erased this question a couple of weeks ago, but then diverted for a little bit to talk about my trip to Cedar Point. So I'm coming back to talk about which attraction is the best at Islands of Adventure. I've been to Islands of Adventure in Orlando multiple times. I'm pretty sure I've experienced every attraction it has to offer, and most of them more than once. So I think I have had enough experience now to be able to answer this question. So first of all, here's my short list of attractions that come to mind the moment I say what's the best attraction in the Islands of Adventure. Here they are. One, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. Two, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Jurassic Park River Adventure. And seven The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. Those are the seven that come to mind right away, and immediately I think I can reduce this list down to six. Because Incredible Hulk Coaster is on the list as well as Velocicoaster. Now Incredible Hulk Coaster used to be my favorite coaster. But now that they've built a Velocicoaster, well I think Velocicoaster is better than the Hulk. And the Hulk is a great ride, but Velocicoaster just took it to the next level. So I'm gonna drop the Hulk Coaster off my list. I love the Jurassic Park ride. Jurassic Park ride is classic in my mind. It's been around for a while. But you just gotta love it. Especially if you like Jurassic Park and dinosaurs. It's a logflume type ride. You hop in a boat and you get whisked along a river into Jurassic Park. And for those of you who've been on the ride, you'll know what I'm talking about. When you get to the part where you're going down the river, and then you encounter the gates to Jurassic Park, just like you see in the film, and the music's playing, and you hear the voice say, Welcome to Jurassic Park. That's pretty fun. It's pretty exciting. And it's fun to kind of be immersed into that movie world. And then you go through the gates and you're seeing all the different dinosaurs that are all audio animatronic dinosaurs, and you see these different scenes in the water and so on. It's fun. Of course, some of the audio animatronics are in better condition than others, but it's it's still fun. And then you enter into this building, and of course, a disaster's happened. Raptors have broken out of their paddock, and you're under threat. And you climb a big hill, and there's emergency sirens going off, and raptors and those uh diloposauruses are they called, the ones with the faces that fan out, the colorful faces. Um, I guess their fins or whatever. Um, and they would in the film they spit on you and then eat you. Um these things are popping up all over the place. And eventually this ride leads to a point where you encounter the Trannosaurus Rex, which is lurking high above your boat, standing over you and leaning in and roaring with its mouth going and its teeth showing. Uh, looks like it's gonna eat you, but actually what happens is you drop out from underneath the dinosaur and you go down a big hill and splash into the water, just like a good traditional logflume ride. Again, that's lots of fun. The animatronic of the dinosaur is fantastic. It's very big and very menacing. And so what a great ride that is, and I I will always love it. But I think I'm gonna drop it off the list, even though I guess there's no other ride like it in the islands of adventure, but other rides have more elements going for them than Jurassic Park, which I think I I have to consider. So now, if I eliminate that one, my top five rides are Hagrid's Magical Creatures, Motorbike Adventure, Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, Jurassic World Velocicoaster, Skull Island, Reign of Kong, and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. So let's talk about Skull Island next. Skull Island is a great ride, um, has a great cue where you're walking through sort of cave pathways, stone and rock surrounding you, and skulls that are embedded into the walls, and there's a shaman. It just creates the mood. There's torches, all kinds of stuff that uh that creates the mood for the ride. And eventually you climb onto a truck. It's got a canopy on it, and you're sitting on the bench and you you go through this whole sequence where eventually you encounter Kong and he's fighting dinosaurs, and there's giant bugs and all kinds of things. Now, this whole effect is created by screens that are on either side of you. I believe you're wearing, well, you used to wear 3D glasses. I at one point they got rid of that effect, so I don't know if they brought it back or not. But you look at these screens and you see all these dinosaurs fighting, and of course it would bump your truck and it would look like they're jumping over top your truck and so on. It's a similar feature or ride technology that they use in the attraction called Fast and Furious, which has just closed down because it really wasn't that popular. And honestly, I can understand why. I didn't like Fast and Furious either, but for some reason, in the Kong ride, this same technology works way better. I guess it's just the visuals that are involved and what's happening that make the experience better. But the best thing about the Kong ride, in my opinion, is the ending. Because what happens is you eventually roll past this very huge animatronic of King Kong himself. And it's basically his shoulders, his chest, and his big head, and he's roaring and moving. It's like a life-size giant King Kong, and uh it's just a fabulous effect, and the animatronics are very sophisticated, and it's fun that you're encountering a life-size King Kong. So I really like that part of the ride, but I think the whole ride is is definitely a good one. But I guess I'm going to eliminate that one too, because I think there are others, again, that have more going on. Because in in Kong, really, the uh a large part of it is just the screens on either side of you. So then there's the Amazing Spider-Man, that one's also a lot of fun. And this ride mixes screen effects with practical effects. If you've listened to other people talk about Universal Studios in Orlando, often the criticism is there are too many screens. That too many of the rides depend on you looking at a screen, and perhaps it's a 3D screen where you're wearing 3D glasses. But people love practical effects. The Amazing Spider-Man ride does combine the two, and that's what makes it better than other rides. So you're in your car, you're going through the streets, and you're seeing Spider-Man do his thing, encountering villains and so on. And yes, you're getting screen time, but you're also seeing physical props and sets as well. And particularly on that ride, it's 4D, and I really enjoy some of the effects. For example, the green goblin tosses pumpkins at you, and one of the pumpkins flies at you, and of course, that's a screen effect where you see it coming at you in 3D, but then it hits the wall behind you, which is a practical effect, and uh there's a burst of fire and hot air, and uh you look up into the wall and you can see the pumpkin embedded in the wall, that kind of thing. And then um, you know, there's water that gets sprayed around and you get splashed with water