A Spirited Perfect Ten

[OSUgirl77]

Indeed... In an attempt to get the most out of a NPS Annual Pass this year, I'll be driving to D23 Expo (from Michigan) and hitting the Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon on the way out and Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Great Basin, Arches and Rocky Mountain NPs on the way home.

If anyone has additional "must-see" National Parks along that route, let me know. Not going far enough north to hit Yellowstone on this trip.

If you have time while at Rocky Mountain NP, I highly recommend visiting (or staying at) the Stanley Hotel. Even if you aren't a fan of The Shining, the hotel is beautiful and full of history. Also, the staff is amazing. I felt very at home there.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Having dealt with BuzzFeed's CFO, legal, and others on multiple occasions, I've come to the conclusion that their business ethics are non-existent.

The same company Iger the Acquirer was so eager to spend a cool billion on a year or two ago. That's the problem with Iger, he spends all this money on shiny things like Marvel or Lucasfilm, which are not necessarily bad decisions, but at the same time he has allowed the core of what makes Disney Disney to rot. The longer Disney thinks it can coast by on 'Brand Deposit' live action remakes, as opposed to developing the talent that could create say the next Star Wars or the next E.T., and letting Dizzy World rot, the harder it will be to fix long term.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Clearly you were not the target of our comments, since you clearly absorbed and experienced the culture and what the locals have to offer.

We're talking about the crowd who specifically just go to a certain thing that as not much to do with the locals.

Yes, I understand that, however, if someone goes to France because they want to see DLP, I do not see anything wrong with that. In fact, I do understand the other side of it. That is why I tend to mock those that go to Florida and sequester themselves in the property of WDW.

What it boils down to is more of a fear of the unknown. If you're raised in a relatively sheltered life or grew up with a family that could not afford to travel, then you chose your destinations based on cost and comfort. I have read so many posts here where people are afraid. They are afraid of the traffic, afraid of getting lost, afraid of the area and the real and imagined dangers that exist out there. Afraid to explore anything other then the safe, security blanket feeling of a Disney park. They can then go home and cross Florida off the bucket list because they indeed spent time in Florida. They can also go to DLP and stay under that imaginary blanket and be able to tell their friends and relatives... "Hey, I went to France". They were able to do that without having to worry excessively about language barriers and making huge mistakes culturally.

Most people are also not overly interested in anything that slightly resembles history. They live strictly in the now and have no real interest in what others do or what they did in the past. Perhaps, a somewhat narrow way to live, but, one can go their entire life without ever seeing anything other then the town that they were born in and die perfectly happy.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I agree with the notion of whatever floats your boat and see no problem with people choosing to visit DLP or choosing not to. I'm not sure how what @doctornick said was elitist. Probably most of the other stuff to do would cost less than DLP. I see no problem with someone putting other attractions in an area ahead of DLP. It's not elitist, just a matter of their opinion. You listed all of the things you have done on previous trips to Paris. Was DLP open at the time of those trips? If so were you being elitist by choosing those places over DLP?

I couldn't think of a better word, but probably should have added "culturally elite". Things like what the most interesting man in the world might say. "I don't go to France often, but, when I do I don't spend any time in Disneyland Paris." I didn't mean it as an insult, just a way of describing an outlook that isn't necessarily universally recognized.

 

[Nemo14]

Personally, I'd skip Petrified Forest NP. Instead, consider Page, AZ and the lower Utah NPs (Zion, Bryce Canyon). That would also likely mean the North Rim of Grand Canyon NP. I'd also add Canyonlands on the way out. I say this with the caveat that I have not yet done any of the Utah NPs, but they are high on my list, and I'm itching to get out to Zion ASAP.

With Zion, I'd highly recommend reading up on the permit system: http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/thesubway.htm

Zion and Bryce are 2 of our favorites. I'd agree about skipping petrified Forest. There's a float trip that leaves out of Page that does part of the Colorado River just before the Grand Canyon, and I would highly recommend it for all ages - http://raftthecanyon.com/. It's about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive to either the North Rim or South Rim of the Grand Canyon from Page. The South Rim has more viewing points, but the North Rim has fewer visitors.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Having dealt with BuzzFeed's CFO, legal, and others on multiple occasions, I've come to the conclusion that their business ethics are non-existent.

