Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - Walt Disney World Resort Hop Walkabout

Episode Date: January 29, 2023

Hello Travelers! Pack your bag - make sure you get water and snacks - because on this week's episode you will jouney along with host Jeremy on an all day journey to visit as many Walt Disney World resorts as possible (before you collapse). We start at 9 AM and end up around 7 PM. The final tally is 16 resorts and 6 modes of transport! Let's go!   If you like what you hear please consider giving us a rating and/or review as well as a follow!   As always, use good listening devices as we always record in 4 channel surround sound. We hope you enjoy the episode and thanks so much for following along!    Look us up at @WalkaboutWDW on Instagram and drop us a note to say hi! Find our producer Josh also on Instagram at @TheSteele. Say hi to our west coast correspondent Ric at @opticaljedi. Lastly give a shout to our Orlando correspondent Pete at @neverlandlocal.   You can now also drop us at line at [e-mail]. Say hi, tell us how you found us, and give us some suggestions on things you'd love to hear.   Walkabout The World is a weekly Disney podcast, always recorded on property at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort with the simple goal of making you feel like you are in the middle of the magic. 

Welcome back to Walk About The World and hello travelers and good morning also. That's weird, right? Unlike you rope drop folks, mornings for me are for coffee and contemplation. Like Chief Hopper. But today we're out bright and early because we're on a mission. And you're going to go with me. I have no idea how this is going to go. I have no idea what audio we may encounter.

But we'll find out together. And so this is kind of unusual. And it's something that our host Pete has done before. And I don't know. I just got it in my head and thought I would take off and give it a shot. So what we're doing today is we're going say right outside of the Magic Kingdom tap styles. With the gorgeous railroad office in view. There's a little bit of a delayed opening today because we started the day at Wilderness Lodge, so we checked that box. You can almost always park at Wilderness Lodge. They've never said no. And I had breakfast over there and some morning coffee and sat by the stream and watched the birds and just let the morning unfold a little bit and wake up again. You know, like I told you, coffee and contemplation. And then we

took a boat from there across the water bridge over here to Magic Kingdom. And now what we're going to do is we're going to board the monorail. And do the resort loop. Resorts. And you guys have to remind me. Don't let me forget to do Bay Lake Tower. I almost forgot to put it on my notes. So we're going to get a monorail. It goes in the direction of Contemporary.

So we're going to hit Contempo. We'll go across the bridge to Bay Lake. Get back on the monorail. Go around the lake. After that, I think we're going to take a bus to the Springs, which will be a launching pad for everything else. But regardless, here we go. In case you didn't hear that, we're a monorail orange now. We're also kings of the monorail. No one in these compartments, but you and me.

To our crew of magicians, we welcome you aboard our runway in the sky, and hope to show you the magic kingdom. We are traveling to take you to the temporary reward. During our travels, stay home over the handrail and stay clear of the doors. For the comfort of others, you can smoke your food. I've got to tell you, it is a beautiful morning here. Passing Magic Kingdom on your left now. Train station, castle in the distance. Gorgeous.

It's nice and cool. Okay, Contempo. Next stop. time. We're at Contempo. Here goes the monorail, by the way. Standing outside the breezeway leading over to Bay Lake Tower.

Monorail Yellow. And I don't know about you, I've never heard this ambient track before. It has a very 70s, 80s kind of like elevator music, classic hotel ambience vibe to it to me. I kind of love it.

Ha ha ha ha. You see the castle in the distance. So we are on the side of the Contempo that faces the castle, where the monorail comes into the building from Magic Kingdom. Off to your right is Bay Lake Tower. Off to your left is the castle. All right, let's walk over to Bay Lake. Man, I'm loving this track.

All right, we are back on the walkway from the Bay Lake Tower back to Contempo because Contempo, I mean the Bay Lake Tower, I'm not sure if you've been in, but it's the smallest lobby I've ever seen. It's barely a lobby. It's just a tiny room with two desks and not any ambience that I could detect. But I have set a rule for today. I can't just breeze past a resort. I have to actually experience a little bit of it. I have to go to the lobby or something. So we did get off the monorail. We walked all the way through the Contempo lobbyby, and now we're going to go back over, board the monorail, head towards the Poly. Let's do it. Monorail Silver leaving the Contempo, by the way. Just breathe it in.

We are at Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, which was to the right of our forward motion. It is beautiful in here. Man, if I'm doing a list of my favorites, favorites are hard for me, but this one always floats to the top of the list. It's always going to be in the top two or three for me. It's an old-school Disney resort.

I know the giant indoor water feature, all that stuff isn't here anymore, but it still is beautiful in here, calming. I love the music. I love the decor. By the way, Kona Cafe is open again. I'm going to walk over there and just poke in and see what changed, if I can see what changed. But we're not going to spend long here because we have many miles to cover. But welcome to the Polynesian Resort.

