Disney Dream Girls 202 - Disney's Animal Kingdom

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 202 for Sunday 25th March 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes, all you have to do is press the green triangle on the audio player below.

This show is part of a mini season of theme park reviews we are doing and if you want to catch the first one, you will find it on show 195.

Previous Rope Drop Experience - Now No More

First, Animal Kingdom is the most stunningly beautiful park and it must be said that it is easy to race past the details to get into the line as quick as you can. However, remember to stop and look around - it has some very beautiful secrets wanting to be discovered.

Once there, you can find something for everyone to enjoy. From close up animal encounters, treks, trails and shows there is also a some of the best attractions in Walt Disney World. Perhaps with the exception of Dinoland USA, you could argue that here at Animal Kingdom you will find the most highly themed attractions. 

At the moment, the big hot ticket attraction can be found in Pandora, the land of Avator. At the moment, Avator Flight of Passage has a daily wait time of at least two hours so if you can't get a fastpass booked at 60 days out, be prepared to wait in a long line. However, the additional treat you get to see is the staggering theming.

Inside the queue for Flight of Passage

Food at Animal Kingdom ranges from traditional theme park fayre all the way to high end dining. You can splurge on a boba ball refreshing drink all the way to an adult Dole Whip (a pineapple soft serve with rum) plus cocktails and beers from the themed areas. 

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches are a favourite

There is a great deal of 'streetmosphere'. From bands, artists but also instruments for the children (whether physical children or children at heart) to play.

Michelle's children enjoying drumming

The Tree of Life, which is the park icon

If visiting for the first time, we recommend at least one day to hit everything but ideally two days to be able to see the shows, meet characters and ride all the attractions at least twice. 

The animal sightings are magical

On the show we discuss touring strategies and also virtually everything you can do once inside the theme park - so give it a listen!

Amazing dessert at Satu'li Canteen

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us in the usual way.
 
Twitter @DisDreamGirls
Instagram Disney_Dream_Girls
Facebook.com/DisneyDreamGirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
 
Finally, if you wish to support the show financially, you can visit our patreon page and make either a one off or recurring monthly donation in exchange for a range of rewards. Our page can be found at Patreon Link.    

Disney Dream Girls 201 - The Disney Imagineer Interaction

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 201 for Sunday 19th March 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes, all you have to do is press the green triangle on the audio player below.

Coming up on todays show, Michelle is joined by former Disney imagineer Terri Hardin to do what Terri does best - talk!

Our discussion began with Terri talking about some of the projects she is currently involved in. The first being the third sculpture in her impressions range, namely Baby Groot.

 

The next in the set will be the three hitch hiking ghosts from the much loved Haunted Mansion but they will be presented in a manner not attempted by any other artist! For the details you will have to listen to the show!

Another project Terri is working on is a Paris Retreat. Where you can by guided, by Terri, through not just Disneyland Paris but also Paris itself. 

Those of you who are avid listeners of the show, you will know that Terri worked on a number of attractions at Disneyland Paris. On her retreat, you will get to hear about them from conception to visualisation and then be able to question and discuss these with her right by the attraction.

What makes this tour unique is that you get the opportunity to appreciate Paris through the eyes of an artist. On the retreat, prepare for some foodie elements too as Terri loves her fine cuisine!

The final item Terri discussed was a very special creative course she is planning for October 2018. During this event she will tease out your creativity and guide you through the  how draw and she also mentioned playing with clay! If you wish to register an interest in this, or any of the other mention items please get in touch with either Michelle or Terri. Terri can be reached via her website http://terrihardin.com/

Concept Model Galaxy's Edge - Photo Credit Disney Parks Blog

Then the discussion turned to Galaxy's Edge (aka Star Wars Land) and its upcoming opening in Disneyland in 2019. Terri had heard some rumours about opening day and she did not mince her words!

Along the way a few other topics were discussed but the show ended with Terri sharing a few details about the Muppets. Many of you may not realise that Terri is also a highly regarded puppeteer, having worked on previous Muppet shows and films such as Ghostbusters and The Flintsones. So Michelle couldn't let her go with out discussing that and also sharing her Nicolas Cage story.

So that just about wrapped up show 201. If you want to hear the entire audio of Michelle's conversation with Terri Hardin, rather than the edited down version played on the podcast, you can visit our Patreon website and find out how you can get access to this and other exclusive audio and content - Patreon Link.

Don't forget to visit Terri's website to keep upto date with her projects and, as usual our contact details are:

You can contact us in a variety of ways:

Twitter @DisDreamGirls
Instagram Disney_Dream_Girls
Facebook.com/DisneyDreamGirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
 
Finally, if you wish to support the show financially, you can visit our patreon page and make either a one off or recurring monthly donation in exchange for a range of rewards. Our page can be found at Patreon Link.    

Just for transparency, we have not in any way received any financial remuneration for sharing the links to Terri Hardin's work - we are merely fans who like to let other people know what she is currently working on. 

Disney Dream Girls 200 - Reflections on Us

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, show number 200 for Sunday 12th March 2018. If you want to listen, whilst you read these notes all you have to do is press the audio player below.

Coming up on this weeks show, Michelle and Jayne celebrate 200 episodes of the podcasts history. So below, we will share our history (and some pictures) of our journey so far!

