Pamela: 0:00

And then we've even considered doing the Disney cruise.

Josh: 0:03

Yes.

Pamela: 0:04

So I've never done a cruise. I am terrified of the ocean.

Josh: 0:08

Oh.

Pamela: 0:08

I have an irrational fear of tsunamis.

Josh: 0:12

You know we can see this coming. Like we know when.

Pamela: 0:15

What are you gonna do?

Josh: 0:16

You go around. You're in a ship.

Pamela: 0:21

No, that's not how that works. Anyway, moving on. You're listening to premeditated opinions because yes, we thought about it, and then we said it anyway. I'm Pamela.

Josh: 0:39

And I'm Josh, and we are two people who somehow share a brain and decided to weaponize our brains with microphones. Each week, we unpack anything from politics and religion to carpool dread and everything in between.

Pamela: 0:52

You know, it would really help us a lot if you followed us on Instagram and YouTube. Giving us a like and a follow is probably the best thing your thumbs will do today.

Josh: 1:01

We are not experts. We are just way too confident in our own opinions. With all that being said, let's get started. All right, we are so glad um to be back in your ear holes. Um it is technically it we are recording in November of 2025. It is the month of November and the Lord, the year of our Lord 2025, which is bananas.

Pamela: 1:22

I wait, it's election week this week.

Josh: 1:24

It is election week this week. Oh there's some like important elections going on this week. Oh god, okay. Well, but I some of them are in the region where we live, but then the I've been really tracking the New York uh mayor election. Like I'm very curious about how all that shakes out. But we are not New York residents and obviously don't necessarily have anything to do with that uh election, but I do think it's kind of an interesting bellwether. Oh, yeah. Like the rest of the world, uh, or rest of the country, rather. But anyway, we it is officially November. Um, as we record today, it's November 3rd, and just a few days ago was Halloween.

Pamela: 2:01

Yeah.

Josh: 2:02

And we freaking love Halloween, and it was a blast.

Pamela: 2:05

Yep.

Josh: 2:06

Um, so why don't you tell the ladies and gentlemen a little bit about how we set things up on Halloween and like how it all went down?

Pamela: 2:12

Yeah. So I'm always excited about Halloween because my birthday is right before Halloween. So, you know, it's always been with like a Halloween theme, and typically we will um we will carve pumpkins and we'll watch Nightmare Before Christmas and and kind of get ready. And then this year was a little bit different. So our our neighborhood tends to go all out, yeah, hard. Yeah, and um, and they didn't do it this year. One year there was a haunted house, so you would like basically go through one person's house and then like through the backyards into like another person's like it was like it was a whole thing. Um, I didn't see any of that this year, but then again, our neighborhood's so large that it there was so much that we didn't see. But yeah, um we were really excited. Your crew came over and hung out with our crew, and we all hung out with Madeline's crew, yeah.

Josh: 3:12

And it was a gaggle of people.

Pamela: 3:14

It was, and and it was a really the weather was perfect, yeah.

Josh: 3:18

Um oh it really was. It was it was nice and cool, but not so cold that you like I didn't even really need a jacket, but my costume also had like 174 layers, and so I didn't have any interest in more clothing. But but anyway, what were you for Halloween?

Pamela: 3:34

So um I'm pretty unoriginal. Um the last the last uh couple Halloweens here, I was a sugar skull, day of the dead. Um Josh found some vampire teeth and because of the Bell's palsy, he called himself Snaggletooth Vampire, which through each of their own. Yeah.

Josh: 4:04

Oh, that was funny. Yeah, I totally forgot about that already, and it was only like three days ago.

Pamela: 4:09

Yeah, um, yeah, and then uh uh Logan was Trunks from Dragon Ball Z, who I'm like, I don't I don't know. Yeah, and then Cass had to go and and abandon us, right? She went and hung out with her bestie, um, and they were deer. So okay, listen. When I was younger, I got tormented for saying deers, and they're like, it's already plural, and so now anytime I hear anyone refer to a gaggle of deer as deers, I humiliate them like I was humiliated.

Josh: 4:48

So um tracks, yeah.

Pamela: 4:51

So she was a deer, yeah.

Josh: 4:53

Um and her best friend was also a deer, yeah. So they were just woodland creatures.

Pamela: 4:57

Yes, yeah, very cute.

Josh: 4:59

I did see her come in like towards the like we our crew has already done trick-or-treating, and she came in kind of towards the end of the night, and her costume was fun. It was very like whimsical deer. You know, it was it was a good time. Um, our crew, so we went over and joined them. Um and the shoot, Krista was Medusa. For some reason I couldn't get the word Medusa to come to my brain. But Krista was Medusa, and she looked great. She uh she wore like this long dress and and had a headpiece, and and she has these wigs that she's had forever. I she's bought them for costumes along the way. And she busted out one of these wigs that's been sitting in her closet for probably years, and it makes her hair like almost down to her waist. It's really long. And she came out, and our daughter saw her when she was kind of trying on pieces of this a few days before Halloween, and our daughter was like, Oh my god, that looks so good! Like that hair is amazing. Um Krista's also one of those really frustrating people that can pull off absolutely every hairstyle you can think of. Yes, and I mean, she's had them all. She's had dreadlocks, she's had pixie cuts, she's had long flowing hair, she's had like and every length in between all of those things. And so um, she had the headpiece with the snakes on it and like matching jewelry and stuff. She looked great. Um, I recycled a Jedi costume that is just an easy go-to move for me. Um, but I also have like the legit lightsaber from Disney. Um, so it it sort of completes the look a little bit.

Pamela: 6:39

Um But yours is from Disneyland, right?

