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Happy searching. Hi, I'm Jake and I'm Ashley.
And this is the wonderful thing about Disney Podcast.
Because Disney's a wonderful thing.
Come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly with us as we
discuss the parks, treats, and all things Disney with new
episodes every wonderful Wednesday.
What's up Dinglehoffers? Happy, wonderful Wednesday.
Welcome to the Big One, our 100th episode.
Can you believe it? No, honestly, there's still
times that I sit here and wonder, how are we still doing
this? Why do people want to listen to
us? But here we are.
It's true. Yeah.
I When we started this, I never thought we would get to 100
episodes. No, I don't think so.
And I mean, I don't know, I'm already feeling a little
emotional about this because we've had some time.
We knew this was coming. Yeah, kind of worked on some
things to build up for this. But I mean, a little bit of back
story for those of you who are just finding us recently or
don't know. From the very beginning, we just
did this as kind of a little activity to do as a couple
because we love Disney and we were just looking for something
to do rather than veg out on the couch all the time.
And here we are, 100 episodes in Season 3.
We've made some amazing friends, done some incredible things and
I don't know, I'm just feeling really grateful I don't.
Know, I agree. I agree.
And yeah, I mean, to your point, so grateful that everybody tunes
in every week, follows us on our social media accounts, 'cause
like, I mean, I think we would still be here doing this, but
nobody would be listening. We would like just be doing it
for us. But now I feel like we're doing
it for for the Dinglehoppers too.
I know, I still can't believe that I got you to buy into that
name for. I'm aware, I'm aware.
So here we are. But yeah, episode 100, we have a
very cool topic to talk about, something special that we did
with our family. It's kind of a celebration for
several reasons, but for this milestone in particular, but
with this being our 100th episode, I did something I'm I
got a surprise for you to celebrate.
So I asked for a little bit of help and this is kind of a
special episode, so obviously wanted to bring in some friends
for this episode as well, so. You're going off script.
I know I am. Again, this is a surprise.
So you haven't heard this yet, but just something to share with
you from one of our close friends.
So here we go, the wonderful thing about Disney Pod.
Congratulations on 100 episodes y'all.
I read a stat somewhere that only 6% of all podcasters make
it to 100 episodes, so congratulations.
I just think it's such a testament to all of the magic
and energy and just awesome vibes that y'all bring to this.
Great. Community and I just can't
believe that we've only known each other for.
Like one year, think of all the adventures we've gone on, think
of all the adventures we're about to go on.
I cannot wait for the cruise this year, y'all.
It's going to be epic. And just cheers to 100 episodes
and cheers to 1000 more. Love you all so much.
Oh my God, I'm not crying or anything.
It's OK, you're not the only one.
So obviously that's our friend and travel partner, Ashley Dixon
from Adventure Awaits by Ashley. I don't know you guys.
I don't think that there's any way that we could ever give all
of y'all as much as you've given us.
And one of our best friends that we've made through all this has
been Ashley. Just her support, not just on,
you know, planning our trips and our adventures, but just a lot
of collaboration as another person in our lives.
He's very driven who has very lofty goals and and we talked
business and shop and successes and frustrations.
But yeah, we just couldn't ask for a better travel partner and
someone to put these adventures together with.
We are so stoked to go on the cruise in September.
But I mean, this is someone that we went resort hopping with and
it's kind of just been a great support, so.
Took us to our first after hours at Disney World.
Yeah, to very merry, I know. And was like, hold on, we're
going. I know, I know, just one of the
best friends that you could ever ask for.
Just someone who's got an incredible light, a driving
force for us to go bigger and and better.
And yeah, just so much love for Ashley.
But yeah, promote Ashley to another.
Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah, well. I need a tissue.
I know you might need a box because there's another one.
There's more. Yeah, I don't know.
Again, just surprise. OK.
But somebody else wanted to chime in as well, or rather
somebody's else? OK, Hey, Jake and Ashley, this
is Amanda, Kevin and Kim. From where?
In the park. And we just want to say
congratulations on 100 episodes. Yeah, good job, guys.
Thank you so much for all you do and sharing the love of Disney.
Here's too many, many more episodes to come.
Let's go. Congratulations.
It is wonderful. Congratulations, I'm not crying
again or anything. It's OK.
So obviously those are our friends.
From where? In the park.
Yeah. And this is somebody that we
reached out to. I think we met through Instagram
just on a whim. Their content came up and.
Yeah, I just started following their account because I was
like, wait, like a scavenger hunt, like hide and seek game in
the park. I was like, that's legit, right?
And they're kind of, they're kind of legends.
I mean, they won't say it outright, but they're kind of
like the scavenger hunting legends of Disney.
Oh yeah. And they have such an incredible
business, whether you're going to Disney or other amusement
parks, just such a fun way to add to your experience and
adventures. And they've been such a huge
support to us. And that was a partnership.
We had to wait a little bit to to get everything going on.
But just so cool to see them grow and see all the amazing
things that they're doing. We got to meet them this year.
And I know for the first time, so fun.
They're just amazing, just amazing people and so many
incredible content creators and just people who are carving out
their little niche in the Disney community, but some of our
absolute favorites. So yeah, awesome.
And you know, again, if you are looking for where in the park
games, you can use our code at checkout and get a little
discount. So but definitely support them
check them out. They do incredible things.
But anyway, you ready for another one My?
God, how many do you have? There's a few, a few.
Well, there were a lot of people who wanted to celebrate with us
and, and I think this voice is one that you'll recognize a lot
of you listeners will recognize because he was just here.
And I think he gave us something for our podcast that once, once
we added a theme song, I felt like we finally made it.
So this is our friends Disneylanders.