and so on. So you're riding in this car, you're you're moving through the city, and all these different events are happening, and you've got this mix of real effects, props, and screen, and that really works well, and it's a lot of fun. Also, that the queuing area is quite good too, because it makes it seem like you're walking through the daily planet and you're seeing the news desks and various tools of the trade for newspapers, and you can see newspaper covers and all kinds of stuff as you walk through. So it's a strong contender, but I am going to eliminate it because Forbidden Journey, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey has a similar mix of practical effects and screens, but Harry Potter's unique ride system kind of takes that thrill up a notch beyond what Spider-Man does. And then I think the cue is grander. So I'll come back to that in a minute. Another one of the contenders is Hagrid's motorbike ride. That also is a great ride. It's a lot of fun for a lot of people who go to Islands of Adventure. That is their favorite ride. And that, along with VelociCoaster, are the most popular rides first thing in the morning. People are going into the park and immediately going to Hagrid's, and some go to VelociCoaster. The theming is very strong in Hagrid's motorbike ride. Obviously, it's connected to a beloved franchise, the Harry Potter franchise, so that really works. And there's a good queue in that one as well, with various elements from Harry Potter in the queue. Now, I love roller coasters, and Hagrid's is a roller coaster, so that works for me as well. And what's great about this ride, if you've never been and you want to take your family to Islands of Adventure, well, Hagrid's is a roller coaster that doesn't have any extreme drops. So it's a manageable ride for the whole family. It's still quite fast, it still has launch features, and in fact, it goes backwards at some points. So it might still be scary for young ones, but it doesn't have the huge drops that really make people just not want to ride a roller coaster, right? And it's really fun to ride Hagrid's motorbike and his sidecar. So you have a choice when you get on the ride. You can be either in the sidecar or on the motorcycle. And so that's kind of fun too. In the end, though, I still have to give Forbidden Journey precedence over Hagrid's. And I guess, like I say, it's the mix of practical events and screens. It's not just relying on screen effects, although there are screen effects, but these screen effects are plused a little bit because the screen curves around you. And so you're you're almost like right in the screen. And then along with the screen effects, there's visual effects as well, or visual real life props. And another great thing about this ride is it has this unique ride system, which is called a cucka arm. And the Kookah arm, it's it's kind of like you're on a boom, and your seats are on the end of this boom that tilts up and down, and your chairs can tilt and move, as well as the arm, and then that arm is connected to a train. I don't know if the train's the right term for it, but to a car that moves along a track. And so you can move in so many different directions on this ride. You're moving along a track, your arm, the big cuka arm, is moving, and your chairs at the end of the arm are also twisting and turning. So that is a ride system that's not used in too many rides, so it's pretty unique. It's the only one in Islands of Adventure and in Universal Studios that has the cucka arm. And then again, you're connected to a story that everyone has enjoyed and everyone has identified with you. It immerses you into the Harry Potter universe, and it has a little bit of everything. The other thing that I should mention is is the queue. Probably the best queue in the park. It's Hogwarts Castle. And as you walk through Hogwarts Castle on your way to the actual ride, you are encountering so many things. You can see all the rooms in Hogwarts that you might be familiar with from the films. You can see the hallways with the moving pictures and the stairwells. You can see the dark arts classroom, you can see the Herbology Greenhouse, you can see Dumbledore's office. There's so many things to see in the queue, and it's a long one because of course when they opened it, they were expecting huge crowds. And also, I think J.K. Rowling really insisted that they do a really good job on her material, so they took the time and spent the money and created something really fantastic. So the queue's great. Now, I haven't mentioned VelociCoaster. Well, I have mentioned VelociCoaster, but when you look at VelociCoaster, I've got to say it's one of the top coasters I've ever ridden. It really was. When I wrote it, I figured that was the best coaster I've ever ridden. Now I'd have to think about it because I've ridden a few others since then, but the VelociCoaster is definitely one of my best roller coasters I've ever ridden. Um, it has a fast, great launch. The theming's Fantastic, especially when you walk by these animatronic raptors that are uh caged up uh but they move around and they seem so realistic. And I love with the Velocicoaster how you soar over the water. It's an exhilarating ride. But if I'm gonna compare it to Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, in the end, Velocicoaster is still basically a roller coaster. It's a great one. But when you look at Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey, there's so much more going on there in the sense that you're really immersed into that world. And and again, there's all these different props and so on, like the Dementors. You know, you're on this arm and you're going through this dark space, and there's dementors hovering over your chair, and you encounter all kinds of other things that are in this ride that it takes you past. So there's a lot of variety there. The cue's incredible. And you got the cucka arm, which is unique. So I think in the end, I'm gonna have to say that Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride that's been there for quite some time now, and there's other rides that are newer, but still that Harry Potter ride is the best, in my opinion, at Islands of Adventure in Universal Orlando. So that's my opinion. Now you might have a differing opinion, and of course that's fine. That's what's kind of fun about talking about these things. So if you have a different opinion on the best ride in Islands of Adventure, I really would like to hear about it. So take a moment and just click on fan mail. You'll find fan mail link in the notes for the show. Click on fan mail and maybe just send me a little message about which your favorite ride is, or maybe support my opinion if you want. Or you can send an email to Steven at the TravelAgent.ca. But I'd love it if you communicated your opinion. And next week I'm going to do the same thing, only I'm going to talk about Universal Studios Orlando, which is the other well, there's three parks in Universal Studios, which is the other OG park, if you want to call it. At the uh Universal Studios. I want to talk about my favorite attraction there too. So you can also anticipate that and send me your thoughts about your favorite attraction at Universal Orlando.

