[00:00:00] Dana Stanley: Rebecca Hulsman asked, “Favorite quick service in each park?” This is actually pretty easy for me. Um, Magic Kingdom, none. But if I have to choose, um, I don’t hate Pecos Bill’s, and it ends up being, like, in a good spot for us. We usually kind of end up around that area around lunch, and it kind of breaks it up and makes it easy for us.

[00:00:26] Dana Stanley: In Epcot, I love La Cantina. Again, we always end up around there, and it’s just, like, a good break in Mexico.

[00:00:40] Dana Stanley: We can sit outside. The kids all like the food there. I can get a margarita. Everyone’s happy. Hollywood Studios is, for now, always going to be Docking Bay 7. I think they have really, really good food. It is on the pricier side for a quick service, and I usually forget until I’m there and paying, but the food is decent.

[00:01:03] Dana Stanley: And then Animal Kingdom, my favorite is definitely Saltuli Canteen. It’s in Pandora World. I like being around there around lunch, and it works out really well doing rider switch for Avatar Flight of Passage, and we can sit inside or outside. Um, I love that they have, like, real bowls and real utensils, and it just doesn’t feel like theme park food.

[00:01:27] Dana Stanley: It’s just, like, a really nice break. It’s kind of like a Chipotle style. Like, they have bowls, but you can really create whatever you want.

[00:01:39] Dana Stanley: And the kids like it, too, which is a plus.

[00:01:46] Dana Stanley: Mary Caitlin Duffy asked, “Favorite non-character table service, both in parks and at resorts?” This one is harder, um, because it depends. I like– There’s, like, a few that I really like. Um, but I don’t have a lot that are, like, in the parks. So when we say, like, favorite non-character table service, I just wanna say, if I pick my favorites, they’re always going to be the resort restaurants are definitely more of my leaning.

[00:02:29] Dana Stanley: But completely, like, not thinking about it to death and just, just shooting from my hip here, I’ll give you each of my favorite in the parks, and then I’ll give you just my top table service that are at the resorts. So Magic Kingdom, Jungle Navigation Co., i.e. Skipper’s Canteen, is gonna be my favorite non-character table service.

[00:02:53] Dana Stanley: Epcot is a lot harder because there’s just so many. Um- I’m gonna pick two. I’m gonna cheat. So I really like Spice Road Table. It’s very chill. You, like, never need a reservation or can get a reservation very easily. Um, it’s like tapas style. Again, like just a great break from the usual food. Like olives and meats, and they have a really good wine list, and you can sit outside, so if it’s a nice night.

[00:03:22] Dana Stanley: I really like just sitting outside and by the water. But kind of my random favorite in Epcot that’s a little surprising to me is Le Chef de France just because, just because that’s not like my favorite style of food, there’s just something about that restaurant. I just like, I like being there. I like being– I like looking at it.

[00:03:50] Dana Stanley: I like being inside. I like knowing that I’m going,

[00:03:57] Dana Stanley: and just have, like, fond memories of eating there. I just like it.

[00:04:05] Dana Stanley: Hollywood Studios, I don’t really have a favorite, but if I have to sit down somewhere without characters in Hollywood Studios, it’s going to be Hollywood Brown Derby. And then in Animal Kingdom, uh, Tiffins. Tiffins is fantastic, and I love it.

[00:04:29] Dana Stanley: Now my top sit-down restaurants, um, you wrote table service. I’m kinda going more like signature dining here. I love Citricos at Grand Floridian. I love Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I also like Sanaa, also at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I like The Boathouse in Disney Springs, which is not a resort. I’m cheating, so let me think of the other resorts.

[00:05:00] Dana Stanley: Um, it’s not like my absolute favorite, but if I’m going Italian and/or I’m staying at Beach, Yacht, or Boardwalk, I like, I like the Trattoria at the Boardwalk.

[00:05:16] Dana Stanley: EmilyBK23 asked thoughts on Chef Mickey’s. Um, Chef Mickey’s is my least favorite dining experience in all of Disney World, character dining specifically. And I’m sorry, ’cause I know people like it. And this is one of the very, very, very few things I feel a little bit passionate about and, like, will– Like, I’m never here to yuck anyone’s yum, but I will– Like, if you’ve never been to Disney World, and you’ve never been to Chef Mickey’s, I’m going to try to talk you out of it.

