Mickey with Minis - Episode 150 - Planning Our Perfect Days at Epcot

This week Danielle and Hayley are planning their perfect days at Epcot! Bonus: Hayley tries to convince Danielle to do a runDisney 10K. 

Want to plan your own perfect day? Reach out to Danielle at daniellegriggs@fantasticalvacations.com to get started!

Mickey with Minis podcast outro music

Transcript

Danielle Griggs (00:01.837)
Hello there!

Hayley Cotter (00:03.374)
Hey, it's been a minute.

Danielle Griggs (00:05.001)
It has been a minute. I know we had a weird couple of weeks.

Hayley Cotter (00:08.672)
I know, I know. I'm short one organ since last time we recorded.

Danielle Griggs (00:15.437)
You didn't tell anybody this. You have to explain.

Hayley Cotter (00:18.88)
No, yes, I had my appendix removed at five months pregnant. Zero out of five stars would not recommend. No, and the recovery has really knocked me on my butt, like in ways I did not expect, so I'm really very.

Danielle Griggs (00:26.271)
in emergency fashion. Do not recommend.

Danielle Griggs (00:39.275)
Especially as somebody who's had three C-sections, you'd think this would be no big.

Hayley Cotter (00:42.699)
Yeah, honestly, the C-section recoveries took longer, but the first couple days of the appendix surgery was by far more difficult than post C-section. just pain-wise and like trying to sit myself up and everything. It's been rough. It has not been great. So.

Danielle Griggs (00:54.709)
Danielle Griggs (01:03.659)
I'm so sorry. That's the mystery of why we missed a week. We basically, we had done a recording and something weird happened where like Hailey's audio track was coming through delayed on my end. So then we were like overlapping. And then when your track came into edit, it was on time. So was like very overlapping, but we couldn't fix it because when we were going to fix it, Hailey was busy getting her appendix out.

Hayley Cotter (01:09.644)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (01:17.687)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (01:32.244)
Yes.

Danielle Griggs (01:32.971)
And then I was away for a week.

Hayley Cotter (01:35.128)
So here we are. Yeah, was this the first time we missed a week in two years of podcasting?

Danielle Griggs (01:39.341)
I think we missed, I think this was the first random that we missed. I think we skipped a week, but it was planned on the first Christmas week that we did. Because I think that fell on a Friday and it was like, no one's gonna listen to this anyway. So I think we skipped that on purpose, but this was the first one we actually missed. Yeah, crazy.

Hayley Cotter (01:45.514)
Yeah.

Okay.

Hayley Cotter (01:51.52)
okay. Yep. That makes sense.

Hayley Cotter (01:58.157)
Right, right.

Hayley Cotter (02:03.405)
Yeah, that's been a big ol' adventure. I think so too. I think so too.

Danielle Griggs (02:07.787)
I think you can be off the hook on that though. Yeah. Yeah. And you're on the mend.

Hayley Cotter (02:17.386)
I'm on the mend. am halfway through this pregnancy tomorrow. So hopefully the second half is a lot less eventful than the first half was.

Danielle Griggs (02:22.562)
my goodness.

Danielle Griggs (02:27.085)
Although at the end of it, it will be very eventful and there'll be like a new human in your house, but that's pretty eventful. my gosh.

Hayley Cotter (02:33.068)
new human in my house. I know, I know. Oh my goodness.

and you just went camping, so you've been kind of off the grid.

Danielle Griggs (02:45.523)
Yes, yeah, I'm just getting and also today is the first day of summer camp for my kids. All three of them. It is Gloria's first full day at anything. She's only ever done like three hours of camp or school at a time. So this is going to be very interesting.

Hayley Cotter (02:50.409)
fun.

Hayley Cotter (03:04.254)
She's gonna be a wreck tonight when she gets home.

Danielle Griggs (03:06.487)
I mean, I honestly expect Audrey to be worse. Usually the first day of summer camp, Audrey comes home in an absolute rage and then like falls asleep upside down in a chair. Like literally she will just conk right out. Like it's happened to every year that she's been to camp. This camp, they're going to Boys and Girls Club. So they could be at camp 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. I literally think that would kill them. So I think what I'm gonna do, Ella is going to like our town recreation camp. I have to pick her up at three.

Hayley Cotter (03:17.363)
What?

Hayley Cotter (03:20.916)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (03:30.228)
my gosh.