Since that's what we do, I had to give you guys at least a taste of the water features here outside of the Poly entrance down on the first floor. Water pouring over the lava rocks with all the plants surrounding it. And the tiki torches are lit and it is beautiful in the morning light I'm gonna go back upstairs actually I'm gonna hit the boutique either the thing I want to buy a magnet because I love magnets I don't know if you've seen my refrigerator door maybe I'll post that too but I'm gonna buy a magnet at the boutique and then head back upstairs we'll board the monorail and go over to the Grand Flow. Onward! You can tell.

We are at Grand Flow. And it is as beautiful as ever. Very quiet Grand Flow right now, I think, because everybody's already peaced out to head to the Magic Kingdom. Just got off of Monorail Orange again. Had to come down to the first floor, which is where we are now, and look around the lobby, because how can you not? I think I'm going to take a moment or two just to soak in the environment of the Grand Flow Lobby. Because after all, when you do this, whether you're in the parks or whether you're doing some crazy stuff like we're doing today,

take a moment for yourself. It's what you're here for. Anyway, I'm going to rejoin you guys probably back on the bus because my plan for now is to catch a bus to the springs. And from the springs, we can catapult to anywhere. So see you in a few. We invite you to relax and enjoy the ride. Thank you. Kampung Kampung All right, we have made it to the Springs.

Still kind of cool, thankfully. A nice breeze this morning. Standing next to the fountain that's right in front of AMC Dine-In Theaters. The Disney Springs Balloon in the distance. Planet Hollywood to your right, Coke Store right behind us. So the plan, I was thinking, is it lunchtime? And I'm like, not quite yet.

So I'm going to just use this as a launching pad for now. And I think we're going to board a bus to the far end of the Skyliner Resorts. And then work our way back towards Riviera. I think Riviera might be lunchtime for us. And then see what happens from there. I will rejoin you at our next port of call. Okay, we have made it to Disney's Art of Animation, and it is the first time I have been here in a long time, and the first impression is this is a gorgeous resort. I am very surprised.

And secondly, I decided to stop here for lunch because I waited 35 minutes on a bus and it really kind of put the old schedule back. So just behind the scenes, it's 12.30 p.m. And the old stomach is growling and we've done a bunch of walking. So I stopped here in the landscape of flavors food port which is incredibly beautiful has great ambience and kind of awesome food i got um tandoori chicken rice hummus and naan bread and it looks great i'll report in but uh yeah let's stop for lunch i'm going to uh allow you to pick up a little bit of the ambience. Oh, there's an unhappy small one.

There was no one in here ten minutes ago, by the way. And now it is. She's getting a pat. So let's take a little bit of ambience in. And I'm going to dive into some tandoori chicken. Chicken. Yes, we have made it to Disney's Pop Century Resort. Just in time for a pool party. Man, it feels great out here. Sitting right next to the Hippie Dippie pool.

Big old retro Play-Doh toys. To my left, yo-yos the big dancing people on the side of the walls behind me sitting next to a palm tree under an umbrella umbrella no it's saying next to a palm tree under an umbrella hard to say by a pool and it's breezy and kind of great just enjoy a minute or two willy until we get to this big blue jug. The person right next to it will pour their small bucket into that jug and then they'll go to the back of the line and they'll lift the water and repeat all over again.

The team who fills their big blue jug first wins. There you guys can start. Ready, set, go! Just a bunch of little little kiddos doing some pool party fun out here. Our next stop is the Skyliner Station, which we passed. If you've stayed here, what I found that I didn't know was that the Skyliner Station is exactly in the middle of these two resorts, which are mirror images of each other,

Art of Animation and Pop. and so we passed the skyliner station we came over to pop now we're going to retrace our steps a bit go back to the station board a skyliner for the first time today by the way and we are going to head to caribbean beach and riviera i know it's hard to leave poolside but we have places to go. Let's do it. Welcome aboard the Disney Skyliner at Disney's Pop Century Resort and Disney's Art of Animation Resort. We are on our way to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort with connecting flights to Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot International Gateway. So as you heard... We're walking over our last lake.

Still talking. Relax and enjoy the most magical flight on Earth. I intend to. And it's breezy and this thing is swinging slightly from side to side and I am okay with that. We are headed towards Caribbean Beach. Super peaceful. Our co-host Pete is the actual Skyliner expert.

He's ridden it hundreds of times. Not kidding. And he tracks them. And so I've never done this line before. I've never come from, well actually never ridden out to Pop and I've never ridden the line back. So this is new territory for me.