[00:05:49] Dana Stanley: And this is assuming that you are not staying at The Contemporary, right? Like, if you are going out of your way To have a Mickey character meal, I don’t really think you should be going to The Contemporary. Um, The Contemporary just feels old to me, which obviously it is old. Um, I don’t like the smell at The Contemporary.

[00:06:15] Dana Stanley: I’m very sensitive to, like, the smells and, like, energy, and there’s just something roller skating rink to me about The Contemporary. Um, and then Chef Mickey’s in particular, where it is at The Contemporary, it’s just very loud. Um, and it’s not cheap. You know, it’s still a character meal price. It’s a buffet, which I don’t love, and most people are going to Chef Mickey’s.

[00:06:44] Dana Stanley: It’s not easy to get a reservation, um, and it, and it’s crowded, and it’s popular. So, and so I’m, I’m gonna try to talk you out of it. If I want to see Mickey at a character dining experience, I will truly go anywhere else, but my top pick would be Topolino’s. Um, Tusker House would also be good. Garden Grill would also be good.

[00:07:11] Dana Stanley: But for, like, a resort Mickey character breakfast, definitely head over to the Riviera. You’re gonna have such a better time at Topolino’s than at Chef Mickey’s. I’m gonna leave a link to my episode where I rate all of the character dining, where I go into a little bit more detail about this.

[00:07:36] Dana Stanley: Making Magic with Murray asked how to juggle Disney work with being present/engaged with kids at home. So she’s not referring to, like, getting content in the parks and how to focus on the kids. This is just, we have businesses that revolve around Disney. We’re working from home with kids. Um, it’s very, very hard.

[00:07:59] Dana Stanley: I do not have, um, a very good balance in the sense of it’s really hard to separate it in my mind. And I know a lot of moms know that feeling of you’re working and thinking you should be with your kids, and then you’re with your kids and you’re thinking about working. I am a lot better than I used to be.

[00:08:21] Dana Stanley: When I was building Laid Back Magic, like in 2022, like making it, it hadn’t launched yet, I was home with Sailor, and it– I was very distracted. It was like all I could think about was Laid Back Magic, and I hate that. I hate that it was like that. And now that I have a third kid, I know how f- I mean, it goes by so fast, and I think- Giving birth and breastfeeding and having hormones, I genuinely think or, and know that the hormones affect your brain and your memory, and just brain fog in general.

[00:09:04] Dana Stanley: So like when I think back and I’m like, “Oh, I don’t even remember,” because I was distracted thinking about business. I have gotten a lot better when it comes to that. I don’t feel as distracted, I think just because I have more context and just have grown up a little bit, to be honest.

[00:09:25] Dana Stanley: But when it comes to the scheduling of my day and actually working, I am sometimes, quote, “working” while my toddler is awake and with me. I’m not saying that I’m not on my phone way too much, but honestly that’s just me being frankly just like addicted to my phone. It’s a problem and I hate it and I’m working on it.

[00:09:51] Dana Stanley: I thankfully got a Brick, which has really, really helped. If you haven’t heard of Brick, it is, um, an app that connects to a physical product where you can literally lock yourself out of your social media, your email. You can pick and choose and customize what you want. But you can also be more customi- but you can also set a time.

[00:10:15] Dana Stanley: So from 8:00 PM to 9:00 AM my phone is locked out of social media, which is a big help. And besides answering like member questions, I don’t really work while he’s awake. I do all of my work during his nap. So I don’t wake up before the kids. I’m not up at like 5:00 AM working. Um, I have had times in my life where I did do that and had to do that.

[00:10:45] Dana Stanley: I’m not doing that right now.

[00:10:54] Dana Stanley: And sometimes that takes a little bit of work of like if I have a guest interview at 1:00 PM for the podcast, I cannot risk that child not napping. He’s a very good napper, knock on wood. But for days like that where like where I really rely on that nap, I will plan to do something kind of bigger that day.

