Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Welcome to the Travel Agent, Disney and the Yum, your Canadian connection to theme park news, travel information, practical tips, and vacation savings. I'm your host, Stephen Hayden. Coming up on today's episode, we'll talk about how music and wonderful vacation memories, and how you can relive them by listening to the music of Epicotop. I'll update you on the repercussions of the incident on the life of Six Play, Georgia. I'll tell you about Princess Cruise's version of a private island. And I'll alert you to the offer of discounted last-minute cruises and virgin voyages. As always, there will be a Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week. Stay tuned to hear all about it. 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 the 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 thetravelagent.ca. Stephen is spelled S-T-E-P-H-E-M. And make sure you spell Agent with an E-H because we're Canadian. That email once again is Stephen at the Travelagent.ca. This information will also appear in the show notes. So it's been a good week. I had a party this week for my grandkids. My twin girl grandbabies with the red hair. And it was their one-year-old party this past Saturday. We had a lot of people over, and fun was had by everyone. And right before the party, I had the extreme pleasure of putting together an IKEA kitchen for kids. It actually was pretty good. If anyone's thinking of buying an IKEA kitchen for young kids, don't panic. The instructions were pretty clear, and it only took, I don't know, an hour and a half, maybe an hour. I can't remember. But it worked out pretty well, and the kitchen is very cute. And I think the kids will have lots of fun playing with it. Also, my Halloween costume is coming together. I placed it together over time, in little bits and pieces. But last Saturday I got a piece that really worked. And now I'm super excited about it. But it's going to require me to take some brave actions. And I can't explain that now because, you know, if my family happens to listen to the podcast, I don't want to spoil the surprise. But I'll let you know what I did in next week's episode when the truth will be revealed. Just know that I had to overcome fear in order to make the costume work.

Mouse Minutes: The Music of Epcot

SPEAKER_00 3:00

For Mouse Minutes today, I wanted to talk about music. Now, experiencing Disney is a multi-sensory experience. There's a lot going on. If you know anything about the Disney experience, when you walk in a hotel lobby at Disney, there's smells, there's sounds, and they're all intentional by design. Disney makes sure everything is thought through and designed for customer experience. This came all the way back from Walt Disney, who was very intent on dropping people into a scene and making them feel like they were really there, taking them out of their reality and putting them into a fantasy world of fun and celebration. Walt Disney was very much into family times and family experiences. So as I was saying, when you go to Disney World, it's a multi-sensory experience. There's sights, there's sounds, there's smells, and so on, things you can touch and feel. And that's all part of the Disney experience. And part of that experience is indeed music. So when you go to Disney World, when you enter a park, the moment you enter into the park, you know, if you're going to the Magic Kingdom and you walk through the little tunnel that opens up into the reveal of Cinderella's Castle, you will hear music playing. It's ambient music just playing in the background as you walk along Main Street. And every other park, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, as soon as you walk in, there's ambient music playing. So you're walking down the pathways and so on, and the music evokes an atmosphere for that particular part of the park you're in. They're kind of zoned, right? There's adventure land, there's fantasy land, and uh in Animal Kingdom, there's Pandora. All of these places have music that evokes the feeling of that area with intent. Then when you get on the attractions, attractions have their own music. And some people love it so much that they have that music on their phone, on their devices to listen to. So for example, you might listen to the music for Pirates of the Caribbean. And when you go on that ride, that music plays. If you've been on the ride, you're very familiar with it. Every attraction has its music. Tron has its music. The Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction has its music, and of course, Slinky Dog Dash. So all of these attractions have music designed for the experience. Now, the reason I'm talking about all this is because, you know, when you've had an amazing time at Disney World and you're coming back from it, the music sticks with you, and the music is connected to a great, hopefully, a great family experience. And so when you're at home and you hear, you know, Pirates of the Caribbean or the music from Haunted Mansion, it takes you back to that time when you're there with your family enjoying the attraction. Just like people talk about songs that they associate with their childhood or with their teen years, you know, the different music and songs that made an impression on you and you listen to a lot, when you hear them, it takes you back to that moment in your life. And uh I think we've all experienced that. It's it's quite the experience, it's quite the thing to listen and hear something and then have all the memories flood in. And I think that's the way it is for a lot of people with Disney World. In most cases, people have gone to Disney and had a wonderful time with their family. It was a great family time. And so you hear the music of Disney and it takes you back and it brings back the joy and the wonder and the awe and the experience and just the feeling of family bonding. I remember when I came back from Disney World for the first time, I actually used the music from the ride Sorin as my ringtone. That's a ride in Epcot. And I like the music so much that my ringtone would play that music. In fact, at one time, after I had listened to Soren as my ringtone for a while, I switched it over to the Skyliner music. Or not music, but sound. When you get on and off the Skyliner, there's a little uh bell sound that you hear. Um, even that I found evocative and brought back memories. And so that's what I've done. Now, people enjoy hearing the music, and so music's important. And for mouse minutes, I wanted to let you know that there is an album available now on streaming platforms called The Music of Epcot. So if you are a Disney fan and you want to remember what it was like to be at Epcot, you could stream this on Spotify or Apple Music. There are 23 songs and about one hour and six minutes of music. And the music that you'll hear is music from older attractions that have been at Epcot for a long time, and some of them have closed. For example, Universe of Energy and Journey into the Imagination. And some of these have just been around for a long time, like Living with the Land. So there's music from those attractions, but there's also music from newer attractions as well. Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind is an option, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, and the music from Luminous, The Symphony of Us. These are more modern songs that you would hear in the parks. And then at the very end of all these tracks, like I say, there's 23 tracks or songs all together. The final track is actually Walt Disney talking about Epcot, which in fact he never saw completed. So in this track, when he's talking about Epcot, he's talking about his imagined Epcot, the world of tomorrow, which he wanted to build. People are generally pretty enthused about the release of the recordings because they are high-quality recordings, and up until now, many people have just found I guess recorded versions that people have taken at the parks themselves with their own technology, but it's not professionally done. So now people are pretty excited about this Music of Epcot streaming album because they're getting professionally crafted songs so that they get the best quality possible. So have a look on your streaming platform. If it's Spotify or Apple Music or it's probably available in other platforms as well. Take a look or take a listen and see what you think. If you have never been to Disney World, you can try it out just to see what the music sounds like.

