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Feasting on Fandom: Disney Food Chronicles Part 1

March 26, 2024 · Discuss on the GT Forum

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37: Hosts Ariel and Stefanie embark on a journey through Disney’s culinary delights, from the treats at the Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure, unexpected finds at Disney Channel Nite, to the surprising food merchandise. They navigate the rising prices, sustainability efforts, and the art of indulging at Disney parks. This episode invites listeners to a broader conversation on food and fandom.

Summary

Summary of HPOE37

  1. Introduction (0:11): Stef and Ariel set the stage for a delicious discussion on Disney food, touching on its cultural and social impact.
  2. Disney’s Food and Wine Festival (2:03): They dive into the Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure, expressing surprise over the lack of avocado-themed dishes despite the event’s theme.
  3. Favorite Festival Foods (6:04): The hosts share their top picks and experiences from the festival, including standout dishes.
  4. Merchandise and Marketing (43:46): Discussion shifts to Disney’s strategic merchandising of food-themed products, highlighting the new “Disney Eats” monthly release strategy.
  5. Educational and Therapeutic Use of Food (32:13): They explore how food can be integrated into educational settings and therapy to foster learning, healing, and a deeper understanding of cultural identity.
  6. Closing Thoughts (45:49): The episode wraps up with details on an upcoming panel discussion at WonderCon and an invitation for listeners to share their favorite Disney foods and food fandoms.
Transcription

00:11 – 00:17
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Happiest Pod On Earth. I’m Stef. I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my

00:17 – 00:20
students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

00:20 – 00:27
And I’m Ariel, a licensed therapist who uses clients’ passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental illness.

00:27 – 00:31
Here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

00:31 – 00:37
Why? Because we’re more than just Stefanie, and we expect more from the mediums we consume. Speaking of consuming, what are

00:37 – 00:38
we discussing today, Steph?

00:38 – 00:46
What a perfect word to describe what we are talking about today. We are talking about food, specifically Disney food, obviously.

00:46 – 00:52
But I feel like this is a long time coming. We have not touched upon this. Despite the fact that we’ve done multiple panels

00:52 – 01:02
at Comic Con about food and its impact culturally, socially, mentally, physically, I mean, everything. Food is life. Right?

01:02 – 01:03
That’s the saying. Yes.

01:03 – 01:10
And then we did a presentation at Geek Therapy’s tags on using food in the classroom and using food in the therapy and talking

01:10 – 01:18
about ways to address individuals who might have various forms of eating disorders or individuals who want to embrace the

01:18 – 01:19
culture of their food, but they don’t know how.

01:19 – 01:27
Mhmm. Food itself has many different dimensions. I mean, people love it. They make livings around it. We love to consume it.

01:27 – 01:35
It brings people together. I mean, as you said, I talked about how food in the classroom and food when it comes to translating

01:35 – 01:41
what it means for kids is so important as they grow and develop, and their relationship with food too. So I think it is fitting

01:41 – 01:47
as we are coming into the spring season now here in California, and specifically

01:54 – 02:03
in in as, like, something to drive people to get to the parks, which has definitely worked on me. Yes. Okay. So starting with

02:03 – 02:10
the park specifically, right now we are during the middle or just starting food and wine festival, which I don’t think we’ve

02:10 – 02:12
talked about on the show before. Correct?

02:12 – 02:19
No. We haven’t. We’ve done many different events that are very similar to Food and Wine, but correct me if I’m wrong, everyone

02:19 – 02:26
out there, and, you know, my to my cohost as well. I feel like food and wine festival was kind of like the genesis of people

02:26 – 02:33
coming to the park specifically to have specialty foods, specialty wine and beverage, especially since California Adventure

02:33 – 02:40
in itself. I think going with the theme of California and how we are, what, the largest in the United States of America, and

02:40 – 02:46
that we have such a large culinary scene. We have many celebrity chefs who live out here and make a living out here. They

02:46 – 02:52
really wanted to capitalize that with the California theme. So, you know, you see there’s a winery in the middle of the park.

02:52 – 03:00
You can drink alcohol in the park. There’s specialty restaurants like the Trattoria, which is Italian inspired. You have different

03:00 – 03:05
areas of the park where you can get different sorts of regional foods that you wouldn’t otherwise find at Disneyland.

03:05 – 03:14
And this year’s theme is it’s avocado time, avocado shaped like clock. Interestingly, though, there are not many avocado items

03:14 – 03:21
or that that’s not the main ingredient in most of the dishes, at least what we saw on the menu and what we tried. I don’t

03:21 – 03:27
remember, like, avocado being so featured, and yet that is the theme and that is the merchandise. Which yeah.

03:27 – 03:32
I think this is the first time they had a hard theme for Food and Wine Festival. Normally, it’s just, here, come try regional

03:32 – 03:37
foods. It’s happening. And for all of you who don’t know about the Food food and wine festival, basically, every single year,

03:37 – 03:44
they line the main veranda, the main street of California Adventure Park. They line them up with these little booths that

03:44 – 03:50
you can purchase small kind of tapas like items, very small. You can share them if you want. But, yeah, the food and wine

03:50 – 03:57
festival gets you certain dishes that you can use the little tabs to redeem. It does exclude alcohol, and it does exclude

03:58 – 04:04
some other dishes that you would have to go to the restaurant to get. So it’s not just the little booths that have themed

04:04 – 04:11
items, but also the restaurants that already serve things like in San Fransokyo or the plaza in the back, the garden plaza,

04:11 – 04:16
I think, but not necessarily with the little sip and saver pests. A lot of rules.

04:16 – 04:33
Yeah. Which I think is a a little the marketing, is I feel like this year, it’s expanded even more in more tiny booths. I

04:33 – 04:39
think last year, I don’t remember as many booths. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I just feel like it it’s grown in the

04:39 – 04:46
amount of options. It’s that you don’t have to go up to the booth to order your, like, each individual item. You can just

04:46 – 04:52
find 1 booth, order them all there, take your tickets, and go retrieve them, which is such a time saver. Because when I first

04:52 – 04:57
did food and wine fast with you, I remember waiting in each line to try and get our food.

04:57 – 05:03
Yeah. Like, you would basically be hungry by the time you got to the next thing. And you would keep just getting hungry and

05:03 – 05:10
then being satiated and then hungry again. But that comes with a disclaimer too because as I learned during lunar new year,

05:10 – 05:18
you can only get certain things pre ordered. And some things are excluded from that, which I unfortunately had not the best

05:18 – 05:23
interaction with a cast member when it came to that. I think because it was so busy, this was during lunar new year, and I

05:23 – 05:30
did not know the rules. And the little booklet that they give you kind of explains it, but I think they did a better job explaining

05:30 – 05:35
it this time for food and wine festival. But, yeah, you have to look for the little there’s like an icon that says where you

05:35 – 05:42
can pre order things. And if that item doesn’t have an icon, you’re most likely gonna have to stand in line. But I think it

05:42 – 05:51
is a, a step forward in trying to save people money and time. Because not only are you foregoing writing things and foregoing

05:52 – 05:59
other experiences to do this, but you are also, you know, if you have a park hopper, this is like the majority of your time

05:59 – 06:04
just trying to figure out what you’re gonna eat and where you’re gonna eat it at. Mhmm.

06:04 – 06:11
So in the Food and Wine Fest, maybe, like, in the past now, what comes up to your mind as, like, the top eats that you’ve

06:11 – 06:14
had or maybe, like, the different kiosks or booths that you prefer to

06:16 – 06:22
stop at? So I think they have organized it, like, consistently over the years. I always know there’s a spicy booth, which

06:22 – 06:29
I avoid at all costs. I know that there is one that’s dedicated to like a beer flight and a wine flight, which back then I’d

06:29 – 06:36
be like, let’s get it all. But now I’m like, okay, I’m gonna choose between the 2. But there’s also one that always has, like,

06:36 – 06:43
the most savory dishes. I think before they’ve had, like, Filipino pork belly over garlic rice. That’s one of my favorites.

06:43 – 06:50
Only because I was so surprised that they were doing cultural foods in addition to just, you know, California cuisine, which

06:50 – 06:57
I can never define myself being from California. They always California cuisine. Okay. But that’s one of my favorites. I know

06:57 – 07:04
they’ve also had a, I’ve also had, like, a burrito. I think it’s also pork belly. Clearly eat a lot of pork. My favorite dishes

07:04 – 07:10
are the ones that you get the most bang for your buck, which comes with, you know, like, a good protein and, like, a good

07:10 – 07:12
side. How about you?

07:13 – 07:18
I always like anything with the mac and cheese. I’ve so far, I’ve never not enjoyed a mac and cheese. Well, that’s what we

07:18 – 07:25
tried in this most recent Food and Wine Fest. And then, usually, the desserts are good, but there’s always, like, a cream

07:25 – 07:32
type dessert. There’s always a, I would say, like, a cookie type dessert. I remember, like, the macaroons being, like, the

07:32 – 07:38
things that I enjoy the most, and they’re huge. They’re always huge Mickey shaped macaroons. However, I think we tried a dessert

07:38 – 07:46
this year that was just sub par. So when we go back for dapper day, we’re gonna have to reclaim the dessert section, go through

07:46 – 07:51
it. I think there was like a passion fruit one that someone said that they liked, so we might try that, I think, this year.

07:51 – 07:58
Yeah. Definitely. And if you would like to know what that was, if you are going to Food and Wine Festival, we did try the

07:58 – 08:07
lemon olive oil cake. It was lemony. It wasn’t very olive oily. It was kinda dry, to be honest. And it pales in comparisons

08:07 – 08:09
to all the other Disney desserts that we’ve had. And I think that’s

08:10 – 08:15
Can you explain, like, what an olive oil cake is? Because I don’t know if some people might know what that is. They might

08:15 – 08:17
think olive oil only with cooking.

08:17 – 08:23
Right. Yeah. So olive oil cake is something specifically in Italian cooking because they use olive oil so much in their baking

08:23 – 08:30
and cooking that they add olive oil to a traditional cake mix to make it more moist. So if you imagine, like, the most moist

08:30 – 08:36
cake you’ve ever had. Even the like, if it’s like a birthday cake or even, you know, like a small layered cake. Imagine that,

08:36 – 08:44
but more savory because it has the olive oil in it. So I’ve had olive oil cake in Italian re delectable, and every bite is

08:44 – 08:52
just it’s full. It’s like very rich. And normally, I see it in chocolate cakes. I’ve never really had an olive oil cake that

08:52 – 08:58
wasn’t chocolate. I’ve seen them, but I’ve haven’t had them personally. But it brings out so many more notes of the chocolate

08:58 – 09:03
because chocolate is so multidimensional. But, yeah, I thought that I was gonna get the same experience with this lemon olive

09:03 – 09:11
oil cake, and I was thirsty after the first bite. I’m like, what is going on? It was cute, though. It was cute.

09:11 – 09:18
It was very photogenic, very worthy. And I think that was I think, like, back to other food and wine fests that we’ve had

09:18 – 09:24
or other events at the park that had food featured in them, there’s always, like, a hit or a miss. Right? And I remember the

09:24 – 09:28
last food and wine fest, a bread thing that had hot dogs in it was not it.

09:28 – 09:32
I was thinking I wanna say it was the Chinese sausage one, but I’m not sure.

09:32 – 09:39
Yes. Yes. That was it. That was it. It was okay. Yeah. I just I remember not liking that. And then it’s new in the park now,

09:39 – 09:46
but we tried it at Disney Channel night. It was the Mickey shaped pretzel pepperoni thing. I don’t know if the pepperoni pretzel.

09:46 – 10:02
It’s cute. It’s not it didn’t taste, like, amazing or wonderful. I I I you’re supposed for me. But on Disney Channel night,

10:02 – 10:07
we definitely tried unreal, really good item. That was a surprise that we didn’t even expect.

10:07 – 10:14
Delicious things I’ve ever had in my history of going to Disneyland. So much so that I am determined now to make it myself.

10:14 – 10:19
So I know we’re gonna talk about Disney Channel night on another episode, but I do have to mention this because it was just

10:19 – 10:21
it blew us all away.

10:21 – 10:21
Yes.

10:21 – 10:28
So everything that night had a nineties theme to it. So like Ariel said, the pepperoni pizza kind of like eating pizza bagels

10:28 – 10:31
after school. Yeah. That’s what I likened it to. Yeah.

10:31 – 10:37
And they had a cosmic brownie, you know, adult cosmic brownie, which does not mean there’s cannabis in

10:38 – 10:45
it. It’s not what made it a little. I think it is, because okay. So that’s really funny that you mentioned that. Because Cosmic

10:45 – 10:51
Brownie is a little Debbie Brownie and but because it was Disney Channel night and everything’s basically like late nineties

10:51 – 10:58
early 2 the y two k thing. So no. It did not have fun stuff in it and I don’t think Disney’s ever gonna do that for us. But

10:58 – 11:04
No. They had that. They had a version of TV dinners. Things that you would basically watch if you were watching Disney Channel

11:04 – 11:08
after school. Yeah. Things you would eat. They yeah. Things you would eat. And then they would theme some of them after some

11:08 – 11:16
of the movies. And because not every movie was represented, either with like a backdrop or with, you know, an, like an experience,

11:17 – 11:24
they made some of the food themes. So what we had was the Johnny Tsunami hot dog. And basically, what it was, was it was Hawaiian

11:24 – 11:32
rolls as the bread. It was Portuguese sausage, which is very popular and very common to find in Hawaii. And it also had chopped

11:32 – 11:40
up macaroni salad, which is a very Hawaiian thing, and chopped up pineapples. And I’m gonna refrain from any but it was so

11:40 – 11:43
delicious. I think we all looked at each other like, what? What?

11:43 – 11:49
We were shocked. And it was not something that we were thinking of getting originally because all the top items were at the

11:49 – 11:55
Hungry Hungry Bear, restaurant, and everyone was ordering on the app. That was pretty much the only way you were gonna get

11:55 – 12:02
your food. And so I wanted to try and find something, and I saw that the refreshments cafe had the Johnny tsunami sandwich,

12:02 – 12:09
and I was like, that sounds cool. So it wasn’t even on our list and it of, like, high items to get. It on the when I was looking

12:09 – 12:14
at the map that we were given, it wasn’t pictured. There were, like, food items they were highlighting. It wasn’t one that

12:14 – 12:19
they were highlighting. But I was just like, okay. This will be for us to all have something different when we sit down and

12:19 – 12:23
eat. And I’m so glad we got it because it was the best thing.

12:23 – 12:30
It was the best thing. And, I mean, we were just hungry at this point because we had been lighting up for all sorts of, like,

12:30 – 12:36
photo ops and nonsense. It was already, like, getting into the night, and we were there watching Perry the Platypus just,

12:36 – 12:41
like, rile up this crowd, and we’re just like we need to eat. And we’re all just on our apps, the 4 of us, and we’re just

12:41 – 12:48
like what can we order like right now? And then so Ariel split up and went over to the refreshment corner. We got stuff from the Tomorrowland Terrace.

12:48 – 12:49
Galactic Grill?

12:49 – 12:54
And Galactic Grill. Yep. Yep. Yep. And, yeah, like, when we all put all of our food together, that was literally, like, I

12:54 – 12:57
could have fought somebody for that. Yes.

12:57 – 13:00
Yes. That’s so good. Totally. Be a staple.

13:00 – 13:07
Absolutely. And Johnny Tsunami is one of my favorite Disney Channel movies of all time and underrated, obviously, but they

13:07 – 13:11
really redeemed it at Disney Channel night with this hot dog. It was so good.

13:11 – 13:18
Well, and speaking of, like, the park foods, what I mean, there are popular snacks that people go to get regularly. So when

13:18 – 13:22
you go to Disneyland, what do you immediately think I have to eat?

13:22 – 13:30
I mean, I have to have a corn dog. And now I know that you and I get corn dogs at different places. We do. We do. So, Ariel,

13:30 – 13:33
where do you get your corn dogs? Because I know you’re a corn dog fan.

13:33 – 13:41
Oh, I get it at the stage door. Yes. Yes. Yes. I get it at the stage door, and I don’t sit in I used to sit inside and watch

13:41 – 13:47
the show. Now I’m just, like, at their mobile pickup area, and I’m grabbing it and going. I and I honestly thought that was

13:47 – 13:50
the only place that you could get a corn dog and then I talked to you.

13:50 – 13:56
So I get mine from the little red cart before it was called the little red cart. It was just literally the corn dog cart because

13:56 – 14:03
they have the best breading and it’s always fresh, but there’s always a line. Now there used to not be a line back when I

14:03 – 14:10
would get it as a kid. But, yeah, it’s literally they only have corn dogs. And I also get the fried chicken right behind it.

14:10 – 14:17
Because that fried chicken is so good, and it’s like the best meal for, like, when you’re probably more than halfway through

14:17 – 14:25
your day at the park, and you just need the most hearty thing. And you get 2 pieces of fried chicken with a side of veggies,

14:25 – 14:32
mashed potatoes. And it is so good for families because you can share. And in the morning, I think is a buffet, but later

14:32 – 14:39
on you can walk up cafeteria style. And those are like my two favorite things to eat at the park for like the morning and

14:39 – 14:46
the afternoon time. But the clam chowder is also one of my staples. I have to get clam chowder if I can hack it. Even if it’s

14:46 – 14:53
a hot day. I’ll wait until, like, midnight to right before they close to get clam chowder over at the Royal Street Veranda

14:53 – 14:55
right next to Pirates of the Caribbean.

14:56 – 15:04
Okay. I’m less meal oriented and more, like, snack oriented, so I always get a mint julep and beignets. And I’ll try the seasonal

15:04 – 15:12
ones, but I really always just like a regular beignet and a mint julep. And always pop corn. Sometimes sometimes I’m buying

15:12 – 15:18
the popcorn buckets. Right? And that’s an extension of, like, food fandom is buying, like, themed popcorn buckets, but I’m

15:18 – 15:25
pretty much always eating a popcorn. Used to always eat a churro. Now I really like more of the salty flavor. And if I get

15:25 – 15:27
a churro, it’s because someone’s splitting with me. Mhmm.

15:27 – 15:36
Yeah. I have a good friend. He is the churro connoisseur. Every time he goes to Disneyland, I think we had to it was either

15:36 – 15:42
a challenge that that he was gonna eat, like, all the churros, but I think it was at the time where they were raising churro

15:42 – 15:45
prices. Because once upon a time, churros used to only be 3.75.

15:46 – 15:47
And now it’s what?

15:47 – 15:55
Up to $7 now, I think. Is that right? Mhmm. Mhmm. That is wild to me. And I think because now they have themed churros. Right?

15:55 – 16:02
Well and I I think with the corn dog and the churros, something that you have shared with me is that your sister-in-law talks

16:02 – 16:08
about sustainability at the parks. And so if you are somebody who doesn’t want to have, like, high waste, that would those

16:08 – 16:14
would be good items to get because the corn dog is just on a stick and the churro is just in a little flimsy paper. Right?

16:14 – 16:21
Yeah. Definitely. And they’re portable, so you’re really, like, consuming these things as you’re waiting in line for a ride

16:21 – 16:28
or if you’re waiting for the parade, or, you know, some sort of attraction that requires you just standing around, it’s very

16:28 – 16:35
convenient. So I think Stefanie with managing expectations, as we’ve talked about before, you really wanna put that in the

16:35 – 16:41
forefront of your mind before you figure out your food route. I would just reserve days to just eat and not do anything else.

16:41 – 16:48
I would just have Disney food days, where, like, we would go over to Trader Sam’s over at the Disneyland Hotel, and we would

16:48 – 16:57
get a reservation there. And Trader Sam’s is a really cool tiki bar that’s interactive and you can get not just, you know,

16:57 – 17:05
very good alcoholic drinks, but they do have a lot of Polynesian food that you can get only there and not at the park. So

17:05 – 17:10
I would go over there, and then we would just go up and down main street and just try food. But I know if you are just going

17:10 – 17:16
for like a 3 day trip or maybe just a one day trip, it’s really hard to do all of that stuff. You really have to be mindful

17:16 – 17:18
of where you’re going.

17:18 – 17:24
And I think that portability you talked about is important because it also depends on the type of theme park attendee you

17:24 – 17:31
are. If you are not an annual pass holder and this is about the only time you’re gonna make it to the park or if you are flying

17:31 – 17:38
in, you may not want to do a reservation. It might be good if you wanna take a break, but if you’re trying to get on as many

17:38 – 17:44
rides as you can, you might want to bring your own snacks or get some of the snacks that you can walk around with, or split

17:44 – 17:50
up your party depending on how big it is and have some sit down and have some wait in line and do a switch.

17:50 – 17:56
Yeah. And I do like how you mentioned that because, yes, the food prices have changed drastically in the past couple years.

17:56 – 18:04
So if you are on a budget, which I have been, I remember going to Disneyland with just $20 to spend, grabbing snacks and,

18:04 – 18:12
you know, packing your own meal. That’s totally doable. I’ve seen many people on social media even bring their own rice to

18:12 – 18:19
a company with their food because some food just tastes better with rice and even condiments, their own tortillas, fried chick

18:19 – 18:25
yeah. All of that stuff. I think, you know, Disney is not a big stickler for bringing in snacks, obviously, because there

18:25 – 18:31
are lots of kids that go to the park and, you know, they would like specific snacks that you might not find. And also milk

18:31 – 18:37
and juice is very expensive at the park. So I always bring my own for my kids and, you know, little things for them to snack

18:37 – 18:43
on while they’re waiting for a ride or a parade or something. You know, really being mindful of how much you wanna spend at

18:43 – 18:51
the park, knowing that a churro is 6 to $7 now. If you’re getting a meal and you are spending at least $20 for yourself for

18:51 – 19:00
a meal. And if you are so lucky to get a dinner reservation at the Blue Bayou or, you know, somewhere really fancy like Carthay

19:00 – 19:07
Circle, you would need to factor that into your culinary day. Not to say that none of it is worth it because it’s all worth

19:07 – 19:12
it. But, you know, just just so that you know what you’re getting into is the biggest thing.

19:12 – 19:19
Yeah. I I think when it comes to specifically planning the parks and making sure that you have both the time, but also the

19:19 – 19:26
energy. One of the things that was is always surprising to me is how much I can eat when I’m at Disneyland compared to at

19:26 – 19:32
home. Because of all the walking I’m doing, I need to sort of make sure that I’m always putting something in my system to

19:32 – 19:38
be able to have the energy to do all of the park things. The thing is if you go on the app and you look at the reservations,

19:38 – 19:46
it will list vegetarian or vegan options. It will list allergy friendly options, but it’ll also list the, restaurants that

19:46 – 19:53
have cross contamination. So if your allergy is very severe, that’s another reason why people will also bring in their own

19:53 – 19:59
food to ensure safety, and why Disney isn’t going to say, like, no to other people bringing in their own snacks and food.

19:59 – 20:05
So you could pretty much bring your own. I know that Steph, you have brought, like, a cooler and put it into with ice in it

20:05 – 20:12
and put it into the lockers before, keep, like, licking drinks cold, and then had, like, a designated time to go and grab

20:12 – 20:13
the food and picnic.

20:13 – 20:20
Yeah. Way back when I was younger. Obviously, Disneyland was cheaper. But, you know, as, you know, my mom was very frugal,

20:20 – 20:26
she would pack us lunch and we would keep it in a locker. And right next to Disneyland entrance and the lockers is a picnic

20:26 – 20:33
area. And we would bring like, you know, any sorts of food. I remember one time we brought even El Pollo Loco to the parks.

20:33 – 20:38
And, we would take it out and then we would eat it for lunch so that we didn’t have to buy food there at the park and then

20:38 – 20:44
we would just reenter. I was no stranger to that other when I was younger. I still see people do it now, especially if they’re

20:44 – 20:50
going on like a school group or, you know, like a like a small organization where, like, the kids are going for, like, a certain

20:50 – 20:55
thing. Girl scouts, boy scouts, I’ve seen them all use that picnic area. And, you know, you don’t need to reserve it. It’s

20:55 – 21:00
just kinda like a park, like an actual park. And you you could just chill there and then eat and then just put your stuff

21:00 – 21:06
right back in the locker. And they won’t ask you for, you know, any sort of time limit or anything like that. They still have

21:06 – 21:08
it to this day, which is really cool.

21:08 – 21:14
Yeah. So we’ve talked about food in the park. It’s bringing your own and then special foods. We’ve talked about food events

21:14 – 21:21
in the park. And as we mentioned that food is more than, like, fandom wise, more than just the food. There’s also the food

21:21 – 21:29
that is themed and food that we wanna try that is in our favorite shows and movies. Mhmm. So I’m curious for you. In the parks,

21:29 – 21:35
when there are themed foods based off of stuff, like, what comes to your mind when you think of that? Because I think of,

21:35 – 21:38
like, going into the the the pizza place in

21:38 – 21:39
What is it called? It

21:39 – 21:46
called? Yeah. Pizza Planet. Yeah. I think of Pizza Planet when I think of, like, a food that was from a movie or show that

21:46 – 21:54
now I might have access to or the shawarma cart in Avengers. In Avengers campus over at California Adventure. Like, those

21:54 – 21:57
are are, like, places that now I’m getting to actually visit.

21:57 – 22:05
Mhmm. I immediately think of the blue bantha milk. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. Because, I mean, when they made

22:05 – 22:12
Galaxy’s Edge, it was so immersive and that was so different from everything. Because when I went to, you know, my idea of

22:12 – 22:17
going to Disneyland is going to different regions of the world. So if I were in New Orleans Square, I knew I was gonna get

22:17 – 22:23
like gumbo or jambalaya or something beignets that I don’t normally get here in LA. Or even if I went to like adventure land,

22:23 – 22:31
I’ll get like, you know, Dole whip because I don’t normally have Dole whip back home. So when blue bantha milk came up at

22:31 – 22:38
Galaxy’s Edge, I was like, this is like a Star Wars food that is now in my hand. Like, that’s wild. Like, it’s crazy to me.

22:38 – 22:45
And I was like, what is it even made of? Do I even care at this point? I don’t care. It’s golden. It tastes delicious. I Tastes

22:45 – 22:50
like a Jolly Rancher. Looks like. It tastes like a Jolly Rancher. And I love that it has, like, almond milk options. Like,

22:50 – 22:57
it’s nondairy. And it’s super refreshing because I remember it being so hot when Galaxy’s Edge opened that I was constantly

22:57 – 23:04
just, like, thirsty and sweaty. But, yeah, I think they did a really great job with not just the Bantha milk at Galaxy’s Edge,

23:04 – 23:11
but also the ronto wraps there, because it really takes you out out of you know, this is regular food that we find here, obviously,

23:11 – 23:17
because I can make it in a kitchen and the world that we live in. But I can think I’m eating something else, and I don’t attune

23:17 – 23:23
it to a specific culture. This is purely fantastical, and I thought that was really cool. Yes.

23:23 – 23:39
Yeah. I think fantastical for me would also spoon. It was hilarious. And, again, even though it was real food, it was the

23:39 – 23:43
thought that it might have been, like, expanded or shrunk down.

23:43 – 23:49
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a little bone to pick with that tiny, tiny egg. Being so hungry in the morning, I’m like, I want

23:49 – 23:55
breakfast. And of course, you’re going for the novelty of it. Right? But like when I got this quarter size of an egg, I’m

23:55 – 24:01
pretty sure it’s a quail egg because there is no way that you got that from a chicken. I was like, what is this? What how

24:01 – 24:08
much did I pay for this? But then you see the gigantic pretzel and how it’s like hanging off of like a hook and it’s like

24:08 – 24:11
the size of my torso. And you’re like, alright. This is worth

24:11 – 24:12
it. Yeah.

24:12 – 24:13
Yeah. There’s a lot of pretzels.

24:13 – 24:17
And the ridiculously large chicken patty. That was my best.

24:17 – 24:22
I think yeah. It’s as big as your head. I’m pretty sure whatever chicken that came from was like the largest chicken in the

24:22 – 24:29
country. But, yeah, you’re right. PIMS test get I think they got really creative with that. And, I mean, the novelty of it,

24:29 – 24:36
it just it stuck because it was so cool. I know that there’s the Pizza Planet’s really good too, but I wish they had an arcade

24:36 – 24:43
in there because Pizza Planet in my mind was like a Chuck E. Cheese almost or, you know, an amusement center. So I think if

24:43 – 24:47
they had that, that would definitely, like, create the whole entire scenario for myself.

24:47 – 24:55
I still and maybe this is over in Paris Disney, but I wish that they had a Remy’s kitchen of some kind for, like, French cuisine

24:55 – 24:58
from rats at doing in in our park.

25:00 – 25:01
No. They do in Paris.

25:01 – 25:10
I think of Disney and food, that’s that Tiana and Remy are what come up in my mind as, like, the movies for Disney and food. Yes.

25:10 – 25:16
I have had the privilege to go to land Paris and yes, they do have a restaurant that you have to reserve for. It’s at the

25:16 – 25:24
end of the Ratatouille ride. But I haven’t been, but I will try to go this time when I go to Disney World. But now that they

25:24 – 25:30
have the ratatouille ride in the Paris part of Epcot, I know that they have food as well right next to it because they’ve

25:30 – 25:36
always had Parisian food there, and I’ve had it there. But I just don’t know if they do Tatooi or, like, something from the

25:36 – 25:43
movie. But I will find out, and I will report back to you. Yes. But, yes, Tiana’s Kitchen. Okay. I’m gonna get a little I’m

25:43 – 25:46
gonna get a little critical now because

25:46 – 25:49
Oh, well, we did say we examined with a critical lens.

25:49 – 25:58
Yes. I was so excited for Tiana’s kitchen. I mean, it just made sense to make that area in front of haunted mansion into her

25:58 – 26:05
place. And now that they’re doing Tiana’s Bayou ride, which is formally Splash Mountain, I was so excited for the food. However,

26:05 – 26:07
I took a trip to New Orleans earlier

26:08 – 26:08
at the

26:08 – 26:09
end of last year.

26:09 – 26:10
A bad move.

26:11 – 26:17
Bad move. But I’ve always wanted to visit New Orleans, and it is a beautiful city. If you ever get to go, oh my gosh. It is

26:17 – 26:24
full of culture, full of life. The food is out of this world. Just everything that you imagine that you saw while you were

26:24 – 26:31
watching princess and the frog, that’s literally what it comes with with the music and the spices and just their use of seafood

26:31 – 26:40
and everything. It was so good. And then I tried Tiana’s kitchen. And man, I was like, this is not as good as what I wanted

26:40 – 26:47
it to be. I know that Disney tries its best to represent regional food and they’ve done that very successfully. In many ways,

26:47 – 26:54
we just mentioned the Polynesian Johnny tsunami dog, which hit it out of the park. But I think to pay homage to New Orleans,

26:54 – 27:00
which is such a huge culinary city, I think they definitely need to step it up a little bit. I get it. There’s demand out

27:00 – 27:07
there. It’s always busy. You can only churn out so many beignets and so much gumbo and so much shrimp and grits at once. But

27:07 – 27:13
Yeah. Because they’ve done such a good job at California Food and Wine Festival, I definitely think that they can do a little

27:13 – 27:21
bit more improvement because my shrimp and grits were okay. I ate it, but it was lacking seasoning. It was lacking depth.

27:21 – 27:27
It was, you you know, the portion was good. But I think the one thing that I the only thing that I liked was probably the

27:27 – 27:36
vegetable gumbo because kinda can’t go wrong with that. And I know, Ariel, you had this was the lemon icebox beignet, which

27:36 – 27:43
ended up being kinda sloppy and wet by the end of it because of all of the, you know, icing. But I know you had it. So Yes.

27:44 – 27:45
What was your opinion on it?