Cruise Contemplations: Travelling Solo on the Celebrity Beyond

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Okay, let's move along to cruise contemplations. Now last week I said I'd have an interview about either Portugal, touring Portugal, or about the Pride of America Norwegian cruise in Hawaii. Well, surprised. Well, coming out of left field, I've changed it up. We're now gonna have an interview on cruising solo on the Celebrity Beyond. Because it just worked out better that way. So the other two topics we'll have to save for another day. This week, we're gonna talk about cruising solo on the Celebrity Beyond with Alex Skeen. Here's the interview. I'm with Alex Skeen, and he is joining us today on the Travel Agent Disney and Beyond. Welcome to the show, Alex.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Thanks so much, Stephen.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Alright, so we want to talk about uh some cruising that you did in the past month. And the first question for you is what is it that led you to choose a Celebrity Beyond as the place to do your solo cruise?

SPEAKER_01 25:14

So I have been cruising with celebrity, I think, since COVID ended. And from that, it's become the cruise line of choice, which I normally travel with a friend of mine over March break. But this time I decided to go down the rabbit hole, see what sailings had the solo rooms, because I had heard that on certain ships there were the solo rooms, but they sell out super quick. And when I found this itinerary, it was really the itinerary that got me to choose the beyond. I was hooked in to say, let's try it out, see what it's about. Is there really a price difference? And let's let's see what is on offer.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Yeah, it makes you curious to try these things out, right? Like that's uh I can imagine you were like, well, let's see what this is like traveling solo in the solo cabin, because you've never done it before. And if you're like me, and I think you are a curious mind, you're like, you're interested, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:14

And you can get lost on YouTube videos, and there are other cruise lines that have solo spaces, but this one seemed as though like you're integrated into the entire ship. You're not in your own little private area. And that was also one consideration. I didn't want to be locked away in a solo area.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Now you mentioned the pricing. You wanted to see if the pricing was what you thought it might be, because of course, um, when you're traveling as a solo person in a regular cabin, you're basically paying the rate that two people would pay. So the idea on these solo cabins is that you're only paying for one person. And did that turn out to be true? From what you could tell.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

I'm from what I could tell, because I think when it comes down to I considered the price that I paid for this sailing to be equivalent to what I would pay as my share when I would travel at March break with a friend. And so for that, I didn't feel that I was paying a double supplement. So as the person who paid the bill, I was happy with what I paid for what I received.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah. And I mean, that's the impression I have too when I'm looking at the pricing. It definitely is not the single supplement pricing that you sometimes see. So that's a good thing. And I'm I'm glad that celebrity and other cruise lines are starting to recognize that there's a there's a whole group of people out there who are underserviced, right? That they need to look after. Yeah. What was the itinerary for this trip that got your attention?

SPEAKER_01 27:48

Um, so realistically, it was two stops that pulled me in. One, it was perfect day at Coco Key, or I should say perfect day cocoa, because the ad is now gone. Um, and then also Royal Beach Club in Nassau, because that's a new addition to the Royal Caribbean group that I was curious in seeing what was that about. The other two stops on the cruise were Cosmelo in Mexico and Gran Cayman. And so Cosmel and Gran Cayman I've been to multiple times. So that was a choice of do I get off the ship, do I not get off the ship? But it was really the other two that I was there for the beach club experience.

SPEAKER_00 28:35

I sorry, you've been to Coco K before, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Never.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

No? Oh, that was the first time.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

It was the first time.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

It is amazing. Most of the March break sailings. Um I don't think celebrity arrives there because it would be more Royal Caribbean, is what I would hazard to guess. Um, so this was my first time and it was phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

Okay, we'll we'll circle back to that.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Okay, perfect.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

Um, yeah. So when you got on board the Celebrity Beyond, just overall, what were your impressions of the ship?

SPEAKER_01 29:07

I've traveled on the sister ships previously. So I've been on Apex, I've been on Ascent. So I knew the layout, but it's interesting with each iteration, there's tiny little nuances of difference that you're like, okay, they've refined this area or this space, just seems a little bit different, but it was very familiar to me. The ship is modern, it feels as though you are staying at a luxury hotel that just happens to arrive at a different country on every other day.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

That's one of the great things about it, eh? I love that.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

It is, but then looking at some of the areas of the ship that I enjoy, I noticed, and maybe it's because there's less people on this sailing than perhaps during March break, areas like the solarium had, you know, those pool chairs that are kind of on the seating edge of the pool deck. So I hadn't seen that in the solarium before. I've seen it in the main pool. So it was just interesting to see where they take certain elements and kind of make it better for the next iteration.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah. Now, just talking about spaces, and one of the questions I was going to ask you is what was your favorite space or venue?

SPEAKER_01 30:26

For the past few cruises, we don't typically sail in aquaculks. We normally uh purchase a concierge class. And so this sailing, because it's a solo cabinet, wasn't concierge class. So I paid the supplement to have access to the thermal spa. And that's become one of my favorite additions on the ship because it's just a space where you can go have some quiet, get away. And that was also one of those. I would do that typically on a March break cruise during the day once it starts to get rowdier by the pool. But one of my friends had said to me, what a perfect place to go after dinner to kind of calm down and unwind. And so that became part of my routine is just going up there and laying on the um heated benches, looking out over the front of the ship and just having a moment of chill before going back to my cabin to go to sleep. Yeah. Um sounds good. Yeah. And then I would say traveling solo, I got to explore some of the bars that I wouldn't necessarily go to. And the one thing that I would say that I really enjoyed, and it might be with our current state here in Canada, was being able to go to the craft social bar because the craft social bar, I enjoy an old-fashioned, and bourbon is not something that's readily available for us right now. And so they have a menu where you can build your own old fashioned from a menu of different bourbons, but then you can add bitters, you can add toppings, you can add um different sweeteners. And so it was fun to kind of go and have a different drink that's based on an old classic.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Yeah, that sounds really good. Sounds fun. Sounds fun to mix it up like that.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Okay. Um, because this is a solo trip, and we've talked already about the solo staterooms and so on. You got to try out the edge single stateroom with infinite veranda class, which is unique. Uh, what did you think of the state room?

