A Spirited Perfect Ten

[Phil12]

Well, because of your blindness, you are completely missing my points. Obviously, everybody has different experiences. Some good, some bad. Yes, buses are sometimes crowded. I've been on them when it is wall-to-wall people many times. Does that ruin my vacation? Of course not. Why would it? I have no problem with people having negative feelings towards anything. If you have read that between my lines, then I apologize. Everyone has every right to complain and b !tch about anything and everything they wish to. My only point was if it upsets you that much, why do you even go? You KNOW that there is ALWAYS going to be SOMETHING that doesn't go according to plan. There is always something like that when we go anywhere, not just to Disney. Do we let it get the best of us? No, because that is simply counterproductive, and a time waster.

I am really sorry that you find Disney to be the carp heap that it is. Maybe you'll have better luck at Universal in the future.

In the last several trips at WDW we've stayed at the Contemporary Resort. But just for fun, at the MK closing we caught a bus to the Pop Century to see how the valve resort folks live. The chatter on that bus was mostly negative. I could hardly wait until we got to the Pop Century so we could catch a bus back to the CR and be back with our own kind.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Sounds to me like all you're doing is moving the place where you're waiting for the bus - from the bus stop to the park. Comparing your times to those mentioned in this thread fails to account for the time you spent waiting until you got to the stop

Why would I want to wait in a crowded line, to get onto a crowded bus??? Yes, you can certainly put that way, but strolling through an empty park enjoying the music and lights, is in no way comparable to standing at the bus stop.

 

[flynnibus]

My only point was if it upsets you that much, why do you even go? You KNOW that there is ALWAYS going to be SOMETHING that doesn't go according to plan. There is always something like that when we go anywhere, not just to Disney. Do we let it get the best of us? No, because that is simply counterproductive, and a time waster.

The delta here is... some acknowledge the problems and don't let it get them worked up... while others always try to argue that they are making stuff up, exaggerating, etc. When hard pressed with facts like the 1.5hr bus transfer.. they explain it away.. vs facing the fact that you need to play 1.5hrs to get somewhere you can do the same in about 25mins in alternate forms. Maybe the 1.5hr doesn't bother you.. but don't act like it doesn't exist. That's where the conflict comes in... the apologists or selective views.

I am really sorry that you find Disney to be the carp heap that it is. Maybe you'll have better luck at Universal in the future.

Actually my last vacations have been at DL, and Disney Cruises... because I don't feel compelled to pay for what has become a lesser WDW product while other avenues still excel. And it's not just WDW or go home.. my other stops have included KSC, Seaworld, Discovery Cove, and more. I do actually let my feet do the talking. So please keep your passive aggression to yourself.. I am doing just that. Doing other vacations that have compelling reasons to try them out.

 

[Mike S]

LOl no I got the honor of meeting GWB and Obama as I was part of a business roundtable for both presidents on the restaurant and hospitality industry and discussions on the effects of min wage on our business.
It is a very unreal experience when you get to meet them like that one I will never forget.

I was at a New York Rangers hockey game once at Madison Square Garden when they announced that Bill Clinton was there and showed him on the jumbotron. Not as cool as your story but still pretty neat.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Especially the ones who point out their self-proclaimed label of being a "Proud DVC Member" and eat at Shula's all of the time.

Yup, proud due to all of the negativity that seem to surround the people on these forums towards DVC. And I never profess to eat at Shula's all the time. We have eaten there exactly twice in the last 8 years. I was using it as an EXAMPLE for a bus trip that needed 2 buses. I could just as easily have used the Turf Club at SSR, or any other restaurant at any resort.

Can you get any snarkier???

 

[LuvtheGoof]

The delta here is... some acknowledge the problems and don't let it get them worked up... while others always try to argue that they are making stuff up, exaggerating, etc. When hard pressed with facts like the 1.5hr bus transfer.. they explain it away.. vs facing the fact that you need to play 1.5hrs to get somewhere you can do the same in about 25mins in alternate forms. Maybe the 1.5hr doesn't bother you.. but don't act like it doesn't exist. That's where the conflict comes in... the apologists or selective views..

