DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris
The DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris was created to share their love of all things Disney in 2018. They feature vendors, crafters and travel agents who can help make your next Disney trip or your everyday life even more magical.
They had their Disney Fairy Tale Wedding at Epcot in 2008 (American Adventure Rotunda) and a vow renewal at Epcot in 2018 (Italy Pavilion). They love sharing tips from their trips to Walt Disney World, Disneyland and on the Disney Cruise Line.
Check out their shows to find unique vendors who can help bring Disney magic to you at home or on your next Disney vacation!
DisLove Podcast with Vanessa and Kris
DisLove E8 Resort Categories and Guest Lisa Reese with Pirate and Pixie Destinations LLC
Learn all about the different resort categories at Walt Disney World from Vanessa and Kris. They will also be joined by special guest Lisa from Pirate and Pixie Destinations LLC. She is a fellow Disney bride and has over a decade of experience planning vacations for travelers to Disney destinations.
For all the latest news about our episodes follow us on Instagram @dislovewithvanessaandkris or on YouTube.
Welcome to the love podcast with Vanessa and Kris. I'm Vanessa Ferguson and I'm Kris Johns. We'd like to welcome you to today's show and can you believe we're already recording our eighth episode. Wow that is quite an accomplishment. So we are really excited to be having all of you join us today. Before we get started we want to remind all of our listeners to leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts. We will always give shout outs to our listeners who are able to leave us a review and that just helps more listeners find our show and be able to share our message with even bigger audience so please check us out on ampoule podcasts and leave us a review. And now onto the show. So today we're going to be discussing Disney resort categories to help you figure out what best fits your family. And later on in today's show we'll be joined by Lisa Reese who can help you with all your Disney vacation planning needs including picking the best Disney resort for your family. So we're going to go over there are technically four types of resort categories. Could you list those four categories.
Speaker 2:Kris character based. No geography based. No.
Speaker 3:What do you mean like. What are the categories for the resort. The resort we stay at a Port Orleans Riverside. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Most of the time what kind of a resort is that always a mid tier. Close. Moderate more so yeah. So there's a real fancy there and then moderate and then budget close.
Speaker 1:So if you like Kris and you're not sure those different resort categories are going to help you figure those out today.
Speaker 3:So the four resort categories are value moderate which Moderate is what we tend to say at Deluxe and then there's vacation villas which those are basically the DVC which is Disney Vacation Club. These are rented out by vacation or are used by vacation club owners. But as a regular person you can rent those out as well. And the public can have rooms there and we'll talk about those a little bit later. So first off let's start at the base category which are the value resorts so these include the three Disney All-Star resorts which are all star movies music and sports. We also have the Art of Animation Resort although when you look at that one the price teeters a little bit higher. And then there's Disney's Pop Century resort. So those are all of the value. So with these here's a little bit of a rundown of them. Most of these rooms sleep for guest plus you. There is space in them if you have a baby that's in a crib. There are 260 square feet and there are some which at the art of animation you can find these these are family suites which sleep up to six guests plus a crib in these have 520 square feet. I can say that the Art of Animation Resort which is a sister resort. It backs up to Pop Century has like little mermaid themed rooms. Lion King themed rooms they look really awesome we've just never stayed at the Art of Animation Resort before. I personally on the all star level I've stayed at the movies and actually I think I say to all three state of movies music and sports and we've also stayed at the Pop Century. I think I just recently stayed at Pop Century and October 2018 with my friend and they had just redone all of the rooms. I have to say typically I tend to lean towards Moderate. I was very pleased with the changes at Pop Century. It made me even consider that I would stay there on future trips. So Pop Century has different themed rooms for the decades of the 1970s so they have a 50s area. My friend and I were in the sixties area and so when you look at those though they have 80s and 90s. A lot of fun different themes with the art of animation as I mentioned you have some of the different movie sections or movie themes and when you look at the value resorts here it's where you're able to stand Disney property but you're getting more budget rate. So when you look at this the transportation there's typically one bus stop at all of these resorts which means unlike when where like at Port Orleans where you can go to multiple bus stops. Everybody's at one place so it can be a little more crowded and congested. There's usually just a food court and with these the food courts can get pretty busy as well. Lots of families with kids say at these resorts I can say I don't even know. Do you remember when we stayed at Pop Century is where we are planning our wedding. We didn't stay at Pop. Yeah we did. We didn't. I didn't. You didn't know when we went down for planning a wedding either.