Josh: 6:42

So I yeah, we built we did the um the Savvy's workshop, which is where you can do the lightsaber builds. Um we did ours at Disneyland, but it's the same, it's the same experience in both parks.

Pamela: 6:56

Okay, okay.

Josh: 6:56

Yeah, and so um Galaxy's Edge is a Star Wars area at at uh both Disney parks, and they both have that experience, and they both have the same rides. Um and so yeah, I had that with me, which was a lot of fun. And then the kids, um, Isaac used this costume that he's actually had also for a couple years that he loves. Uh it has this LED face that lights up, and he has gloves that light up. And so when the sun goes down, he's wearing all black and he turns the LEDs on, it just looks like a floating face um in the dark, which is kind of cool. Uh, and then Willow wanted to be an elf, and so she found this elf costume um that kind of mimicked the wood elves from Lord of the Rings, and so um I was like, You're basically Arwen, which is the elf princess from Lord of the Rings. And so she she bounced around as an elf, which was really cute. Um, and yeah, and then we added Madeline and and some of that crew. I mean, it was it was a fun time, and your neighborhood went hard. Like we had a lot of fun just walking around and uh experiencing all the decorations. A lot of people sit outside, which I've always thought is smart, um, and yeah, kids cleaned up with candy. It was great. Yeah, and so I I really enjoyed it. I I have really come to love the community element of Halloween, and so to see it happen on such a high level at y'all's neighborhood was a lot of fun. And I really enjoyed myself.

Pamela: 8:24

And so this is the first time we ran out of candy, like we had so much. I know, and there was just so many, I feel like so many more people this year than than in the past. Now, previously I've always just passed out the candy, um, but this year, you know, we all got together and walked around. But I mean, there was one point I'm like, they're just they're piling, they're like lining, and I'm like, whoa. Um, but I did notice on some of the neighborhood like Facebook groups that people were like, where are all the trick-or-treaters?

Josh: 8:57

Really?

Pamela: 8:58

So I don't I don't know like what was different this year. I don't know if people are just taking their kids to bigger neighborhoods or or ones that are more decorated, or maybe people just can't afford Halloween this year. Like, I don't, I don't know, but like um, yeah, we didn't go all out, but um, yeah, I mean, ours definitely was hopping. And and the great thing too about our neighborhood is that it's just as fun for the kids as it is for the adults, um, because a lot of people will pass out jello shots and and adult beverages and things. Um, but yeah, yeah, that was fun.

Josh: 9:44

We there was one house that had like a whole like large rented canopy out in the front of it, and there was a live band in the garage, which were just like a bunch of grandpa's um playing 80s tunes, but it was still it was endearing and fun. And uh, and they were passing out all sorts of different candy, and then yeah, they had a tray of jello shots. I definitely took one. Um, and it was it was it was a lot of fun. I the neighborhood that we live in just does nothing for any holiday, like there's no sort of festive vibe in the area.

Pamela: 10:20

Like, why do you think that is? Like, just just speculating.

Josh: 10:23

So, where I live has a very large immigrant population that I really enjoy. Um uh, and this neighborhood in particular, where we're sitting right now, there is a huge population of like Southeast Asian communities.

Pamela: 10:39

Okay.

Josh: 10:39

And uh, I think that has a lot to do with it. It that it's just not a holiday that's necessarily on their radar culturally. Um, however, the byproduct of all of this is the Asian food scene where I live is incredible. I mean, it is just there is I can throw a rock in five different directions and hit amazing Asian food. Um, but yeah, I think it's I think that's really all it is because if you go just a little bit north of where we're sitting right now, there's a really popular neighborhood in this area that goes hard, just like y'all's. And so that's actually what we did last year. Last year I just took the kids, you know, a five-minute drive from where we're sitting, and we had a wonderful time. And so um, yeah, it's it's totally fine that this neighborhood kind of does it a little differently, and it gives us an opportunity to go and and you know, hang out with our people and and you know, have a good time in sort of a larger group, which in with trick-or-treating and especially at the ages that our kids are and stuff like that, it's a ton of fun to do things that way. Yeah, and so yeah, but anyway, it was a great time was had by all. And uh yeah, we we got back and the the candy sorting immediately began, and the negotiations between all of our children immediately began. Um and I was looking through my son's bag um I don't know, like last night. And cleverly he did not dispose of his candy wrappers of from the candy that he ate. He didn't dispose of those in the trash, he put them back in the bag to avoid me finding out how much he had actually eaten. So when I opened his bag last night, I was like, oh my god. Yeah, I can't believe he didn't have a stomachache. But uh but when you're 11, you get away with that stuff. Um but no, it was it was really, really great. And uh I I'm very grateful the weather was awesome, the neighborhood was awesome, the kids had a great time, and you know, it's it felt really successful. I mentioned that the you know, as we were goofing around uh for Halloween, I I have this Jedi costume with a lightsaber that I got at Disney. And one of the things that I was actually I was actually chatting with your kids about a little bit this last weekend. Um I was just curious about their Disney experiences and stuff. So our family, we we've been fortunate enough to go to Disneyland once in California and then Disney World once in Florida, and they were a couple years apart. Um and then I know you guys have been to Disney World once.

Pamela: 13:07

Once.

Josh: 13:08

Yeah.

Pamela: 13:08

We haven't been to Disneyland.