SPEAKER_01 32:34

So it was surprising. Having been in the infinite veranda staterooms in the past, I knew the layout, but I knew that this was just going to be slightly smaller. And as soon as I walked in, I thought, okay, videos that I see online don't do it justice. The room had tons of space for me to maneuver around. The fact that I was missing the long desk with the lamp for like getting dressed, etc., I was fine with having the desk beside my bed. That was more than enough space. The room wasn't as wide. So, like at the foot of my bed, I would have to kind of walk sideways through. But really, for the amount of time that I had to do that, not a worry. But from being able to put clothes away, being able to put my suitcases away so that they weren't a nuisance, I had tons of space. But the one thing that impressed me was the bathroom was more spacious, especially the shower, than what we would regularly get in a concierge infinite veranda. So rather than it be kind of tucked into a corner, it was the full width of the bathroom, which I just sat there and thought this is a great space. It didn't feel much different than my bathtub stall at home.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Sometimes some of those showers, you know, you're yeah, you're bumping into the wall all the time and so on. So to have a little extra space there, yeah, definitely a plus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

And the one thing that I also appreciated in this, I learned prior to going on was normally in the main state rooms, it's the two twin beds that are pushed together, and then they'll put a topper over top so that you don't feel the divot. Whereas the solo staterooms are a full queen size bed without any toppers.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

It is nothing I it is a true queen.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Um, so that was very, very comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

Hmm. Yeah, they're never gonna be a situation where they're gonna separate those beds. So why would you? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

That's it. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah. Okay, so when you were looking at um, you know, anticipating going on the cruise, did you feel any anxiety, any concerns when it came to the idea of, hey, I'm gonna be traveling alone this time? Was that a problem at all? Or was there were there any worries that you had?

SPEAKER_01 34:54

I think there was a worry of am I gonna be bored by myself? Because doing a solo trip for a weekend is different than doing seven nights or seven days. And so I sat there thinking, am I going to be on a ship surrounded by people who are all together? And then I'm the solo person that's just kind of floating around. And so I kind of went on with a lot of self-talk of this is the week before going back to work. This is the week where I'm going to do some personal reading, I'm going to listen to podcasts, I'm going to chill with some music. If I want to have a nap, I can have a nap whenever I want. And so for the first few days, that was kind of my mindset of okay, I've had enough sun, I've had enough pool. What do I want to do now? Let's go exploring. And so it was kind of that constant, let's get moving around and do things so that you didn't get lost in being there by yourself. But even when I travel with a friend, there's points where she may want full sun and I might want quiet. So even still, I also did the, well, this isn't really that much different because there are points where traveling with a friend, everybody wants to do something different. So you just separate and come back together. And so it worked out.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

Okay. Yeah. Did celebrity do anything in particular to sort of cater to the solo travelers on the ship?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

I think, well, okay, there's always going to be the meetups that are in the cruise planner. So you can always go find a place where you want to join, whether it be a pickle-ball event, whether it be different affinity spaces that they've put out. But I think the one thing that got me, and I think the fact that working in education, you're always listening to words people use. And are they using the words with intentionality? And I wish I had taken note, but it was always like if I showed up to a restaurant or even when I was arriving to check in, it was never the are you traveling alone, which to me it overemphasizes the alone. It was the are you looking for a table for one? And that just changes the approach and the inclusivity of it being normal and okay to travel as a solo passenger. And it got to the point where I also thought, am I going to be the forgotten passenger because I'm not in a big rowdy group? And I remember there was one night where I was at Normandy, one of the main dining room choices. And I was there for maybe first night, third night. And so I happened to be in the same section. So same server, assistant waiter, and sommelier. By the time that I had come back on the third night, um, the maider D was like, Your table's not ready. I don't know why it's not ready. Hold on. And then she got on her walkie-talkie and she's like, Table 111 isn't ready. This needs to be made up. And then she kept walking until the table was there. But then once I sat down, Simolier came over and said, Oh, last time you were in Mr. Skeen, you had the wine. I'm gonna pour you a glass of decoy. And I'm like, amazing. So, like already those little service wins were very well done. And even remembering like little nuances, if I wanted a coffee after dinner, it was automatically brought to me. It didn't have to be a um, it didn't have to be a production, it was very welcoming.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Yeah, I love that. I love that. I love that when they remember you and they they they know your likes and dislikes, especially if you're in a regular dining situation where you're returning each day, right? So as far as the dining goes, I was interested in that too. You had a table for one, that's how it worked.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Table for one. And this I love about celebrity is the anytime dining. Like you can choose your early, late, or anytime. And I'm typically an anytime. And I will go into the celebrity app and I'll pre-reserve my restaurant bookings for the main dining room, just to know that I have a landing spot. And even traveling with a friend, it's normally two of us, but we're always seated at a table of two. So this time, same thing. I would have a table for two. They would take away one place setting and then just be very attentive to make sure that I was being looked after and cared for.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

All right. And I was gonna ask you too, you know, just when you're looking back at it now, like traveling solo, is that feel a lot different? Was it when you walked away from the cruise, you're like, wow, that that was a different experience? How did it affect the experience you had?

SPEAKER_01 39:58

Traveling solo, it changed the way I cruised because I think when I travel with my friend, we have our routines and we know that especially when it's busy at March break, we will order our coffee into the room first thing. We'll have a few pastries, but we'll set for the coffee to arrive at 6:30. So by 7:15, we're ready to go up. We're happy to stake out a chair and get set up for the day. And we're moving, and so it's really no different than a work day, but we're moving up to deck. This, I didn't feel that pressure because I thought if I don't get a chair, there will be one chair somewhere. We don't have to look for the two chairs, or if there's other people on the traveling with us, we're not looking for a group of chairs. So I didn't feel the pressure to move around the ship and knowing that if it didn't work out, there would be somewhere else to go. And so that didn't worry me too much. The other thing that I sat there in retrospect, I had a lot of friends message me while I was on the ship who were saying, Are you doing this by yourself? Do you feel safe? And I'm like, much more safe than perhaps if I was at an all-inclusive. Because you just know from a safety standpoint on a ship, your card is tracking you that you are on the ship, that you are in good standing. You know that someone's looking after your stateroom, you know that you're checking into restaurants. And if you just need to disconnect, you go into your room, you put the magnet on the door, you can have a nap and be good. So never did I feel awkward and unsafe. I felt very at peace with everything.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

Yeah, it actually sounds really nice. It obviously alters things a little bit, but I hadn't even thought about that idea that, yeah, if you're looking for a lounge chair at the pool, it's like there's a good chance you might find one single one. Yeah. Right. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. Huh. So if you were to give any tips to listeners who are contemplating taking a solo trip, uh solo cruise, do you have any anything that you think people need to know before they go?