Danielle Griggs (03:35.787)
I think what I'm going to do this first week is pick the little kids up at three as well. Like I'll get Ella first and then I'll drop her and then I'll go get them. But I think usually unless they have a field trip, they'll probably be there until like four, which is good because she has full-day kindergarten in the fall. So it's like a introduction to being out and about. But this is the first time I haven't had a kid home at least part-time in a

Hayley Cotter (03:49.937)
Okay, wow, exciting.

Danielle Griggs (04:06.027)
years, which is crazy. Since I lost my last higher ed job, I got laid off when I was pregnant with Audrey. And ever since then, and I've been working for most of that time in one form or another, but I've just always had a kid home at least part time. So this is going to be very weird. I did go to Target by myself. I wanted to get, I'm going to do a mini retreat. This is my plan.

Hayley Cotter (04:06.997)
That's bonkers.

Hayley Cotter (04:14.898)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (04:22.803)
Right. Right.

Danielle Griggs (04:32.589)
There's so much stuff. I thought I was going to have so much time this year. And I had a great first year as a travel advisor. And then this year, I thought, oh, they're all going to be in school at least some of the time. I'll have so much more time to devote to that. And instead, I didn't realize how much the pickup schedule was going to affect my life. So I actually wound up with way less time than I had had the year before.

Hayley Cotter (04:36.49)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (04:52.576)
Right.

Danielle Griggs (04:56.181)
So what I wanted, I have all these ideas, I have all these plans and ambitions, I have like other suppliers I wanna get really up on and like more advertising and stuff like that. I'm gonna take a little mini retreat. And so I went to Target to get Post-its in service of this mini retreat. And instead I just walked around Target crying off and on for about two hours because I haven't done errands by myself in five years.

Hayley Cotter (05:05.386)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (05:13.708)
Mmm.

Oh, oh my goodness.

Hayley Cotter (05:23.924)
my goodness.

Danielle Griggs (05:24.277)
Or maybe more, like, because Audrey was with me before that. So it's just going to be, it's a new era. I'm excited for it. I'm just going to have feelings for a couple of days. Yeah. So that's what's happening here. Yeah. It is. Okay. Today we're going to talk, and this is a good pick me up. We're going to talk about our perfect days at Epcot. Hooray. How do you want to do this?

Hayley Cotter (05:27.978)
Right.

Yeah, it's just going to be a bit of an adjustment. Yes. good. Well, it's good to be back at it. What are we chatting about today?

Hayley Cotter (05:49.866)
Hooray!

Hayley Cotter (05:53.853)
Okay, so first of all, I think we should assume test track is back open because it is reopening on July 22nd. And they actually just announced today, it's not using a virtual queue. It will be part of Lightning Lane multi-pass. Epcot uses, it will be tier one. So now tier one will be frozen, remis, and test track. And Soren has been bumped to tier two.

Danielle Griggs (06:11.211)
What tier? Tier one.

Danielle Griggs (06:22.466)
Okay.

Hayley Cotter (06:23.541)
So that's interesting. Yeah. It's not part of the single pass.

Danielle Griggs (06:24.929)
Yeah, that is interesting.

Danielle Griggs (06:32.256)
Okay.

Hayley Cotter (06:34.498)
So think we should assume that it is open. And then I was debating, do I want to do my perfect day as though I'm entering from World Showcase or from the front? And I think even though I rarely do this, I'm going to say from the front. Yeah, usually what I do is if I'm staying at an Epcot area resort, I just walk on over to International Gateway.

Danielle Griggs (06:47.842)
you.

Hayley Cotter (06:57.936)
Or if I'm not staying at an Epcot resort, what I've sometimes done is take a minivan to the beach club and walk from there. You generally cannot take just like a regular Uber or Lyft to the beach club to walk over to Epcot because they will ask at the entrance if you have a reservation of some kind and they check it. But if you have a minivan, they let you in, no questions asked. So we have done that before when we really wanted to enter through International Gateway and we weren't staying at an Epcot resort.

Danielle Griggs (07:21.805)
Mm-hmm.

Hayley Cotter (07:26.996)
That's it, here's my rationale for entering through the front. I would like to ride Guardians as many times as humanly possible. You can only buy one Lightning Lane single pass to ride it. So I think I would give it a whirl rope dropping Guardians to hopefully ride it twice in a day. I think that's how I'm gonna start my perfect day at Upclose.

Danielle Griggs (07:48.365)
Okay, I approve of this.

Hayley Cotter (07:50.396)
Okay.