What's up, Jake and Ashley, congratulations on 100 episodes.
You guys are killing it. Can't wait to see another 100
episodes. I just want to say I'm so proud
of you guys. I love you guys.
Congratulations. I'll see you soon.
Peace. I mean, he might be the coolest
dude I've ever met in my life, and I haven't even met him in
person. Right.
Yeah. And and guys, we talked about
this a little bit in that episode, but that was kind of
our moon shot like, yeah, trying to to contact someone we thought
was larger than life and just hoping that maybe he might see
our message. And he responded.
He put together our amazing theme song and yeah, one of the
coolest episodes we've done yet. Oh yeah, I mean, and iconic
sunglasses. Like I kind of want a pair.
I know I do too, only I know I'll never be able to pull him
off like. He No, I wouldn't either, no.
We've gotten a lot of feedback from that episode, a lot of
things very positive, beautiful things said like, you know, one
comment was like, I'm ready to run through a wall, right?
But yeah, the Disneylanders again, the vibe, the aura, just
so cool. But one of the finest, most down
to earth, most rad human beings that you could ever ask for.
And, and just to have him in our corner, it's pretty awesome.
Oh yeah. So, dude, we love you so much.
Thank you for, you know, again, you say that you'll do this for
anyone And, and I know that that's genuine in that you
absolutely do. But that felt like having you in
our corner and and you taking the chance with us to make this
happen just means more than you know.
Yeah. So yeah.
You still good? Sure.
There's more. Oh my God, I don't know you'll
you'll recognize this voice right away, but but one of our
closest friends and adventure buddies.
So here we go. Hello, wonderful thing about
Disney podcast, Morgan's new world here.
And I just wanted to say congratulations on your 100th
episode. That is amazing.
I watched you guys grow in amazing community and thank you
so much for letting me be a part of it.
Congratulations on 100 and here's to 100.
More Oh my gosh, Morgan. No, I can't, you guys.
I can't. You can, I mean, my gosh,
Morgan, you're awesome. And, you know, we still have so
many things in the work, so many things that we're talking about,
but you have just become one of our closest friends.
And it started out as a shared love for Disney.
But I mean, here we are planning other things and, you know,
being very personal in each other's lives and.
I know she's going to come visit us hopefully soon, so then we're
going to go to her to Denver. You can't even talk.
The tears are flowing, no? Literally you guys.
Usually I'm the one that that loses his emotions on this show
but. No, I've lost my cool.
I don't know how I'm supposed to do the rest of this episode.
It's OK. We'll figure it out.
But Morgan, thank you for being there with us, for honestly just
being our cheerleader. And she's just one of those
people. I think we all wish we had a
Morgan who, you know, I genuinely believe that she
thinks we're pretty cool. I don't know why she's seen us
at our worst, but she's also seen us at some of our best
moments. But just love you so much.
Thank you. Thanks, Morgan.
Yeah, how? What else?
How about how about one that is a little more personal to you
than me? OK.
Because this is someone that you got to meet along your
adventures, OK? And someone that I don't know.
I really wish she would just adopt me right now because she
is the coolest lady I've ever met in my life.
So here we go. She needs no introduction.
Hey, congratulations, 100th episode of yours podcast.
What a milestone. I'm happy to be here to
celebrate with you. Now, I'm not at home in Florida.
If I was, I'd have party hats. The kids, the sensational 6
would have party hats. We would be celebrating out the
wazoo. But unfortunately, I'm still up
here in Maryland. But my thoughts are with you
guys out there and I'm so happy for you.
And that whole dog episode podcast that we did that was
priceless. I loved it.
And I just thank you for having me as one of your people, one of
your. Peeps.
And so even though I don't have the party hats, I don't have the
party dogs, I'm celebrating with the root beer.
Float. Does that count?
Hey, here's to at least 100 more.
Love you guys. No, Sheila.
She is the coolest woman I've ever met in my life.
Thank you so much, Sheila. Thank you.
That was so sweet. So as a reminder, if anyone
missed that episode, give us a little back story into how you
met Sheila. Yeah, so Sheila, we actually met
through Darren Darling. They're famous for like Disney
bounding. So they had a retreat last O2
January's ago now. And Sheila and I were both at
that retreat, met her. And to your point, I was like,
this is like the coolest woman I've ever met in my life.
I was like, I love her. So we were car buddies.
Like, we were carpool buddies. We were all, yeah.
And we all carpooled to the parks together and just like,
really became friends. And it was awesome.
So knew we wanted to have her on a podcast episode and we when we
hit 5K she want our 5K giveaway to be a podcast guest.
So I was like, this is perfect. So the sensational 6 she has six
dogs. So loves her dog.
So we did Top 10 Disney dogs with her on our podcast episode
and she's amazing. She is amazing.
She's so freaking cool. But Sheila, thank you for doing
this. And, and when I reached out to
her, I had to figure out a way to do it where you wouldn't see
it. Yeah.
But no, she, she was so thrilled to do this for you, which was
really sweet. I know she loves you very much.
So. I don't know if I can cry
anymore. We like almost done.
We are almost done. This is not the last one though.
What? But this is someone.
I'm sweating. I'm sweating.
Welcome to the show, Wear a mess.
Unfiltered. Unfiltered.
What this episode's gonna be. This this is someone that I
don't know, maybe I'll maybe I'll save it for after, but.
OK, I. Don't know.
I just, you know, I had to, OK. I had to reach out to our Ghost
host, Justin. Hi Jake and Ashley,
congratulations on 100 episodes. I'm so, so, so, so so proud of
you guys. I know that you always say that
I was instrumental in your success, but I feel the exact
same way about you. You 2 are so supportive and so
loving and caring and I don't know what I would do without you
guys. So seriously, can't wait to meet
you in person. And again, cheers to your 100
episodes. And I hear there's room for
1000. So can't wait to hear.
What you do next? Oh my God.