27:45 – 27:50
It tasted good, but you would have to eat it right away. I would say that’s something that you should order second, like,

27:50 – 27:57
go back and get it versus ordering it with your meal unless your meal is that dessert or you eat fast. A beignet is just as

27:57 – 28:03
good as warm as it can be. Like, that that’s pretty much it. And then when you have a liquid, like, if it’s stuffed with something

28:03 – 28:10
or has a cream of some kind, that’s going to detract from, like, the fried part of the beignet. I would say Tiana’s place

28:10 – 28:18
is where you want to go if you want to meet a princess and you cannot wait in line. So it’s a great for accommodations, especially

28:18 – 28:24
if you’re, like, a wheelchair user or if you are a walker user. That’s gonna be a place where you can sit down because Tiana

28:24 – 28:30
comes to your table, and she comes to every table. She will talk to you. She will take pictures with you. And if she asks

28:30 – 28:36
you about the food, she’ll joke with you. Like, that’s the immersive part of that environment. The food and I have seen, some

28:36 – 28:44
cast members who are, who work in the kitchens, who are chefs or sous chefs or, cooks in the kitchen, and they have said that

28:44 – 28:51
they cannot make the buy spicy simply because they get so many complaints about it. So if you’re looking for, like, authentic

28:51 – 28:58
Creole New Orleans cuisine, don’t go to Disneyland. Like, that’s the fantasy. If you are looking for just something that will

28:59 – 29:04
satiate you, that tastes fine, it’s not bad, and you can meet a Disney princess without having to leave your seat, that’s

29:04 – 29:10
what you’re gonna wanna do with Tiana’s place. And and you talked about, like, the spicy cart over. I think the other thing

29:10 – 29:17
what, people have said online is because more people, if they have to choose to visit a park, will choose Disneyland only,

29:17 – 29:23
that they cater to a general audience. Whereas the California Adventure does have the opportunity to cater really towards

29:23 – 29:31
California natives and people in the West Coast, which means that their food gets to be more expansive. And when you have

29:31 – 29:37
when you have an event of some kind, like you said, it’s limited in how much they’re gonna make. Whereas a kitchen that is

29:37 – 29:43
going to stay has to keep churning out the same thing, and it has to taste the same every single time. So Absolutely. It’s

29:43 – 29:49
a worthwhile criticism. If you’ve never been to New Orleans, you’re not gonna know the difference. If you have been to New

29:49 – 29:51
Orleans, you’re gonna know the difference.

29:51 – 30:05
Right. You are definitely right. I think the experience of meeting Tiana there, unfortunately, started coming down and like

30:05 – 30:10
many normally when rain happens, many of the characters, many of those experiences just go away. And so we really wanted to

30:10 – 30:17
try it because last time when we were to try it, which is funny enough before I went to New Orleans, I missed the closing

30:17 – 30:23
of the restaurant because it was still new. And it closed at 8, and we had gotten over there at, like, 9. And I’m like, oh,

30:23 – 30:30
dang. It’s closed now. So, I mean, that would have definitely been a different experience. But at the same time, I think that

30:30 – 30:36
you’re right. Disneyland catering to a general audience is what they’re there for, because they are the ones this is the original.

30:36 – 30:42
There’s only so much that Disneyland can do, which is why they have specialty places like California Adventure or mainly even

30:42 – 30:50
EPCOT. I know that I’ve had such great regional food over at EPCOT at Disney World because they have chefs from that specific

30:50 – 30:56
country. They have people who work there from that specific country that are on, like, a Disney college program or, you know,

30:56 – 31:03
through Disney so that they can share their culture with the world. So there are different ways that Disney is trying to represent

31:03 – 31:11
different countries in very respectable ways. But I think Stefanie this would probably be a gateway into, let me see what

31:11 – 31:18
creole food is actually like. But I think that little voice in the back of my head knowing that Tiana was a chef and that

31:18 – 31:25
she was very proud of her food and the whole movie was her trying to achieve her dreams of making that restaurant. If I knew

31:25 – 31:28
Tiana, maybe she wouldn’t have approved some of these dishes.

31:29 – 31:35
Yes. Yeah. I think if we’re talking about bringing the movie to life, that was not it, and that’s that’s fair.

31:35 – 31:41
The outside is gorgeous, though. The outside is absolutely gorgeous, especially at night. It’s so pretty.

31:41 – 31:45
Yes. We can agree on that. And there’s room for improvement. Right? It’s still technically new.

31:45 – 31:45
Absolutely. Yes.

31:45 – 31:52
That’s I think that’s gonna be the saving graces. We’ll probably see the food evolve and get hopefully better. And I I do

31:52 – 31:58
think you also highlight, like, even though the foods at the parks are expensive, even if you go to, you know, Epcot in Walt

31:58 – 32:04
Disney World, like, you may not have the money to travel to another country. This may be the only time you get to experience

32:04 – 32:09
other cultures. So even if it isn’t quote unquote authentic, which really hard to be if you’re not if you don’t even have

32:09 – 32:11
access to the food that your region would

32:11 – 32:13
have. Absolutely.

32:13 – 32:19
For the most part, this is a great way to introduce, like, students, to introduce people to different cultures and different

32:19 – 32:26
cultural cuisines and talk about, you know, acceptance and diversity. I know that we’ve talked about this on the panel. Can

32:26 – 32:32
you share, like, your experience in the classroom and with students when it comes to diverse foods or trying to celebrate

32:32 – 32:35
different cultures and through their cuisine? Cuisine.

32:35 – 32:42
Yeah. Definitely. I know that whenever you introduce food that is not school lunch into your classroom And really, like for

32:42 – 32:50
the campus, it’s always a special occasion. I’m so lucky that I work for a school that highlights diversity, inclusion, and

32:50 – 32:58
just, embracing the different cultures that make up Los Angeles. And I did want to note that too, because California is such

32:58 – 33:05
a great place to its populations of cultures that have enclaves that have been here for decades, 100 of years, that, you know,

33:05 – 33:14
we can get authentic Oaxacan food just down the street. So I always tell my students that, you know, food is a part of not

33:14 – 33:21
just everyday life, but a part of your identity. So whenever we have cultural events, we normally have festivals that highlight

33:21 – 33:29
Asian American foods, traditionally black foods. We do a good job, I think, in making that effort. So, yeah, I think that

33:29 – 33:36
introducing students to that is really important. And any sort of way that I can do that, whether it be making guacamole in

33:36 – 33:42
the classroom or trying out different types of bread, incorporating that into, like, a history or social science lesson, because

33:42 – 33:48
food is just a part of history. And if we’re, you know, if we’re losing some of those history lessons, at least we get to

33:48 – 33:54
do it in the everyday things that we eat. So, yeah, I mean, I’m pretty thankful that I get to do that. I know not other schools,

33:54 – 34:00
some of them don’t get to do that. But, I mean, for you and your practice, do you ever get to talk about what food means to

34:00 – 34:04
them and the relationship that people have with food in regards to their mental health?

34:04 – 34:11
Yes. So, I know that a lot of my clients have experienced, like, grief and loss. And one of the ways that they will reconnect

34:11 – 34:18
with the individual that has passed is they will make favorite dishes that either were significant to that person or significant

34:18 – 34:25
to, like, the family and their tradition and passing down recipes. I have some clients who have some difficult experiences.

34:25 – 34:32
And so trying to reclaim, like, a positive relationship with the food is not only highlighting how it does connect to your

34:32 – 34:41
culture, but making it, like, fun, play based. Kitchen where my coffee area is, I have a funko of Deadpool as a barista. Like,

34:41 – 34:47
that’s how I’ve, like, made the kitchen fun and silly. And then I used to watch Gilmore Girls, so I have a funko of Suki.

34:47 – 34:56
And I have, a toadstool as a chef. And so they’re over by my by my stove. They’re helping me cook. And so I do that with my

34:56 – 35:01
my clients. It’s, like, we talk about ways to, like, a little bit more exciting. We talk about, you know I don’t give nutritional

35:01 – 35:07
advice. It’s not within my scope, but we talk about how they can enjoy, like, the food that they’re eating. Maybe it’s, like,

35:07 – 35:14
put more colors on the plate. Maybe it’s I think the common phrasing nutritionalists use is have what you like, add what you

35:14 – 35:20
need. So we you know, I’ll have them talk to their nutritionalists and see, like, what could we say that we like and then

35:20 – 35:26
add what we need. And maybe some of the things we like is, like, I will change the peanut butter and jelly sandwich to the

35:26 – 35:35
shape of, like, a Mario star or, like, the the, castle at Disneyland so that I’m still eating enough protein with the peanut

35:35 – 35:40
butter, but I don’t want the crust. And it’s like, okay. You don’t have to have the crust. And I’ve noticed that that is the

35:40 – 36:06
best way to reincorporate food as not just nutritional you actually appreciate it and not just the fact that it is something

36:06 – 36:11
you put, like, in your body, and it’s just the something you check off the box of, like, how you stay alive. But instead,

36:11 – 36:17
like, you are looking forward to it. You’re savoring it. A lot of the work we do is also mindfulness based. I don’t know how

36:17 – 36:23
many times I’ve, like, had clients, like, stop and pause and, like, really smell their coffee, hold the warmth in their hand,

36:23 – 36:30
like, hold the flavor in their mouth, see if they can describe it. Those are the ways in which slowing down and accessing

36:30 – 36:36
more language makes it easier in the long run when it comes to healing and and working through trauma and talk therapy.

36:36 – 36:43
Yeah. I love that you mentioned slowing down and enjoying your food just to enjoy it, because not many people do that. I know

36:43 – 36:50
for me as a mom, I I stopped sitting down to eat. I I eat standing up all the time. And many other moms can relate because

36:50 – 36:55
you just the minute you sit down, somebody will ask you for something, somebody needs someone someone starts crying or somebody

36:55 – 37:02
gets hurt. So I it’s been a while since I’ve done that. And lucky for me, when I go to Disneyland, because it’s either I’m

37:02 – 37:09
with friends or with other people. I mean, when my husband’s there with me, I can enjoy my food. And it’s fun for me because

37:09 – 37:16
these are foods that make me happy. Whether, you know, it’s eating a themed food or eating something that’s very nostalgic

37:16 – 37:23
for myself, I can stop and enjoy it because that’s really what being at the theme park is about. Right? It’s just enjoying

37:23 – 37:28
yourself in anything that you do. No matter the stress that comes along with getting there, or ordering the food, or waiting

37:28 – 37:36
in line for food, you’re still enjoying something that has happiness and joy in it. And so that is all a part of the park

37:36 – 37:43
experience with, you know, the theme food and the types of food that they have at Disneyland. It’s there to make us generally just happy.

37:43 – 37:52
Yeah. And I I think even, like, expanding that, joy of food, like, we know that now there’s merchandising and lining just

37:52 – 38:01
for food. You talked about Right. The munchlings, and I bought a pizza backpack, headband like Mickey ears, and a shirt from

38:01 – 38:03
their Disney Eats collection. So let’s talk

38:03 – 38:10
let’s talk a little bit about the merchandising and the marketing that is now absolutely a thing at Disneyland. Because in

38:10 – 38:17
the past years, there were no influencers. There were no theme nights. There were it was just going to the park and enjoying

38:17 – 38:25
the park as a theme park. Now there’s an element of niche fandoms within the park. And obviously, food is one of those niches.

38:25 – 38:32
And I don’t know about you, but this whole munchlings, like, little plushies that are Disney characters mashed up with food

38:32 – 38:38
items. I feel like it came out of nowhere. Like absolute it’s like that meme that says no one, absolutely no one. Disney parks,

38:38 – 38:43
let’s come out with, you know, a blind of plushies that look like food. That’s kind of how it happened in my

38:43 – 38:49
Yes. Perception of it. And, like, that just shows you about, like, food and fandom taking over because I didn’t know that

38:49 – 38:57
I needed a Donald Duck cupcake plushie until they showed me that I could have a Donald Duck cupcake plushie. And then I’m like, yeah. Oh

38:57 – 39:03
my gosh. I saw all of the stitch related ones. There’s like a stitch Dole Whip. There’s a stitch macarot. I’m like still at

39:03 – 39:09
that point in denial that I need it. I’m like spongebob or like, I don’t need it. I don’t need it. I don’t need it. I don’t

39:09 – 39:14
need it. If I’m gonna get it, I’m gonna get the actual thing and I’m gonna consume it so that I can get something out of it.

39:14 – 39:22
But they are so cute. And yes, spirit jerseys, ears. Ariel, you just bought the most beautiful set. This is so cute. And I

39:22 – 39:27
think I remember when we were at the park, you were like, I’m getting it. There was just like no questions asked. Right?

39:27 – 39:36
No. No. Yeah. So Disney Eats is a merchandising line that Disney is releasing every month a new food themed item. And the,

39:37 – 39:45
February was pizza. And I saw it and I was like, yes. I cannot not live without this. I will buy it before the end of this

39:45 – 39:51
convention. And I did. I bought the ears. I bought the jersey. I bought the lounge fly backpack. You know? I’m walking away

39:51 – 39:58
with pure joy. Like, I looked up when it was international pizza day, so I could, like, wear this again. I really love pizza

39:58 – 40:04
as a food. And then just to see the hidden Mickey’s, like, pepperonis as hidden Mickey’s, was it was clever. They got me.

40:04 – 40:09
They really got me with the merchandising. I looked at some of the other foods. I may do s’mores. Like, they have that in

40:09 – 40:16
December as one of the food items. That may be one that I also like as well. And and it’s interesting. If you go on the website,

40:16 – 40:24
it’ll list the food items, and they are in, like, a tan, image. And then when they release the item, they actually replace

40:24 – 40:31
that image with the actual item. So we’ll we’ll start to I see. Yeah. They’re they’re doing drops. They’re doing drops of

40:31 – 40:38
their line. And it’s merchandising that involves kitchenware, it’s merchandising that involves clothing, sipper cups, like,

40:38 – 40:42
it’s the whole gamut of ways to, like, engage with the food as a product

40:42 – 40:43
and not just as a consumable, but, like, a product.

40:43 – 40:46
It’s as if they thought, oh, consumable, but, like, a product.

40:46 – 40:54
It’s as if they thought, oh, these millennials that now have kitchens and have incomes, let me see what they like. And let

40:54 – 41:01
me just make this huge line about it so that every month in the year of 20 we get them in one way or another. Do they have

41:01 – 41:06
a preview of the type of food it’s gonna be, or is it just like a silhouette of an image or something?

41:06 – 41:15
Oh, it is a preview, but Okay. Even the preview is just a, like, a cartooned image of that food item. It isn’t of, like, the

41:15 – 41:22
merchandise. So if you go on our Instagram, you will see the most recent drop with the pizza ears. But if you swipe swipe

41:22 – 41:27
all the way to the end, you’ll see what it looked like before. We have the whole list for the whole month, so you can or or

41:27 – 41:30
for every month this year, so you can see what those drops will look like.

41:30 – 41:33
So when is coffee month? Because they have to do that. Right?

41:34 – 41:43
Oh, that is a good question. This January was just Disney Eats collection, so That was introducing the collection. February

41:43 – 41:50
was pizza. March is macaron. April is lollipop. May is ice cream. So some of these matching sort of what you would eat in

41:50 – 41:58
those those months. June is doughnuts. July is shaved ice. August is pineapple swirl. September is caramel apple. October

41:58 – 42:04
is churro. Umbers is gingerbread, and December is s’mores. So all foods, no drinks.

42:04 – 42:07
So they’re all they’re all desserts except for pizza.

42:07 – 42:10
Wait a minute. Except for pizza. Let’s pizza put them in the laundry detergent.

42:10 – 42:16
They’re all desserts except for pizza. Okay. So the theme is they’re going for handheld. They’re going for childlike items

42:17 – 42:23
that kids can also partake in, which is probably why they don’t have coffee. And I feel like I’ve seen I mean, before we’ve

42:23 – 42:29
seen Disney donut ears, and some of the munchlings have been s’mores and, you know, macarons and other things. So I think

42:29 – 42:34
they’re just now maybe expanding upon what the merchandising has worked for them in the past.

42:34 – 42:42
Yes. Yes. And all the imagery is Mickey shaped items with the exception of the pineapple swirl, unless there’s a hidden mickey

42:42 – 42:58
that I can’t see. But I think you’re hitting on like some of the way that food is being merchandised, Find a food you can

42:58 – 43:04
eat with your hands. A messy food like spaghetti or food that you’re used to eating in your hands like pizza or fries. Because

43:04 – 43:10
that’s that is one of the first ways we, like, explore our body is touching our mouth and putting things in our mouth. You

43:10 – 43:14
have an infant. I’m pretty sure she puts everything in her mouth. Right? All the things.

43:14 – 43:15
So Every of the things.

43:15 – 43:23
When we’re talking about, like, nostalgia marketing, having handheld foods, wonderful. Having it be sweet, go to treats, having

43:23 – 43:31
it sort of match the theme of the month. I think that Disney’s on brand with this marketing. And I think really shows why

43:31 – 43:39
our panel, when we first did our food panel, why it was accepted at Comic Con. That was the first panel that we had ever accepted

43:39 – 43:46
at Comic Con. It was and it’s because food is a niche culture of fandom in so many different ways.

43:46 – 43:53
Mhmm. And just as you’re listing all of those foods, you could essentially say there’s a fandom for every type of food that

43:53 – 43:59
you just listed. Mhmm. We have pizza lovers, macaron lovers. I was surprised they didn’t have cookies. Just like regular cookies?

43:59 – 44:00
No chocolate chip cookies?

44:00 – 44:06
Just gingerbread, but definitely Just gingerbread. I think the other thing is that these are also foods you can access in

44:06 – 44:13
the park. So they’re, like, doubling down on the fact that these are favorite foods that are to go Mhmm. That are park foods as well. Right?

44:13 – 44:19
Yeah. But yeah. Absolutely. People are fans of these food. I know that we didn’t really dive too deep into it, but there are

44:19 – 44:24
fans of the different types of cold brew in the parks. Because now that they’ve realized that cold brew is a thing that people

44:24 – 44:30
need at the parks, whether you’re a parent, whether you’re just, like, trying to get through the day. There’s different variations

44:30 – 44:36
of cold brew that you can get in the parks, just like how you can get different variations of churros. So when you have followings

44:36 – 44:42
of people who will, like, repost any sort of video that has to do with that food item, that is essentially creating a fandom

44:42 – 44:50
of that item. That Disney now is looking at that as, hey, you know, we not only have Disney fans, but we have Disney foodies.

44:50 – 44:56
We have food fans and for specific things. So it was very smart on their part to hone in on that.

44:56 – 45:04
Yeah. I think this will be our our part 1 in a series of food as a subtopic on our Disney fandom, podcast.

45:05 – 45:07
We have lots to say about it. So, you know.

45:07 – 45:17
Now if you are going to be at WonderCon this year, we will have our panel on March 31st. That’s a Sunday from 4 to 5 PM. It’ll

45:17 – 45:24
be in room 2. And I do understand this is also Easter, so if we don’t see you, that is totally fine. But if we do, you know,

45:24 – 45:33
say hi, ask a question. We will have a variety of people on our panel, an actor, a producer, a restaurant owner, chef, a sous

45:33 – 45:40
chef. So come and learn about food and fandom. It won’t just be Disney related. It will be the whole gamut of food and fandom

45:40 – 45:48
and the experience. And, you know, if you have any questions, please follow us and message, like, and follow at happiestpodgt

45:49 – 45:56
for Instagram and happiestpodgt for and, yeah. Like, let us know. What do you eat at the parks? What are your favorite foods?

45:56 – 46:04
Yes. And what foods are you fans of? Because as we are going to be diving into that topic at the panel, we always love hearing

46:04 – 46:11
stories of people and their relationship to their favorite foods. It’s always so great to hear because we’ve all had that

46:11 – 46:19
experience of loving food and getting joy from it that is unmatched when you eat something that brings you so much happiness

46:19 – 46:26
that you just have to stop everything and realize that. So we’re very excited, the panel. But if not, we will see you on the next episode.

46:26 – 46:27
Alright. Bye, everybody.

46:28 – 46:29
Bye.

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Tiana
  • Princess and the Frog
  • Remy
  • Ratatouille
  • Deadpool
  • Suki
  • Gilmore Girls
  • Toadstool
  • Funko Figures
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Disney Food Culture
  • Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure
  • Disney Merchandising and Marketing Strategies
  • Using Food in Education and Therapy
  • Disney Eats Collection
  • Panel Discussion on Food and Fandom

Website: happy.geektherapy.com
 | Instagram: @HappiestPodGT | Twitter: @HappiestPodGT | Facebook: @HappiestPodGT |
 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
| GT Facebook: @GeekTherapy | GT Twitter: @GeekTherapy |
| GT Forum: forum.geektherapy.com  | GT Discord: geektherapy.com/discord |

Styling for Dapper Day

April 22, 2023 · Discuss on the GT Forum

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#32: Join cohosts Ariel and Stefanie on their journey for Dapper Day outfits. Immerse yourself in the world of Dapper Day at Disneyland as they explore everything from dressing tips and theme ideas to personal experiences and the pursuit of the perfect outfit pieces. Dive into discussions on vintage fashion, body acceptance, and privilege as they talk about stepping out in style.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Summary

HPOE32
Summary

  • What is Dapper Day? 0:10
    • Dapper Day at Disneyland.
    • Step out in style.
    • Disneyland Dapper Day Expo

  • Dressing for Dapper Day 5:23
    • Disney Bounding is when they use color blocking.
    • Choosing a theme.
    • The value of being complimented on Dapper Day.
    • Different elements of a Dapper Day outfit.
    • Think good and hard about footwear.

  • Ariel and Stef’s Dapper Days of the Past 8:42
    • Ariel bought socks to wear with her heels due to the pain of walking all day.
    • Different park preparation from 20-year-old years to 30-year-old years.
    • Flamingo-themed dress, floral-themed dress, tiki-themed dress, and Moana-themed dress.
    • Tips for where to take pictures in the park.
    • A short girl solution to short girl problems.
    • The many theme ideas for Dapper Day.

  • Ideas for Dapper Day 14:46
    • The Disney Dress Shop in Downtown Disneyland.
    • The difference between making costumes and curating an outfit.
    • Flexibility and intentionality are needed when deciding to go vintage or retro.
    • Embracing culture.
    • Filipino formal wear of The Barong Tagalog, The Terno, and The Maria Clara.

  • On A Mission for Dapper Day Outfit Pieces 22:26
    • Searching Amazon for Dapper Day themed outfit ideas.
    • On a mission for the perfect pair of white boots.
    • Trying to attain that perfect look, even when it hurts.
  • Ariel Does a Star Wars Disneybound for Spring Dapper Day 2023 30:09
    • The fine line between replica and upgraded outfit.
    • Wait, are they getting married?
  • Dress To Your Comfort Level 34:58
    • Acknowledging the element of privilege in participating in Dapper Day.
Accepting the changes to your body.
    • Stepping out or staying in your comfort zone.
    • Attending the Expo instead of the Park to enjoy Dapper Day.
    • Catch Stef and Ariel at San Diego Comic-Con for three different panels.

Transcription

Ariel Landrum 0:10
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Ariel. I’m a licensed therapist who uses my clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma.

Stefanie Bautista 0:20
And I’m Stef, I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:26
And Happiest Pod is where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:32
Why do we do this? Because we’re more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums that we consume, especially from Disney. So Ariel, what Disney experience are we discussing today?

Ariel Landrum 0:42
We’re gonna talk about Dapper Day.

Stefanie Bautista 0:47
It has been a minute since we’ve talked about anything. And right before we started recording this, I was 100% shocked that we haven’t talked about tougher day before, because it’s one of our annual traditions, I guess biannual because it happens twice a year, right? Yeah. And it’s one of the things that me and Ariel love doing at the parks. It’s one of the things that brought us together as best friends. And so I’m just like, “Why haven’t we talked about this befire?”

Ariel Landrum 1:14
Exactly! Stef, what is Dapper Day?

Stefanie Bautista 1:17
So Dapper Day. And this is open to interpretation, right? Everybody who’s listening, I know you guys have probably heard seen, or maybe even had friends who participated in Dapper Day, it’s a chance for everybody to come dressed at the park in their best outfits. So as you all know, Disneyland opened in 1955. And in 1955, the fashion was completely different. Everybody was in dresses, men wearing in suits. Even little kids didn’t wear athletic wear. They basically wore really cute things to the park, it was as if they were going out to a special event.

Ariel Landrum 1:51
And the park was more like a park, right? The rides were not as extreme as they are now.

Stefanie Bautista 1:58
It was more like going to a park that had amusement rides, much like a carousel at Griffith Park or pony ride or something like that. So basically, Dapper Day is a way for retro enthusiast, fashion enthusiast, and Disney fashion enthusiast to come together. It dressed up and their best in the park and basically takes a million pictures. Because you when you’re dressed up to the nines like that you’re not really wanting to you know, mess up your hair on Splash Mountain RIP. But you want to just show out and step out and I think the official theme is ‘Step Out in Style,’ right? So that is basically Dapper Day. It happens twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. And since then it’s expanded to different events either at museums or local gardens and they also now have Dapper Day at Epcot in Disney World and they also have it in Disneyland Paris as well.

Ariel Landrum 2:50
So started by the fans and now when we say if is it is it actually officially recognized by Disney or is it like unofficially officially because I remember when you introduced me to it this was back in like 2017 I believe it was like unofficially recognized by Disney in that Mickey would come out and like his like best dress and like his dapper wear on that day. So it was like a nod that they knew was Dapper Day, but it wasn’t featured on their website. It wasn’t acknowledged in the sense that it was an event sponsored, covered or approved by Disney.

Stefanie Bautista 3:23
Right. So here’s the thing. They hold the Dapper Day Expo, which is basically like they’re Dapper Day at Comic Con, have you, in the Disneyland Hotel and they have all these vendors and they sell dapper where they still have they get they do your hair, they sell shoes, all the things that you need to make up an outfit. They have performances, all that stuff, everything that’s like very retro. And they hold that at the Disneyland Hotel and they sell merchandise that says Disneyland Dapper Day or Disney Parks Dapper Day. When I visited Epcot last year. They even had a booth that was in Epcot right in front of I think where the America section was, and that booth had Dapper Day merchandise although we don’t see it on the parks and tickets. It’s not a ticketed event. So it’s not like it would be on the website as a ticketed event like Oogie Boogie Bash would be I feel like it’s recognized by the parks but I don’t think it’s owned by the parks if that makes sense.

Ariel Landrum 4:17
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 4:18
Yeah, correct me if I’m wrong everyone but I thought these are just my observations.

Ariel Landrum 4:22
Yes. And I haven’t seen anything like on the website I feel like we follow enough Disney influencers that if it became like an officially recognized like announced thing by Disney, we would have seen it all over Instagram as like “Breaking news!”

Stefanie Bautista 4:39
And to be quite honest with you, I don’t feel like that’s necessary because it is such a casual, casual but you’re not looking casual event where people just come dressed to the park. It’s not like you have character meet and greets. You don’t have like special theme food like they’re not going to serve your hot dog from the 1950s. But they have been incorporating some of those elements into everyday Park life. For example, you find the retro popcorn bucket in different places at the park in California Adventure, they have performances by a swing band, and they have, you know, things that called back to that era, but not necessarily needing to section out the whole day in order to have the event because it is so casual.

Ariel Landrum 5:24
Yes. And when it comes to dapper, it’s really what you define as dapper. So some people will pick an era like the 1950s, or 1960s, or 1970s. Some people will do a Disneybound. I talked about this in episode before. But if you don’t remember Disneybounding is when you use colorblocking to denote that you are representing a Disney character without actually having a costume. And so we’ll see a lot of people were like very fancy dresses that are red and blue and wait and be there Snow White, and sometimes the theme is just whatever you want. So my first like Dapper Day that I did matching a partner was I was lemons. And that was that was the theme was I had this dress that I bought from Unique Vintage that I’d owned for like two and a half years that I never worn. So and it had lemons on it.

Stefanie Bautista 6:13
And it was a hit. It was a whole hit. How many compliments did you get? I couldn’t even remember, you got so many everybody loved lemons, and they loved just the way you and your partner coordinated. It was very cute and very summery. And I think it was the spring one. So it was very well put together. Bravo, bravo.

Ariel Landrum 6:34
Thank you. Thank you.

Stefanie Bautista 6:35
And another thing you always kind of know, and this is like a side note that you did a good job when people compliment you at the park.

Ariel Landrum 6:42
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 6:43
It gives you a sense of like that you’re like, “Oh, yes, I did it.” If somebody recognize you as a character if you’re Disneybounding. Or if they say, “Oh my gosh, I love your hair or your shoes,” or whatever. People talk to each other at the parks all the time. But when they give specific compliments like that, I think that’s what’s special about Dapper Day is because you know you made an effort and for people recognizing that effort, it brings that sense of community to the event.

Ariel Landrum 7:04
Even with the Disney Bounding this Dapper Day, we met up with our friend who is a psychologist, Dr. Elizabeth Han and, and her husband, Benji Han, and they were Aladdin and Jasmine. And it was awesome, because all of the other crew that you would see in that movie. So we saw Jafar, we saw The Genie, they would run up to them and be like, “Can we take a picture with you?” And because they knew who you were, and you knew who they were.

Stefanie Bautista 7:32
Yeah. And shout out to Liz and Benji, they did such a great job on that Disneybound. Oh my gosh, perfect. And they look great throughout the day,

Ariel Landrum 7:40
Some people will just buy things and put things together. Some people will like go through their closet, Elizabeth, she dyed her gloves and like her scarf to match the specific color of Jasmine’s outfits. So go all out, go big. You know, keep it tiny, keep it close to your closet, whatever it is, ends up being just a lot of fun to step into Dapper Day.

Stefanie Bautista 8:01
Yeah, there’s different elements of putting your outfit together. And that is one of the parts of preparing for the parks that is a little bit different when it comes to Dapper Day. Of course, like as Ariel mentioned, it’s either you’re gonna go down the Disneybound route, or you’re just gonna go down the vintage route. Either one is fine. One of the lessons early on that both me and her found out was to really think good and hard about your footwear. Because if you’re planning to stay at the parks all day, if you don’t have the leisure of having a hotel nearby, you’re basically commuting over there and you’re gonna stay there the whole day until you feel like you’ve gotten the most out of your park day. But if you’re wearing heels, it will cut your day short as we have found out in the past, right?

Ariel Landrum 8:42
Yes, yes. I think this was the Dapper Day in 2018 maybe?

Stefanie Bautista 8:47
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 8:48
Oh, no wait, maybe it was 2016. Maybe we started going in 2016, not 17?

Stefanie Bautista 8:52
It was the first one that you and I have done together because I have done one before with my husband. But…

Ariel Landrum 8:57
He was deployed!

Stefanie Bautista 8:57
Yeah, he was deployed at the time. So I picked a very simple dress. I think it just had flowers on I did my hair. But you had a beautiful green dress on.

Ariel Landrum 9:05
Yeah teal green. And it had little flowers around the waist and had a parasol.

Yes, yes. And you also I think there was elements of tulle? Tulle?

Yes, yes, there’s tulle on top and I even had like a tulle, tiny hat. But we took it off after a while because it was it was getting in the way. And then I wore these heeled shoes with like buttons on them. And three hours into the day my feet were hurting, but we were just we just kept going. We just kept going and then by the time it hit like actual dark because we got there at 10 I believe my feet were bleeding basically. And we had no band aids and we ended up going to the Disney store and I bought Ariel the mermaid socks because I happen to be similar color theme. And they were tall socks. And it looked like I was wearing stockings. So it was fine and that like really helped with my feet for the rest of the evening. But man, I don’t know who I thought I was I don’t ever wear heels like ever. So the fact that I thought I could flouts around for again Disneyland!

Stefanie Bautista 10:08
I think they were like Mary Janes. So the heel was maybe no more than two inches I think?

Ariel Landrum 10:14
Yeah, they were short.