Speaker 5:I never stayed at Pop Century. OK. I've been my mom was the pop hop century back in March. Yes I took her back to her room and I got to see the room. But no I never spent a night in Pop Century. What did you think of the remodeled rooms. That was quite nice I thought that both the remodel the remodel it was bright. I thought the furniture was clean. You know the flooring was nice. I mean had the kind of full wood floor. But again I mean I think the main thing is you're going to need to be at a park not to be in a hotel. I mean I think a fool goes to Disney to sit in the room all day. So it is what it is. And what Vanessa mentioned about the distance. I did notice that I mean having to drive her I think I had a rental car and I drove her and it was a ways away and I can only imagine being on a bus and having to make it. And so I think ultimately you know time is money at Disney. What does it will for example for Pop Century to Port Orleans like what is the rough rough price difference between the two.
Speaker 3:It depends. Now I was looking at some dates in April because I will be down in that area for work and I noticed that there was at least a 100 dollar difference per night depending on what night. So there is quite a difference. Now like Kris mentioned you do see a huge there is a big disparity when it comes to transportation and things because when I was there with my friend there were several times that we just took her rental car over waiting for the buses. The buses seemed to come on a fairly regular basis. It's just it's quite crowded. So those are some things but I can tell you the value resorts where my family's first entry into staying at Disney itself we always stayed off property up until I was a little older. I saved up some money and asked for us to be able to say at one of the all star resorts one night. We did. I was in high school and since then my family's never turned back. So if you've never stayed on Disney property it is a good value for your dollar. You can get access to the early fast passes you get the access where if you want to add on the dining plan and all these different things so you do get that even if you may not have some of the amenities of the other resorts.
Speaker 6:So moving up you have the moderate resorts and this tends to be the band that we typically staying at. As we've mentioned I think on many of the episodes Port Orlean's Riverside is our probably favorite resort the one that we frequent the most but the other Moderate resorts include Caribbean beach Coronado Springs the cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort Disney Port Orlean's Riverside and Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter. I can say out of these the only one that I have personally not stayed at is Caribbean beach.
Speaker 3:Now I have stayed at Coronado springs once or twice that is the one that of course are doing quite a bit of construction and it does tend to have a little bit more business travelers because the convention center is attached to it. The cabins at Fort Wilderness these are kind of nice they're unlike any of the other moderates just like we talked about how art of animation and the values has the suites which tend to cost a little more. The cabins up for wilderness are a little pricier because they do sleep more. They sleep six people although there's only one bathroom so I don't know if it's a good idea to have all six with one bathroom but depending on your family size they have a queen bed a double size sleeper sofa and a bunk bed. And there is a pretty much a full kitchen you have a full sized fridge microwave a two burner stovetop. You can also have pets stay in your room in the cabin you can have up to two dogs at the fifty dollars per night if you go back and listen to Episode Five with Abbey from polka dot paws. We talked a lot about the different resorts that allowed you to have pets and the cabins are one I can say probably if you were to bring a dog that would probably give you the best option compared to a regular hotel room. Then you have Port Orlenas Riverside. They are another one that has some additional sleeping because a lot of the rooms have some flipped down trundle beds and we've had experience with these we've had when we were going down when we were in college and Kris would travel with our family.
Speaker 6:He slept on the trundle beds. Yeah I've slept on the Trundle. I love sleeping on the trundle bed. we've had family go down for our vow renewal and also our wedding. We've had quite a few people who use the trundle bed. So it is nice you do have some of those things where you can have up to five people in them important lanes. Riverside is the other Moderate resort that allows dogs at the additional cost. Now when you look at all of these rooms most of these are around 314 square feet. So if you remember a few minutes ago I mentioned there's 260 square feet in any value room. These are 314 square feet. So you're getting some extra space. It does allow you again you can have up to four guests but some of these rooms you can have six at the cabins in five in some of those Port Orleans rooms. There's also some suites at Coronado springs. And when you look at the sizes is and does give your family some more space so going to those cabins like we talked about those families sweet Art of Animation the cabins at Fort Wilderness have five hundred and four square feet. So they do give you a little bit more space I can say I've not been disappointed with any of the moderates that we've set up.
