Hosting a live podcast with kids can be tricky. I often react on the fly to something they say that changes the conversation in an instant. As such, we don’t do many interviews. Plus, interviews need to be engaging both with topic and interviewee so the kids can stay focused. Thankfully, talking with someone from Feld Entertainment’s Jurassic World Live Tour, we found an exciting balance!

Listen here and hear the conversation!

[powerpress]

Seriously, how could this conversation not be awesome? Look at that image? Those dinosaurs look incredible! We start by talking about the show and quickly move to dinosaurs, fire, flamethrowers, dinosaurs eating people, cool merchandise, motorcycles, and pyro! It is every kid’s dream!

And, yes, of course I ask if I can ride a dinosaur. (Spoiler Alert: No, I can’t).

The Jurassic World Live Tour is on tour now. You can see when it hits your city here.

Remember, you can listen to some of our other interviews here on GeekDad: Mindy Thomas and Jill Witecki.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music, or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

I really didn’t know how my son would react to Ad Astra. A slow-moving space drama? This isn’t a movie that propels toward Neptune with rocket speed. Even the movie’s basic plot (a son going into space to search for his father) isn’t something (I hope) he relates to. We have a good relationship—so a son searching for his long lost dad… Was it something he would relate to at all?

Listen here and hear the discussion!

[powerpress]

Since the movie was low on action, it needed something else to draw the audience in (especially if you’re bringing a 12-year old). Luckily, he was wrapped up in the drama of the plot. Even though the movie doesn’t move along quickly, it stays engaging. Ultimately, however, I think the visuals were what engaged him the most. The film looks beautiful and sparks all the imagination in a tweenager’s brain.

Remember, you can listen to some of our other movie podcasts here on GeekDad: Avengers: Infinity War, Ender’s Game, and Back to the Future.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Central Florida has more to offer than just theme parks and beaches. Sure, those are the attractions that bring the tourists in, but the area is pretty diverse with cultural locations. Recently, we took a trip to Sarasota, FL to check out The Ringling (and the Circus Museum).

Listen to the podcast episode here:

[powerpress]

The first thing we need to mention about The Ringling is that it is IMMENSE. Seriously big. It’s acres and acres big. This gigantic campus contains a museum (well, two, but one was closed during our visit), a mansion, a modern art museum, and a playground (with the World’s Fastest Slide {Note: not official, but it certainly felt that way to us}).

We spent the majority of our visit inside the Circus Museum. The kids weren’t sure if they’d see anything they’d like. Those fears were quickly dispelled when we found “the model.” The model is a giant (giant is an understatement. It is super giant. Mega. It’s like a sideshow attraction all by itself) showcase of what a town looked like when the circus rolled through. Here’s one small section of it:

It took us almost 30 minutes just to walk through it. As you walk through you see how they used over 1300 workers to build the tents, cook the food, care for the animals, and create the magic of the circus. Not only does the model give you a physical look at the sights of the circus, but it also fills the air with sounds. Each part of the model is accompanied with different background noise to help put you in right in the circus. One of the kids is convinced he even smelled cotton candy at one point. We ogled at every piece of detail, every sound, every smell.

Whereas the model was the single most impressive thing, it was only the beginning. There is a room dedicated to circus advertising (far more interesting than it sounds). There is also an area devoted to the show itself. Not only can you see famous acts or read about the performers, there are also interactive exhibits like walking a tightrope, a human cannonball model, and stuffing yourself into a clown car. (Note: of course I tried to squeeze myself into it. Getting in was far easier than getting out…)

Remember to click on the podcast link above to hear all about this amazing adventure!

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music, or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Note: Visit Sarasota County provided the passes for our trip to The Ringling. All opinions in this article and podcast episode are our own. You can learn more about attractions in Sarasota, FL, at www.VisitSarasota.org or www.SarasotaBigPass.com.

When looking for family vacation spots – places of historic value haven’t always been on our list. This year, however, we decided to take our kids’ love of the Hamilton soundtrack and craft a vacation around it.

We headed up to Virginia and stopped at the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown (and Yorktown battlefield) and the Jamestown Settlement (no direct Hamilton connection, but the historic hook was already baited).

The biggest question we were faced with was how far this Hamilton obsession would take us. My parents took me to every historic site this side of the Mississippi when I was a kid. I didn’t have a cultural guidepost to lead me, however. Thus, my appreciation for those trips was low (and, I imagine, my whining about them was great). We were banking a lot on a musical they haven’t seen helping keep their interest.