Danielle Griggs (07:52.149)
I'm going to go the other route just for contrast purposes. I basically, yeah, basically, no, but I actually, think I would do what you're doing, but just for like the other approach. Another thing that I could do that would be a good perfect day if I perchance was staying at the boardwalk is just walk on over to International Gateway, go in that way and probably rope drop Remy's. Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (07:57.865)
Okay, and we'll meet in the middle of La Caza for lunch.

Hayley Cotter (08:07.058)
Yes.

Hayley Cotter (08:13.661)
Yes.

Hayley Cotter (08:20.147)
Nice.

Danielle Griggs (08:21.428)
that's one thing you could do.

Hayley Cotter (08:24.328)
And then I would probably have my lightning lanes lined up for test track, which is hard because obviously my kids are going to want to do Frozen, but my kids don't actually love Remy's. My kids are really scared of Remy's. Isn't that funny? It's dark. It's a little dark. Yes.

Danielle Griggs (08:42.925)
I know. think it's because it's like dark and there's that you're being like chased by something, you know.

Hayley Cotter (08:48.839)
So I would not get it for Rummy's because that would be like kind of a low priority for us. But then for tier two, I would definitely get Soarin' and then maybe, I don't know, maybe Spaceship Earth for the other one. So I'd have my day lined up and I would also purchase my Lightning Lane single pass for my second ride on Guardians. Yes. And because this is my perfect day, I'm probably gonna get one way or another both times when I ride on Guardians.

Danielle Griggs (09:01.878)
Agree.

Danielle Griggs (09:07.423)
Or yes, of course, yes.

Danielle Griggs (09:16.205)
Both times. No, I think that's a very good plan and I would do that as well. I would ideally be doing it. I prefer to try not to zigzag too much. So ideally, I'd come in, I'd do, hold on, let's see, I would do Remy's and then I would, just for...

Hayley Cotter (09:31.11)
Yeah.

Danielle Griggs (09:44.705)
Just so you know, there's only a 35 minute wait for Remus right now, just so you know that right now. I'm in the app. And then I would be heading towards the center of things. Ideally, I'd get to do my spaceship Earth on the early end to be able to kind of knock that out.

Hayley Cotter (09:48.674)
interesting.

Hayley Cotter (10:00.145)
Yes.

Hayley Cotter (10:06.312)
Besides the password's not working. I was hoping I could follow you on...

Hayley Cotter (10:15.208)
going to be a few minutes. I'll be down in a few minutes. Okay. Oh my gosh.

Danielle Griggs (10:18.669)
Tiny voices. Yeah, so I'd probably do Spaceship Earth and then depending on how like wait times and stuff were going, I might wander over, do like seas with Nemo and friends, turtle talk with Karaj- like that area of things. And then potentially, hopefully my Soren time would line up. And if it didn't quite line up, I could hit Living with the Land beforehand to kill a little time.

Hayley Cotter (10:35.314)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (10:48.507)
Nice.

Danielle Griggs (10:49.291)
Yeah, and I might be grabbing a little breakfast related snack at Sunshine Seasons, which is my favorite quick service.

Hayley Cotter (10:56.103)
That's a good idea. Probably while I'm writing Guardians, my kids would get the big donuts from Joffrey's because for some reason that's like just one of the things that has stuck in their memories. These like giant donuts that they love to get. They have like blue frosting and pink frosting and they just think they're the best thing in the world. So I would probably do that while in the area. after Guardians, I would do like similar to you. I would try to do like Spaceship Earth, Nemo.

Danielle Griggs (11:07.233)
they have to do. That's so funny.

Hayley Cotter (11:26.245)
and Turtle Talk and my kids also love to spend time in the aquarium there after the ride. They'll spend a solid hour in there. So we'd probably hang out there after the ride and then while we're in the vicinity we would also hit Moana Journey of Water because we love that. Yes.

Danielle Griggs (11:31.307)
Yeah.

Danielle Griggs (11:44.545)
That's a very good idea. Yeah, that often falls off my radar because I haven't actually done it. But yes, I would be checking that out for sure.

Hayley Cotter (11:50.405)
Right. Yeah. This also sort of assumes that it's not a festival time because I would do things a little differently. If it was festival time, I would be spending a lot more time in the World Showcase to do more snacking.

Danielle Griggs (11:57.113)
Yeah

Danielle Griggs (12:04.073)
Yeah, for sure. Let's see. Yeah, so we've kind of knocked all of those out. then, yeah, so ideally like test track would happen around this time too. Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (12:19.771)
Yes, maybe my second ride on Guardians hopefully so I don't have to crisscross the park later in the day would be ideal.