Stefanie Bautista 10:15
However the terrain of Disneyland is still concrete. It’s like wood, it is stone. It is not pillows. So if you don’t have like an insole, or if you don’t have an extra pair of flats or like slippers or something, which now in our 30s, we have because we were in our 20s. And again, who did we think we were? Because I had shoes, and I stuck it out. I don’t know how I did that. And not only does the clover anything.

Ariel Landrum 10:49
You did really good.

Stefanie Bautista 10:50
I did. But I remember having blisters, like really bad blisters. And of course, this was 2016 or whatever. I was much lighter. I was probably a little bit more fit. So I could hold my strength a little longer, but…

Ariel Landrum 11:03
Pre pre kiddos.

Stefanie Bautista 11:04
Pre kiddos, all of that stuff. Now. Even if I have sneakers, my feet are dying. But yeah, like I think that’s one of the learning lessons. And even though we went through that experience, I think it made us want to improve the next time because the next time do you remember what your outfit was?

Ariel Landrum 11:24
I believe this next outfit was flamingos. My theme was flamingos. And I had flamingos all over my dress and a flamingo purse. Yes, yes. I don’t remember the shoes at all. But I don’t remember any pain that year. So they must not have been they must have been flats. I think this is I think from the room after that all of my shoes have been flats with the exception of this year.

Stefanie Bautista 11:46
I think I did flats too. That was the one where I did a tiki theme.

Yes. And I shoved you in a bush.

Yes, she shoved me in a bush. She actually likes doing it. You do show me the bush the first time also, but you shoved me in another bush this time.

Ariel Landrum 11:58
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 11:59
And it’s always the same bush. It’s the one right outside the Tiki.

Ariel Landrum 12:02
Yes. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And this was before they expanded it with that outdoor eating area.

Stefanie Bautista 12:07
Yeah, yeah. So as we’re waiting for the Enchanted Tiki Room, which we always tend to do during Dapper Day. I don’t think we did that this past time. But yeah, like that bush is always like really good for pictures if you ever want to take really cool tropical pictures. That was a day that I think I wore flats too. And I think we came out on top that day.

Ariel Landrum 12:25
I even remember I had flip flops with me. So I remember because I can I can see in my mind’s eye now that they were these brown ones that I’ve gotten since rid of, but the dress was so long, you really couldn’t see my feet. It didn’t really matter what shoes I work.

Stefanie Bautista 12:38
You know what? That’s not Short Girl Problems. That’s Short Girl…

Ariel Landrum 12:42
Solutions!

Stefanie Bautista 12:43
Solutions! Exactly. Exactly.

Ariel Landrum 12:46
And your dress it was it was black. And it had floral theme, correct?

Stefanie Bautista 12:51
No, this one was actually the the other version of it. It was green and it had like tiki print on it. It was a skirt. And then I had a like cream colored blouse. And then we’re really big flower in my hair.

Ariel Landrum 13:04
You were you were Moana?

Stefanie Bautista 13:05
Not that year. That was a different year.

Ariel Landrum 13:08
That was another year?

Stefanie Bautista 13:09
That year AJ came back.

Ariel Landrum 13:10
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 13:10
So my husband came back from deployment. And then we were Moana and Maui. But this one was just like a tiki theme. It was the one that had like these 50s sunglasses, and then you shoved me in another bush. I’ll show you a picture later. But we will also in attachment to this when we post about this episode, we will have pictures of all of our Dapper Days of past because we’ve had quite a collection now.

Ariel Landrum 13:31
And because it happens twice a year, that’s the other component is it’s like “Oh, was this spring or fall?”

Stefanie Bautista 13:39
As like, “Did I bring a jacket or did I not bring a jacket?” In spring, it gets pretty hot. Like I know we’ve had a very late winter this year. So it did get pretty cold like both in the morning and in the evening. But before it used to get really hot and so you’d be sweating, your hair would be melting. And you always just admire the ladies who just like have helmets on like they basically hairspray the crap out of your head. And it just stays perfect until like the end. I don’t know how they do that.

Ariel Landrum 14:10
I’ve seen the most elaborate hats. One specifically sticks out one year where somebody’s theme was they were the tiki room. And their hat was a headpiece that had one of the birds inside a cage. And I was just like, what, how do you do this and it all handmade. And this is around the time where you introduced me the actual Expo that they were having. And I started going there and you could buy pieces at the Expo. And a lot. It seems like a lot of people who are vendors or have relationship with the vendors, they tend to make more of their outfits. They aren’t piecing things together that they found they’re creating things.

Stefanie Bautista 14:46
When you’re thinking about putting your outfits together you are thinking like “Am I going to theme this?” If you are Disneybounding you’re going to theme it after movie. You can theme it after a ride you can theme it after the whole Disneyland park you can be with after California Adventure if you want and I think people who have been putting these outfits together have done such a great job. And with the help of social media Dapper Day, the hashtag of Dapper Day, if you just look it up, it has a million ideas. Now Disney has caught on with the idea of not just letting the fans find these pieces, but actually marketing and making these pieces. Hence the opening of the dress shop that you see in Downtown Disney. When you go inside the parks, you’re gonna see 50s 60s themed clothes, whole dresses that have different elements of them popping up. I remember the first time that they tried doing this was the tiki room.

Ariel Landrum 14:48
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 15:11
And like legit, everybody has this damn dress.

Ariel Landrum 15:38
Everyone was wearing this Tiki Room dress made by a Disney officially sold and made by Disney.

Stefanie Bautista 15:43
Great effort Disney in trying to relate. But when it becomes sort of a uniform, it kind of loses its pizzazz a little bit. So I feel like now they’ve like offered different like varieties of what they have at the dress shop. It is at a higher price point. I know if you like just go vintage shopping or if you you know do the extra work kind of like when you’re doing cosplay, right? There’s a difference between getting a costume that’s made for Halloween and using that for Comic Con or whatever, comic book convention. And there’s a difference between putting everything together curating it, finding those pieces and then kind of making it your own. So depends on whichever route you want to take. But there is flexibility but also know that Disney is trying to capitalize a little bit on it.

Ariel Landrum 16:26
Yes, yes. And then if you’re trying to instead replicate like an era and do something more vintage or even retro, that is a little bit trickier if you are buying replicated pieces because you already know the replicated and if you are trying to go actual vintage, there’s the expense portion but there’s also will it last?

Stefanie Bautista 16:48
Or really fit? women’s bodies now are so different from they were before when I used to have illegal vintage shopping I had to really consciously think about my body and how women’s bodies were thought of back then and how they fit into me now so it wasn’t like if I found a piece that was like a large it’s not like saying I was had gained weight or whatever because I normally wear a medium. It’s really because the idea and the concept of size was so different decades ago.

Ariel Landrum 17:15
I’ve noticed even with the size I’m top heavy, there’s just like not a lot of vintage outfits that I can buy that will fit me up where my chest is. So I tend to more buy vintage pieces like earrings, hats, bracelets, necklaces, glasses, things that are an accessory purses a lot a lot of purses. Unless something that I’m gonna wear that might wear out or that I might want to cherish later that might wear out.

Stefanie Bautista 17:43
I’m telling you Ariel one of these days we’re just going to buy those like Tiki momos and it’s gonna be like the most comfortable Dapper Day ever.

Ariel Landrum 17:50
Yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 17:51
They’re coming back into style and they are gorgeous.

Ariel Landrum 17:56
We could definitely buy some authentic ones. So…

Stefanie Bautista 17:58
Yeah. Oh yeah. I feel like…

Ariel Landrum 18:00
Filipino ones.

Stefanie Bautista 18:00
Yeah, for sure. And yeah, there’s that cultural element to it too. As…

Ariel Landrum 18:05
Yeah! Share your your cultural piece that was a huge hit the shocked you!

Stefanie Bautista 18:09
Oh my gosh, super shocked me so we so I am my heritage my I identify as Filipino American. And so in the Philippines there. Instead of wearing suits and dresses, we have two different kinds of outfits that you would wear to either a formal event or to a someone who’s a business event really just any kind of formal event. For the men’s it’s called the Barong Tagalog which is basically a bamboo woven blouse. And it’s very breathable, you normally wear just like a white shirt inside. And it is like a high collar you can even you can either have like Chinese style collar where the it doesn’t like come out on the sides or like a Western style collar that kind of comes out on the sides like you would normally see a dress shirt as. And it has very intricate patterns on it that are woven in. Very beautiful. We will show of course examples on this when we post about it, but my husband has one for every formal event that we go to. And then for women, you have a couple of different options, but they all are very similar to each other. One of them is called the terno, which is basically a blouse that has really big butterfly sleeves on the sides. Not puffy, kind of like Alice in Wonderland but more structured. So it’s very high, very flat on each side, but it has a low neck. And it also could either be a dress, which is called a Maria Clara, and there’s different versions of it. But lately over the years, people have been selling them more because people Filipino Americans and people who are you know getting married to Filipinos they are wanting to incorporate more cultural wear into their formal events. So I thought to myself, I might as well buy one because you know why? I have had like an event coming up my grandma’s 80th birthday. And so we all decided to wear our Filipino outfits. And I had bought a little bronc that I loved for my son at the time. And so we’re like, let’s just wear this a Dapper Day, because it’s coming up, I have major FOMO if I miss a day, every day, I’m like, “Oh my God, I wish I was there.”

Ariel Landrum 20:16
And you didn’t have a lot of time to get the pieces together. So this was part of like, looking at what you have, and just anything that might be missing versus starting from scratch.

Stefanie Bautista 20:24
Exactly. And it was a spring Dapper Day, so I knew it was gonna be hot. And we normally do the California Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure. So I knew it was gonna be walking around. And my shirt came with a just kind of like a silk wraparound skirt. And I was postpartum a little bit still. And I needed something that I could be comfortable in. So I wore that I think it were flats that year, too. And we went into the park, and oh my god, the amount of people are like, “Oh my God, we love your outfits. And we love your Barong Tagalog like, I can’t believe you have a small one for your son.” And even though it wasn’t like anything tied to Disney, or it wasn’t tied to, like an era, because this is something that you can modernly wear, like any sort of formal event either here in the Philippines, you caught the attention of Filipinos who worked at the park. Number one, they were like, “I don’t even think of that.” And also you caught the attention of other people who didn’t know what you were wearing, they asked questions about and they’re like, “Oh, you know, like, is this, like from your culture? Is this from a specific thing?” But really, like, I forgot how many Filipinos actually worked at the park? But that day I was holy reminded about, you know, the demographic of Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, and the surrounding areas of Anaheim. Because yes, there are a lot of us around here. I think the next year afterwards, I saw more people embracing their cultural heritage. For example, I saw this beautiful Vietnamese couple wearing the like a bright red, like just I don’t know the name of it. I’ll look it up in a little bit. But with the really large, beautiful hat, oh, my God, they look gorgeous. And so I think people are starting to lean towards their culture a little bit. And I’m glad that I kind of decided to do that. And it wasn’t even intentional. But I have been wearing that outfit again for more dapper days. And I think I would probably expand upon that maybe and try to Disneybound with it. So I encourage you guys to do that as well.

Ariel Landrum 22:26
And the most recent Dapper Day that we had the theme of was a Disneybound and it was going to be Star Wars and the only reason I did that was because Dapper Day has become more and more popular and you can follow the hashtags. I typed in Dapper Day in Amazon. I just typed that. And then there were all these individuals who were I guess you’d call them Amazon influencers? I’m not I’m not 100% sure, because they have their own little like influencer website on Amazon. But they all posted images of their outfits and what pieces they bought on Amazon to make those outfits and there was one that you can get in white or black. And I was trying to decide if it Star Wars do I want to be Princess Leia or do I want to be Vader? Like “What do I want to do with this?” This outfit had these long sleeves that emulated like a cape. And so that’s that’s why it could have been either or, and in talking with my partner who knew that he was going to be able to attend Dapper Day this year, we decided I’ll be Leia and he’ll be Han. Now I remember. I need to wear good footwear. But I also wanted something that might be like kinda fun and make the outfit edgy. And I was talking to Stef about it. And I was like, “I’ve been looking for white boots and for like three days straight.” I’m going to the mall looking for white boots because I thought you know, “Go go boots are back, I should be able to find them.” Could not find white boots. There were cream boots. There were boots that were white and black, but nothing that was just white boots.

Stefanie Bautista 23:50
And that set me on a mission, “Girl, I’m gonna find you these white boots.” And I think, um it was again a coincidence that I had seen this because I think me and my husband just got out of the theater ever had it been what we watched. We watched John Wick, which by the way, amazing movie and then we went downstairs and they had just opened up a Nordstrom Rack and I was like, “Oh yeah, Nordstrom Rack!” Like, I love me a Nordstrom Rack so I go inside. And then I think Ariel you had texted me like, “I still can’t find the boots!” And I was just like “Bitch I’mma find them!| Sorry, pardon my language, but I go in there and because everything is all new, they just had like, so much selection. So luckily, because Ariel is such a petite size. Not a lot of people get things in that size, which kind of works out because you are able to find really good quality things if you aren’t besides that normally more or regular people are I’m a size seven, seven and a half and my section is always sold out like it’s really irritating. So I go over there. And then I see the most perfect pair of white Doc Martens like they could not be more perfect for Princess Leia. They were edgy. They were not laced. So they were just pull ons and they were her size. I have a couple Doc Martens and the only caveat to having them is you got to break them in. So I’m like, “Okay, I’m gonna get these for you.” They were the perfect size like the heavens shown above me just opened up like pathway for her to do this Disneybound. And I’m like, “I’m gonna get them, but you kind of break them in some way somehow.”

Ariel Landrum 25:21
So we could never meet up to pick up these shoes from each other so I had to wear them day of. We met at the Dapper Day Expo the day before the official Dapper Day event. Dapper Day Expo is essentially three days and the actual Dapper Day at the park is Sunday. So when you’re going to dress up at the park, it’s Sunday, however, some people will dress up the whole weekend. So we met on Saturday at the Expo. Here I am being gifted these boots that I haven’t even tried them on. And so we’re in the middle of the floor of the Dapper Day Expo…

Stefanie Bautista 25:54
There’s litterally vendors going like around those. There’s link a beautiful like swing band, big band, everyone’s dancing…

Ariel Landrum 26:01
And so we’re sitting on the floor. And I cannot put these boots on for the life of me. And it took a lot of wiggling my feet around like these are my perfect size. I don’t understand maybe maybe I’m just a different size Doc Martens. Again, I’m on and they fit comfortably now that I’ve actually slipped my foot in, they fit comfortably.

Stefanie Bautista 26:20
Slip is a very like, general term, we kind of had to ganker in there to the point where I think one of the Dapper Day workers were like, “Do you want me to get you a chair?” She was so sweet. And then like me and your partner were just like trying to like hoist them into link your foot into there. It was quite a scene.

Ariel Landrum 26:38
It was. And then it was even worse of a scene to take them off. It got to the point where I was afraid we were gonna have to cut these off of my feet. I was pulling and tugging and twisting and another like vendor came by and they’re like, “Do you need some help? Do you want do you need…” Like the everyone was it was worried about me. They were they were concerned about these boots.

Stefanie Bautista 27:00
There were two categories of people one category that was concerned about your health and safety in these shoes. And the other was “Where did you get them? Did you buy them here?”

Ariel Landrum 27:10
Yes, I kept getting asked, I asked “Where did you get these boots,” as I’m trying to like take them off or put them on. The problem was I had just been at Disney all day. And I was wearing sandals I had no socks on and my feet were essentially a little bit more swollen from the fact that I’ve been walking around. So we went and looked around and bought socks. I put the socks on the boots fit beautifully. Once I had socks, I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna have to find a way to wear socks tomorrow with these boots.” I was gonna have hideaway socks is what I thought I was going to do. But even in trying to get them up my my leg I need tall socks, we bought some extra ones at the Dapper Day Exo to make it happen.

Stefanie Bautista 27:49
That were like probably a little bit more than I know you were comfortable with paying but at that point you were like, “Eff it,. I just need this to work!” Because we know the potential of what it was gonna look like and we knew it was going to be perfect. So in trying to attain that perfect look, we were willing to do anything. And like you know, buy, whatever it took for you to get into those boots. I don’t know why we thought it was a good idea for you to slip them on without socks. I always wear socks with mine.

Ariel Landrum 28:18
The excitement?

Stefanie Bautista 28:19
I think it was the excitement. I truly think you’re just so hype on these boots because A. found them B. I got them at a deal. Even when I wear them with dresses, I wear stockings, or I wear some sort of like leggings or something. So I don’t know why I thought that was gonna work without all of that. And especially after you were walking at the park all day.

Ariel Landrum 28:34
It was hilarious and humbling. The next day, I have the socks on I fold them a little bit. I wear the boots all day, I feel great, my feet, my legs, everything feels great. The boots are a little heavy. So that’s the only thing is I had to get used to the weight of them. But we were pretty much there till dark, I get home and I take the boots and socks off. And wow, I had so many cuts and blisters and bruises up and down my leg where different parts of the boot was pressing. And it was about two months before like all of those scabs had essentially fully healed. And so even though I didn’t repeat the wearing of the heels I still got very blistered up and that’s because these were brand new shoes. So lesson learned there I don’t know. Again I don’t know who I think I am but I thought that this was going to be possible I should have just come over in the middle of the night and had you leave the boots on the door and like me grab ’em.

It’s not like we live that far from me.

No, no.

Stefanie Bautista 28:37
I think if you wear them now they will be the most comfortable things ever you could dance or whatever have you in them and they will be true to you. So what I love about getting a piece like that for costume or a cosplay is you can wear it over and over again. So it’s not something that was just specific to your Princess Leia outfit you can wear them just as a fashion piece and I think if you are looking to maximize what you wear, because you know, you don’t want to just throw away an outfit. That’s one of those things where you find pieces that you can reuse over and over again.

Ariel Landrum 30:09
The outfit we got for my partner Han is basically you know, a vest and white shirt. I couldn’t find any pants with red stripes on them. So he just wore pants. And then he decided to tie a belt around that kind of was supposed to look like the holster and we were going back and forth on the different pieces he was starting to add to his outfit because it was getting more towards cosplay. That is the component of Dapper Day where there’s a fine line between you replicating an outfit and you trying to upgrade that outfit in dapper s stylish, fanciful, whatever you want to put it, where it’s a nod to that character. It isn’t an exact replica. And so I think it was a good thing that we didn’t end up finding pants with the red stripe or it would have started looking more like a costume. That being said, even though the we went to boot to and took a picture with literally the Millennium Falcon behind us, I don’t know how much more like evident it was. People saw me posing with my partner in a white dress and thought we had eloped. And so I consistently kept getting messages of “Married question mark?” “When did you get married Question mark?” “Such a beautiful wedding photo!”

Stefanie Bautista 31:23
This is news to me. I did not know this. I am dying.

Ariel Landrum 31:26
It was nonstop for like two or three days even from like his family where they’re like, “Oh, is this a wedding photo? Is this a sneak peek? Is this an engagement photo?”

Stefanie Bautista 31:38
I think it’s because it’s so on, brand for you to do something like that. And I think the universe just wants it for you?

Ariel Landrum 31:45
I guess. And like everyone saw a white dress with like a flowy cape.

Stefanie Bautista 31:52
They did not, “Oh, no Princess Leia at Dapper Day. She’s gotten married.”

Ariel Landrum 31:57
And a part of it was I saw this picture on Amazon if someone else who did a Dapper Day of Princess Leia where they were their hair down. And then they wore actual ears that they made with buns on them. So the buns were on the ears. And I was like, “Oh, that is so adorable. I’m gonna do that.”

Stefanie Bautista 32:13
Because really, it is hard to do just buns and you’ve done it before. And to make them last is like there’s a science to it.

Ariel Landrum 32:19
It was gonna fall I knew that it was going to fall. So I was like, I will do that. So I was even wearing Mickey ears. But I think what people saw was a bow and my hair down. And so if they didn’t understand that it was Dapper Day and that I was Disneybounding it had to mean that we had somehow eloped at Disneyland.

Stefanie Bautista 32:38
Which you know, that is okay. I subscribe to this.

Ariel Landrum 32:45
Add to cart.

Stefanie Bautista 32:47
Add to cart and hey if it ever happens, you already have a dress sis.

Ariel Landrum 32:51
Yo, I have watched those Disney weddings on the Disney+ that ish is expensive.

Stefanie Bautista 32:58
It is unattainable. That’s how you do it in times like this. And they just called eloping at Disneyland in the open without them knowing. We are talking about budgeting at Disneyland not just for Dapper Day outfits, but also for life events. So I think that’s really funny how people interpret just by what you were

Ariel Landrum 33:19
I was surprised I was genuinely truly surprised that that was the reaction. And maybe it was like because on Instagram you can put up the 10 photos. But the first one is usually what people see and people hadn’t swiped through and seen like all of us together hadn’t seen other people in they’re dapper.

Stefanie Bautista 33:35
And you looked gorgeous.

Ariel Landrum 33:36
Thank you. It was the boots the boots made it. I think when it comes to trying to find the appropriate outfit for you, you know whether you are going cultural, whether you’re picking a specific theme, whether you’re picking a specific character do this more often, you start to get used to how you want to conceptualize your outfit. I had taken a little bit of a risk with this outfit because it was shorter than I normally go I usually do a long dress and it was a little bit tighter than what I normally do. So I was wanting to step out into something different. And a part of it had to be again, that body piece that we talked about. I want my body’s changed a lot it’s gotten a lot bigger in various areas and I wanted to embrace that and not try and like hide it or shame it and it was fine. Like I don’t know what it was what worry I thought I would have in this dress. I didn’t think people think I was my marriage dress but it it really felt good to have people at the park recognize me as Leia people wanting to take pictures with me that were other Star Wars characters. There was a lot of Rays I saw and lots of Kylo Rens. Another way to be able to embrace the like the park experience and connect with your fellow Park attendees because people who don’t even know about Dapper Day they’re just like, “What is going on? Why is everybody’s like so dressed up and it’s fun to be able to like share that with them and hope that inspires them to join like the next year.

Stefanie Bautista 34:58
Yeah, and it’s not even an element of like, “Oh, I know about this and you don’t.” It’s more of like, “Hey, I will explain to you and I’m more than happy to share with you what this is, so that you can participate next time.” Because I think on the other side, there’s some people who, you know, aren’t a huge fan of the event just because it’s like, there’s an element of privilege because you knew about the event. And, you know, you were able to put this outfit together. But I think over the years, it hasn’t been like that, or, I remember in the early years, there was a little bit of that, but as its expanded to, you know, include Disneybounding, and including, you know, families and things like that. It’s an overall really positive experience for you know, dressing up without actually wearing a costume. I didn’t really have an outfit, but I had, you know, a dress that I was gonna wear for my baby shower that I didn’t. And it ended up having had like, really big, puffy sleeves, and I knew that that was in and it’s very, you know, Disneyland like, it was blue and I knew that my daughter had a really cute Alice outfit. Kids can get away with almost wearing the costume because you know, who’s gonna knock on a kid for like, dressing exactly like. It was an official Disney, you know, bought Alice in Wonderland outfit, so she wore that. And I wore my dress, which was a very similar blue, and I tried to kind of be like a bigger version of Alice, but because I didn’t have an apron, everyone thought it was Wendy. And I’m like, “Do you see Peter Pan around me anywhere?” Like, “I’m not Wendy me but okay.” But again, I wear that dress because it was comfortable. I felt confident in it. My body has changed after two kids. And so I just wanted to, I knew I was gonna be pushing a stroller around. It’s like it was to be carrying just the purse. My purse has expanded now to a large stroller with you know many intricate pieces. And, you know, knowing it was gonna be hot, I wanted something flowy. And yeah, it really worked out. I do love that you stepped out of your comfort zone, because I think the form fitting dress really complimented your curves. And also, yeah, I mean, it was great. It made me want to be like, “I should wear something like that.” And not something so large, because that’s kind of what, that’s what we default to most days. But it really worked out especially for your concept. So I encourage everybody, if it’s your first time, this is your second time, if you’ve had friends participate, like do what’s comfortable for you. And you know, I think don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t find the right elements, because I don’t think this is an event that’s going to go away anytime soon. If anything, it’s going to just continue and grow because like I said, they have these Dapper Day events at LACMA. They have them at the Huntington Library in Pasadena. More and more events where it’s not just restricted to the vintage community, because this is going to be for another podcast, I’m sure but there are people who feel some sort of way about, you know, being in the vintage community. And that goes for, you know, other fandoms.They don’t feel necessarily as comfortable. And I think this is one of the ways that for me and Ariel as vintage enthusiast but not like really serious about it, to be able to participate in it in a way that’s comfortable for us.

Ariel Landrum 38:11
as inclusive for us as possible. Because like we mentioned, there’s no way that we would be able to fit any actual vintage outfits. Given our curvy size and even height. I think being shorter Filipino women as you start to do Dapper Day more, it is a lot more comfortable and more accepting and that you get more joy out of experimenting. That’s when you can take you know a few risks. Like I wasn’t gonna get snares. I wasn’t gonna get people looking at me sideways. The things that I feared that I would get when I thought that I wouldn’t make an outfit look, you know, right, so to speak. There is a layer of privilege if you are going into the park because you’re spending a lot of the day taking pictures. If you are making an outfit that isn’t going to last a ride, you might feel like you’ve wasted a day if you’re not an annual Park holder. So this could be a component where you go to The Expo. So maybe you’re not in the park but there are a lot of people who actually just spend their whole day in The Expo.

Stefanie Bautista 39:06
And I’ve done that before and it makes me feel like I’m participating without actually being in the park.

Ariel Landrum 39:11
Like you said they have a swing bands so you can dance. They have raffles you can get to know the vendors it means that you wouldn’t be buying a park ticket which may not be feasible but you could still participate in the event.

Stefanie Bautista 39:23
Over the years it’s grown so much where you know it’s a multi day event so you don’t necessarily have to go into the park to appreciate it. And then you can explore the hotel you can explore like the places to eat there. I know last time when we went we ate at Tangaroa terrace, which is right next to Trader Sam’s and it was it’s great like. You could also take beautiful pictures around the hotel floor that if you haven’t you know been able to the hotel grounds are open even though you are not a you know a guest to the hotel. I think that’s a really good way if you don’t have the capacity to get into the parks because we all know that the prices are going up. That’s a great way to just get introduced to it or attend one of the off site events. And you know, see how you like it there.

Ariel Landrum 40:06
So if you are going to be attending the fall Dapper Day that’s in November, let us know, tweet us or message us DM us on Instagram. And let us know if you’re gonna go, what you’re going to wear. And if you want to meet up and take some pictures together, our Twitter is @HappiestPodGT, and our Instagram is @HappiestPodGT.

Stefanie Bautista 40:30
And we do have a lot of really exciting things coming up this summer. So in addition to planning for our Dapper Day outfits, which I feel like that seems like a lifetime away right now, we will be attending other events. So I’ll be hopefully we will see you all there very soon.

Ariel Landrum 40:43
Including San Diego Comic-Con where we will be hosting three different panels. So come check those out. We will give you more information about that. So make sure that you follow us on Twitter and on Instagram.

Stefanie Bautista 40:55
As always, thank you so much for listening in and we will see you all next time.

Ariel Landrum 40:59
Bye!

Stefanie Bautista 40:59
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Princess Leia
  • Moana and Maui
  • Kylo Ren
  • Ray
  • Jasmine
  • Aladdin
  • Snow White
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Expectations
  • HAES (Healthy At Every Size)
  • Vintage
  • Retro
  • Fashion
  • Dapper Day
  • Disneybounding
  • Dapper Day Expo
  • Disneyland Hotel
  • Self Acceptance
  • Comfort Zone

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

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Disney After Dark: Princess Nite

March 10, 2023 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/753fe6fd/beb55567.mp3

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#31: In this episode of Happiest Pod, join Ariel and Stef as they recount their magical evening at Disneyland’s After Dark event, Princess Nite. Held for the first time at Disneyland Park on March 7th and 9th from 9 PM to 1 AM, this special event transported guests into a world of princesses and fairy tales. And don’t worry if you missed it, as Ariel and Stef provide an in-depth look at the experience so you’ll know what to expect if you decide to attend next time!

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Summary

HPOE31
Summary

  • Intro 0:10
    • Welcome to the happiest pod on earth.

    • Today’s episode is all about Princess Nite.

    • How Princess Nite compares to Merriest Nite.
    • How to plan a Disney event.

  • Dressing Up for Princess Nite 8:14
    • Dressing up for a Disney event.
    • Dressed up for the gram.

  • Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Rail Way 12:06
    • Rise of the Resistance and Mickey’s Runaway Railway.

    • The El Capitan in Los Angeles.

    • The lack of female representation in Disney movies.

    • How Disney has had to adapt to change.
  • Where are the Princesses? 18:20
    • Where to find the Princesses in Fantasyland.

    • The end of the line sign.

    • No signs saying where the Princesses are.

  • Soaring Melodies Under The Starrs 28:06
    • No projections.
    • A live Disney performance with singing and dancing.
    • Pyrotechnics.
  • The Broken Reservation System 30:27
    • High Tea menu at Cafe Orleans.

    • Special event Cinderella Popcorn bucket.

    • The app kept shutting down and didn’t say anything about the special menu.

  • Dinner During Princess Nite 36:09
    • Dinner at Tomorrowland was Princess themed.

    • All food was sweet and sugary, even the spicy tenders.

    • Magic Keyholders can pick up a special gift at The Landing Bay.

    • Pop Princess Dance Party.

  • Suggestions for Improvement 39:48
    • There could have been more interactive experiences.

    • Examples of different Princess interactions.
    • Confusion over the choice of a mirror for the lanyard gift.
  • Final Thoughts on Princess Nite 43:48
    • Disney Princess culture is a thing.
    • Disney Princess Nite had missed opportunities.
    • The DJ was the highlight of the evening.
Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:10
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:21
And I’m Ariel, I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and achieve mental wellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:30
And Happiest Pod is where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:34
Why? Because we are more than just fans and we expect more from the mediums we consume. So Stef, what Disney experience are we discussing today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:42
Well, it has been a while since we’ve talked about any sort of experience because we’ve been busy busy people lately. But somehow we both carved out time to attend Princess Nite, which is in the realm of after dark events that Disneyland hosts. Other events include Oogie Boogie bash, Sweethearts Nite, I know they did like a Throwback Nite a couple of years ago. So Princess Nite falls into that category. And basically, it’s all Princess themed. This is the first of its kind. And I know in a previous episode, I talked about attending Marriest Nites.

Ariel Landrum 1:17
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:17
Which did not get renewed this year. But in place of that me and Ariel decided, “Hey, let’s attend Princess Nite and see what it’s all about.” So today’s episode is gonna be all about that and what we think of this particular event and all the other night events.

Ariel Landrum 1:32
And I think this is a good time to talk about it not only because we love princesses, but also because it’s Women’s History Month.

Stefanie Bautista 1:39
Yes, it is.

Ariel Landrum 1:40
And so celebrating the heroic women of Disney.

Stefanie Bautista 1:45
And many of you guys know or maybe some of you don’t know that we have done a whole presentation on Disney Princesses and we have done a deep dive on what they mean to us what they mean to women everywhere and how we always want to challenge people to think about what princesses and you know what the role of women play in media, especially Disney movies, media, and you know, I guess music even.

Ariel Landrum 2:10
Absolutely. So in talking about Princess Nite, because you’ve gone to an after dark event, and this was my first one. How does it compare to Marriest Nites? Which is more holiday themed and so you have a different variety than a very targeted type of IP.