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Be competent to go and try things, be confident to engage with people, even if it's outside of your comfort zone. So going through the cruise planner, I sat there and I was like, am I going to do an experience on the ship by myself? And so, for example, on some of the recent sailings that I've done on other ships, they've offered high tea, which is a fairly new offering on celebrity cruises. So at March break, we were on a solstice class ship and we had gone and done high tea in Morano. So when I saw that high tea was offered on this ship in Eden, I thought, you know what, I'm gonna sign up, and that's a way to get me out of the sun, do something different, get dressed, not spend the entire day in my bathing suit. And it kind of breaks up the day so that I'm not at a loss for what to do. And so that was fantastic because I knew that I had a plan to look forward to. So setting up your day so that you have stuff is key. The other thing is I'm fairly introverted, and I'm sure many people who know me well would say, no, you're not. But in truthful, I'm I'm not someone who is going to go gay crash a party and chat with people I don't necessarily know. And I would welcome people talking to me, but then we'll see how it goes. And that actually ended up happening where there was a group of friends from Miami. There were seven of them who were all traveling together. And we started talking by the pool. And then the next day we were in the pool again. And then they said, you know what, we're going to be meeting up at six o'clock at the World class bar, come and join us for a drink. And so by the time it came to the day of the high tea, I said, okay, I have to go get showered and ready for high tea. And they said, What do you mean, high tea? And I said, Oh, you had to book it through the cruise planner. Well, we're going to get dressed. We'll meet you at Eden and we're going to see whether or not we can join you and get seats. And I'm thinking, you needed to pre-book, you needed to do. But then I'm also like, they're not going to say no. And so all of a sudden it turned into four of us. We're having high tea together. And then it ended up that one of the evenings, um, they said, We're going to Fine Cut's restaurant. Do you want to join us for a specialty steak dinner? So then you just have to be open for the social and find the people that are going to connect with you. And it ended up being that when we got to Royal Beach Club as a group, they had signed up to go to Royal Beach Club. I had already signed up to Royal Beach Club. So then it was a okay, when they start calling, that we're ready to get off the ship, meet us, and we'll go and spend the day together. So it was nice to start off completely solitary, but then have a group that I could meet up with at certain points and not infringe on their friend travel time. But they were including me in the group, which was lovely.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Did you walk away with anybody's email address?

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Oh, absolutely. And um we're still in touch. And um for the collection of Starbucks mugs and what have you, we've already arranged that I'm going to send down some uh Toronto, Canada, or Niagara Falls um, the small mugs for Christmas tree ornaments. And hopefully there will be a um Key West because that's one that I don't have, and they live kind of between Miami and Key West. So hopeful.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Yeah, that's amazing. Um, I guess just listening to you too, that I think another thing I'm hearing is that being solo in this particular case meant that maybe you were gonna try some things that you hadn't tried before or walk into some spots, like you're saying, you're going to some bars that you hadn't been to before. And doing even doing the high T, you know. It's interesting because you can make your own decisions. You don't have to sort of compromise for somebody else. And so that allows you to do a little more exploring, which I think could be fun. Let's just look at your port stops. It sounds like you had a great time at Coco Kay. I'm not sure about the beach club, but maybe you can tell me quickly about those and a highlight or two from your ports.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

The first stop was Coco Kay. And looking at the island, doing my research, trying to decide do I want this area or that area, I decided again, knowing solo, knowing that my primary goal was quiet and calm, I ended up going to Coco Beach Club, which had a cost attributed to go to it. Um, but as I was researching all that was included, I thought, okay, there's less beach chairs, there's a luncheon that's provided, um, the menu looked fantastic. And then watching different content creators say, oh, well, they have steak, they have lobster, but you can always ask for surf and turf. And so I sat there and I was like, okay, I showed up, I went, I again, I also know, get off the ship early, go find the chair that you want. So front row in front of the water, it was beautiful. Went for the lunch and it was phenomenal because I didn't even have to ask for surf and turf. The waiter was like, Would you like surf and turf? And I'm like, okay, I must you must be able to see what I'm coming for. But then they also had a lobster burger. And I was like, but I'm also curious about the lobster burger, but that's a little bit too much. He's like, no, no, I'll bring it for you and you can have a taste just so that you know what it's about. And I'm like, phenomenal. So I ended up having all this food, and it was just again, same thing. Very welcoming, one person in the restaurant, very welcoming and chatty servers. So it was a great experience. He ended up telling me because I think it was Star of the Seas, the new Mega Mega Rail Caribbean ship was also in port that day. And he had said there's 10,000 people on the island and only 250 people have purchased access into Cocoa Beach Club. And I'm like, okay, so that's why it feels very calm, which was exactly what I needed.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Yeah, that's one of those cases where you pay a little extra, but you know, it kind of pays off for you.

SPEAKER_01 48:52

It did. It did absolutely. When we then went to Cosmel, or no, Grand Cayman was the first stop. They had switched the itinerary. Grand Cayman, I didn't get off the ship because I had been there and I had thought that we would have to tender and then be driven across the island to get downtown. What we found out later was we were actually right at the downtown port. So we were on the other side of the island. So didn't know, but that's fine. In my mind, I wasn't going to get off the ship. Cosmel, last time I had been there, we were in a port further away. So we kind of had like a cruise terminal. This time we were right downtown. So I did get off and I kind of just walked around just to say I was there, but then came back onto the ship and had the benefit of being on the ship with all the passengers not on the ship. And then the one thing that I would say that I really liked about going into Nassau first from my last cruise that I had done in Nassau, which was 2022, the port is completely redesigned and it's phenomenal. Whereas before it was a very small port. Now I think there's five or six ships. And you walk off the ship if you do Royal Beach Club, you walk to the end of the pier. They have water taxis that take you directly over. They scan your C Pass card and you're good to go. You arrive there and everything was included. Fantastic. And three areas of the beach, you land at the first beach, where I would say very populated chairs and um, but you're right on the water. Then they kind of have a party zone and we walked right past it. And then we kind of went to the pool area that was next to the chill beach, which was kind of the quiet area. And so we kind of lived a little bit in the pool, but could go over to the beach and have some water experience. And I have to say, from knowing what that area was to what it is now, the beach was fantastic. The food was excellent, the service was excellent. Um, towels were provided at the beach club. Like I would do that again. In previous trips to Nassau, we would get off the ship, we would go downtown shopping, which we did go back to the port later. I didn't go shopping. I ended up meeting up with a friend who was on the Disney Wish. And I realized that we were side by side. And she's someone with whom I worked at Disneyland Paris in 1998. And I knew she was on the ship. And I'm like, Danielle, are you on the ship? And she's like, Yeah, are you? And so we ended up meeting up at Senior Frogs and had a mini reunion, which was lovely. But in the past, we would have gone to Junkanoe Beach, one of the public beaches, and just hung out there. But this was an elevated, fantastic experience.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Yeah, and the Royal Club, I guess there's an upcharge for that, right?