Okay, I'll rejoin you at Caribbean Beach. Well, we made it to Caribbean Beach, and we had to earn this one. Because, yeah, she's hot now. I think it feels like 87. But hear the music? And diners. I'm talking a little softly so I don't interrupt them, but we are near the lobby.

We just came out of the lobby and turned right. We're facing Riviera, which is across the lagoon from us, and looking towards Barefoot Bay Marina. And this is a spot I'm going to revisit soon because the ambience is incredible. This is right outside of the eatery here, the name of which I have forgotten. But the Skyliner drops you off at this resort at the very, very far southern side of the resort and you have to walk all the way around the lake up to the lobby so that's what we did in the sun for the payoff of uh checking out the lobby and being in some air conditioning because again my rule precluded me from just waving at the resort and moving on

but it also screwed us up a little bit because the Skyliner station is actually the nearest one is now the Riviera that we have to walk to. And from previous adventures, I know that the walk from here to the well, at least to Bar Riva is about 10 minutes. And that's what we're going to do right now. Going to see if I can make it

upstairs to the lobby. Riviera's weird. They got a lot of the doors keyed to your phone or your magic band, whatever. If it's not easy, we'll just hit the Skyliner station and go on from there. But I'll rejoin you at Riviera.

Here we go. Oh, we made it. That was a walk. I'm sweaty. And also, your intrepid host, as Rick would put it, is completely over nearly 90 degrees here in Florida. But we are at Riviera, and we have made it to Le Petit Café. I want a coffee really bad. And guys, if I could turn the smell feature on.

Oh, it smells glorious espresso beans being ground and roasted well not roast being ground and pressed and expressed anyway I'm loopy because I'm tired already but uh from here we hit the skyliner station and go over to epcot where you have to say it like that epcot uh and then we get on a friendship boat right near international gateway and we're going to hit the Epcot Resorts. After that I've got a plan but we'll see what happens. Okay we're going to take a breather though. you like that we're in the covered arch archway with the beautiful uh tile murals here at the riviera and i can't pass by the opportunity to soak up a little water feature ambiance. That was French.

Okay, relax and chill next to the fountain a minute. We have made it to Disney's Beach Club Resort, and I'm sure that if you're anything like me, you can already picture it and feel the relaxation happening. I love this place. We got off at the Skyliner station at the International Gateway. And then I thought, you know, we could board a friendship boat. But chances are I could beat it here. And so that's exactly what we did.

Took a walk from the Skyliner station over there at Epcot. I would guess, I don't know, less than 10 minutes over here. I'm sitting by a beautiful bed of purple salvia, listening to the ambience. Okay, we're going to take a walk over to Yacht Club next, and then board a friendship boat across the lake to boardwalk. Here we go. We are in one of my top three lobbies in all of Disney property. We have finally made it to Yacht Club. I've never stayed, but I love visiting here.

I love everything about this place. I love the decor, just the vibe of it, the ambient music. I love even the shops are kind of great. Aelin Compass Lounge and Restaurant, I love. And so I'm going to let you sit here because I'm going to sit here. It's been a bit of a long day so far. We've got a bit to go. I'm deciding how much more to go, but I am going to sit here with my ice water and a little treat and chill in the lobby for a few minutes. Hopefully, I'm going to turn the gain up a little bit. That's volume, basically.

Which means I'll have to talk a little softer but let's see if it'll pick up the lobby ambience We made it to Disney's Boardwalk Resort standing right next to Crest of the Wave looking down towards Flying Fish Boardwalk Deli Trattoria Al Forno

The ambience is kind of great Trattoria Al Forno. The ambience is kind of great. Let's chill and listen. Wow, they are really belting it out here. All right, next stop is the Swan and Dolphin, the Swoffin. I'm going to hike it because I'm a glutton for punishment today. We have made it to the Swan and Dolphin, specifically the Dolphin. Went inside, went up the, well, took some pictures there, saw Todd English's Blue Zoo, reminded of the fact that I need to try that. It's on our list.

Never been. They also have Shula's here if you're just wanting a big old pile of meat. And I am upstairs. Took the escalator upstairs, looked at the lobby for a minute, which is beautiful. Beautiful lobby. If you haven't been to the Lobby of the Dolphin, you owe it to yourself to just get off the friendship boat and take a peek. Just take a walk around. But upstairs, there is a little, I don't know what it is.