Stefanie Bautista 2:28
Yeah, I think the preparation for this one compared to Marriest Nites was a little bit different. There’s a couple stories that I’ve heard about Princess Nite not being popular when it first came out because I think it was released at the same time as Sweethearts Nite when they released the tickets. And Sweethearts Nite is the Valentine’s Day event that happens in February and that one sold out really quickly whereas Princess Nite did not. They kept advertising it on my Instagram ads. And so I was thinking, you know, maybe they didn’t sell out as fast as normal Disney events do. And normally you have to like be on your computer, getting the tickets like ASAP or else it’s you’re SOL basically. But that didn’t happen this time. And I know it. It was pretty open for a while and Marriest Nites was kind of the same thing. But I think going into Marriest Nites, because it is wholly Hollywood. It is holiday themed. You kind of go into it thinking “Oh, it’s going to be one big holiday party.” And everyone goes to Disneyland or many people go to Disneyland during the holiday season because it is magical. And we know that it’s like celebrating the holidays but amplified right? So Marriest Nites was that and more. So I think there was also just a precedent set there. But Marriest Nites was definitely like, I don’t know what to expect. But apparently they they wanted to do a little more marketing around the princesses. And I shared with Ariel a couple of weeks ago that they had released a map of what everything was. Ariel, was that helpful for you that you kind of had that to go off of?

Ariel Landrum 4:03
I mean, it’s sort of was it was really hard to actually plan and I think I remember when we talked about Marriest Nites, one of the things that you said was there’s kind of just stuff all over the place. And maybe now knowing that it would be easier to plan things out. But for me even with the map because Disney so big, it was hard to kind of figure out how I was going to do things. And the things that I even wanted to do, I couldn’t because of the lines. It was actually I was I was expecting it to be popular. It was a lot more popular event than I had realized, especially being during like a week night. I didn’t expect so many people to come with their very young children so late in the evening. Was that similar to Marriest Nites?

Stefanie Bautista 4:50
Absolutely. And it was winter time still. I know we’re going through a very unusual cold front here in Southern California right now. Which did also kind of take me by surprise. Because I thought by now we would have like a pretty fair night in Orange County, which is like 70 degrees, maybe 60 at like the very coldest. But it was 40 degrees at Disneyland after it had experienced snow for the first time, like two weeks ago, which was bizarre. But yeah, for Marriest Nites like, I knew people were gonna bring their kids but also it is it was during winter break. So it was a surprise, but not too much of a surprise. And I think my event went, if I remember was, I feel like it was like a week, a weekend night, at least like a Friday or a Saturday. Whereas when we attended Princess Nite, we went on a Tuesday.

Ariel Landrum 5:38
Got turnt on a Tuesday.

Stefanie Bautista 5:39
We truly, truly cut Princess wasted on a Tuesday, but I think it also happened last night, the 9th? I think that was the second day. So they were both weeknight events on a time, but normally not a lot of people have off. So interesting choice.

Ariel Landrum 5:58
I think the other thing that surprised me, which I didn’t quite see in advertising people knew so it must have been out there was there were a lot of adults dressed as Disney Princesses, not Disney bounding. Um, so not colorblocking not like the essence of a Disney character. They were in full ball gowns. I mean, the some of these were ornate and intricate. Like it was really people stepping into these outfits and gowns and being these princesses that’s usually not allowed in the park and has aside from Oggie, Boogie Bash, from my understanding has not been allowed. So I was really I was shocked. If I didn’t know and I could have worn a ballgown, I’d a done it.

Stefanie Bautista 6:42
Same and it would have kept us warm because we weren’t for freezing by like 11 o’clock, but I think you’re absolutely right. I sometimes I couldn’t tell whether it was a Disney actor or just a participant of Princess Nite. Because some of these people, they had amazing outfits and they had partners that had matching outfits. And I thought they were the ones who thought they were the Princesses, but they were also in like to take pictures with the Princess. Like, “Okay, kind of confusing there.” But I mean, kudos to them for knowing and just, you know, randomly just having their princess outfit ready and raring to go. But definitely, from the things that I’ve read is, maybe that was like an influencer insider thing in the community of people who cosplay as princesses. Because when we go to WonderCon, you do see Disney Princesses around because normally WonderCon takes place in Anaheim. So it’s like, you know, you double dip by going to Disneyland and you know, going to WonderCon. But definitely, that was the first thing that me and Ariel said to each other when we met up like, “Did you know you could wear a ball gown?” “No. Did you?” “No!” And just that disbelief and like, yeah, because, again, because it was cold. We did not know what to wear. And with these after dark events you it’s a toss up because it’s Orange County, and we’re used to a certain type of weather there, even as regular Disney goers. And yeah, this one was kind of hard to plan around.

Ariel Landrum 8:14
Yeah, outfit wise. We ended up my partner James and I did end up Disney bounding as Ariel and Eric and Eric was so easy. This white shirt, some blue pants and like a red sash, which for the sash, he like used an old uniform from like ROTC I think it was. He’ll correct me if I’m wrong, but whatever. He used an old sash from that, and then for me, I had some mermaid tights or leggings. And then like I tried to wear a tight shirt underneath for extra warmth. That was long sleeve and then another shirt over it was which was from Disney World. And it was the Ariel mermaid jersey from Disney World from when they opened the Grotto. And that was like as Disney bounding as I could get. And then it was jackets upon jackets upon jackets, so.

Stefanie Bautista 9:06
And yeah, as for me, I have the majority of my wardrobe if you know me is black, I wear black everything. I was once you know you’re talking punk rock goth chick, and it just kind of evolved into you know, mom, black clothes.

Ariel Landrum 9:23
Very New York Street esque.

Stefanie Bautista 9:26
Yeah. And so all I had were was this Nike sweatshirt with like a high color that was more pink than I thought it was when I ordered it during COVID. I don’t wear that out at all and I’m like, “Well, this is princessy I guess color wise.” And then I had leggings and then Air Maxes that have a little bit of pink in them that I was supposed to wear for my baby shower but never wore because I dressed up as Alice. So that was you know, totally not what I was planning to wear. And then a big ol puffy jacket because I was cold and I was more concerned of what I was going to dress my children and because they are so young.

Ariel Landrum 10:10
Yeah, you were one of the people who were brought brought kiddos, but yours don’t go to school?

Stefanie Bautista 10:15
No, they do not go to school. So they didn’t have to worry about waking up in the morning. And, you know, no low stakes there. And yeah, my husband did not dress up. I, he just wore a comfy sweater. And you know, we were super laid back. But then I think that’s the thing when you go to these things, and you do love to dress up Disneybound as we do for special events, you kind of feel like you’re missing out when you’re not completely dressed up.

Ariel Landrum 10:42
Yeah, yeah, I didn’t feel as integrated or with the vibe, so to speak, in just being regular clothing. Were not like there weren’t people that works. There definitely were, I think the thing was it. It just felt more fun. I can just see people really enjoying themselves because again, you don’t get to go to the park dressed up in full costume. That’s that’s not allowed. So the fact that they allowed it for this event would have been nice to be a somewhat rule breaker.

Stefanie Bautista 11:14
Yeah, I saw so many cool costumes under huge jackets. And then when people wanted to take their picture in front of the castle or on Main Street, they were like really toughing it out to not freeze over. And like look as cute as possible. So kudos to them. Bravo if you were one of those people, because I commend you for doing it for The Gram.

Ariel Landrum 11:35
Yup. Doing it for The Gram. So Princess-wise the Princess that I didn’t get to see which you never see at the park, which is why I was all excited to see her it was Princess Kida from Atlantis. There was a reason.

Stefanie Bautista 11:49
Yep, so one of the biggest complaints that I was reading in you know, a lot of the comment sections of you know, influencers that I follow is that the lines to take pictures with these Princesses were absolutely insane. I’m talking about like, one to two hour waits.

Ariel Landrum 12:06
You and I both, we took a picture with Moana and then I took a picture with Pluto when we first got there because the event hadn’t started yet. So just like Marriest Nites, you’re able to get in like two hours before the official start of the event to be able to just kind of enjoy Disneyland and the two things that we did that were like off event-type was took a picture with Pluto and then we grabbed some food and then booked it all the way to the actual ride. The new one that they built in Disneyland Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Say that three times fast.

Stefanie Bautista 12:43
That was not part of the Princess Nite agenda at all. But Ariel went on the ride before I did and she’s raving about it and I knew that it was super super cool. I did not get to ride it when I was at Disney World so I was really excited to see how it was this time and yeah even though it wasn’t a Princess Nite thing I did not regret it at all because that right is so cool.

Ariel Landrum 13:05
Did not regret it. It is essentially based off of the one in Paris Disney for Ratatouille. And then they built one I believe you said in Disney World as well right? Before we even got one.

Stefanie Bautista 13:16
Yeah, at Hollywood Studios.

Ariel Landrum 13:18
So okay, when I say that it’s built similar to the one in Paris, Disney. The actual way that track is made, which is that it’s magnetic. You are on a trackless ride and magnets are what’s moving the vehicle, not it being pulled on a track.

Stefanie Bautista 13:34
Yes, not actual, like tracks that are metal.

Ariel Landrum 13:38
Yes yes.

Stefanie Bautista 13:38
Um very similar also to Rise of the Resistance, which is you know, the second most popular ride right now. Now,

Ariel Landrum 13:45
they created that design or functionality for that specific ride in in Paris, Disney and then they created other rides that use that functionality here in the parks in The States. And so there’s the Rise of the Resistance and then Mickey’s Runaway Railway was essentially themed as if you’re going into a theater, and ours here is based off of the El Capitan, which is an old theater that Disney bought out and shows only Disney like movies or Disney products in. And has we’ve talked about it on the show like really fun entertainment and before the movie even starts. Sometimes it’s an organ player a lot of times it’s 15 Different curtains. Now even though that’s the style they went with, allegedly…

Stefanie Bautista 14:33
Here it comes ya’ll. Here it comes.

Ariel Landrum 14:36
Looks like a 50s diner the colors are 50s diner. It is not look like our deco there was one art deco thing and it was a light and that’s it. That’s the only gripe. The only one.

Stefanie Bautista 14:48
Yes, so the El Capitan is one of the you know, the most iconic and oldest theaters in Los Angeles. And, of course, Los Angeles in its heyday was in the 1920s 1930s when you know all the production companies were booming out here. Silent movies to movies with sound and when you step inside the El Capitan it’s beautiful because it is kind of dark it’s kind of you know their art deco style is a lot of like golds and like blacks and a lot of you know those sorts of themes but when you step into the El Captune Theatre in Toon Town it’s more like flows V8 Cafe at Car’s Land.

Ariel Landrum 15:27
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 15:27
And the one in Hollywood studios that I have not been inside yet is modeled after the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood as well. But even if you go into that theater, it’s the same dark art deco style of you know, the Hollywood heyday so. I mean it’s Tunetown. So we gotta we gotta be a little you know gracious to them for you know, picking colors that are very kid friendly and bright. It’s kind of consistent to the same style as the Monsters Inc. ride when you go inside where it’s kind of bright. You know, that’s supposed to feel like the DMV I feel.

Ariel Landrum 16:01
Which is never bright.

Stefanie Bautista 16:03
Which is never bright. But it feels like the DMV in there because you know, you’re going on Mike and Sally’s car. But anyway, I digress.

Ariel Landrum 16:10
Now, when you’re walking through, you see old movie posters, quote, unquote, for famous films, but they are taken off of other Disney merchandise is and instead of like the actors and actresses that play them, they are as if the toon characters are playing them. So a lot of I think, my our friend Chance and I we were sharing photos that we took, that’s when I first rode the ride of the different movie posters we had. And there was one that was really confusing to us. And it was like a Parent Trap, but it was the Chipmunk Trap. And it was Chippendale as the two Parent Trap children, but still Daisy and Donald Duck. And I’m like, why would Daisy Donald Duck have chipmunk children? Why weren’t they Huey, Dewey, and Louie? Like, I’m not understanding this.

Stefanie Bautista 17:01
That is what we call a reach. It was a reach. They tried.

Ariel Landrum 17:08
There was some good ones.

Stefanie Bautista 17:09
Yeah. I feel like if they really went for it, they would have to pick some pretty obscure characters.

Ariel Landrum 17:15
The one that we really cackling about was the Hocus Pocus one.

Stefanie Bautista 17:19
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 17:19
And it had Clara Bell. It was like, |They don do her wrong!” Poor Kathy Najimy.

Stefanie Bautista 17:31
They needed a third female that was part of the you know, Mickey and Minnie animated series. But once you cross off Minnie and you cross off, Daisy, who do you have left?

Ariel Landrum 17:42
Yeah, we were trying to figure out if there was anybody else in the crew that could have been her and it was like that one chicken?

Stefanie Bautista 17:49
Oh, yes, yes, yes, I think I know who you’re talking about. But see, even that it took me a while. Then I feel like that goes back into, you know, female representation in old cartoons and how when they adapt them to more modern structures, there isn’t an equivalent. So there has to be some sort of a reach, because it has developed over the years, which is great. But I think that’s like a really great example of you know, how Disney has had to adapt throughout the years because there was a lack of female representation.

Ariel Landrum 18:20
Huge lack. Okay, and so in talking about female representation on Princess nights, who were the princesses that were there?

Stefanie Bautista 18:30
The ones that we saw are the ones we read about and never saw. We’re not gonna

Ariel Landrum 18:34
Say that all of them that were said to have been there and then who we got to see and who surprised you who was not a princess.

Stefanie Bautista 18:44
It’s great that they gave up the map because we knew where we were going. But I mean, Disneyland is pretty popular. So I kind of know where I’m going. But I needed I needed a little bit more information on where I could find the special things that were specific to Princess Nite. And I know they like the the outline that were on on the I was gonna call it the menu, the map. They had categories of all the lands and who was going to appear in the lands but they didn’t specify where in the lands they were going to be. So Fantasyland of course, because it’s Princess Nite had like a laundry list of princesses like maybe like 10 of them. You had to find them. So not only was it a scavenger hunt to find where these princesses were. Some of them were out in the open like Sophia the First was in that little theater where they normally do the Tangled Show. Ariel was in front of the pond grotto that King Triton statue is in that makes sense.

Ariel Landrum 19:36
And they had bubbles behind her that cute.

Stefanie Bautista 19:37
That was very beautiful, super cute. And then they had Princess Atta that was like tucked in the corner like on the side that we saw.

Ariel Landrum 19:45
Princess Atta from A Bug’s Life if you don’t remember her.

Stefanie Bautista 19:49
From A Bug’s Life, yes. Love her and you know she’s a huge and so who could miss her and and then after that, it kind of didn’t really see anyone. Oh, Snow White. Sorry.

Ariel Landrum 20:01
Yeah Snow White was in the those wishing well.

Stefanie Bautista 20:03
Where she has her statue.

Ariel Landrum 20:05
Allegedly who else was at Fantasyland?

Stefanie Bautista 20:08
Yes. And that that was the thing. So you found the princesses, but then when you tried to find the end of the line to where you needed to stand in order to get a picture with them, it was almost near impossible because it was just a sea of sneaking around.

Ariel Landrum 20:23
It felt like Comic-Con. And I only ever saw like two people with the end of the line signs.

Stefanie Bautista 20:28
Yes. And that was very Comic-Con esque of end of the line signs because that signifies that the line is so long that you have to have somebody saying where the end of the line is.

Ariel Landrum 20:38
So allegedly, who else was at Fantasyland was Aurora.

Stefanie Bautista 20:42
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 20:42
Bell. Elena of Avila. Kida. Merida. Which I don’t know what she was doing there. Because ended up this is from the map because she ended up being somewhere else. Mulan. Raya. Uh, I didn’t see none of those fools.

Stefanie Bautista 21:02
So we ended up splitting up at one point because we took the kids on It’s A Small World and then on the way back, I saw Mulan, but not as Mulan. It was Ping.

Ariel Landrum 21:13
It was Ping!

Stefanie Bautista 21:14
So she was in her military outfit. It was not Princess is Princess ish, Mulan, it was Ping. And the lines of Ping was crazy, because we don’t see Ping very often, which is, I think that’s cool that you know, she was Ping. However, if you’re saying she was in Fantasyland, that’s really I know, it’s considered Fantasyland, but you’re in like, It’s a Small World territory. I think that should be its own land. Because it’s the huge walkway and then It’s a Small World. And then you have the theater to the side where they do Lion King, which is where Merida was. And we did a cool little game of archery there. That was, you know, a cool little wait, but also not really long, because it was when the event started. So naturally, of course, because there’s archery there Merida was there too. But if you walked into it saying, “I really want to see Merida!” You would have had to walk the far reaches of almost Toontown in order to find Merida in a corner with huge archery sets.

Ariel Landrum 22:13
Yeah, it was weird to the map didn’t have like the actual like dot that showed where each Princess was. And then allegedly the other princesses that are there, I guess. In Disneyland, we saw Moana in Adventureland. And we walked by Jasmine that line was ridiculous.

Stefanie Bautista 22:33
It was the whole line of Jungle Cruise.

Ariel Landrum 22:36
The entire thing and then New Orleans Square Tiana which makes sense, but I didn’t see her. I don’t know where she was. She had to have been on the boat. That’s the only thing I can think of.

Stefanie Bautista 22:43
Yeah, she had to. Yeah, because you even made it towards Club 33. And you didn’t see anybody back there right?

Ariel Landrum 22:49
Nope, nope. And in Frontierland was Pocahontas, which I would love because again, she doesn’t get to come to the park that often. I didn’t see nobody in Frontierland.

Stefanie Bautista 22:58
I saw a line so we walked around from Fantasyland through like were Big Thunder Mountain was there was a line there. But I the princess was not out yet. So I’m wondering if that was Pocahontas because it was right next to Big Thunder Mountain. But I didn’t see. And also, I think that’s another thing you see a line but you don’t know who it’s for, it would have been nice to have a sign saying, “This is where Pocahontas is. Or even just like a backdrop because at Marriest Nites, they had huge holiday postcards that were themed and drawn by many of the artists that couldn’t like contribute to Wonderground. And you know, the Disney Galleries. And that’s how you knew that was a photo op, because it was like a huge backdrop. And I think that would have been something that, you know, they could have incorporated for us to know, “Hey, this is Pocahontas.” Or, you know, not just looking for bubbles behind Ariel, you know? And you think about it right, you’re in line for an hour to an hour and a half for each of these princesses. There’s about at least 20 of them. And you only have from six, nine o’clock until one o’clock in the morning. And not everybody’s out from nine to one in the morning. And then you want to eat you want to do all these things. I get that you’re trying to saturate the event so that there’s something for everyone to do. But I think when you put things that everyone wants to do, all at once it creates like a problem. But you know, again, what would the solutions be right?

Ariel Landrum 24:23
I have a few ideas. But before we get to solutions, the last one which infuriated me was that Princess Leia was there and we never see Princess Leia. She was flipping Tomorrowland. Like, why do we build Batuu that’s supposed to be integrated in the Star Wars universe and she can’t be there? I that boggled my mind. Why should I get the Star core Cruise is in Tomorrowland? But that’s it. That’s it. That’s all it’s there and I don’t get it.

Stefanie Bautista 24:49
Yeah. The Millennium Falcon is in Batuu.

Ariel Landrum 24:52
That could have been in the backdrop of the photo.

Stefanie Bautista 24:55
There’s so many open spaces in Batuu that I think could have been utilized. You could have even had Fennec Shand there, I think, you know, yeah, I’ve been really cool. And yeah, I think that was a missed opportunity, I get maybe that they’re trying to keep all of the traffic into the main Disneyland area for staffing purposes, if I’m thinking, you know, managerially. But I think if you’re really just staying true to the content and the source material, it would have just made sense for her to be over there.

Ariel Landrum 25:27
And I think managerially again, if you’re talking about trying to get people in specific spots, you could have had her be like one of the first princesses that kind of came out both people in the back of the park, and then that area sort of closed down, or they’re migrating towards the front. And then and then it’s like you as an attendee just has to make a sacrificing choice? Do I want to start in the back to and wait in those lines? Or do I want to be more towards the front where I can have some other things to do?

Stefanie Bautista 25:50
That’s another thing that is very tricky about these events is where you start, and where you end up what your priorities are. Because, yes, they give you two hours to enter the park beforehand. But you’re battling against everybody who was at the park already. So you’re already you know, battling lines and battling crowds. And it’s a little bit confusing. So you’re wasting a lot of not wasting, but you’re expending a lot of mental and physical energy, just getting through the parks and trying to situate yourself. And then by the time the event actually starts, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, what do we do?” Cuz you’re in like regular Park mode and then you have to switch to event mode. Which is I think what happened with us because we didn’t want to experience Runaway Railway. And I think that’s a whole nother layer because of what if you don’t regularly go to the parks and you attend this event? And you want to ride the rides? But how do you ride the rides and do all the princess stuff at the same time? You can’t.

Ariel Landrum 26:49
There’s no way you would have had to make a choice. If you were going to do the special event things only or if you were going to do one special event thing in the ride. The things that we did get to do a bow and arrow shooting. And I made my first shot and then the rest two were crappy, but it doesn’t matter because I beat my partner who made no shots. Go me. We also saw like every hour, Giselle just strolling around.

Stefanie Bautista 27:16
Yes Giselle from Enchanted, which I think that was the highlight of many people’s experiences because we don’t see Giselle very often. And if you are listening, Lady who played Giselle, you could pass for Amy Adams impersonator hands down, because so many people were like, “Was that really her?” And you know, she’s waving about and you’re doing things that you she’s so physically animated that and we’re all tired at this point, people it’s like 9, 10, 11 o’clock. So we’re delirious. It you coulda fooled me. I would have thought that was Amy Adams, and they just probably paid her a fat check to be there.

Ariel Landrum 27:51
Yes. I If someone had told me that, that was her. I’d have been like, “Oh, yeah. Okay, bet.”

Stefanie Bautista 27:57
Bet. But that was a nice surprise. And they did a little fanfare for her. There were projections right on Main Street and The Castle.

Ariel Landrum 28:06
Okay, so there were actual projections. And then there was supposed to be like a projection show on the water. But there wasn’t projections really. And it was Soaring Melodies Under The Stars. So they were pulling all the Disney Princesses ‘I Want’ songs. And I was expecting Fantasmic I didn’t get it. But it wasn’t bad. I think from the way the map read and the stuff that I was reading. It said inspiring musical performance. But it didn’t put live. So I had no idea I was gonna be sung to.

Stefanie Bautista 28:35
That was when we split up and Ariel’s like, “Oh, we’re gonna watch a projection.” And I’m thinking it’s a projection because that’s what they do during fireworks. They project things onto Tom Sawyer’s Island. And, I mean, that’s just what I expect. When we were walking up, I hear a theme song, and I think it was it was, “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. And I was like, “Oh, okay, cool. It’s it’s Moana time.” I hear her singing, and I’m like, “Oh, I hear breathing. And I hear someone’s singing.” And I’m like, “Oh, this is a live performance.” And they did have the Princesses come around the Rivers of America in like that float I guess you wanna say.

Ariel Landrum 29:12
The first song they did was “Colors of The Wind,” with Pocahontas. And she actually was dancing on the island.

Stefanie Bautista 29:18
Oh, okay.

Ariel Landrum 29:19
So she wasn’t even on those weird tiny boats, like she was she was feeling all the colors of the wind all throughout that island. Like, she was leaping like it was very, it was very gorgeous. But so far away, it would be hard to it was hard to see her if you weren’t like actually at the fence, and I was at the fence like I could put my phone…

Stefanie Bautista 29:37
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 29:37
through it.

Stefanie Bautista 29:38
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 29:38
And then it was. It might have been Moana first and then Merida and then Tiana. And I think that was it.

Stefanie Bautista 29:46
It was a live performance, which was lovely. I think it was great. The performance did a fantastic job and they had pyrotechnics.

Ariel Landrum 29:53
Yeah, they did. They did.

Stefanie Bautista 29:55
It wasn’t full on fireworks, but it was to the extent of like that Fantasmic fireworks, not as not as much, but there were pyrotechnics. So I don’t think that was said anywhere in the map, right?

Ariel Landrum 30:08
No, it wasn’t. And I’m looking at it right now the map literally says, “An inspiring musical performance with special appearances by Disney Princesses.” So that and it says it’s on Rivers of America. So that makes it sound like, again. I guess performance could have meant like dance, but I would have not thought live singers.

Stefanie Bautista 30:26
Vague. Yeah, we got to watch that. I got to eat one of the featured foods. I wanted to eat more, but I did not get to

Ariel Landrum 30:34
Something else we did not get to do like we want to to.

Stefanie Bautista 30:39
First of all, there was a high tea advertised that you had to make a reservation for and Ariel Do you want to kind of elaborate on what that process was? Because we sent you on that mission.

Ariel Landrum 30:51
Yes. So while you and the kiddos were on, It’s a Small World, my partner and I just like booked it straight to Cafe Orleans. In order to try and do the high tea service. It was it’s a prefix tea service. And it had a variety of things, including like short ribs, caviar, a crab avocado toast. They had plant based option if you are somebody who is vegan or vegetarian and strawberry shortcake. They had blueberry almond scones, like all these lovely, wonderful things that like we are all about. We get there and they said “The walk up menu is already full. You have to make a reservation.” However the app isn’t working. I was like, “Okay.” And they’re like, “Just come back at 10.” My partner gets in line for a popcorn bucket that was special for Princess Nite, which is Cinderella in her wedding dress in her carriage. Popcorn bucket is the carriage

Stefanie Bautista 31:43
Yeah, also did you know they started selling them today in the parks?

Ariel Landrum 31:47
Disrespectful. They said it was her Princess Nite.

Stefanie Bautista 31:50
That’s what I thought too. But I just wanted to sneak that in there. But anyway, go on.

Ariel Landrum 31:53
A disrespectful. Well, I got one first so there.

Stefanie Bautista 31:56
You did it’s beautiful. It was beautiful. It like knock people over. It was great.

Ariel Landrum 32:00
The performance for Rivers of America is at like 9:30. Yes, yes, it was okay. Okay. I’m getting my timelines, right. So it’s a 9:30. So I want to save the spot. In front of the Rivers of America, my partner is getting popcorn bucket, you and AJ are coming back from It’s a Small World. You and AJ stop to get the yummy treat, which we’ll talk about the only yummy treat. And then my partner cannot find me at the Rivers of America. So he just decided to get back in line at New Orleans Square. Because almost it’s now like 9:45, 9:50. The shows been going on and he wants to be able to try and get the walk in menu or whatever. Because the lady did say come back at 10. The woman is at standing at the podium. He’s there at 9:50. So that’s before 10. And she goes “Oh, well, the reservations are back open on the on the app so we’re not taking in any more walk-in ones, you have to do it on the app.” He tells me that and we’re both frantically looking at the app. And I’m like sending messages to Stef while I’m trying to like listen to these beautiful performances about like, apparently we can make reservations the app. I don’t know how we were expected to do that. I really don’t because the app definitely kept shutting down. It didn’t say anything about our special menu. I don’t know where it was supposed to go. So this is another one of those things where it’s like it people seem to have hidden knowledge. It doesn’t say anywhere were that we were allowed to like have this as a thing that we could reserve. In fact, when we locked when we went in at 6pm. And I was just looking at reservations for dinner. They all stopped it at 8 like there were they weren’t taking any more after that on the app because it was a private event after that. So I don’t know if there was like a special like button.

Stefanie Bautista 33:42
Was there a Google form that we had to fill out? Like, I don’t know. Was there like a Survey Monkey that was put out that I didn’t know about? I think it was kind of crazy because she told me that “Yes, it’s on the app.” So I’m frantically pushing a stroller trying to look at this app, but also try to listen to Moana. And I have these two churros in my hand. On our way back, we’re passing by where the Casey Jr. train is. And we see the Churro Stand, and we’re like “Ooh churros!” We haven’t gotten one. I think there’s a special one. And then I see the tiny tiny sign that’s in front of the registered that says “blueberry cheesecake churro.” And AJ loves blueberry and I so do I, but he loves blueberry and I love cheesecake. So I’m like, “No, we’re getting this.” And, you know, I’m texting Ariel like “Hey, do you want a churro?” And she’s like, “Yeah.” And so we get in line super quick. And then we get churro but the churro comes with like us. It’s like a dipping cream Yes, dipping cream. So it was dipping cream so I’m like holding these things and like putting into my stroller trying to like hold up these, churros because there’s no way to, you know, sanitarily is that’s even a word and put a churro down without holding it up. So whatever I’m holding it and I’m trying to check the app to like, find out what High Tear is or where High Tea is. And it’s so dark around the Rivers of America that I could not find remotely where Ariel was nor where James was. Apparently I had passed him and stood like four people away from him without even me knowing. And he was wearing a white shirt. So I was looking for Eric like colorblock Eric, and I couldn’t find him. Because it was so dark. I truly don’t think it needed to be that dark. Because it wasn’t a projection that we expected because it was a fully lit live show. I think it was a little too dark. And they were doing construction in the back in New Orleans squares, which is why we all couldn’t find each other. By the time we all reunited, we were just like, “We’re tired of trying to figure out this High Tea thing. Forget it. Let’s just eat this churro.” Because I took one bite of that churro, and I don’t know if it was because it was tired. I needed sugar or something. But wow, was it the best churro that I’ve had?

Ariel Landrum 35:43
It was the best churro ever. I think it was because we were starving. Because before that the only thing we had eaten was the like tots. Tater tots.

Stefanie Bautista 35:54
We all the four adults and one toddler shared a poutine tater tot plate at the Rose Tavern. Yep, yep. So that was like at 7 o’clock. And now it is nine and we are starving.

Ariel Landrum 36:09
And none of us had dinner because we were expecting a wonderful meal at the park that was that was Princess themed.

Stefanie Bautista 36:15
Cuz I’ve made the mistake. And Ariel’s made this mistake too. When we go to the Food and Wine Festival, we eat beforehand. And then we don’t have space for anything at the Food and Wine Festival. So we’re like, “We’re not gonna make that mistake again.” And we didn’t get to eat anything. So we were starving. But to go in a little bit into detail with this churros. So it’s a regular churro it has like blue and you know, sparkly dusting on it. The star of the show was that dipping cream, because it was as if it was whipped cheesecake with like blueberry in it. And it was so good. You guys, it was so good. And taking away the fact that were tired and you know, kind of upset. I think when desserts are really good, they make your mouth water. And I think it made my mouth like water in it, it made a churro juicy, which I don’t know if that makes sense. But it I love that churro it was really good.

Ariel Landrum 37:06
It was really really good. And looking at some of the other menu items. The majority of them were actually all mostly desserts. And I think this is part of when you think of the trope of a princess you think of very sweet and sugary and all of these things were sweet and sugary. Even of the things that were maybe more savory we have like Cajun honey glaze check. Yeah, we had.

It was spicy wings, right? Oh, yes, yes. The hula hula. Yep.

Stefanie Bautista 37:34
And that was at Tomorrowland, you would have thought from that description that Ariel just said they would have been an adventure land because you know, when you think of huli huli or anything that has like some sort of Polynesian connotation to it, you’d think it’d be there but no, it was in Tomorrowland

Ariel Landrum 37:48
It was at Galactic Grill. Spicy Huli Huli Loaded Tenders. And even though they were spicy, they sought a sweet tank to them.

Stefanie Bautista 37:56
Yes, they were good.

Ariel Landrum 37:57
And the reason we started one over there was because the Magic Keyholders can pick up like a special gift over at the Star Wars Landing Bay. And it was a sticker. So that was cute. I mean, aside from that, I never saw Leia over there. So I don’t know. I don’t know what was going on there. And then there’s the dance party, which I thought was a lot of fun. Pop Princess Dance Party featuring of Vanellope von Schweetz. And there are a lot of different people cosplay costumes as Vanellope von Schweetz.

Stefanie Bautista 38:24
Yeah, I was very surprised. I didn’t know she was such a character that people love. I mean, I think she’s great. But she doesn’t strike me as maybe it’s because she invited all the Disney Princesses like over in WreckIt Ralph Two that like automatically gave her a you know, street cred.

Ariel Landrum 38:39
I was wondering like if it was because her clothes are like comfy? And it’s like, you could wear that jacket and not and you still look like the character.