SPEAKER_01 51:59

There is, but not as much as what Cocoa Beach Club was.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Okay. That's a nice new option for Nassau, right? Because I mean, there's only so much you can do there.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

That's correct.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

And it's kind of limited once you've seen it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Less expensive than some of the other experiences that you can have in Nassau.

SPEAKER_00 52:19

I know. I I looked around last time I was there, I looked around that whole new port area. It was much nicer. But some of the prices of some of the things on the you know, in that shopping area on the port were were quite quite high. I had a dole whip. I don't know if you know what a dole whip is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Had a dole whip and I couldn't believe how much it cost. I can't remember now, but it was just like it was about 20 bucks or something for a dole whip. And it's like, that's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

Yeah. Best memory of this trip.

SPEAKER_01 52:46

Having a reunion with my friend Danielle in Nassau. That was phenomenal. And that tends to be how we continually meet up. We just end up having happening to be in the same places at the same time and figuring out let's meet up and hang out. And then I would say the unexpected friendships that came from the crew from Miami that just had the exact same travel philosophy as me, and lean in when you need to lean in, lean out when you need your own time, meet up and be social, open invitations for whatever activity you're doing. That was lovely because it was an experience of a whole group of friends who come from all different areas who do have experience working in Florida tourism, but who were also experiencing celebrity for the first time. So it was nice to kind of see their experience of being on the ship and kind of being part of the magic of the um of the service that you end up getting.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah. Well, it speaks volumes for for celebrity and their their service. And but I agree with you. It's I think it is my favorite cruise ship or cruise company of the ones I've been on, which I'm not an extensive cruise person, but I've done enough. Their food and their service, and it's just the luxury of the ship is fantastic, right? It really um it's got a great vibe, is what I say.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

And that's exactly it.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

All right. So I guess you would recommend this cruise if other people out there would like to go on a solo cruise. This is a good choice.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

I think it's a good choice because there's options to get in and around the fact, like you're not sequestered into a solo section of a cruise ship to contain the solos in one area. Nobody knows when you're walking down the hallway that you're in a solo cabin. So that's also kind of nice. The other thing is other cruise lines from my research, you don't necessarily get, I'm gonna in air quotes, the infinite veranda. You don't necessarily get a balcony when you're traveling solo. It could be more of an inside state room. So you're also getting access to the outside and being able to bring in the fresh air into your cabin. So, no, absolutely I would recommend the edge class ships for what they offer for the solo cabins. And then even the beyond, well, I would say like I've been on Apex, I've been on Ascent, and now Beyond. I'm excited that for 2028, I will be back on Beyond. The only thing that I'm not sure, I think there's going to be a refresh that happens. And I don't remember if that happens before or after I'm on the ship. Um, so it might be the same ship, or I might be able to discover some new spaces.

SPEAKER_00 55:55

Likely they'll have made some changes, I would think. Yeah.

unknown 55:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:59

All right. Well, I think we're we might be running out of time here. So I'll just say thank you very much for all your insights. It's been fantastic. I think people who are thinking about traveling solo, and there are quite a few people out there who who would, I think uh will be encouraged to hear that it can be a great experience. So thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 56:15

Absolutely. My pleasure. Thank you, Stephen. Thank you for everything.