Danielle Griggs (12:26.261)
Yep, yep. And I think probably after Guardians, it is a good idea to head towards Mexico.

Hayley Cotter (12:36.283)
I mean, it's time. Lakava is probably open by now, and it's just a responsible thing to do. No.

Danielle Griggs (12:41.759)
And you just, don't want to miss out, you know? So I think, I think I would do a little La Cava moment, ideally a sit down, because that was so much fun. Maybe I get to do the tequila experience. I'd love to do that sometime, but even just to try a couple of things like different margaritas and maybe like a chips and dip situation, like a snacky moment. Definitely an unhurried La Cava visit. And then obviously.

Hayley Cotter (12:51.301)
Yeah.

nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (13:07.793)
Yeah!

Danielle Griggs (13:12.297)
the three caballeros because you gotta do it.

Hayley Cotter (13:14.222)
Yes, of course. Yes. Hopefully, we would have picked up a frozen lightning lane by now. But if not, we'd be making the decision about whether we're going to stand in the line or not to do that. So we'd have to see what the line was looking like.

Danielle Griggs (13:18.07)
it's required.

Danielle Griggs (13:32.589)
If we're with the kids, also are gonna have to wait to meet Ana and Elsa. That's required.

Hayley Cotter (13:37.005)
Yes, definitely, definitely. And then for lunch, a late sort of a late lunch, I would personally love to go to Via Napoli. We ate there on our last trip and it was a huge hit. We loved it. They had really good drinks, really good pizza. It was great for the kids. I would love to get like a late lunch there.

Danielle Griggs (13:54.369)
home.

Danielle Griggs (14:03.223)
I'm actually thinking I might like to try Shiki Sai for lunch. The kids wouldn't eat much here, but the kids don't eat much anywhere. And I think it looks like a fun little experience. That might be something to do. Also, while we're over in this neck of the woods, or you know what, I could also do the barbecue place, Regal Eagle.

Hayley Cotter (14:07.559)
okay. Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (14:14.338)
Right.

Hayley Cotter (14:21.446)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (14:32.003)
yeah, I've actually never eaten there, I don't think.

Danielle Griggs (14:34.477)
One of those would be good, I think. One or the other of those. You know what? Regal Eagle would be better for the kids, for sure. And actually, I skipped over, I want to do the pearl thing at China. Is that in China or is that in Japan? Where's the pearl thing? Is that Japan? Is it in the department store? Oh, wait, let me find out. now I'm just second guessing myself.

Hayley Cotter (14:36.132)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (14:48.835)
pick a pearl.

Hayley Cotter (14:52.803)
I don't know.

Hayley Cotter (14:57.7)
I don't know.

Danielle Griggs (15:05.748)
Now I'm just second guessing myself. It is in Japan. So I would do that while I'm over there. That is in Japan. And this is the thing where you can, it's called the, it's Akoya Pearls, Akoya, I'm saying it wrong, I'm sure. But it's inside the giant department store. And basically it's like, there's, have all these oysters and you get to go looking for a pearl.

yeah. So you, pick an oyster and then they open it for you and get a pearl out. so that is kind of fun. I've always wanted to do that.

Hayley Cotter (15:36.293)
Fun!

Hayley Cotter (15:46.896)
We would also be making a stop at the Japan store because my son loves all things Japan, especially Pokemon. So we'd definitely be stopping there. I feel like I never end up having as much time at Epcot as I expect. And I have not pinpointed exactly why that is, but I always...

Danielle Griggs (15:53.472)
Yes.

Danielle Griggs (16:05.697)
I think it's because there's so much to do.

Hayley Cotter (16:08.325)
there is, but I always plan to have the kids go to the Kidcot stations, which is basically in each country there's a little station you can go to and you talk to a cast member and I forget if you get like a little card or a sticker or something, but you collect something from each country and learn some facts about the country right up my kids alley. And we've never gotten around to doing it because we just never have had time.

Danielle Griggs (16:32.033)
I honestly feel like that's partly why the wilderness explorer thing at Animal Kingdom works so well. There's not that much to do right now at Animal Kingdom as far as attractions go. like you have the time to do a deep dive, like wandering around kind of thing, but there's so much going on at Epcot. It's hard to, yeah.

Hayley Cotter (16:37.399)
Yeah.

Right.

Hayley Cotter (16:46.094)
right.