OK. No, I'm not.
I am not. I'm mentally unwell.
So there are certain times in life where you cross paths with
individuals that it just feels like meant to be, and there's a
connection there that is a lot deeper than it probably should
be. Yeah.
And I feel like that's our connection with Justin.
Yeah. And there's something that he
shared with us as we were talking Haunted Mansion and
collecting and other things as he made the comment that if
you're meant to have it, it will find you at the right time.
Yeah. And I felt like that happened
for us when we met him. Yeah, and we're super stoked
because he's gonna be on the cruise.
I know in September y'all come cruise with us.
Like yeah, it's gonna be yeah. Oh my gosh, it's.
Gonna be awesome you guys like we are nothing without our
friends and these friends who are family to us and if you are
looking for friends if you're looking for great people like
you guys have heard examples of this of these amazing souls that
have found us and this is like what's waiting for you if you're
on the fence about like whether or not you want to come cruise
with us or whether or not you fit in like just come.
Yeah, Join us. Join Justin.
Join Ashley. Yeah, it's going to be amazing.
But you guys, Justin is one of the most incredible people that
I think we've ever met. And you know, obviously his
Haunted Mansion passion and collection are unrivalled and
incredible. He's built an amazing community
for all of those spooky souls that love to to do Haunted
Mansion. But just such a beautiful
person, and we're so grateful to have him in our life.
Yeah, so. Also, the thought of getting to
1000 episodes, I don't know. I don't know that I'll make it
past this one, let alone 1000. We're going to need some help,
y'all, but I'll tell you what, as long as y'all keep listening,
we're going to keep going. I don't know about that.
OK, well, I I promise this is the last one.
I just have one more. OK.
And I want to say before I share this last one, there are so many
more people that I could have reached out to.
OK, maybe I'm saving that for 200, but OK, sure.
Even if if you weren't included on this, you guys like just know
that we see you, we hear you, we love you.
Thank you for loving us so much. But this last video, OK, is it's
from Sean, of course, my brother from another mother Earth.
Here we go. A huge congratulations to you,
Jake and Ashley on 100 episodes of your amazing Disney podcast.
Not only am I grateful for the magic you bring to us all with
each episode, but I'm also incredibly grateful to call you
both dear friends. Here's to many, many more
wonderful episodes to come. Cheers.
Oh, Sean. I know, I know.
We've had the chance to meet Sean now several times and his
amazing, beautiful family. We ended up at the same hotel.
Twice. Twice, you know, kind of
unplanned, but no sincerely this, this is the brother that I
never had and. Oh, you guys like I'll walk
downstairs and I'm like, who are you playing Fortnite with?
And they're like, yeah, just Sean, I'm like, OK, we're.
Actually pretty good together too.
But no, just just such great people, He and Shaquell and
their kids, their family. But I mean, these are these are
just a few examples of some of the finest humans that are out
there that we've gotten the privilege to meet through this
podcast. And when I was putting this
together, when I reached out to them, I just said, hey, I wanted
to surprise Ashley. So these messages, of course,
for us, but they're for you. And I love doing this together.
But like, I know how much you love Disney and I've always
enjoyed Disney, but like, you unlocked a whole new level of
fandom and madness and shenanigans.
But I do this for you and I love seeing how much you've grown and
your personality come out and. Disney Ash doesn't take any
crap. Disney Ash doesn't play no, but
just for me. Thank you for being my magic and
for putting up with me and all of this and and I just hope that
you feel all the love from everyone.
Want to do so anyway you want to do an episode?
I don't. Know.
Well, let's let's talk about. OK, let's attempt to do an
Episode I. Need to breathe.
I need to refocus, right? I need to take my emotions out
of this now. I'm sure there will be more
crying later in this episode. But sure.
Well, here's here's a little bit about what we're going to talk
about today. So we as you've heard if you
listened over the years, we have a Disney bucket list and there
is a couple items on there that we knew was going to take a long
time to do, one of them visiting every Disney park around the
world in the process of doing that.
But this one felt kind of like the white whale, the one that I
didn't know if we would ever accomplish.
I I certainly hoped we could. But not anytime soon I expected.
I still like 5-10 years down the road.
Yeah, but things came together and the timing of it could not
have been anything but meant to be.
And so we had the opportunity to go on a Disneyland VIP tour.
I still cannot believe that we did that.
I, I know I still, I still pinch myself that it was real, but
y'all, it was incredible. It was absolutely amazing.
Oh, kind of like a blur too. Like full.
Day I know so I don't know how you want to start this out or go
into it if you want to share a little bit of back story what
led up to this. But we've we've want to do this
for some time and and we knew like this is an expense it it
takes a lot to put something like this together, especially
for us and just on a personal note there's a lot of things in
our lives that are happening right now.
Like our oldest is a senior in high school.
He's about to leave the house and and go out on some of his
own adventures right now and and we knew that as we plan this
trip with our kids because we try and go at least once a year
together to Disney sometimes more.
But we wanted to make this trip special and things just kind of
lined up. Well, and grandma was coming
with us too, so we were like, what better way to have a big
family? I don't know, just like moment,
I guess, together to make those memories together, the six of
us, right? What better way to do that than
with the VIP tour? Absolutely, absolutely.
And again, last year was a rough year for us.
I lost my job in January and was unemployed for seven months and
then a couple weeks later after I started a.
New job? Yeah.
You lost your. Job The end of July I lost my
job. And that was tough.
And there were just a lot of things that thankfully we have
been very, very blessed in our lives.