Speaker 3:We really like the amenities and for our budget it just tends to be a good fit for us. And when we travel we tend to stay at. I would say mid rate kind of hotels anyway so these kind of really fit in that bandwidth and don't know what have you been happy with seeing at Moderates.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah. I just want a place to sleep. I mean I really commute. I'm happy with the trundle bed.
Speaker 4:I think one reason I like where we stay is that it's Vanessa is wonderful at getting us into building buildings.
Speaker 7:Yes yes that's the word we're going to see segments but we're getting a that are near the bus line as well as near the food. And I think you know it isn't your walk in. I mean this thing no matter what no matter what you're doing but being close to the bus is important.
Speaker 5:I mean again for us we're we're we're out of the room no later than nine and we don't usually don't go to bed before midnight or even 1. So for me like the amenities.
Speaker 4:I'm a guy who sleeps in twenty two hour Air BnB room so I really don't care. But now when you go to a decision no one's going to know the truth.
Speaker 8:So when we look at the monitor it's again it depending on your family and your budget that might be a good option for you. And then moving up we have the deluxe resorts. Now there are a few of these we've stayed at I can say there's not as many of these that we've stayed at compared to other categories. So you have Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge Disney's Beach Club Resort Boardwalk contemporary Grand Floridian Resort and Spa Polynesian Village Resort Wilderness Lodge Yacht Club. And then another resort that will be coming into this category over the next year as the Star Wars themed hotel. So I will tell you out of these I've I've personally seen the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I've stayed at Grand Floridian Kris and I both stayed at Grand Floridian and we both stayed at Polynesian. I've also stayed at Wilderness Lodge with my family.
Speaker 6:So there's a lot of variety in the animal kingdom. You have the ability you look out over the savannah. You're able to see the animals beach club and boardwalk are adjacent to Epcot. Those are actually on my bucket list those are some hotels I really want to say. Because we love going into Epcot World Showcase so those are kind of next on our list. And Yacht Club is also there as well. When you look at contemporary Grand Floridian Polynesian you have the monorail resorts wilderness lodges nice because you do have the boat that you can take over and a Magic Kingdom and they have some nice restaurants there as well. So when you look at these rooms there are standard rooms or 344 square feet. So 30 more square feet than you have at the moderate so not a huge amount of extra space but they do give you a little bit of extra space when you look at Wilderness Lodge in Animal Kingdom Lodge. They have some suites that are huge you can get up to 1000 square feet as some of the suites there are. So I'm you can have a lot of people in those and at the Grand Floridian these also sleep up to five. And so these rooms are a little bit bigger at 440 square feet. We just stayed there again in March after our Vow Renewal when we had a night there and we had been there after our wedding as well. And it is nice to stay there. It's a much different feel than you have some the other ones and then the last category are those Villa resorts and again these are primarily these are Disney Vacation Club for people who have purchased property rights within that.
Speaker 3:But you can rent points from people we've done that on several. We've rented points and we've enjoyed that we've say that several of the resorts which I'll mention here in a few minutes and you can also just book them right to the Disney website. I would suggest if you're interested in staying at any of these Villa resorts rent points there are some very reputable Disney service providers that you can rent points from and you can get them in a much bigger savings than if you were to go on the Disney website. So the villa resorts include animal kingdom Lodge villas bay lake tower at Disney's contemporary resort or Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Disney. Boulder Ridge, I've never heard of. Do you remember when we went for my aunt's firework cruise and we're going by and they were building the things on the water over by the campground. Yes. So those are what are Boulder Ridge So that was in early 2017. We saw that construction happening and they've opened over the last year. I've actually Lisa who's going to be on the show later. Her and her husband have stayed there. She yeah she has some nice pictures from there so it is nice. We've not been able to check those out.
Speaker 6:There's Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa Disney's old Key West resort. Disney's Polynesian villas and bungalows Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa the treehouse villas in something that's coming very soon is Disney's Riviera resort which will be the 15th DVC resort. I'm going to give you a quick rundown on the ones that we have state and again we've rented points from some reputable individuals to be able to do this.