I absolutely acknowledge that it does exist, and no, it doesn't bother us if it takes that long. Yes, we could take a cab, but we choose not to. I am not apologizing for anything. If someone wants to not wait on Disney transport, then they are perfectly free to rent a car, take cab, heck, hire a limo. But the way that y'all paint the picture, is that everybody is doing nothing but riding a stinking bus full of stinky people for hours on end, and that simply isn't true.

I'm just tired of all of you going in the direction that says that Disney transportation/resorts/attractions/restaurants etc. all suck. And you DO say that. Please do NOT try to say that a lot of you here DON'T think the place is a dive. Your posts say otherwise. Someone new to these boards - and we have seen a few lately - see nothing but y'alls disdain for WDW, and think the place must suck to high heaven, and they won't have a great trip to WDW. That is a complete lie, and I'm simply trying to paint the other side of the house - NOT a completely pixie dust side - as I have many times stated that I don't like or agree with everything they are doing, but it is nowhere near as bad as the picture that y'all paint around here.

Not picking on you in particular flynn. Just a generalization.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

In the last several trips at WDW we've stayed at the Contemporary Resort. But just for fun, at the MK closing we caught a bus to the Pop Century to see how the valve resort folks live. The chatter on that bus was mostly negative. I could hardly wait until we got to the Pop Century so we could catch a bus back to the CR and be back with our own kind.

I would be too if I stayed at a Value resort. Ewwww!

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to add the sarcasm tag on this. It was meant in jest.

 

[michmousefan]

I try to avoid network television. I don't enjoy it. I tried Agents of Shield but I didn't care for it after six episodes, so I went back to HBO/NetFlix.

I'll grant you that in general the HBO/Netflix setup is going to give you some great stuff — I liked Daredevil quite a bit — but SHIELD has improved markedly from the first half of the first season. Like the last eight of season 1 and a lot of season 2 — including last night's finale — have all been quite good IMO. Plus they are laying the groundwork for the Inhumans stories, too.

But HBO has been lapping the big 3 (or 4) networks in terms of overall quality for a long time now. Must be a refreshing change when you don't have to sell burgers, insurance, pharmaceuticals, etc.

 

[baymenxpac]

i actually really empathize with @LuvtheGoof, because i see a lot of myself and my situation in him. all except with the love of disney transport. i thank my lucky stars that i have only take two trips in the last two decades that i didn't either have my own car or a rental. disney buses are where a little piece of everyone dies.

my family bought into DVC in '93. great investment, gave my family and i tons of amazing times throughout the years, and we still utilize our points. up until 2011, i had been off property just once ( in '94, we spent a day at UNI). let me just say that i, too, thought i had little interest in venturing out of the bubble. then i saw the light. even if you have no interest in the IP at UNI, you should try it out. i grew up in a time where i bit on all the talking points, that UNI's standards aren't disney, and there's just something about WDW that UNI can't replicate. unfortunately, the performance we came to expect from WDW in the '90's is found further up I4 nowadays.

listen, disney is still fun, and being a DVC member can be great. points give us members access to some hotels that just wouldn't be feasible at rack rates (it's how i stayed at BLT in a magic kingdom view one bedroom for my honeymoon). but if we didn't have the luxury of being DVC members, i wouldn't even think about disney as a vacation destination anymore. it's stale and just doesn't provide a good value, particularly for the demographic my family is currently in. i don't know when you bought in goof, but is it long enough ago to remember the two *FREE PARK PASSES* that accompanied every stay until the new millennium?

that's just one way of how things were different back then. should i dip into the time, on a 1995 visit, that our AC in our OKW studio was broken. a tech showed up at 11 PM to repair it, and a huge gift basket arrived the next morning to apologize us for the inconvenience. in 2010, i stayed at an OKW studio and the refrigerator had defrosted all over the carpeting. not only did it take maintenance two days to come, when they did, they essentially sprayed carpet cleaner, leaving us with a moldly, mildew smell in our room for the duration of our stay.