Stefanie Bautista 38:48
Or it’s really easy to just put your hair in a ponytail and put a bunch of charms in it. Um I yeah, I mean, the the accessibility of that costume is very high.

Ariel Landrum 38:57
And then there were a bunch of other photo ops that we didn’t get to do. I didn’t get to take a picture in Cinderella’s… Well, it’s like a cardboard cutout. So I thought it was going to be her actual crystal coach that I’m climbing into. It’s cardboard cutout. There was a giant storybook that in between walking to Batuu and Critter Country. And then when where we sat down on to have food, area that had these windows with glow in the dark marker that people were writing on and it was supposed to be like leaving your mark.

Stefanie Bautista 39:27
Like you know, affirmations and you know how you celebrate yourself and you know others and I think that was kind of cute. Again, a lot of these things had lines and if you didn’t have the patience or just retired from the night or if you had little ones it’s very hard to justify. I’m gonna stand in this line for 45 minutes to take a picture in front of a cardboard cutout as cute as it is.

Ariel Landrum 39:48
I really think there could have been more interactive stuff like the and this is where I’d say the things that could have helped spread things out. The like the leaving your mark that immediately actually makes me think of Rapunzel because she paints. Like they could have had a Rapunzel like painting and dancing around painting. And then you know, you can’t really stand and take pictures with her. But similar to the dance party, they could have been other people like drawing and painting. And you would have gotten a picture of Rapunzel doing those things, it would have been very interactive, that would be like one way to integrate that. I think another thing would have been, instead of just taking pictures of Tiana, they could have had a lot of the restaurants have windows where you can watch people cook, I think they could have had Tiana like baking, or like being the head restaurateur and like pretending to like tell people what to do. Ah I think there would have been that those interactive experiences would have been very different than just taking a picture with a character in a park and would have helped with creating more space. Especially if you know that that’s just where they’re gonna stay. And you can’t really go up and take a picture with them, but you are seeing the interacting, you are gonna get a picture, I think that would have helped honor the actual Princesses and their characters and who they are. I think that’s what I was expecting, which I don’t know why I was expecting that. But that’s what I was expecting.

Stefanie Bautista 41:08
Well, I think it’s, you know, you’re bringing the P+rincesses to life, right, you’re taking them out of their characters in the movie, where that’s where they live. And you’re seeing them out in the open where as we don’t normally get to see that at Disneyland. They’re just really there for photo ops. For me, I thought that they could have utilized things that they already do for Lunar New Year or, you know, California Food and Wine Festival where they have a coloring station for kids, like, girls could have colored a princess crown, or you know, a fan or a mirror or something like the lanyard that they gave us. For Princess Nite was essentially a cardboard thing with a mirror on it, saying, you know, “You are the princess kind of thing.” And I’m just like, again, a reach.

Ariel Landrum 41:50
Ah reach because to me, the it made me think of vanity, which was disrespectful, or the Evil Queen, but…

Stefanie Bautista 41:59
I was like, “Is somebody gonna pop out of my mirror and say, ‘Who is that fairest one of all?'” Like “What?”, it was kind of weird. And yeah, my toddler loved it because he likes seeing himself in the mirror. But other than that, it was kind of like not too sure if this was the move. For Marriest Nites, they gave you Christmas lights to wear around your neck, which is makes sense because it’s a holiday event. And they lit up and they gave it to you for free. Whereas if you had to pay for it, it’s like upwards to $30. So you feel like you’re getting value out of something that they’re giving you for free. And they had like a booklet of details of what the event had. Whereas this one was just a digital map that you had to download prior to the event or know where to get it in your app, which is not easy to find.

Ariel Landrum 42:50
Despite the fact that they make so much money off of the princesses and like literally it was it was Cinderella that saved that save the company. I feel like they could have done Princess Nite a little bit better. I feel like they did some of our Princesses a little dirty. Again, in thinking about embodying the princesses as certain characteristics. When I think of Ariel, I think of being very curious. Like there could have been a scavenger hunt of like Dingle hoppers like for Ariel, like Mulan’s strength and having like a sword class or something like that. But even with Princess Leia, like lightsaber class. I knew they used to do even like remember the Jedi training. With Belle, like having a library of books that the kids could have picked out or a living book, maybe that was digital. Those are things that they could have incorporated. I don’t know.

Stefanie Bautista 43:39
Yeah, or maybe even like finding your way with Moana like reading a map, or like getting a free map of the islands or something like that, or there’s easy ways of doing this. And these are things that they have done before in the past. So I don’t know if it was just a disconnect of you know, what they do at California Adventure and how to incorporate that at the Disneyland or if it’s just from what I heard from other people have thought this too is? Did they just try to fill an After Dark event with a theme and not really think it through? Because…

Ariel Landrum 44:09
Because that’s what it feels like?

Stefanie Bautista 44:10
Yeah. Disney Princess culture is a thing. And you know, the fact that we have dissected it enough. As you know, women and fans of Disney, I think this was kind of a missed opportunity, especially during Women’s History Month. Give them the honor and the light that they deserve. I hope they learn from this experience, because you know, After Dark events are really fun. And I know the most popular one is Oogie Boogie Bash, because that sells out and like t-minus 10 seconds before people are even thinking about it in like May. And we have yet to attend one of those. But I know that they’ve knocked it out of the park with that event. So maybe take some of those elements. And these are Disney villains that are kind of obscure too. So they’re not even as much in the forefront as our Disney Princesses are and yet they’re able to make them shine.

Ariel Landrum 45:00
Now I do not they do have two upcoming After Dark events, one’s Throwback Nite. And the other one is Star Wars Nite and Star Wars Nite takes place during May the Fourth actually. So there you go. Hopefully they will learn from this experience. My frustration is that I will find out that the other two experiences were were well thought out. And that this one will feel like it was just a spot filler.

Stefanie Bautista 45:29
Yeah, it’s just one of those things that they just tried. And we’re like, “Okay, I guess it didn’t work. So we’re not doing it again.” And that was the one that we experienced.

Ariel Landrum 45:35
Yes, yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 45:37
Umm, remind us of the price point of this particular event.

Ariel Landrum 45:41
Princess Nite, two tickets, $129 each. That’s basically the price of one day pass.

Stefanie Bautista 45:47
A one day pass, however, you only have from 6 to 1 o’clock in the morning. If you’re thinking about it. And, you know, for future events, I would say don’t bank on going on all the rides, because that’s not going to happen. Like we are managing expectations when it comes to what we want to do and what we actually got to do. I did not get to eat the escargot thingyamajig that I wanted to eat. Because it was so far and yeah, it was a little disappointing. But I think even at the end of the night, Ariel, I remember you asked like, “Did you get everything you wanted out of Princess Nite?” And I think at that point, cold and tired and like just happy that at least I got one quarter of a wing in my stomach. I was like, “Yes, I got everything that I needed.” I don’t know if you still felt the same way?

Ariel Landrum 46:39
I am still sad that I didn’t see Kida. I don’t know what I’ll get another opportunity. We’ll see if they bring her back for some other thing for that Princess Nite again. And I just like make that my priority just like stand in the line before it even starts. But other than that, I did enjoy it because I loved seeing everybody in costume. I think for me, the the most enjoyment I had was seeing all of the children dressed up. And little princesses, little princes, just all these people running around in their full costume and garb. I really, really enjoyed that. And I think the other thing that I enjoyed was the archery again, an interactive experience that I think they could have expanded in other ways. And then DJ was really good at the dance party.

Stefanie Bautista 47:29
The DJ was killing it, that DJ was killing it.

Ariel Landrum 47:32
And a woman. Woman DJ, she was doing good with the crowd engagement song choice, the mixing of the songs.

Stefanie Bautista 47:40
That dance floor was packed. I don’t know if it’s because people want it to be warm. But yeah, no, that was really good. It really set a good vibe over there, especially in a place where it’s kind of almost dead, I feel in that area because Star Wars has moved on to Batuu. And they’re just trying to fill in things that Tomorrowland that you know desperately needs kind of a makeover. So it was nice to see a little life over there. And people embracing that, I think for what we experienced and you know, we’re learning as we go, it was good. But obviously things to improve on which is you know, always the case. And I think even in our planning, there’s things that we probably could have improved on. However, you know, it was really nice to do an After Dark event because of the space that was available. I really enjoyed not being body to body with everyone like normally we do. I think the space was really good because you know, you get to breathe and you get to experience the park in a different way. I just wished that they you know could tighten up a few things and maybe not run out have some food. I hope you guys enjoyed our little breakdown of Princess Nite and let us know in our comments on Instagram or tweet at us @HappiestPodGT if you want to let us know about your experience. It felt really good to talk about this again because I know it has been a while.

Ariel Landrum 48:53
Yes. Catch us also at WonderCon. We will be doing a panel that Sunday and we hope to see you on the next podcast.

Stefanie Bautista 49:01
Yep, thanks for listening.

Ariel Landrum 49:02
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Princess Kida
  • Princess Atta
  • Mulan
  • Ping
  • Pocahontas
  • Princess Merida
  • Princess Ariel
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Expectations
  • Women’s History Month
  • Room for improvement
  • Food
  • Maps
  • Navigation
  • Disneybounding

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

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Celebrating Lunar New Year

January 28, 2022 · Discuss on the GT Forum

https://media.blubrry.com/happypod/media.transistor.fm/b3de1f0b/00c6e97d.mp3

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#27: Lunar New Year is a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. The year 2022 is the year of the Tiger, and tiger energy is exactly what Ariel and Stef want to take into the New Year. In this episode, they share the various cultures that celebrate Lunar New Year (and how Disney highlights them at their parks), the importance of identity in the AAPI community, and their podcast resolutions for the new year.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Resources for this episode:

  1. Ultimate Rice Battle Ft Uncle Roger – SortedFood (reference can be found at the 11:43 time mark of this episode)

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef.

Ariel Landrum 0:15
And I’m Ariel. And we’re Disney fans. But really, we’re so much more.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:24
I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness. And Happiness Pod, well, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with what a critical lens.

Stefanie Bautista 0:35
Why do we do that? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume.

Ariel Landrum 0:41
So Stef, what Disney experience are we dissecting today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:45
Well, we are coming up on the end of January, which means February is just around the corner. And for many of us, especially in the AAPI community, we are celebrating Lunar New Year, which is like New Year part two.

Ariel Landrum 1:00
Okay, okay. Yes. And so for our audience members who may not be fully aware, Lunar New Year, also known as Chinese New Year is a festival that celebrates the beginning of the new year on the traditional lunar solar Chinese calendar. And of course, contrary to popular belief, it is not just a festival that’s celebrated in China Lunar New Year’s actually, festival that is celebrated in a lot of East and South East Asian countries. This year, starting February 1 is when the when the new year is, is the year of the tiger.

Stefanie Bautista 1:35
Yep. The new Lunar New Year is something that many AAPI community members we celebrate, especially if you are from China, or Vietnam or Korea, or have, you know, descent in any of those countries. And Disney decides to celebrate that at the parks, which is really awesome. In the past couple of years at the Disney California Adventure Park, they turn the walkway from the main park all the way up to Pixar pier into a beautiful Lunar New Year festival where they have food, much like the night markets and markets in Asia. And also they bring out Mulan and many of the characters that identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander. And they decided to highlight them in such an awesome way.

Ariel Landrum 2:19
Yes. And for my understanding, you did go to the festival?

Stefanie Bautista 2:24
I did. This is my second year going. I just went and they really they really upped the amplification on AAPI representation. It was awesome.

Ariel Landrum 2:36
So because you went, this is your second time you’re able to compare the first the last but when you went the first time was that also the first time they did it?

Stefanie Bautista 2:45
From my understanding, yes, I may be wrong. This is the first me and my friend who I would go to the parks with, whenever there was a food festival. That was the first time we ever went it was the first time I knew about it. They might have done it maybe in Epcot or other Disney parks, especially in Shanghai or Hong Kong. But I know that they introduced the Lunar New Year festival as a food festival of sorts because the Food and Wine Festival had been so popular and so successful.

Ariel Landrum 3:17
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 3:17
And then you got the holiday, the festival holidays where they have that same market type of fast eats. And yeah, I think this time because they knew that they could incorporate so many Disney characters, and the addition of such characters as Raya as Moana. I mean, even Lilo and Stitch in some ways, and also pulling from a lot of the Shanghai parks and the Hong Kong parks where Mickey and Minnie would have a special costume that they would wear. They would have performers, just many elements of Disney that they already had. I feel like being transferred that over to the New York Lunar New Year festival.

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Okay. Okay. So in looking at last year, and this year, what were some of the big changes, you did mention more representation in general, but even in the fact that it started off as more of just a food festival as it now feel like more like really a Lunar New Year festival?

Stefanie Bautista 4:17
Absolutely, I think especially before so the last time they had this is obviously pre COVID. So there were a lot less restrictions that we had to abide by. But because it was more of a food base focused festival, you had the kiosks and stalls along the walkway in front of the Little Mermaid ride and all the way up to the back where they have the restaurant and kind of where they have a plaza where they have a stage and some performances. I remember that they had they had a little area where you could write on a piece of paper and you can make your Lunar New Year wish for you and your family and you can hang it up. Much like how they do in Asia and then next to it, you could take pictures with Minnie and Mickey and their lunar new year. And then they also had many performances of Chinese dancers, ribbon dancers, dancers that had tambourines of some acrobatics here and there. But that was basically it. This time around, they have Mulan’s Lunar New Year procession. Oh, they don’t call it a parade because they don’t want people gathering like that. Um, parades are still kind of not okay at the park right now. But they have a really cute little procession. It’s the Year of the Tiger.

Ariel Landrum 5:31
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 5:31
So they had Tigger leading the procession.

Ariel Landrum 5:34
Oh my god!

Stefanie Bautista 5:36
And he was in such cute as like a cute outfit. Everywhere is decked out in red like, right when you get like, through the main part of California Adventure. There’s like a huge artist Lunar New Year. But the procession happens. I think once every hour, from nine to nine. I think. I could be wrong. But I know, I think as the sun goes down it, they do their last show, but they have dragon dancers. They have Mulan and Mushu on a float with Chinese drummers. And…

Ariel Landrum 6:09
Okay wait, is Mushu a puppet or a character?

Stefanie Bautista 6:13
Full-bodied character. He is a person just dancing along next to Milan, they have two sets of dancers in the back and then they have I think that’s it actually. So it literally is a very small, small small parade because they do not want people gathering waiting, just hanging out like masks off eating. So they try to meet in the middle of by having a procession and calling it that. And while they are doing the procession, there’s a voiceover that talks about the Lunar New Year. So they inform a lot of people that this is a celebration to ring in new prosperity, new beginnings where the year of the Tiger is coming from. And yeah, it’s it’s very short, informative, and really beautiful.

Ariel Landrum 7:04
So they had Tigger. Are there any other Tiger characters? I mean, aside from Rajah?

Stefanie Bautista 7:10
Yeah, that was the only other one. AJ was like, “Where is Rajah?” I’m like, I’m pretty sure people would kind of think a little bit. Yes, here’s Rajah, but also Where’s Jasmine? Although she could celebrate in the Lunar New Year, I think a lot more questions would have been asked and answered. If we saw Raja I’ll be at he is one of the most popular Tiger characters in in the Disney World. But I think Tigger was the one that thing was the most wanted to go with because he’s just so bouncy and happy and he was everywhere. There was like little Tigger. You’d see like a little tiger in a cookie that they had, they had special items that were only for Lunar New Year. I’m going to talk about that really quick because the food is always my favorite part of any Disney festival. Not only did they honor many Chinese traditions is having boa which is like a dumpling. They also had lots of noodles, which symbolizes longevity and long life. They had many many drinks they actually had boba in the park which I’ve never seen boba in the park. But line to that was insane. I mean, the outpouring of support and just excitement for Lunar New Year you could just feel it there. Many people came in traditional Vietnamese wear. Many people came in traditional Chinese wear. I didn’t see a lot of people in Korean wear or traditional Korean wear. But I think that a lot of Asian Disney fans like really embraced just you know, being at the park very similar to going to Dapper Day or going to you know, Mermaid Day or Goth Day. Like it’s their culture. It’s, you know, something that they love and identify with. But yeah, the lines were ridiculous for every single food stalls. So I know we’ve mentioned this in the podcast before but if you can do mobile ordering ahead, this would be one of those times to do it. And that was really the only way I could get what I wanted to which was the Hong Kong style milk tea, Vietnamese iced coffee and there was also a Korean bulgogi burrito. That was super super good. And it came with Ariel I don’t know if you’ve had these before but they’re they’re like shrimp chips but they start off as little like discs and when you fry them they blossom.

Ariel Landrum 9:31
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 9:31
They have that as the chips that came with the Korean bulgogi burrito and..

Ariel Landrum 9:35
Oh clever.

Stefanie Bautista 9:36
They put like garlic oil on it and it was like a game changer like I’ve been I’ve been eating the stuff since I was small but I just fry them and I just watched them bloom and it’s so cool. But adding the level of like garlic oil was just like in my 30 some odd years of life…

Ariel Landrum 9:54
How did I not think of this?

Stefanie Bautista 9:56
Yeah, how did I not think of this but also thank you Disney for opening my eyes to doing This Asian Festival. But yeah, the food is fantastic. And you can look online to see the different Lunar New Year foods that they have available. I think the festival is running for almost the whole month of February. So it’s kind of great that it started February 1. So they started this weekend, as we are coming up on the new month, and it’ll go up until then.

Ariel Landrum 10:23
I’m curious, is it similar to the food festivals and that you get a punch card? Or is it more of you have options at stalls? Because I haven’t been to a food festival since the pandemic. And ordering ahead is not really an option in regards. So has that changed? Because of the pandemic?

Stefanie Bautista 10:44
The short answer is yes, and no. There are abilities because they want everything to be accessible, right. And that’s really what this is all about. I think for the fans who are tech savvy, who kind of know what they’re getting into coming prepared, knowing that they are going to be battling long lines, and you know, when they’re going to be hungry, and we mentioned things like this, going back to the parks, now that, you know, we’re still in a pandemic. They have options for you to stand by in line in order, but they also have the sip and savor Pass, which is similar to what they had at the festival of holidays. And also the food, food and wine festival where you have like a badge and they have like six little tabs that you can pull off and redeem. But you also have the option of ordering ahead. So let’s say you’re in line at in a ride, and you go, “Hey, I want to eat this. But I don’t really want to stand in line. And I want to kind of just use this time to maybe order ahead and like pick it up, I’m ready.” You can always do that, too. So there’s many different ways of doing it. Definitely, if you want to reduce contact with people and standing in line, because you’re already standing in line to go on a ride, the order ahead option is always best. And I think because food is such a central part of Lunar New Year, it was very hard to avoid eating in a crowded space because it was super busy. It was the first week of Lunar New Year. And also, I mean, that’s what Lunar New Year’s all about gathering with, you know, your friends, your family, other people and just eating like market style. So I would say depending on your level of comfort, I would you know, choose the day that you would go on, because you are going to be around a lot of people and because Disney wants it to be accessible to everybody. You just kind of have to have that in the back of your mind.

Ariel Landrum 12:35
What would you say the most memorable part of the experience was?

Stefanie Bautista 12:39
Oh, the most memorable. I think just the atmosphere. The atmosphere was very different this time. I don’t know if it’s because there has been an outpouring for the AAPI community because of a lot of the struggles and a lot of the things that we’ve been seeing, you know, in social media and everything against you know, our elders and just Asian American actors and actresses, bringing awareness to the community. And I think that and mixed with Disney’s ability to reach out to a core member of their market really. I saw people who were not of Asian descent wearing the Lunar New Year jerseys wearing the Lunar New your ears. They had the ones from Mulan, so many people were wearing like their favorite Asian Disney Princess t shirt. Raya was a she is makes an appearance as a character. You can take a picture with Raya and she is near the Grand Californian where they have like this obstacle course it’s right next to grizzly River Run. And I think it’s like the Brother Bear like kind of obstacle course. They turn that into Kumandra.

Ariel Landrum 13:47
Oh, lovely.

Stefanie Bautista 13:49
Yeah, it’s awesome. And then they have lanterns and they make it look like that part of they make it look like that part of Kumandra. And she’s there. So you see little girls in their Raya outfits. And, you know, there are people of all walks of life. And I think it was just really great to see that people are embracing Asian American characters. Shang-Chi is still in his regular clothes, which I’m just like, “You guys just put him in his superhero outfit. Because he still looks like…” we saw him at Avengers campus talking to Black Widow and Captain Marvel. And we were like, “He looks like the IT guy. What is happening here?”

Ariel Landrum 14:33
When he was talking to them, was it a skit?

Stefanie Bautista 14:36
It was like pre performance.

Ariel Landrum 14:38
Ah okay okay.

Stefanie Bautista 14:39
So they were like, it was like they were existing. It was like that part where they’re just existing in the world. And they’re like talking next to the Quinjet and I’m gonna make him change.

Ariel Landrum 14:51
Oh poor IT guy.

Stefanie Bautista 14:52
But yeah, the poor IT guy but a lot of people wearing Shang-Chi shirts and just the outpouring have like the interest for Asian culture Asian food, the lines of the boba, like, I think that was just really heartwarming for me. Because you’ve you saw yourself fully represented in Disney culture. Whereas, you know, traditionally it was, you know, not like that. So I think that was a biggest thing for me taking a step back and just watching it all happen.

Ariel Landrum 15:21
Okay, okay.

Stefanie Bautista 15:23
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 15:24
Did you get a chance to try the boba?

Stefanie Bautista 15:25
I didn’t because the line was so long.

Ariel Landrum 15:28
Ah no!

Stefanie Bautista 15:28
I did it which is why I was like, I just want to get the milk tea. Because I really love milk tea and I like it a certain way. I don’t like it too sweet and I don’t like it too sugary. So I was like, okay, if every time I get boba I asked for 25% or less sweet. Like just I just need a hint of it.

Ariel Landrum 15:49
For our audience members who maybe don’t know what boba is?

Stefanie Bautista 15:54
So boba is very similar to tapioca pearls. If you eat it, it’s very much gelatinous. So it starts off as you know, like a really hard tapioca bubble and then you boil it and it kind of opens up and becomes this like jelly ball. Many people refer to it as bubble tea on in some parts of the country. Uh, we refer to it here in Southern California, and I think mainly on the west coast as boba. But they can always be referred to as like popping pearls or pearls, things like that. And then you you drink it with a bigger straw so that you can get the boba inside so, like, it’d be interchangeable with like, lychee jelly or coffee jelly, grass jelly, things like that.

Ariel Landrum 16:35
It’s in milk teas or non milk teas. We put it even in smoothies. We put in slushies.

Stefanie Bautista 16:40
Yeah, smoothies, slushies. Anything really, it’s just basically like an add on inside a drink. Yeah. So I didn’t get to try it. Because if you could visualize if anybody’s ever been to that back area of California Adventure, there’s a restaurant there. And the lines stretch all the way to almost Inside Out at Pixar pier.

Ariel Landrum 17:02
Oh, wow. That’s a long line.

Stefanie Bautista 17:06
Very long. So I didn’t get it. I was like, I just want milk tea. And it was like, oh, man, Disney you did it again. Like you nailed it. I could taste the black tea. I could taste the milk. I could. I didn’t want to put it down. I almost drink it all in one go, which was good. And I got a really cool bamboo Mulan Sipper with it.

Ariel Landrum 17:27
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 17:28
Yeah. So what they do now is when you order like Order Special popcorn bucket, or a special sipper, they don’t put the drink in there anymore for you. They separate them so that you can have it pristine.

Ariel Landrum 17:39
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 17:41
In case you want to sell it again, or if you want to display it and not have it tainted. So that’s really cool because I already have the Moana sipper bamboo super now I have the Mulan one. So maybe we’ll have a Raya one one day, that’d be really cool.

Ariel Landrum 17:55
Yes, complete the collection.

Stefanie Bautista 17:57
Yeah. Of Asian American characters on bamboo sippers.

Ariel Landrum 18:02
Just need Lilo and Nani.

Stefanie Bautista 18:04
I know. Oh, that’d be so cool. But yeah, I think it was it was really great. And I hope that it continues to grow. I hope that it continues to bring awareness to multicultural characters in Disney. And it’s really cool.

Ariel Landrum 18:21
Your favorite character is Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. And you mentioned they were there. Were they in a procession? Or did you actually get to like, engage and take a picture with them. Because the last time you mentioned your experience at Disney, it was at Merriest Nites. And you didn’t get to take a picture with Lilo and Stitch because of the line.

Stefanie Bautista 18:38
They were more represented in merchandise. They were not there actually.

Ariel Landrum 18:42
Oh okay.

Stefanie Bautista 18:42
I feel that because we have Adventureland at Disneyland and this was at California Adventure. They’re more represented over there than here. So I feel like because they did Merriest Nites with Hawaiian Merry Christmas, they probably decided to skip this one. And I know they’re very limited into which characters they decide to bring out because they don’t want people gathering too much. So I did not see them. But it was really nice to see Mulan and Mushu because I don’t see them very often either. They had an infographic in front of the Lunar New Year area where they would describe the different ways that Koreans, Chinese people and also Vietnamese people celebrate Lunar New Year. I think that that was beautifully represented because everybody kind of think oh Lunar New Year. It’s only you know, people who come from China, but it really isn’t. And I know that a couple of things about China and celebrating New Year’s Eve. In Northern China, they traditionally like eating food that’s made of flour like boa, like I mentioned earlier pancakes, noodles and dumplings, especially. Families often make these dishes from scratch. Everybody makes their dumplings together. They make everything as a family. Kids typically search for lucky coin inside the dumplings, please do not eat this coin. I’ve known of people who eat these and it’s just not fun. The dumplighs are usually served with fish as it symbolizes abundance. Oh my gosh, I totally, this reminds me, they serve the whole fried fish at a restaurant back then. And they specifically say good for two people had the amount of aunties and uncles that I saw just like going in on this fish, like, I felt like I was in Chinatown. And it was so awesome. And had I known that because the whole fried fish, I would have saved all my trips. But, I mean, that’s insane.

That again, is really good representation. Because I know, I know growing up, because I I grew up with more my white side of the family, the idea of a fish looking like a fish when you eat it was like so foreign and and essentially, like a little, you know, a little bit as you know, xenophobia literally like, “Ew gross that’s that’s nasty.” Trying to like really make it sound like this bad thing. And it’s like it’s fried fish. The difference is mine looks like a fish and yours is a stick!

Not in stick form. It’s true. And I think the fact that frying a whole fish symbolizes that you’re doing well. That’s not always the case. Usually, if you are frying fish, they’re very small and the you know, you just sprinkle them on top of your rice to fry a huge fish like that, like a soul fish, or even a flounder or something like that that’s symbolizes a special occasion. And I think that’s Disney really recognizing that and being able to share that with your family and friends. Kind of just goes along with the values of Lunar New Year. So it was really awesome to see whole fried fish and they’re like good for two. But really, if you’re at Disneyland, like could be good for four or five. Yeah, so they also talked about in Korea, how Lunar New Year is one of the most important traditional holidays. You are paying respect to your ancestors and elders, which was represented in you creating those paper wishes you could also honor your ancestors there too. It looked almost like it could be a shrine in itself. Everybody is bowing to each other, of course, especially deep when you’re bowing to your elders. Wearing in traditional costumes like hanbok, and also receiving money, words of wisdom for the New Year from your elders. In Vietnam, and if many of you don’t know Anaheim is situated right next to Fountain Valley in Garden Grove, which has a huge Vietnamese population like huge it could be you know, Little Saigon is what they call many parts of that area. They celebrate Tết. And they it’s also celebrated the family food. They had many versions of banh mi there, which is the traditional Vietnamese sandwich with a French baguette because of its influences from the French over the years in history. Sticky rice cakes are made and served and everybody like in other Asian cultures, they go to the temple to pray for good luck, health and fortune.

Ariel Landrum 23:15
That’s way that Lunar New Year is celebrated essentially in China and Korea and Vietnam. But those aren’t the only East Asian and Southeast Asian countries that celebrate Lunar New Year. So we definitely have Singapore. 75% of the population is actually Chinese. And so the largest Chinese New Year festival is actually held in Singapore, they move it around in different locations. And just like Stef mentioned the red envelopes, which usually have money in them. They usually have the phrase foo which means good luck. And it’s customary to also pay respect to Buddha at the temple and lighting incense.

Stefanie Bautista 24:00
Shout out to two Crazy Rich Asians was in Singapore and we saw a lot of that awesome stuff in there.

Ariel Landrum 24:06
And then in Malaysia, the Lunar New Year is seen as welcoming of spring and a chance for families to come together for an annual reunion dinner so instead of going out to a festival you’re sort of staying in and they celebrate the holiday for 15 days. They have a salad dish known as yee sang and that they serve at every table and that represents good luck and prosperity and some of the traditional outfits they wear are cheongsam which are red. And if you are celebrating your Zodiac year so if so if you’re the year the tiger you need to be wearing gold that year to attract abundance. And then in Taiwan, most people go home similar to Malaysia to celebrate New Year with their families. They of course have dumplings themselves neon gao, which is the most popular one. And then it’s closely followed by pineapple always serving pineapple.

Stefanie Bautista 25:05
Always.

Ariel Landrum 25:07
And then again an exchange of red envelopes. And of course neighborhoods set off fireworks. Stef you want to illuminate us to the sort of like final country that we have learned can cel celebrate Lunar New Year?

Stefanie Bautista 25:20
Definitely! In the Philippines, they do also celebrate Lunar New Year I’ll be it it kind of, as Filipinos love to drag on their holidays like how September marks the start of the holiday season. They do like to drag on New Year. And this is mainly because there’s so many people in the Philippines who come from other descent. So there’s a lot of Chinese Filipinos. And there’s also a lot of you can even see like Vietnamese Filipinos, Korean Filipinos. So all of those different practices come into play for people who are living in the Philippines. And because it’s such a trade based country, there’s also people who come from China, Korea, Malaysia, everywhere really in Southeast Asia living in the Philippines. So they do celebrate Lunar New Year as well as regular New Year. And many of those traditions kind of cross over. So for instance, when the clock strikes midnight in the Philippines, kids will jump really, really high to signify that you’re going to grow taller. Clearly, I did not jump high enough because that did not happen to me, even though I tried my best to jump.

Ariel Landrum 26:28
Same! Same!

Stefanie Bautista 26:30
But anyway, it’s just one of those superstitions that you could do either in regular, you know, our Solstice, New Year or Lunar New Year, the most traditional celebration of the Lunar New Year or regular New Year is media noche, which is where Filipino families come together for midnight to eat, and also celebrate a year of prosperity. This is normally when we open up our gifts. So if you got a gift for Lunar New Year, if you got your red envelope, you would open it then while you’re eating. The table is usually full of round shaped fruits, you always have to have a bowl of your oranges, your melons, your papayas. Even limes and lemons. Anything that is round in shape of avocados, if you live in America here in California. As long as it’s round, it represents good fortune. This tradition originated from China as well. The food that’s typically eaten during Lunar New Year in the Philippines includes sticky rice dishes such as beko, bibingka, and yan gao. But anything that’s sweet, you’ll probably see it on your table. One of the most unique superstitions of the Lunar New Year in the Philippines is choosing to wear polka dots, as a round shape represents prosperity and money and good fortune. You’ll also see it in the regular new year with a lot of aunties just wearing all the polka dots that they could possibly find. Hats, scarves, socks two piece suit that way. And if they do go to the temple, if they go to church, the next day, they will continue to wear those spots, bocce, that so that they can continue to having that good luck for wealth and good fortune.