Speaker 3:We've stayed at Disney's old Key West resort several times and I've been happy the times that we stayed there those rooms are a little bit bigger. We were there pre and post remodel and those were nice. We stayed at Disney's Polynesian villas and bungalows so we've stayed at a regular room. I've stayed at a regular room at Polynesian then also in the. Villa rooms and we stayed at Disney Saratoga Springs several times as well we've rented points. So here's a little bit of the breakdown of how these villas work. There are studios one bedroom two bedroom and three bedroom villas. We have personally only stayed at a studio so these range from 316 square feet for a studio up to there is a 2500 square feet three bedroom grand villa at the boardwalk. Yeah. But in our house bigger than our house so most of their rooms when you start at the smaller and the studio rooms sleep up to four guests plus a baby the Grand villa's sleep up to 12 guests plus plus the baby. So these really have a wide range of aspects. And again if you have a friend or family member or somebody who has DVC membership and you can have access to that can rent points or books to Disney. These offer some really nice amenities because a lot of them they have some sort of kick the cooking things so even the studios have like a microwave and a fridge and things like that all the way up to those Grand villas that have a full kitchen. So when you look at the different resort categories you really have to look at the size of your family your budget and then also just overall what you're looking for for your family and so when you're trying to decide what's going to be the best fit you may need the advice of an expert. And when we look at who our guest is going to be today our guest today is Lisa Reese with pirates and pixie dust destination and she is going to be showing us a little bit about what you can get from having an authorized Disney vacation planner. Book your next Disney vacation and she can probably help you answer some of those tough questions regarding the different resort categories and what's the best fit for you.
Speaker 9:I think the nice thing about especially what the service offers is that if you're new to Disney gives you just an opportunity to ultimately have the best fit because you know Disney's is such an important decision in terms of money. You know spend the right amount of money to get the right experience. And again oftentimes you know people might defer towards Pop Century but when you realize at the end of a long day the bus ride can make your day even longer than having an additional time. So with that you know again I think it's going to be interesting to hear what she has to say.
Speaker 6:Yes. So without further ado we are going to hear from Lisa from Pixie and Pirate Destinations and tell you a few things about her. And then we're going to get her right on the phone. Thank you so much alright.
Speaker 10:We would like to welcome our guests Lisa Reese with Pixie and Pirate Destinations. She is a authorized Disney vacation planner she's going to tell us how she can help make your trip a little bit easier earlier in today's show we are talking about the different resorts in the different categories that exist so she's going to be able to help you with all of your planning. And Lisa and her husband were also married through Disney. They were married on a Disney cruise though and we were married at Disney World and they were married the same year. So it is also it's very exciting to have Lisa on the show today. Thank you for joining us thank you for having me. So we always like to start off our shows with an ice breaker question. So what is your favorite Disney park and why. And it could be any park anywhere around the world.
Speaker 11:My very favorite Disney Park is Disneyland. OK. That to me is where the magic is. That's where Walt Disney Lake used his own two hands and helped build that park. And when I walk into Disneyland it's like the one place that I truly do not have a care in the world. I don't need Mickey Mouse on the rides. I don't need dole whip just overall happy feeling that I get in Disneyland right. The kingdom is a close second of course. And with being on the East Coast my husband and I get to visit Magic Kingdom a lot more than Disneyland sometimes we go to the Magic Kingdom for nothing more than just to watch the fireworks with are my favorite part of any magic kingdom. Yes yes my morning wishes happily ever after is growing on me.
Speaker 12:Yes it is nice. That's for sure. Much better than I anticipated.
Speaker 13:Each time I see it I like it a little bit more. My husband Pete still on the fence haven't completely converted him over but he's a diehard wishes fan isn't giving up.
Speaker 12:Well I'm I will probably be in his company when ruminations leaves that has a special place in my heart. So when that leaves we had we had it for our wedding and our vow renewal. I know I will be probably in the same boat as Pete with wishes when that leaves the field.
Speaker 11:These shows they like touch like a part of us. Not just a firework. It's what they mean and represent and how they make you feel and the memories they bring back and like he hadn't. My husband had never visited a Disney park as a child. Wish wishes was all he knew right.