Well that goes without saying. Their business model is based on free content.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

If you have time while at Rocky Mountain NP, I highly recommend visiting (or staying at) the Stanley Hotel. Even if you aren't a fan of The Shining, the hotel is beautiful and full of history. Also, the staff is amazing. I felt very at home there.

We went to the Halloween Night Dinner at The Stanley. It's quite creepy. It is one of the few "haunted" hotels that actually feels haunted.

 

[hopemax]

Ditto skipping Petrified Forest. Mesa Verde is my favorite, Zion is my husband's favorite and a close 2nd of mine. Even the National Monuments in AZ are more interesting than Petrified. I like Walnut Canyon outside Flagstaff.

Driving through Joshua Tree might be good too.

 

[OSUgirl77]

We went to the Halloween Night Dinner at The Stanley. It's quite creepy. It is one of the few "haunted" hotels that actually feels haunted.

Very cool. I went ghost hunting with the guys from The Ghost Hunters (I was with Grant, who is very nice btw). There were areas that felt creepy to me, and I had a couple "interesting" experiences, but overall I thought it felt welcoming. Haunted, but welcoming...if that's possible.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Very cool. I went ghost hunting with the guys from The Ghost Hunters (I was with Grant, who is very nice btw). There were areas that felt creepy to me, and I had a couple "interesting" experiences, but overall I thought it felt welcoming. Haunted, but welcoming...if that's possible.

My oldest daughter was 8 and we watched the Kubrick Shining before we went. I had my daughter sneak up to Room 237 and touch the door .

If you remember that movie, then you know how brave of an 8 year old she was.

 

[Nemo14]

Ditto skipping Petrified Forest. Mesa Verde is my favorite, Zion is my husband's favorite and a close 2nd of mine. Even the National Monuments in AZ are more interesting than Petrified. I like Walnut Canyon outside Flagstaff.

Driving through Joshua Tree might be good too.

I used to live in Flagstaff - Walnut Canyon is a neat place. We used to take our lunch breaks there often. Sunset Crater is also pretty cool.

 

[ford91exploder]

They dont even have an appropriate response prepared if guests ask why its down. According to some twitter feeds, Disney was telling guests that the system was down because they were doing
"magical upgrades". While Im sure that was just an explanation to make the situation sound better, it made Disney look foolish because everybody was asking "why would they do an upgrade on a busy Saturday morning"?

Question for any of the IT folks here- Is it common to take a an entire system offline to upgrade or could you just redirect traffic to a different server and wouldnt a better time of day be in the later hours?

Generally it is NOT common to take system offline for the users, What's generally done in WELL RUN IT enterprises is the 'backup system' is upgraded and switched to be the production system, The original system is held in reserve in case the upgrade either fails or runs into unanticipated problems so you can quickly switch back to the original system.

This does leave you with a period with NO backup so most REALLY well run organizations will then set the ternary backup system (ie second backup usually used for testing) as the backup.

With modern load distribution systems (like those from F5 and Cisco) and/or companies like Akamai where 'content distribution systems' are used there should not be 'hard' dependencies on specific physical servers.

Upgrades should be nearly 'hitless' for the end user - If not it's an indictment of the IT departments operational discipline.

 

[OSUgirl77]

My oldest daughter was 8 and we watched the Kubrick Shining before we went. I had my daughter sneak up to Room 237 and touch the door ****.

If you remember that movie, then you know how brave of an 8 year old she was.

A brave 8 year old, indeed! That's so something my dad would've dared me to do, too...love it!