[00:11:16] Dana Stanley: We’ll go to like two playgrounds, and we’ll get outside like first thing in the morning. Like I’m gonna wear him out so that I know that I have his nap. But it is definitely a ongoing challenge that I am always dealing with. I think just getting older and now that I am done having kids, when I am with him I feel definitely more like with him

[00:11:48] Dana Stanley: @thedestination asked, “Would love to hear about your Disney business growth and that journey, good, bad, and the ugly.” Oh my goodness. I feel like there’s been a lot of ugly lately because everything changes so quickly. Like, if you have a brand that’s online and it’s involved, like, in the travel industry, things ebb and flow so wildly.

[00:12:16] Dana Stanley: So things that worked for me in 2023 don’t work now, and things that I wasn’t doing in 2023 I am doing now, like the podcast.

[00:12:34] Dana Stanley: So I think one of the negative things that I do is overthink everything, right? So I think that I have to think everything through and plan it before I start something.

[00:12:50] Dana Stanley: And sometimes that can have its benefits, but most of the time I have found that just jumping in and doing something is the best thing to do because you don’t know the byproducts of what you’re gonna learn. If it’s a complete failure, you’re still, like, one step closer to figuring out the thing that does work.

[00:13:16] Dana Stanley: When I started the podcast, it was really because I was burnt out on Instagram. I could not show up on Instagram every single day. I felt guilty if I wasn’t posting a reel every day. And because the algorithm is so good, I was only seeing Disney content, and it felt, like, very uninspiring because I don’t really love trends, and I’m naturally, like, turned off by trends, so when something becomes trendy that I’m doing, it’s like I have, like, an aversion to it.

[00:13:47] Dana Stanley: And the things that I was hoping to get out of the podcast originally didn’t actually come to fruition. Like, I had different reasoning of why I wanted to do the podcast, but the byproducts of the podcast that have been wonderful I had no idea. It was not in the plan, and I’m so glad that I just kind of, you know, “I’m gonna start a podcast, and no matter what, I’m doing an episode every week,” and now it’s been over a year.

[00:14:17] Dana Stanley: And it’s something that I found that I really, really like that I didn’t know that I would really, really like. And I think a lot of people don’t realize, A, I had a business before this business, so there were some things that I kinda carried into this business that I didn’t have to relearn, which was really helpful.

[00:14:41] Dana Stanley: And I was also, and also my Instagram, summerworthwhile, I was sharing Disney tips and tricks before that page on my personal page. So, so this has been, you know, eight, nine, maybe even 10 years of slowly stacking things and learning things and adding things. It was not all at once. It was having that foundation and then slowly stacking things over time.

[00:15:12] Dana Stanley: RC Shelley asked, “Favorite Disney character or movie? And biggest Disney faux pas?” Oh my gosh, this is impossible. This is impossible to answer. Um, my favorite Disney character or movie. Can I have, like, char- like, uh, categories? Like, like Disney and then Pixar and then, like, underrated or something. I will tell you my biggest Disney faux pas though, and that is, like, when people don’t clean up after themselves and/or their kids at, like, a restaurant in Disney, especially at quick service.

[00:15:48] Dana Stanley: I will clear the table and pick up… I mean, I’m not picking up crumbs, but you gotta get down on the floor and, like, pick stuff up. And I know that there’s people there paid to clean, and they are cleaning after me, don’t get me wrong. With the highchairs and the table, there’s, there’s sticky stuff that I’m not cleaning up.

[00:16:08] Dana Stanley: But all of the little napkins and little wrappers or little pieces of plastic from your kids’ toys or wet wipes, like, I think that should all be cleaned up. And your tray is put away. I mean, the chairs should be pushed in. Like, I just have a little bit of a pet peeve when people leave their space an absolute mess and expect people to clean up after them.

[00:16:36] Dana Stanley: And again, I know that they’re paid to clean up after them, but they’re not paid to clean up that type of chaos that I see people leave sometimes. So, so that’s definitely, I think, a little bit of a faux pas, if that’s considered a faux pas. Um,

[00:16:55] Dana Stanley: so most of my favorite Disney movies are animal-related. Particularly tiny mice. So I grew up watching, um, The Great Mouse Detective. I could cite the script probably verbatim. Um,

[00:17:20] Dana Stanley: and then also The Rescuers, The Rescuers Down Under, um, Fox and the Hound. I was influenced by my big sister because those were her favorite, were just the really cute animated characters, um- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, that was my first chapter of Disney movies as a kid. Um, I was never super into the princesses.