Speaker 14:And now it's called No.
Speaker 12:I will definitely feel that way with illuminations so tell him I can definitely relate. That's for sure.
Speaker 10:So we always like to hear. Of course we want to have you tell us a little bit about your business and what are the services that you offer that are connected to Disney.
Speaker 11:I am the manager of pixie and Pirate Destinations we are a travel agency that's very heavily Disney focused as you can tell by many. We also helped plan universal vacations cruises sandals beaches all kinds of trips. However Disney is where my heart lies and it's where I sell you know the most.
Speaker 13:And that I have so many return clients that I started in 2007 when I was planning my wedding I didn't want guests to have to call Disney.
Speaker 11:I wanted to be in control. I wanted to make sure that all of the people joining us on our wedding cruise were booked correctly and that ultimately they had an amazing time. So I started in this business long before like social media what it is now. And I had a handful of clients that first year in addition to my wedding guests. So through word of mouth and all of my amazing Disney bride friends My business grew into what it is today about I guess about eight years ago I left the original travel agency where I had started with which a little weird tidbit is the owner of that agency is my husband's boss again.
Speaker 14:And she was his boss then and then he she went somewhere else and now she's his boss again. Not at a travel agency. OK. So we're still friendly. I actually booked her Disney a trip last year.
Speaker 15:I was hired by pixie and pirate destinations about eight years ago. So I've been the full time manager for five years now and I love my job. I love helping people navigate their way through planning a perfect Disney vacation. And it's the perfect job. Like everyone always says like if you do something you love you feel like you don't work at all.
Speaker 14:Well I do work. I work a lot. Yeah it is. It's such a rewarding job that I.
Speaker 15:Like there's so many parts that go into a Disney vacation. Sure anyone can go online for a few clicks and have a trip. But I'm able to assist clients in every aspect of every case. There's so much beyond it from the time of year to visit the parks or go on a cruise to their accommodation. In addition to dining reservations fastpass planning touring plans and one of the things about using a vacation planner is that the price is exactly the same when you book using a travel agent as when you book directly on Disney's website. So if you're not using a travel agent you're essentially paying for a service that you are not receiving right.
Speaker 12:That's true.
Speaker 16:That's a great and it costs nothing.
Speaker 11:It has nothing to you. So. There's no reason not to do it when you can still be in as much control of your trip as you want. I have clients all the time who say you know I love planning dining I want to do my own dining or I have like a park touring plan that I love to use. And that's one of the beauty of using a travel agent is that you're still in control of your vacation and you're my Disney experience account. You can be as hands on as you wish but one of the biggest benefits of having a travel agent is that we're there to watch out for discounts. When infamous free dining discounts release. I've been working to get it applied to all my qualifying clients before most of them even wake up right. We work at our company. We work in a team concept so I have a team of agents who when there's rumors that a discount is coming out we all set our alarms like somebody sets theirs for 1 a.m.. Somebody says there's for 130 and we get up and check all night long answer back in lies everyone gets a text and we're on the computer working. And so usually I'm done by the time the phone lines even open. Where if you booked arrest you have to call in and sit on hours and hours online. I know personally when Disney Cruise Line which is near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 15:They open up for like the next round of cruises. Last year it happened to me. I was on vacation. I was in Arizona visiting my in-laws. We were there for a week. I saw them maybe a total of five hours and that whole week because I was on the phone with Disney Cruise Line from the time they opened until hours after they closed every single day because I would call India pricing because pricing wasn't released on mine. Call calling and get pricing then I would email clients and then the second I'd hang up I'd call right back and get in the hole because the whole time can range anywhere from two to four hours.
Speaker 14:Yes just sitting there on hold.
Speaker 15:I mean essentially it can take up your entire day and that's why if you let experts do it they can be the ones on hold and they can take care of everything because they're calling anyway. And I said we have many backups in place so our agency where specially on release day. Everyone is there to support each other and knock on wood. I've never had a client miss out on a discount and it's it's like concert tickets going on sale like something you have to jump on and you can't say I want to get to work because it's discount rooms are going to be long gone when you have a good point there Lisa because you know Vanessa and I we've been there so many times where I mean I have an expert in the family but I hear from people who maybe go once in their lifetime maybe once every four or five years and they'll say well Disney is so expensive.