Again, obviously with great people, not just for the
podcast, but people in life and our network is great.
But like, that was a a tough, tough year.
Yeah. And then things kind of came
together. And obviously things are going
much better now, but I happen to have a a really good bonus this
year. And we thought, you know what?
Let's let's do this. We're like, we could save or put
it away for retirement, or we could just spend it all and go
on AVIP tour. Yeah, and I don't regret it at
all. Yeah, we're we're not rich.
We're not famous, just irresponsible.
Totally irresponsible with our money.
It's fine, it's all good. But yeah, so going into this, we
wanted to do an episode not just about our experience, but tell
you a little bit about what AVIP tour is, talk about how you can
make it happen. And you know, again, like we
said, sharing a little bit about our personal time doing it.
But yeah, before we get into that, guys, like wherever you're
at in life, if you feel the inclination and you're like,
hey, we can do this. Like do it, you know, you only
get to live once. And that's where we're like,
hey, we have this time with our kids.
It's it's very fleeting. It goes very fast.
And we pull the trigger to make this memory together.
And I'm so glad that we got to share that with our family.
Yeah. Yeah.
Anyway, with that, let's do it. So yeah, let's do it.
So I guess backing up for those who might not know what AVIP
tour is. So essentially this is a way to
enhance your day at the park. So what is included is you get
expedited access, so to all of the rides, which means if it has
a lightning lane, your tour guide will take you through the
lightning lane. I guess I should back up.
You get a tour guide that takes you around the entire day.
Yeah. These these are those cast
members who are dressed in Plaid.
And you see them all the time. Yep.
And every time I see one, I'm like, is that somebody famous or
just somebody who has a lot of money?
Like I always have to look. I'm like who you got on that VIP
tour with you so. If anybody saw us that day,
joke's on you, it was neither. Yeah, not rich or famous.
But no, these these cast members, I think this is a very
special job in the Disney parks. Like I would argue these are
some of the best of the best because they're one taking
around some very high level, high profile individuals
oftentimes. But also, these are people who
are very knowledgeable, not just in their one area, but like in
Disney in general, like all sorts of stuff.
Like they'll share history with you.
They'll answer all your questions.
Yep, they give you the insider knowledge, they'll tell you
where hidden Mickeys are, just different little details about
the queue line or the ride itself.
So definitely fully versed in the Disney parks, yeah.
Yeah. So OK so yes they will give you
expedited access. Meaning if there is a lightning
lane they will take you through the lightning lane.
Yep, if there is not a lightning lane, they will take you
essentially as close to the front of the line as possible.
Yeah, sometimes even almost like at the exit like they yes, get
you right on. Yep, yeah, you will have the
option to have reserved viewing for entertainment.
It's like your smile. I know because again, we
experienced the fireworks in a whole.
New way? Yep.
So fireworks, parades, nighttime entertainment, all of that.
You have the option of reserved viewing and this is included.
This is all included in your VIP tour.
Again, you get the expert guide. They will navigate the park for
you again. They make sure that they fully
take care of you. Like I've seen tour guides
pushing strollers before, like holding hands with kids, like.
Carrying backpacks. Whatever you want like.
Hauling merch bags. They are there to serve you that
day. That sounds weird, but.
You know what I mean? It's essentially true.
Photo Pass is included with this, which is super, super rad.
Yep, and can we tell them about the snacks 'cause that might
have been the best part of all. Yes.
So we knew that some snacks were included, but we didn't know
exactly what. So at the start of our tour, we
found out that each person had about 3 snack credits that they
could use throughout their day. So we'll get into what we chose
kind of as our. Snacks.
We will, but let me tell you, as you know, I can.
I can get a little rowdy. I was almost insatiable when we
came off of Pirates of the Caribbean and there was a plate
of Dole Whips waiting for us. Honestly.
So yeah, that was my very first experience with the VIP tour
guide. That was the first time like I
really took notice to them was years ago in Disneyland.
We got off of Pirates and there was somebody in Plaid standing
there with a tray full of Dole Whip, and I was like, who are
you and how do I get this service?
And to be able to have that come full circle, I was like, yes.
There was more than one instance on this day, friends, when
Ashley told me you need to stop walking like that.
You need to. You need to get your nose out of
the clouds and be normal. Yeah.
And then we also had access to VIP exclusive merch.
So we'll get him out. We'll get into that.
That you guys, you got to know that's dangerous.
Like that's like you're warming yourself by a nice fire, maybe
enjoying some s'mores. You know, it's just checking out
the stars above and then someone comes with like a gas can and
just throws it on top and like, oh, were you having fun?
Because then it just went to a whole nother level.
But yes, we'll get into the VIP merch.
Later. Yeah, yeah.
OK, so how do you book the tour? You're like, how how do I do
this? You're like, yes, I want to do
this. So we were able to book this
through our travel agent Ashley from Adventure Awaits by Ashley.
Yeah, she took care of everything.
Yep, she called Disneyland and she was like, Yep, my clients
want to do AVIP tour. So essentially they asked her
and she, I remember was texting you with some of the questions
at the time while she was on the phone with them.
But they wanted to know what our priorities were for the day,
what our priority rides were for the day.
Did we want any dining reservations?
Yep. And did we want any reserved
seating for parades, entertainment, whatever?
And also, were there any characters that we wanted to
meet correct, which was really, really cool.
And guys, I will again, shameless plug for Ashley, but
she's done this for Disney World as well.
She's well versed in the process.
It was great to have somebody who knew what they were doing,
who could kind of just talk to us, lay all that out.
And then she made the call and she took care of everything
while she was on the phone, like Ashley said, she was texting us
just, you know, any last minute questions.