[00:17:46] Dana Stanley: I was more of like, I was more of like a Lion King, Pocahontas. I really liked Aladdin. Um, I did like Beauty and the Beast. I would say Belle is probably my favorite princess, but I also like Rapunzel. But thinking back to, like, the OGs and when I was a kid, uh, Belle was definitely up there. And then two, like, underrated movies that I really, really like are A Bug’s Life.

[00:18:16] Dana Stanley: I was just talking to my friend about this. Um, we did not have a lot of DVDs growing up. We had maybe, like, five or six, and one of them was Bug’s Life. And my dad, who doesn’t really get into movies that much, was really into A Bug’s Life and we would watch that a lot, um, particularly for the sound effects.

[00:18:41] Dana Stanley: Like, my dad was really into sound effects. And, and after I had kids, um, the truck that I had before the one I’m driving now had a DVD player, which is… sounds really cool, but DVDs are getting, like, old and kinda antiquated. So it- so only, like, one of the slots worked on my DVD player. So if Story wanted to watch a movie, it was either Bug’s Life or Monsters, Inc.,

[00:19:09] Dana Stanley: and I have listened to both of those movies so many times, and I love them both. But put on Bug’s Life and just kinda, like, have it on in the background, and you’ll see what I mean how good the sound- you’ll see what I mean of how good the sound effects are. And then another underrated movie– and then my second underrated movie is The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[00:19:34] Dana Stanley: Um, that has my favorite song in it, which is Out There. Um, such a banger. I love that movie. It’s dark. I hate recommending it to people because if you put it on for your toddler, it’s terrifying. But I like that it’s dark. I like that it’s based off of, you know, a real time period and a real place and a real book.

[00:19:56] Dana Stanley: Which, fun fact, the novel is by Victor Hugo, and the three gargoyles in the movie are Victor and Hugo, and then there’s Laverne, and I don’t know where Laverne comes from. I’ll have to look that up, but I just always thought that was cute. Emily M. Moe asked, “What would you do if your kids ever told you they were, quote, ‘Over Disney?'”

[00:20:19] Dana Stanley: Cry face. Um, I- it’s like it’s terrible to say, I just don’t think they’ll ever say that. If they told me– because we go to Disney World a lot. If they said, “I’m over Disney World”- I think I’d honestly be fine with it. Like, my heart wouldn’t really be broken, to be honest, because, A, I understand. I would suggest if I wanted to go somewhere Disney, if, if I was craving that and they said, “Ugh, we always go to Disney World, I’m so over it,” I think I would just suggest, “Okay, would you rather go to California?

[00:20:56] Dana Stanley: Do you wanna go to Tokyo? Do you wanna go on a cruise? Like, what are you feeling? You feeling trap…” You know, and kind- kind of take it from there. I don’t think I would be upset because, like, my love or, like, my family’s love is not really a love of Disney World per se, it’s a love of Disney. Um, and like, my 10-year-old was writing yesterday a story on my laptop.

[00:21:25] Dana Stanley: Like, she asked to open a Google Doc and just write a story, and I know that that stems from having, like, a very early appreciation for storytelling in general. And I think just Disney and Disney movies, hopefully, maybe I had a hand in that. But just her having an appreciation for a good character or good music, I think that can expand, I mean, so much further than going to Disney.

[00:22:03] Dana Stanley: My friend Nikki did a trip to England, and I’ll touch on this in a second, where she visited, like, kind of the real-life 100 Acre Wood, which is like the inspiration behind the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and that’s the kind of stuff that I would love to do. Like, I still get a little bit of my Disney fix, but we could travel anywhere in the world and find some kind of connection back to that, I think.

[00:22:33] Dana Stanley: Happy Haunts Plan Magic asked, “How are you feeling about the big 10th birthday coming up for Story?” It’s crazy. Um, I can’t believe that she’s going to be 10, and it, like, surprised me. Like, I only even realized this like a few months ago. I was like, “Wait, you’re nine? That means that you’re gonna be 10?” Like, it just doesn’t make any sense, um, because I just had her.