Park Pulse: Six Flags Update

SPEAKER_00 9:17

In Park Pulse, I wanted to give you an update in regards to park safety according to six flags. So last week we talked about the tragedy in Georgia where a man was thrown from the ride called Goliath and unfortunately lost his life in a tragic accident. And now, as I said last week, there are a lot of investigations being done, and that roller coaster is closed along with any that are made by the same company and use the same restraint system. So this week, John Riley, the president and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, put out a letter out to pass holders and others to explain what they're doing, and I thought you might be interested. So I'll give you a couple of straight-up quotes from the information he provided. He said, We are reinforcing safety precautions at our parks and taking additional measures, including adding seatbelts on Goliath and other coasters with a similar restraint. Safety also depends on the dedicated teams who operate and maintain our attractions every day. Our ride operators complete a comprehensive multi-stage training program that includes classroom instruction, hands-on training, and supervised on-the-job experience with additional instruction and evaluation provided as necessary. We remain focused on reinforcing these practices and supporting our employees in their responsibility to put safety first. We have engaged independent engineers and ride inspection specialists to comprehensively review current safety procedures across our entire portfolio of rides and attractions across all our parks. We are committed to carefully evaluating their findings and taking appropriate action to further strengthen our standards and culture of safety. Coliath at Six Flags Over Georgia remains closed, pending necessary safety reviews and clearances. Eight additional rides at five other parks are temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution. So those were some excerpts from what he had to say. Hopefully reassuring, and certainly what he needs to say. I think the piece that is admirable is that they said they were engaging independent engineers and ride inspection specialists to comprehensively review current safety procedures across our entire portfolio of rides and attractions across all of our parks. I think that's a good idea. There needs to be some oversight and there needs to be investigation all across their parks to make sure everything is as safe as it possibly could be. That is, of course, why Leviathan and Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland are still closed. I think that there is a safety review happening all across all the parks, and they won't reopen the rides until that safety review is completed and any recommendations are taken that need to be done to ensure the safety of the riders. So they're doing the right thing, I think is what I'm saying. They're not cutting corners as far as I can tell. They're not trying to quickly reopen these rides to make more money. I think they're taking their time and they should, and like I don't even know how you would do it any other way. They are making sure that everything is safe. Remember, I mentioned last week that Leviathan and Behemoth actually already have seat belts installed on those rides. So Canada's Wonderland was already a step ahead in terms of safety. That's something that Cedar Fair had done when they owned the parks. And uh so that's reassuring that there's extra safety precautions already on the rides that Six Flags is looking at. But having said this, I think just based on this idea that they're reviewing all the parks for safety, it wouldn't be surprising if Leviathan and Behemoth are closed for the rest of the season and won't reopen until springtime of next year. It's definitely going to reopen, and so is Goliath by the sounds of it. But they're gonna make sure they've thoroughly investigated everything before they reopen. So I thought that was important just to note, and again, it's helpful information if you're thinking of going to Canada's Wonderland just to adjust expectations. I wouldn't necessarily expect Leviathan or Behemoth to be open in the next week or two.

