Welcome everybody to another episode of Friendship Safari's. This is episode 11
and it's only been a year and a half since our last episode.
Well a year and a half. What have you been doing in the last year and a half, Brian?
Oh, you know, just living life, living the dream. Been to Disney twice in a year and a half, I think.
About you.
Just twice, Brian. I've been so many times, but let me tell you this. I'm in Michigan right now.
Having a nice Founders Brewing Company year. I'm so missing Disney. Isn't that weird? You can be in one place
where ultimately you don't care about what's actually happening but you miss Disney.
What happened to you, Brian? You saw in your head.
Yes, I had to.
I unmuted. I was trying to switch to Push-To Talk so that I couldn't hear background noise here.
I muted and then my screen froze so I will cut that out. No big deal.
I think it's probably a St. Louis thing. If I had to say anything, St. Louis seems to be a muted kind of town.
I don't know if any of you have been following us for a while but Brian's from St. Louis and for those of you also from St. Louis, it's okay.
Shout out Tower Grove, my friends that watch in Tower Grove. Outside of that, St. Charles, I don't know, it's fine.
Let's talk about Disney because that's what we're here for.
So Disney. Brian has been a few times with the family in the last few years. I've been many times by myself and with my family.
I think we can all say, Disney, what are you doing? What's going on?
There's a lot of things happening but Brian, let me hear your top two things.
Last few times you've been, top two things you've seen, you're like, what's up, Disney, what's going on?
Well, a good what's up is Guardians of the Galaxy.
Real that for the first time, twice in one day, got the same dang song though. That was disappointing.
What'd you get? What'd you get?
Run so far away. I really won in Gloria Estefan but that didn't happen.
Gloria Estefan.
Or the Kanga song. Is that Gloria Estefan?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, but no. So I got the same song. And the problem was, not the problem, but really disappointing was like someone in front of us
messed up their math and so they asked us to go ahead of them and we were like, oh no, we're next to somebody else.
Had to jump in front of us and so we got pushed back a car and then we got the same song the second time.
Very disappointing.
What's your number of 50,000? Don't let other people influence where you ride in the ride. Right Brian?
Yeah.
I mean, you're Midwestern nice, right? You got that and greened in you but if you know you want to go a certain spot in the line,
give it up.
Give it up.
You had to go, what road were you in then? Where did you have to?
Well, the road didn't change. It was just a car.
What was the car?
Because like they were trying to wait for someone or line it up with a buddy next to them and we were trying to do the same thing.
So that was the issue.
That's you. Makes sense.
Yeah. So yeah, Guardians was great. The queue is definitely better during the extended evening hours because it was about eight minutes instead of an hour.
Hey, talk to us about that. What does the extended evening hours mean?
Yeah. So we stayed at the Beach Club Resort, which is a deluxe resort, which gave us two extra hours at Epcot after the park closed.
And it's only open to those also staying at a deluxe resort.
And so the wait times were much lower.
So for the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy, we got to try again, I think it's seven o'clock.
It's five or seven. Go to get another virtual queue, even if you got one earlier in the day, you get a second chance.
And I got it because I'm good at that.
It's a pretty good deal. So is that every part? What does that look like?
Right now? Yeah, it's just two. So it's just Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
I think right now Epcot's Monday. I don't remember what day Magic Kingdom is, but yeah.
So Magic Kingdom, you try again, same thing with Tron, trying to get another virtual queue.
We were not successful for Tron during the extended evening hours, but we didn't get it for the first time during the day.
So that would be my disappointment would be Tron because it's a long line for a short ride.
And I was wondering the next trip I'm going on is in April and just a studio's Epcot trip.
So no Magic Kingdom in that mix, but you'd say, well, what if you wouldn't even done the line?
Like would you say it's not worth it at all?
Oh no. If there is no line, yeah, that'd be a good ride.
But with the hour wait, it's probably like a literal minute ride.
Would you put MindTrain above it?
Oh yeah, easy.
Yeah, easy. Okay.
An hour wait for MindTrain is worth it.
We're going deeper in this though. What if you put, would you put Pirates above it?