Speaker 17:And I say No I think it's a total opposite I think for me I paid for football tickets I paid a hundred dollars plus for a football game that lasts for three hours at Disney if you do it right. In essence you could have up to 15 16 plus hours in the park and being active. And I think that's where you hit on because you hear people who go along make all my reservations when I get home like you don't. The fact that statements says you don't know how Disney works. And I hear more disgruntled people is because they don't know. I think that's why they need to go with an expert because unless you go in there on a regular basis to your point Lisa using you as an expert makes the most sense because you get the most out of the park.
Speaker 15:And I know each resort and each part I know how the diamond clams work. I've been to most of the restaurants Disney's recently changed their ticket types. No I'm completely trained on that and all of your friends love to give opinions on Facebook. I spent hours customizing and helping create a plan that works for your family to eliminate stress while you're in the park.
Speaker 11:And Disney like this he pays me like you guys don't and people are always like why this is me. And it's like people don't understand why they're willing to take a cut but it's because when guest book with a travel agent they have an overall better experience and they're more likely to return. Exactly. It's a smart business move on their part and it's a smart vacation move on your part because there's things that the average person doesn't know about every single time that my husband and I go to Disney we do something that we've never done before.
Speaker 18:And every time he's like why didn't you tell me fishing on the lake. And I'm like I can't give you everything at wind.
Speaker 19:Right. Exactly. Enjoy somebody.
Speaker 15:We've had different dessert parties we eat. We had. And I think you guys said this too we had a dinner at the Grand Floridian. Yes we did that like with a butler and there's so many little things that somebody looking at Disney.com Is not going to know. Right. And I mean we've ordered we just were there for our anniversary and we had a special cake delivered her and that we had customize so it looks like our recreation of our the top tier of our wedding cake.
Speaker 12:Oh we did that when we had our dinner at Grand Floridian. We did. Yes. He doesn't remember I don't get it. There's pictures I have to show him. Yes.
Speaker 17:Lisa you had an interesting piece about what the average person doesn't know. Can you just kind of elaborate like what those things that they don't know. Again just to reinforce why they should use your service.
Speaker 15:Well just the average person doesn't realize that dining reservations need to be made six months in advance and fast passes needs to be made 60 days in advance.
Speaker 11:They're just like the bare basics but then there's also each part has like little extra things which again people some people are opposed to spending extra money which you don't need to spend any extra money to have a full day. That's one of the things that like people who go repeatedly they always like a little extra. So there are Halloween parties and Christmas parties and at Halloween time there's a special thing that goes on over at Fort Wilderness at the campground where they show a special viewing of Sleepy Hollow the Headless Horseman and like this little things like that along with fishing.
Speaker 12:And we've done private fireworks and we've done.
Speaker 15:They're one of our favorites. And like I had a client just recently who she was looking for something special. They were going for their 10th anniversary. She also got married in 2008 with OK.
Speaker 14:And she's been my client since her wedding. Oh mean she was looking for something special and they were she wanted to stay at a deluxe resort.
Speaker 15:So instead of maybe just on a long weekend instead of staying at the Grand Floridian we booked her the Wilderness Lodge and she did a fireworks cruise. She surprised her husband. They had a cake delivered to the cruise and all of that cost less than the two nights at the Grand Floridian what of they were still at a deluxe resort. They had a special dinner and then got to do the fireworks cruise just the two of them. And it was great. And she had no idea that even existed until like we were you know brainstorming over something that we could come up with her that was special and unique. We had my husband and I have done like painting classes are all the rage and pictures from those yes. Yes we did one of those. Last year we painted the castle and that was. Well you know that just came out. I booked it and we actually booked the whole trip around it.
Speaker 11:Wow. I decided I wanted to do that. Even things as little as bowling and Disney Springs.
Speaker 10:Yes we did our welcome party there for our vow renewal this year.
Speaker 13:Splitsville and it's such a hit and like people don't realize that they can just take a day off right. Spend time at Disney spring go bowling. Have some desserts. Yes. Get a good night's sleep so they can be upright and early to hit the parks in the morning. Right. And that's when I help clients plan. We always work on like a daily itinerary and I don't book it like minute by minute.