Hayley Cotter (16:49.501)
to do it yeah but if we have the time in the afternoon I would definitely like to do that it's been a few years before since I've done like a proper meander through the like the resilience of the world showcase I mean I always walk through the world showcase but I don't go back into you know the exhibits and stuff I don't care too much about the movies personally but going to just walk around like the exhibits and stuff I'm definitely overdue for checking out a lot of that stuff

Danielle Griggs (16:59.476)
Yeah!

Danielle Griggs (17:17.261)
Yeah, I'm a little shopping around and stuff like that. Yeah, totally. Yeah. So, okay. So after I was done at like Japan, I'd probably meander on over to Morocco. I don't think this is always there, but right now at the Oasis, they have a frozen mint tea with bombay sapphire gin. I do like gin and I think that sounds incredibly refreshing.

Hayley Cotter (17:19.267)
Yeah!

Hayley Cotter (17:36.804)
Yeah? Ooh.

Hayley Cotter (17:45.056)
Yeah, that sounds lovely.

Danielle Griggs (17:46.025)
That sounds great, like a mid-afternoon cool-me-down kind of beverage. I like that.

Hayley Cotter (17:53.216)
I would love to pop into France and do the little champagne tasting again. That was so fun.

Danielle Griggs (17:57.637)
Yes, that was so fun. And I love that you get to share a table with people while you do it. you cut, like we got to know some folks, like that was so fun to me. Remy's is now up to 40 minutes, just FYI. I also have never done this, but while we're in France, I have always wanted to get the griddled brioche with ice cream on the inside. It's like, my goodness, you haven't? This is, okay, let me.

Hayley Cotter (18:03.439)
and chit chat.

Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (18:11.221)
FYI. Okay, good to know.

Hayley Cotter (18:20.452)
Ooh, I haven't even heard of this. It sounds amazing. No.

Danielle Griggs (18:27.135)
explain it exactly. Let me find it. It's called a croque, croque glacé. It's one scoop of ice cream with your choice of sauce in a homemade brioche and then it's like paninied.

Hayley Cotter (18:33.187)
Okay.

Hayley Cotter (18:41.477)
that sounds incredible.

Danielle Griggs (18:42.583)
So the outside is like crispy, sort of, but warm, and the inside is not. And I think for flavors, they have so many flavors. my goodness, there's so many options. I don't know.

Hayley Cotter (18:48.28)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (18:57.508)
Okay, putting this on our must-do list for our next trip because this sounds incredible. don't know how I hadn't heard about this before.

Danielle Griggs (19:01.513)
Yeah. Yeah. And you can pick, so you pick your ice cream and your sauce. So I'm not sure what they have. I don't see the sauces listed, but I'm pretty sure you could make a really good combo here. Yep. So that's a must. That's it. L'artisan de glacé. De glacé. Sorry, Monsieur Irlenti. Yeah. And what time is it now, do you think?

Hayley Cotter (19:10.424)
Okay.

Hayley Cotter (19:15.949)
Oooooh

Hayley Cotter (19:23.958)
OK.

Hayley Cotter (19:31.871)
I was just thinking that. I'm thinking it's like four. What do you think?

Danielle Griggs (19:35.233)
Now that sounds about right, especially if we took a good amount of time to kind of like do a little wander around, you know?

Hayley Cotter (19:41.379)
Yeah, and then I'm a little bit torn because we would have mostly hit what we wanted to hit. So maybe we'd pop back for a little break, even though it's kind of late, and leave the kids there with a sitter and come back to do GEO82, which is the new 21 plus round.

Danielle Griggs (20:01.141)
Yes. Yep. That would be very fun. I also, I have never done L'Cellier.

Hayley Cotter (20:05.475)
That would be very fun to out.

Hayley Cotter (20:13.123)
okay.

Danielle Griggs (20:14.399)
And I think John would really like it. There are a lot of mushrooms, which worries me a little bit, but I'm sure I could work something out. so if we didn't leave, I would do LaSalle with the whole family. And then as much as I would like to do, not the geo, I keep saying not geo, which is very funny. The new adults only lounge, as much as I would like to do that, if we weren't having a sitter, we could do

Hayley Cotter (20:16.715)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (20:29.857)
Yeah!

Danielle Griggs (20:43.961)
the, we could do the selie and they, do they have the dining package?

Hayley Cotter (20:51.743)
for the fireworks? I don't think they do anything for the fireworks. No, I think...

Danielle Griggs (20:53.056)
Yeah.