Listen to the podcast episode here:

[powerpress]

Did the seeds of history sprout within our kids? Was a song like “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)” able to give them context to what they were seeing? Would going to these places of historical significance in turn give them greater context for the musical?

In short – our vacation got historic! (NOTE: That’s a Dad joke I’ve been running into the ground, and the kids hate it, which makes me say it even more.) We still threw in some non-historic items as well (like going to Busch Gardens Williamsburg) but for the most part, it was a lot of history.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music, or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

We ride a lot of roller coasters. Spending too much time at theme parks is just what you do when you live in Central Florida. Panic can set in, however, when you’ve realized you’ve been to all the parks around dozens of times. When that happens, where can you go to get a new coaster fix? For us, we traveled north to Virginia and hit up Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Listen to the podcast episode here:

[powerpress]

How did we like it? We loved it. We rank our favorite rides in the podcast. One thing I’ll say is… a lot of the rides look insane. No sane person should look at the gravity-defying structures and think “hmmm… I want to try that!” Seriously:

What sane person would ride that? My kids, that’s who. I may have skipped one or two.

One thing we didn’t cover much in the episode is how gorgeous the park is. There was a riverboat ride we wanted to go on to really get a good look at everything but ran out of time. Seriously, check out this image. This is inside the park:

Over the years we’ve had a few episodes from Universal Orlando (Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure, the Blue Man Group) and Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and strange food in EPCOT).

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music, or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Orlando can be a tough place to visit. It’s overwhelming. There are so many things vying for your time and money. Sure, the theme parks dominate most of the mind share (Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure, Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, SeaWorld) but you can find gems in the add on experiences as well, like The Void at Disney Springs or the Blue Man Group at Universal’s CityWalk. Also at CityWalk? The best miniature golf course you’ll ever visit: Hollywood Drive-in Golf.

Miniature golf is right of passage for pretty much any vacation. It just seems to happen. It’s an easy family-bonding activity that bridges a gap of time between dinner and ice cream. Themes may change but for the most part, they all feel somewhat similar. It’s hard to find a course that is unique that leaves you impressed by the time you spent there.

Hollywood Drive-In Golf does just that, however. Seriously, take a look at this place:

It’s hard to capture the place completely within a picture. It is easily the most aesthetically unique miniature golf course I’ve ever seen. If Tim Burton designed a golf course – this would be it.

Listen to our review here:

[powerpress]

Hollywood Drive-In Golf is another of those great smaller activities you should take in.

The site contains two 18-hole courses, both inspired by 1950s-era drive-in movies. There’s a Horror course (“The Haunting of Ghostly Greens”) and a Scifi course (“Invaders From Planet Putt”). Individually either would be the most elaborate min golf course ever.

We debated our favorites on these courses a lot. Which course did we like most? What were our favorite holes? Heck, we debate what small features we liked most (the glowing heart of a skeleton on a casket when you hit the ball into it was a family favorite.)

Have you played the course? What were your favorite parts? Match any of ours? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

You can find out more about Hollywood Drive-In Golf at there website: https://www.hollywooddriveingolf.com/

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Board games with kids can be hard to navigate. Different skill levels and difficulties can cause chaos to Family Game Night in a hurry. Once you get beyond the staples it’s hard to find games for the entire family to play together. You can find some (like these smaller card games or dice games) but eventually you start playing games where age group differences come into play. For instance, Ticket to Ride is something everyone in my family can play (especially if we use the ‘My First Journey’ version). Other games, like Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, however, are just for older kids.

There is a great write up on the game here. We read through it a few times before we dove into the game. The game also serves as its own primer (as the first two levels give a good introduction into the mechanics of the game). It doesn’t give you a good look into the complexities of the game, however, until a it further into it.

My 7-year old tried to play (he was familiar with deck-building games) but he didn’t make it very long. Instead, my 12-year old and I took on the battle alone. How did we do? Could we save Hogwarts? Or did we succumb to the evil forces coming up around us? Listen here and find out!

[powerpress]

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

One of our family traditions is playing games. We never have a game night, per se, but instead try and play a game after dinner a few times a week. It’s a great way to engage with the kids and have everyone participate in something together. Lately the game of choice has been Ticket to Ride.

In general, we’ll play anything. You can hear about some dice games we like or smaller card games as well. Ticket to Ride is different though. It’s a gateway drug into a new world of board games the entire family can enjoy.

The game has been around a while (and odds are if you are reading this you’ve played it as well). But we discovered it while checking out a board game cafe last year. We loved it – but then didn’t play it again for over six months (even though we had purchased it). Since then, however… It’s been train on.

Listen here and hear the discussion!

