67. Answers to Your Top Travel Questions Unveiled

I'm diving into your burning travel questions in today's episode! From insider tips about how to enjoy Walt Disney World in the blistering summer heat, to the most breathtaking 4th of July fireworks I've ever witnessed, I'm breaking all down. Plus, I spill the tea on some exciting group trips that are coming up!

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This episode was produced by The Podcast Teacher.

Transcript

Hello there jetsetters. It is I, the OG memory maker of Makin' Memories Travel, and your hostess, Michelle. Welcome back to yet another episode. This week, we are going to uncover all the answers to your burning travel questions. I know you heard a lot of my whining last week, and I'm sorry. However, it did bring out the listener questions and the direct messages. So this week, I'm gonna dig a little deeper and answer some of them for you. So this first question, I just have to say I love this question because it does mean y'all listened to me wine last week.

So it is, what advice would you give someone who is going to visit Walt Disney World during the summer? So other than not go, seriously, go any other time of the year. It may be slightly more crowded because lately, the parks haven't been too crowded in the summer or I should say peak crowded in the summer because it is so hot. So if you can't go over Christmas when it is extra crowded or Thanksgiving, the week leading up to Thanksgiving, if you're if you're dealing with school vacations or time off issues, that's always a great week to go. But, okay, you are set. You are going during the summer. That is when you are gonna go. That's when the pricing works out. That's that's that.

Don't forget your sun safety essentials. Stay hydrated. It is so hard to stay hydrated. But the number one tip would be, from me, is stay at a Walt Disney World Resort. And if you know me well, you know that I don't often do that anymore because we have a time share that is not Disney. So on this most recent trip where I ended up whining a lot, I was not staying on Disney property, and that would have been the number one thing to at least ease my trip because the the ease of getting back to the resort during the hottest part of the day or perhaps during the rainstorms. It's just it's the ease of getting back to your resort, when you're staying right on-site is a 100% easier than when you're not staying there. And then also you did get that half hour of early entry, so you can accomplish as much as you can early on in the day before the heat really, really sets in.

And then you can save shows like Mickey's Philharmagic or even, Frozen at Disney's Hollywood Studios or The Little Mermaids coming back or, at Epcot. There's lots of indoor shows and a very nice indoor ride living with the land. You can save those to do during the hottest part of the day and save, the outdoor lines and things like that for earlier in the day. And then if you're staying at a deluxe resort on-site, you might get extended evening hours, which is even nicer. Once the sun does go down, it really felt much better. Now the second question, I also love because it means you are following my Instagram, which is at jet setting with Michelle, and Michelle is still spelled with one l. So I posted about things you can do to stay cool. 757, I don't remember, things that you can do to stay cool, and one of them I said was drink electrolytes.

And so somebody actually asked me what kind of electrolytes I like, and I like Propel. And I buy the packets of them, and then I just buy generic water bottles. My first stop is always a Publix or a Target. I get my, you know, 12 different water bottles very inexpensively. And then I put one every day with electrolytes, and then I bring an extra packet of electrolytes because I know that first water bottle is gonna go quickly, and I'm gonna need to replace it. As an annual pass holder, I can replace my you know, I can get cold water bottles slightly less than everyone else if I buy them at a merchandise shop. So, you can bring in coolers, or in your backpack, you can bring in additional water bottles, and you can get free cold water at any quick service place, including Starbucks and Joffrey's. You just have to ask for it.

So that's another way to fill up your water bottle. So that and then I always try and add electrolytes because I don't really like to drink water that much, and it really helps me to like the taste and to try and stay hydrated and replace my electrolytes all at once. So thank you so much for both listening to me whine and following my Instagram. Now I also got a question from, the episode before on the July 4th fireworks, and somebody asked me which one is my favorite. So first, I have to qualify which ones I've been to. So I used to watch the Disney fireworks a lot when I worked here. I worked at the Grand Floridian Beach Resort and at the Contemporary Resort, and so I always got pretty nice viewing locations for the Disney fireworks. And I saw them again this year, and I will talk more about my hack for that.

It actually worked, I should say. So I made an 8:30 dining reservation at Citricos at Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort, which is on the second floor, and had a view of the beautiful bay windows and had a great view of the fireworks, and they piped in the music. So all in all, that was great, and enjoyed the Disney fireworks this year as well. I've also seen fireworks Washington DC where, as I mentioned, I lived for graduate school for, about 6 months, and that was pretty breathtaking. I've seen the, July 4th fireworks in Boston and New York City and Philadelphia. So I've kinda seen all the historic locations, but at the other places I mentioned, I've not seen any on the West Coast. I don't think I've been to New Orleans in the summer, so I haven't seen those. I definitely haven't seen Nashville or Saint Louis.

So some of those are definitely, places I would definitely wanna go to, especially the one in Anchorage. I would love to see 4th July fireworks in Anchorage. But so my favorite time of seeing any fireworks ever was and I I misspoke when I talked about this, was in New York City. And I thought it was in the bicentennial, but, actually, it was the year the Statue of Liberty got rededicated, and they had grandstand seating that we got tickets for. And that was the best fireworks display I've ever seen in my life. It was amazing. It gave me chills, and I still remember the feeling of patriotism and just getting choked up watching them. They were great.

But, also, one of my favorite places to be of all those places I've just mentioned was for the bicentennial in 17/76. We were in Philadelphia, and, we had just seen Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, and then that night there were fireworks, and that was pretty cool. So I got one other question about group trips and where you could come along and travel with me. And so before I answer that, if you are a fan of jet setting with me, be sure to review and recommend this podcast to others. And if you follow the podcast by hitting the check mark, the episodes will show up automatically in your feed, and, of course, I will love you forever. Group trips that I have coming up. So in October, there is a small group going with Trafalgar to Spain and Portugal, and there is, I would say there's plenty of room on that one if that's something of interest for you. In November, I have a small group of experienced travelers doing a curated Jewish history tour of Morocco.

There's only one spot left for that. So if you're interested in that, please, direct message me on Instagram or Facebook. My group is jet setting with Michelle on Facebook, so we'd love to see you there. In 2025, we are doing the bridgerton experience, and there are only 10 spots available for that. And it hasn't opened for sale yet, but when it does, there are only gonna be 10. Also, in 2025, a wine tasting river cruise that has stops in Normandy is one of the stops. And then on my list still to schedule or or do our trips to Switzerland and Antarctica. So if those are something that you're excited to see, of course, I would love to hear from you.

And with that jetsetters, we're all still in the midst of summer vacation. So I'm gonna shut up now, keep this under 12 minutes, and talk to you next week.