90. Dustin Engels, Around the Worlds in 80 Days

The cover image for Dustin Engels' book Around the Worlds in 80 Days, published by Theme Park Press.

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It’s common for Disney fans to dream about the perfect trip. It could involve doing all four Walt Disney World parks in one day or visiting Walt’s original park at Disneyland. More ambitious souls look overseas to Tokyo, Shanghai, and beyond for an epic worldwide trip. Dustin Engels made that vacation happen and experienced all Disney parks in several months. He chronicled his adventures in the book Around the Worlds in 80 Days: One Fan’s Journey to Conquer Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, released by Theme Park Press in July. Few of us will reach all those parks, and Dustin pulled it off in a surprisingly brief time period.

Dustin is my guest on this episode of The Tomorrow Society Podcast to talk about the book and his journey. We dive into original inspirations for his plan and how he separated the parks. The 14 parks (including the water parks) are difficult to catch all in one vacation. Dustin also visited nearly everything solo, with the exception of Paris. This approach created additional challenges, especially with the water parks. The benefit was being able to see a lot in a fairly short time.

It was great to talk about Dustin’s epic trip and hear stories from his visits. Each resort presented its own challenges, including navigation, weather, and lack of any crowds in Hong Kong. There are also the costs, which can get out of control without planning. Even so, Dustin appears to have really enjoyed it. Near the end of the episode, we talk about some of his favorite and least favorite things from the parks. Disneyland Paris does not do so well in the food department. There’s too much to capture from 14 theme parks, but Dustin offers a good summary of his Disney adventure.