Ariel Landrum 28:10
Obviously, we’re of Filipino descent. So some of these things are things that we just kind of are aware of from having a diverse friend group, and interacting with individuals who have various traditions and what their traditions look like. And then there’s a difference between being essentially Asian American, Pacific Islander American, and then actually coming from the country and migrating over here because the traditions are different in regards to accessibility of certain things. Just like Stef said, like we might do avocados, because that is essentially round. And it’s what’s accessible out here. If, technically, February might still be at least in the Midwest, some winter, so access to like oranges might not be as easily accessible. The other thing is that, and this was something that’s Stef and I were talking about before the podcast was some of the ways at least in the Philippines, that traditions are being celebrated, kind of also have to do with how you identify your heritage and the connection you have in closeness to the Chinese community. Do you want to touch on that a little bit?

Stefanie Bautista 29:18
Yeah, I know that for myself having an extended family of you know, Filipinos. There’s many of us who have backgrounds that come from different parts of Asia. So for example, I have a couple family members who are extended parts of my family who have Chinese heritage and that means their last names are not of Spanish descent like mine is my last name Bautista. And some of their last names are you know, Goh or Kim or Lym is a big one. Also, if you’re looking at the ways that these families decide to pick their profession is very much based on whether you are of other descent or if you are purely Filipino. I know that in the Philippines, we all look very, very different because of the years of…

Ariel Landrum 30:07
Mass colonization.

Stefanie Bautista 30:08
Yeah, mass colonization. Throughout hundreds of years of the Philippines. It was only really recently that we gained independence. So you have families that came into power because they had Chinese descent. Or because they had Korean descent or because they had Japanese descent in them. So for many of my family members who are of Chinese descent, they almost view as themselves as a little bit in a different class than a lot of other Filipinos. My personal experience traveling to the Philippines, I realized that wealth and power are associated with those who identify with having Chinese Filipino background. If you just look at people who are in the Philippine cabinet, and people who are have political power, many of them have Chinese last names. And that, you know, has a lot to do with the trade that happens there that has to do with a lot of job opportunities. People who are business, people who are doing trade with the neighboring countries. It’s just always kind of been an unspoken truth, that if you have Chinese descent, you’re most likely to be in a position of power. And that also has to correlate with your skin tone. People who have Chinese descent are naturally lighter in skin tone, as opposed to those who are coming from the Morra regions or of Spanish Spanish descent also. But if you’re like Morena, which is a little bit darker in skin tone, you might not be looked at, as you know, ideally, aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Because you are have darker skin tone. Now, it’s 2022 I know a lot of these stereotypes have been you know, broken by you know, a lot of Filipinos who have been coming into the mainstream world. People such as even Miss Universe, Pia Wurtzbach, who is of German Filipino descent, she is a little bit darker in complexion than some of the other beauty queens that we’ve had in the past. And she completely embraces her darker skin and you know, people around her who have darker skin. But it’s you know, it goes without saying that a lot of stigma when it comes to just viewing yourself and your position in the world because of your skin tone, your last name and your family status is still very prevalent in the Philippines and in Asian countries. So although Lunar New Year is seen, as you know, a celebration for prosperity and wealth, we must also remember that that is not equal for everybody who is celebrating.

Ariel Landrum 32:44
And for those who aren’t aware what Stef is describing. She’s describing colorism. Colorism is a practice of favoring lighter skin over darker skin. It’s essentially a prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone and occurs typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. There are social implications that come with the cultural meaning attached to skin color, that end up favoring or oppressing someone within that culture. I think that it’s important to highlight this because I’m a tenant of being a clinician of being a therapist is to get continuing education and one of them being what we call cultural awareness. In this case, I say cultural humility. Essentially, cultural humility is defined as a lifelong process of self reflection and self critique whereby someone not only learns about another’s culture, but starts with an examination of their own beliefs and cultural identities. And oftentimes, what happens when you are working with diverse populations is you only know about the surface things you don’t know about the intricacies of identity. Stef really touched on sort of like the Filipino experience, and I know, I have friends and clients who are Taiwanese, and their experience is in regards to having Chinese descent is very traught in. Some people vehemently identify themselves as Chinese and some people vehemently does identify themselves Taiwanese and that cultural aspect, and essentially, a lot of political war going on, goes all the way back to even as high as the Olympics. The Olympics in Taiwan is called the Chinese Taipei. That’s that app that is their identifier. They don’t get to go in as Taiwan because the Republic of China though they fled to Taiwan and established essentially Chinese culture. China considers Taiwan part of China. And so, though Taiwan runs very much like its own country, I’ve had experiences or not personally, but I’ve had friends whose experience will say that when they want to visit home they have to have a Chinese passport. And if they write on paperwork that they are Taiwanese, they’ve had people cross it out and write Chinese. And those are experiences you aren’t going to know about if you don’t actually take the time to have cultural humility and learn about someone’s experience. There’s something that I do with my clients when it comes to creating more social awareness that I talk about the difference between understanding something and accepting something. So many clients will say that, “Oh, I understand that.” It’s like, okay, so you’re saying that you comprehend it. But you when you accept something fully when you accept someone’s full lived experience fully, you’re also saying you believe it. And there are a lot of times when we’re trying to create a connection with someone that is very different than our own will say, “Yeah, that makes sense. I understand. But…” So it’s not that we we don’t understand it’s not that we don’t comprehend, we use our critical thinking it makes sense. But we’ve now are saying just because it makes sense, doesn’t mean I think it’s true. Basically, that I understand, but I don’t accept, or in another way of putting it. I comprehend. But I don’t believe.

Stefanie Bautista 36:23
And I think that’s definitely something that not many people take the second to pause and think about, because they’re, they’re very much into how they are responding as themselves, but also how they are looking from the outside and seeing like how they are responding because they don’t want to seem insensitive, right? They don’t want to seem like they are not making an effort to understand. But there are many layers and depth to that understanding. Something that I thought about while you were explaining was as a Filipino American who has been born here, I didn’t realize those intricacies until I took myself out of my Filipino American self and placed myself as a Filipino in the Philippines. And that is a whole nother level of depth and understanding of my heritage, what my identity is, because I’m in a different setting. And I think that’s true for a lot of second generation Asian American Pacific Islanders is that not only are we grappling with ourselves as AAPI members in the American community, but who are we when we go back to our homelands? Where our true heritage lies, is it? Are we one way or another? And I think that’s where a lot of struggles happen. And a lot of self realization can occur if we take the time to be graceful to ourselves about it, but also have that humility that you mentioned.

Ariel Landrum 37:53
In regards to Disney and diversity and representation. I’m curious, Stef, do you think that there should be more representation that is based in reality or more representation that is an amalgam of or diverse like Raya? So sort of like thinking of like Raya and Mulan, which do you think has essentially more weight and representation? Or should we do more both?

Stefanie Bautista 38:20
I mean, that’s, that’s a multi layered question. I think. I know we have spoken offline about how we felt about Raya and how we felt, you know, having Mulan as somebody who we grew up with. I think, for me speaking for myself, Mulan, because it was rooted in actual Chinese tradition. It took place in China. We knew where she was they were fighting the Huns. These were people who are rooted in history that we are seeing come to life through Disney story. And of course, it was based on an actual Legend of Fa Mulan. Raya, on the other hand, was a fictional country that pulled from many Southeast Asian countries, but it was never specified. It was one or the other. It was Kumandra, which is a fictional country. Fang, Talon, all of those places it named from a dragon looking, you know, area which could represent itself from, you know, the rivers that flow through type of through Thailand, through Vietnam, the rivers that flow through the Philippines, because everything is so disjointed. I feel like it’s hard to encapsulate all of that. And Southeast Asian experience, which really, it goes from India, all the way to the Philippines and really beyond. You could even count parts of Micronesia I know you know, Guam, looking at Moana and how those themes were routed in Māori culture which is way down south and that is is another entirely deep and beautiful culture that, you know, you’re spanning over huge parts of the world here. I think a little bit of both is needed. Because yes, you want people to be introduced to these countries. But also you want them to realize that they exist to this day and they have rich histories and cultures that we can reinterpret. I don’t know if you heard of the movie coming out called Turning Red.

Yes with the red panda!

The red panda, and the red panda she is Asian American. Living in America.

Ariel Landrum 40:34
Yeah. And I think San Francisco because it’s always San Francisco!

Stefanie Bautista 40:39
Yes. And really, I mean, the only San Francisco Bay Area Asian type of representation is what we got was Big Hero Six.

Ariel Landrum 40:48
Yeah Baymax.

Stefanie Bautista 40:49
That was San Fran. Tokyo, so it wasn’t even…

Ariel Landrum 40:53
No, San Fransokyo!

Stefanie Bautista 40:54
San Fransokyo. There you go.

Ariel Landrum 40:55
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 40:56
So it wasn’t it. It was again, a fictional, mishmosh of places. But, I mean, I think that representation is completely needed, because you’re going to have little girls who are growing up now, who are third generation who are living their Asian American truth, as third generation and their parents are Asian American. It’s, I feel like as we go on through time, and how people of our generation are creating these movies, they’re our age now. So they want to see things that their kids will enjoy and identify with. And all of those levels I there’s just so much more than we could ever thought of. When it comes to that.

Ariel Landrum 41:40
I like looking at it from the lens of here’s what a traditional experience might look like for this one culture. But also here is what an experience might look like for someone who has multiple cultures or is essentially a mix. Especially if I think of like my own experience as someone who’s has has mixed culture. It really is hard for me to pinpoint something being essentially one thing, and then even having that one culture be a culture that has been colonized so much that we have adopted a lot of things as our own. And if I think of some of my family members, who might be identified, essentially more as indigenous Filipinos, how it looks nothing like what I’ve seen as considered traditional Filipino traditions.

Stefanie Bautista 42:29
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I couldn’t even tell you if I asked my nieces or nephews in the Philippines, like who who do they see in themselves? A they’re all speaking English. So I mean, there’s that they are not speaking Tagalog, or Ilocano, or Bisaya. Or their own their own native tongue unless it’s translated into that. I think the addition of Ned’s Lola in Spider-Man…

Ariel Landrum 42:55
Yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 42:55
She was not speaking Tagalog. She was speaking another dialect. She was speaking in Ilocano, which is one like the second biggest dialect spoken in the Philippines. But those are people who do not live in Manila. They live in Cebu. They live in the other major large islands. But when you think of the Philippines, you really only think of the mainland or well Manila. The main the main island, as I should say, so I think just those little instances of, “Yes, you exist.” All of that is important. And I think even though some people had things to say about Raya being is she Filipino? Is she not Filipino? I think her existence itself as a very powerful Brown, long hair just, you know, amazing all around badass of a woman. I think that was enough. I think that reach in itself was important.

Ariel Landrum 43:49
I think this also brings up the notion when it comes to AAPI awareness. And something my my clients struggle with with any form of awareness or social justice, is they experience something that is kind of identified as moral anxiety. Moral anxiety is an emotion we feel in the face of a difficult moral decision. We want to do something right or just or good, but we’re just not really sure how we’re supposed to do that. Then oftentimes, uncertainty prompts us to investigate and we find options available to us. We consider reasons for or against an action and we make a decision. So moral anxiety has a function that’s twofold. It essentially signals us to let us know that we’re facing a difficult moral decision and it motivates us to actually have gather information and make a decision. The struggle some of my clients face is they face something called analysis paralysis. A lot of my clients have anxiety disorders a lot of my clients have are neurodivergent and so their brain wants to essentially overthink a problem. Analysis paralysis occurs when we’re unable to make a decision. And we’re essentially ruminating or what’s known as like spinning the thoughts over and over. Or maybe it’s either the same thought or stream of thoughts. And it feels almost like a whirlwind going in your head or, or like falling down a rabbit hole. And that fear of peds is from doing an action because we can’t figure out which action is the most appropriate or the maybe the most superior solution to a problem. I think that that is something that has happened a lot for even the general populace in supporting the AAPI community. Because the idea of what supporting the community looks like, is very different from someone who’s within the community and someone who’s outside of the community. And so I think about ways that I teach my clients to like resolve analysis paralysis, something that we definitely talk about is executive functioning, making a decision is using your prefrontal cortex your front brain, because you have to plan you have to reason you have to execute. Some individuals have executive functioning struggles. So something that I talk about my clients who want to create more action whose morals tell them that they need to support the community, but they don’t know how I talk about ways to remove the executive functioning struggle ways to remove how to activate yourself. So a lot of them think like, “Oh, I’m only supporting the community, if I’m the person at the podium, like essentially leading the chant. If I’m the leader.” And a lot of times what we need is people to join an organization or community and do establish tasks that you don’t have to think about, but we just need you to do them. A common one my clients have found very rewarding would be just like sending emails to senators, or bill makers, that scripts already made for them. So they don’t have to come up with what they need to say. They just need to take the time out of their day to do it. That feels like moral action that is necessary, it actually is necessary. So it’s not just a feeling it’s an it’s a way to move the organization forward. And it removes the stigma of trying to come up with something from the ground up.

Stefanie Bautista 47:14
Yeah, for sure. I think when we bring that down to the level of a child, they see these things happening, and they go, “Oh, how am I supposed to change it. I’m just the kid.” And you know, the they see themselves wanting to help, but they also see themselves limited. And it’s, I feel like I’m very mild version of analysis paralysis, because they’re just like, at a loss like, “How, how do I help? How, how do I make a difference just being one kid in the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth grade?” And really, we tell our kids at our school, it just starts with being an upstander to your friends, if your friend is eating their hot bowl of rice and soup, and it doesn’t look like a peanut butter sandwich, it’s normal. Don’t call him out on it. Don’t make a comment on it. Just say, “Hey, that looks good. What is it called?” Ask questions about it. That is the best thing that you can possibly do when you are at a loss for any information. You could just ask about it. Because I don’t think there is any world where if you ask what are you eating, people be like, I don’t tell you./

Ariel Landrum 48:21
No. It’s usually oh my god, this is so good. It’s blah, blah, blah. My mom made it. I got it from this place.

Stefanie Bautista 48:27
Absolutely. I mean, I think just those little things. Why you why you do certain things. Why when you go over to a friend’s house, why do you take off your shoes before you go in? I’m not saying “Oh, that’s weird, or ew what is that?” Those things are hurtful. And, you know, for kids being themselves, they don’t want to be conscious about how they’re doing things, because it’s been something that they’ve been doing for years, or you know, they see people that they love doing those things like eating stinky tofu or eating, you know, rice and sour soup. These are things that are embedded in their identity and their culture and they don’t want to second guess themselves about it. Another thing that we tell our kids is to support small Asian businesses, if you are hungry, maybe instead of going to McDonald’s, go to you know, a local Chinese bakery or a local Filipino bakery or…

Ariel Landrum 49:19
Or Jollibee!

Stefanie Bautista 49:20
Or Jollibee!

Ariel Landrum 49:21
It’s fast food!

Stefanie Bautista 49:22
Even the Jollibee now owns coffee bean which is so bizarre to me now. Whatever, but get that get that prosperity y’all. Like whatever. I think just knowing that there are businesses that you know, aren’t the Big Four are the big three. Wanting to go to an Asian market and play with the crabs there. That’s totally normal. Like those small things that are embedded into our everyday lives. I think if we if we give a little bit of love and curiosity to them, it’ll tell kids have, you know younger generations that it’s okay to accept something that’s different. And because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Ariel Landrum 50:07
And going back to like, even the executive functioning, and moral anxiety analysis paralysis, a lot of people will say, well, like, Isn’t it rude for me to even ask? And this goes into really understanding the difference between asking a question with curiosity and questioning someone.

Stefanie Bautista 50:26
Yes, yes.

Ariel Landrum 50:27
When you’re questioning someone, it always feels like you’re being interrogated.

Stefanie Bautista 50:30
Yes…

Ariel Landrum 50:30
And you have to defend yourself. So, “Why are you eating that?” Does not sound curious. It doesn’t sound inviting, even though there’s a why in the question, it the tonal presentation implies that they have to justify their food choice, versus saying, “What are you eating?” And learning about that. Usually, that’ll come with the why that that’ll be, “Oh, I’m eating this. It’s my favorite food.” That’s all you need to know. That’s the only why you need to know or I’m eating this because it’s a Lunar New Year, and I want some good luck in my day.

Stefanie Bautista 51:01
Yeah, I know, for a lot of the teacher’s assistants and people who help out during lunchtime, I think if we’ve always told them, “Hey, if you see a kid eating something that’s different, like shout them out, be like, hey, you know, that looks really good. What is that? Does your mom make that for you? Like, that looks so good and appetizing? Like, I want to try that one day? Where can I find that?” Just kind of lifting them up in the small things that they have. Or you know, hey, that lunchbox is super cute, like, where did you get that? Just praising them for you know, their small things that make up their identity, I think is huge. And also diversifying your library for any educators out there, that is the best thing you could possibly do to represent your kids, no matter if they’re AAPI descent, they’re African American, if they’re, you know, of mixed race, the more you can diversify your library, the better you can, you know, reach out to your students without you having to do the heavy lifting. Because if they see themselves represented in a book, if they see themselves, you know, represented in pictures and writing, it doesn’t have to be a profound history lesson. It could just be like, hey, that kid looks like me.

Ariel Landrum 51:02
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 51:32
There is an author out there, there’s an illustrator out there that took the time to create this character that looks like me, I think that’s cool. And because I see myself represented, therefore I exist in this world, and I am not erased. And I think that’s the one of the biggest struggles of the AAPI community is the feeling of erasure. And that, you know, we exist simply to be in the background simply to be the model minority, just to kind of blend in with the crowd. And you know, just be thankful for your life here in America, which is very important. However, that doesn’t mean that you are taking up space in this world in this community.

Ariel Landrum 52:50
And really looking at the media were engaging in in regards to Asian created media, were the creators actually AAPI or not? And even with the model minority myth, that has led to a trope of the Asian best friend. As much as I love Disney media, even up into Spider-Man, his best friend is his Asian hype boy.

Stefanie Bautista 53:15
Who was behind the computer, aka the IT guy.

Ariel Landrum 53:18
The IT Guy. Yes, yes, literally calls himself the guy in the chair, I’m really accentuating that that’s a good thing. And no, it is not a bad thing. But when it becomes the fact that you engage in media, and that’s all you see of Asian representation, that starts to distort your belief system and thinking, and I know, in regards to mental health and wellness, when you don’t see a certain culture that you think struggles, you don’t provide them the support and aid that they need. And when it comes to you the way that Asians are represented in the media, it’s, you’re the smart one, you can figure it out, you have high prestige, you probably are a doctor, you probably are an engineer, you have all these things, quote unquote, going for you, that you there shouldn’t be a reason for you to be quote unquote, struggling. And that makes it a real, it feeds into a bias that we start to internalize. And when it comes to actually taking on media, where we start to see that this community has just as much struggles, if not more unique struggles or different struggles than me, that makes it easier to get access.

Stefanie Bautista 54:25
And multi layered structures. I mean, struggles that, you know, can stem from socioeconomic status to location to position to a self identity is a huge one that we especially a second generation Asian Americans struggle with. So, I mean, you’re absolutely right, just because you’re not seeing these struggles doesn’t mean they’re not happening. Because yes, there are struggles that you know, other cultures go through which, you know, we we do want to take care to highlight and be aware of it but diminishing another culture struggles is, you know, something that I feel like we’re slowly as a society moving away from which is great. But at the same time, I think on a level where you know, you are not consuming media like this, it really just has to be conscious in your everyday life that you know, you gotta you got to open your eyes a little bit more, and see who you’re around and just kind of take a step back because I know there’s a bigger conversation when it comes to workplace and diversifying the workplace diversifying. I mean, even people I know who work for Disney, I’ve been seeing many more opportunities given to Asian Americans. Netflix has a whole Instagram dedicated to Southeast Asian Americans called Netflix Golden, which popped up on my feed, I think just a couple days ago. And I was like, whoa, wait, what? Like, this is an I feel like everybody can kind of relate when they go. “This is weird, but I don’t hate it.”

Ariel Landrum 56:03
It’s like that pause of like, “I was not expecting this. And I I need to reconcile what I’m feeling right now.”

Stefanie Bautista 56:09
Yeah, I think they had a post. And I think it was a bunch of Netflix characters with their shoes on the bed. They were just hanging out with their shoes inside. And then it said, like, “The awkward pause when you’re trying to Netflix binge, but you notice all the shoes inside the house.” And I’m like…

Ariel Landrum 56:31
Okay, I have noticed that that’s true.

Stefanie Bautista 56:33
Yeah. I mean, it was like a scene from Stranger Things. It was like Never Have I Ever and a bunch of other like, super popular Netflix series. And I was like, LOL in my head. This is kind of funny. Cuz Yeah, these are things that like we would notice. Like, why? Why would they be doing that that’s, that’s not right. Or, you know, those, just the lens of specifically a South East Asian American watching Netflix shows, I think it’s so bizarre, but I’m here for it.

Ariel Landrum 57:03
When it comes to, you know, supporting the AAPI community in allowing your morals and values to move you forward. You know, there’s definitely engaging in Asian owned restaurants, engaging in Asian created media. The other thing is really attending a lot of Asian festivals. Just like because Lunar New Year is happening the first but it’s essentially going to go on all month, depending on the culture, there will be festivals. Take the time to go to them, they are outdoor, right, you can still wear your mask, you can social distance. But sitting in immersing yourself in the cultural experience is very different than sort of hearing about it.

Stefanie Bautista 57:46
Take the time to embrace every aspect of it. Because I’ve noticed over the years attending some of these markets and festivals, of course, many people go for the food because everybody can identify and connect with each other over food. But food is bad. And our food is Yeah. And that’s how a lot of you know, social media posts happen because you know, people are foodies. And that’s how they get their exposure. But take the time to watch the performances and the dances and maybe even like a martial arts demonstration, or you know, those types of things give you a different perspective on culture and dance. And performance is such a different way of expressing your culture that I think is so unique, and many people tend to forego because you have to stop and take the time to visualize and kind of soak it in. So I would challenge everyone to just like, look at the traditional dancing, like what does it tell you? Like, what stories do you pull from it? Because I feel like a lot of people Oh, you know, like, I love noodles and dumplings. And I loved Din Tai Fung and yet they don’t remember that there’s so many other aspects to you know, embracing that culture. And I think just stepping out of your comfort zone a little bit maybe could be very rewarding.

Ariel Landrum 59:09
Yeah, I think that there’s a lot of on the surface experience and really trying to go in deeper. Okay, so I watched this YouTube channel called Sorted. It is these four British guys who are best friends that one of them was a chef taught them how to cook. They branched out since that brand, and they had a good old Uncle Roger.

Stefanie Bautista 59:31
Oh, my boy Uncle Roger.

Ariel Landrum 59:33
Yes guest starring in a competition they’re making in regards to effect essentially like a fish soup. And one of the contestants put all kinds of seafood in his soup. And Uncle Roger said “That looks like it’d be good. No one would buy that. That is too expensive. That is not streetfood.” And all a hearing that you could see like the look on his face of it, that never occurred to me, because all the ways that he had the soup was essentially in a way that was more high end.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:11
Mm hmm. Yeah. The main thing about Asian markets is that the food is close to dirt cheap.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:20
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:20
And that’s what’s fantastic about it, because then you could experience all the stalls. They’re really not supposed to be like, an I know 626 might Night Market is fantastic, but it will run your wallet a little bit if you’re not careful. I know everybody’s trying to make a living out here. And you know, food prices have gone up, especially since the pandemic happened.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:41
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:41
But at the same time, if you are looking at it from the perspective of accessibility, Night Market food is supposed to be meant to be affordable. And I totally understand that, you know, he’s right, no one would buy that. They will go to another spot and get the same exact thing for less because traditionally, it is seen as regarding to be frugal and not wasteful with your money because that is how you achieve prosperity and wealth.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:13
And even like other examples, I I know a lot of friends are like, “Well, I go to Korean BBQ.” It’s like, “Yes, but Korean BBQ is not the true like traditional regular meal. Like we aren’t sitting down and eating beef every single day. That is that’s that’s for like you graduated and we need to celebrate.”

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:34
Yes, absolutely. It’s not just like a regular meal. I mean, you lived in Korea Ariel. I’ve been to Korea. When I went I wasn’t trying to be like where is the all you can eat spot? That’s not a thing. It is an LA thing. It’s a total American thing. That I think that’s a whole nother nother conversation of Americans and the history of America changing Asian traditional foods to suit their palate and to suit their understanding of it. Their lifestyle. I mean, there’s so many documentaries around about General Tso’s chicken. There is a General Tso, he does not exist.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:16
Orange chicken!

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:17
Orange chicken, not a thing. Maybe orange or maybe fried chicken with like Mandarin peels that you could maybe find that but if you go and ask for, “Can I get orange chicken with fried rice?” You will most likely not get it. But yeah, like many of these things are just offshoots and tangents of you know, interpretations of traditional Asian dishes. And yeah, like I think the all you can eat thing was like the biggest realization of that, especially living in Southern California, where it’s a part of everyday life, but also, you really want to try not to mistake it for everyday Korean life.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:55
So we’ve definitely talked about ways that support the community certainly talked about what we hope Disney will add, change or adapt. And we talked about the festival that Disney had. Because this podcast is about a new year. I would like us to share our new year resolutions for this podcast. I’ll have you got Stef haha!

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:19
Ah, okay. Well, I mean, for me, I am so thankful that we are still doing this podcast we pass the the seven episode itch or what have you?

Ariel Landrum 1:03:29
Yes, yes, the curse. After seven episodes, it never happens again.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:33
I think that’s a sign of prosperity. But I am so thankful for this opportunity to even like talk about things like my identity and my heritage through a Disney medium. I think that’s so unique and awesome. I know, there’s many, many podcasts out there. And I thank you all for choosing this one to spend your time with either on your drive in the shower, or whatever you want to do, we are here with you. So I want to keep it consistent. I think me and Ariel have found a really good groove on you know, doing this whole thing. And I think as we delve deeper and deeper and deeper into the layers of Disney, it’s different avenues of media. There’s just so much more to unpack. And you know, even though I think because we are coming to you with a psychological lens a educational lens, there are a lot of heavy things that we do think about and we do talk about. But we also want to highlight that, you know, this is still the Happiest Pod on Earth. And we want to make sure that we are keeping the happy in there. So I think finding that really good balance between the two helps me individually and I hope it helps you all too. So more sponsorships and partnerships if you guys want to partner with us. I would love to! Catch me at Disneyland with a tripod next time haha! And I would love to incorporate more educational resources I think as a new wave of teachers are coming in those of you who are staying in the profession, thank you. It’s hard, we are struggling every day and I see you, I’m going through it. And I understand if you are somebody who used to work in education and just couldn’t do any more I see you too It, it’s been a tough couple of years for us. So I think as you know, we get new people, we can work together and create more educational resources. And hopefully Disney sees that. That would be great. How about you, Ariel?

Ariel Landrum 1:05:28
My resolutions for the podcast is some regular shooting schedule, which is very difficult because our schedules are like not the same.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:36
Consistency!

Ariel Landrum 1:05:38
But uh, in regards to consistency, at least knowing that we released earlier podcast episode a month, at minimum? As a as a baseline baseline, not minimum. The baseline.

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:50
Baseline, I like that.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:51
I’d like to dive deeper into specific characters we mentioned a few in each episode. But really diving deep into one given like highlighting or celebrating and essentially challenging one specific character, I think that would be really interesting. I want to increase connecting to the rest of the GT network, I’d like to have more of our fellow podcasters as guests on our channel here, seeing if we do some cross pollenization as it where. Definitely sponsorships and partnerships or donations and fundings would be really cool. I’d like us to present a panel and be panelists at a convention, when it comes to specifically the clinical psychological lens, say same notes to as Stef, all you therapists, whether you’re still doing it, whether you’ve stopped whether you’ve pivoted and are doing something completely different. I see you this is huge burnout in regards to most, I would say 98% of the clinicians weren’t doing telehealth, right. So that was learning that process was a huge bitch. And there’s so much burnout because everyone is struggling and we’re wanting them to be the ones holding the load were essentially Luisa. Take a break. Take a break.

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:11
Take a break. The donkeys will handle it.

Ariel Landrum 1:07:14
The donkeys will handle it. Take it take a week break if you can, two weeks preferably. I just really want to see us being rejuvenated and not essentially being burnt out this year. And I’m hoping that this podcast will give new lens and insight that can rejuvenate the desire to utilize essentially Disney in mental health, seeing how our way of helping our clients doesn’t have to be like Stef said, it doesn’t have to be sad, it can be happy. It can be exciting. It can be interesting. It can be curious. It can it can have resolution and healing, and not really always being like this long void of pain.

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:01
Yeah. Thank you for the work you do. By the way.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:04
Nah thank you Oh my gawd.

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:07
We are both struggling. I think this brand new year I feel like is refreshing. Even though we’re like a year three into this thing. I have high hopes. And I think as long as we continue to be there for each other, continue to listen to each other and continue to have grace and humility for one another. I think we can all come out of this with a better understanding of each other so that we can live our lives and hopefully even though it’s probably not going to be the same normal. We’re used to some sense of normality.

Ariel Landrum 1:08:46
Yes, yes. So in signing off if you are the year of the Tiger if you want to let us know your traditions for Lunar New Year or how you celebrated the calendar New Year. Please please tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DM us at @HappiestPodGT. If also you have suggestions for things you want us to talk about on the podcast please holler at us let us know. We know there’s been a lot of random Disney drama going on out there. We don’t be sipping in the drama too much but if you need us to spill the tea we will spill the tea.

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:29
We will spill it in through through a therapy and an education lens. We will spell it. It will still be spelt but it will have a filter.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:38
Yeah, it’ll be it’ll be contained spillment.

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:40
Contained spillment? Alright everyone, we will see you next episode. Take care.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:48
Bye!

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:48
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Tiger
  • Rajah
  • Mulan
  • Raya
  • Lilo
  • Nani
  • Moana
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Holidays
  • Music
  • Tradition
  • Diversity
  • Family
  • Festival
  • Food
  • AAPI
  • Support
  • Social jusice
  • Social awareness
  • Analysis paralysis
  • Moral anxiety
  • Colorism
  • Anxiety

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

—

 Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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 | Stef on Twitter: @stefa_kneee | Ariel on Instagram: @airyell3000 |

Geek Therapy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission of advocating for the effective and meaningful use of popular media in therapeutic, educational, and community practice.
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The Merriest Nite at Disneyland

December 3, 2021 · Discuss on the GT Forum

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#25: Disneyland added a new night event over the holiday season, titled “Merriest Nites.” This special event featured six distinct parties that have unique music, food, and character interactions. Even the infamous Muppet did a holiday show filled with their classic antics. Host Stef attended with her family, sharing with Ariel the tips, tricks, ups, and downs of navigating such an ambitious event.

Read the blog post for this episode for additional references and resources.

Become a member of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Transcription

Ariel Landrum 0:03
Hello everyone, welcome to The Happiest Pod On Earth. I am Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista 0:08
And I’m Stef, and we are Disney fans. But we are really so much more than that.

Ariel Landrum 0:12
Like I’m a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental and wellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:18
And I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them. Here at Happiest Pod, it’s a place where we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:29
Why? Because just like we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So what Disney medium or experience are we dissecting today’s Stef?

Stefanie Bautista 0:38
Well, it’s been a while. So we are going to dissect my experience at Marriest Nites’ Queue Jingle Bells.

Ariel Landrum 0:48
ding ding ding

Stefanie Bautista 0:49
Last time we spoke to you all it was spooky season and now it is holiday season. I feel like and I don’t know about you, Ariel, but the holiday season has come at us in full force.

Ariel Landrum 1:00
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01
I’ll be earlier than previous years because I think people are really excited to just celebrate merriness and being together as much as possible. I don’t know. What do you think?

Ariel Landrum 1:13
Yes, I, I vividly remember Christmas last year for me because I spent it locked in my room because my roommate had COVID. And I was helping care for them. And of course, if I was potentially exposed, I didn’t want to obviously give it to any of my family members and usually spend Christmas with my grandmother who would be individual who’d be highly susceptible. And if everyone remembers the vaccine did not exist then. So these symptoms were bad for my roommate and the isolation was, was pretty, pretty difficult.