But she took care of all of it. It made it so seamless.
And then the next thing we knew, there was an e-mail.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So once everything is confirmed,
you will get essentially APDF itinerary and this will tell you
the times and locations of where you're meeting your tour guide.
If you made any dining reservations with them, it will
tell you where to be and when while you're not with your tour
guide, 'cause if you, if you're on your tour with your tour
guide, they will obviously take you to lunch or take you to all
those places. But the itinerary, Yep, has
exactly what you need on there, right.
So you're probably also wondering how many people can go
on this tour with you. So this tour you can have up to
10 people, yes. So again, if you're wanting to
split the cost with 10 people, it's not too bad.
But that brings us to how much did this cost us?
Right. And that's, I mean, that's
really the question, 'cause I think it's pretty common
knowledge that this is an exclusive experience and it is
expensive. Yes, Yeah.
So the VIP tours it, This is a luxury item.
So this can cost anywhere from 500 to $800 per hour.
And in Disneyland, you have to do a minimum of seven hours.
Yep. So obviously during peak times,
it's going to be a little more expensive.
Offseason, it's going to be less expensive.
But again, if you have 10 people and you're willing to split
this, that's not too bad. Like it really isn't.
Yeah, for everything that you get.
And again, like when we approach this, we're like, Hey, this is
kind of a once in a lifetime experience for us.
And we just did it with our family.
Now again, would I do it again with friends where we could
split the cost? Oh, without a doubt.
And knowing that you can get up to 10 people at a time is is
really cool and you can have quite a group.
Yeah. And I think the other kind of
frequently asked question for AVIP Tour is like, can you ride
an attraction more than once? Because like if you book a
lightning lane, for example, you can only book that lightning
lane once. If you want to go on it again,
you have to stand in line. You could ride Matterhorn all
day on your VIP tour until your heart is content.
You can ride any ride you want as many times as you want.
You just have to tell your tour guide what you wanna do.
And that is where this really gets fun because I want you guys
to understand that this was customized for us.
Yes, from the very beginning, I'm working with Ashley.
She asked us all the questions. So she kind of knew ahead of
time. And then when she called Disney,
working with Disney, this is where they really made it
customized for our needs. They're asking us the ages of
our kids and where we like to eat and what we like to ride and
again, favorite characters, anything that we wanted to do.
And so for us, we chose the approach of like, hey, there are
some big rides that we know our boys really want to go on.
We know that our daughter really wanted to meet Minnie and Mickey
and some character opportunities.
But yeah, you could make it be whatever you want to be.
Even if you wanted to just go sit in, you know, a lounge and,
you know, talk about history of the park or just kind of soak it
in. So on the park bench you could
do that. Yeah.
Yeah, so. So the other question that was
asked during while Ashley was booking the tour for us was is
there a specific tour guide that you have in mind?
Is there somebody that you would like to request?
And this is where it was really fun for us, and this is again
where it got very special. So we were in Disneyland back in
February and while we were outside the bathrooms, we saw a
VIP tour guide who was there with a group.
And again, it was just one of those moments where you just
feel like you make a connection with somebody.
We're just watching this cast member do their job.
But, you know, she just seemed to have it together.
She had sunblock, She very friendly.
She was talking about like different things.
And we just kind of observed and watched her.
And then when her group went into the restroom, we just kind
of help ourselves. And like, I just, I just have to
say hi. And so we we introduced
ourselves to Haley from Los Cruces, New Mexico.
And we just said, hey, we just wanted to let you know, like,
you're awesome. Yeah.
Like, you could just tell there was something special about her.
She is excellent at what she does.
And she just kind of personified what I've always envisioned a
VIP tour guide to be. Yes.
Right One. Yep, 100%.
And I don't know what was happening.
The words just fell out of my mouth.
And I just said, hey, you know, like, we're thinking about doing
a VIP tour one day. And you looked at me like, yeah,
like, OK, guy. Literally I was like, with what
money are we doing this? And I just said, is it possible
for us to make a request if we ever wanted to?
And she's like, yeah, you can always call and request a
specific tour guide and stuff. But she was very gracious.
She's like, but anybody that you get will take good care of you.
And I know Haley being Haley, but then we just kind of filed
it away. In no realm of reality or
possibility did I think we would be making that call.
Like a month later, later, I mean not even I think we met her
and like 2 weeks later I think Ashley called to book the Torah
for us. I know like it really did not
take long. It's just guys.
Things happen in life. Yeah.
And again, we were able to do this.
And so let us tell you just a little bit about Haley, because
we were able to get hurt, but we didn't know until the moment
that we walked up. That is the only disappointing
thing is like, I wish we could have known beforehand who our
tour guide was going to. Absolutely.
And for a couple of reasons. Number one, we had requested
someone specifically that didn't know us from Walt Disney.
Yeah. And so we were really excited
because we really, really wanted Haley.
And again, kudos to Ashley because I think she was like, Oh
no, I told them like, they need Haley, but we weren't sure
because again, these are these are cast members who have
schedules and other things in their lives.
Maybe she was just out of town or unavailable that day, so we
just didn't know. But also we wanted to do
something special for her. And ultimately we decided on
making some custom Mickey ears that had thank you from us.
And we would have liked to have put her name on it, but we
wanted to do it beforehand. So we didn't get the chance to
do it because we didn't know who we had gotten.
So for us personally, we really wanted that particular person.
We wanted Haley, but in general it is customary and kind of a
nice touch if you want to just do something for your VIP tour
guide is a little memento or something.
And so it's just it made it hard to customize it for them.
Yeah. So, OK, so to your point, so
yes, we got ears. They were black ears from I
think it was the Christmas shop. Oh, the Christmas shop, Yep.