 

[BrianLo]

The same company Iger the Acquirer was so eager to spend a cool billion on a year or two ago. That's the problem with Iger, he spends all this money on shiny things like Marvel or Lucasfilm, which are not necessarily bad decisions, but at the same time he has allowed the core of what makes Disney Disney to rot. The longer Disney thinks it can coast by on 'Brand Deposit' live action remakes, as opposed to developing the talent that could create say the next Star Wars or the next E.T., and letting Dizzy World rot, the harder it will be to fix long term.

I'm not sure I understand the criticism. Last I checked Pixar/WDAS continue to foster young talent with shorts and have many original/creative projects in the the pipeline. The next three releases from those studios are original, the fourth a sequel they waited 13 years to create.

The next live action movie due out this year is a completely original concept film. While an arm of film division has certainly gravitated to the live action remakes, another focuses on adapting children's literature such as the upcoming BFG (that's about as traditional Disney type fair as they come).

Other divisions have fostered and attracted big name talent to their universes and run with risky projects like Guardians of the Galaxy or the upcoming Ant-Man.

Are we going to get 1-2 live action remakes every year for the next decade? Sure...

But we live in a world where the 'film geeks' actually feel the Disney corporation is a bastion of safety for their beloved franchises. How absolutely crazy is that?

The only thing that doesn't currently make 'Disney, Disney', is their ability to screw up execution and ruin properties like they did all too often a decade past.

I do think there is an obvious and predictable formula when it comes to designing their film slate, but... that has always been the case. Disney has never created an ET or Star Wars. At least they are using a winning formula from both a critical and commercial perspective right now.

 

[Cesar R M]

If you have time while at Rocky Mountain NP, I highly recommend visiting (or staying at) the Stanley Hotel. Even if you aren't a fan of The Shining, the hotel is beautiful and full of history. Also, the staff is amazing. I felt very at home there.

Isnt it still haunted?

 

[Cesar R M]

Very cool. I went ghost hunting with the guys from The Ghost Hunters (I was with Grant, who is very nice btw). There were areas that felt creepy to me, and I had a couple "interesting" experiences, but overall I thought it felt welcoming. Haunted, but welcoming...if that's possible.

hold the thing up...
you really were that girl in that episode?
I loved that episode!!

 

[Cesar R M]

I'm not sure I understand the criticism. Last I checked Pixar/WDAS continue to foster young talent with shorts and have many original/creative projects in the the pipeline. The next three releases from those studios are original, the fourth a sequel they waited 13 years to create.

Pretty sure that is, because Lesetter DEMANDS that.
I wouldn't be surprised if Disney Execs had tried to merge Pixar with the Disney studios and pretty much de-assemble Pixar if they could.

 

[OSUgirl77]

hold the thing up...
you really were that girl in that episode?
I loved that episode!!

I wish! No, I wasn't in any episodes, it was an event they had at the Stanley back in 2007. I found out about it online somehow, and my friend and I decided to go. It was a great time, met lots of very nice and fun people (including the guys from Ghost Hunters, as well as people from a few other shows), while knocking the Stanley Hotel and another NP off my bucket list. Very interesting and unique experience, especially for someone such as myself, who is just a casual fan and not a member of the paranormal community.

 

[BernardandBianca]

You can do both see local content and do Disney, if you don't obsess over either too much. We did DLP for one day out of seven, and six other days seeing whatever we could out of Paris for day trips (Mont san Michel took until after midnight, but I don't count that.) TDL and TDS were one day each, and Tokyo, Ikura, and Osaka were each filling enough for the rest of out trip. HKDL was a good afternoon, after spending the morning seeing the big budda further down the island. As a general policy, don't overdo anything.

 

[PhotoDave219]

They dont even have an appropriate response prepared if guests ask why its down. According to some twitter feeds, Disney was telling guests that the system was down because they were doing
"magical upgrades". While Im sure that was just an explanation to make the situation sound better, it made Disney look foolish because everybody was asking "why would they do an upgrade on a busy Saturday morning"?

Question for any of the IT folks here- Is it common to take a an entire system offline to upgrade or could you just redirect traffic to a different server and wouldnt a better time of day be in the later hours?

Yeah they told me that when I called support once.... And it did not go over well.