Josh: 13:10

Yeah, and and I mean, you know, we brought up the the Savvy's uh workshop thing, which is where you go and you can build your own lightsaber and stuff. Um and I just you know, I know that there's sort of this stigma about Disney adults, and and you know, there's there's people who are a little bit critical of of grown-ups that enjoy things like that. I had a great time, and and I had a great time for a million different reasons, but like so I've got some family in Southern California that um I actually had a work trip that took me out to Anaheim, and so I was kind of using that work trip to see some family down there, and the hotel we were staying at was literally across the street from Disneyland. And so, like, I didn't even have to rent a car to get there. And so um we reached out to my sister who lives in a different part of California, but who has been to Disneyland a ton of times just because uh she used to run this fine arts um academy that did competitions and things at Disney, and so she is extremely well versed in all things Disneyland. And so when she found out that we were gonna that I was gonna fly Krista and the kids out and that we were all gonna go and spend a day there, she immediately jumped in her car and like drove down and was like, I'll plan the whole thing. I was like, Great, that's perfect. Yep, because I know just from like anecdotal things from friends and whatever, part of the intimidating piece of going to either Disney Park is the planning of it. Oh, yes, it's so much. And so so she came down and basically I told her, Hey, you're in charge. I'm going to just I'm gonna do whatever you tell us to do, and it and it'll be great. I know it'll be great. And so literally we were there the moment the the park opened, which they call the rope drop. And so we were there at rope drop and we stayed literally until the park closed. We were there for like 15 hours.

Pamela: 14:59

Oh god.

Josh: 15:00

Yeah. Uh but well, we only had because of my work schedule, we only had one day.

Pamela: 15:04

Oh, okay.

Josh: 15:05

And so I couldn't do multiple days.

Pamela: 15:06

And so So hold on.

Josh: 15:08

So at Disneyland, is it just one park versus Disneyland technically is its own park. Um, so that you know you're not split up like Epcot and Magic Kingdom and stuff like that. Uh, but then there is California Adventure World, which I think I'm saying that correctly. Um, and that that's where a lot of the major rides are. So that it is a Disney park, uh, and that's where all of the really famous like Tower of Terror and things like that, they're on that side. So we didn't have time to do that side. We stuck, we stayed in the Disneyland side. Um, but there's so much to do that you know, we absolutely could have split it into multiple days, we just didn't have the time. So um we went out there and had an amazing time, and that's actually where I did the lightsaber build. Um me and my son did it. And man, you want to talk about a core memory. It was absolutely incredible. And my brother-in-law went, you're allowed to take one guest per person, and this might have changed since then, it's been a few years, but at the time, one you could take in a guest with you, and so my brother-in-law came in with us, and so he took some photos and stuff. So I have all these kind of behind-the-scenes photos of how it all goes down. But it was remarkable. Like, I was blown away by the immersiveness of the experience, and like, you know, there's themed music, and this guy's giving a monologue, and you just feel like so steeped in the environment that you're in, and then you hear Yoda come in and like bless the ceremony or whatever. I don't know, I'm just borrowing words, I know, but um I just I loved it, and uh Disney World a couple years later was uh a different deal. Florida is just so much hotter than Southern California. It was so hot, it was so humid. And we went in late May, which isn't even peak heat yet. And I was I still had a blast, but it was it was very different. Um, and I'm just wondering like what y'all's experience was like, and what were some of the highlights for you and and what what sort of stood out from from a parenting standpoint, personal standpoint, all that stuff.

Pamela: 17:20

So we went um so we moved here in November, and then the following October for fall break, nice, we went to Disney World. Um it was all four of us, and Josh and I had always kind of gone back and forth about when really was the best time for us to go as a family. Um and it just worked out because one one of the biggest one of the biggest things that was a concern of ours is the kids being tall enough and old enough to ride the rides with us so that way we weren't having to like one person's, you know, can't ride and and having to switch off and all that. And I didn't want to be pushing around a stroller through the whole thing. So when we went, my son was six, my daughter would have been 10, somewhere around there. Uh, and the whole park was uh decorated for Halloween. Oh brilliant, yes, and they were coming up on their hundredth anniversary, yes, that's and so they had all the merch for the hundred you know, hundred years and all that. I think it was coming up within, I think it was the week after our trip was like their big hundredth anniversary celebration or whatever. But um so same thing, like my biggest thing was I'd never been there before, like never went growing up. This is my first time going and I was completely overwhelmed. Yes, you know, you know, you have Magic Kingdom and Epcot and uh Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, Hollywood Studios and Disney Springs and all this stuff, and so I actually have a friend back home who lived near us and she had become a Disney planner.

Josh: 19:21

Yeah.

Pamela: 19:21

And I just went to her and I'm like help. Yeah, yeah. I was like, I don't, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know where to start. Um, you know, and it's really interesting because especially the profession and things that I'm in that I'm in, like I I should be able to figure it out. And I probably could have, but there was so much that we wanted to do, and just never having been there before, I didn't want to waste time doing things that nobody wanted to do and not getting it being able to do things that we wanted. And so she she ended up, she sent me this huge questionnaire of like just basic things like what are some things that you have to do? What are some you know, what are some of your food preferences and whatever. And so she built out the entire itinerary from Monday through Friday. Amazing, and it we hit a different park each day, except for Wednesday. Wednesday was our break day, yeah. Yeah, um smart, and so that was it, and we needed it. Yeah, by the by the by midday Tuesday, everybody was already exhausted. Um, because I think we did Animal Kingdom the first day, and then I think we did Epcot and then we took a break and we went to Disney Springs, um, and which is just kind of like a really cool like little shopping area. And we stayed in the in a resort on the property, and that was kind of important to me, especially for our first time, because I didn't want to have to be shuttling around. I didn't want to have to figure out a whole car situation, so everything we needed was right there. And we stayed in the Caribbean resort, and we had the sky, yeah.

Josh: 21:14

The the tram. The um I know what you're talking about. It's the train that runs between all the time.