Our podcast grew out of the ashes of Michelle's previous show - The Minnie Minxes. Whilst Michelle did not create the show, she joined the team after a few episodes and caught the podcasting bug! 

The Minnie Minxes grew in popularity and joined the Touring Plans Network. Through show publicity, Michelle got to know some of the other podcast hosts on the network such as The Disgeeks, WDW Happy Place and The Mighty Men of Mouse. It was around this time, Michelle had been contacted by a fan of the show - Simon Phipps and he agreed to do some artwork for the show. We also held a podcast meet up in conjunction with our friend Emma Godbold and Lou Mongello of WDW Radio.

After a few months, Touring Plans decided to discontinue the podcasting part of their business and due to long complex reasons The Minnie Minxes lost their ability to broadcast their show.

At this point, the original host, Kim Goodwin decided it was time to step away from podcasting. However, Michelle spoke to a few friends and together with Jayne Phipps decided to create a new podcast. Hence the Disney Dream Girls was born. 

However, it does not end there as together with the aforementioned Touring Plan Podcast Network podcasters, The Earvengers Podcast came about.

So now lets move to our personal Disney history.

Michelle's First Trip To Walt Disney World

At WDW with my children

This was July 2010 and I went for three weeks staying at the Swan and Dolphin. You can not believe the number of newbie mistakes I made on this trip! I reckon I did Disney wrong but boy did we have a great time. For the next few years it was our regular August place to visit and with each new trip a more complex spreadsheet was produced! In 2013, I visited Disneyland and then went on to Disneyland Paris. It's addictive you know!

Jayne's  First Trip to Walt Disney World
Simon and I by chance booked a trip to Walt Disney World many years ago (far too many to admit to!). We didn't really know what to expect and as the travel date loomed it did dawn on us how vast a place we were going to! From that moment, we took every chance we could to go back. I guess we have been very lucky to visit both USA parks as well as Disneyland Paris with our children as well as our parents.

Disneyland Paris Trip

Our First Meeting

Halloween October 2012

From messaging Simon and then Jayne we instantly felt we had a lot in common so when an invite to meet up in fancy dress was extended... it just had to happen!

Our First Show

We recorded part of our first show inside Beaches and Cream in August 2013 as by chance our holiday dates to WDW matched up. Jayne and her family kindly endured eating a kitchen sink!

Joint Trip To Disneyland Paris

In 2017, we were able to have a girls mini break and pop over to Disneyland Paris together! The weather was kind and we had a lot of fun!

Thank you for joining in with the first 200 shows and we look forward to the next! 

You can contact us in a variety of ways:

Twitter @DisDreamGirls
Instagram Disney_Dream_Girls
Facebook.com/DisneyDreamGirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
 
Finally, if you wish to support the show financially, you can visit our patreon page and make either a one off or recurring monthly donation in exchange for a range of rewards. Our page can be found at Patreon Link.  

Disney Dream Girls 199 - Drinks With A Disney Geek

Welcome to the show notes for the Disney Dream Girls Podcast, if you want to listen whilst you read, just click the audio player below. Alternatively, you can find our podcast in all good podcast catching apps or searching on iTunes (click here iTunes link) or find us on Stitcher Radio.

On this weeks show, Michelle is joined by fellow Disney podcaster Curt Stone from Geekin on WDW Podcast.

Sometimes when you are a theme park you just need to get out of the Florida sun and have a drink in a relaxing and immersive environment.  Well over at Walt Disney World you can head on over to a lounge and inside you will be tempted by a large range of beverages and/or snacks and on this show you will hear all about our favourites. Below are some highlights from the show.

Margarita Flight

Trader Sam's Grog Grotto
This can be found at the Polynesian Resort and whilst it is probably one of the smaller drinking stops we recommend it is definately one you can not miss out! Some drinks are served in theme souvenir mugs (which you can chose to buy) and they also have 'magical' actions attached to them where the cast members and scenery comes to life!

Menu

Kalua Pork Tacos

Abracadabra Bar
Found on the Boardwalk, this is a like a magicians hidey hole where guests can enjoy a wide range of drinks and snacks. Also, if you are lucky, a passing cast member may enthral you with a magic trick or two!

Cocktail Menu

Jock Lindsay's Hangar Bar
This is a great place over at Disney Springs where you can enjoy the fantastic theming surrounding all things aviation. This bar is themed around the pilot - Jock Lindsay - in the Indiana Jones films. 

Pretzel Flight

Shrunken Monkey Head

Nomad Lounge
This is a current favourite of Curt and also Michelle. The lounge is one of the biggest we feature in the show with both inside and outside seating. The menu is very extensive and has a wide range of edibles to tempt you.

Outside Seating

Array of Themed Drinks

We discuss plenty of other places on the podcast with alcoholic and non alcholic drinks as well as the best delicious snacks. 

Well thats about the end of this weeks show notes and we will be back with you next week.

Below are our show links:
Curt Stone is the Host on Geekin on WDW Podcast @GeekinOn Wdw
Twitter @DisDreamGirls
Instagram Disney_Dream_Girls
Facebook.com/DisneyDreamGirls
Email info@disneydreamgirls.com
 
Finally, if you wish to support the show financially, you can visit our patreon page and make either a one off or recurring monthly donation in exchange for a range of rewards. Our page can be found at Patreon Link.