Speaker 19:She was kids have to go to the bathroom like you might want to send kind of thing.
Speaker 13:Yes. But I loosely plan it. And one of the things that I stressed is getting to the parks and opening especially with little kids these first two hours you can hit so many fantasyland rides. Sure. And that's like I had a client recently who wanted to do their own fast passes and when he sent me his completed schedule he had fastpass at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. that I talked him through reworking a schedule to make a better use out of those share classes instead of using the second that he got there. So it's just little things like that. And then I really get to learn the clients I learn what they like a lot of kids have like features of certain rides or character that we can work all of that in to our plan as well as one of the things that I like how everyone wants to be like be our guest. Sure. Or you know whatever the like new restaurant is. And reservations are hard to get. But using I have a list of dining reservations that I check every single morning.
Speaker 15:Oh that's nice for my clients. If they didn't get them six months out or if they book a trip three months out a family there now there's 15 of them and they booked about three months ago like Christmas time they're there right now. And we were able to get them breakfast one day at Hollywood and Vine. Dinner another night of Hollywood and Vine so they get the Mickey characters. Yes that's in addition to the playhouse Disney characters and we were able to get them reservations for dinner for 15 for each night. So that was quite the task.
Speaker 12:Yes I know. Were you playing with the group for our big trips. And it is definitely hard to get in that six months it's hard to get let alone three months out.
Speaker 11:And I love doing groups. I think it's because I love traveling with girl.
Speaker 12:Yes yes that's our favorite to do as well.
Speaker 13:And I think it started with our weddings like they were group events from there like at least once a year.
Speaker 15:We travel we're like my sister and her kids and my dad and friends and like a whole group of people. So when I'm helping group and you just get to see like the dynamic a lot of times it's the grandparents who are planning right you know for their extended family so they'll be like three or four kids and their kids and being able to find something that works for everyone. Their wallets and their family and that everybody will like and all of those things.
Speaker 13:And excited. It makes me feel so good when I get like a Christmas card from this client and it's the picture of a all in front of the castle with their shirts on. There are so many people that I've become friends where doing this.
Speaker 11:Like I've helped many Disney Cruise brides with their wedding and their guests and then they give back for their anniversary. Yeah. It's like I have some clients have them with me all the way from 2007 purpose to trip. People get engaged have their weddings and now they're having babies and taking their kids on these vacations and with booking with a vacation planner like I have I keep meticulous notes and I can say last year when you stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter you know the rooms hadn't been redone yet but they've been redone now. I can tell you have allergies. And like you just form friendships with people running. There's genuine and you know like you know what they like. You know it makes things great especially like when they come back or I'll have people are say two years ago.
Speaker 15:And I can get out of the way check in and can let them know and then we discuss what they liked or didn't like about that resort. And I help them pick. The resort for them not be.
Speaker 17:Well and it's perfectly safe because I'm a guy who has been to Disney and I don't remember anything about the guy trips. If we didn't go to. I'm forgetting the name of it what what's the hotel he stayed on the quarter. So you forgot that you didn't go there on a consistent basis. I would have no idea about like where you're going. Where we're going and what the trips.
Speaker 12:I think he keeps better track of the restaurants maybe like his favorite places to eat in his favorite snacks more than anything. But yeah in the nice thing like you mentioned it can be as hands on or hands off as you. I know we have a vacation planner that we worked with for many years. I do like to do the fast passes and the dining. But she's great. I don't want to be the one tracking those discounts are different things. And on our recent trip we were staying at quarterly's oversight and she was watching those discounts for us and in the end we ended up getting upgraded and doing one of the royal rooms at a cheaper rate than what we had booked initially in a standard room. So it's great to be able to have that option no matter how much you want help with or what sorts of things because like you said you are able to track and really plan for those important things for them.
Speaker 11:And there's so many some people don't even realize when the discounts because like oranges people. So right. We belong to Disney groups and this and that. But I don't love anything more than sending an e-mail on a release day telling a client like your price is now five hundred dollars. Yeah. And they had no idea they even came out that day. Right. So I do that and so happy.
Speaker 20:And it just I mean just this expense.
Speaker 11:I do believe that you get what you pay for. Right. Because I've been to other theme park.
