It is D23 week, and if you follow Disney at all, you already know the entire fan world is holding its breath waiting on the parks panel. Chip and I sat down the night before to put our predictions on the record, park by park, no hedging. If you are listening to this after the announcements dropped, go ahead and fact check us. Tell us where we nailed it and where we were completely nuts.

We start with the big picture. My expectation is that D23 is mostly going to be a weekend of updates rather than shocking new reveals. Expect names, details, and maybe some rough timeframes for Tropical Americas, Villains Land, Piston Peak, and Monsters Inc land, but not a lot that we did not already know was coming. Chip goes a different direction. His biggest prediction is hotels, including a new moderate and a DVC resort, and he calls his shot on exactly where that DVC resort is going near Epcot. We also get into Lakeshore Lodge, the complaints that it looks like a Marriott, and why adding rooms that are not DVC would actually help bring costs down for every family.

Two things I really got into. First, the Space Mountain rumors have been red hot for about a month now. Second, I go on a bit of a rant about the calls for a second Halloween party at Walt Disney World.

We close it out with Disney Cruise Line, and there is a lot going on!

Chapters

01:53 What D23 Is and Why the Parks Panel Matters

04:43 Chip’s Big Prediction: New Hotel Announcements

05:02 Illuminations, the Epcot Nighttime Show Problem, and a Drone Show

07:04 Where Chip Thinks a New DVC Resort Is Going

07:45 Lakeshore Lodge, Island Tower, and Why More Rooms Would Help Families

09:16 The Tower of Terror Hotel Pipe Dream

11:11 A Rapunzel Ride in Germany and the Figment Refurb Question

12:20 Updates, Not Surprises: Tropical Americas, Villains Land, and Piston Peak

13:13 The Space Mountain Overhaul and the PeopleMover Problem

14:33 A Full Tomorrowland Refresh and Disney’s Recent Show Flops

16:25 Villains Land Details, Opening Windows, and the Fantasyland Rumor

18:23 Hollywood Studios and the Skyliner Expansion Debate

19:59 Does Walt Disney World Need a Second Halloween Party?

22:29 Why the Free Candy Criticism Misses the Point

23:20 Animal Kingdom, Bluey, and the Avatar Problem

25:26 Disneyland: Zootopia, Marvel Land, and the IP Debate

29:35 Disney Cruise Line: Ship Shuffling and a Galveston Port

31:15 The Treasure Discount That Saved My Client $6,000

32:34 Breaking News: A Wreck It Ralph Attraction in Tokyo

33:28 Disney Springs, Level 99, and Splitsville

35:19 Final Predictions and Closing

👉 Need help planning your Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, or Disney Cruise Line vacation? Matt is a travel agent with The Magic for Less Travel, and his services are 100% free to you.

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Your Walt Disney World questions have been piling up in my inbox, so this week I’m sitting down solo and working through the ones I get asked the most.

I start with MagicBands and give you my honest take on whether you need one, including the free hotel key card option that does almost everything a MagicBand does. From there I get into how to choose which park you visit on which day, and why your dining reservations end up making that decision for you long before the day of the week ever matters.

I break down all three Lightning Lane tiers side by side so you can tell Multipass, Single Pass, and Premier Pass apart. Then I answer the Memory Maker question I get from almost every first time visitor, and I close with the part nobody plans for, which is how to budget for a Disney World vacation where I give you the exact dollar figures I hand my own clients for strollers, airport transportation, Lightning Lane, and dining. Those four line items are where most Disney budgets quietly fall apart, and I tell you what to set aside for each one.

01:50 Do You Actually Need a MagicBand?

03:23 When MagicBands Are Worth the Money

03:45 How to Choose Which Disney World Park on Which Day

07:14 Lightning Lane Multipass Explained

12:35 What is Memory Maker and Is It Worth It?

13:57 How to Skip Memory Maker at Disney World and Still Get Photos

15:26 How to Budget for Walt Disney World

👉 Need help planning your Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, or Disney Cruise Line vacation? Matt is a travel agent with The Magic for Less Travel, and his services are 100% free to you.

📩 Get a free quote: https://www.adventuresofadisneydad.com/get-a-quote

⭐ Enjoy the podcast? Please take a minute to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more Disney families find us.

Have a question? Email us: matt@adventuresofadisneydad.com

☕ Want to support the podcast? If this episode helped you, consider buying us a coffee or dropping something in the tip jar. Every bit of support helps keep the show going. https://adventures-of-a-disney-dad.kit.com/products/matthew-brandabur

📬 Have a Disney planning question? Leave a comment, send an email, or drop it on social. We read them all and use them for future episodes.

Most families walk into a Disney trip thinking it is all parks, all day. Then they get there and realize the resort pool is where a big piece of the magic actually happens. This week Chip is back with me, and we are ranking our top 9 Walt Disney World resort pools.

We each ranked our own top ten, swapped lists, and found out we agreed on almost everything. After one friendly disagreement, we trimmed it down to a top nine (sorry, Old Key West). From there we count all the way up, from the Big Blue Pool at Art of Animation to the pool that lands at number one. Along the way we talk slides, zero entry, theming, crowds, and price, because the best pool for your family is not always the fanciest one. We also get into which pools work best for little kids, where the crowds hit hardest, and when a value resort pool can quietly beat a deluxe one.

I explain why Animal Kingdom Lodge is almost always the cheapest deluxe resort and tends to hold the biggest discounts, and why your room request there can make or break the whole stay. Chip shares the strange story behind our number one pool, which started out closer to a ten foot deep aquarium than a place to swim. We also get honest about the resorts everyone hypes up that quietly missed our list, and why the price of a room has to be part of how you judge a pool.

And near the end, we break down why the most beautiful pool on property still could not reach the top two, and we tease a brand new resort pool that could shake up this entire ranking in a couple of years.

02:00 How we built the list (and why Old Key West got cut)

03:11 Number 9

06:23 Number 8

10:15 Number 7

13:18 Number 6

18:00 Number 5

21:04 Number 4

25:11 Number 3

29:15 Number 2

37:45 Number 1

👉 Need help planning your Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, or Disney Cruise Line vacation? Matt is a travel agent with The Magic for Less Travel, and his services are 100% free to you.

📩 Get a free quote: https://www.adventuresofadisneydad.com/get-a-quote

⭐ Enjoy the podcast? Please take a minute to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more Disney families find us.

Have a question? Email us: matt@adventuresofadisneydad.com

☕ Want to support the podcast? If this episode helped you, consider buying us a coffee or dropping something in the tip jar. Every bit of support helps keep the show going. https://adventures-of-a-disney-dad.kit.com/products/matthew-brandabur

📬 Have a Disney planning question? Leave a comment, send an email, or drop it on social. We read them all and use them for future episodes.