[00:22:59] Dana Stanley: I just gave birth to her. But I know every parent feels that way. But in terms of her age and how much her personality has changed, um, and just parenting, like, parenting’s starting to get… Parenting is starting to get a little harder for me. I think that some people are naturally really good with babies, and some people are really good with toddlers, and some people are good with just different age kids and they usually struggle- with the other ages.

[00:23:34] Dana Stanley: I love the newborn stage and the baby stage, and even a little bit of the toddler stage. As she has gotten older and has more opinions, and she’s, you know, emotionally just like a copy and paste version of me, uh, the good, the bad, the ugly, it’s been interesting. It’s been a little harder for me. You have to…

[00:24:00] Dana Stanley: You know, as your kids get older, you start seeing a little bit of a mirror, and you have to face things within yourself that maybe are a little uncomfortable. But if I can answer unselfishly, and just Story as a person, and just how much personality she has, and how different she is than even just last year.

[00:24:29] Dana Stanley: We’re going back to Disney in just a couple months, and I’m excited to see the changes already of what she’ll be into, what she’ll be more into, and, like, the new things she’ll try as a big 10-year-old.

[00:24:48] Dana Stanley: Diane M. Mul- Diane M. Mulvihill asked, “What is one of your favorite Disney memories with each of your kids?” Um, so with Story, when she was two, um, I have a memory of seeing the fireworks, and the fireworks were not the memory. It was while we were waiting for the fireworks. So we had a fireworks dessert party, and then we went out onto the plaza.

[00:25:16] Dana Stanley: And I don’t know if it was, like, the sugar, to be honest, but you know when your kid just gets in this, like, really goofy mood? But it wasn’t hyper. She just kind of started getting a little goofy, and then I was holding her. I think we were maybe even– Like, I picked her up to maybe even get a picture, and this is probably why the memory is so, like, fresh in my mind, is ’cause we have video of it.

[00:25:45] Dana Stanley: It kind of just happened. Because she was just hugging me. Like, she kept hugging me and hugging me and hugging me. She was just, like, vibrating of, like, just so happy. She was so happy to be there. She was so excited that the fireworks were coming. Um, nothing was really going on. We were just, like, waiting, which can kind of be a little dreaded sometimes.

[00:26:11] Dana Stanley: And I think that’s what made it so special, and she was holding onto my neck, and then she would, like, pull back and, like, look at me. And then she’d smile, and then she’d hug me again. And she was nuzzling my nose. It was just so sweet. I remember it so well, and I’m gonna stop, because I’ll start crying. And then Sailor, my middle, I have really cute memories with her of, like, seeing characters.

[00:26:37] Dana Stanley: She was kind of the first one to get a little bit more into the characters than my oldest. Um, specifically when we went to Crystal Palace. We went there for breakfast. I think it was an early reservation, and it just kind of was a little bit more empty, and the characters were able to spend more time, I think, at our table.

[00:26:58] Dana Stanley: And she was so into

[00:27:05] Dana Stanley: Piglet and– I mean, she was into all of them, and she just kept saying how, I think she said fluffy or fuzzy. Just like, “They’re so soft. They’re so fluffy.” And she would, like, rub their bellies. She loved their costumes. And Piglet got down on her level and was, like, almost like bear hugging her, but they were playing, like, peekaboo together, and she just had the biggest smile on her face, and it was really adorable.

[00:27:35] Dana Stanley: And then my youngest, Crusoe, is funny ’cause I think he’s been to Disney four times and he’s two. Like, he went a lot– Like, we did a bunch of trips when he was really little. So in my mind, that’s what pops up, is before he was walking, like, we barely had shoes on him. I remember going into some of the rides, and they were like, “Oh, the baby needs shoes.”

[00:28:03] Dana Stanley: And I was like, “What? He doesn’t walk.” So, like, that age. He wasn’t even walking yet. And he was getting very responsive to music, and I hadn’t really seen that before the Disney trip, um, until we were getting on, like, It’s a Small World or the Grand Fiesta Tour. I remember that specifically in Epcot, where he would kind of like, he’d put one hand up.

[00:28:30] Dana Stanley: He’d, like, rock his little belly back and forth, and you could feel him. Like, he was on my lap, and we’re on these rides, and you could feel him, like, going with the beat, and it was just so adorable of, like, look at him going with the music.