Well, I like Pirates and that's a long ride, especially Disney World. It's a long one.
Either one though, would you put Pirates above Tron?
Oh, well, yeah.
Yeah.
See, the wait for Pirates is mostly covered.
So in the Florida heat, it's not killing you.
But Tron, most of the queue is outside going back and forth.
And it's terrible.
Fair enough. Okay.
I wouldn't have thought that.
I mean, if you buy the ILL, the individual lightning lane, it's probably not a big deal.
But I'm cheap. I did the virtual queue because it's free.
Well, if you're doing that for six people, that's expensive.
Yeah.
What is the ILL right now? What does that look like for Tron?
What would you have paid for it? It had you two.
Oh, I mean, it varies every day, but...
Like 20 a person?
It was probably close to 20. Somewhere between 15 and 20.
A person.
A person for one ride.
I wouldn't do that either. Yeah. We've done a few.
We've done a few. We will pay 10, 15 for a ratatouille.
If we're going to go into Epcot, it's kind of one of those days where you're just kind of like,
ah, I don't want to buy my whole Genie Plus.
I'm just going to ask for one ride.
Because Epcot depends, right? It's one of those parks where it's like, it's my favorite park.
It's our favorite park. Our family's favorite park.
It's one of those ones where you're like, okay, this is the go-to.
I would assume, I think for most people, you know, do we?
So if you can get in $15, not too bad, you know, but if you can do a...
I mean, if you can do a Genie Plus for $15, $20, do it.
$25, do it.
Epcot, in my opinion.
But, you know, we've done it. We've just done that.
You can walk over and do Frozen the next.
See, I...
You've got to stay pretty quickly. It's not a big deal.
I like to rope drop rent, too.
Oh, I do, too. Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's a better plan. If you can get up that early and get over there and you're not exhausted from a week trip already...
Well, and if you're staying over there in that park, right?
Like, so you can get in at the International Gateway.
And yeah, absolutely. I agree with you 100%.
You get in the International Gateway, you go do that, you're there.
You know what you're doing.
Yeah.
Well, for those of you that don't listen to us ever, I travel for work.
Brian sometimes travels to work, but I happen to be in Michigan right now.
You know, fun times.
And I will be in Detroit, Michigan next week.
It'll be. And I'll be in Canada. So, you know, places we go.
It's like a Dr. Seuss book.
I was actually in Springfield, Massachusetts last week, which surprisingly enough,
has its birthplace of Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel.
For those of you at home keeping track.
Theodore Geisel was born in that location.
You know I have a new dog?
Hey, everyone, let's see this podcast.
I do not.
I have a new dog.
My dog's name, we had to put Frosty down.
Unfortunately, Frosty.
And down last June, we got a new puppy.
In the end of December is a new year's puppy.
His name is Cheesecake.
He is a multi, a Maltese.
And he is amazing.
He's phenomenal.
He's a little guy.
And we love him to death.
So he's a new addition.
The family.
Yeah.
His name is, yeah.
We'll put, we'll throw pictures up.
We should actually make a website, Brian.
I feel like, I feel like we can make a website.
This sounds like fun.
Well, we have this RSS site, which we can probably put pictures of.
I feel like you have a lot of skills that no one knows about.
You know, I'm sitting here with like,
I do have a particular set of skills.
I feel like they leave me saying of our, of our podcast.
I feel like it's like a good one.
Good set of skills, honestly.
Depends on the definition of good.
Well, you know, good set of skills for most people that are here.
Where'd you stay last time you went?
I stayed at the Swarovanserv last time I went.
It was a really good experience.
I would, I would, I would say if you are a Marriott customer.
So you're a business customer, right?
And you stay at Marriott's all the time.
I would 100% say the Marriott Swarovanserv.
Great pick.
A little pricier in most hotels, but you get the Disney,
you get the Disney experience with the Marriott points.
And you get Starbucks coffee.
I mean, there's, there's hard, it's a hard miss if you don't say there
and you want those things.
So when I stayed, I went with my wife and daughter.
We went down there and my wife's a big Starbucks fan.
So I could pre-order every single morning her flat white,
my daughter's egg with cream cheese, my ham and Swiss croissant.