Canadian Compass Point Travel Tip of the Week: Rope Drop

SPEAKER_00 56:21

Now it's time for the Canadian Compass travel tip of the week. This week I want to talk about rope drop. Ryan Payne brought this topic up in episode four of the travel agent Disney and Beyond, when he talked about his trip to Disneyland. The idea of rope drop stems from back in the day when at Disneyland they used ropes. So if you are familiar with the layout of Disneyland, there is Main Street, and Main Street leads to this hub, and it's like spokes of a wheel. You can follow a pathway to various lands, you know, fantasy land or adventureland. Wherever you want to go, you follow the spoke out to that area. Now back in the day, people would enter Disneyland. When it opened at the very beginning of the day, well, I should say before it opened, they could be on on Main Street, but when they wanted to get into a land, and it was before opening, they had to wait behind a rope that was strewn across the pathways. This rope would stay there until it was opening time, at which point cast members would take the rope and drop it or move it out the way, and the crowds would enter into the land and then begin to enjoy their day at Disneyland. That's where I think the idea of rope drop comes from. The rope held the crowd back until it was time to open. So Ryan talked about rope drop in his interview on the travel agent Disney Beyond. And of course, I was very proud of him because I think he learned the whole strategy of using rope drop from me. Because from personal experience, I recommend rope drop highly. Particularly if you're going to a theme park. But you know, really, the whole concept of rope dropping could apply to any popular attraction you attend. Whether it be the Vatican or the Coliseum or the Louvre, anything like that, you know, the idea of rope drop works. But that idea essentially is just getting to the park or the attraction before it opens. And even perhaps a half hour, 45 minutes, even an hour, although I don't usually do that, an hour before it opens. Because, you know, the bottom line is that people generally do not get up early enough or can't be bothered to show up at an attraction like at a theme park or at an attraction or touristed place right when it opens. Because that means you have to get up a little bit early in the morning and be organized enough to get there. And most people just don't do that. So at a theme park, they tend to arrive between say 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. But the park actually opens, say, at 9 a.m., right? So there's some hours at the beginning of the day where there's a limited number of people who were are willing to get up early and go in. And that's a sweet spot that you can take advantage of. And I mean there is a price to be paid for getting up very early, you know, to get ready. You have to get ready. Then you have to take transportation to the park, you have to eat quickly in order to do the rope drop thing. But there's a reward also that can be earned. And that reward is that you're going to spend a lot more time enjoying attractions and a lot less time waiting in lines. Or you might be at a particular attraction and the crowds are much less, so you can enjoy it more. If you're in a theme park, you can ride the headliners that are going to have huge cues throughout the day. If you get there right away, you'll be in a very short line, if any line at all. So there's a real reward. In the long run, uh you're going to have more attractions, more experiences that you're encountering throughout the day than say someone else who's arriving at, say, noon. And then if you're in a theme park and you ride the headliners first, by the time everyone else is trying to get on these big headliners and standing in a queue for an hour or two, you can be doing some of the other attractions in the park that have uh shorter lineups or faster loading times, that kind of thing, or maybe you're gonna go see a show. It really works well. And like I say, it's not just theme parks. I mean, I love theme parks, so I'm often talking about theme parks, but you know, it it applies to anything. You know, if you're gonna go to the Vatican, going very first thing in the morning when it first opens, you're gonna encounter fewer crowds. You'll feel less crowded, and you feel like you'll have more of an opportunity to look at some of the things that you can see, say, in the Vatican Museum or something like that. It's a great experience all around. You know, and your family might complain about getting up early if you have a family and you're you have to kind of encourage them to get up early. I did with my family when we first went to Disney World. But once they realized the advantage to getting up early and getting into the parks and experiencing the attractions without the huge lineups, they were all in. And so it's definitely something to consider. The only other thing I might say is that when it comes to rope dropping, you do have to be careful not to overdo it. So if you're staying at a theme park for, say, a week, you might want to rope drop for a couple of days, but then you might want to take one day off where you're not rope dropping, where you've got some kind of alternate plan so that you don't exhaust your family. Because it is true, you know, if you're at a theme park, you're probably gonna stay out late and stay late to the parks and you get home late and you get to bed late. If there's too much fun and not enough rest, that could be a problem. So while I highly recommend rope dropping, you do have to do it in moderation, perhaps, unless maybe you're all by yourself and you think you can do it. I imagine that if I were at a theme park for seven days, like Disney World, I know myself, I'm pretty sure I'd be getting up every day for rope drop. Because I'm just driven that way. That's just who I am, I guess. Anyway, for a travel tip, using the concept of rope drop is uh something that you should consider. I should add also, I wasn't I didn't mention this, but when you're rope dropping, you know, if you get there super early and you're kind of at the front of the line to get in, what happens is, you know, you're going to head to the most popular attraction first. And um think about this in the context of, say, Canada's Wonderland. I think most people agree right now that Alpen Fury is the most popular ride at Canada's Wonderland. So if you're at the front of the line and the gate's open and you go immediately to Alpen Fury, you'll be one of the first there, and so your wait time will be hardly anything at all. But what you've got to realize is that anybody else who's queued up behind you for a rope drop, let's say for the opening, they're all following in behind, and they're all going to Alpen Fury too. So by the time you get off the ride, there'll already be a weight building up. And it doesn't take long before the wait has turned into an hour, an hour and a half, two hours of wait time. But you're off the ride because you were there first and you didn't have to wait long at all. So while other people are starting to stand in line for Alpin Fury, you're moving on to the next big ride, which let's say would be Leviathan, because that's probably the second most popular ride in the park. So you get off Alpenfury, you're heading to Leviathan. Now there are some people in Rope Drop who might have gone to Leviathan first, but probably the majority are going to Alpenfury. So while all these people are waiting in line in Alpin Fury, you're on Leviathan and you're enjoying that ride. You get off that ride and you are moving on to the next one. Meanwhile, behind you, people are going from Alpenfury to Leviathan and they're forming a big line there. And so you see how, like, over over the time that you're there, you're ahead of the pack the entire way through all morning, because you're following a similar itinerary to what other people would be doing in the park. Again, that's the advantage to the rope drop, you're ahead of the crowds. So again, a highly recommended activity or a highly recommended strategy for attending a theme park in particular. But for any attraction, you know, if you're rope dropping the Louvre and you're in there right at the beginning of the day, you're going to be encountering lower crowds. It'll be more of an enjoyable experience. Even for the Brunch by the Lake event that was hosted by the Niagara Greek and Wine Company that I talked about a couple of weeks ago, we were there when it opened. And so it was easy for us to go find a table because all the tables were open. We walked in, we were one of the first to walk in there. All the tables were available, we could have our choice of where to sit. But if you had come in, say half an hour later, your choice of where to sit would be limited. And perhaps if it's a particularly populated attraction or populated event, you might have trouble finding a place to sit. So yeah, my rope drop mentality follows me around, and we joke about it in our family quite a bit. Whenever we're leaving the house early for some event, my daughter works at staples, and I'm always amazed when I drop her off. There are often people waiting outside the door before it opens. I guess because they're really eager to check in their Amazon packages or and buy some staples. I don't know. But I find it really interesting. So they're rope dropping too. So rope dropping in everyday life is a great skill. Consider using it when you're traveling, and I would highly recommend it for any theme park uh events that you attend.