And then we had them personalized and it just said
thank you from the Olsens on it. And to your point, we would have
liked to put her name on it, so we gave her that at the end of
the tour. But another thing that that I
forgot to mention that is kind of important is tip is not
included in the price of your full tour.
So yes, a tip is always appreciated.
And yes, we did obviously tip her cuz she was absolutely
amazing. But we wanted to give her that
extra little. We wanted to give our tour
guide, no matter who it was, a little something extra just to
make the day special. Right, for sure.
Yeah. But you guys, Haley was every
bit as what we had observed and more just so excited to see all
of us. I wish we could have taken a
picture of the boys faces when they realized what we were
doing. Because on this morning, like
this is day three of our trip, we had been going pretty hard
already. And our boys are like, OK, like
this is the last day where we're going to kind of clean up, you
know, like it's ride your favorites again or catch
anything that you had missed. And we decided we were going to
sleep in that morning, which normally we rope drop or get
there at park open, but we're like, no guys, you're tired.
And and like, legit they were. They were.
But we just kind of like, eased into the day and we're just kind
of wandering around and like, we went to Blue Bayou where we had
our reservation for lunch. And the boys are kind of like,
OK, well, what are we doing? We haven't ridden any rides.
Yeah, because that morning we went to Tom Sawyer Island.
Yep. And then the tree house.
The tree house. Yeah, and I mean the boys
wanting the thrill, they're like, what are we doing?
OK, Yeah. Where's Where's the next ride?
Kind of took it easy and like they had no idea it was coming.
So like once the realization like hit them of what we were
doing, you know, as it was a surprise.
But I will say the sweetest part of the day for me.
Was seeing Haley interact with her daughter.
Yeah. And she can be a lot when she's
excited. She made a new best friend.
Absolutely. She still talks about Haley on
the regular. Yeah, I think that she has a new
goal in life to be a Disney VIP tour guide.
But you guys like Haley made our day absolutely perfect and
magical in every single way. So let's so let's get into our
day. So as you mentioned, when we
booked the VIP tour, they asked, you know, do you want any dining
reservations? And Ashley texted you and they
said they had an 1130 Blue Bayou reservation that they could book
for you. So we were like, you know what,
why not, let's just do it. So we went to Blue Bayou for
lunch and again, that was booked through the VIP tour.
And something that was super important that they said was if
you cancel the VIP tour for any reason, you will also lose your
Blue Bayou reservation. So anyway, the time finally
comes, we walk up and there is Haley waiting for us outside of
Blue Bayou. And the moment that she
realized, like, wait, it's you, you guys talked to me.
And like we did, yeah. She's like, you guys are from
the podcast, right? And we were like, yeah, that's
us. So it was fun, but I love that
there's this very brief introduction and she's like, OK,
well, let's get down to business.
Where do you wanna go 1st? And here's kind of what I have
in mind for you guys. You guys wanna ride Pirates
right now? Yeah, she's like, Pirates is
right here. And we're like, yes, let's do
it. So again, Pirates doesn't have a
lightning lane. So kind of took us around the
side by the treehouse and we were on Pirates within 5
minutes. Yep.
And not only that, but she's like, where do you want to sit?
Yes, that is that is true almost every single ride.
She was like, do you have a preference of where you want to
sit? You want to sit in the front on
pirates? Boom, done.
You want to sit on the back of Big Thunder Mountain?
Boom, done. Yeah, wherever you want to sit.
That was awesome. Very cool.
So yeah, we did Pirates. And then we came off of pirates.
Yep, and there was Dole Whip and bottles of water for.
Us. And she's like hauling these big
bottles of water for us. I felt bad.
I did. Too.
But she's like, no, this is my job.
Like I'm here do this and like, OK, well, can you guys eat and
walk at the same time because we were moving.
Yeah, she was like, Nope, we're going.
And I'm like, I can't eat cold things super fast.
I mean, no one can, but I was struggling to finish my Dole
Whip. Oh, I I think I inhaled that
pretty quick because I was just basking in the glory of it all.
Yeah, strutting my way through New Orleans Square on our way to
Frontierland. It's true, yes, Because at this
point she's like, OK, Rise of the Resistance was down and
there was something else that was down.
So she's like, how about Big Thunder Mountain?
We were like, great, so let's go there next.
So yeah, she kind of had like a plan in her head, but she's
like, I'm not going to take you over to rise when it's down,
obviously. Well, and she knew and she knew
all of this and, and again, it made it just so efficient.
And I can't tell you guys enough, like how smooth
everything went. Yeah, if we wanted to stop for a
restroom, totally fine if we want to stop for a picture.
But like, she was already two or three steps ahead every step of
the way, all throughout the day. Yeah, no.
And this was, and this was so nice because we went at a little
bit of a busier time and lightning lanes were tough.
Like I spent hours refreshing you.
Like I remember the first day we had Indy and I finally got it
down to like 11:30. But I was like, I can't you guys
like I'm sorry, Indy is stuck where it is, Like I can't get
this down. So to not have to book any
lightning lanes, to not have to look at my phone at all, it was
amazing. She took care of that was
everything. That was the first time in a hot
minute that you've been able to be in the park and enjoy the
moment and not be on your phone. It was.
Great. It was so good.
Yeah. So we did Big Thunder.
Then we went over to Fantasyland and we did Peter Pan and Snow
White and Mr. Toad. And every step of the way, like
as she's pointing out different features of the rides, she knew
facts, plural, about every single ride that we went on.
We're learning things that we had never heard or read before.
Yeah. Which was absolutely awesome and
it was just hilarious. Our oldest lost his sunglasses
on Mr. Toad, and she was like, it's OK Let the cast member
know. She took care of it.