And it would be either a, deliver to my room or B,
I get on the elevator, I go downstairs and I pick it up in the pickup little
kiosk thing they have there.
And I went upstairs.
It was either, it was in my room where I was there in four minutes
and it was a great experience and it's worth the extra, you know,
little money you pay to go.
And in the day I got my points on Marriott.
My wife and kid were phenomenally excited.
I enjoyed it.
We were able to enjoy the pool and the Swarovanserv.
Would they have their own pool?
But also when you stay there, you get access to the swan and the dolphin pools.
So you can go to any of those anytime you want.
And it was really awesome.
We also had the, the, the, uh, fantasia gardens.
It's a garden.
Miniature golf is right there.
You knew what I was going with that.
Yeah.
We did mini golf and it was phenomenal.
We did mini golf for a day, for free.
It was included in our passes.
It was, and I would say if you are a frequent traveler and you are a Marriott person,
you can't miss.
Go to Swann Reserves, swan or the dolphin.
You're going to be solid.
Yeah.
And that's a good point because you pay in like moderate level prices for Disney,
but you're getting the deluxe benefits because you also get the water transportation
provided by the friendships, which I used to.
Yeah.
What was your, what was your favorite joke?
I remember a few of them, Brian.
What was your, one of your favorite jokes?
You know, I think we talked about this on episode two.
Who knows?
Who knows, but I miss them.
I miss them.
Yeah.
So, man, I think I only had two, or at least I only remember two.
One was where do you take a sick boat?
Where to Brian?
The dock.
And then the other one was, what did the fast line say to the slow line?
Mufasa.
Mufasa, yeah.
So, you do remember, yes.
You do.
How you do?
Those are so good though.
They are.
They're so good.
Why did you leave, man?
You had to be so good at those boats.
Well, an internship can only last so long.
A valid point.
Got to graduate college at some point.
At some point, man, most state, right?
Like that.
You had to go back.
I had a vote for you for class president.
So, you had to go back.
No way.
Class vice president was such a big honor.
If only.
If only that would have happened, Brian.
15 years ago, there's a side note.
You know, my watch is right here.
I was just like, I was trying to figure out what was that, but it wasn't on my arm.
There we go.
It's upside down.
Why is this not going the way I want it to go?
The podcast or your watch?
My watch.
The podcast is fun.
My watch is what's making me mad right now.
I see.
Man, we were consistent for a few weeks here.
Oh, I know.
We actually had a pretty good following for while I was watching it.
We have a really actually, like a, it wasn't just Travis kind of a follow.
Yeah. Like if you look at these analytics, there's people.
No, I know.
Across the world.
I had like a thing in, in, in TikToks.
I was posting them on TikTok for a minute.
You know, like there's, where is this country?
If we did that again, we'd have it.
There's one person in France that listens.
Brian, I don't know how to use an Apple watch.
There's someone in Honduras as well.
I'm trying to figure out how to use an Apple watch.
And I think again, I use them.
I have one on right now.
You can use your Apple watch as your park ticket in lieu of a,
I just got it to go.
What are those things called?
Magic band.
Yes.
Magic band plus.
I figured it out.
It's excellent.
It's smarter than the magic band.
You know, we've talked about a lot of random stuff today.
And it's probably because we haven't really talked in a while.
You know, it's one of those things where you haven't talked with your friends.
You're kind of random on what comes up, what doesn't come up.
And that's kind of how Brian and I are right now.
But it's been a long time, but we want you to come back.
It's been a while since we talked to each other.
You know, it's been a while.
Brian, I mean, Brian and I, Brian, what is the last time we really sat down and talked to each other?
Looks like September of 22.
There you go.
Brian just called it out two years.
It's the last time we really talked to each other and two long, free us friends.
You know, and I think we just want to make sure we connect.
And so we're back.
We're here.
We're going to Disney.
We want you to come with us.
So just hit us up and we'd love to hear about your travels.
And I'm going to talk to you about our future ones and the ones we've done.
So hit us up.
We love you.
And we can't wait for this conversation.
Have a good one.
See you real soon.