Speaker 19:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 15:And we keep going back to Disney because we know that the quality is going to be there that the cast members are going to care if I'm having a good time or not. And that's what keeps us coming back. It's just the overall feeling of it.
Speaker 14:Yes my friend. Anyone can get that anywhere.
Speaker 17:Yes most definitely not. No. So for people who want to use your services working folks contact you.
Speaker 15:The Website is PixieandPirateDestinations.com. And then of course I have a Facebook page and mine is Facebook.com/pixieandpirate.lisa. My e-mail address is also Lisa@PixieandPirateDestinations.com. So any of those three places I can be tracked down.
Speaker 14:Perfect.
Speaker 12:Many of them just like fan for sure and we will make sure to put all of the information for your Web site your social media links e-mail and when we share this information for the episode and make sure to get your information out there and we really want to just thank you Lisa for taking some time out of your day today and joining us on this episode of our podcast. Thanks again for all the great service that you provide to your clients.
Speaker 13:Thank you for having me. I've enjoyed chatting about that today and rather clients choose to book with me or another Disney vacation planner I definitely recommend giving it a try. It's like having somebody in your corner who cares about your vacation as much as you do.
Speaker 3:Again it was great having Lisa from Pixie and Pirate Destinations join us. It was so exciting to be able to catch up with a old Disney friend that I've known for quite a long time but actually get a chance to talk with her directly. So thank you again to Lisa for joining us. And now we're onto some of our favorite segments in the show. We had the trivia up so we'll see if Kris is able to stump me this time or how it goes.
Speaker 4:OK. This is as we talked about resorts these are questions all about resorts. How many questions are there. We'll do three OK. And you're going to get them all wrong because these are tough.
Speaker 9:So this is regarding Walt Disney World and you have mentioned that there's new resorts being had being built and being built on to the nearest I'll give you a 2000 room leeway.
Speaker 4:OK how many rooms are there onsite at Walt Disney World. I get how many. Two thousand plus or minus two thousand forty seven thousand thirty six thousand one hundred eighty-four. Thirty six thousand was the number that was in my head but then I was thinking they're doing all these building.
Speaker 3:That's the current number.
Speaker 4:That is the current neural coding to touringplans.com. OK. So I believe them. So the next question is which resort has the most rooms.
Speaker 21:I think it's Saratoga Springs not even close.
Speaker 4:No I'll give you one more I guess Saratoga Springs. It has 40 percent of the number of rooms of the largest resort and if you're at home you'll love that.
Speaker 22:Oh quarterly's oversight getting closer but incorrect.
Speaker 2:This one has I would say 70 percent of the rooms of this resort. One more.
Speaker 21:Yes Pop-Century you are correct.
Speaker 4:Two thousand eight hundred eighty rooms at Pop Century. No wonder that place seems huge. That is the largest beach resort is the smallest Port Orleans French Quarter incorrect. No no no. Oh what is it. Well for your purposes French Quarter has 1008 rooms. OK. This resort has 60. 60? 60 according to touringplans.com Is that one of the villa resorts. It is a villa resort what's the official name of this resort? Polynesian Resort and bungalows incorrect Amundo Boulder Creek? Treehouse villas.
Speaker 3:Oh tree house okay yeah but since the highway I consider I guess though they are because when I did my list they said they were separate.
Speaker 4:So they're part of Saratoga Springs but again I mean that is the beauty of Disney. You can have your own personal treehouse and you can also stay with 2,800 of your closest friends.
Speaker 3:Well I guess hopefully some of you listening at home are able to get some of those questions correct. And as always we like to end with one of our wisdom from Walt quotes one of the great quotes from Walt Disney and kind of going along with the themes of destinations because we were talking about destinations. Of course Walt never saw Walt Disney World come to fruition. But I think this quote would apply to Disney World as well. Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world. And as you see the continued building of additional resorts with Star Wars resort the Riviera resort there's always something new and exciting coming to the resorts at Walt Disney World. And I'm sure through our lifetimes it will continue to grow as more and more people come to visit Disney World itself. So thank you again for joining us on today's episode for the beauty and the Beast.
Speaker 17:This podcast is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its holdings and it is intended for entertainment purposes only.