Pamela: 21:19

So we could just get on that and go pretty much at least close to wherever we we wanted to be. Um, and we we walked around a lot of the different resorts, and then my son had never really ridden on roller coasters before. Nice. So his first one was roller coaster, not ride, but roller coaster was Guardian of the Galaxy, which was amazing.

Josh: 21:47

You are start, you are setting the bar high.

Pamela: 21:51

It was so amazing, and he was terrified the entire time, yeah, and that was it. After that, he was like, No more, I'm done, I'm out. Um, so um, we had gotten, and I don't think they do this anymore, but we had gotten the genie passes, and so there were two ways you could use the genie passes. One was you sign up early in the day, and you basically kind of get to pick the rides that you want to ride at like certain times. I don't know. Honestly, Josh did all of this because I'm like, I don't have the patience like to sit here and fight people for slots on rides. Um, but then you could pay extra and get a dedicated time on a particular ride. Yeah, so you for sure were going to be riding that ride that day at that time. And so somehow it worked out that we we were gonna ride Guardians of the Galaxy and then we were gonna ride Tron.

Josh: 22:53

Oh, yeah. God, that's starting so strong.

Pamela: 22:56

And so, like, we paid for a particular time slot and to ensure that we got on these rides. Well, we also signed up with our genie pass as like uh, you know, if this doesn't work out, or I can't remember, I can't remember exactly how he had set it up. But long story short, because my son rode Guardians of the Galaxy and then didn't want to ride anymore, and we'd already paid for these like genie passes. My daughter managed to ride Tron four times. Oh my god, back to back, and Guardians of the Galaxy three times because he rode the first time, and then we did the parent swap.

Josh: 23:40

Okay, yeah.

Pamela: 23:40

So so we get to Tron. I remember we get to Tron, and like her and her dad are running down the lightning lane to for the time, and then I'm looking at the app, and the app is like, oh, like on this other thing, like we've our time is up, like we can get in line, and so she they ride it, and then shh, like they we swap, we do the parent swap, and she and I are running down the lightning lane, and then basically doing it two more times with one with him and then again with me.

Josh: 24:14

Oh, that's amazing.

Pamela: 24:16

Because her brother didn't want to ride, and so yeah, she was thrilled. Yeah, so she loves roller coasters, however, she got um spoiled at Disney because I mean, yeah, the Disney rides are amazing, they're they're smooth, they're exciting, and and so when we got back to Texas, uh my husband was like, Hey, I'll take you to Six Flags.

Josh: 24:42

Yeah.

Pamela: 24:43

And those rides are different, not the same, not the same, and she was not a fan. And I was like, Yeah, so we kind of we kind of did, like you said, we set the bar really high.

Josh: 24:55

Yeah. Well, because Guardians of the Galaxy is widely considered to be one of the best rides in the world. Oh, it's amazing. That is without question, like a premier ride experience because it's so much more than just a ride, like it's a whole like experience that you have with a ride is a key part of it. It's kind of like Rise of the Resistance, which is one of the primary rides in Galaxy's Edge at Disney.

Pamela: 25:22

I think we wrote that.

Josh: 25:23

Yeah, it's the one where you're kind of you're rescued, you're you're um kidnapped by the Empire, and then you're rescued by the rebellion, and it's the whole escape. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I loved that, but I'm a massive Star Wars nerd, so of course I'm gonna love that. I'm exactly their demographic. But um, so when we did Disneyland, when my sister came down, she had told me basically to install the app, but she's like, Don't don't feel a ton of pressure to like you know, obsess over it. She goes, I'm gonna take care of it, and you know, we'll just use my phone. So I didn't have to be responsible for what my family did, it was all Sarah. Yeah. Um, and so when we actually went to Disney World, I was uh un-escorted. And so I had to, me and Krista had to figure out the app and all that. And I will say, if if you are trying to figure out how to do Disney well and you don't want to pay for a planner to help you, obsessing over the app for a couple of days before you get there is the way to have a good time. Yeah, and there's YouTube content for days um just to get like uh your arms around all the things that the app can do because it is very impressive. And I actually read this really nerdy behind the scenes article about the app at one point where it talked about how Disney kept going to all these different vendors trying to find somebody who could actually build what they were trying to build um with so much to take in so much real-time data and spit it out so fast. And they basically couldn't find anybody, so they just created their own in-house team to build it because they're Disney. Yeah, and so it's so impressive. And so we when we got to Disney World, um I had already figured out like what our priorities were, and we we had already pre-purchased our tickets and things like that. So we knew what parks we were going to on what days. When we went to Disneyland a few years ago, the because we only had one day, we just tried to pack as much in as we could. We took our our our kids on the Rise of the Resistance ride, and neither of our kids had ever been on anything like that. And if you haven't experienced it, it's one of the coolest, most immersive things I've ever experienced in my life because you get on what appears to be like a Star Wars rebel ship, and you go up into space and then you get captured, and when you walk off the ship, when you walked on the ship, you're outside. You're you know, you're just uh in the outdoors walking onto what looks very much like a very real spaceship. And then you walk out into what looks like a Star Destroyer from Star Wars with 60 stormtroopers and Imperial like guards and all sorts of stuff, and it is immersive to the point of like even my grown-up brain is like, is this real? This is insane. And so you get taken in this room, and I won't give away any spoilers in case people actually want to ride it, which you definitely should. But essentially, you're rescued, and the the ride is the rescue. So once you get to the rescue portion, things get a lot more exciting. And our kids had never been on anything like that. And there's a particular point in the rescue where they simulate a free fall. Now it's LED screens and hydraulics, like it's obviously not a real free fall, but it feels like it. And our daughter had been, you know, hanging in there for this whole ride, and she had kind of white-knuckled her way through it. She was she was holding it together, you know. And we get to this part of the ride, and that free fall starts, and she melts down. I mean, screaming her head off, tears everywhere, terrified, gripping me like her life depends on it. And and so we get off that ride, and it took me every bit of 20 minutes to calm her down. Like I had to just carry her around for a while and finally took her to a spot where we sat down, and I used that that age-old parenting trick of, would you like a snack? Like, and she's like, Yes.