Stefanie Bautista 1:46
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:47
I didn’t even decorate. It did not feel like the holidays. I don’t I didn’t watch Christmas movies that whole month. I don’t remember doing any holiday traditions like even driving around and looking at lights. Like it, it was his full force pandemic. And I would say that was one of the bigger peaks. And so it was just a lot of isolating.

Stefanie Bautista 2:06
Yeah, I mean, for me, it was a lot of Christmas dinners were outside. And there were only two. The one at my house and the one at my in law’s house. And aside from that, I mean, there was no dressing up, there was no taking pictures, there was really not a lot of even gift giving. A lot of the gifts that we received were virtual gifts, or were just delivered via Amazon package. And so I mean, because the whole year we were getting packages, it didn’t seem any special. No special gift wrapping through Amazon, none of that. It just literally was like another delivery, more baby things. But yeah, I totally agree that this holiday season is just everybody’s getting like their holiday wiggles out. That’s very elementary school of me to say, but we’ve been holding it in for so long. And no matter if you celebrate, you know, Christmas or Kwanzaa, or Hanukkah, or any other holiday that you may celebrate during this time. Everybody’s just really excited to be out. And, you know, I’ll be it, we are in a sticky situation right now with the new variant. People are just really trying to make the most of it.

Ariel Landrum 3:15
Even in thinking about the holiday differences from last year to this year. We all know in general that Christmas has been trying to take over since July like right like if it wasn’t for Halloween, which holds the line the Goths hold the line.

Stefanie Bautista 3:30
They really do.

Ariel Landrum 3:31
Christmas would be way, way, way sooner.

Stefanie Bautista 3:34
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 3:35
I remember being irritated by that. I think this year I was I just I needed it. I really wanted it back I had this this sense of like, I I’m really looking forward to feeling like I’ve celebrated the entire year. Like I’ve done my like the whole circle around completion feeling and wanting to wanting to do a resolution want, you know, wanting and hoping and feeling that sense of wonderment again.

Stefanie Bautista 4:02
Yeah, we put up our Christmas lights so fast. Like I think we had half of our inflatables up the night of Thanksgiving which was wild. And I mean also like the kids like they at my school they were talking about you know holiday plans and like you know finally getting to see the grandparents and things like that so I think it wasn’t just you know, they wanted to you know, do those things like Christmas last Christmas traditions they were just really excited to connect again. And in by connecting you know, give gifts to their fellow classmates give gifts to their teachers. I have not seen my coworkers walk away with so many gifts in my life which thank you to everybody who you know you’re appreciating your educators because they are still working around the clock.

Ariel Landrum 4:51
Hmm hmm.

Stefanie Bautista 4:52
They are trying to accommodate and you know, catch up from the last year but it was like they were all their own mini Santos walking out of the building. Huge like bags on bags and like coffee mugs galore. Because ya’ll like to give educators coffee mugs. I got two. And they are living now in my office because I know better than to bring them home with me. Yeah, it does just the spirit all around. But in that we are going to talk about Merriest Nites, which is the Disneyland equivalent to Oogie Boogie Bash, which happens during Halloween. We went early. We went during December 11.

And by we will clarify this stuff. Yes. I have never been to Merriest Nites. I don’t even know what it is.

It’s new this year.

Ariel Landrum 5:36
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 5:36
Yeah, this is the first time they’re doing it.

Ariel Landrum 5:38
I have gone to Disneyland with STef in the winter around Christmas time. We do have some really bomb photos. I consider them bomb in front of the castle when it’s lit up. Snowy, pretty. But I myself have never gone to any sort of Disney holiday event. I haven’t done the Oogie Boogie bash. I haven’t done any of those things have done the food events. But that’s over at California Adventure.

Stefanie Bautista 6:02
Yes. And there’s a reason why you haven’t been to this one because it is new this year. And because I have never been to Ogee Boogie bash myself because I can never remember to get tickets, or I just missed the window or something. When I heard about Merriest Nites, I’m like, I need to get on this now. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’m gonna get my frickin ticket right now. Because I love me some Christmas. I love me some holiday. So when they announced the tickets, I think it had to be early November because it was right after Okay, Boogie bash, okay. They were like, oh, you know, if you love this, you’re gonna love this version of, you know, Oogie Boogie which is called Merriest Nites. And we’re gonna it’s a special ticketed event, which was very attractive to me. Because when I went to the food event before Disneyland opened up, I just loved how I could experience Disneyland with way less people. And I think now we’re in the state of mind where, unfortunately, we will spend any amount of money to feel safe. And I buy into that. I have a young one. And you know, for me myself. I my comfort level is not all the way there to you’re gonna find me at a music festival, which you probably won’t for a really long time. But this I knew Disney was gonna control their crowds just like the food event.

Ariel Landrum 6:02
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 6:24
So it’s like, okay, yeah, let’s do this. So they had tickets starting from the end of November, I think. Probably like last day of November, all the way until I think the end of December. Don’t quote me on that. I know all of the tickets are sold out now. But I attended. Oh, here we go. November 11 to December 9th. Okay. So people actually could celebrate Christmas holidays way, way early.

Ariel Landrum 7:47
Before Thanksgiving.

Stefanie Bautista 7:49
Yeah. I went November 18. So it was quite early.

Ariel Landrum 7:56
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 7:57
It was. It was quite early, because I knew I have blackout dates on my tickets for the holiday season. So the earlier the better for me. And yes, you had to wait for a certain time. When they opened the virtual queue. You had to wait in the queue. And…

Ariel Landrum 8:16
And you use the app and not the website?

Stefanie Bautista 8:18
You use the website? Not the app.

Ariel Landrum 8:20
Oh okay, so you were using the website. So you were at home or at work doing this?

Stefanie Bautista 8:24
I was at work doing this…

Ariel Landrum 8:27
On your lunch break obvi.

Stefanie Bautista 8:28
On my lunch break. I was eating, you know, whatever I was eating that that day. Um, yeah, I had my computer I had had my computer and I had my phone out. I know, some people had multiple computers out from some of the blogs that I’ve been reading, because they had a big group that they wanted to buy tickets for. I don’t remember if there was a limit to how many tickets you could get if any of our listeners out there remember if there was. I only have to buy two. So it wasn’t that big of a deal for me. But I know once when I got to the park, there were parties of 13 parties of 15

Ariel Landrum 9:02
Oh, wow…

Stefanie Bautista 9:04
Whole families that were you know, felt like Disney World. They were doing like a holiday event for themselves for you know, like a family reunion sort of thing. So I can imagine how difficult it was to get all of those tickets together. But tickets were available for still a couple weeks after they opened it up.

Ariel Landrum 9:21
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 9:22
So it wasn’t like Ogee Boogie where because it has like a track record already people snatched up those tickets and no matter of days. These tickets were available for about a month after they released them. And I bought my tickets later, I jumped in that queue the first time and I was just like, “It’s a little bit much. It’s out of my budget right now. I haven’t saved up too much.” And then once I saw that there were still tickets available. I was like, “Okay, let’s do this.” So I actually bought my ticketst wo weeks, no, one week after I had seen the event.

Ariel Landrum 9:53
Okay. Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 9:55
So for all of you out there, if they do this again, I can’t guarantee that that will happen again because I feel like it was such a success, but you may get lucky.

Ariel Landrum 10:04
So you get the tickets. And it sounds like you only needed it for you and your spouse. Do you know the age limit when you have to start buying tickets for your son?

Stefanie Bautista 10:15
Yes, it’s age three.

Ariel Landrum 10:18
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 10:19
So three is that magic? Ah,

Ariel Landrum 10:21
how they gonna know he’s three though? He little…

Stefanie Bautista 10:25
You know, developmentally, you just kind of can tell.

Ariel Landrum 10:31
It’s true. It’s true. And I guess there are a lot of kids at Disneyland, those they would know.

Stefanie Bautista 10:35
Yeah, let’s be real here. I know, all you parents out there listening to this blog, you’ve all done this. Because I know all my friends have done this. I’ve done this. You keep your kid in the stroller for as long as humanly possible. And you tell them to not say a word. Because once your kid starts going, “Well, I want to do this. I don’t want to make a pretzel and oh my gosh, we’re at Disneyland.” That’s a dead giveaway that you’re over three.

Ariel Landrum 11:01
Well, I think I think the other thing is if they ask, I can see a kid going “No, I’m four.”

Stefanie Bautista 11:07
Yeah. Because they are so excited to be that age. And you know, at that age, they are fully aware of where they are going, why they are going and what they are expecting. My son’s almost two so he still has no idea. He’s just like, I woke up and I’m here again at this place that my parents will clearly like to go to. The wonderment is there but the confusion is also there. I think once the confusion goes away, they’re like, Okay, maybe this is a little bit older. And we need to charge them for the the wonderment that is present in walking through the park.” So same thing for Merriest Nites. You a ticketed tickets are for three and above. And they were $165 per adult.

Ariel Landrum 11:55
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 11:56
And that includes Disney PhotoPass. You get goodies, which I will mention in a bit. You are you have like a wristband and everybody. Well, I guess I’ll explain that later. I’ll explain the whole like, way because the event was only from seven o’clock to midnight. But if you have a ticket to Merriest Nites, you can go in the park starting five o’clock.

Ariel Landrum 12:25
Okay, so you couldn’t go in the morning?

Stefanie Bautista 12:27
No.

Ariel Landrum 12:28
And it was only for one park.

Stefanie Bautista 12:30
Not California venture. So California venture was still open until 10. But Disneyland was open until midnight, like usual, but only to Merriest Nites ticketed holders.

Ariel Landrum 12:41
And this is pretty common because I think some people who do Oogie Boogie end up really buying like two tickets so you do the event but then they also want to go to the park in the morning.

Stefanie Bautista 12:51
Or if their annual pass holders they kind of double dip. So they get to stay in the park the whole day and then they get to experience it later on at night.

Ariel Landrum 12:59
Okay, okay.

Stefanie Bautista 13:00
Yeah. And I guess for all of you out there I have the official description of Merriest Nites for everyone and, you know, you want to hear exactly what it is. So official Disney description of it is, “As the host of the party Mickey Mouse will welcome you to the party on Main Street USA with Victorian flair and Kermit the Frog Miss Piggy and their friends join in the fun traveling in a special coach with Christmas carol sing alongs muppet antics and a few chickens. Over in New Orleans. New Orleans Square Princess Tiana plan to ring and Noel with guests at her Bayou inspired celebration. In Frontierland Miguel from the Disney and Pixar film Coco will be wishing everyone Feliz Navidad while you kick up your heels during a jolly dance filled fiesta. Three more character hosted holiday parties await you with a tropical party hosted by Lilo and Stitch in Adventurelang,” which got me. “A winter time celebration with Elsa in Fantasyland and Buzz Lightyear taking the holidays to new heights over in Tomorrowland. Your friends and family will enjoy enhanced entertainment such as the photo backdrops and character signings and specialty food and beverage offerings within the event.”

Ariel Landrum 14:09
So you have these different things going on. Do you hop around to them? Or are they timed?

Stefanie Bautista 14:15
Girl, you have to make your own schedule.

Ariel Landrum 14:19
Ah, no!

Stefanie Bautista 14:20
This is where at the end of the day my husband and I were walking back and we’re like “We need to come up with a game plan next time.”

Ariel Landrum 14:30
Ah okay, so that’s where my anxiety has already flared up trying to figure out what has to be axed off the list of this thing that I spent I paid extra money for.

Stefanie Bautista 14:44
And I think this is like the way me and Ariel work is I’ll try out the thing first and I’ll like you know, make the mistakes and stumble all that and then I like when we do that the next time I’m like, “Okay, I’m ready.” I compile like, “You know, this is what we got to do. This is what it is.” And then I create the experience after that for Ariel or whoever I go with. And that’s okay because you know I, I am a okay with the expectation that this is new. This is gonna to be something that I’ve never done before all be it it’s in a familiar place. I know Disneyland like the back of my hand, but for some reason because there were so many things to see I couldn’t navigate on where to go, how much time to spend. Add the layer of you know, I have a young one with me. It was very cold that night.

Ariel Landrum 15:29
Oh..

Stefanie Bautista 15:29
Colder then it was like the first really cold night of this winter and fall season. So we had to do a couple wardrobe changes. Like, I went into the mentality of, “Oh, there how PhotoPass for us, so let’s dress up.”

Ariel Landrum 15:46
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 15:47
Yeah, there’s a thing about Dapper Day never being in the winter. And there’s a reason why.

Ariel Landrum 15:50
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 15:52
Because my hair just did not look the same as when I walked in the park. And, you know, you really had to dress up like winter and us being from Southern California. We are not 100% prepared for any outfit to be transformed into that.

Ariel Landrum 16:08
And then in NorCal they get hit with the snow so bad that there’s it’s not cute. I mean, you’re like the I would say anybody who’s ever thought that a snow bunny is like, kind of like a real look has never actually been cold. Or is like going to a ski resort with fake snow.

Stefanie Bautista 16:27
Yeah, or like never stepping out of the lodge I feel.

Ariel Landrum 16:31
Yeah. Because that would be me. I just stay by the fire and drink some hot cocoa and have fun furry boots.

Stefanie Bautista 16:36
I on the other hand, I was an avid snowboarder before and I never looked cute. Ever. Especially when you’re trying to do new things. You just you don’t look cute. You look like you’ve been on the slopes all day.

Ariel Landrum 16:51
Take that out of your mind.

Stefanie Bautista 16:53
Take that on your mind. It’s a Christmas party. But it’s six Christmas parties. And you have to go into the mentality if you go next time. It’s six different parties. I mean, party hopping between two parties is like difficult enough. Going from Disneyland to California Adventure, I feel like your party hopping at that point. There’s so many things happening in DCA. There’s so many things happening at Disneyland. But yes, they condense it to one park but it’s still like six unique experiences.

Ariel Landrum 17:23
And all over the park like I’m trying to map out like the walking route that is not easy.

Stefanie Bautista 17:28
It’s not a Star Wars Land Batuu to was closed. So they were cast members just standing there reminding people, “You can’t go in here anymore. Like we closed up that area.” Which was good because that if they ever do a Star Wars Christmas, I mean, it would be so freakin cool. But they have to open it up to like, not just seven o’clock. They have to start earlier. Because there’s no way you can experience all of that.

Ariel Landrum 17:59
Well was it busy?

Stefanie Bautista 18:01
Okay, so this is actually a really good question because at going to the parks, because I’ve never been to the parks. Like in the evening, it was actually quite bizarre. Because Daylight Savings had happened already. So it was already getting darker than normal. So we we left from work. Got my son ready. And then we headed over around for four o’clock like about an hour away.

Ariel Landrum 18:28
So wait, you had a whole workday too?

Stefanie Bautista 18:31
Oh, yeah. No, I want to work. No days off here.

Ariel Landrum 18:36
Had a whole work day, god dress did your hair got your kid ready?

Stefanie Bautista 18:42
Had a whole work day, got dressed, did my hair. Yep. Got my kid ready. Yeah, anything is possible when your mom or so you think and then and then it falls apart. But anyway, we had picked out our outfits already weeks in advance. We sort of planned out where we wanted to go. Like I knew I wanted to go to Adventureland because Lilo and Stitch had like a whole other holiday island party, which is you know, my favorite. And so yeah, we left. We actually left The Valley quite early. We left The Calley around like 330 ish to be able to get there on time. Because I knew my son’s his nap time. And you know, he would, you know, go through traffic because traffic at that point, it would take you no, less than an hour and 15 minutes to get to Anaheim. So we got there around 4:45. And we parked but I thought I thought parking was gonna be like “Oo we’re doing in the first level is gonna be great.” No, the park was full that day. So you’re battling people who have already been at the park, people who are currently leaving the park and the fact that not all of those lights that tell you what space is available are working. So I actually circled more times than I’ve ever circled before trying to find a close parking spot.

Ariel Landrum 20:07
Oh, were you irritated?

Stefanie Bautista 20:09
I was a little irritated because my husband had worked so he was sleeping also. I was the only one awake as I drove. And I like went around like I think like four or five times trying to find like a good parking spot. And I’m like, “You know what, forget it. I’m just going to pick the one that’s closest to the walkway that takes you from that one half of the parking to the other half. And that like is a straight shot to the elevators.” Because we had a stroller. We got everybody dressed, put my son shoes on and everything. He wore a little bow tie, I made sure that was on. He had like suspenders and I was like “Ooo it’s was gonna be cold.” So got him a jacket, got him another jacket and I got him a blanket. And so we’re off and you go downstairs. The trame still not working.

Ariel Landrum 20:56
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 20:57
You had to walk the way the whole tramway. I hear it’s coming back next year.

Ariel Landrum 21:01
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 21:01
Fingers crossed. They could block every other one but just please, let’s use the tram. I’m done with this.

Ariel Landrum 21:08
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 21:09
I decided to wear flats that night because I’m not gonna walk that hallway.

Ariel Landrum 21:13
No.

Stefanie Bautista 21:14
I did it during Dapper Day and it was not the best experience. But so we’re walking the hallway I noticed everyone’s outfits. So some people are dressed dapper.

Ariel Landrum 21:27
Oh, Christmas Dapper.

Stefanie Bautista 21:29
Yeah. Some people are just Victorian. I saw long Victorian dresses. Um, some of them were Disneybounding as like Mickey and Minnie and their Victorian outfits. I saw a Ursula and Ariel a mom and a daughter. She had beautiful braided hair. Her mom had an Ursula like I think it was like Mickey ears, but like a tiny wig in the middle for and mom was dressed in like a black Victorian gown. And Ariel was dressed in a like a green one. It was very, very pretty. And some people were wearing onesies. So a lot of Christmas, onesies. Winnie the Pooh onesies, Stitch onesies. So it was all over the place, like people were dressed, just in straight up pajamas. And some were dressed like in winter clothing, like as if they were just going to Disneyland and it was cold, which is understandable. So you have the option to you know, be whoever you want to be at this event. It’s not like there’s a dress code or anything but whatever you feel comfortable to fill meery. That’s what people wore. And then so we got inside the to the gate, they separated the entrances, all the entrances on the left, were exits now, for people who are leaving the park and all the entrances on the right where it said that you had flipped the sign and it said “Special Event.” And so you had to show them your ticket, which you link to your Disneyland app.

Ariel Landrum 23:00
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 23:01
Or you can print out a ticket. And then once they scan it, they give you a physical ticket.

Ariel Landrum 23:06
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 23:06
They take your picture, or if you have a picture on hand they use that one. And then the chaos happened.

Ariel Landrum 23:12
Okay, so before we get to the chaos going in, as the park already decorated, like even in the middle area in between the two parks like and are you seeing any new decor than what you’ve seen before?

Stefanie Bautista 23:24
Yeah, so it was already Festival of Holidays at Disney’s California Adventure. So if you look to your right, it’s this Festival of Holidays. To the left everything is not pumpkins anymore, because last time I went it was Halloween. Everything is like snow themed. There’s snowflakes everywhere up on top and in the middle. I think the banners were holiday themed. I don’t remember, but nothing too special in the middle. It was still like open for everyone. But yeah, everything was very holiday looking.

Ariel Landrum 23:52
Because we haven’t really talked about the decor for holidays in general on Main Street. What what is the the big holiday decor for Halloween? And what is it for? For I guess you’d say the holidays?

Stefanie Bautista 24:04
Yeah, so for Halloween, it’s the big Mickey pumpkin in the middle on Main Street and everyone loves to take pictures with that. I I haven’t stood in that line to take a picture in front of that pumpking in so long because it’s so long. Yes. But now this time is the Christmas tree. Huge, huge, huge Christmas tree. I feel like they put way more lights on it or I just don’t remember because it’s been such a long time, but Main Street is decked out. And on top of that now not only do they have like holiday, like wreaths and things like that they now have projections on Main Street. So it’s as if it’s alive. And there’s people inside the buildings like you know, like serving each other cookies or like baking pie. It was very, very nice. And we got to sit a little bit on Main Street to kind of like soak everything in. But yeah, they do. They really amped up the decorations this year.

Ariel Landrum 24:56
And I think something that I definitely learned and remembered is that taking a picture with that pumpkin is very difficult because it’s a pumpkin and one face at least with a Christmas tree and because it’s 360, you kinda can just get any angle that’s good. And I feel like it goes by faster because other people don’t have to wait for the one spot that everybody takes.

Stefanie Bautista 25:15
Yeah, the tree is so massive that you can’t get the whole tree anyway, unless you step all the way, all the way which we ended up taking our Christmas tree picture from The Great Moments with Lincoln.

Ariel Landrum 25:26
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 25:28
Because that actually has an I saw a lot of people doing a lot of influencers doing this. Because it’s dark and Great Moments when Lincoln has the best lighting, you could still see the tree in the back, you might see people, but if you angle it right, you’ll have the tree and the top of the tree. But you will have yourself in really good lighting. So protip if you want to take super good pictures of your outfit during Christmas at night, go to Great Moments with Lincoln because the lighting is great there.

Ariel Landrum 25:53
Yeah, yeah. Okay. That’s that’s really good. And PhotoPass, how many times were you able to use it? Or is it just the one spot?

Stefanie Bautista 26:02
Unlimited, you can use it as many times as you want. But it doesn’t start until seven where the actual events start. This is the one time I’ve never seen cast members like actually go, “Oh, no, you have a minute left. We’re not starting until seven.” Menus changed at seven. Like we saw them change. And I was only because we ended up stepping inside the restaurant at that time to get food because we got hungry around like 6:50. And yeah, some people were told we don’t have the holiday stuff yet, but we got lucky. And the guy was just like, “Here you go. It’s 6:59. But I don’t care.” And he sold it us.

Ariel Landrum 26:39
Nice. Thank you cast member.

Stefanie Bautista 26:43
Thank you cast member. You guys are awesome. And I am gonna shout out the cast members later because they they are true troopers during this event.

Ariel Landrum 26:51
Back to some chaos.

Stefanie Bautista 26:53
Back to the chaos. So when you go inside, they scan your ticket everything. Normally you have the option to just go to the front of Main Street Station, take a picture with the monkey flowers, or go to the right or go to the left. No, everyone had to go to the right. On top of that they had little tables with Christmas lights. And that was the first giveaway which was cute. They were Christmas lights I would show them to you but Arlo like took them apart and he’s been wearing them for like the last two weeks. They’re ike the light of Christmas like that you get a Disneyland big holiday bulbs. And at the bottom there’s a little card that says Merriest Nites. And then on the back of it it says, “This is one of the indicators that we use that you have purchased a ticket and our you know here for our special event, Merriest Nites. So please have it on you if you can.” And you know it was another cute decoration to have on you very much like a pin lanyard. And it lit up three different ways like blinked, that sparkled and you know it stayed on. So there’s that. However, you’re looking at like five lanes, maybe six lanes of people going in. And then this weird, cause you’re curving over to the right. I have a stroller. So I was telling when you get a wristband too. You get a wristband, so I was telling my husband, oh, go get mine. And I’ll wait for you at the end, which normally is like our go to plan. So the only one person has to go on to have to like lug the stroller around. We lost each other. And it’s I was tending not that far away. But there was so many people coming in and like you kind of just get pushed with the crowd.

Ariel Landrum 28:37
You’re like salmon.

Stefanie Bautista 28:39
Yeah, yeah, like exactly. And apparently you have to show them your wristband to get it. So I had to go back against the current. He was so pissed off. I had to go back against the current and get my lights because you needed that in order to make sure that people knew you were there. So and I wanted one because they were cute.

Ariel Landrum 29:00
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 29:01
So I brought Arlo with me because we end up getting three. But that was like really difficult. And then you couldn’t get any like moment of relief until you got to Greate Moments with Lincoln because the whole area was like people are waiting for their party people are trying to reunite with their party. People we’re looking at the stage on Main Street because the characters were like already there. And I don’t know if we mentioned this in a previous podcast, but Main Street Station at night is closed off for character appearances. So Mickey, Minnie, Goofy in their you know, whatever outfits they’re wearing, they’re all there. So yeah, it was kind of chaotic.

Ariel Landrum 29:39
And it sounds like congested.

Stefanie Bautista 29:41
Congested because of all the people who knew they could get in at five.

Ariel Landrum 29:45
Yeah that makes sense.

Stefanie Bautista 29:46
Yeah. By the time we were already walking into the park, it was like near six o’clock, like we we weren’t rushing to get down the tramway. We’re like “We’re gonna take our time we’re gonna be walking a lot.” And that’s something that I remember from last time because we rushed last time and then I was so tired so early. So we’re like, “Okay, it’s, it’s gonna be six o’clock anyway. So let’s just take it easy and like, let’s just figure this experience out.” But yeah, like apparently a lot of people were coming in at six trying to get that like last hour or whatever in. And then you see all the people who are already at the park. Now they’re soaking in all the lights, because you know, everything’s dark and pretty. People are taking pictures. And then we were gonna head down Main Street. The announcer guy comes on, it’s just like, “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re about to start our you know, holiday, or we’re going to get ready to light the castle.”

Ariel Landrum 30:44
Ah!

Stefanie Bautista 30:44
Ah snap. “So everyone, if you would like, please stay where you are until, like the lights come back on. And you know, we will have our, you know, lightning of the castle or whatever. So people stop, they stay put.

Ariel Landrum 30:58
Okay, they listened.

Stefanie Bautista 30:59
They did, but think about all the people coming in. And so…

Ariel Landrum 31:05
There’s no room for new people.

Stefanie Bautista 31:06
There was no room.

Ariel Landrum 31:08
Oh no! They made a blockade!

Stefanie Bautista 31:11
They made her own blockade. See, and now you’re seeing this and you’re just like, “Oh my gawd.” So we tried to like find refuge in like one of the nooks on Main Street like you know, because there you have the window displays and everything all down Main Street. So I had to like maneuver away to like kind of stay on the side because they still keep the walkways open for people who want to navigate around the park. But everybody’s like staying put now. Because now all of the lights on Main Street are dimmed, the castle is not lit up, so you can’t really see too well. And then they start the thing. They be like, “Merry Christmas!” It’s really pretty. And then “Whoa!” the castles lit. And then there’s snow.

Ariel Landrum 31:53
Ah…

Stefanie Bautista 31:55
They do the snow there at the lighting of the castle. And then you know, it’s about maybe like a five, maybe eight minute thing. And you know, everybody is like, “Oh my gosh!” Like once the snow came down. Everybody just started to get up and go all sorts of directions. So we had to stay put and let all of that happen and then wait. And we had no choice but to just go to Tomorrowland because it was like people leaving people coming people going everywhere. People taking pictures, like….

Ariel Landrum 32:29
They’re like mad dashing to their their party.

Stefanie Bautista 32:32
Yeah. And like people who knew that the park was gonna close at six or seven for them. They were trying to get to whatever rides they wanted to go to like right beforehand. And yeah, I would say like for the first hour or two, maybe first two or three hours, it was pretty busy.

Ariel Landrum 32:49
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 32:50
After that. It was deserted. It was like a night and day difference between once everybody’s going in the park and then once everybody’s left and it’s just the ticketed people.

Ariel Landrum 33:04
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 33:04
Then it felt like what I was expecting, but you had to kind of go through that in order to experience it.

Ariel Landrum 33:11
So really, there wouldn’t have been any time to enjoy the park from five to seven the like going on rides are really doing anything.

Stefanie Bautista 33:21
No, no, not I mean. Yes. If you have specific things in mind.

Ariel Landrum 33:27
Well, small things.

Stefanie Bautista 33:29
Yeah, small things like in you know, like Jungle Cruise…

Ariel Landrum 33:32
And Tiki Room.

Stefanie Bautista 33:33
Yeah at the Tiki Room. Even if you’re going all the way to holiday Haunted Mansion, I think that line started to dwindle pretty fast, because it’s so far in the park, that people you know, don’t really like tend to go there too much. And it was getting cold really, really fast. So if you were not prepared for the day, you were already making your way out like at 6:30 or 7.

Ariel Landrum 33:53
So it’s now I don’t want to say dead but it’s quiet and it’s quieted down. You headed to Tomorrowland was there room and space at the parties to move around and enjoy yourselves? And how did your evening unfold?

Stefanie Bautista 34:07
Yeah, so our evening kind of unfolded like we we just made like a circle. I think that’s what happed. We just made like a circle.

Ariel Landrum 34:16
And for anyone who has watched any of the shows on Disney+ in regards to making the parks, they they are they are spokes and wheels is essentially how they’re described. And that this was inspired from a lot of the roads in France. So everything branches out from a middle and those are also essentially circular. No, they’re not perfect circles. But it’s it’s around object here and here and here in the spokes in the wheel.

Stefanie Bautista 34:45
Yes, yes, very true. And yeah, because we always known that Tomorrowland is like always pretty dead. Because I feel like it’s the most it’s the the least recently updated part of the park. Tomorrowland is always like our go to if we need a breather, if you know like we just need a lot of seating. And we just kind of want to get away from everyone Finding Nemo is still closed. So the only rides that you can go on are Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, and Space Mountain. So we go there. They have a DJ there. And the DJ was spinning from the top of the oh my gosh, what is it called the Carousel of Progress.

Ariel Landrum 35:30
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 35:32
Yeah. So there’s a balcony there at the Carousel Progress, the Carousel Progress that was modeled after you know the the World’s Fair stuff. It’s still there. It’s still functioning but it’s not like an actual thing anymore. It used to be that used to have like all these exhibits in there but the DJ was spinning up there. I thought they were going to be at the little area in front of the restaurant were like Darth Vader in them used to do their like, like little show…

Ariel Landrum 36:00
In Jedi kid camp training. Yeah…

Stefanie Bautista 36:03
Yeah, but you’ll find in every single party, all of the musicians are high above.

Ariel Landrum 36:08
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 36:09
None of them are ground level. They’re all above and I’ll explain that for the other parts to but it was really nice because it ensures everyone is still social distancing. And you’re not getting like a big crowd getting too close to the performers who are there you know performing all night. So the carousel progress was a Disney Merries Nites merchandise spot. So they tell you what’s available in the front and then if you say, “Yeah, I want to go buy something,” they let you in. And it’s like a little like a little area on the first floor of it. You can kind of see that there’s still Star Wars and Marvel stuff beyond but. Like you can’t go into that area at all. Basically just pick what you want. You had a choice of the Merries Nites jersey a t shirt, a special pin. And I think they were out of the either mug or tumbler and they were out of something else. I forgot what it was but I ended up getting a long sleeve Merries Nites like jersey.

Ariel Landrum 37:07
Nice…

Stefanie Bautista 37:08
And the pin. That’s what it looks like.

Ariel Landrum 37:11
For our listeners Mickey and Minnie. Their strolling has I think from what I can see the Disneyland font old school font. And it’s in that old, very Victorian sort of font and says Merries Nites. There’s a tree and it says Disneyland 2021. And the tree is that little twig tree that makes me think of when Mickey and Minnie did the you know how there’s like those themed Christmas tropes. And this is the one where he like buys her like a chain for her locket it but in order to get it he like sells his pipe and she like sells her. Her locket it to get him like a troubadour for his pipe. And it was like giving up these precious things because the person is most precious to us what matters in the holiday sort of theme thing. They had that tiny sort of twig tree that would like to block sticks in the pin. Very adorable. Very nice. Oh a square. Not rectangle shaped pin.

Stefanie Bautista 38:14
Yeah, rectangle shape. Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, so we ended up getting just getting those two things. This pin was a special edition. So it’s $18. $18 the jersey I think was like I think 30, 32 $35.

Ariel Landrum 38:31
And what’s the jersey look like?

Stefanie Bautista 38:34
That I can actually get it for you. So it’ll be I’m going to have to do like a super zoom in because of my filter. I don’t know if you can see that.