it's anecdotes like this, that i'm sure we can all share to an extent, that have cheapened the experience. i think it's great you're still enjoying your DVC investment, but is it really as enjoyable as when you bought in? if it is for you, that's great! but i can't say ours is. and that infuriates me, because you've essentially pre-purchased vacations from a company that has flat out moved the goal posts.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Sounds to me like all you're doing is moving the place where you're waiting for the bus - from the bus stop to the park. Comparing your times to those mentioned in this thread fails to account for the time you spent waiting until you got to the stop

It's not about time, it's about pleasantness. I'd rather wait on a bench with a snack somewhere than in a queue with hordes of y children.

 

[dyerneeds]

Then I guess it's time y'all took a break from WDW.

Exactly!! But then they couldn't get on here and "Gloom and Doom" the thread!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

points give us members access to some hotels that just wouldn't be feasible at rack rates (it's how i stayed at BLT in a magic kingdom view one bedroom for my honeymoon).

If you had taken the $30K you dumped into the program in the first place and put it in a decent growth stock mutual fund, you'd have a lot more flexibility to be booking rooms wherever you want.

Also, can we ban the use of "rack rates" from all conversation around here? It's dishonest when used as a point of comparison because NOBODY pays rack rates. From an economic perspective, "price" is what the customer actually pays. Rack rates are an illusion to make you think your 30% offer is a "deal."

 

[CaptainAmerica]

But HBO has been lapping the big 3 (or 4) networks in terms of overall quality for a long time now. Must be a refreshing change when you don't have to sell burgers, insurance, pharmaceuticals, etc.

HBO isn't competing with the networks. They're competing with the AMCs of the world.

 

[lobelia]

In the last several trips at WDW we've stayed at the Contemporary Resort. But just for fun, at the MK closing we caught a bus to the Pop Century to see how the valve resort folks live. The chatter on that bus was mostly negative. I could hardly wait until we got to the Pop Century so we could catch a bus back to the CR and be back with our own kind.

I wish there was a dislike button for this type of response.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I wish there was a dislike button for this type of response.

I think that might have been sarcasm. Could be wrong.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

i actually really empathize with @LuvtheGoof, because i see a lot of myself and my situation in him. all except with the love of disney transport. i thank my lucky stars that i have only take two trips in the last two decades that i didn't either have my own car or a rental. disney buses are where a little piece of everyone dies.

my family bought into DVC in '93. great investment, gave my family and i tons of amazing times throughout the years, and we still utilize our points. up until 2011, i had been off property just once ( in '94, we spent a day at UNI). let me just say that i, too, thought i had little interest in venturing out of the bubble. then i saw the light. even if you have no interest in the IP at UNI, you should try it out. i grew up in a time where i bit on all the talking points, that UNI's standards aren't disney, and there's just something about WDW that UNI can't replicate. unfortunately, the performance we came to expect from WDW in the '90's is found further up I4 nowadays.

listen, disney is still fun, and being a DVC member can be great. points give us members access to some hotels that just wouldn't be feasible at rack rates (it's how i stayed at BLT in a magic kingdom view one bedroom for my honeymoon). but if we didn't have the luxury of being DVC members, i wouldn't even think about disney as a vacation destination anymore. it's stale and just doesn't provide a good value, particularly for the demographic my family is currently in. i don't know when you bought in goof, but is it long enough ago to remember the two *FREE PARK PASSES* that accompanied every stay until the new millennium?

We bought in a bit after that.

that's just one way of how things were different back then. should i dip into the time, on a 1995 visit, that our AC in our OKW studio was broken. a tech showed up at 11 PM to repair it, and a huge gift basket arrived the next morning to apologize us for the inconvenience.