Cruise Contemplations: Princess Cays

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Now on to cruise contemplations. Last couple of weeks we've been talking about private beach experiences. We talked uh or have talked, I guess it wasn't two weeks ago, but we have talked about the Norwegian island because they just opened a water park on it. We talked about Royal's Coco Key or Coco Kay last week. This week I thought we'd just drop into Princess Kay's Princess Cruise Line, another contemporary cruise line that people enjoy. They have a private beach too, also in the Bahamas. Did I say a private island or a private beach? Because if I said private island, that was a mistake, because it's actually not a private island, it's a private beach. I think I did say private beach to be honest with you. But just to clarify, it's not an island, so Coco Kay is a complete island. Princess Kays is part of an island, but not an island itself. It's part of an island called Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas. It's over 40 acres, this private area that Princess owns. And when you arrive there, unlike Royal Caribbean's Coco Kay, you have to access this private beach by tender. So at Coco Kay, the ship can come right into a pier designed for docking, and you can walk off the boat onto Coco K. At Princess K, you do have to get on a tender boat that will take you to the beach area. Now, what can you do there? That is the question. And here are the top things that Princess itself suggests you can do on Princess K's. So they say you can retreat to a private bungalow. Of course that will be an extra charge, but uh it's an air-conditioned bungalow with the comforts of home inside. You can relax on the beach, you can snorkel or take an underwater boat tour. You can participate in water sports like paddleboarding and sailing a hobby wave. You can take a coastal tour or a wildlife tour, especially visiting Lighthouse Beach with its scenic cliffs, or you can take a dune buggy excursion and you can visit nearby villages like Rock Sound or Tarpum Bay and explore the communities and local crafts and snacks. So there's lots to do. Some of these things would require uh extra fee. So if you're going on an excursion, a wildlife tour, there's likely a fee for that, or if you're taking a dune buggy excursion, you're gonna have to pay for that. And I think even visiting nearby villages may require transportation. So some of these things will cost you money. But if you're just planning to go visit the beach or Princess Kays, you can just hang around, relax on the beach, and snorkel and swim and enjoy sitting on a lounger under an umbrella. And of course, there's food available there as well. And also, if you're uh concerned about family areas, they do have family areas. There's a kids play area, and also there are educational activities offered as well. Now I've not been to Princess K's. Um I had a chance to go there, but then our uh the the seas were too rough, so they decided not to do it. So I've yet to visit Princess K's, um, but I've heard people say they have and enjoyed it quite a bit. One day I will get there and then I will tell you on this podcast what the experience was like as a first hand viewer.

Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week: Finding Water

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week. Well, I'm still on the topic of staying cool. Last week I talked about frog to's cooling towels, and how useful they were for us when we traveled to Florida in August. Anytime we go somewhere super hot, we're definitely gonna take frog togs or some other version of cooling towel. Now there's other things we did to stay cool. This week I'm specifically thinking about the theme park experience and the idea of staying cool, specifically in Orlando. And so this advice is theme park specific. The point is water is very important. You need to stay hydrated in these very hot and humid climates. If you don't stay hydrated, you can get a headache, you can get sunstroke, um, and your family can have meltdowns because of the heat. You've got to find a way to keep everybody happy and healthy. So even they say when you don't feel like drinking, it's important to just encourage people in the family to keep on drinking to stay hydrated. Now the problem is that if you go to a quick service restaurant, they do sell water in bottles. And you may think that's the only way you can get water, but it is not. It's important to know that all of the quick service restaurants in Disney, and I believe Universal will do the same thing. If you go up to them and ask them for a cup of water, they will give you a cup of water for free. And you can get some ice in there. Um, there is no need to purchase the bottles of water that cost too much. Um, I guess you have to tolerate the Florida water with whatever it has in it, fluorine and so on. But other than that, you can get a nice refreshing cold cup of water from the quick service restaurants. And in fact, I remember the first time we visited, I would just like take a cup of cold water and I'd pour it into a water canister that I was carrying with me, and I just keep refilling that thro throughout the day. This is important, as I say, for a family because you know you're gonna save some money. Listen, I know I had five kids at the theme park. It was not feasible for me to pay for a bottle of water for every kid multiple times a day. So, with this tip, you're saving money, you're staying hydrated, and you're preventing meltdowns by the kids and preventing headaches and sunstroke and all that stuff. So it's an important tip to know, and not everyone knows it, which is why I decided to raise it today.