[powerpress]

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Good. Because now we have to talk about it. Where does it fall on the list of Marvel movies? Is it worth the hype? Did the kid like it? It is safe to say that spoilers are ahead. A lot of them. We don’t hold anything back.

We also discuss how this is the best version of Back to the Future 2 ever. The kid doesn’t agree with my assessment of that. (He’s wrong.)

Listen here and hear the discussion!

[powerpress]

Additionally, you can listen to some of our MCU-specific podcasts here on GeekDad: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Thor: Ragnarok.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Listen here and find out!

[powerpress]

The problem with ranking all these movies is that there is a correct order (mine) and then that of other people. I know some might not have Ironman 3 near the top of their list (they’d be shortsighted) or might have Guardians of the Galaxy 2 higher (they’d be wrong). The point isn’t to scold others for their bad choices—but to celebrate mine. #WhateverItTakes

In all honesty, ranking all these movies is really hard. But that’s what heroes do, we make the hard choices. So many of these films are so incredible that even a great movie might not rank that high. I’ve often challenged friends who say “that one is a top 5 movie for sure” to try and actually list them—and discover that you may have 10 movies in your “top 5.”

What is your list? Does it compare to ours? Do you have a love for something that we didn’t fully praise?

Additionally, you can listen to some of our MCU-specific podcasts here on GeekDad: Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, and Thor: Ragnarok.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Over the year we’ve had a few episodes from the Resort (Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure, the Blue Man Group). As our Annual Pass comes to end, we wanted to look back over the year and each of us come up with a specific top 3 “must do” list when we go there. Some of our choices are… unique. (Yes, I must, must, must go through the E.T. queue line whenever I’m there and will not leave until it happens. It’s my happy place.)

Listen to the Podcast episode here:

[powerpress]

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Welcome to The VOID a fully immersive VR experience (they use the term “hyper reality” and… that is a fitting description) that puts you inside a fully graphically realized environment. We went to the Disney Springs location where we entered not only that Galaxy Far, Far Away; but also played games with Ralph and Vanellope in “Ralph Breaks VR.”

Listen the Podcast episode here:

[powerpress]

First, to clarify the two experiences, my family was in agreement. Ralph was more fun (shooting pancakes at bunnies in an ice cream parlor is amazingly cathartic) whereas “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire” was far more cooler. (Seriously, how could it not be?)

Both were Bodaciously Awesome and worthy of your time and money.

In “Ralph Breaks VR” you get digitized and go into the Internet. First, you get a chance to get used to your surroundings before then playing games. You play a Space Invaders-like game and then you head into the ice cream parlor where you get pancake guns and shot bunnies. It’s amazing. This quote from Ralph Brakes the Internet is like the basis for that section:

Pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake! Pancake, pancake! Pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake, pancake! Eat, little bunny! Eat, eat, eat!

I never really wanted to jump into Ralph’s world and fire pancakes at bunnies. But, now that I have, I really want to do it again.

But, let’s take on the Empire, shall we?

“Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire” drops you into a Rogue One era mission – and it’s amazing. You and your team disguise yourselves as Stormtroopers and go on a mission that Cassian Andor gives you. I’m pretty sure I squealed with delight a few times (as I wandered around the simulation throwing out movie quotes left and right). The VOID sets up the mission perfectly:

Under the orders of the budding rebellion, your team will travel to the molten planet of Mustafar. Your mission is to recover Imperial intelligence vital to the rebellion’s survival. Alongside the pragmatic droid K-2S0, your team must navigate through an enemy facility walking into danger at every turn. Disguised as stormtroopers, grab your blaster, solve puzzles, and fight giant lava monsters in an effort to fulfill your team’s orders.

Mustafar. Lava Monsters. Blasters. Exciting is hardly the word I would choose! I know Disney is trying to give guests a physical immersion with Galaxy’s Edge later this summer, but I don’t know how they’ll fully transport guests better than this.

My only complaint about either experience is that they could be a few minutes longer. Either of the adventures is somewhere between 10-15 minutes and both could have easily used another 5 minutes (another room, another puzzle, another game… something to prolong your time inside a little longer).

Beyond that, it is the most unique thing you’ll do on your vacation.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Today we have our first celebrity interview! We sit down and talk with Mindy Thomas – host of the “Wow In the World” Podcast on NPR. Can the kids navigate an interview successfully? Well, Zachary does challenge her to eat bugs (and I’m not sure if that’s a success factor or not).

Mindy created a stage show based on the Podcast and is taking it on the road. It comes to Tampa on April 6 and then Chicago, Denver, Nashville, and Boston later this Spring/Summer (you can get tickets here).