Pamela: 29:35

And so we what part of the day was this?

Josh: 29:37

This was um probably early afternoon.

Pamela: 29:41

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she's probably starting to get tired and you know, like it because you you have all that excitement buildup in the morning. You do so much, and then it's like, once you start to hit that, like two o'clock, three o'clock, you know, and then and she was six at the time.

Josh: 29:57

And so you're running out of steam and Um but it was it was pretty amazing and it like despite the fact that she melted down, the riot itself was pretty amazing, and she had an incredible time. In fact, one of the things uh I have to brag on the the Disney cast members, which is what they call the the roaming characters throughout the parks. Well, really everyone's called a cast member, but there's also these character actors throughout the parks. And there was a point in the day where where the the boys had gone off to do the lightsaber build, and the girls, um Krista, my daughter, and my sister had gone off to uh do like this princess meet and greet thing.

Pamela: 30:36

Okay.

Josh: 30:37

And so when we were out, um when the boys were out in the galaxy's edge area, we ran into Ray, one of the Star Wars characters from the most recent movies, uh who our daughter is a big fan of, and but she wasn't with us when we met her. So we ran into her, we took some photos, and she was great, and she was chatting up our son, and and I even took a photo with her, which made me feel like a big nerd, but it's what it is. And uh, so we're just having this awesome time, and we sort of reconvene after an hour, hour and a half, and we had told our daughter, like, hey, we get we got to see Ray, and she was a bit disappointed in the moment because she would have loved to have seen that character. Well, when the girls had all been gone, they bought a costume for our daughter that was uh the Jasmine uh princess costume, and and she bought some jewelry to go with it, and they did her makeup, and it was this whole experience. Yeah, so we're all back together and we're still in the in the Star Wars area. Well, one of the cast members, playing Ray, walks past us while we were having this conversation, and she overheard me saying, Man, I'm sorry you didn't get to see her and all that. And Ray turns around and she's like, You were looking for me? I was looking for you. And my daughter just her jaw just drops, her eyes get huge, and and Ray, and I mean this this I know this is an actress, but I I would have given her all the money in my checking account for what she did next because she she just goes, I was told there was some royalty royal royalty in this area, and I was sent over here to check it out and make sure you were escorted. And they had this whole conversation, and we take photos and all of this, and she was so perfect with my kids. And I just I was beside myself. Like it was such an amazing experience of getting to see my kids be floored by you know, people who I know are actors, but who are doing such an amazing job at what they're doing that it does suspend reality, it does create this moment of like oh, but you know, this is this is this can still be kind of magical, even though we all have a lot of people. Like there's that Disney magic, yeah. And I think that's that was one of my biggest takeaways from the whole thing, is you know, I know, especially being in the production world for a living, one of the things I geek out about when I'm at a park like that is I love kind of analyzing everything and trying to figure out how it all works and and all this. So I love the behind the scenes of it all. Disney does such a masterful job of keeping the behind the scenes way behind the scenes. And so you kind of even mean I kind of get sucked in to the culture of it all and the fun of it all and the magic of it all. And I'll never forget when we were leaving Disneyland, um the the only day that we had out there. I'm walking out with Isaac, and you know, he is exhausted and so elated by the whole thing. And he looks up at me one point. I swear to you, this happened. He looks at me one point, he just goes, Man, I don't know. Magic might be real. This this might be just completely real. And I was like, I know, buddy, it's it's pretty crazy.

Pamela: 33:59

That's amazing. Um well um, so another thing, kind of going back, another thing that we were waiting for too before we went was for Star Wars to be complete um because my husband was obsessed. Yeah, yeah. And so that whole experience was for him and no one else. Well, that's fine. He he went and he they stayed in that park for so long. So same thing. Um blessing, right? So he and my son signed up for the lightsaber experience. Um because we were trying to be a little cost conscious at the time. So it was like we all couldn't get lightsabers, right?

Josh: 34:47

Right.

Pamela: 34:48

And I just knew that my daughter probably wasn't that into it. Well, she ended up kind of feeling left out. Oh, so we instead they had uh BB8, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the joy workshop. So she did that instead. So um, and she still plays with that thing sometimes. Yeah, um, but yeah, so that that was cool. Like again, uh I I think I think Josh got in there and just totally forgot he had a family. Like he just like he was immersed, he had to find the milk.

Josh: 35:22

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. I don't, I don't yeah, it's I could deep dive nerd it for you, but yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 35:29

He he just had to have that. And like I got to a point again, it's it's Florida, it's October, it was still hot. Um, and we managed to have pretty decent hot weather, but decent weather until like the last day or two, and it started to rain. Yeah, but it was fine. He and my son stayed out there for hours. Oh my god, hours and hours and hours. Like, I think if we had just gone there, Josh's trip would have been done. Right.

Josh: 36:01

Like I get that.