And she's like, OK, are you good without him?
Do we need to get you some other ones?
Yeah. He's like, no, no, I'm good.
It's like, OK, we're going. And she's like, we'll take care
of that at the end of the day. Don't worry.
Yeah, which is why we were like kids, you have to sleep in today
because we are going nonstop for seven hours.
Yeah, but every step of the way, again, she knew, like, OK, well,
this ride's going to be a little bit longer.
So while you're on this ride, let me go get you a snack or let
me check on this and and again she went back and checked on
Jeremy sunglasses one point. But the other thing that we had
told Haley as well as like, hey, we know there's an even number
of us, but anything you want to ride with us that you want to
like, come be a part of, like, come on, be, be with us and
stuff. And she did ride rides with us.
Yeah, she went on. She went on Snow White with us.
Yep, Yep. I remember that.
One she went on runaway, we're all away with us.
Yep. And again, it was so cool.
And I think we had an odd number.
She probably would have ridden even more with us, but that was
great. And we'd always said like
whenever we do this, like that cast member is part of our
family. And it was awesome that we could
do that. But after Space Mountain,
they're hot fresh churros waiting for us it.
Was great. It was amazing.
So yeah, at this point it's 3:30, so we are two hours into
our tour and we already did 123456 rides and two snacks.
And these are some of the big rides, too.
Yeah. So we make our way over to
Matterhorn. Yep, she gets us on that very
quickly. Runaway Railway was next.
And again, that was great that she wrote it with us, which was
super, super fun. But then while we're over in
Toontown, you know, she had more water for us.
And then she's like, OK, well, we're going to wander our way
over here. And that's where we got to meet
Mickey in our own private room and take pictures, which was
amazing. And I was just on cloud 9 as it
was. And then she's like, OK, well,
now we're going to wander over here.
And it was right next door to meet Minnie.
Yeah. And we got to go in the back
door. Yep.
We got to bypass the whole line. That was a 45 minute wait.
I know, I know. Yeah, it was incredible.
So that was so, so sweet. And the pictures, you guys?
Yeah, amazing. Well, even the pictures, we're
like, come on, We're like, get in here like you can.
I know she. Was like, no, you guys take
family pictures first because the tour guide, the mindset is
like, you always have to take care of your guests first.
So she's like, of course I wanna get in the pictures with you,
but I wanna make sure that you as a family, you get everything
that you want and need first. Right.
And then it was off to Galaxy's edge, and that's where we got to
do Rise of the Resistance. Yep.
And then wall in line for Rise of the Resistance because that's
a longer line. We wanted to do another.
We wanted more snacks and I desperately needed some caffeine
so we only have one snack credit left each.
But she's like, it's really not a problem.
She's like, this is my job. If you just give me some form of
payment, I will go get you more snacks and let's save your snack
credits for later. This was a dangerous moment for
Jake because I realized the world was literally at my
fingertips. She's like if you want a mobile
order food, you mobile order it, you pay for it.
I will go get it. Like so while we were on Rise of
the Resistance, we had a leftover Disney gift card.
So we gave her a Disney gift card and she went and got some
Mickey pretzels. She got me a Coke.
It was great. Yep, so at this point it's now
like 530. We've done 9 rides, 2
characters, 2 snacks, as well as the snacks that she went and got
for us on our gift cards. Like we're just living life,
having a wonderful time, talking, enjoying every moment.
She takes us over to Haunted Mansion.
We have beignets waiting for us afterwards.
Yep. I just, it was so awesome.
And then I was like well what if we just went over to DCA?
So we did. We jumped over to California
Adventure and again, she was very good to say, hey, is there
anything else you want to do here?
Because again, we know time's going to be a little tight, but
she was just very efficient making sure we squeezed
everything into this time that we could.
Yeah. And so, yeah, over in DCA now
all of a sudden we're riding web slingers and.
And she's riding with us and. She's like, do you know what you
need to hit? You need to hit the green
aliens, Anything that glows, anything that's yellow.
Like she knew exactly what to do in each ride.
So fun. And we got to go on cars, which
was awesome. And yeah, while in line, she
pulled out the phone and that's where the merch came out because
you can just do that from her phone.
Yes, you can do it at the VIP meeting area right inside the
gate in Disneyland, or she can pull it up for you and you can
order it there, which is really cool.
Yeah. So we were able to look through
her phone, decide what we wanted.
We were able to check out via the app that she had a scan the
QR code. Yep.
And then we had two options. She said I can deliver the VIP
tour merch to your hotel, but it would have to be a Disneyland
property hotel, which we were not staying at.
She's like or. It'll be delivered to a locker
and we'll get you the locker number and the code later.
And I will say, like it would have been really cool to go back
to our hotel and have it all waiting there for us, however,
to come walking out of the lockers.
Oh, you were living your best. Life with some VIP tour guide
bags that was yeah, it was a moment yeah, I'll never forget
and it was great Yep. So at this point, after we get
off cars, we're kind of running out of time here.
But she's like, hey, what else do you guys want to do?
So we went over to Guardians and she pointed out some cool stuff
because kids really wanted to do Guardians and got off of there.
And then this is where she was just so sweet.
She's like, hey, I know we're almost there, but it's Sauron
over California right now. On Sauron, you got to do it.
I am fine to wait some extra time to make sure that you guys
get to do this. Yeah, cuz she scanned us in
before our tour ended at 8:30, but she's like after this then
I'm like done. But she was so nice because
she's like we have reserved seating for the fireworks and
for Fantasmic. You guys need some snacks.
You still have snack credits left and if not, I have your
gift card. She's like let me go get you
guys some snacks for the entertainment while you guys go
rides. Lauren.