[00:28:52] Dana Stanley: He hasn’t been on, like, any bigger rides yet, so I think that’s what I’m most excited about with him is, like, riding Barnstormer for the first time. He’s, like, the crazy thrill-seeking boy, and I think that is going to be very fun and funny.

[00:29:11] Dana Stanley: She also asked, “Where else in the world do you hope to visit someday?” And I started to touch on this, but my top answers right now I think are England And/or Paris. Um, even though I feel like we have traveled quite a bit, we have not been to Europe yet, and I think we put… Well, I know we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to, like, do a lot of things while we’re, quote, “over there,” so it’s hard to narrow it down.

[00:29:40] Dana Stanley: And I think just the thought of a longer flight while the kids have been little just has me kind of putting it off. Um, we’ve done a lot of flights with the kids. Um, like it’s rarely a direct flight when we go to The Bahamas or like Rosemary Beach, but we have yet to get over the hump of like a long flight.

[00:30:02] Dana Stanley: So I think just getting that out of the way and like that under my belt would be a relief for me, and then I think like a whole wide world would open up for us. No pun intended. Tracy Ann Mill asked: “What hormone therapy are you on and, and is it helping? Sorry if that’s too personal.” No, not too personal.

[00:30:24] Dana Stanley: I had mentioned on the podcast that I was not feeling good, um, at all. Energy, mood, all of the things were going on. So after months and months of trying to just regulate my hormones on my own and do some natural supplements and diet and exercise, blah, blah, blah, it did not work. Um, so I did start off with a low dose of both progesterone and testosterone.

[00:30:54] Dana Stanley: Um, yes, women need testosterone. Mine was at like a .2. Like, I didn’t have any. Um, so what ended up happening was, long story short, I did not do well on progesterone. Um, I know it helps a lot of my friends, um, and they love it. It did the opposite for me. It had all of the bad symptoms that I was having and made them so much worse.

[00:31:23] Dana Stanley: Um, it made me incredibly puffy. I’ve never retained water like that in my life, even when I was pregnant. Um, it, it was just awful. So that was like a two-week trial run until I was like, “No way, Jose. This is not worth it.” Now the low dose testosterone has been helping and I do like that. Um, I’m sleeping better.

[00:31:49] Dana Stanley: I have more energy, although I would love to have a little bit more. Um, but the biggest thing I’ve seen from that is in my joints and in my muscles. So when you learn more about low testosterone in women, it can cause your muscles to literally atrophy and it’s like a soreness that I was having that I didn’t realize I had until it went away.

[00:32:14] Dana Stanley: So I had said to my doctor, you know, “I can’t work out.” like before when I was having the low energy and all of these problems. And when I’d say that to even my husband or my friends, it’s like, “Yeah, I understand. Like, it’s really hard when you haven’t been working out for a while to get back into the groove or you’re weak.”

[00:32:33] Dana Stanley: But this was more than that. Like, I could not work out. And now I realize it’s because my muscles were not firing the way that they should be from the low testosterone. So as soon as I got those levels just a little bit up, I mean, I felt it right away, where even, like, walking up the stairs felt different.

[00:32:54] Dana Stanley: Um, playing on the street with the kids felt different. It was like this pain, this, like, creakiness went away. I bought a walking pad, so I’m able to just walk a lot more while I’m at home or while Crew is napping. I’ll probably do this after I record. And that has been wonderful just of itself. I wouldn’t say that I’m 100% back to how I remember feeling, um, before I had Crusoe, and that’s, like, where I would really love to be, but I’m definitely better.

[00:33:38] Dana Stanley: And then the last question is @Oodalally, I think is what it’s called. Cute. “Best follows for same vibes for Disneyland and Disneyland Paris?” So I have a great recommendation for Disneyland. That’s my friend Nikki. We actually collaborated on a Disneyland guide together. Her tag is morningswithnikki, and I’ll link her in the show notes.

[00:34:05] Dana Stanley: And Disneyland Paris, I don’t have a strictly Disneyland Paris girly, but I do have my friend Jen, who has been to Disneyland Paris and has blog posts and lots of content about Disneyland Paris that I will also link in the show notes for you.

[00:34:24] Dana Stanley: That’s everything for today’s Ask Me Anything. I feel like that was such a good mix of questions. All right, I will see you next week