Okay, because they're not in like, well anyway, I would eat at La Selye for dinner. But then I, you know what, I really love standing over near Morocco for fireworks. So I would probably like do La Selye and then do like a little leisurely wander. I would probably hit up France again for a frozen martini of some variety and take that with me over to stake out a spot.

Hayley Cotter (21:05.579)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (21:17.857)
Yes.

Danielle Griggs (21:22.621)
you know, somewhere between Morocco and Japan probably, that's usually where we land. You're fireworks with the whole fam.

Hayley Cotter (21:27.968)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (21:31.623)
You have seen Luminous, right? I haven't seen it yet. Okay. awesome.

Danielle Griggs (21:33.707)
Yes. it's wonderful. But yeah, so I would like to do that. Kind of stake out a spot there. Get there early to be in the front and then you can send a grownup out for snacks and drinks. Like we can get the kids popcorn or whatever and they'll chill and just stake out your spot and see the fireworks. And then because we'd be staying at the boardwalk, we could have like a lovely, maybe, maybe here's another idea.

Hayley Cotter (21:45.632)
Yeah.

Danielle Griggs (22:01.483)
Like right before the park closes, we get in line for Cosmic Rewind. Just like one more time. If that works. But if it doesn't work, we just get a leisurely little walk home to the boardwalk, which I love. That's like such a scenic little walk.

Hayley Cotter (22:05.154)
Ooh, I like that idea. Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (22:11.969)
Yes!

Hayley Cotter (22:17.292)
That sounds lovely. Yeah. And it's so short at the end of the day, which is so nice when you just want to be back at your hotel.

Danielle Griggs (22:21.044)
Yes.

Seriously, next time we're there with a push chair, we got to stay at the boardwalk. We just have to because then we don't have to do those ramps at the end of the day. The ramps are torture. Now I really want to do this. Hey, Grace Helen.

Hayley Cotter (22:26.915)
Yes, I know, I know. The ramps to the monorail are a killer. Yes, yes.

Hayley Cotter (22:39.938)
Oh, I know. I don't feel good.

Danielle Griggs (22:44.663)
You don't feel good?

Okay, Gracie.

Hayley Cotter (22:48.192)
You okay? goodness.

Danielle Griggs (22:51.285)
I'm sorry. boy, first day of the new summer routine.

Hayley Cotter (22:57.344)
Yeah, seriously. This sounds like an awesome day. I'm actually, one sort of potentially controversial idea that I have for our next trip is skipping Animal Kingdom in favor of two Epcot days, potentially. Yeah, just because there's so much to do at Epcot.

Danielle Griggs (22:59.167)
Hehehehe

Danielle Griggs (23:13.453)
potentially.

Danielle Griggs (23:17.823)
Are we getting park hoppers?

Hayley Cotter (23:20.138)
I don't think so. I mean, ideally, yes, but financially, probably not. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah.

Danielle Griggs (23:26.251)
Okay. There's so many of us now is the thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know. I feel bad about it. until some of the stuff that they're working on for Animal Kingdom pops up, it is sometimes an optional park for folks right now.

Hayley Cotter (23:43.157)
Yeah, I love it so much, I think if you're needing to make the tough decisions, it might make sense to skip right now if you have to skip something. yeah.

Danielle Griggs (23:52.193)
Yeah.

if you have to skip something.

Yeah, now that's kind of all I want to do.

Hayley Cotter (24:02.057)
I know go to Epcot, ride Guardians and have that brioche ice cream situation you told me about followed by a margarita baccala.

Danielle Griggs (24:06.797)
Yeah, I might have to make that at home. I wonder if I can make that at home.

Hayley Cotter (24:11.542)
I bet you could.

Danielle Griggs (24:13.517)
I should buy a panini press. No, are you sure? Are you sure? I'm having a mid-life crisis and it might include an air fryer and a panini press. That might be it. Why? You don't use it? Can I really have it?

Hayley Cotter (24:15.643)
No, you shouldn't do that. This is the wrong idea.

Hayley Cotter (24:23.695)
don't buy an air fryer. You can have mine. I think we've used it twice. You can have it. We don't use it. No. it's, yeah. Let me just, I mean, I'd probably check with Nick, but I don't see why not.

Danielle Griggs (24:34.253)
Tell Nick I'm taking the air fryer. Nicholas, I'll fight you for it because I'm going to see you on Friday for the 4th of July. It'll be so fun. Do you want to watch Jaws on the side of your house? We'll bring our projector. It'll be fun. We were going to watch it camping, but the quiet hours were too early. It didn't work out.