Ariel Landrum 38:42
Also says Merries Nites and the pretty font some sparkly stars the castle. I can’t tell you that in the corners that Jessie and Tiana? Oh, no, it is. It’s Coco. Okay, it is Miguel. Like I said her virtual background trying to blur everything out.

Stefanie Bautista 39:00
Yeah sorry.

Ariel Landrum 39:01
But I do see a giant hat that’s red. Like we Jesse. We see Elsa on there for Frozen says 2021 on a little bulb. We got Buzz Lightyear with a Santa hat on. And then Mickey Minnie and their vintage garb, the same one that they’re wearing in the pin. Er, and then there’s their Stitch, ah he’s wearing a Santa outfit with the beard and everything.

Stefanie Bautista 39:29
Yeah. And then in the middle is the castle. Very lovely.

Ariel Landrum 39:32
And it’s red.

Stefanie Bautista 39:33
Yes. Very, very red. This one was $39.99 It was close. Yeah, so those are the two things that I got. And yeah, so we kind of did a circle. Sadly, Small World was still closed at this time, because it’s November 30. And apparently there was a flood.

Ariel Landrum 39:55
Yeah, that was in the news.

Stefanie Bautista 39:58
There was a flood that damaged a lot of stuff so it was supposed to open when Merries Nites opened on November 11, at least. But by November 30, it was so close. So I was kind of bummed out.

Ariel Landrum 40:10
I will say for people if they haven’t gone to Disneyland during the holidays, they changed the song.

Stefanie Bautista 40:15
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 40:17
Something I didn’t know until staff took me for the holidays because it would not have occurred to me to go to Disneyland for the holidays. And they are not singing, It’s a Small World. They are singing instead…

Stefanie Bautista 40:26
Jingle Bells!

Ariel Landrum 40:28
ding ding ding

Stefanie Bautista 40:32
They’re saying Jingle Bells. And it’s so so cute. And like everybody is in, in their traditional holiday where whatever you have for you know, different places. So in in the European section, they have like, you know, like a Parisian Christmas and you know, Julia Noel and they like, say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays in different languages. And you’ll see like that represented in animation and like with what they’re wearing. It’s very cute. I love it.

Ariel Landrum 40:59
And the cards at the end are also holiday cards.

Stefanie Bautista 41:03
Holiday cards, not just you know, the postcards that you’re used to seeing. I don’t know if you saw this, but this is really funny that I noticed. Oh, not there, but apparently there’s like a petition, or somebody wants to make a petition to decorate the little Filipino girl with more stuff. Cause all she’s holding is an ornament.

Ariel Landrum 41:24
Yes, yes. That is all she’s holding.

Stefanie Bautista 41:27
Okay for my our Filipino people out there. We only have one representative doll.

Ariel Landrum 41:32
Yes, just one.

Stefanie Bautista 41:34
In the island section. She’s just very cutely in her Maria Clara. And she’s just she’s been chillin there for years by herself. And you know, for Filipinos we celebrate Christmas so early. We felt we started celebrating in September. So I think somebody was just like, “Can we give her like a parol?” Which is like a paper star that is traditional in the Philippines.

Ariel Landrum 41:55
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 41:56
Or even like somebody said, “Can we like give her a lechon?” Which is like a little roasted pig?

Ariel Landrum 42:02
Yeah lechon! That would be perfect! Or some, honestly some homies…

Stefanie Bautista 42:08
Some homies!

Ariel Landrum 42:09
I don’t know many traditional Filipino families where it’s like, “It’s just me!”

Stefanie Bautista 42:13
No, you’re completely right. Give her her family.

Ariel Landrum 42:18
“Me with my little bulb that I’m holding.”

Stefanie Bautista 42:21
Yeah, so she’s still holding the bulb, and somebody is just like, “Please can we get like everyone calls her Tita Baby,” because that’s like the universal name for everyone…

Ariel Landrum 42:29
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 42:30
“Let’s give Tita Baby a little bit more love.” But I mean Disney if you’re listening I we can we can give ideas and tips and tricks. But yes, that was one of the only rides that was closed sadly because they’re still fixing everything. But everything else the train all the other rides they were they were still working.

Ariel Landrum 42:52
At Tomorrowland was was there like a dancing section? Or was it is just merchandise? So it was a DJ is just spining?

Stefanie Bautista 42:59
The DJ just spinning everyone’s vibing. Oh, and here’s the thing like all the cast members because I feel like the best songs are the best. DJ was at Disney at Tomorrowland because she was like spinning like a lot of freestyle and like, you know party music. And it was like a good change to like, not hear Disney music but your contemporary. Like not Disney, radio music but like, actual music that we like. And DJ was a woman…

Ariel Landrum 43:28
Yeah, shout out to women DJs!

Stefanie Bautista 43:31
Yeah, she was a woman of color.

Ariel Landrum 43:33
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 43:34
She was fantastic. All the cast members who were around there were just like dancing and invite them like, “You guys have the best spot. Because A. you don’t have to do anything. You just have to stand there and tell people where to go. B. you get to listen to all these, you know, amazing songs.” So yeah, I really like that as an adult.

Ariel Landrum 43:52
Yes, yes. Okay. Okay. It was just the place of vibe, got it.

Stefanie Bautista 43:55
Yeah, place the vibe. So we go through to Fantasyland because we’re like, “Oh, let’s try going on Peter Pan.” We always try to go on Peter Pan. But that stuff is so of Peter Pan. I love you, but I hate you. Because the lines are always so long. Everyone knows it’s the best mini right at Fantasyland because you are suspended instead of just in a cart. So we go there, wait is only 30 minutes, which is good. But once we step in line the ride breaks.

Ariel Landrum 44:01
Noooooo!

Stefanie Bautista 44:17
So we left we left it instead we went to Snow White which I haven’t seen since the refurbishment and that’s when I found out people came and parties of 15. There was a party right behind us. And there were there’s only three of us and if you’ve ever been on Snow White, it’s literally a cart and you could fit in max, two and max three in the back. And that’s it. It’s very short.

Ariel Landrum 44:54
And it has like I’m gonna say like a hard stop it goes it goes dark quickly and all sudden there’s rainbows and you’re like, “What just happened?” It’s this hard stop.

Stefanie Bautista 45:04
Hard stop is right. Because you’re in a living diorama. Basically, you’re in your living diorama that moves, has lights and stuff. But yeah, I don’t know, the girl pointing it or counting out people. She had a look on her face. And I was like, “Oh may the Lord be with you. Cause this is gonna be difficult.” But yeah, you have to keep your mask on inside. If you’re on the ride. There’s a person before the person that counts you. Make sure you have your mask on you ready to pull up because you know half of the ride you’re standing outside and then once you get inside it gets you’re inside really fast. So we go on Snow White. I do appreciate all the updates that they went through. The story makes sense now. You’re not just like, “Dark dark dark, scary. Scary. Scary. Scary. Oh, all of a sudden the rides done rainbow.”

Ariel Landrum 45:53
It was a creepy ride. I’m not gonna lie.

Stefanie Bautista 45:55
Yes and…

Ariel Landrum 45:58
I didn’t know how to feel when I got off.

Stefanie Bautista 46:00
Rightfully so because it was called Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Now it’s called Snow White Enchanted Adventure.

Ariel Landrum 46:06
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 46:08
Yes, they change the name.

Ariel Landrum 46:10
Okay. So more creatures I’m assuming?

Stefanie Bautista 46:12
More creatures more storyline. You you see the old you see? You see what happens to her. But you do see the prince going in for us sort of kiss but you don’t see it was weird. You have to you and when we go next time, I’m going to point it out to you. It’s actually quite hilarious how he like bends over and leans to kiss her because it’s a diorama. Like, it’s not even animatronic. This is just like a mannequin doing this. It’s really It’s funny. But I mean, yeah, you know, good on you, um, Disney for updating it and making the story a little bit more easier to follow.

Ariel Landrum 46:50
Yeah, but not not completely changing it by keeping it still a diorama.

Stefanie Bautista 46:54
Yeah, no, which is good. But yeah, so we went on that. And then after that, we decided to go to the B not Be Our Guest. And that’s at Disneyworld.

Ariel Landrum 47:10
Oh, that place was good, though.

Stefanie Bautista 47:12
Oh I love that place so much. Um, maybe that’s why. So we go to the restaurant that is Beauty and the Beast Themed in the corner. Right? It’s feeding. Is it Pinocchio? I don’t know. I think it’s both. But they still saw the gray stuff. It’s delicious. So that’s why I always think it’s a Beauty and the Beast, but it’s to the left to the right of Pinocchio. The Pinocchio Ride? It’s to the right of that.

Ariel Landrum 47:34
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 47:35
I really wanted the cold brew eggnog, which was one of the special food that they have.

Ariel Landrum 47:40
You said you were in a restaurant when you saw the signs change.

Stefanie Bautista 47:43
That’s the restaurant I was in. Yeah, the fast food restaurant. Yep.

Ariel Landrum 47:47
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 47:47
Um, so we were there at 6:50. And I guess they still had like regular stuff. But we knew and they already had a little card that said, you can get the cold brew eggnog here and Mickey Gingerbread, which I really, really wanted. And so we go over there and I guess we there was no people there. There was no one in there. We get enlightened. We order stuff. And apparently all the people behind us the guy at the front was like, “Oh, we’re not doing holiday stuff yet.” So we didn’t like the last ones to like go on there. I don’t know. It was kind of weird. Red Rose Tavern. That’s what it’s called.

Ariel Landrum 48:21
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 48:22
So they had a frozen flurry which is a citrus and bubblegum slush top with whipped cream candy decor and a glow cube inside. Coffee nog cold brew coffee eggnog caramel whipped cream and a gingerbread smore. Enchanted Forest fries tossed in Buffalo seasoning drizzled with ranch and top and with and topped with cotija cheese. I didn’t get the frozen flurry or the forest fries, because I didn’t see it on the menu.

Ariel Landrum 48:45
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 48:46
We order and our food is taking a really really long time.

Ariel Landrum 48:51
And all you got was the coffee.

Stefanie Bautista 48:52
All I got was the coffee and like the regular items. So it was like chicken tenders, and a flat bar a flatbread pizza, which is like their regular items.

Ariel Landrum 49:02
Still offered along with the holiday stuff?

Stefanie Bautista 49:04
Yes, but the menu only had the regular stuff. It’s just the cold eggnog, which I knew I wanted was on the side. And I guess it was another menu? I don’t know. I don’t know. But I was just like, “Give me the cold room. I’m fading right now. I need coffee.” And so it’s taking a really, really long time maybe like 20 minutes, which is not normal for a fast you know, like the what do you call it?

Ariel Landrum 49:26
Cafeteria.

Stefanie Bautista 49:28
Cafeteria style food! Yes, thank you. So apparently, no one knew how to make the cold brew back there.

Ariel Landrum 49:36
It’s as cold brew should already be made.

Stefanie Bautista 49:40
A will because it came with eggnog caramel whipped cream, AJ told me that there was a huge argument in the back and he saw it all happen. That no one knew how to make it and they had to find somebody who knew how to make it but that person was still coming on their shif. So they had to and there was like, seven now eight now nine tickets have cold brew, and it’s inching closer and closer to seven o’clock when they did and they did the shift change, which is I think kind of messed everything up. So our food was already kind of cold when we got it but I was just like what happened? He’s like, “No one knew how to make the drink.”

Ariel Landrum 50:15
Dang cause they were like, “Morning crew don’t have to learn it’s night crew.” Got it. Got it.

Stefanie Bautista 50:19
It’s Merriest Nites crew. Merriest Nites crew has to know.

Ariel Landrum 50:21
See that’s why you always have a bridge crew man. You always have one that that straddles the line between both.

Stefanie Bautista 50:27
I mean, it could have been a one off. Who knows. But I mean, it is one of the smaller fast food issue restaurants there. So I guess they weren’t tripping about it too much. And I mean, it’s cold brew eggnog caremel… AJ was like, “I’m gonna go back there and make it myself.” I mean, it’s not that difficult, but I mean, I get it. It was delicious, though. I think it was the best thing that I had there.

Ariel Landrum 50:50
Once the homie who knew how to make it came. They knew how to make it.

Stefanie Bautista 50:54
Once the homie we knew how to make a came, he knew how to make it. So it was so so good. I don’t like eggnog, everyone, I really don’t. I never liked it. I tried. I really, when we used to work, you know as baristas I would try to like, spice it up or whatever. Ariel would do her thing. I just don’t like it. It’s too it’s too thick without being a milkshake for me. So the cold brew was so good. And I think now because they have their own coffee provider, the Joffrey’s coffee that they had at Walt Disneyworld, now that they’re everywhere at Disneyland, I think they just solely provide the coffee there at the park. So it was super good, the gingerbread was really good. And we were on our way. Try not to go during the shift change everyone.

Ariel Landrum 51:35
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 51:36
It kind of it sucks. And you’ll wait a long time. But after that, I think that’s the whole theme of this thing is like, you have to get through the transition of Disneyland goers and regular Disney day to be able to, you know, reap the benefits of what you paid for.

Ariel Landrum 51:55
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 51:55
And you kind of just have to stick it out. Because they do offer a lot for you. It’s just, you have to, if you are going to get there early, you have to kind of go through all of that, let them do their thing, and then you can enjoy the party.

Ariel Landrum 52:08
And that goes back to when we talked in this episode, in regards to anyone who has anxiety, the biggest thing to address anxiety is creating moments of transition and accepting that there are moments of transition. And that anytime things feel pushed or forced or forgotten, that anxiety usually builds. So if you if it sounds like for this event, if you go in accepting that that the whole park is in transition, that’s why it feels chaotic or confusing. It’s not because you’ve done something wrong or forgotten something or your anxiety lying to you. It’s that is the transition time or we’re just feeling the flow.

Stefanie Bautista 52:45
And transitions are hard for everyone. Transitioning and that is like a big thing in the classroom too. Even transitioning from a math lesson to language arts lesson, you have to have that like five minute like, “Let’s take a break we are we are transitioning into another thing. If you want to stretch, if you want to do something that you know makes you feel comfortable, you go ahead and do that.” Any sort of transition is difficult for anybody, no matter who you are. Whatever, you know, parameters you’re give yourself transitioning is hard.

Ariel Landrum 53:13
Very hard.

Stefanie Bautista 53:14
Just like when you’re transitioning from real world to Disneyland world. From regular day to holiday in your face. You have to give yourself that grace, you have to give yourself you know, a little bit of space. And you know, for us we know the nooks and crannies of every land. So we knew the Red Rose Tavern was a good place to eat because it’s not a sit down restaurant, we know that it’s you know, cafeteria style almost. And we could chill there inside. You know, we knew these things already from the past. So it helped us make that decision to be like this is where we’re going to eat and chill before we go on about our day.

Ariel Landrum 53:51
And it sounds like there’s even acceptance because, “Okay, we knew that this is a place where you can chill and it’s usually efficient. It isn’t today, it’s not because we’ve done something wrong or we’re not being explicit or that our expectations are too high is that it’s there in transition.”

Stefanie Bautista 54:07
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s not Disney’s fault either. I think it’s not their fault that you know, things will be lost in translation if you’ve ever worked food service from the day crew to the night crew. Especially if you’re doing an event which they are already loaded with all this information about how to process all of these foods and things like that that are specific to the event. So you know it’s it was all learning experience. I got my coffee. I was happy. So we yeah, we went on down to where did we go next? Oh, I really wanted to go to New Orleans because they had a jazz band playing on the Mark Twain.

Ariel Landrum 54:46
Ohhhhh!

Stefanie Bautista 54:47
And it takes you around. And I thought this whole time it was like someone dressed as Tianna singing and I would have died because I would have loved that so so much, but it’s just a band which was equally as good. She was fantastic. She did sound like Tiana because it’s very hard to see where the stage was on the Mark Twain. So the Mark Twain is the riverboat that you if you’re familiar with, you know the area, it’s replicated after a real steamboat. It is a real steamboat. It powers on steam. But it’s a smaller version of like the ones you see in you know, the south. But there’s the. Help me with the boat terms because I’m not quite familiar. The front of the boat is called the…

Ariel Landrum 55:30
The bow.

Stefanie Bautista 55:31
Okay. So the bow, held the band. So it was a jazz band had upright bass, a guitarist, the singer, and a drummer, and they blocked all of that off, and everybody else gets to see. So really, the best seats were just in front of the ropes on that same level. Everywhere else, you could hear her completely fine, but you just couldn’t see her. Even if you were at the balcony, which we tried to do looking down. it’s very hard to see because there’s you know, ropes in the way and like, you know, the actual boat. A good opportunity for my son to kind of run around the boat safely. And you know, everybody was just like really vibing and like, you know, listen to jazz music. It was all jazzy renditions of holiday songs. Very lovely and nice. It takes you around. And you’ll see you know, the dioramas that are there around the Rivers of America. And when you come back down like that’s, that’s basically the show. And it’s cool, because once you get off of the boat, you’re right in front of the Golden Horseshoe, which is either Western, and the mariachi band for Feliz Navidad that is on top.

Ariel Landrum 56:37
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 56:38
They’re on the top balcony. And they were so fun!

Ariel Landrum 56:42
From jazz to mariachi.

Stefanie Bautista 56:44
Mariachi, and I love their energy because like, they were seeing their grito, and all that stuff. And they, they seem like all of these musicians were I feel like they’re actual musicians like outside. They’re not just hired, you know, they don’t just work for Disney, but their actual musicians. They perform as such. So they’re all very high quality level musicians. And then after that, we sped around, we didn’t write any rights at this point, everyone. Besides Snow White, we were just like, let’s do all the holiday stuff first, and then maybe get to our rights. We went around to Adventureland. And we did our first photo op there. So every land has a light up larger than life postcard.

Ariel Landrum 57:28
Ah.

Stefanie Bautista 57:30
And that larger than life postcard, you get in line and then they snap your pictures and then they just show up after you scan your photo pass. And all of the postcards were designed by Disney animators who have art at Wunderground. Okay, so shout out to a friend of a friend Ann Shen who does a lot of they’re really cute when she did the Mele Kalikimaka one at Adventureland and it was Jumba and Pleakley. And they’re decorating the Christmas tree. And that was situated where the strollers usually are at Jungle Cruise. So to the left. And right above there was the two Hawaiian musicians, a singer and his partner with a ukulele and they were singing holiday songs in Hawaiian. And…

Ariel Landrum 58:17
So duet.

Stefanie Bautista 58:18
Yeah, duet. It was very nice and calm and their holiday treats were at the tropical hideaway so you could get a… It was a very very sweet dole whip. I couldn’t really get through this one because it was very sweet. Paradise party float blue pineapple juice topped with watermelon dole whip.

Ariel Landrum 58:41
Oh, I love watermelon. Oh, I wouldn’t think to do that for a holiday event. I would think immediately summer so that’s really cool.

Stefanie Bautista 58:50
Yeah. And they topped it with like a orchid. It was very cute. Um, the blue pineapple juice is too sweet for me, but I love the watermelon dole whip. That was super super good. Those were the two big things that I wanted to do. I wanted to do Mele Kalikimaka and I wanted to see the Muppets do their show…

Ariel Landrum 59:09
But wait, did you see Lilo and Stitch?

Stefanie Bautista 59:12
Oh yes, I did. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot.

Ariel Landrum 59:15
These are Stef’s charaters!

Stefanie Bautista 59:18
Yes these are my characters. These are the these are my people. People okay, I guess this is another thing I can mention people start lining up for character pictures really really early. Lilo and Stitch we’re on the down steps of the exit of Enchanted Tiki Room.

Ariel Landrum 59:32
Oh gorgeous.

Stefanie Bautista 59:33
Yeah beautiful. And they had like the tiki torches lit up and all that stuff. And they they both had like… Stitch was dressesed as Santa and then Lilo had lei around her and she was you know in her dress. Very cute. But the line was so long.

Ariel Landrum 59:47
Oh, no.

Stefanie Bautista 59:49
So long. You wrapped around all the way to the front of the Tiki Room and I was like, “Oh…” And at this point, it’s already like eight And we’re like, “Okay, we got to like, do other things. We want to see the parade. We want to see the Muppets,” and I was just like, I just took a picture of them even take a picture with them. To the side. It was a little sad, but you know what? It’s fine. I guess I’ll just have to go to Aulani.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:15
Yes, yes, you definitely do. I mean, you had to either way.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:19
But yes, a lot of the people especially for like Miguel, and for Elsa and Tiana. People were lining up really, really early to do these character photo. We just walked on over to Main Street. Because all the shows were starting all the shows happened between like eight or nine o’clock. So the Muppets came around in the bus. The double decker like, I guess it’s a bus, right?

Ariel Landrum 1:00:45
Yes. Yeah. It’s like a London double decker bus. And that’s really cool because the windows are arched similar to like, I think when I think of The Muppet Show.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:54
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 1:00:54
So that’s perfect. That’s perfect for puppeteering.

Stefanie Bautista 1:00:57
Perfect. We’re puppeteering the stop right in front of Walt in Mickey statue. So if you wanted to watch it, they like roped off an area like right in front. My son loves Sesame Street and he loves puppets. And ‘kay, we did not get the greatest seats because obviously everybody was like, Oh, I’m gonna sit here like forever, like, you know, true Disneyland fashion.

Ariel Landrum 1:01:19
Just parking it.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01:20
I’m just parking it three hours early, even though the vents only five. So we were like to the side under the umbrellas near the Jolly Holiday. And I forget that my eyesight is a POS. I need my glasses to see. But my son has perfect vision. He is a baby. He’s one years old. He has perfect vision. He sees things that I have no idea what’s going on. So we we have him on my husband shoulders. And he is just locked in like locked in the whole entire time, just like in awe that are these things that are puppeting at him. He is not reacting. He’s like, I don’t know if he’s happy. And he’s just locked in.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:05
Hyper focusing. Puppets.

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:08
He’s just hyper focus. Just like I was trying to take cute pictures of that. No, he was just like, dead face serious. He’s never seen a puppet show before like, all the puppets he’s interacted with through the TV, YouTube. So I think just seeing that and next time if we ever go I want to get up close. Because just seeing the Muppets live, I think is so special. I mean, those characters truly come to life. You really do forget that there’s just a hand in those pieces of fabric.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:36
What did they sing?

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:38
They did a whole bit. It was a whole comedy bit.

Ariel Landrum 1:02:40
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 1:02:41
They incorporated holiday songs and be like, Oh, this is our next song. But then like, Fozzie would go missing or like Pepe would say something stupid and Kermit and like, Miss Piggy would be like, she would be arguing and like barking. It was like, very classic Muppet banter, but incorporating holiday songs. And it was it was just so cute. They even they had the eagle I forget his name….

Ariel Landrum 1:03:06
Sam.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:07
Yeah, Sam. Yep. Beaker was there. Dr. Honey Do the honeydew melon. Yeah, yeah, they’re all there. Gonzo was there. Of course Pepe was there Fozzie was there.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:20
Any of the the chickens.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:21
All the chickens were there just bawk bawk bawking. I think the whole like bit was at their bus broke down. And they were on their way to somewhere. And then Dr. Honeydew was supposed to, like try to fix it and whatever. But in the interim, they like seeing their holiday songs. So…

Ariel Landrum 1:03:38
Aas was Chef there because he’s my favorite.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:41
You know, I think he was in the back. So like, because it’s like a double decker. The bottom one housed more Muppets than the top deck. Because the top deck, you know, you could only see some and Pepe was on the top. That was a you can’t see he’s so small.

Ariel Landrum 1:03:53
Pure king prawn.

Stefanie Bautista 1:03:54
Yeah. I mean, that was the highlight for me. I mean, my son loved it. Like I everybody loved that they do. They did like four shows throughout. So you could always go. But there was also the Holiday Parade, which was like, cool. I haven’t seen a parade in a really long time. But it’s still the same parade that they do every year. Nothing special. Nothing new. But yeah, like it was it was nice to see that in a much more intimate setting. And at this point around eight o’clock. Everyone going on rides, they check your wristband and they check your lanyard. So if you did not have a lanyard or a wristband, you would be asked, “Hey, the park is actually closed for you know, the date and it’s just for special ticketed, you know, event holders.” So they would just, I guess, politely ask you to leave.

Ariel Landrum 1:04:41
What do you think made this event special or sets it apart from some of the maybe the other holiday events.

Stefanie Bautista 1:04:47
The ambitiousness of having six different holiday parties? I think that sets it apart. Definitely. With all the different themes that they’re able to do. Also as inclusive as they’re trying to be with, you know, Tiana’s celebration and Miguel’s celebration and Lilo and Stitch’s a celebration. I think it’s a really good way to explore those worlds and when you wouldn’t be able to otherwise in, you know, their special holiday setting. Because holidays are so special to certain cultures. And I mean, even the inclusion of like Nordic cultures with Elsa and Ana. Oh, what’s his name was there. The bad guy? The Prince.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:31
Hans?!

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:32
Yes, he was there.

Ariel Landrum 1:05:35
Ewww!

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:36
I think I actively said “Ewww,” too when I saw him, and I’m like, “What’s this guy doing here? I don’t like him.”

Ariel Landrum 1:05:42
I guess you always have people come over holiday you don’t really want there. That might be an accurate representation of, “He had to be invited. Our kingdoms trade.”

Stefanie Bautista 1:05:58
Oh my gosh, that is. You are totally right. We we ended up staying until midnight. Because we wanted to ride Haunted Mansion, which we did. And it’s still Haunted Mansion from Halloween. So that’s that’s so really special.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:21
So when you say from Halloween is it that it is basically a Nightmare Before Christmas?

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:27
Basically Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack and Sally are on the top again saying, “Hi!” And “Happy holidays.” So that was nice. Um, you could I feel like there were more opportunities to you know, intimately as much as possible take pictures with characters. You saw Donald as the Scrooge walking around.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:49
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:51
And goofy and Chippendale as the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.

Ariel Landrum 1:06:58
Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 1:06:59
So really a lot of like, tie backs to Christmas specials that Disney you know, animation has and things that you just normally wouldn’t see. I think that’s the most special part about going to a ticketed event like this is that you could use you see rare things that you don’t normally see in a regular Disney Day. I think the $165 price point you’re getting. You’re getting unlimited photos, but you have to take advantage of it. So if you’re not taking advantage of it, you know, you kind of are at a loss there. You get special shows. You get live music six different ways. You get a giveaway of a lanyard and you also at the end when you exit the park. They give you postcards one that was from each and every photo op.

Ariel Landrum 1:07:46
Oh!

Stefanie Bautista 1:07:48
So spoiler alert in your Christmas gift Ariel I gave you postcards! From the event!

Ariel Landrum 1:07:56
Ahh postcards! yeah!

Stefanie Bautista 1:08:00
I’m not going to spoil the other part but I gave you the postcards that we got from Merriest Nites because obviously we got three of put three packs. So if you open that side of your present. You’ll see you have the postcards too. Yeah, and I did not I kept them pristine for you. Because they’re so all the animations are so lovely. And you can display them. I think I want to display my set in like, you know, a case or something or like even just in a binder because they’re really, really nice. And I did not expect that gift. Going out of the park, they were like, “Stop.” And I’m like. “Ahh I’m trying to leave!” And they’re like, “Here you go.” And I was like, “What?” And it was dark. So I couldn’t see anything. I’m like, “What is this?” With my old lady like squint. I was like, “Oh my gosh, they’re postcards from every land!” So, um, I don’t, I don’t guarantee that they’re gonna do the same lands next year. They might mix it up to you know, keep it fresh. But I think from a souvenir standpoint, from an experience standpoint, and even from a foodie standpoint, you’re kind of getting all of those experiences rolled into one because there are a lot of things that I didn’t get to try that andouille sausage poboy that they had in New Orleans Square. I didn’t get to have the Thanksgiving leftover burger that they had at Tomorrowland. They had gingerbread fraps, they had special waffle fries. They had seasonal beignets. They had blueberry lemonade. Like they had this churro ice cream, it was a lot so you could seriously hone in on like one experience and just do that and then your time is up.

Ariel Landrum 1:09:35
Something to just go back to for the Elsa experience. What was the music like? Or did you get a chance to go?

Stefanie Bautista 1:09:42
I didn’t get to experience that one too much. I know that Elsa and the Frozen characters were at the there’s like a little step above. On your way to It’s a Small World. You remember that right where it’s like the lights that they usually use for the parade when it comes back. It’s like a little step like two steps up like a little, like, what do you call it? Metal, I guess a plaza of some sort. So they’re just hanging out there. There wasn’t any musicians, though. I think they did, which is similar to what the Victorian Christmas was on Main Street is that they had music playing. So it was like Frozen-ish music, like music from the movies. And you know, you could, because you could actually go up and talk to Elsa and Ana.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:26
Oh.

Stefanie Bautista 1:10:27
I feel like it was more intimate. And also because small world was closed. You really just enjoyed their presence. And you know, that winter wonderland.

Ariel Landrum 1:10:38
So we really, it sounds very intentionally diverse, diverse music and not just diverse music, but even in how it’s being presented. Because you have a DJ, you have a mariachi band, you have a jazz band, you have a duet, that that sounds very cognizant and thoughtful. And it sounds like really opportunity. Like if you just didn’t ride any of them rides at all, you would have still felt that you got your money’s worth.

Stefanie Bautista 1:11:05
Absolutely. Yeah, it’s a it’s a true entertainment experience. And it’s layered, very, very layered. I believe that they will bring this back next year. But you know, just go into the experience knowing that you will have to deal with transitions, you will have to deal with not thinking you did enough. But also try to just pick a couple things like you know, you usually do in a Disney trip and try to do those and you’ll be good.

Ariel Landrum 1:11:35
Yeah, your non negotiables. And looking at it as because it’s still a new event, even if it happens again next year, they’re still working out a lot of the kinks to see if how viable and how to make it more efficient. Well, thank you, everyone, for joining us. And thank you, Stef, for sharing your merriest night with us.

Stefanie Bautista 1:11:53
My merriest night in November. Yes, so we hope you all have a really good and safe holiday season. We are so happy that you have chosen us to listen to. We are so very grateful that you know there are plenty of Disney podcasts out there. But you know, a lot of the feedback that we’ve gotten make it really special for us to continue to do this. And know that even though we go through seasons in our lives too, so we are still wanting to create you know more content more episodes for you guys, but in the spirit of expectations and being good to yourself. We do want to take care of ourselves too as much as we want you all to take care of yourselves.

Ariel Landrum 1:12:38
Yes, if you went to Merriest Nites, like Stef did. If you think they should bring it back. If you think Tita Baby should have something more than a bulb. Go ahead and tweet at us @HappiestPodGT or DM us on Instagram @HappiestPodGT.

Stefanie Bautista 1:12:59
Yep. Happy holidays everyone and Happy New Year.

Ariel Landrum 1:13:02
Happy holidays. Bye!

Stefanie Bautista 1:13:03
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Frozen
  • Anna
  • Elsa
  • Hans
  • Miguel
  • Lilo
  • Stitch
  • Enchanted Tiki Room
  • Buzz Lightyear
  • Princess Tiana
  • Mickey Mouse
  • Minnie Mouse
  • The Muppets
  • Miss Piggy
  • Kermit
  • Fozzie Bear
  • Pepe
  • Gonzo
  • The Chef
  • Dr. Honeydew
  • Bunsen Beaker

Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Holidays
  • Music
  • Tradition
  • Diversity
  • Family
  • Festival
  • Transitions
  • Celebrating
  • Mangaging expectations

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

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Our Origin Stories

May 25, 2019 · Discuss on the GT Forum

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#1: Welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth! We are a podcast about how Disney content, parks, and memories can bring people together. Your hosts Lara Taylor and Josué Cardona share their Disney origin stories and their plans for the show.

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

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Welcome to The Happiest Pod on Earth! On the Geek Therapy Network we believe that the best way to understand each other, and ourselves, is through the media we care about. On this show, we focus exclusively on Disney!

Hosted by Stefanie Bautista and Ariel Landrum!

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