Episode #134 I'm Back! - Plus update on how life has been

We share why the mic went quiet, what changed at home, and how a spark on a girls’ trip shaped a smarter, shorter, and more helpful Disney show. Expect quick news, real planning tips, monthly guest trip interviews, and a Monday release you can count on.

• reasons for the hiatus and family milestones
• reflections on empty nest shifts and gratitude for clients
• the return plan with 15–25 minute episodes
• disney news, promos, and time‑saving tips
• deep dives on resorts, parks, rides, and dining
• disney cruise line comparisons and planning advice
• monthly 30‑minute guest trip interviews
• how to be a guest via the form in the show notes
• new travel podcast with Eve coming in April
• weekly Monday release cadence and request for reviews

If you are going to Disney and you would like to be a guest on the podcast, email me at disneytraveltales@gmail.com. I am currently working on my questionairre but would love to know the time of year you are going and get you on the schedule.

I would love for you if you left me a positive review, if you shared the podcast with your friends so we can keep it, you know, going and get a good turnout for the first few weeks.

CLICK HERE if you want a complimentary quote on your next vacation.

Transcript

Why The Break Happened

Family Milestones And A Quiet House

Injury, Healing, And Perspective

The Girls’ Trip That Sparked Change

New Format And Focus

Monthly Guest Trip Interviews

How To Be A Guest

Release Schedule And New Show Tease

Reviews, Shares, And Thanks

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hello, friends. Welcome back to Disney Travel Tales. It has been a long time since I've been on the mic. I think it's been close to a year since I gave my farewell message on the podcast. But I will say a lot has changed, and I am back and really excited to be here. So even though I quit recording the podcast, obviously I'm sure all of you are aware, I kept the podcast up for people to listen to. And I just kept seeing downloads of the podcast. And lately there has been quite a few downloads of the podcast. And so a couple of weeks ago, um, my life has since kind of calmed down a little bit. I was just thinking, you know, I kind of miss being on the mic and I miss talking about Disney because, you know, it's a passion of mine and I just love it. And so I came up with a new way that I was going to present this podcast and put it out into the world that would work easier for me and would be um just more doable with my schedule. And so after really thinking about it and talking to some friends and family, everyone was super supportive. And I just decided to give it a go. I mean, I really have nothing to lose at this point. If it doesn't work out, then, you know, I can just always stop doing it. And but I do think, I think this time will be different. I think this time is going to work out a lot better. So let's just, um, this episode is just gonna be like a little, hi, I'm back, a little update of what's been going on in my life and of what the podcast is going to look like moving forward. So the podcast used to be a long format trip interview, which I loved. I loved doing them, but it was very, very time consuming. And it came at a time, there was just a point in my life that it I couldn't put it as a priority anymore. I really needed to prioritize my family and my kids. And so instead of trying to reformat it at that time, my heart just wasn't in it as it much as it should be. And so I just had to let it go, which I will say the last year has been a really good break. I've taken multiple trips to Disney and not having to really focus on content and you know, what am I gonna podcast about? It felt really good. I will say that my last Disney trip I just went on in January. While I was there, I was really thinking, like, hmm, I could talk about this on the podcast, or I could talk about this. So I do feel like the podcasting bug was definitely coming back to me at the beginning of this year. I just needed some space away from it. Um, and I also just needed to like be present with the people that I live with and just the people in my everyday life for a little bit before I could commit back to it. So, an update on, you know, my family and myself and what's kind of been going on. Two years ago, my oldest graduated from high school and moved off and went to college away. And then last spring, my second son, Asher, was graduating and he was also going to be preparing to move off to go to college. I kind of had, I don't, I just had a really big realization moment that my house and my life was about to be really different. And so I felt the need to just make the most of that like small time I had left when everyone was gonna be home. Um, and we just didn't really know moving forward what the boys' futures were gonna look like. And if there was, I knew last summer everyone was gonna be home, but beyond that, I really wasn't sure what their future was going to look like. And so I just wanted to make the most of it. And we had a great summer. We um spent a lot of time together, and it was just really nice. Asher graduated high school, he finished his high school baseball career, which was great, all wonderful things. And then Aiden came home for this summer from college and just having them all like all three of my kids here, and then me and my husband, it was such a great summer, and we it was just wonderful. And so have you know, stepping back from the podcast and really just not even having to think about it was a great time. I also I was still working as a travel agent. I am still an active travel agent, but I wasn't um like marketing myself, and I really was just living off of referrals and repeat clients. And I just want to say, if you are a client or if you've referred someone to me and you're listening, I cannot thank you enough. I just did not have the mental capacity to be able to fully and 110% run my travel agent business because of all of the like emotions that goes into launching not just one of your kids, but two of your kids into the world. But I still wanted to fully be a travel agent. So if you booked a trip with me and if you referred someone to me, that really truly meant the world to me in this past year because without you, my business would have just died. So I'm just really, really thankful for you. Um, so I just wanted to say thank you. I am back. I will be sending my newsletters out more, I will be marketing myself more. I'm just in a better, calmer place right now, currently in my life, which is it's a great feeling. But along the lines of my kids, so last August we moved both our kit boys