Hayley Cotter (24:35.807)
Yeah.

Yes, I know. I know. So fun.

Yes, I do. I do. That'll be a blast.

Hayley Cotter (24:52.546)
Oh, okay, bummer. Hopefully I will be at Disney World like a year from now for the 4th of July. I mean, hopefully I'll be there long before that, but also hopefully I will be there one year from now. Yes, I'm thinking we'll fly down like maybe July 2nd. The cruise leaves on the 6th, so I thought maybe we'd have like three or so nights before the cruise leaves. Yeah.

Danielle Griggs (25:04.109)
because that's before your cruise? my goodness. Okay.

Danielle Griggs (25:18.477)
Nice. I really want to get down in October. I know it's a pipe dream. I know there's probably no way I can make it happen unless like we win the lottery or something, but I would really love to get down for even just a couple of days in October. And I really want to do Halloween Horror Nights and I'd like to do Mickey's Not So Scary. So like even if we didn't do normal park days, even if we just do parties or something, I don't know. It's probably not happening, but I would really like to.

Hayley Cotter (25:24.842)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (25:29.472)
Yeah.

Hayley Cotter (25:34.082)
that'd be so nice.

Hayley Cotter (25:41.887)
Right. Right.

Hayley Cotter (25:47.041)
I can't come because I will be nine months pregnant, but I support your dreams. They do not, they do not. Do you know that I don't think I'm flying at all in 2025? Isn't that crazy? My last flight was in December and yeah, I haven't flown yet this year. We drove to Ohio and...

Danielle Griggs (25:50.977)
They don't recommend flying at that point because you don't want to an air baby.

Danielle Griggs (26:01.451)
Really? That is crazy.

Hayley Cotter (26:12.895)
We had been tossing around the idea of trying to get in one last Disney trip before Emma turned three, but she turned three last weekend, so that didn't happen. And after the whole appendix thing, I'm like, I kind of just want to stay put until this baby comes. So it's like spooks me a little bit. So yeah, so I don't think I'm flying this whole year, which is so weird. Yeah, I know. But early 2026.

Danielle Griggs (26:27.053)
think that's a good idea. Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

Danielle Griggs (26:35.543)
So weird. my goodness.

boy.

We're off to the races, but not actual races, right? You're not gonna make me run a race, Haley.

Hayley Cotter (26:48.746)
okay. I really think you should give it some thought.

Danielle Griggs (26:53.244)
I don't run.

Hayley Cotter (26:54.91)
I know, but it's just one time. It's a one time exception of running. We could run, I think we should run the springtime surprise. Well, it's only considered a surprise because they change the theme every year, I think. I think that's like the surprise part about it. So I had been toying with the idea of signing up for the.

Danielle Griggs (26:58.791)
Running?

Danielle Griggs (27:04.659)
What is that? I don't make surprises.

Hayley Cotter (27:22.431)
princess half marathon, which then I talked myself out of because that is like exactly three months. I know that's exactly three months after I have a baby basically, so.

Danielle Griggs (27:26.039)
Hailey, you're having a baby in November.

And for the first six weeks, they tell you not to do anything. So that brings you into like January.

Hayley Cotter (27:35.405)
I know, I know, so I talked.

So I talked myself out of it, I didn't register, but I was watching the registration the other day and it was giving me such FOMO. So my new idea is we could do the springtime surprise weekend, which is April 16th through 20th of 2026. We wouldn't have to...

Danielle Griggs (27:57.783)
Wait, that's not even where we were supposed to be there. Is this a separate trip? for that I might consider running.

Hayley Cotter (28:01.853)
Yes. Yes, this is a separate trip. Yes. And I think, I think there's.

Danielle Griggs (28:08.173)
For that, I might consider running.

But wait, no, no, no, please explain. You haven't said the important thing, which is how long is it?

Hayley Cotter (28:16.962)
So I think there's three, maybe four races. Let me double check. There is...

Hayley Cotter (28:31.102)
Sorry.

Hayley Cotter (28:35.066)
The springtime surprise, they haven't announced the themes yet either. well, they'll announce it before registration. It's just it changes every year. I am looking, what are the races?

Danielle Griggs (28:39.821)
because it's a surprise.

Hayley Cotter (28:55.294)
Okay, so there is a 5K, 10K, and 10 miler.

Danielle Griggs (29:00.749)
Okay, so 10 milers off the table. I think a 5K is possible.

Hayley Cotter (29:05.8)
go for the tenkei. You can do a tenkei.