[powerpress]

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

What about you? Are you as excited as Matt? (Exciting is hardly the word I would choose.) Have you watched the trailer video Disney released back in December? Will you be skipping around this land like you’re in Geek Heaven quoting ‘Star Wars’ all day (General, count me in).

Use the Force and listen in as we get in line (metaphorically at least) for Star Wars: “Galaxy’s Edge.”

[powerpress]

Remember, you can listen to a recap of our Orlando Theme Park episodes: Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom here, Animal Kingdom here, EPCOT here, and strange food in EPCOT here.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

[powerpress]

This was initially not a movie I thought would be an important piece of my son’s cinematic education. I thought that timeless classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Raiders of the Lost Ark would be the building blocks of a love for movies. I knew that “current” movies like Avengers: Infinity War or Incredibles 2 allow him to converse in popular conversation, but I didn’t think an animated Spider-Man movie was going to be both current cultural cache and a movie that might stand the test of time. I was wrong.

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s rare they ever want to know about any of the others. But, there are other fun parks in the area. SeaWorld is an often over-looked park by general visitors but has a lot of fun within it. It is packed with fantastic rides.

A small note. For the family nature of this Podcast, we refrained from discussing the larger issues surrounding SeaWorld during the Podcast. We did use the visit as a way to engage our kids about the controversies, however. It was a topic we explored with them at long length – just not on the Podcast.

We focused the episode on the experience of the park. All other conversations were had (just offline).

Remember, you can listen to a recap of our Orlando Theme Park episodes: Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom here, Animal Kingdom here, EPCOT here, and strange food in EPCOT here.

[powerpress]

You can listen via iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music; or you can also follow the RSS feed! If you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

NOTE: SeaWorld Orlando provided us with passes for the day but did not influence any content on the Podcast.

Today is a day like that. Now that the NFL season has wrapped up – I felt it necessary to travel back in time a few months to the start of the NFL season. We did a Podcast at that time about what we thought was going to happen. Did our theories on the season hold after Week 1? Find out within!

[powerpress]

Remember, if you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Sure, some are more entertainment than education (like the Guinness Book of World Records museum) but others such as the Museum of Popular Culture definitely open up their eyes and minds. The concept is the more we can get them into a museum, any museum, the more likely they’ll be up for absorbing whatever is inside.

This week we take aim at another “attraction-like” museum: The College Football Hall of Fame. We recently took the kids to their first college football game and with that knew we needed to visit this museum as well.

Did they like it? More importantly, did their non-football-watching Grandmother enjoy it? Answers await on the Podcast!

[powerpress]

Remember, if you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

In January of 2018, we recorded an episode about the fun things we wanted to do that year (and you can listen to that here). This year we wanted to not only set our sights on some new fun targets for 2019, but also see how some of our more random resolutions turned out (like seeing specific movies, seeing the Blue Man Group, or eating lots of tacos). We did pretty good on our 2018 resolutions! Did we make big enough stretch goals on our 2019 ones? Find out!

[powerpress]

Remember, if you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.

Listen to our podcast episode about the show here:

[powerpress]

The show follows segments similar to most Cirque shows. There’s a juggling act, for instance (and it’s great). What sets this show really apart is how they use the ice environment. Seeing Cirque on a stage is amazing, seeing it unfold on ice is next level.

The show is full of death-defying set pieces. I couldn’t count the number of times we sat frozen on the edge of seats, jaws wide open as we watched the show. Both kids were completely engaged—with my older son getting out his phone a few times to take photos to show his friends the next day. The most dazzling piece was the hockey scene.

The most amazing thing about the hockey scene? Ramps. Lots of ramps. You know when you see Cirque performers bringing out ramps, you’re about to see something special. For this scene they brought out 10 of them and arranged them all over the ice. They then proceeded to speed skate and jump (and do mid-air flips) as they went through a hockey scene. (Of course, our heroine, Crystal, comes out wearing a hometown Lightning jersey, much to the delight of the crowd.)

Living in central Florida, my kids don’t get to experience cold weather often. This year we had two spectacular ice-based experiences, this and ICE! at the Gaylord Palms. Both were wildly different and incredible in their own way. Cirque du Soleil’s CRYSTAL was a great way to cap off our year with a fantastic show that both kids and adults loved.

You can find out more about Cirque du Soleil’s CRYSTAL on their website.

Remember, if you leave us a comment on iTunes with your name, we’ll give you a special shout out on a future show. You can connect with the show on Facebook and Twitter.