away, um, Aiden to his college and Asher to his. And coming home to a very quiet house. And last fall was it was very strange. It actually hit me a lot harder than I thought it was going to hit me. Um it was quite the adjustment. Just having one child at home. My daughter is the only one who's at home now, and she's 13, and she's very busy, and we have a very busy life with her, but she's also a little bit quieter and she's a little bit more chill than they were. So our house is very quiet. And for a lot, you know, 19 years of my life, or the past 19 years of my life, it hasn't been like that. And so it was just quite an adjustment. And then my son Asher actually had a pretty bad injury in November and had to have surgery and had to move back home. And so he was here for a few months and I was taking care of him full-time. He needed full-time care. And that just as awful as his injury was, and how I would never wish that on any of my kids, but even he will say it was such a nice time that we got to have together because having all of them leave and it just being like very traumatic, but then having him come home and getting to spend a lot of time with him, especially a lot of one-on-one time, it was so nice. And so when we got to move him back to school in January, it felt so good to let him go. And I knew he was ready and I felt ready. I finally felt ready to be able to say, you know, goodbye to the boys, y'all just go have the best time that you can and be fully okay with it. I was saying that before, but like to actually feel okay about it and like at peace with it was such a great feeling. And so right after we moved Asher to college, I got to go on a girl's trip with one of my very best friends, and we went to Walt Disney World. We had the most amazing time. I highly recommend a girl's trip with your best friends or a guy's trip with your best guy buddies. It was fantastic. Um, and so it was during that trip that I started just talking to her about things, and so that's when I was like the bug for podcasting was kind of coming back. But I knew if I came back to podcasting, I was going to have to make some changes to the way the podcast was in order to make it fit into my life better and in order to make it just make me more excited about it. So that is where we are now. We are back, Disney Travel Tales is back. Um, and it's going to be a different type of podcast. So I'm gonna let you know what I've been thinking, and I would love your feedback. Um, in the show notes, there's actually a place where you can send me a message, and I would love to hear your feedback regarding these new changes. So Disney Travel Tales will now be a short format podcast. I'm thinking 15 to 25 minutes an episode. I'm going to cover news. I'm going to cover like new travel promotions because Disney is really kicking it out of the park with these travel promotions. And if you haven't traveled to Disney in a bit, this 100% is the year for you to go, either on a Disney cruise or to Disney World or Disneyland. So I'm going to cover stuff like that. I'm also going to go and I'm going to do deep dives into resorts. I'm going to do deep dives into parks. I'm going to do deep dives into rides. I'm going to do my own personal trip reports. I'm going to experience new things in the parks when I go on my trips that I can share with you. I'm going to talk about restaurants, lightning lanes, just all fun things Disney. I'm going to talk about Disney cruises, the different ships, what the different ships offer you. Just really go into a lot of deep Disney fun destination information. Along with that, once a month, I would love to have a guest come on the show. And instead of doing a long format trip report, I am going to do a trip interview. It's going to be about a 30-minute episode, and I'm going to have a questionnaire that I will send to you. So if you are going to Disney and you would like to be a guest on the podcast, please let me know because I'm going to send you a form and all you have to do is answer the questions. I'll have you come on and ask you the questions, answer the questions. It'll be super easy. It'll be super short. We're not going to do the whole day-by-day trip thing. It's going to be more about what resort did you stay at, pros and cons of your resort. What parks did you visit? What was your favorite park? What were your favorite rides? How were the crowds? Where did you eat? You know, if you did any tours or anything extra. And then it's going to be into the nitty gritty of things. How did you get there? What was that like? What was the flight like? What airlines, blah, blah, blah. It's just stuff like that. Um, so it'll be, you'll still get that trip report aspect of it, which I know so many people love, but it's just gonna be in a shorter format, which will be easier for me to put out there. And it will also, I think, be easier for guests who want to come on the show because I would have people who were like, yeah, I'd love to come on the show, but I can't really schedule two hours to come on and talk about my trip, which I completely understand. That is not an easy thing to do, especially if you're working and you have kids and you're busy. Um, so I think this is gonna work well. I don't know when the first interview will be. I am gonna have um a forum in the show notes. If you are traveling and you would like to come on the show and you would like to kind of be one of my first interviewees, I would love that. That would be fantastic. So, yeah, that's just kind of where we're at. That's where the show um moving forward, the show's gonna be the kind of format it's gonna be. It's gonna be coming out on Monday. So expect it in your podcast feed on Mondays. Um, something else kind of exciting is happening as well. While I was on that Disney trip, me and Eve decided that we are going to do a podcast together. That podcast will not come out till April, but stay tuned for it. It's going to be a more travel-centric podcast. So it's going to be traveling in general. And this will just stay a purely Disney podcast. So with that, I am so excited to be back. I hope you're excited to hear me. Um, you know, I'm hoping it's a nice little surprise that pops into your podcast feed if you stayed subscribed to the podcast. Um and I would love for you if you left me a positive review, if you shared the podcast with your friends so we can keep it, you know, going and get a good turnout for the first few weeks. That would mean the world to me. I hope this is a fun place that we can, you know, you can get some good Disney stuff weekly in your earbuds. And like I always say, this is Jenny, and may all your travel dreams become a reality.