Danielle Griggs (29:06.817)
Hayley, how many miles, how much is a 10K? I don't know what Ks are.

Hayley Cotter (29:11.678)
About six miles.

Danielle Griggs (29:13.907)
Six miles? Are you allowed to walk it really fast?

Hayley Cotter (29:15.28)
Yes.

You can, but you might get swept. You have to keep up a certain pace or else they're going to boot you off the course.

Danielle Griggs (29:26.625)
I don't like this. I'm not sure. I don't have FOMO about this. I don't have FOMO about running. I'm happy to miss out on running for the most part. But on the other hand, if it got me to Disney an extra time next year, that's a possibility. Yeah, but it doesn't include cardio. Cardio's for suckers. I use weightlifting to get my heart rate up and that's how I've lost this weight. But I...

Hayley Cotter (29:34.652)
The joy of missing out.

Hayley Cotter (29:40.134)
Yes, and you've been on this fitness journey.

Danielle Griggs (29:54.497)
broke myself recently and haven't been to the gym in like six weeks and I'm dying.

Hayley Cotter (29:58.32)
I know that that is such a bummer.

Danielle Griggs (30:01.197)
I don't know. I will have to look at what one has to do to get oneself into shape to do 10 K's of anything.

Hayley Cotter (30:11.294)
Okay, well you have until July 29th to think about it.

Danielle Griggs (30:16.333)
What time is it at?

Hayley Cotter (30:19.855)
gosh, I think you have to line up at like 3 30 in the morning.

Danielle Griggs (30:24.779)
and it takes you like all over the place.

Hayley Cotter (30:27.634)
I'm not sure what the root is for a 10K.

Danielle Griggs (30:32.279)
All right, let me look at what a training program for a 10K would look like.

Hayley Cotter (30:36.88)
Okay, it'll be really fun.

Danielle Griggs (30:39.895)
Would it though, or would you like break your knee halfway through and then I have to finish this thing by myself and then I'm stuck in a race that I'm terrified of? Also, what are you bringing the baby? Are you running with the baby? What are you doing? You don't leave babies that little. You're terrified of leaving babies that little.

Hayley Cotter (30:48.77)
No, no, it would be great. I used to do a lot.

Hayley Cotter (30:53.822)
I know. I am. I am. I would have to give it some thought. I would have to think this through a little bit more. But it's just an idea that I have right now. It's just an idea.

Danielle Griggs (31:06.829)
I'm glaring at you. You can't see it because this is a podcast. I'm glaring at you for even putting this out there.

Hayley Cotter (31:08.006)
I'm sorry. Don't hate me. know. The problem is I've been on the couch for like two weeks now and I just have a lot of time to have ideas about things. So buckle up. I have been working on our website. It will be coming soon. I'm very excited.

Danielle Griggs (31:19.733)
Okay. Have ideas about our website. Work on our website.

Danielle Griggs (31:26.923)
Are you just like organizing the content and then I'm going to build it?

Hayley Cotter (31:30.512)
No, I've built, I'm building it.

Danielle Griggs (31:33.023)
You don't have I have the domain we got to connect

Hayley Cotter (31:35.28)
Well, yeah, I haven't connected it to the domain yet, but I'm like building it through pod pages and then you have to set up a URL. I'll see if I can share it with you. There's a way to share the, I could just give you my login. Yes.

Danielle Griggs (31:40.381)
No way. I want to see it.

Okay. Wouldn't this be fun, friends? We could have a fun little website where you could check out all of the stuff that comes up on the podcast.

Hayley Cotter (31:55.355)
Yes, I'm pretty excited about it.

Danielle Griggs (31:57.133)
I also want to do a YouTube, but we would have to look better while we're recording.

Hayley Cotter (32:02.909)
If you could see us right now, it's not it's not great

Danielle Griggs (32:06.309)
Speak for yourself, I have makeup on. Thank you. It's smudged because of crying, but that's fine.

Hayley Cotter (32:08.279)
You look really good. Yeah, and you like showered today and stuff.

my goodness.

Wow.

Danielle Griggs (32:19.765)
If that's it, yeah. Hey, thank you. Hey, thank you. And hey, if you want to plan a perfect day, any place I would be happy to help you, Danielle Griggs at fantasticalvacations.com. I would love to get your vacation going. So if that's all for now, see you real soon.

Hayley Cotter (32:19.857)
Good luck with the rest of your solo day.

Hayley Cotter (32:37.2)
See you real soon.