It is still like that. We were in one of the SSR Treehouses just a few short years ago. We noticed that the TV in the living room had a small crack on the screen. Nothing that really affected the watchability, and even less, since we wouldn't all be huddled around watching it a lot anyway. Wanting to be sure we weren't charged for it, we called to let them know about it, and that it could wait until we left 10 days later to be changed out. Well, a maintenance person showed up in 30 minutes with a brand new in the box TV. Said we shouldn't have to wait, and he replaced it right away. During that 30 minutes, we were exploring the treehouse, and noticed a loose door handle on the shower. We mentioned it to him while he was there and he fixed it right away.

Just last year, we stayed in a Grand Villa at OKW with our kids and their wives. On our third day, we went to do laundry, and discovered that the dryer had an issue with a seal, and would grab a piece of clothing and wrap it around itself. Since we were afraid it would rip our cothes, we didn't use it. We called, and it was fixed the next day, and the manager comped us $100 on our folio for the inconvenience. We asked for NOTHING - he just gave it to us. Even when we said he didn't need to do it, he insisted anyway.

Our last stay a few weeks ago at VGF, we had a problem with one of the lights in the bathroom. It was fixed that day, and we had no other problems.

I have no explanation for why we still receive this level of service when others are reporting that they do not.

in 2010, i stayed at an OKW studio and the refrigerator had defrosted all over the carpeting. not only did it take maintenance two days to come, when they did, they essentially sprayed carpet cleaner, leaving us with a moldly, mildew smell in our room for the duration of our stay.

it's anecdotes like this, that i'm sure we can all share to an extent, that have cheapened the experience. i think it's great you're still enjoying your DVC investment, but is it really as enjoyable as when you bought in? if it is for you, that's great! but i can't say ours is. and that infuriates me, because you've essentially pre-purchased vacations from a company that has flat out moved the goal posts.

I have not had an issue such as you had during any DVC stay, and a walk to the front desk to talk with a manager would definitely be in order. I would ask that manager to come back with me to smell the room, and ask him/her if that was acceptable. I do not think that an unreasonable course of action. If you did all of that, and they refused to do anything, a strongly worded letter to DVC mangement detailing all the particulars of what happened and who was talked to, and the lack of response from OKW management would have been sent the day we got back. A duplicate email would be sent as well.

I understand that not everyone has had a great experience. I know that some people have had rooms that are not up to par. We again are just lucky that we have not. Yes it really is just as enjoyable as ever for us, and I'm sorry that it hasn't been for you.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

If you had taken the $30K you dumped into the program in the first place and put it in a decent growth stock mutual fund, you'd have a lot more flexibility to be booking rooms wherever you want.

Sorry, but no. That is a complete misconception that people like to throw out here. Even if you got 10% return every year (and where do you get that?), there is no way we could have taken the vacations we have had. Heck, our trip last year to OKW was in a Grand Villa with our two kids and their spouses. The cash rate would have been over $12,000 just for the villa. There is no discounted rate for a grand villa.

I will agree that you could easily stay in a value or a moderate by doing that, but we are deluxe snobs, so wouldn't stay there.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I'd say Black Widow is a strong female character. I want top know her backstory. I want to see her as a female assassin. I want to see how she became who she is.

This may not need to be spoilered, but just in case... the below is very general about Age of Ultron:

Spoiler

Age of Ultron gave a bit of backstory on Hawkeye, Black Widow and Scarlet Witch.

 

[RSoxNo1]

One of the best BW moments was the Loki in a box showdown in The Avengers. She appeared a bit of a damsel during parts of Ultron but ultimately she did lead the team to the town/city. She is all about the mission.

Again spoilered...

Spoiler

I saw the movie twice and saw it as Black Widow redeeming Bruce Banner not the other way around... I saw it as Banner being the "damsel in distress".

 

[caranate]

Disagree. It all depends where you are traveling from and where you are going to. In some scenarios you are looking anywhere from 30 to 60+ minute wait/travel time. Unacceptable.

Are you disagreeing with me that in 16 years and over 300 days in a park that I have not waited more than 15 min on average, or are you just disagreeing to disagree?