Pamela: 36:02

Um, but we had yeah, we had fun. We did uh Animal Kingdom was really cool because they had the whole Pandora set. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that ride was awesome. Um, but you did like the same thing, like everything, you're just immersed in Pandora and these trees and and all of that is is really awesome. And um I'm glad that I so the the the girl that helped us plan, um she again like she we went through this whole questionnaire, she booked the whole thing out. She's like, I want I'm gonna go ahead and get you reservations for all of these things, but you can cancel like within a certain amount of time. But if we don't book them now, like you'll miss out. Um, so a lot of that was like restaurants and and things like that. But she's actually paid by Disney, yeah. So I and I'm sure that she's paid by Disney through some sort of surcharge, like to the cost of whatever. But she was really great. She's like, Do you want to stay on the resort? Do you want to stay off? Like they're here are all the different tiers of resorts, and like really let us kind of guided us through a lot of where she had stayed and what she recommended. Um, and we did everything we wanted to do. Um, I did have a a character thing set up, um like a dinner, yeah. But we ended up canceling because my daughter just didn't really seem that interested in it. She may have been a little bit too old for it, but you know who got upset? My son. He got upset that like we weren't going to see Cinderella or something, and I'm like, bruh. It just I was surprised. Yeah, I was just not expecting that. Um, yeah, but no, we had a it was a great trip. We we did everything we wanted to do and more, and it was just for a first trip, it was perfect.

Josh: 38:11

Good, good, yeah. And well, and I personally having been to both parks once, I do think that Disney World is the more overwhelming situation just because it's split into multiple parks, and you kind of have to like there's there's just a lot to figure out before you even buy tickets, like just making sure that you're going all the places you want to go. So using a planner makes a ton of sense. I'm very spoiled in that I have my own planner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, but it's it really was both parks were incredible.

Pamela: 38:41

I I don't recommend raw dogging it.

Josh: 38:44

No, that that I don't either. Like, if you're if you're heading out that way, you've got to get some kind of assistance, especially with kids. Yes, like you're gonna spend all that money, you need to maximize the time. Yeah, and so it it really is worth chasing down somebody who can help you with those details. The we didn't stay technically on property either time. In California, it didn't really matter because we were staying so close. In Florida, we ended up actually, uh, there was a shuttle that came to our airport or that came to our hotel. Um, but we would use Ubers sometimes to depending on the shuttle schedule, and that actually worked fine. Um and then really the only negative experience I had personally was our second day, and no, it's after our first day at Disney World, I got food poisoning. And and I know exactly what it was. Um, and it was from inside the park, and and I, you know, I know they're cranking out hundreds of thousands of meals a day, and and I get that some things can slip through the cracks. Um, but I got back after our first day, and within a couple hours of getting back to the hotel, I was like, I feel weird. And and it got worse and worse and worse and worse. And um thankfully it hit quickly and then it passed kind of quickly-ish. Like, you know, it wasn't even a full 24 hours, it was about 18 hours of pure hell. Um but then once it started to let up, I did start feeling better relatively quickly. Um, and I was trying to pound fluids and all that. Well, Krista just dove in head first and was like, okay, I'm just gonna take the kids myself. And so that was our Epcot day. And so she took the kids.

Pamela: 40:35

Um Oh, you missed Epcot.

Josh: 40:37

I did, but the the only thing I did get to experience was the fireworks. And so what happened was what happened was Here we go again. Uh what happened was I um I I was feeling a little bit better and I and like I'm holding down fluids and all this, and I'm starting to feel my energy come back slowly. And I wasn't excited about being out in heat. Like that's I didn't feel like my body was ready for that. But I was like, okay, I I feel like if I can just get to a point where I feel okay about the fireworks, then I'm gonna try and go out to Epcot in time to see the fireworks with Krista and the kids. And so that worked. So um I called Krista and she had been such a freaking trooper throughout that whole day. And I just told her, hey, you know, I'm I'm doing better. Um I'm I'm gonna be there for the fireworks. And so she sent me her location, and so I I went and was able to find them and meet up with them. So the Epcot fireworks I think are one of the things that are in some ways easy to skip because you have to make it all the way to the end of the day to see them. But they're incredible, and I am not somebody who is easily impressed by a fireworks show. I've seen a bazillion of them. I've got friends who work in pyrotechnics, like I know how all this goes. You have to do some really special things to get my attention with fireworks because theirs is kind of a blend of different things. Yes, it's fireworks, but it's also a massive lighting and laser show. It's also they incorporate lighting on the buildings that is also timed with everything. So I get out there, I'm thrilled to be there. Krista and the kids are just red-faced and so hot from being out there all day, but they had stuck with it. And so we get there and the fireworks show starts, and it's incredible. And my daughter's standing next to me, and you know, at one point she reaches up, takes my hand, we're just kind of standing there together watching them. And they had the audacity. Disney had the audacity to play one of the best songs that that is in any Disney movie ever as part of this fireworks show. It's When She Loves Me from Toy Story 2. It's the song that is is basically sung by it sung through the perspective of one of the characters who is very close with uh the human that owns it's a toy. And uh it's a song basically about how that person grows up and grows out of playing with this toy. And I'm standing there with my daughter, who's eight at the time, like experiencing this song with the lighting and all this stuff, and I am weeping. Like I I couldn't, I had none, I my body feels broken, I've been sick, you know, just horribly ill. And I finally kind of muscle it up and get out there and all that. And as part of the show, they dropped that on me, and I was a mess. Like, and I don't know, like I I no other reaction was available to me. Like, I that was all I had. Um, but it was brilliant, and the rest of the trip went great. Um, the very last day, though, to your point about like I'm gonna go back to the room. The last day we were there, um it it hit we hit about 3:30, and both kids looked at us and were like, Hey, can we go jump in the pool? And I was like, Okay, I said, Yes, we can, but just so we're all understanding, like this is the last day we have tickets to this park. So I just want you to I just want to make sure you know that once we walk out, we you know, it's done. And they're like, Yeah, that's fine. So we went straight back to the hotel and changed in the swimsuits and jumped in the pool. And I think every last one of us was asleep by 9 p.m. that day. Like we were just exhausted, but it it was despite the food poisoning, which I I think is very rare and certainly a one-off occurrence. And I do, I am pretty certain that that's what it was because no one else in the family got sick, and the way that it hit and the way that it went away pretty quickly, just yeah, all felt that. But um, but it was it was a really wonderful time, and I do probably recommend the California park a little bit more just because the weather is so much more mild. Um, but man, it was incredible, and I would absolutely go again, even with the kids being a little bit older.