Deals Dish: Disney's Canadian Resident Sale

SPEAKER_00 1:05:46

Okay. Let's do Deals Dish. For Deals Dish, because we've talked a lot about theme park related events in this episode. I wanted to bring up a savings that's available. It was announced last week by Disney World, by the Disney Company. If you're planning to travel to Disney World in 2027, now might be a good time to book a package. They are offering the chance to save on room and ticket packages. And this savings is designed specifically for Canadian residents. We have special privileges to get discounts over our American friends. So what you need to know is that you can save up to 25% on a room and ticket package that is at least four nights. So you have to stay a minimum of four nights. But you can stay longer and you'll still get the discount. So as long as your stay is at least four nights, you're going to get a discount of up to 25%, depending on which resort you stay at. And along with the discount, they're offering free memory maker photo package. And that's a great deal. A memory maker photo package, I think it's around $200 USD. It could be between two and three. I don't really remember off top of my head. I haven't looked at it for a while. But the memory maker package, I recommend it to all my clients because it is a really fantastic thing to walk away with. Yeah, you have to spend a little bit of money, but what you come away with is all kinds of fantastic pictures from your trip to the world. I used it on my first trip to Disney World, and I realized how excellent having Memory Maker is. The main advantage is that you have professional photographers hanging around the park, and you can go up to them and have your picture taken by them, and then you get to keep the picture. So the picture's taken by professional. But what you get is pictures of your family throughout the park in all kinds of different locations, and they're professional pictures, and everyone's in the picture, right? Because if you don't use memory maker, chances are somebody from your party is taking the picture and they're not in that picture, unless you ask some stranger to take your picture. So Memory Maker provides the opportunity for you to be in all the pictures, for everyone in the family to be in every picture that you've taken in the parks. And there's lots of different locations for these pictures. And then on top of that, with Memory Maker, you get all the pictures that they take of you on the ride, you know, those ride pictures. They just automatically come to you in the digital package. So you're getting all these different pictures that are taken by the photographers in the park. Of course, you have to remember to stop and get the picture taken. But on top of that, you're getting all the pictures that just happen automatically on the ride. A fantastic collection of photographs for you. And this is part of this deal. So not only are you saving the percent off your package, but you're saving the money that you might have spent on Memory Maker as well. So this package or this discount is available for most stays, most Sunday to Thursday nights from January the 3rd to February 25th, 2027. But then on February 28th, all the way through to October 2nd, so that's like a large part of the year, you're also being offered this discount. And this is going to include Canada's March break and of course all the summer dates that people often travel during the summertime. If you're looking to get this discount, basically you can get up to 25%, usually it is 25%, on a room and ticket package at any kind of Disney deluxe resort. As I've said before, Tia, within Disney World, you have value resorts, moderate resorts, and deluxe resorts. So if you're staying at a deluxe resort, you're going to get 25% off. If you are staying in other resorts, so that might be a value resort or a moderate resort, you can qualify for 20% off. And that's basically the offer here. There might be one or two resorts that are left off the list. There is a list here, it's too long for me to read to you, but it includes most of the resorts at Disney World. It's important to know that these discounts are limited. So whenever Disney offers these discounts, they have a set number of rooms. So let's just, I'm randomly going to pull a number out of my head. You know, there's a hundred rooms at the Pop Century resort that will be dedicated to the Canadian resident discount. Once those rooms are sold out, that discount is no longer available. So the sale might still be on, but if you go to look for a room in Pop Century, that discount will not be available. And that's important to know because, you know, the longer you leave it, the less inventory there is that will be available. So again, if you're thinking about traveling in 2027, you might want to think about booking this package early, right now. You know, it's like September of 2026, and you might be looking at August of 2027. Now's the time to book. I said in my very first episode the planning ahead pays off. And so for the best choice of inventory, you know, select now. If you know or you feel have a good feeling that you're going to be traveling to Disney World next year, now is the time to lock it in. And the great thing about Disney World is to lock in a room and ticket package, you only need to put down $200 USD deposit. You can put that deposit down and you can hold that room and ticket package until it's time for final payment. And final payment happens 30 days before you travel. So for a long time, you can hold this room for 200 USD, which isn't really a lot of money. And that $200 deposit is refundable up until 30 days before you leave. So it gives you a lot of flexibility, right? Like you can book a room, you can book your dates, and then you've got it locked in and you know you've got it. If for some reason plans change, you change your mind, or or coincidences come up in your life that make it difficult for you to travel, it's easy to cancel that reservation and get your money back. So that's why it's pretty much a worry-free thing to do. Just lock in your package, get the discount that's available, get the choice of room that you want. And if something happens and you have to change your plans, it's not a big deal. So that's the discount that's available. And I recommend, as I say, if you're considering a trip to Disney World, now's the time perhaps to lock it in. That 25% savings or 20% savings accounts for the exchange rate that you're going to have to suffer when it comes to traveling to the United States, of course, because we know that the American dollar is quite a bit weaker than the American dollar.

Outro

SPEAKER_00 1:12:37

Okay, so next week I'll continue to update you on what to expect from Walt Disney World based on information that came out of the D23 fan convention. I will give you the details on Piston Peak, which is being built at the Magic Kingdom and is based on the Cars franchise. Also, I'll answer the question on which is the best attraction at Universal Studios Orlando. I'm hoping to air the interview, which will tell you about cruising on Norwegian's Pride of America in Hawaii, and will continue to offer the Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week as well as Deals Dish. If you're enjoying the information and inspiration provided in this show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast reviewing platform. You probably know that if you leave really nice reviews, what happens is then you get noticed by Apple, for example, and they might promote your show, so that if that were to happen, I sure wouldn't complain. Links to the show's page and to Apple Podcasts can be found in the show notes. And also, feel free to follow me on Instagram. Just search up at the travel agent. And again, that's spelled with an EH. If you want to respond to anything I've talked about on the show, or if you want to offer topic suggestions or ideas, please send an email to stephen at the travelagent.ca, and you could be part of building the content for our community. And of course, as I said earlier, I'd love to hear from you about your take on what's the best attraction in Universal's Islands of Adventure if you've been. So send me a fan mail about that, or send me an email to tell me about your favorite attraction. And uh I'll probably mention it on the show next week. And you're free to disagree with me. You're free to challenge my opinions. I think that's part of the fun of being in a community, to challenge each other with our ideas, and it's fun to talk about favorite attractions. So please, participate, send in an email, send in a thought. And if you want, as I said, you can anticipate what's coming next week, which will be a discussion on the best attraction at Universal Studios Orlando. If you have an idea about that, you can send in that thought as well, and I'll consider it when I make my assertion as to what's the best ride in Universal Studios Orlando. Alright, you know what? It's been fun chatting with you today, but it's time for me to head on out. Until next time, keep dreaming, keep planning, and keep exploring.