It's not a food court. It's just kind of like a quick service little market up here. And it's got three long wooden tables. Kind of set up sort of like a coffee shop, like a Starbucks type deal. But they have lots of sundries and things to buy and some hot sandwiches, coffee, whatnot. And so I procured a pack of peanut M&Ms and a Coke Zero and decided to fuel up because it's 3.30 and I'm exhausted. This is the point in time in the marathon, if you've ever ran a marathon, which I totally haven't and never will in my life

I imagine that if you do though you get to a point where you're like dude I'm out I'm done and that's it for me and so I feel like going back home and sitting on the couch but I'm going to press on at least until six so we're going to take off here in a second go back downstairs hit the friendship boat go over to Studios, and since the Studios is a park, because that's how this stuff works, you can take a bus to anywhere. We join you when I figure out what the heck is going on. We've made it to Hollywood Studios Over at the bus depot

Fun fact, first time I've ever done this too A lot of firsts for me today Never came by the bus area At Hollywood Studios until now Kind of nice, but dude it's's over here. You've got to walk a little bit. So I've settled upon the fact that we're going to do Coronado. Probably shouldn't, but I'm going to anyway. So that's what we're going to do. Check with you over there.

Well, we've made it to Coronado. I've never been. I've got to say, this ambience. I'm kind of digging it. Right? Okay, since I've never been, we've got a lot to do, and it's not all going to get done. I have these unrealistic, you know, expectations of, you know, doing everything. Not going to happen.

But I'm going to explore here just a little bit because I'm here, and why not? After that, who knows? Let's see. Okay, we have made it back to the springs from Coronado, and you're now hearing the gentle hum of a Disney bus. We're sitting in the very back. Nice air conditioning. And it is now after 5 p.m. And if you're thinking, this guy is crazy, you're not wrong. But we're taking a bus now up to Port Orleans Riverside where we're going to work our way back down to the springs slowly via boat. And I'll catch up with you there. So even though it doesn't sound like it, we are indeed at Port Orleans French Quarter. We are by the pool and by Marty Grog's pool bar.

Like a dummy, I forgot to record when I was at Riverside. I have photos. I can prove it. I was there. Believe me. But I took a walk around and then I went outside to check the water taxi situation. And what I found was that there was about two boatloads of people waiting at the dock already to go to the springs and would have taken me forever. So I said, I think I can beat the beat the boat oh I need to check my timer I've actually been here at French Quarter for 10 minutes or so yeah so I was going to time my walk down here except for the fact that you know as I was

hiking hiking it down this way a golf cart was heard behind me. I got off to the side and gave him a thumbs up and he pulls up and says, you want to ride? And I said, heck yes I do. Because full disclosure, I'm about nine miles in today. And so I got me down here in no time on the golf cart. And so it dropped me off. I went went inside took a few photos and then went over to the store got a bottle of water just because you got to stay hydrated when you're out here doing the thing and so i just kind of decided to take a take a five over here and next to marty groggs the the the pull is strong to go over and have a drink at Marty Grog's

but first off I'm starving that would be a bad idea second off I really really want to work my way down to the springs because I have to tell you your host is winding up so what I'm going to do is try to end the day at Jock Lindsay's hangar bar snag a couple of sliders and a tasty beverage over there I'll take

you guys with me I don't think we've been to jocks together but it's a favorite watering hole so I'll take you guys over there but for now quick break and then back on the boat see you there all right no secret where we are we have landed in the springs i think for the third time today and we're right next to the corner of the christmas shop right next to goofy's candy company and rainforest cafe You can hear the Rainforest Cafe flames about to be happening. It is now past 7 p.m. And you and I have been at this since 9 a.m. ish. And so I'm out of fuel.

And I can't do it. So we're going to wind up by going over to Jock's and having some dinner. And then just poking around west side a little bit maybe but uh yeah let's uh let's go eat well travelers thanks for hanging out with me today it's been a long one we did a nine to seven shift and um the tallies we actually did but it's 16 resorts six modes of transportation including a golf cart we were at the springs three times including right now we're ending the day

here at Jock Lindsay's hangar bar which I don't think I've ever recorded here before. It's one of my favorite places. The only negative this time in the evening is that the band next door is playing so loud that you literally can't hear the music that's in here. And the music in here is great. But I rolled up. I'm about knee deep in a Florida M mule which if you ever go to jocks order a florida mule it's it's amazing and a couple of beef sliders which are great too

anyway i'm rambling thanks for hanging out we did 16 resorts together that's crazy i um actually can't believe it there's only a handful we didn't get to. We'll pick those up on another trip together. But as always, look us up on Instagram at walkaboutwdw, our one and only place where we interact with you guys. Look up each of our hosts on Instagram. You can find me, Jeremy, at jeremy__hunt__fl. You can find Josh at TheSteel with an E. You can find Pete at Neverland Local

and our West Coast co-host Rick at Optical Jedi we have an email address you can drop us a line at contact at walkabouttheworld.com always glad to hear from you via email or via Instagram you guys are amazing

and you're why we do it and we're going to wind wind up as always by saying hear from jock lindsey tangerbark show a little backbone will ya