Deals Dish: Virgin Voyages Last Minute Deals

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Now let's talk about Deals Dish. How about an adults-only cruise with Virgin Voyages? We were just talking about families and stuff, but now it's like, well, maybe you want to get away from the kids a little bit. And Virgin Voyages is a cruise line that is adult only. You have to be 18 and over to sail with virgin voyages. There are no children or kids' clubs on these ships. It's an adult cruise line with a contemporary modern vibe. And it's casual rather than formal. They want you to dress nice, but uh, we're not doing any of these formal nights or anything like that on virgin voyages. They just want you to have fun and have a casual, relaxing, modern time. There are lots of interesting dining experiences with Virgin. They don't really have a main dining room, instead, they have other dining options which you can explore different ones on different nights. Now, the reason I bring up Virgin Voyages is because there are some limited time, last-minute cruise deals that might be of interest to you if you can consider a cruise in the next few months. So the date of these offers span from November the 7th right through to July 2027. Most of the limited time cruise offers or discount offers are from now to the end of January, but there are some other dates as well, including some transatlantic sailings. So I've got some examples for you just so you can understand the kinds of discounts there are. And there's a variety of itineraries. For example, if you wanted to do a four-night cruise on January the 21st, 2027, you can go on a Key West and Bemini Beach Club cruise. That would cost you $761 per person for a balcony. That's quite good. Mind you, it's a short cruise, but then if you want a longer cruise, you have options. So let's just see that's maybe an Eastern Caribbean and Bemini Beach Club cruise, eight nights. Departing from Miami on January the 30th, 2027 is $1,201 per person. These are all discounted rates. Trying to see uh another one here. Um you can do a five night Grand Turk and Bimini Beach Club trip. Five nights on December the twelfth, twenty twenty six. Departing from Miami, $925 a person. So there are others. There's a Jamaican cruise itinerary. There is Mexico and Bimini Club Halloween. That's this year you'd have to leave pretty quickly. What else is there? Southern Caribbean cruise, Seven Nights, November the 28th from San Juan, $1,050. Some of these rates are really good. So I've got a whole list. I'm looking at, I have to guess, but there's got to be 30 different cruises on here that are being offered for discounted rates. As I said, they're all like with most of them are, you know, November, December, or January. But there are some others. Like there's a there's a Miami to Morocco and Spain transatlantic cruise. That is 14 nights departing from Miami on April the 24th, 2027. And that is $1,474. And there are uh there's at least one date in July as well, and that's a Greece itinerary with an overnight in Mykonos. That's 11 nights for $2,650. So I've given you quite a few examples there. The only problem with this is that I don't think that you can find this information online. I tried to have a look the other day and I couldn't pull it up. At least not a nice list like that. You can definitely see some of their limited time uh offers, but you can't really see them all as a list from what I could see. Maybe there's a way I didn't look for a long time. But anyway, I've got a list, and that leads me to say this. If you are interested in trying out Virgin Voyages and you want a list of all the discounted cruises that I've mentioned to you, the some of them anyway, I've got this list of 30 that I would be glad to send out to you. I'll send you a copy. Just give me an email, Stephen, at thetravelagent.ca or use the fan mail button. Send me an email, and as soon as I get your email, I'll just send out a copy of all these discounted cruises. You can see them all on one page, which makes it a lot easier than navigating their website sometimes. So let me know. I'd be glad to offer you those deals to have a look at.

Outro

SPEAKER_00 24:14

Okay, now coming up next week on the Travel Agent Disney and Beyond, I want to talk to you about Disney dining plans and whether they are worth it for you. I also want to talk about Niagara Takes Flight on Park Pulse. Niagara Falls is not exactly a theme park, but that attraction is a lot like Disney World's Sorin. So I'll tell you about whether it's worth checking out or not. And we'll complete our exploration of the private islands of cruise lines by discovering MSC's Ocean K Marine Reserve. All that, as well as the Canadian Compass Travel Tip of the Week and Deal Stish. 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. Links to the show's page and to Apple Podcasts can be found in the show notes. Also, feel free to follow me on Instagram. Just search up at the TravelAgent, spelled with the E H. And 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 stephenatravelagent.ca and you could be part of building the content for our community. So remember, next week I'll tell you how I have to be brave for Halloween. And then it's more travel news and information, because dreaming about travel always makes me happy anyway. Until then, keep dreaming, keep planning, and keep exploring.