Pamela: 45:14

Um well, I think our next move is you know, we've done the Disney World thing. Obviously, there's so much more that we did not do. So, I mean, I'm sure we could go several more times and still, you know, just find completely different things to do. But um, we've talked about going to Universal Um in Florida, uh, because my daughter's a Harry Potter fan and they've got the Harry Potter experience. Uh, so I would that was kind of our next move. And then we've even considered doing the Disney cruise.

Josh: 45:50

Yes.

Pamela: 45:51

So I've never done a cruise. I am terrified of the ocean. Oh, I have an irrational fear of tsunamis.

Josh: 45:59

You know, we can see this coming.

Pamela: 46:00

Like we know when what are you gonna do?

Josh: 46:03

You go around them, you're in a ship.

Pamela: 46:07

No, that's not how that works. Anyway, moving on. It is, but okay, it's not, and I grew up like worshiping the whole Titanic thing, so like like I am just terrified, terrified, but I will suck it up and do it. But um, we've talked about doing like the Disney cruise. Um, but I don't know, like I've heard mixed reviews. Um, sometimes I've heard that the Disney cruise is great, and sometimes I've heard like just take your kids on Royal Caribbean because they'll have fun, you know, just as much fun and and all of those things. So I I don't know. Um, we're not doing anything right now with the economy the way that it is, but um, our yeah, our next we we've been talking about Universal.

Josh: 46:53

Yeah, no, that's great. We went to Universal once when Krista was pregnant with our son, so that was 12 years ago.

Pamela: 47:00

Um that's funny because we went to King's Island when I was pregnant with my daughter.

Josh: 47:06

Yeah.

Pamela: 47:06

Total, but it's just it's funny that we both went to like theme parks.

Josh: 47:10

Right. Well, it was another section.

Pamela: 47:12

So we couldn't do anything, right?

Josh: 47:13

Yeah, we were kind of just wandering around and and doing what we could, but that was before the whole Harry Potter section was expanded. So we we only had um Hogsmead was uh the first thing that Universal built, and now you can do Hogsmead and you can do Diagonale. And so uh Diagonale didn't exist yet. So we went through Hogsmead and did all that, but we couldn't do any of the rides because Krista wasn't allowed. So we would just kind of bop around and do whatever we could, but I got a free ticket because of the uh the client that I was there working with. Um, and I don't remember now how all that came to be. It was so many years ago, but um, I just know we were like, well, hey, you know, even though we can't really do much, it's free. So let's just go goofy around. Yeah, absolutely. It was it was really cool. I remember being very impressed by their immersiveness. I mean, and I think that's really the goal of both parks, is like, how much can we make you feel like this is real? And and especially in terms of the Hogsmead Harry Potter area, that was, I mean, it was insane. Yeah. I was looking around being like, this could have been just where they shot the movie. Exactly.

Pamela: 48:18

I I mean, I'm not a huge like Harry Potter fan, but I would love to go to Dagon Alley.

Josh: 48:25

Oh, absolutely.

Pamela: 48:26

I think that would be really that would be really cool.

Josh: 48:29

Yeah. Well, I'm the biggest nerd you know, so I am a big Harry Potter fan. And like I'm nerdy to the point where the last anniversary gift I bought for Krista was from the Harry Potter store in Chicago. Like, that's the level we're talking.

Pamela: 48:41

Was that a gift for her or for you?

Josh: 48:44

Yes. So it's equal opportunity.

Pamela: 48:50

Uh is she a Harry Potter fan?

Josh: 48:52

Very much so. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah, she enjoys it. Now she also got me a gift from the Harry Potter store in Chicago.

Pamela: 48:57

So it's yeah, we're we did the Harry Potter experience here in Dallas.

Josh: 49:01

It's coming back, actually. Okay, yeah. I actually think it might be running right now. I've maybe looked that up. I'd love to do it again.

Pamela: 49:07

Because our kids loved it. Yeah. And it was it was pretty cool.

Josh: 49:10

Yeah. But anyway, follow us for all your Disney advice and or or what not to. Or what not to do.

Pamela: 49:16

Um or not to eat.

Josh: 49:18

Don't eat the cheeseburgers. Uh, that was what did it. Um, because the whole rest of my family had chicken nuggets and I had a cheeseburger. But uh anyway, yeah, I'm sure that was a one-off experience. Don't sue me, Disney, for defamation. Um, but no, it was the rest of the experience was amazing.

Pamela: 49:35

Thank you.

Josh: 49:37

And this section is not at all sponsored by Disney. Nope. Um now it honestly, the only thing like the some of one of my more grown-up takeaways from that whole experience, though, just kind of as we're wrapping this, is like it is insanely expensive.

Pamela: 49:52

It is.

