Hello and welcome back to the Podcasts of the Caribbean blog! It’s high time I announce what’s been brewing in my life behind the scenes the past few months. I’ve waited a while to publicly announce this as I wanted to make sure the details were finalized and everything was ready to go. Keep reading for more details, but in case you just want to know what’s happening, here’s the TLDR:

• I will be working at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida starting at the end of August 2026 to mid January 2027 at the earliest.
• No, the podcast is NOT ending.

My Next Adventure

Some of you may know that I graduated college in May of this year. And with that, I decided to do something that I’ve been going back and forth on for years. As you all know, I am a massive Disney fan and love the Disney Parks. So the Disney College Program has been something I’ve thought about doing many times over the years, but with me graduating college this year, I realized this was my final chance to make the decision to do it or not. So … I applied. And I got accepted. So I will be working at Walt Disney World starting at the end of August 2026 to mid January 2027 at the earliest. I am incredibly nervous but also extremely excited about this opportunity, as I’ll be moving to Florida temporarily for this program, which will be the first time I’ve lived away from home in my life. I’ll adjust, obviously, but despite the anxiety coming with this, it will be an incredible opportunity for my life and also potentially my career.

And to answer the question you’re probably all thinking, no, I won’t be working at the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. While it would’ve been awesome, I was not lucky enough to secure that role. I will however be working at the Disney Skyliner, which I’m still super excited about.

But this program will be taking up a lot of my time, which then begs the question…

What is Happening to the Podcast?

In short, nothing! Podcasts of the Caribbean is NOT ending. But since I will not have the same level of time to commit to it while doing this program, content will be light over the course of the next few months. I’ll still try to get some episodes out here and there, and I will still be regularly posting on my social media accounts. But Season 7 of the podcast will have to wait a little bit longer. This is actually the reason I expanded my plans for Dead Man’s Chest’s 20th Anniversary last month, as I wanted some extra content out there for all of you to enjoy. Hopefully this gives some people the time to listen and catch up on the podcast, and when Season 7 is ready to begin, I of course will update you all with that date when the time comes.

A Recap of This Year So Far

I won’t lie, the past few months have been pretty hard for me. Right after I found out I had been accepted into the Disney College Program, which was in late May, I decided to ramp up my plans for Dead Man’s Chest’s 20th Anniversary because I knew it would be hard to keep the podcast consistent during the program. But literally two days before I announced the countdown celebration for the 20th anniversary, there was a major announcement that really hit me hard. If you’ve watched some of my short form content on social media, you may have seen me wearing shirts from the video games Destiny and Destiny 2 (an online multiplayer role playing game), which I’ve played since 2016. On May 21st, it was announced Destiny would be abruptly ending live service development and receive one last update on June 9th. All future plans for the franchise were cancelled, and the game has now entered its final state with no more updates or new content coming.

This news devastated me, and to be honest, I’m still grieving even over two months since the news. It may be hard for some of you to understand why I feel like this if you haven’t played an online video game like Destiny. I’ve played Destiny for over a decade now, and it has changed my life in so many ways. I’ve made so many friends and lifelong memories because of this game, and I would not be who I am today without this game in my life. It’s been a second home for me during some tough times, and has constantly been there through middle school, high school, and all the way through college.

Pirates of the Caribbean and Destiny have been the two biggest influences in my life, and I am not lying when I say this: Podcasts of the Caribbean would NOT exist if it wasn’t for Destiny. This could be a whole essay on its own, but this game gave me the courage to embrace who I am, and feel brave enough to follow the lead of the content creators who have covered this game on Twitch and YouTube for twelve years. They were the blueprint for me and helped me understand how this “creator” role worked. So if any of you play Destiny, there’s always the chance you’ll see me in game. Look for JD822953 in the wild.

But anyway, the reason I bring that up is because while I was trying to prepare the bonus episodes for Dead Man’s Chest’s 20th Anniversary, I was also trying to grapple with the “death” of Destiny and enjoy the final update to the game as much as I possibly could. There were times where I thought about canceling the bonus episodes because I didn’t feel like I had it in me to make them. But I pushed through and released them all as originally planned, along with finishing my first YouTube video. But June was a tough month, and in addition to all of that, I had a family member pass away in late June as well.

Things have gotten better since then thankfully, and I’m so incredibly grateful that you have all expressed your support on the newest episodes and my YouTube video (which passed 100,000 views recently!). It really means the world to me, and it kept me going through June despite all the sadness I was feeling that month.

I won’t lie, I am very nervous about this life change coming up in a few weeks. It will definitely be a learning experience for me but I’m very excited for it and to see where it could (hopefully) lead me in the future. All of your support means so much to me as I’ve said already and I hope you’ll bear with me as I chart this new course. This is not the end of Podcasts of the Caribbean, and definitely follow my social media accounts to keep up to date with me! I’m especially excited to experience the Beak and Barrel Tavern at Walt Disney World for the first time, so stay tuned for that! But as Captain Jack Sparrow himself said…

Now, bring me that horizon.

-Justin