And we came off of Soren, and she had popcorn for us, Mickey
ice cream bar, Pretzel, another churro for me.
Yep. And that's where we had the
moment to give her the ears. Yeah.
And I don't know, it's just awesome.
Yeah, she's great. It was a great experience.
And, you know, again, just knowing everything that we kind
of worked through last year and, and to be able to celebrate that
moment with her family and just kind of feel like we did it.
It was, it was great. And I don't know that Haley will
ever know how much that this experience meant to us, but I'm
really glad that she got to be a part of it for us.
Yeah. So that was the end of the
official like wall. We had the tour guide.
Yep. However, and this is one thing
that we learned, is Disneyland if you want reserved seating
that does not count as part of your tour.
Nope. In Walt Disney World, if you
want to watch happily Ever after from the reserved area of the
Hub Grass, you have to include that 30 minutes into your tour.
Suck it, Disney World. I'm sorry, what?
Here you did not have to do that, which I think is so worth
it. No, it really was.
And we planned out our day accordingly because we knew we
could have that time at the end. And so, you know, we we planned
ahead. We started at 1:30 for seven
hours going by 8:30 she could be on her way.
And then we could still go enjoy the fireworks, and we could
still enjoy Fantasmic. Yep.
So we crossed back over to Disneyland again by ourselves,
but she had sent us a map that showed us exactly where to sit
for the fireworks as well as Fantasmic.
We had personally mobile ordered dinner so we picked that up and
then we were in front of the castle.
On benches y'all. On benches.
And I'm sorry, but like this is the spot that if you want to see
the fireworks up close, like you're sacrificing at least an
hour, probably two of your day to to lock up spots.
To sit 3 hours Yeah, if you not the front of the castle.
We strolled up there 5 minutes before it all started and sat
there and cried together as fireworks are going off over our
heads while we're eating chicken tenders and fries.
Just living it up. It was magical.
And again, to see wondrous journeys.
Yeah, I don't know. Had a moment.
Yeah. Bald like a baby.
Yep. We all.
It was amazing. Yep.
But there was more. And then we had reserved seating
for Fantasmic at 10. 30 front and center.
Yep, it was awesome seats. Yeah, seats again.
Yep, it was great. No, it was really great.
And then by that point, now it's, you know, 11:00, like the
parks closed. And so we just kind of walked
out and, you know, like the afterglow of it all, you know,
just just soaking in this amazing day that we had.
And we went to the locker and picked up our merch and strutted
out of there like a mill Peacock in full bloom.
It was amazing. It was amazing.
But final count, 14 rides, 2 characters, 5 snack runs I
think. It might have been 6 snack runs,
I don't even know. I lost count because I don't
think I counted the beignets. Oh yeah that's true. 7 Snack
runs Snacks Snacks for days. Snacks on Yeah, snacks on
snacks. So that was our day overall.
Final thoughts. Was it worth it?
Absolutely. Now I will say like this was
something that we have been saving up for building towards
for a long time. We had to start over our saving,
you know, just in light of everything last year.
But when we just looked at what was happening in our lives, what
this trip meant for us, absolutely zero regret.
It was worth every penny. And I think the experience
there, you know, sometimes I think like I gotta let this not
go to my head, but like it was just so magical and a way to
experience the Disney parks unlike anything we'd ever done
before. And to do as many things as we
did, but just to have such a pleasant experience from start
to finish, even though we were just running like we, it didn't
feel like it. It just felt like you were just
in this dream the whole day. And it was incredible.
And selfishly, I hope we can do it again someday.
But if we can't, I'm so glad we did it.
Yeah, it was amazing. Yeah, I would agree, knowing
that 100% this is a luxury item and not something that everybody
will be able to do. Yeah, I think if you have the
money, it is absolutely worth it because again, for me, like when
we go to the parks, I essentially am the VIP tour
guide. Yeah, I'm the one who books the
Lightning lanes. I order all of the food, I do
all of those things so to be able to sit back for this one
day and just enjoy the trip with my family.
Priceless. Priceless.
I didn't have to do a darn thing all day.
No, it was great. It was really great.
And so again, if you're doing this, even if you have the money
to burn and just can do it on a Tuesday, do something to
celebrate. And I think that part was really
special because she knew we were celebrating our son graduating
from high school. And for us, you know, our 100th
episode of the podcast, but also just a great family trip.
Have something to celebrate. I promise it'll be that much
more special and worth it to be able to close the night.
I would recommend again, have something for your VIP tour
guide. It doesn't have to be ears.
Just do something, something for them because like they, they
really are outstanding cast members.
And she gave us I'm celebrating buttons that have a Plaid border
on them. She gave us VIP tour pens, which
are amazing. But guys, like if you ever
wanted an experience just for you, this is the way to do it.
And, and just again, like just a special shout out to all the
cast members like y'all are amazing.
We are guests at this park where you guys live and work and it
was just really cool to see that and experience it with them the
whole day. You know, cuz I think we all
have our favorite cast members that we interact with on a ride,
but to think like, hey, you get to have your favorite cast
member with you all day long. Unbelievable.
Yeah. So good.
Yeah, it. Was great.
So to wrap up, y'all, thank you for giving us 100 episodes of so
much fun connection magic, and here's to so many more ahead.
But just know sincerely, for those of you that we already
have had the pleasure to meet, for those of you that we still
are dying to meet, but just anyone out there that that we
don't know personally yet, we love you very much and we hope
that you guys enjoy this podcast as much as we enjoy making it
for you. But you're a part of our family
and just thank you for the incredible journey so far.
That's it for this week's episode.
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check out our T-shirt shop, shop Threads of Imagination, and
until next wonderful Wednesday, TTFN.