Josh: 49:53

And and I I don't want to like I want to paint a very specific picture of like how my family was able to go. Like, I leveraged a tremendous amount of points and miles, and then the fact that I had a work excuse to be in that area anyway, and that's both trips, both Anaheim and Orlando. I had a work thing first, which paid for a lot of my expenses, and then I just added Krista and the kids. I did that twice. Yeah. And so, like, we recognize that this is unattainable for a huge percent of people. And for sure. And I am spoiled rotten to have gone to both parks. Like, I just I recognize that, and I don't want that to go unsaid because it only keeps getting worse as far as the the cost is concerned. Yeah, it's so expensive. Yep. Um, and so and that's why I never went growing up.

Pamela: 50:46

I mean, we didn't, we never had heck no, yeah, there's no way. Um, but we had talked about it and we had saved up and and we were able to kind of pay it in chunks, right?

Josh: 51:00

Yeah, yeah.

Pamela: 51:01

Um, so there were like certain like due dates for for certain amounts. So um that helps a lot. It it did. Uh but yeah, I absolutely there are ways to definitely do it on a budget. Yes. And I think even the uh the travel agents and agencies that are hired by Disney can help you. Like they're willing to help you figure out how to do it on a budget.

Josh: 51:33

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And you know, we just we did the best we could. Um, you know, even when we were in the parks, uh it we had sort of a set budget for every day that we were in there. And you know, when that budget was gone, we we weren't buying anything else.

Pamela: 51:50

Yeah, and and uh and when you go, it's it's it's probably tough to go on a budget, to be honest, because you get there and like you just you buy things you would never buy.

Josh: 52:02

Oh, absolutely.

Pamela: 52:03

Like I would never buy the the ears. Like I got them for my kids, like my daughter wanted one of the lounge fly bags, like that are $90.

Josh: 52:14

Yep, yeah.

Pamela: 52:15

Um, I got a hundredth anniversary sweatshirt. Um, I think I've worn during my trip to Disney. Like, I don't know, you just you go there and you're just like you're just everything is just magic and and fun, and it's and on top of that, you get into these stories. They pump something in the air.

Josh: 52:36

Oh, yeah. You're drugged, probably chemtrails. Right. Right. Everyone's worried about the US government doing chemtrails, it's been Disney this whole time. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised.

Pamela: 52:47

I mean, if they could pump some of that over over our houses right now, that'd be great.

Josh: 52:51

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, if if that's the result of if chemtrails gives us Disney, then send chemtrails. Yeah.

Pamela: 52:59

So our next episode's gonna be a little bit different. Um, we like to shake it up and uh bring you guys some some new and fun things that we like to come up with on the fly right before we record.

Josh: 53:13

90 minutes before we record. Literally. But no, yeah, we're we're excited about like basically we just think that you know it the things are heavy. It's not hard to turn on the news and to immediately be pretty discouraged and it kind of get in your head. And especially for people like us who tend to be overthinkers and absorb things maybe a little too deeply, um, you know, it it all can kind of start feeling heavy. And so the bottom line is when I was doing a little bit of digging around and and research for topics on episodes and things, I just kept reading heavy thing after heavy thing after heavy thing, and we just decided to do something on purpose that isn't heavy.

Pamela: 53:57

Well, that was even when you were looking for good news.

Josh: 53:59

That was, yeah. You're like on the good news Reddit, and you're just like, this still Because the Good News subreddit, like I that was one of the places I was browsing, and a lot of the good news was about how communities are helping out people who are losing their Snap benefits effective a few days ago. So even the good headlines, the subtext of those good headlines is something really terrible that's happening. And so, and we know that you all are getting beat down with all of those kind of headlines too. So stay tuned. We're gonna do something a little bit out of the box that we're pretty excited about that I think easily could become, you know, sort of a regular thing every now and again. Oh, yeah. Um, because there's gonna be no shortage of uh content from this epic.

Pamela: 54:39

So stay tuned.

Josh: 54:40

Yeah, and if you would please, we would love it so much if you would uh like our content wherever you're listening to it. So uh especially if you're watching on YouTube, um you might notice we have new painting behind this. Um we did a little bit of aesthetic updates. This is another Krista Miller art special.

Pamela: 54:56

Um side note, this is my favorite. It is this is the one I've been saving up for.

Josh: 55:00

Well, and what you can't see uh on on camera is that there's actually a shimmer to it when the sunlight hits it. So it looks like it's just sort of a black piece, but it's not. Um it's really cool.

Pamela: 55:10

So cool.

Josh: 55:11

Uh, and then beyond that, um, you know, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, um, if you could pass these episodes around, you know, we we've started thinking of ourselves as a millennial morning drive show, you know, just something to get you to work and put you in a decent mood before you have to deal with all the things that you have to deal with. Yeah. And so uh, you know, we want to bring a little bit of levity and all of that. And if you would participate in the comments and and like uh the YouTube content, subscribe to that channel. That would be so helpful to us. Um, and we're in open conversation about uh getting our Substack Premium content off the ground. I know we've teased that before, but that really is about to happen. We've been kind of waiting a little bit, and that's been mostly my fault. Um, but we're we're getting there. So anyway, thank you so much uh for jumping into this. And uh yeah, stay tuned for something really cool and fun coming up next.

Pamela: 56:03

Yeah. Well, that's it for premeditated opinions, where the thoughts were fully baked and only mildly regrettable. If you enjoyed today's episode, congrats on having truly excellent taste and podcasting opinions. Following us on YouTube and Instagram is a quick and easy way to support us. So if you liked literally anything about today's episode, please like and subscribe.

Josh: 56:27

Also, send us to someone who needs to feel seen, dragged, or both. We'll be back next week with more unsolicited insight and emotionally responsible spiraling. And until then, please stay hydrated and behave yourself in the comments. But if you don't, at least make us laugh.